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“This terrible Russian youth”
19517 Views March 23, 2018 62 Comments SITREPs Scott
“Generation Putin” gives the West a boot
Ivan Danilov for RIA NEWS
Translation by Scott Humor
Leading American, British, and Australian publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, the Australian, and the Daily Telegraph, almost simultaneously published materials with the same message: “A new generation of Russia chooses Putin, not iPhones. This generation is terrible, there is no hope for it.”
Similar titles for the articles of three different publications tell us that initially they were given the same task to write articles about how “teenagers will sweep Putin away.” But in the process of studying a new generation of Russian voters, something went wrong.
“Putinagers,” with an exception of some pro-Western outcasts, turned out to be not to the foreign researchers’ liking. There is a suspicion that there is a certain connection between the process of acquaintance of our Western “partners” with young Russians and how their approach to anti-Russian information policy has changed.
Previously, in the vast majority of cases, our opponents tried to stick to the classical principle of American propaganda of the Cold War era, which stated that it was always necessary to divide and put the people against their leadership, emphasizing the oppression and powerlessness of people who crave liberation from the tyrannical and cruel Soviet and then Russian leaders. However, now there is a kind of rollback to earlier primitive forms of propaganda, so Russians are often being demonized already “wholesale,” without much division on those who lead and those who vote.
Apparently, earlier on they tried to incite the younger generation, which grew up on the dubious information diet consisting of social media, Hollywood movies, and infectious YouTube videos, against the government, which would bring on a repeat destruction of the Russian statehood.
These hopes were actively fueled by the “expert community” consisting of so-called political emigrants, from Masha Gessen to Chichvarkin, as well as by many anti-government activists within Russia itself. Their hope that this new generation would follow the Maidan path and would want to “trade their homeland for an opportunity to feel like Europeans” to some extent was justified. In many countries, from Egypt to Ukraine, it was young people who drove destructive political processes that were actively fueled from outside.
But in the case of Russia, the West sustained not only catastrophic, but also a very visual breakdown of its scheme.
The Wall Street Journal reports that according to the polls of the Levada center, Vladimir Putin’s approval rating is the highest among an age group of 18 to 24 years and is 86%, which simply tears into flaps American ideas about what young Russians, who grew up in the era of the Internet should be like.
American journalists conducted a series of interviews with these youngest Russians and noted that they appreciate the opportunities that they have and that their parents did not have, as well as them being very skeptical about revolutions, preferring evolutionary changes for the better.
“Putin’s popularity is undeniable, especially among young people,” states The Australian, a flagman of Australian press. “In Russian “a generation Putin” is more active than their parents and more pro Kremlin than their parents,” regrets the Daily Telegraph in Britain.
Gradually, our Western partners begin to realize that Putin is not a historical aberration, but a historical regularity. And all that they do not like in Putin, in fact, refers not only and not so much to him as a politician and statesman, but to the Russians as a whole. For a long time, Western experts perceived the Russian leader as the embodiment of the resentment of a generation that couldn’t forget the trauma of the collapse of the USSR. But it is now clear that Putin is the voice of values and ideals shared by Russians of all ages. Many in the West hoped that the revival and activation of Russia on the international scene is a temporary phenomenon that they could just endure and wait it out. Now it turns out that to wait for a new opportunity to get Russia in exchange for “jeans” is no longer sensible. This brings out their outright rage.
A traditional passion of Western politicians and media for demonizing Putin is gradually complemented by a willingness, or even an active desire, to stigmatize all Russians as a whole. Of recent examples we can recall the statement of Alexander Pechtold, the leader of “Democrats 66” one of the ruling parties of the Netherlands who had found an original way to justify a lie that discredited the Minister Halbe Zijlstra. The latter, as we remember, admitted that for many years he had lied about meeting with Vladimir Putin and that he personally heard about the plans of the Russian President for the Baltic States. Speech in support of his fellow liar Pechtold ended with the phrase: “I have never met a Russian who would correct his mistakes.” The Dutch politician would hardly have an audacity or the courage to make a similar statement about any other ethnic group. This sad trend is already too visible to be ignored.
It may seem that switching the propaganda machine to the total denigration of all Russians is a purely irrational move. But it’s only at first glance. Such strategy has its advantages. At a minimum, it is much more convenient and efficient to frighten Western people with “Russians as a whole” and “thousand-year Imperial ambitions of Russia” than to concentrate exclusively on Putin.
Our opponents think that have a chance to put pressure on the unique pressure point of our civilization, the desire to “be good.” The USSR fell not only because of the betrayal of the elites, or a desire to trade our country for 300 varieties of sausage, not only due to the economic difficulties, but also because a certain part of society believed that we collectively should “become good” in the eyes of the so-called “civilized world”.
Perhaps it is for the sake of repeating the sweet success of the Cold War, that West constantly shames us, and especially our young people, and demands repentance for everything — great and small, real and imaginary. For the victory in the Great Patriotic war and for poisoning of Skripal, for Rodchenkov’s doping scheme, and Putin’s behavior, for “Gazprom” and “millennial Russia’s Imperial ambitions,” for all the historical resentment of the Baltic border states and so on. Therefore, we, as a society, are simply obliged to explain to our young citizens that we, the Russians, are all right and we owe nothing to anyone. And that those who wish to instill in us some sort of national guilt, need to be firmly rejected and offered to look in the mirror and to see in there millions of corpses of Libyans and Iraqis, the ashes of Odessa, and deeper, severed hand of servants from the Belgian rubber plantations. It is desirable that our new generations would develop a strong reflex: when the collective West shames them, it fact it is trying to grab their wallet.
Judging by the portrait of our new generation, drawn by the Western media, Russia’s future is in safe hands, in the hands of active, patriotic, rational and very inventive young Russians.
Unfortunately, our geopolitical opponents are not ready to leave future Russia in peace. This means that today’s young people will have to come up with methods and technologies necessary to protect themselves, their loved ones, their cities and villages, and their country. They will have to conduct acts of industrious, scientific and military heroism. They will have to win in a tough global economic, scientific and military competition. They will have to invent new weapons, new ideologies and new financial instruments. The younger generation of Russians will have a complicated but incredibly interesting collective biography. We can place our trust in our young people. They can handle it.
1 Aug 2017 Over 80% of Russian youth support #Putin’s policies, poll shows http://tass.com/society/958588
Over 80% of Russian youth support #Putin’s policies, poll showshttps://t.co/IQNcmfUT7x pic.twitter.com/U7qpFTtX1O
— TASS (@tassagency_en) August 1, 2017
Vladimir Putin and Russia’s youth images
Director of Research and Development
author of The enemy of the State
POKÉMON IN UKRAINE: Tactical War Game Introduction MANUAL (War Game Manuals Book
In case you have forgotten what happened in Ukraine, this book should refresh your memory with the incredibly precise and humorous chronicles: ANTHOLOGY OF RUSSIAN HUMOR: FROM MAIDAN TO TRUMP
Larchmonter445 on March 23, 2018 · at 5:17 pm EST/EDT
This Putin generation and the next ones coming are more valuable than the natural gas and oil in the ground.
They will build a great nation and show the world a great human future.
It is very exciting to see that the young people understand that the future belongs to them to shape Russia, to reform it, to literally invent it and the society they want for themselves and their children and grandchildren.
mundanomaniac on March 24, 2018 · at 1:10 pm EST/EDT
and worldwide he keeps oldtimer’s hearts young and hopefull
Mulga Mumblebrain on March 25, 2018 · at 6:32 pm EST/EDT
This hatred of Russians as a whole points unerringly to Zionazi influence. The Zionazis are furious, in their habitual deranged fashion, with Russia for thwarting the Oded Yinon Plan to vivisect Syria and split it into four or so powerless statelets, while offering up hundreds of thousands of mitzvot to their psychotic God, and his representative on Earth, Bibi the Bloodthirsty. The trajectory of Zionazi self-destruction was always plain, from millennia of history where hatred of the goyim and delight in their destruction, was intermingled with savage goy retaliation and pogroms, massacres and expulsions.
Judaism operates on a mechanism of hatred and separation, of massacres suffered and inflicted and celebrated year after year, and of an antipathy towards the goyim that only grows and grows. It thus follows the pattern of Wahhabism, other religious fundamentalisms, totalistic political ideologies and Free Market neo-liberal capitalism, that has almost finished the job of consuming Life on Earth in its insatiable, cancerous, lust for growth and profit. Judaism is just the oldest, organised, still extant example of the type.
Of course many Jews have struggled against the exclusivist, supremacist, xenophobic manifestation of their tribal mythology, but they, unfortunately, lost out to the Talmudic and secular fascists. Israel is rooted in three great hatreds-that of Judaism, itself, of the non-Jews. That of the European settler colonists, whose hatred of the indigenous who must be swept away so that the chosen Herrenvolk can enjoy their God-given lebensraum, always turns genocidal, and that of the victims of the Nazi Judeocide, whose fear and hatred of the goyim was thus, understandably, doubled and redoubled.
Unfortunately, in an age of weapons of mass destruction, and with the War of Terror against the Islamic world an impossible ambition, Israel is simply digging its own grave with its incessant aggression and the manipulation of its Western puppet states to attack Russia and China for ‘getting in the way’ of its Talmudic ambitions to universal power. And with clear psychotics like Bibi and his ilk in command, with the thugs of the Zionazi Diaspora feeding Judeophobic hatred through their attacks everywhere on Freedom of Opinion and Speech under the spurious excuse of ‘antisemitism’, and with the resistance, like Hezbollah going nowhere (because they have nowhere but their ancient homes to go to-certainly not Crown Heights, Golders Green or Dover Heights)and with adherents of the Samson Option and the Masada Complex rife in the Zionazi cabals, well things are not exactly looking up, are they?
Veritas on March 23, 2018 · at 5:35 pm EST/EDT
Thanks for the translation Scott – an important piece.
Funnily enough someone pointed out to me just the other day about another article in the Economist titled “Meet the Puteens” with the strap line – “Those who have known only Vladimir Putin don’t want revolution”.
It seems the Economist had spent months interviewing dozens of 18 year-olds across Russia in the months leading up to the election.
Well done to the young Russians for not being enamoured with the “West” and its “values” and following their own path. As you say the country’s future is secured by their youth…….
jon on March 23, 2018 · at 5:38 pm EST/EDT
A nice piece capped off with a triumphant call for Russia’s youth to rise to the challenge.
I am surprised and delighted by the data showing strong support for Putin’s policies. IMO that is not only a poke in the eye to the West, but also a sign of a healthy body politic that refuses to back down or plead guilty for past “crimes”.
Germany is still made to feel guilty about the Holocaust and is still paying reparations two generations after the war. I do not draw this comparison to insinuate some kind of moral equivalence between the Russian national behavior and German atrocities, but simply to point out that there is no end to the guilt so long as the “guilty” keep paying up…the debt is NEVER paid so far as the Zionists are concerned..and it is largely Zionists that are driving this anti-Russian hysteria.
I think that same group expected their intimidation tactics to work on the Russians as well. But whether it is a difference between Russian and German temperament or simply the dawning realization by the Russians that the regime changes in Ukraine, Iraq, Libya, Serbia, etc didn’t exactly work out very well for the inhabitants, or that there is a resurgence of national pride that we can largely credit to Putin himself, I do not know. I only know that this is welcome news indeed.
ps-loved this pearl of wisdom…the youth are “being very skeptical about revolutions, preferring evolutionary changes for the better.” No other group in the world is perhaps better schooled than the Russians on the dangers, distortions,horrors, and unintended consequences that revolutions frequently bring with them.
Emily on March 24, 2018 · at 7:39 am EST/EDT
Gramsci (Italian philosopher, 1860–1937) understood that revolutions were not the way to go – he wrote about the need to build a ‘historic block’ to bring about change. This is how Russia fits in the present time. The youngsters are the inevitable continuation of the Eastern block – they will remain despite the attempt at brainwash, by the western media, with these kinds of ‘Trojan horse’ interviews.
B.F. on March 24, 2018 · at 5:31 pm EST/EDT
Yes, revolutions are not wise. However, you always get them when the elite falls asleep, forgetting to look around. Putin obviously understands this. That’s why he has the support of the young.
Verami on March 23, 2018 · at 5:44 pm EST/EDT
“Leading American, British, and Australian publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, the Australian, and the Daily Telegraph, almost simultaneously published materials with the same message.”
The three publications mentioned are all owned by Rupert Murdoch.Please note R Murdoch owns the Times not Telegraph. Mod
So much for independent editorial policy.
And here’s a great example of independent foreign policy in the “free world”.
Australian prime minister John Howard and Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper compete for the title of Best Poodle In The Show 2003:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYfDTsjwE58
B.F. on March 25, 2018 · at 11:53 am EST/EDT
Verami
When it comes to The Telegraph, nothing surprising. it was always the worst propaganda outlet in England, right wing and brutal in it’s accusations.
Anonius on March 23, 2018 · at 5:48 pm EST/EDT
Here I come again. This is such a wise move on behalf of Putin and his team. Our generation (He is almost my age) grew up well educated in every area, and this means that he understands that young people have to be politically savvy in order to understand what “keep your nose in your telephone” brainwashing machine of the west is doing to all of us.
‘Selfies’ have been promoted as glamorous in the west – it is an obsession. There are also mobile programs such as WhatsApp and Instagram that brainwash kids. Russian kids, beware!
Anonius on March 24, 2018 · at 8:08 am EST/EDT
And not only, there is more to it. And yes it’s a social sickness. If you happened to live in, what I call China “an area where they seem to hold majority of the population, all you see is them zombified with their noses in their phone. Walking, driving, shopping, everywhere they are.
mijj on March 23, 2018 · at 6:10 pm EST/EDT
.. Russian developing youth will need a pop culture alternative to Hollywood’s mass marketing of US dominance and nurturing taking pleasure in righteous violence. (Eg. the Superhero flicks).
vot tak on March 23, 2018 · at 7:23 pm EST/EDT
They will also need a set of pornography preferences different from the butt sex/male money shot close-ups that dominate the genera in the right wing western “liberal democracies”. :-D
e-медведь on March 23, 2018 · at 11:15 pm EST/EDT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNpLuXOg7xQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO48t9YftTQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thZTZk09Cp4
e-медведь
Auslander on March 24, 2018 · at 12:45 pm EST/EDT
Something a little more contemporary than E-Bear posted. Kuban Kossak Choir, children’s choir.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOJbbYr9Z_w
Vuki on March 24, 2018 · at 1:53 am EST/EDT
What young people need is a liberal education in sciences and humanities, This will educate them to verify, measure, question and evaluate the world that they live in. It seems to me that the young people by their support for Putin are well on the way to be critical thinkers. .
AriusArmenian on March 23, 2018 · at 6:16 pm EST/EDT
I have to compliment the young people in Russia.
And I am thankful that they do not fall for the smoke and mirrors in the West.
Grieved on March 23, 2018 · at 6:20 pm EST/EDT
Excellent, excellent report. And verified by the western MSM no less!
Thanks Scott
Jose Garcia on March 23, 2018 · at 6:38 pm EST/EDT
At least these children know how to live. There is more to life than an IPhone or Skype or Katy Perry’s next girlfriend. I wish them health and happiness.
Danilov does a nice job here.
A quibble with the trans, though:
“which simply tears into flaps American ideas about what young Russians”
Rips into shreds I think would be better.
Danilov also wrote a very interesting commentary on the “me too” campaign a few weeks back.
jimofolym on March 23, 2018 · at 7:17 pm EST/EDT
‘ Russia’s future is in safe hands, in the hands of active, patriotic, rational and very inventive young Russians.” Unless Bolton and company decide to end it all.
Anonymous on March 24, 2018 · at 2:25 am EST/EDT
Bolton is a scarecrow:with his nomination as advisor Trump erased the relevance of the post.
the pessimist on March 23, 2018 · at 7:34 pm EST/EDT
Oh my! All the hand-wringing in the West about this sorry state of affairs will likely contribute to global warming.
Graeme-Aus on March 24, 2018 · at 2:58 pm EST/EDT
Told you it was man-made ….. conclusive proof at last!
war is coming on March 23, 2018 · at 7:58 pm EST/EDT
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – President Donald Trump is expected to receive a recommendation from the White House National Security Council to expel even more Russian diplomats over allegations related to the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal, US media reported.
Earlier on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow has seen no hard evidence to substantiate UK allegations on the poisoning of Skripal, so the accusations seem like a provocation.
The National Security Council made the decision to recommend taking action against Russia at a meeting at the White House earlier this week, CNN said, citing a single source “with knowledge of the situation.”
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert told Sputnik later that Washington is considering a number of measures to take against Moscow with respect to allegations related to the poisoning.
https://sputniknews.com/us/201803241062853117-trump-security-expell-russian-diplomats/
Kalchain on March 23, 2018 · at 8:00 pm EST/EDT
Oh my gosh! Superb information and hugely comforting to know. I worry every hour of every day about the incredible attacks against Russia, her president and her people. My big fear is for the future of the country after President Putin can no longer serve. But this article has given me enormous hope that the young people will be there for their country. I know it is a dangerous time for Russia and the world but this glimmer of hope that the young Russians have not fallen for the obvious evil of my country, USA. I love Russia and your President.
grrr on March 23, 2018 · at 10:00 pm EST/EDT
Well, my estimate is that if the West will behave friendly toward russians the Russia will fully develop its economy in 15-20 years, essentially in one generation. And if the West will continue to behave arrogantly, callously, and see them as an enemy, than Russia will fully develop its economy… in 15-20 years, essentially in one generation. However, in the 2-d case there will be long lingering suspicion of western intentions poisoning relationship for a loong time. A pity.
Bosnian Croat on March 24, 2018 · at 12:55 am EST/EDT
West will behave friendly toward Russians and Russia only when entire so called western political elite go to rubbish bin of history.
And it is not going to happen peacefully.
Canadian Slovak on March 24, 2018 · at 11:41 am EST/EDT
I am afraid this is a very realistic assessment… but I also hope for the unexpected..
Mwasa on March 23, 2018 · at 10:27 pm EST/EDT
I think Russia along with China will redefine the ‘Moral Code’ for both intranational and international relationships.
Izaates bar Monobazeus on March 23, 2018 · at 11:26 pm EST/EDT
Can anyone shed light on the disappearance of New Eastern Outlook.?..neo-journal
MistyAnn on March 24, 2018 · at 9:22 am EST/EDT
I have been working seeing that myself. Three days now I have not been able to connect.
Emily on March 24, 2018 · at 10:37 am EST/EDT
The same in the UK.
Red__Fred on March 24, 2018 · at 12:10 pm EST/EDT
I can log onto the site in South Africa, but it seems to be corrupted.
Olivier on March 24, 2018 · at 10:33 am EST/EDT
yes, I have noticed the disappearance of this high quality alternative media site as well. Anyone any clue what’s going on with NEO?
Anonius on March 24, 2018 · at 11:56 am EST/EDT
The machine pings back. But whois points to some Russian Bank.
inetnum: 178.248.237.92 – 178.248.237.92
netname: QRATOR-2611
descr: OTKRITOE AKTSIONERNOE OBSHCHESTVO AKTSIONERNIY KOMMERCHESKIY BANK YUGRA
Weird is the word of the day. Maybe just closed down, for whatever reason. Or maybe the web-server died. Time will tell.
Auslander on March 24, 2018 · at 1:48 pm EST/EDT
Probably a victim of the DDOS attacks on many ‘alternative media’ sites that are Russian friendly.
Anonymous on March 24, 2018 · at 12:16 am EST/EDT
The Anglo Americans are chewing the rug and soiling themselves in impotent rage that they have failed to colonize the hearts and minds of Russian youth and turn them into Pro-Anglo traitors… sorry ….liberal democrats.
I guess Pussy Riot, Facebook, and Hollyweird aren’t quite the “soft power” propaganda weapons that the Pentagon believes them to be.
Стивен on March 24, 2018 · at 8:45 am EST/EDT
Facebook had no chance in Russia due to the wide availability of domestic equivalents VK (ВКонтакте) and OK (Одноклассники). Facebook usage peaks in Moscow and St Pete amongst the “trendies”. But if anyone thinks that Russian youth are not obsessed with social media, they had better think again. From the time kids start school in September at around 7 y.o. there is immense social pressure to get a smartphone. Cheap Chinese models are readily available and mama and papa, or baba and dedya are “coaxed” to deliver. Hand-me-downs work initially, but then there is a “requirement” for something bigger and better.
Luckily the repair culture is still alive in Russia and phones last quite a few years without pressure for annual upgrades. Plus the summer dacha culture ensures that most kids unplug from social media and electronics for at least a few months.
86% is very good.
But it has to be 99.999%. Everyone in Russia has to be aware one another great threat to their country.
This world depends on Russia and its resistance, or entire world would sink into totalitarian global dictatorship and terror.
Ann on March 24, 2018 · at 1:27 am EST/EDT
Putin – A Man Like Putin
https://youtu.be/tvQBVEOwHBE?list=PLl454lB46JcI4GEzvp8rXWGlW7lAqBwCS
Avarachan on March 24, 2018 · at 1:41 am EST/EDT
Scott, that link to President Putin with Russian youth has some beautiful photos! Thank you. President Putin looks fatherly, honestly.
https://yandex.ua/images/search?text=Путин%20и%20молодежь&rdrnd=675781&redircnt=1521869843.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKsAbne393Y&index=100&list=PLl454lB46JcI4GEzvp8rXWGlW7lAqBwCS
Puin saved the country – music video
Knowing what is happening in our community, our country, our world, is critical to being informed citizens. This is essential for any democracy, but what hope is there for our society when most journalist have no idea what a democracy is.
I have never asked a journalist to please me or to agree with me I have just asked him or her to present the facts that are verifiable and measurable and only that way he/she will be able to win the hearts and minds of the community and the right to be called a journalist.
In the West ambition, gets in the way of the truth, the truth is lost and with it social justice. When journalists serve economic and political masters they ignore the middle ground when lies, cronyism and nepotism are in question.
Yes, journalists are faced with many difficulties, regardless they must expose what they know despite how this will affect the powerful and the powerless. They must defend people like Assange, Snowden and others who have sacrificed their freedom to report the truth. The greatest sin, which is killing the Western Media is the fact that journalists manipulate information and refuse to include in their journalism what they know to be the truth. You cannot schmoose with the boss or the MLA of your political party and then say that you are neutral.
One of the main things that journalists in the West are guilty of is that they are poorly educated in World History, geography, political Science and the Humanities so they recycle propaganda or the agenda of the powerful nations. This is understandable since the Western Media gets its information from the same sack of potatoes which is owned by three or four corporations. When one gets constant mindless irrelevant garbage about the Kardashians rather than what is really behind the Russian Gate, Iran Gate, and North Korea Gate we might be able to save ourselves from another war or understand the world economy and why democracy must include both political and economic equality or at least equal access to both.
When journalists don’t think of democratic societies as operating in the interests of, and on behalf of, the bulk of the people who make them up they become irrelevant. For me personally democratic societies reflect and promote diverse interests. In contrast, societies that exist to serve the interests of a tiny elite at the apex of society, or foreign masters, can hardly be said to be democratic, even if they have elections, secret ballots, and so on. What we have now in Canada First Past The Post (FPTP) and in other countries whose political heritage comes through the monarchy is a dictatorship that serves the elite since they choose, finance, and manipulate the elected representatives who promote their agenda.
Yes, we may run clean multi-party elections on a regular basis without producing a democratic society. What we have in Canada is public policy which leads to procedural democracy, thus in Canada we are dominated by elite business owners and investors, therefore they and their puppets representatives want FPTP process for elections where the bulk of our citizens has little to no influence on public policy, despite regular elections at the municipal, provincial and national levels; a privately-owned press; and guarantees of political and civil liberties.
So, what is my beef. Well it is in the way news is paid for using the business model. Using this model to deliver news profit trumps the truth all the way from the owner to the paper delivery boy that is why in Canada we have a granddaughter of a former Nazi as Minister of Foreign Affairs Christina Alexandra “Chrystia” Freeland who guides Canada’s feign policy. She calls her grandfather as freedom fighter but ignores to tell us that her GF Chomiak cooperated with the Nazis in Killing Soviet citizens while the Jewish owner of the newspaper he took over was gassed in Auschwitz. Canada gave him sanctuary as we did for thousand other Nazis from Germany, Croatia, Poland and just about everywhere this scum was worse than the German soldier.
nirtzsche1510 on March 24, 2018 · at 2:36 am EST/EDT
the word of our time:PRESSTITUDE.
Ilya G Poimandres on March 24, 2018 · at 6:34 am EST/EDT
“Freedom without socialism is privilege and injustice; socialism without freedom is slavery and brutality” –
What we have is a unipolar world, where representatives alone get to create and destroy laws, and where the only thing they need to do to continue creating and destroying our laws is get re-s/elected.
Representative democracy is evolutionary autocracy. It only gives the population a process to change lawmakers that is less bloody and a little less bumpy. It embodies the spirit of the law when it comes to democracy. A perfect example of an effective system of revolutionary autocracy is the Mandate of Heaven (at least cause it lasted 3000 years as a system of government), but even in it it is the population that legitimately overthrow an ineffective government, nothing much different when Qi fell to Han as when the Obama successor loses to Trump. There is no real change in the fact that we are still replacing people and not laws.
Any decisions on our actual laws, and whether we wish to be ruled by them, are effectively out of our own hands, and have been through all forms of government, outside of any semi-direct democracy or direct democracy. Only Switzerland fits the semi-direct category pretty well in the modern era, Athens was the Bitcoin. What would make us not live in any system defines as autocratic in some way, would be the adding of directly democratic meassures to all our democratic systems, east or west, if only to allow societies to strike what they consider ineffective laws out. The representatives can then be either selected or elected (the council of 7 is selected by the Federal Assembly in Switzerland, no one seems to mind!), they would not be able to keep laws that were stupid and biased for long anyways. We need balance in the letter of the law, with respect to the plebs and the patricians. And then the same for inter-state relations!
Maybe Boorish Johnson was right to be afraid that the World Cup would be used as a ‘propaganda exercise’. This year is the centenary of the murder of the Russian Royal Family. Hundreds of thousand of pilgrims are expected in Yekaterinburg for the commemoration and certainly many other will take place all over Russia. The ‘West’ would be exposed to the living proof of the failure of the Revolution. The ‘sanction’ of not sending the British Royals to the Cup is ‘most likely’ to be extended to their non-attendance to the commemoration at Yekaterinburg (where they are invited). People are perfectly aware of Britain’s betrayal of the Tsar, that they have their hands soiled with his and his family blood (as well as with Rasputin’s). Westerners who have internalized for generations the slanderous stories about the “Bloody’ Tsar universally hated by the Russians, might be in for a shock at the growing veneration for the Tsar Martyr.
Another Anonymus
_smr on March 24, 2018 · at 3:42 am EST/EDT
“This means that today’s young people will have to come up with methods and technologies necessary to protect themselves”
Step one: Know your enemy.
Chasing Jewish Mafia news porn won’t do – you only will become a useless, half-educated news porn addict, and suffer from cognitive dissonance on top.
You have to study the faking of history, organized crime, fiat money, the judiciary as a subset of the banking cartel, mass psychology, social engineering, culture creation, brain washing, perception management, entertainment as enslavement, etc.
Step zero: Know yourself.
This is the lifelong, subjective study of one’s thoughts and emotions – i.e. the mind – by the means of prayer, all kind of spiritual practices, and meditation.
What is meditation? The witnessing of one’s mind, that, as it turns out in the process of ‘sitting silently, doing nothing’, cannot be even called one’s own mind, but just mind. Without at least having glimpses of the realization that you are not your body, you are not your mind, your body/mind can be manipulated by outside forces with utmost ease without you even noticing forever and forever.
Theoriginalhmm on March 24, 2018 · at 4:09 am EST/EDT
A great article. I’ve watched President Putin’s Q&A with young people for the past few years. Can anyone in the West imagine their ‘leaders’ doing the same – sitting for several hours answering a wide variety of questions? Let alone telling the truth or having an understanding of their country? Russia is the largest country in the world. The fact that President Putin has such a deep knowledge of it is very impressive. This is displayed in the address to the youth along with the nationwide Q&A session and the annual press conference.the Western presstitutes will tell you that the questions are ‘carefully hand picked’. That’s pretty funny when you realise that these events all run for several hours.
Of course Putin is greatly admired. I always tell people about a film i saw of him at the opening of the largest mosque in Europe (i think it was that). Representatives of all the main religions were on a podium, waiting for V.V Putin to arrive. When he arrived they almost fell over each other to be first to shake his hand. It was a telling display of admiration for the man.
Here in the UK every time our PM, foreign secretary or any of the other members of this most discredited of governments opens their mouths, a lie pops out.
Good for young Russians!
sadness on March 24, 2018 · at 5:55 am EST/EDT
This observer of youth on the web personally believes nothing coming from Yankee Brit or Canuk 20 somethings except for just one or two i look at, and it’s almost the same, & in the flesh, for the Aussie Kiwi & EU 20’s. This has been a fairly recent change, maybe the last 5 – 15 years or so, before that they were just plain hostile but more honest about it. There appear to be a few more innocent teens, but not many. This is very disappointing if there is to be any future for our species. Sorry, but looking at only one Russian 20’s male was not too impressive as to his honesty. Actually in the flesh in the East i hope the above is a different story, here at least they are more polite. Sorry to be so negative, i hope this is a wrong observation. I wish you all, including youth, the best.
Nussiminen on March 24, 2018 · at 5:57 am EST/EDT
”A traditional passion of Western politicians and media for demonizing Putin is gradually complemented by a willingness, or even an active desire, to stigmatize all Russians as a whole.”
That’s exactly what happened to the fabulous blogger Kim ”La Russophobe” Zigfeld back in late 2014. Having tried in vain for years to bang her head right through a 10 meter brick wall with insane ”Western message of revolution to the Kremlin oppressed Russian people” — in English, of course — she suddenly saw the light and instantly threw in the towel. Her very last submission began as follows (emphasis added):
CONGRATULATIONS, MR. PUTIN
Our warnings have fallen on deaf ears once again and there is nothing we can do other than what we did back in October 2011, simply shut down activity on this blog in silent protest. You win, Mr. Putin. It obviously requires powers far greater than ours to address the neo-Sovietization of Russia, and it is painfully clear that the people of Russia have no intention of doing so.
Four years after this menopausal loon, the same extremely sad conclusion has started to dawn upon the entire MSM (whose garbage Kim just perfumed with her own little odours, of course). However, I must say that for all her manifest insanity, Kim had the senses to stop. Seems likely she understood that she had better ”give up on the Russians” rather than start to call for outright anti-Russian genocide.
Today’s presstitutes will have less problems than Kim Zigfeld. They are happily lying and endorsing any sick Zionazi depravity without much thought. Since the Maidan option is 100% out in Russia’s case, they will start sounding like the Ukronazis, with or without any formal instructions.
Mulga Mumblebrain on March 30, 2018 · at 12:39 am EST/EDT
Nussi, the presstitutes here in Austfailure are running a similar hate campaign against China, and easily, and happily, slipping into slander of long extant local Chinese communities, some 200 years old, fully integrated (Chinese were among the earliest Australian Rules football devotees)and many reinforced over the years by Chinese exiles and anti-Communists, as potential subversives. The vast Chinese student community, that pours several billion a year into our higher education system is also under vile attack, and scientific co-operation with China, too, lest those solar panels be turned into weapons of war. Racism is mother’s milk to all Rightists, but the sheer suddenness, extremity and villainy of this campaign smacks of US supervision.
Izaates bar Monobazeus on March 24, 2018 · at 7:00 am EST/EDT
There is another penny or two to drop with the Skripal hoax.
The MSM has steered clear of referencing the connections between Skripal and the Steele dossier because the intention is to pretend at a future date that a discovery has been made that it was the Russians under Putin direction who fed Skripal the triple agent with false information so as to in fact cause harm to Trump and assist Hillary to win because of the back room dealing vis Uranium and Clinton Foundation. It is going to be said that the entire Hillary schtick regarding Trump collusion was nothing more that Hillary projecting her own criminality onto Trump. Now these things may seem obvious to readers on this site but to the greater mass of humanity in the West it will be spun into confirmation.
The hoax poisoning of the Skripals is intended as the live wire link which proves Putin’s guilt and Hillary’s guilt. It will be used to prove Hillary was Putin’s accomplice.
But I for one believe Obama selected Trump as his successor and the proof for it is in the deeds of Comey wherein he caused Hillary irreparable harm two weeks out from the election. Comedy could only SCT as he did under Obama direction.
Tomonthebeach on March 24, 2018 · at 12:56 pm EST/EDT
The biggest difference between Russia and the USA teen population is not acquiescence vs activism, but how different systems meet the needs of that narrow age group. People in the West, my neighbors, have been told by politicians, ministers, and other social leaders that communism equates with fascist authoritarian abuses that are an anathema to US democratic values (few as they seem to be these days).
It is rather easy to point to political purges in the millions by communist leaders like Stalin and Mao, yet overlook the US Civil war as something other than an attempt to change political systems. Historically, every major regime change involves bloodshed. That historical fact does not condone authoritarian rule in the name of regime change. It does, however, challenge any smug binary world view that the evils associated with communism contrast with those associated with US democracy. Others have written about the body count of capitalism – and US democratic neolib capitalism in particular. Check the body counts from Afghanistan, Syria, Vietnam, or Korea.
Accusations of state-run media being a propaganda machine that has turned Russian teens into sheep are also disingenuous. One only has to look at FoxNews and the bald-face lies coming from the WH press secretary every day to see that capitalism merely does it differently than communism.
Finally, consider the fact that Russia is no longer a communist state but an oligarchy similar to the US. Both claim to be republics, but in both countries the top 1% in wealth call all the important shots. Both governments have mobsters, gangs, thugs, crime, and even insurgents (Bundy et al. in the US is an example). Both are lead by autocrats neck-deep in conflicts of interest that use wealth as a tool of political dominance. Teenagers may be impetuous and fickle, but they are not blind to what they see. After all, nobody is regularly shooting them while studying at school, while their government dithers.
Yes, young Russians voted for Putin, as I knew they would. The point is that the West applied old style propaganda methods against Russia, hoping they would succeed and Russia ending up with a new pro-Western political puppet. No way this could happen.The West forgot two things. First of all, nobody can forget the Yeltsin years, when Russia was plundered of billions of dollars by Western banks and corporations, and when poverty war rife. Secondly, everybody is watching the situation in Ukraine, where the West applied a repeat performance of what it did in Russia under Yeltsin. Ukraine is now in a worse situation than what Russia was under Yeltsin. These two facts turned the people towards Putin. And thirdly, that silly false flag attack in England just convinced Russians that the West means them no good.
The only thing which surprised me about the Russian elections is that there were no NGO organized demonstrations against Putin. I was expecting them. Obviously Soros and his pals had trouble organizing them. I would not be surprised if they didn’t even bother doing so, knowing how popular Putin is.
Russia under Putin is experiencing a revival. It’s on the rise. This cannot be prevented. More than one analyst has stated that the Russian/Chinese economic partnership will see a split between the elites in Europe and the US. I think it is inevitable. Europe is bound to turn to Russia. It;s only a matter of time.
teranam13 on March 24, 2018 · at 1:16 pm EST/EDT
Here is what is offered and pushed to American youth as their “leader”:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/03/23/david_hogg_our_parents_dont_know_how_to_use_a_fcking_democracy_so_we_have_to.html
Not only sanity but grace has left the building.
Azorka1861 on March 24, 2018 · at 7:03 pm EST/EDT
Putin visits International Children’s Centre in Artek, Crimea on June 24, 2017 – Pictures
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/54864
Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSTt_SRejLs
Putin holds Q&A with gifted school children in Sochi on July 21, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MBFJC7QLoE
Putin honours last Marshal of the Soviet Union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N3e_j5ZEQU
Putin Congratulates 90th Birthday to Soviet Dissident & Human Right Activist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsMQ9QPPlMo
Putin Meets with Parents of Hero Policeman Killed By ISIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGi-oPNV1hM
Vladimir Putin Rage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjrlTMvirVo
lizzie dw on March 25, 2018 · at 11:34 am EST/EDT
The general theme of the article is that young Russians have the opportunity and responsibility to continue the growth and prosperity being built in Russia now. The US newspapers that denigrate the youth of Russia for admiring Putin do not offer any information about our millennials. Do we raise our children to feel a connection to our country – that they have to power to mold our country into something better? Do the millennials see themselves as future managers? To invent the future and society they want for themselves and their children? I do not know anybody that does that.
HDan on March 25, 2018 · at 7:20 pm EST/EDT
Interesting ! Only a few days ago I happend to run into a litle brawl in and in front of a major Smartphone company here. A mid-aged woman and husband where infuriated to the point where they tried to attack one of the sales person physically. In another instance a colleague of mine told me that he got a brutal demonstration of power by the nearest apple-store regarding a malfunctioning iPhone – where obviously some App had crashed – and threatend all his adresses stored.
Already now the first signs show up, they are on the way to totally hook everybody onto their pile of crap with no escape and becoming totally at their mercy !
Great if Russians got the smell and are leaving the pit…!
Right now we learn of what type Suckerberg and his Facebook fraud really are. From the very beginning it was designed to get access to YOUR mind and your secrets, just read the leaked ‘private’ conversations !
When considering the type of being that Suckerberg is, than one can be 100% sure where the data is read in real time and examined.
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Twitter waves the flag
Social media giants have intervened in the Hong Kong protests, blocking accounts favourable to the Chinese government. The protesters are also supported financially by the united States.
Issue 35 The World Asia / Pacific
US trade war with China
Throughout 2018 Donald Trump escalated a trade war with China by imposing steadily more tariffs and sanctions against goods and technology. It is a significant that the US is moving to curtail China's developing capabilities in high tech industries, with Huawei being a particular target.
Issue 33 The World North America Asia / Pacific
Unhappy families
A review of two contrasting films about families, Happy End by Micheal Haneke and Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda, where both economics and values are central to the narrative. In Happy End a wealthy, conventional family is portrayed as a loveless hell motivated only by money. Whereas, Shoplifters draws a picture of a motley family group in which some individuals are related and some not. It is their attempt to survive poverty that binds them together as a more affectionate family.
Issue 33 The World Europe Asia / Pacific
Programme for peace in Afghanistan
The NATO war in Afghanistan has been a disaster. An 18 point plan sets out an alternative path to a peaceful future for the country.
Issue 33 middle east Asia / Pacific
Short-circuiting history in China
A review of The Slaves of the Cool Mountains by Alan Winnington. Written in the late 1950s and based on his experience, Winnington describes the work of the Chinese Communists in winning over isolated peoples in remote areas of the country to socialism and the benefits that brought them.
West's dangerous view of North Korea
The conflict between the USA and North Korea is a David and Goliath contest, so to blame both equally is wrong. We also need to know about the devastation caused to North Korea by the United States during the Korean war to understand its position now. It is the US which has rejected North Korean overtures for dialogue, violated the treaty ending the Korean war and ripped up a previously working agreement. The view presented by the media in the west is dangerously skewed and part of war preparations, however, there are powerful voices who also want peace on the Korean peninsula.
Issue 30 Asia / Pacific North America
Rivalries, dangers and possibilities
We live in a very dangerous world dominated by neo-liberalism which fuels inequality, conflict and a drive to war. As well as making the lives of millions miserable there are growing tensions between rival imperial and aspiring imperial powers. Nearly 30 years since the end of the Soviet Union what kind of world is capitalism creating and how is being re-shaped? Despite its dominance, however, neo-liberalism has not won people to support its system. Forces from the left, the extreme right, religions and nationalists are gaining ground.
Issue 30 The World Europe middle east North America Latin America and the Caribbean Asia / Pacific Britain
Conference - Capitalism, imperialism and the struggle for socialism in Britain
Saturday 11th November 2017.Hear top speakers Councillor Noah Tucker (personal capacity) on Brexit, the crisis in the Tory Party and the prospects for Labour and socialist advance. Pablo Navarrete, just returned from Venezuela, Salim Alam on the Middle East and Palestine. Frieda Park and Simon Korner will open discussion on the threat of war, particularly in Korea and the divisions which are making our world a dangerous place.
The World middle east Latin America and the Caribbean Asia / Pacific Europe Britain
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The Sky Is Safe
Compelling depiction of stories rarely told, by brilliant Scottish writer/actor Matthew Zajac
Matthew Zajac is a man with a heart, an ear for a story and a fierce sense of justice. His previous show, The Tailor of Inverness, was a stunning example of storytelling based on real life. And his new show is no different.
The Sky Is Safe introduces us to Gordon from Scotland and Amal from Syria. They meet in Taksim, the commercial centre of Istanbul. He’s working there. She lives nearby, having fled her homeland when living there became too difficult. She’s a law graduate. He works in an industry he’d rather not talk about. They swap stories, truths and half-truths until the truth explodes their relationship just as effectively as the bombs dropped on Aleppo.
The central story is interwoven with the stories of other women trying to grip onto something like normality in an increasingly difficult and dangerous political climate. Gordon’s apparently suburban Western existence is a stark contrast to their stories of arrests, snipers and interminable checkpoints as they try to escape their country’s borders.
Both actors in Dogstar’s new production are superb, switching effortlessly between a myriad of characters. Dana Hajaj’s multiple women are presented with grace, compassion and perfectly pitched emotion. Zajac’s Gordon is an amiable gentleman who keeps us guessing – but switches in a heartbeat to Syrian soldier with equal conviction.
Directed by Ben Harrison, this is a pacey, polished and visually rich production. The set is minimal but well-used and enhanced beautifully by set designer Nihad Al Turk, a Syrian visual artist who moved to Scotland with his family from a refugee camp in Lebanon.
But the heartbreaking treat here is the stories. Zajac says that the script is based on interviews with female refugees conducted earlier this year in Istanbul. So whilst this isn’t testimonial theatre as such, these stories add up to a compelling depiction of stories rarely told: those of displaced women trying to triumph over their circumstances.
“Tomorrow will be better than today”, says one woman. As the refugee crisis continues to unfurl across Europe, we can only hope that she’s right.
Claire Wood
2 - 27 Aug 2017
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FINAL FANTASY: THE 4 HEROES OF LIGHT
In the small kingdom of Horne, Brandt awakes on the morning of his fourteenth birthday. Today is the day he becomes an adult, and the custom of the realm says that he must go to the castle to present himself to the king.Yet when he arrives at the castle he finds the king distraught and the youngest princess missing, abducted by the Witch of the North. With no one else to turn to, the king makes a shocking request: will Brandt save the princess?And thus Brandt’s adventure begins...Eventually he is joined by three other brave young souls. Together they will experience a journey full of joyous meetings and sad partings.Though at first they don’t always see eye-to-eye, these four Heroes of Light will build bonds of trust and affection so strong that, in the end, they may even save the world.This is the tale of their legendary quest.
World of Final Fantasy - PlayStation Vita
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Typing of The Dead for Dreamcast at VideoGamesNewYork, VGNY
The only Final Fantasy that was never ported to any other platform—the third installment of the original series—finally appears on Nintendo DS™! Lauded as "legendary" by the...
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FINAL FANTASY: CRYSTAL CHRONICLES - RING OF FATES
Fraternal twins Yuri and Chelinka live happily with their father in a small village, but their happiness comes to an abrupt end with the arrival of an ancient evil. Now, with his family shattered,...
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NEW FACTORY SEALED Compatible with ALL Playstation 1, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 System! Final Fantasy IXThis is the game Final Fantasy IX for the Playstation 1. This game may not...
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NEW FACTORY SEALED Compatible with ALL Playstation 1, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 System! This old school compilation from Square includes "Final Fantasy IV" (known as "FF2" as a 1991 US SNES...
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NEW FACTORY SEALED Compatible with ALL Playstation 1, Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 System! Final Fantasy Anthology incorporates two of the most beloved FINAL FANTASY titles ever published...
Fight For Life
Final Fantasy IV, the classic role-player, arrives on your Nintendo DS™ - with all the action, strategy and story that made it a hit! The kingdom of Baron is on a zealous quest to collect all...
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New Factory Sealed North American Version Compatible with Nintendo Wii and Nintendo Wii U Systems Three years have passed since the great war that ended in the death of Mad King Ashnard. His...
FINAL FANTASY TYPE 0 HD - ULTIMATE BOX [JAPAN]
Japanese Edition, Brand New(Package & Manual in Japanese) Region free / compatible with all PlayStation 4 systems Box Includes: - PS4 Game Final Fantasy Type 0 HD - Special...
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Mobile, ALA – A new creative tide is swelling off the coastline. Artists and friends Chris Cumbie and Duane Knight have joined forces to establish flux, working studio, a curated gallery for local and regional contemporary art, an incubator for creative entrepreneurship, an educational facility and a vital resource for art on the Gulf Coast. Located at 754 Government Street in downtown Mobile, this endeavor is aptly named. flux aspires to be a hub of continuous change and a purifying agent used to unify creative efforts.This exciting partnership is the result of a long friendship, shared vision and a commitment to the arts, artists, and our community. Cumbie and Knight have individually traveled their work throughout the country, but as Gulf Coast natives they have a shared vested interest in supporting the local creative community. flux, among other things will function as a curated venue for local and regional talent of all media. This will establish a much needed opportunity for hard working artist in the area, in addition to fostering a greater appreciation for art in Mobile. The gallery will mount seven shows a year, both solo exhibitions and group collaborations. An open proposal process will allow any artist in the area to apply and a diverse selection of guest curators will ensure that flux brings challenging, edgy and socially relevant exhibitions to our area.
Phase one of flux is complete, the studio/workspaces are in order. Phase two is a retail partnership to be announced in the coming weeks. Phase three, a loaded gallery, will launch its first exhibition January 2017. Phase four, the sky is the limit, from public art to events to education and much more, many great things are to come. For more exciting revelations, more information about these artists and continuous updates on the state of flux, please follow flux on social media.
Chris Cumbie is a master of manipulation. He turns junk into a juxtaposition of pulchritude. Stagnant into movement. Wood into wonder. Metal into magic. His dreams are brought to life in a flurry of sawdust, fire, sparks and madness. His vision is provocative. The journey of conception to the final result is a story that is told in the details of every piece. Chris is an award-winning artist who frequents juried fine art festivals throughout the country. You can stalk Chris at www.facebook.com/ChrisCumbiert or on IG – ChrisCumbieArt
Duane Knight is an intergalactic warrior from the other dimension that has the cool lasers and stuff. He came here to impart the secret physics of space navigation through optical intake of specific color spectrums and patterns as they call upon ancient natural powers known by all living creates in this realm except humans. Through visual production he translates the ageless knowledge and wisdom of the cosmos. Take a peek into Duane’s World at www.facebook.com/DuaneKnightArt
For more information about flux please contact either Chris or Duane at chris_cumbie@yahoo.com and shufo44@gmail.com
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The THOMASINA
CROWN Affair
by Van © 2003
To see the actresses the author would cast in a THOMASINA CROWN motion picture,
please follow the link below, and use your browser's "Back" feature to return.
THERAXOS, THE CYCLADES, GREECE
Kimber was in one of the larger, more comfortable dungeon cells. It had a picture window looking down on the Mediterranean (heavily barred, of course); as well as a large, comfortable, circular pallet covered with deep blue sheets, blankets, and pillows. The naked blonde was spread-eagled on her back, bound with ribbon-wide leather thongs to iron rings set in the stone floor around the pallet. In addition, a steel collar was locked around her neck and a long, loose chain trailed from the collar's ring to a staple embedded in the far wall. Kimber lay limp in her bonds, her head nestled in a large, soft pillow and her tousled riot of sun-bleached curls. She stretched, her firm, tan, perfect body, squirming slightly in her bonds; then sighed and closed her eyes.
A key rattled in a lock. Kimber lifted her weary head and beheld Helena opening the iron gate that barred exit from the cell. "What now?" Kimber demanded, a tired smile softening her words.
Helena made sure the gate would remain open, raised a single finger, then stepped back into the deep shadow of the entry passage. She returned immediately with a little over two hundred pounds of wiggling freckled and tan flesh.
Kimber raised her head as far as her bonds allowed for a better view. "What the...?"
Helena staggered forward with her squirming burden and deposited it on the pallet next to Kimber. "Oof!" she complained. "One at a time isn't too bad, but bundled together..."
The bundle in question was Andrea and Sally, of course. They were in an involuntary close embrace, breast-to-breast, each with their left arm over the other's shoulder, right arm under the other's armpit, and their wrists flexi-cuffed together. Further, their legs were intertwined and their ankles joined with flexi-cuffs, and ball-gags joined ball-to-ball by a single steel link kept their lips an inch apart.
"For once you can't blame me for something 'cruel and unusual', Helena said, "...except for the double ball-gag... and their pink heinies." The "Dark Priestess" pulled a wickedly curved blade from her right boot and sliced Kimber's bonds, one-by-one. "Katherine did this to them, right before she stole Tommy's new Scarab and set course for Athens."
"Katherine escaped?" Kimber demanded. "And no one stopped her?" She sat up and picked at the knots of the bands of thong still encircling each wrist. All the while her gaze was on Sally and Andrea. The embracing captives were shivering and their bodies covered with goose flesh.
Helena squatted and sliced the bands of thong on Kimber's ankles. "Security's tracking her, making sure she doesn't get herself into trouble. Tommy's orders."
Kimber sighed. "Katherine's gone... I hope she comes back, or Tommy nabs her again." The blonde lifted her gaze from the weakly struggling pixies and pointed towards a blanket neatly folded at the foot of the pallet. "Don't look so smug," she told Helena. "You like Katherine too. Admit it."
Helena tossed one end of the blanket to Kimber then helped her tuck it around Sally and Andrea. "She was a lot of fun to torture."
"What the hell did you do to these two?" Kimber demanded, nodding at the embracing captives.
Helena smiled and stood. "Oh, nothing drastic. They were caught snooping on Tommy... so I swapped out the panties, scarf, and tape gags Katherine had given them for kissie-kissie ball-gags, strung them up on their toes by the center link, and gave their butts a thrashing with one of my favorite crops. This left them rather hot, sweaty, and slippery, so I hosed them off with ice water."
"You absolute bitch!" Kimber remarked (stifling a smile). Their hair damp and tangled, still shivering, the flexi-cuffed lovers gazed up at Kimber, then the focus of their green and blue eyes shifted to the grinning blonde's nipples.
Helena noticed their interest as well. "How are the twins?" she purred. "You need another pill?"
Kimber cupped her breasts and inspected her nipples. Each was neatly pierced by a short, stainless steel, horizontal post capped on either end with a tiny steel sphere, then covered with a tough, semi-opaque layer of antiseptic foam. "They're fine," Kimber answered. "I'm fine."
Helena smiled, reached into her belt pouch, and tossed Kimber a small jar. "Balm for the lovebirds' derrières," she explained, then turned to leave.
"Wait!" Kimber called after her. "Tell me all the details of Katherine's escape! And how's Tommy taking it?"
"I haven't had a chance to chat her up about it," Helena called back over her shoulder. "She's busy being ravished by George... bound and gagged, chained by the neck, flat on her back while Georgie-boy rides her like a bronco. I wonder if size does matter?"
Kimber laughed. "Maybe the next time you screw up... so to speak... Tommy'll sic 'Georgie-boy' on you and you'll find out."
Shivering delicately, a frown on her pale features, Helena closed and locked the dungeon gate. "Don't even joke about that," she said from the far side, then disappeared into the darkness.
Kimber dropped her gaze and smiled at Sally and Andrea. The captives were still shivering a little. Kimber sighed and inspected their "kissie-kissie ball-gag." As she expected, the buckle at the nape of each prisoner's neck was locked with a tiny, dangling, heart-shaped padlock. "Well, there's not much I can do for you two, other than soothe your 'wounded prides' with some of this balm," Kimber said. A sympathetic smile on her angelic face, she lifted the blanket and inspected first Andrea's pale behind, then Sally's tan rear. "Not too bad," Kimber purred, opening the jar. "A little pink, but no serious marking. Hold still while I rub this stuff on. I think it's the deep-heating kind, and I'd hate to slip and get some of it on your nether lips."
Eyes wide, the embracing pixies nodded in unison, the only nod possible with their linked gags.
Kimber yawned as she began smearing the white cream on Sally's dimpled heinie (causing the helpless little blonde to clench her butt muscles, then sigh through her gag). "Ahh... Excuse me," Kimber said, stifling a second yawn. "The pain pill Helena gave me is making me sleepy." She finished with Sally and began coating Andrea's behind. The redhead shivered and hummed in contentment through her half of the gag. Nursing duties accomplished, Kimber capped the jar and cleaned her hands on a corner of the pallet's top sheet. She snuggled against her fellow prisoners, arranged the chain depending from her collar off to the opposite side, and pulled the blanket over all of them, but leaving her healing breasts exposed (of course). "I know you two will have to roll over now and then," the sleepy blonde whispered, "but please try and let me get some sleep." Kimber sighed. "That bitch... why'd she have to saddle me with you two?" Andrea and Sally squirmed and giggled quietly through their gags, then squealed when Kimber reached under the blanket and tapped each of them on their pink behinds. "Quiet!" Kimber ordered, and closed her eyes.
The THOMASINA CROWN Affair
— Chapter 14
LATE MORNING
NEAR PIRÆUS, GREECE
Katherine maneuvered the Scarab towards what was obviously the dock of a luxury hotel. She'd considered simply abandoning the boat and swimming ashore... but a casual inspection of the harbor's water quality changed her mind. Katherine had removed and stowed her equipment harness, dive knife, and rubber tabbies while still offshore, so her current costume was limited to the French-cut, zippered front, very stylish (and provocative) neoprene swimsuit she had "borrowed" from Thomasina's closet. Katherine smiled, knowing she was showing a great deal of tan, firm, toned skin. She liked looking hot. She tossed her head to clear the windblown brown locks from her face and eased back on the throttle. As she maneuvered the Scarab alongside the hotel dock and idled the engine, an attendant leaped aboard and took the bow line, then leaped back to the dock and made the boat fast. "Thank you," Katherine said with a smile, cut the power, and tossed him the stern line.
The attendant was young, handsome, and very male, dressed in a uniform t-shirt and shorts. "Madam is guest?" he inquired.
"Not yet," Katherine muttered, stifling a yawn. (It had been a long night.) "Excuse me." She nodded towards an outdoor restaurant. "Are they still serving breakfast?"
The attendant looked Katherine's swimsuited body up and down with an appreciative smile, then pointed towards the hotel's vast swimming pool. "Madam orders breakfast at the pool, hokay? Bathing clothes not allowed in the restaurant."
Katherine nodded, extended her hand, and was helped ashore. "Okay. Thank you..." She eyed the attendant's name tag, but it was in Greek.
"Andreus, madam."
"Thank you, Andreus," Katherine purred, and discretely handed him a 20 euro bill.
"Enjoy your stay... hokay?" Andreus called after Katherine's disappearing back.
Katherine turned and waved, then continued to the pool.
Breakfast was large, delicious, and very expensive. In the back of her mind Katherine knew she should be conserving the cache of euros she'd stolen, uh, borrowed from Thomasina. Also, she should be distancing herself from the Scarab, procuring a more discrete costume, and making contacts to arrange for a money transfer, replacement passport, and a ticket to New York. In other words, she should be making good with the rest of her escape... but the sun was warm, the pool was very nice, the food delicious, the service attentive but discrete... and she was soooo tired.
She's not coming after me, Katherine decided (for no good reason her intellect could discern). Maybe I'll just... Katherine yawned, then smiled sheepishly at her waiter. She settled her bill, leaving a very generous tip (it being Thomasina's money), and transferred her swimsuited form to one of the pool's exquisitely comfortable lounge chairs. I'll just rest my eyes for a few minutes, she told herself, stretched, listened to the water lapping against the pool...
...and everything had changed. The sun was well past its zenith. Katherine had a mild sunburn, and she noticed someone (probably the pool staff) had moved an umbrella to provide her with some shade. Feeling very foolish (and only slightly refreshed), Katherine sat up and looked around. The smattering of beautiful and/or rich bathers had changed, but there was nothing threatening in her idyllic surroundings; however, the staff had noticed her return to the world of the living.
A handsome older man in a neatly pressed suit of tan linen was approaching. As he came near, Katherine could see a name tag and the crossed keys symbol of a concierge. "Ms. Banning," he said, "I hope you enjoyed your nap." His English was perfect, with only a slight accent. "Your suite has been arranged." He handed Katherine a leather portfolio. Inside she found the usual welcoming letter, brochures detailing the hotel's services (and there were a lot of them), a key card, and two bulging envelopes, one gold and one bearing the logo of Olympic Airways. The Olympic envelope contained an open-ended, first class ticket to New York; the gold envelope her passport, a credit card bearing the Crown International logo, and an unsigned note explaining that she was booked in the hotel for an indefinite stay, and all expenses would be paid by Crown, Inc. There was also a pair of business cards, one with a set of telephone numbers in Greece and the other listing numbers in New York. "The shopping arcade, spa, and salon are off the main lobby," the concierge explained. "Please sign the register at the lobby desk at your convenience. Would you like me to show you to your suite?"
Katherine was still examining the contents of the portfolio, and shook her head.
"Please let me know if you require any assistance," the concierge added, then bowed and departed.
"Thank you!" Katherine shouted at his back, and opened her passport. It was her passport. She recognized the creases, stains, and blurred stamps on several of the pages. Quick, professional, and efficient, she mused. Thomasina Crown surrounded herself with only the best. When she wanted something to happen... it happened. If she decided Katherine Banning required a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, she'd get one, with every "i" dotted and "t" crossed... printed with gold leaf on the finest parchment.
Katherine closed the portfolio and gazed across the pool, idly tapping her lips with the edge of the credit card. The prudent thing to do would be to appear to accept Thomasina's largesse, fade into the streets at the first opportunity, then make her own way home; but what was the hurry? Why not... indulge herself?
Katherine's slight sunburn was eased at the spa with a mud and herbal wrap; and her hair was cleaned, trimmed, and coifed at the salon. She then sauntered through the hotel's boutiques and purchased lingerie, a couple of sporting ensembles, some club clothes, a tailored business suit, and a killer black dress; not to mention footwear, a few hideously expensive baubles, several silk scarves, and a small suitcase.
Katherine's suite was spacious and well appointed, without being ostentatious, and had a small balcony with a magnificent view of the Mediterranean. As the sun began to set, Katherine considered gracing the main dining room with her presence, then dancing to the wee hours in the hotel's disco... but decided exhaustion was the better part of snooty waiters and euro-boogie fever and ordered room service.
Finally, stuffed grape leaves, braised lamb, and lemon potatoes consumed (along with a bottle of an excellent local wine) and the meal clutter wheeled away, Katherine double locked the suite's entrance, clicked off all the suite's lights, and strolled out onto the balcony. There was a light breeze, and the heat of the day had already begun to fade. Stars were twinkling in a cloudless indigo sky (few, compared to the billions visible through the clear air of Theraxos). She could just hear the techno beat throb of the disco somewhere below, and people... mostly couples... were strolling around the pool, marina, and beach. Katherine sighed, reached around and unzipped the back of her black dress, shrugged out of its narrow shoulder straps, and let the smooth, dark sheath slither to the ground. She picked it up, sighed again, and stepped back into her suite.
Nude (and perhaps just the slightest bit tipsy from too much wine), Katherine hung her dress from a hanger, and collapsed on the turned down bed. She snuggled against the cool sheets, lay on her back, and stared up at the dark ceiling. Flecks of mica in the plaster glittered and flashed, pale imitations of the starry heavens Katherine had just beheld.
Katherine's thoughts turned to her protégé... her former protégé. Sally... what are they doing to you, Little One? Katherine remembered when she'd first taken the little blonde under her wing. She'd been so bright, intelligent, and cute! She was still so bright, intelligent, and cute. Katherine lightly caressed her labia, remembering the first time she'd talked Sally into "Escapology Practice" (not that it had taken much convincing). Wrists crossed and bound behind her back, ankles crossed and bound, clad in a tank-top and tight jeans, the little blonde had rolled and writhed on the loft's exercise mat for a full hour without getting free; then Katherine had cradled her in her lap and explained in detail exactly how one escaped from such bonds. Katherine could still picture every detail: Sally's blue eyes gazing up at her with rapt attention; the film of sweat gleaming on the bound pixie's smooth, tan face; the way she panted through her full, flushed lips and flaring nostrils (in far too good a shape to be this winded, so why the heavy breathing?); the blonde's fingers fluttering and groping in Katherine's lap (and against Katherine's sex) as she tried to follow her teacher's instructions.
Katherine began stroking her labia in earnest, remembering the third Escapology Lesson; Sally in bra and panties (having claimed that all her exercise clothes were in the laundry); each wrist bound to its matching ankle but her ankles not tied together; blindfolded with a bandana; it was the first time they'd really kissed... and the first time they'd done more. The helpless pixie screamed so loudly Katherine had been forced to stuff her panties in her gibbering mouth and hold them there while she manipulated the struggling, bucking, writhing minx' glistening, flushed sex until the precious little prisoner had cum and cum. And later, still blindfolded and bound, at her own adamant insistence, Sally had returned the favor, her head bobbing between Katherine's legs and her surprisingly skillful tongue bringing her captor to shuddering, squealing orgasm.
And now Sally had Andrea... or Andrea had Sally. Katherine visualized the petite redhead... Tinkerbelle... maid-in-chains... Sally's lover. Katherine continued stroking her sex as she remembered capturing, stripping, and binding the red-haired vixen. She wasn't jealous of Sally's new friend. Katherine's relationship with 'Little One' wasn't really changed, or so she believed. Sally and Andrea had something beyond what Katherine shared with Sally; but she was still close to the dimpled pixie; however... it might be a very long time before she saw either the cute little blonde or the cute little redhead again.
And when would she see Kimber again? If Thomasina was true to her word (and Katherine was sure she was), the Blond Goddess was in her "day of rest" following whatever horrible things Helena had done to her. Poor Kimber... so beautiful and strong. Katherine could feel her hands massaging her sore body, caressing her sex, toying with her in her captive condition. Captive condition...
Katherine bounded from the bed and gathered the scarves she had purchased with Thomasina's plastic, as well as a washcloth from the bathroom, and the terry cloth sashes from the suite's two complementary robes. She folded one scarf into a narrow bandage and used it to bind her crossed ankles together. Another was used to bind her knees. She then folded a scarf through the folded washcloth, stuffed as much of the neat terry cloth pad into her mouth that she could, and gave herself a tight cleave-gag. Next, one of the sashes was looped over her arms and torso and knotted as tightly as Katherine could manage. She then took the second sash, tied one end around her left wrist, wiggled and writhed until she had folded her left arm behind her back and had the second sash looped around the first. Finally (and this was very difficult with both arms pinned), she managed to toss the free end of the second sash over her right shoulder, loop it through the first sash between her breasts, and pull it tight. This pinned her left wrist between her shoulder blades, and tightened down the sash encircling her arms. She cinched the second sash and relaxed in her self imposed bonds. Not exactly inescapable. Her right wrist was completely free, but her right arm was pinned above the elbow. Escape was not the issue. Katherine was as helpless as she needed to be... to pretend... to pretend that she'd been captured again... by Helena.
Helena... The Dark Priestess was not the monster she pretended to be. Katherine could see that now. She was Thomasina Crown's tame bogeyman, her tiger on a leash. Katherine twisted and fought her bonds, then slid her right hand back to her crotch. Katherine pictured Helena's flawless, fair skin, gleaming dark hair, penetrating brown eyes, and the sly smirk of her cruel smile. Sometimes a person's character can be seen more clearly in reflection; and in the mirror of Andrea, Kimber, and Thomasina Crown, Helena-the-horrible-beast became Helena-the-pussycat... albeit a sadistic pussycat more than happy to toy with any naked, helpless, kidnapped mouse Thomasina tossed her way. Jealous? Maybe. Overzealous? HELL yes, but Katherine could take whatever she dished out... probably... maybe... In any case, Helena the pussycat was a catspaw, Thomasina Crown's willing catspaw.
Thomasina... Katherine stroked herself with her free hand, writhed on the bed, and mewed softly through her gag, remembering the last time she had been Thomasina's helpless plaything; and after her escape, with Thomasina helpless in her bonds, of running her hands over the bound beauty's firm, fair skin... feeling her strong, well-toned muscles struggling against Katherine's ropes, against her skill with placement and knot tying... struggling and fighting, not surrendering for a single instant, as Katherine caressed her skin, her sex, kissed her nipples, her neck; struggling and fighting, 'til she came, and came, and came... just as Katherine was cumming now.
Katherine shuddered and stretched full length in her bonds, pointing her toes and mewing through her gag... then relaxed. Thomasina... Katherine slid her right arm under the sash binding her arms and tucked her right wrist under and against her left wrist. She tossed and turned on the now damp sheets and rolled onto her back and semi-bound wrists, snuggled into the soft/firm mattress, turned her gagged face to the side (savoring the feel of the cool sheets on her hot cheek), and closed her eyes. I hate being tied up! Katherine reminded herself.
◄ Chapter 13
Chapter 15 ►
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FIRAXIS Games | Jul 7, 2008
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In Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, strive to become ruler of the world by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age—waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering technologies, going head-to-head with some of history’s greatest leaders, and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known.
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XCOM: Enemy Unknown will place you in control of a secret paramilitary organization called XCOM. As the XCOM commander, you will defend against a terrifying global alien invasion by managing resources, advancing technologies, and overseeing combat strategies and individual unit tactics. The original X-COM is widely regarded as one of the best games..
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In BioShock, you take on the role of an average guy who's constantly finding himself put in weirder and more troublesome situations. Your plane has crashed over the ocean, you survive, and in your panic and bewilderment, you see a strange buoy. You swim over to it, and it leads you down to a brilliant underwater city that's suffered a colossal war,..
Borderlands 2 kicks off a new era of Shoot and Loot on September 18th in the US and September 21st Internationally! Pre-order the game and gain access to the Borderlands 2 Premiere Club which allows you to download awesome in-game items. To find out more on how to pre-order please visit '' . reduceurl("http://www.borderlands2..
Borderlands features four player online cooperative play, which allows you to join and leave games whenever you want to, along with other single-player and multiplayer modes, and a very large amount of weapons. Players can choose from four different playable characters who each have their own unique abilities and skill trees. In addition, players m..
In development since 2002, Oblivion is another leap forward in role-playing with its combination of freeform gameplay and cutting-edge graphics. Oblivion is the sequel to the best-selling, award-winning role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, named 2002 RPG and Game of the Year for both PC and Xbox...
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This private residential Condominium is three blocks to the beach, just a short walk to the International Marketplace, and near all the restaurant, shops, shopping malls, theaters, and entertainment in Waikiki. This high rise Condo has all two-bedroom apartments, with all the amenities.
Each unit has a complete kitchen with all the furnishings, and all the units have a large Washer/Dryer. Plus, there is Central air conditioning, Cable TV, DVD, Phone service (free local calls), and High Speed Internet cable.
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FOR RENT: Fully furnished 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom on the 26th floor, with spectacular views to the Ocean, City, Diamond Head, EWA, and the Mountains at $145.00/night, including parking, phone, and utilities. Plus: Taxes (GET & TAT @ 11.962%) and one time cleaning at $250.00. Currently NOT available.
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Prof. Marian Czapla – Paintings Exhibition 21 May 2010 6 p.m.
Prof. Marian Czapla was born in Gacki nr. Szydłowiec in the Kieleckie region. He is a graduate from the National Secondary School of General Education and Visual Arts (currently the Józef Szermentowski National Complex of Visual Art Schools) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (Diploma in 1972), he studied under the supervision of Stefan Gierowski (painting), Halina Chrostowska and Józef Pakulski (graphic arts). He was a co-founder of the artistic group Sympleks S4 (together with A. Bąkowski, Maja Gumińska, Piotr Kasprzak, Janina Kowalewska-Tarnowska, Ryszard Owczarek, Piotr Szemiński and Krzysztof Wachowiak), he is a professor of painting at his home university.
In the difficult postmodern era, he has been able to develop his own style of modern easel painting based on a bright textural colour and sensual figural art. Starting from a cold-and-warm abstraction, always bestowed with a metaphorical title, closely related to European masterly achievements of Nicolas de Staël or Serge Poliakoff in terms of workshop techniques, he developed an individual figural variant of morality painting, which could be well compared to abstract painting of the expressionist Willem de Kooning as far as the form goes, and more comprehensively, taking into account spiritual motivation, to the work of truly religious Catholic and Parisian George Roualt, a carpenter’s son and, like Czapla, an author of numerous non-orthodox, black-contoured, vehement, painterly, passion images of Jesus Christ (including vera icons – true images) and the Madonna.
He had over thirty individual exhibitions and participated in a few dozens collective exhibitions. His works can be found in the collections of the National Museum in Kielce and Szczecin, Regional Museum in Biała Podlaska, Warsaw Archdiocese Museum, the Wrocław University Institute of History of Art, SBWA Gallery and Studio Gallery in Warsaw, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (Ithaca, US).
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High Speed Rail Thinking About Bikes
Tuesday, November 11, 2014 | Sacramento, CA | Permalink
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A rendering of California's high speed train.
California High-Speed Rail
High Speed Rail is slowly moving forward in California and the state is now studying how bicycles can be incorporated into the mix.
The High Speed Rail Authority has reached out to several groups, including the California Bike Coalition, for suggestions on integrating bikes into the transit system. The Authority’s Annie Parker says suggestions have included building dedicated bike lanes to make it easier to get to stations, as well as creating secure places to lock up bikes at the stations and on trains.
"We also heard some really cool ideas about potential bike sharing and rental availability and other outside-of-the-box ideas that I think are really going to be very popular with our riders," she says.
Parker says around the world, including parts of California, it’s common for commuters to either bike to a rail station or use a bike to travel the final few miles from a station to an office. She says accounting for bikes in station designs meets the Authority’s goal of reducing greenhouse gases and providing alternative modes of travel.
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Lawsuit Over California High-Speed Rail Back In Court
(AP) - California's $68 billion high-speed rail project is back in court Thursday as state officials defend their plans.
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Engaging performances give ‘The Edge of Seventeen’ an edge over other high school films
November 21, 2016 Jeff Mitchell
“The Edge of Seventeen” – Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is not 16-years-old and on the cusp or edge of turning 17. No, Nadine is already 17, and I believe that the “edge” in this film’s title refers to the acidity can come with this particular age. As the movie plays out, Nadine feels that the “Game of Life” did not exactly deal her a straight flush, however, in this new high school comedy/drama, the audience quickly learns that the world does not spill figurative acid on her either. Nadine spills it…
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An interview with Haley Lu Richardson from ‘The Edge of Seventeen’
November 18, 2016 November 21, 2016 Jeff Mitchell
Phoenix native Haley Lu Richardson made a triumphant return to the Valley on Nov. 16 and sat down in a group interview with Art House Film Wire and other news/entertainment outlets to chat about her new film, the high school comedy/drama “The Edge of Seventeen”. In the movie, Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) and Krista (Richardson) are best friends. Life becomes complicated, however, when Krista (Richardson) gets a boyfriend and Nadine (Steinfeld) makes her to choose between her new beau and her. Richardson opens up about the movie’s themes, the bonds of friendship,…
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He convinced 11 people to give him over $1 million for a pipeline. He had other plans for it.
Business afloat. read full
Sitting indian american governors.
Geologist convinced alaska
Kind aunt matilda
The fund is among several cash streams that have provided at least $3 million to help with legal costs, food and other supplies to those opposing the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline. It may also give.
(11) For I know the thoughts . . .–The word used for "saith the Lord" implies that the gracious promise came to the prophet’s soul as an oracle from heaven.In the "thoughts" of God there is, perhaps, a reference to what had been said before of the Babylonian exiles in Jeremiah 24:6.. To give you an expected end.
He convinced 11 people to give him over $1 million for a pipeline. He had other plans for it.. plus the balloon payment of the other $11 million. We had seven years, with pretty expensive interest, to grow.. and plans to gradually give nearly all of it to the Bill and Melinda Gates.
Tampon, diaper taxes will endure in California But when you factor in the cost of living here in California, it is close to impossible." Cutting the diaper and tampon tax would eliminate about $55 million in revenue from the budget, according to.
Bruce Rastetter: The quiet, fierce man behind ag summit. Bruce Rastetter’s influence has spread from agriculture to energy to education and politics.
That donation at the time totalled $1.5 million. people like we can go pon helicopter’. It impacted on me. He said: ‘Jesus God, me caa believe a countryman like me a go pon helicopter’. He couldn’t.
Estranged husband of missing Connecticut mom has history of loan defaults, business complaints Estranged husband of missing Connecticut mom has history of loan defaults, business complaints Details Created on Wednesday, 05 june 2019 19:15 fotis Dulos posed as a successful businessman despite being sued by his in-laws for nearly $2 million for failing to repay loans keeping his business afloat. read full ArticleThe gadgets in the HGTV Smart Home in Palmetto Bluff are amazing HGTV cameras were spotted filming in Bluffton. Here’s what they were doing – The HGTV Smart Home in Bluffton’s Palmetto Bluff was opened for media tours on Thursday. We found some of the home’s best best features to be in the master bathroom. Take a look. The network is.Nikki Haley’s Parents Holding Online Estate Auction Nikki Haley is the first woman to serve as governor of South Carolina. When she was elected, she became the youngest sitting governor as well and one of two sitting indian american governors.
He convinced 11 people to give him over $1 million for a pipeline. He had other plans for it. | Lexington Herald Leader
The government denied the sluices had been opened and, in an effort to convince the skeptics, the Krasnodar region governor arranged for a group of residents to fly over. He demanded that.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The story of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is the stuff of legends. The saga began shortly after Alaska became a state in 1959, when a young geologist convinced alaska leaders.
Chapter 31 – Business Law. STUDY. PLAY.. Jordan files for bankruptcy because he has debts of $1 million that he cannot pay. He would like to sign a document to assure his kind aunt matilda that he will repay all of the $30,000 that she lent him.. because it would give preference to one.
In Roslonek’s case, he wound up just telling the truth about why he couldn’t give his study partner his number: "I had to think pretty quickly. My assessment was that he was a genuinely nice.
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Local Hero: Anna Piunova
Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz profiles Anna Piunova, editor-in-chief of Mountain.ru. Piunova was instrumental in coordinating the helicopter rescue of Alex Gukov from 6200 meters on Latok I (7145m) in July 2018.
Catching Ludwig
In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 65, Cameron M. Burns learns to belay from an eccentric mentor before braving his way up Castleton Tower with a couple of friends and a few hexes.
The Ice Mirror
In recognition of International Women's Day, we're now sharing this Sharp End story by Alpinist Editor-in-Chief Katie Ives that first appeared in Alpinist 65, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store. Ives writes, "I became fascinated by recurring myths and images in the ways that climbers interpret fragments of existence. And as I looked for more examples, I grew absorbed by the sheer volume of alpine fiction written by and about women.... For authors [during the turn of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries], alpine settings seemed to offer their heroines a level of empowerment that they rarely found in cities.... 'Why do we want to have alternate worlds?' asked the fantasy writer Joan Aiken in Locus Magazine (1998), 'You have to imagine something before you do it.'"
An Astonishing Plentitude
This poem first appeared in Alpinist 65, which is now available on newsstands and in our online store. Sarah Audsley is a climber and poet living in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire. In January 2019, she completed an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College. She has received support for her creative work from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the Vermont Studio Center. In this feature, we asked her to tell us a little about the inspiration for "An Astonishing Plentitude."
The End of the Beginning
In this 2016 Full Value story from Alpinist 55, Alpinist Digital Editor Derek Franz peers into the dark side of the dirtbag dream.
The Lost Times—Los Tiempos Perdidos
In this Full Value story from Alpinist 64, Quentin Lindfield Roberts confronts the long journey home and the occasionally even-greater dangers of daily life after his climbing partner nearly dies in an accident on Cerro Torre.
Raggedy Man
After recovering from a severe illness in the wake of the Gulf War, veteran Scott Coldiron returns to his long-abandoned climbing dreams—exploring new ice in remote parts of Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. In this On Belay story from Alpinist 64, Coldiron traces the formative experiences of his hard-knock childhood, his discovery of what the mountains offered, and how he found his way back to the peaks that first stirred his imagination.
Q&A with Alpinist Assistant Research Editor Anders Ax
Every story in Alpinist is thoroughly fact-checked. "Fact checking" has become a more common term in today's digital headlines, as accusations of "fake news" and "alternative facts" abound in our society. In this feature, Alpinist Associate Editor Paula Wright interviews Alpinist Research Editor Anders Ax about the strategy and nuance of exhaustive fact-checking and how he handles the most difficult questions that may not have definitive answers.
Local Hero: Stacy Bare
In this Local Hero profile from Alpinist 64, Teresa Baker writes about Iraq War veteran Stacy Bare and how climbing introduced him to new perspectives, helped him recover and inspired him to seek out ways that nature could help others cope with trauma. "Being able to get outside is a gift," he says.
To Father from Daughter
In this Climbing Life story from Alpinist 64, Alexandra Lev delves into the past of her father who was already a highly accomplished mountaineer by the time she was born. She writes, "I'd meet climbers and skiers who would say to me with excitement, 'Your dad is Peter Lev?' They called him a legend. To me, he was just my dad. I was aware that he'd gone on some expeditions in the Himalaya and that he'd skied extensively in Canada, but I knew none of the details." Now a grown woman, Alexandra Lev rediscovers her roots with new eyes and appreciation.
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- 苏州美甲美睫培训学校
Supercoach Surtees
Posted in 苏州美甲美睫培训学校 by admin on 19 May 2019
TAMWORTH’s own supercoach Ron Surtees has been recognised with a Tamworth Community Sports Award this month after over 45 years of developing talent across the region.
The monthly Sportsmans Warehouse-backed award never misses its mark, although few awardees can boast a record as impressive as the former Tamworth High teacher and coach, who has a litany of sporting and coaching achievements to his name including the mentoring of a few local Olympians.
Specialising in water polo and rugby league, Surtees first hit the coaching spotlight when he took up a teaching and coaching role at his former school Tamworth High in 1970, remaining there until retiring in 2008.
In that time Surtees coached the school’s water polo team to 14 state water polo championships and into a golden era of local players, with five of them going on to the Institute of Sport and then the Olympics. Nathan Thomas captained the Australian team in Atlanta along with fellow Surtees mentee Craig Miller.
Sportsmans Warehouse managers Bob Barber and Ricky Craig flank local sporting identity Ron Surtees who was recognised with the Tamworth Community Sports Award this month. Photo: Barry Smith 190516BSA01
In rugby league Surtees is one of the only people in the country that can lay claim to winning a University Shield as part of Tamworth High’s 1965 side, and winning one as coach in 1978.
“I was privileged to coach one and play in one,” Surtees said.
Surtees also took the school hockey team to three state finals, winning one and losing the other two in shoot-outs.
Overall the supercoach directed Tamworth High teams to 49 state finals across the three sports, that number climbing to an even 50 including his University Shield win, and more impressively coming away with 30 titles for a winning percentage that would be the envy of any coach.
While still at Tamworth High, Surtees was invited to help out at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where his next brainchild and passion began along with Wally Franklin, the Tamworth Regional Sporting Hall of Fame and following that the Olympian Honour Wall on the front of Ray White House.
“When I was working at the Olympics I had the idea and knew that we had at least eight Olympians from Tamworth,” Surtees said.
“We formed a committee and decided to go for it.”
“It was a real highlight to have all the athletes turn up to the unveiling of the plaques, and all of them said it was an honour.”
“It was an absolute thrill.”
Surtees only concern now is who he and people like chairman Wally Franklin can pass the baton to.
“We need to keep adding the future Olympians and recognising the achievements from this region,” Surtees said.
He believes that Bill Chaffey and John Porch will likely take the next two plaques for para-triathlon and rugby sevens respectively, and also believes that the talent in the region can keep the plaques coming at a good rate.
A legend stays forever YoungVIDEO
GALLERY: Out and about in Orange
Microchip solves mysterious case of Sherlock the cat’s disappearance
Struggle Street: Inala ‘unfairly maligned’
Qld slowly working to give LGBTIQ community equal rights
© 2010 苏州吴江区美甲培训 - Theme design: ByPrelco
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Phillies Bear-ly Beat Cubs
The Phillies snapped a five game losing streak as they held on to beat the equally bad Chicago Cubs. In a back and forth contest the Phillies managed to escape with a 9-8 win in the end.
Kyle Kendrick made the start and continued his second half struggles, throwing six innings, while allowing five runs, four earned. Jake Diekman followed Kendrick and tossed one and one-third scoreless inning before Justin De Fratus recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning. Entering the ninth with a four run lead, the Phillies turned to Jonathan Papelbon, who proceeded to raise everyone's blood pressure, allowing three runs, two earned, before finally finishing the game.
The Phillies jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first on a Chase Utley RBI single, before coughing the lead up to the Cubs. Kyle Kendrick helped his own cause by singling home a run in the second to narrow the gap to 4-2 Cubs. After the Cubs got a run back, the Phillies tacked on two in the third to cut the deficit to one. The Phillies took the lead in the fifth as they scored three runs, with the help of an Utley RBI triple, Dom Brown RBI groundout and Darin Ruf's fourth home run on the season. Michael Young doubled home a run in the sixth and Carlos Ruiz hit his second home run of the season in the eighth, providing what would prove to be the game winning run.
Chase Utley was 3 for 4 on the evening and Michael Young, Darin Ruf and Cody Asche each collected two hits. Ruf has now reached base safely in 33 straight games and is hitting .309 this season.
The Phillies will face the Cubs again tonight in game two of this series. Cole Hamels will make the start.
By: Kyle Babcock
Follow us on Twitter: @BroadStBeat
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BILLY PAUCH
Posted by BVT at 8:10 PM
GRANDVIEW SPEEDWAY
GRANDVIEW POINT STANDINGS
BIG DIAMOND SPEEDWAY
SDS PHOTOGRAPHY
SNYDER WEB DESIGN
POPPA PEPPER'S RACING PHOTO'S
HIGH SIDE APPAREL
OUTLAW ENDURO SERIES
LOW DOWN & DIRTY
ACTION TRACK USA
JOE ADAMS LETTERING
SEAT TIME RACING SCHOOL
SOUTH JERSEY DIRT RACING
THUNDER ON THE HILL
SUPER DIRTcar SERIES
GSP VIDEO
WRT SPEEDWERX
BRENT SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY
BOB YURKO PHOTOGRAPHY
3 WIDE'S PICTURE VAULT
GRANDVIEW FANTASY LEAGUE
CPN FANTASY LEAGUE
GRANDUEL
2010 BPG FREEDOM 76
THANKS FOR EVERYTHING CHAD!
E-MAIL ME AT:
vols22@comcast.net
Blog Archive January (29) December (57) November (59) October (64) September (60) August (61) July (63) June (55) May (68) April (59) March (61) February (45) January (57) December (49) November (44) October (53) September (56) August (61) July (67) June (58) May (65) April (63) March (52) February (42) January (52) December (41) November (44) October (50) September (54) August (54) July (59) June (58) May (53) April (54) March (45) February (35) January (47) December (35) November (39) October (45) September (42) August (57) July (51) June (53) May (53) April (54) March (58) February (56) January (49) December (31) November (37) October (57) September (56) August (65) July (62) June (62) May (62) April (69) March (50) February (49) January (57) December (38) November (54) October (51) September (65) August (69) July (69) June (81) May (76) April (67) March (67) February (55) January (57) December (55) November (42) October (44) September (49) August (57) July (55) June (63) May (54) April (49) March (51) February (46) January (56) December (56) November (32) October (55) September (55) August (66) July (74) June (60) May (65) April (60) March (67) February (79) January (72) December (59) November (58) October (58) September (72) August (70) July (84) June (72) May (64) April (64) March (76) February (79) January (76) December (58) November (59) October (58) September (63) August (56) July (64) June (57) May (64) April (54) March (58) February (56) January (58) December (50) November (49) October (54) September (55) August (63) July (65) June (60) May (66) April (60) March (70) February (56) January (87) December (97) November (47)
ATLANTIC CITY INDOOR RACE
BIG DIAMOND OPENER
*THROWBACK PIC*
DUANE HOWARD
THE SABO'S
SDS & POPPA PEPPER'S PHOTO'S
NATHAN MOHR
TJ MAYBERRY
TOM MAYBERRY
GREG HODNETT
MARK NAFTZINGER
BRUCE ROGERS
MIKE BAILEY
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Orphaned Roots
Creating a “CRL consensus” on goals and standards is at the heart of CRL’s shared print agenda. Essential to establishing that consensus is CRL’s Collections and Services Policy Committee (CSPC). The committee was instrumental in the past in shaping the terms of CRL partnerships with the Linda Hall Library and the Law Library Microfilm Consortium, and they will similarly be involved in shaping terms with future partners.
Martha Hruska, chair, and other members of the committee have identified a number of areas in which our planning is still evolving. In the context of discussing the “sea change” the CSPC posed three questions, which I want to address in this blog post:
1. As CRL evolves from a single repository to a network of trusted partner repositories, who might be engaged in that network, and what trusted partner repositories are under consideration?
With the Linda Hall arrangement in place for STE serials, CRL is now focusing on the humanities and social sciences. It would be premature to name potential partners at this stage, but the profile of candidate organizations is certain. Major U.S. and Canadian research libraries and “libraries of record”, with deep and extensive HSS holdings, and that have longstanding commitments to comprehensive collecting, would be natural candidates to form the core of such a network. Cooperative shared print programs that can provide the requisite commitments to both archiving and providing electronic access to holdings would also be appropriate partners.
2. Would an academic/university library partnership have different characteristics than the Linda Hall arrangement, and if so, what long-term assurances should CRL put in place as the network expands?
CRL has maintained a high bar for collection stewardship. The long-term assurances we put in place with the Linda Hall Library arrangement are the subject of my post of March 10. Linda Hall is a unique institution, and brought special strengths to the partnership. Future arrangements will therefore likely differ from the Linda Hall arrangement, but the terms of stewardship will be no less stringent. As the network expands, CSPC must help determine how many distributed copies of a given serial are enough, how strong the commitments on archiving should be, to what extent archiving commitments should be audited, and what services archiving partners must provide. All of these terms will be structured to ensure a return to member libraries that is adequate to justify CRL’s investment.
3. How will CRL align its vision with its means, and what kind of business model will enable funding the costs of digitization and working with new partners? How does this affect CRL’s budget going forward?
There will be costs involved in further developing the shared collections, filling gaps in holdings, and digitization and hosting of shared materials. Therefore aligning vision with means will be critical to success. Throughout CRL’s history the organization has been, among other things, a mechanism for aligning action with resources. In keeping with that history a “CRL consensus” on standards and service will be a matter of CRL libraries deciding what they can and will support. CSPC will help us achieve that consensus.
There is a significant pool of resources (about $7 million/year) that CRL members now put toward the shared collections. To date we’ve done a great deal with that funding: we built, maintained and continued to provide access to a corpus of five million items, including about 50,000 serial titles. Through investment in the Linda Hall partnership we’ve been able to make another 40,000+ titles available. And we are digitizing about four million pages a year to provide electronic access to the shared collections.Given the state of public finances at both federal and state level, we don’t envision much additional funding becoming available for shared print. We therefore have to scale our aspirations to the level of resources the membership provides, grow that membership to support new capabilities, and form new partnerships that generate tangible new benefits for CRL libraries.
CRL has added new benefits and services for members in the past few years by drawing upon its reserve funds. We cannot do that indefinitely. Therefore we now propose to begin reallocating resources to new services from print and microform collections that are either not essential to CRL’s mission and those of diminishing value to members. This will enable us to shift the balance between CRL fixed assets (bricks and mortar, centralized collections) and liquid assets that are more conducive to expanding the shared collections and the services built around those collections.
Libraries face hard decisions. Guided by our Board of Directors, the Collections and Services Policy Committee, and CRL’s 209 voting member libraries we are forging community consensus on what is both desirable and affordable. That will be the topic of my report at the Council of Voting Members meeting on April 21. I encourage the representatives of all CRL voting member institutions to participate in the meeting.
Archiving and preservation Collections PAPR
A Sea Change (9): Investment in Open Access and Shared Digital Resources
A Sea Change (7): CRL's Eighth Decade
CRL and East View Release Second Open Access Collection
CRL and JSTOR Partner to Make South Asian Materials Openly Available Online
CRL Libraries Vote to Purchase Six New Collections
Strategies for Strengthening Collective Dealings: an eDesiderata Forum
30 Oct 2019 - 12:00pm
Webinar: Making the Most of CRL Collections
24 Jul 2019 - 2:00pm
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Mantas at cupidsreviews.com believes "online dating is as safe, if not safer, than meeting in the 'conventional' ways," and gave two security suggestions specific to online dating.
First, "start a free e-mail account from Hotmail or Yahoo to use just for your dating e-mail." Secondly, "never use your e-mail from work." Not only are work addresses the property of your employer, they also often include the company name. With this information, someone may be able to find your full name and the address of your company.
Mantas suggests taking the normal precautions of a blind date, and urges women to tell their date that loved ones know where they are and when to expect them home.
Not all people are as lucky as Sue and Barry, Gilda and Hiro, or Tim and Ellis. Misconnections fill cyberspace. However, most of the online dating 'horror' stories I found were really simple tales of disappointment.
Leah, a bartender in St. Paul, corresponded through an AOL chat room with Ricco, a West Coast computer analyst, for several months. They both had black labs and shared a passion for shopping, movies, and solitaire games.
When Ricco said he was coming to Minneapolis on business, Leah was excited. "I thought finally we would meet in person," she said.
However, Leah was dismayed when Ricco stopped on their first date to purchase nose hair clippers.
"Like he couldn't have done this before we met," Leah says.
Leah's story is a reminder that not every encounter in cyberspace will become a match made in heaven.
"It wasn't that he was not attractive, it was more that he was too comfortable with me right away," she said. "I think first impressions are important."
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Cycles and patterns in permutations, lattice paths, and exclusion processes
Speaker: Robert Parviainen
Date: Fri 9 Jun 2006
Location: Theatre 1, Ground Floor, 111 Barry Street, Carlton
Abstract: Recently a lattice path representation of the stationary distributions for some exclusion processes was derived. This enables us to write the generating function for the stationary distributions as a continued fraction. These results in turn may be used to show deep connections between these exclusion processes and permutation statistics. More specifically, parameters in the stationary distribution generating function correspond to, for example, a) the number of cycles, and b) the number of occurrences of a certain pattern in permutations. This bi-statistic of cycles and patterns in permutations appears, despite high interest in patterns in permutations, to be previously unstudied.
Weights on Walls & Combinatorial Calculations with Orthogonal Polynomials
Speaker: Judy-anne Osborn
Date: Fri 26 May 2006
Abstract: Recently an open problem from the 1970's, that of enumerating directed lattice paths in a slit, each wall of which has an independent weight associated with it, was solved using the Constant Term Method. In this talk I will describe that solution, as well as presenting its generalization to the case where each wall has any finite number of independent weights layered against it. The method utilizes rational functions which come from orthogonal polynomials subject to a geometrically apt variable change. I will also present a combinatorial method to directly calculate these transformed orthogonal polynomials.
PDE Approach to valuation and hedging of credit derivatives
Speaker: Marek Rutkowski
Institution: University of New South Wales,
Location: Theatre 2, Ground Floor, 111 Barry Street, Carlton.
Abstract: Our aim is to examine the PDE approach to the valuation and hedging of a defaultable claim in various settings; this allows us to emphasize the importance of the choice of the traded assets. We start with a general model for the dynamics of the traded primary assets. Subsequently, we further specify our model and we deal with particular defaultable claims such as, for instance, survival claims. For the sake of notational simplicity, we deal throughout with three primary traded assets only. A generalization to the case of any number of primary assets is straightforward, however. First, we examine the no-arbitrage property of a model in terms of a martingale measure. Next, we study the PDE approach to valuation of defaultable claims and we derive the formulae for hedging strategies of a defaultable claim under the assumption that prices of all primary assets are strictly positive. Finally, we show how to adapt the valuation PDEs if some primary assets are defaultable securities with zero recovery, so that their prices vanish after default.
Long cycles in random graphs
Speaker: Nick Wormald
Institution: University of Waterloo, Canada
Date: Fri 5 May 2006
Abstract: When a random graph on n vertices has enough edges (lines joining the vertices), i.e. about (1/2) n log n edges, it almost surely has a cycle containing all of its vertices, and the circumference (length of longest cycle) is n. What happens in the sparser case? When the graph has much less than n/2 edges, so the average degree of vertices (number of incident edges) is less than 1, there are few cycles and the answer is well understood. I will discuss old results on circumference as well as a new lower bound applying to the intermediate range, where the average degree of a vertex is at least 1 but can be regarded as bounded. (Joint work with Jeong Han Kim of Microsoft Research.)
Complexity of a System as a Key to Its Optimisation
Speaker: Galina Korotkikh and Victor Korotkikh
Institution: Central Queensland University
Date: Fri 28 Apr 2006
Abstract: In the talk we discuss results of computational experiments offering the possibility of a general optimality condition of complex systems. “A complex system demonstrates the optimal performance for a problem, when the structural complexity of the system is in a certain relationship with the structural complexity of the problem.” The optimality condition presents the structural complexity of a system [2] as a key to its optimisation. Indeed, according to the optimality condition the optimal result can be obtained as long as the structural complexity of the system is properly related with the structural complexity of the problem. The computational results also indicate that the performance of a complex system may behave as a concave function of the structural complexity and thus reduce the optimisation of a complex system to a one-dimensional concave optimisation. This would become possible irrespective of the number of variables involved in the description of a complex system, because the structural complexity of the system, considered as one variable, could control the performance in such a remarkable way.
Computational Methods for Analyzing Phylogenetic Trees
Speaker: Katherine St. John
Institution: City University of New York
Location: Theatre 3, 1st Floor, 111 Barry Street, Carlton.
Abstract: Evolutionary histories, or phylogenies, form an integral part of much work in biology. In addition to the intrinsic interest in the interrelationships between species, phylogenies are used for drug design, multiple sequence alignment, and even as evidence in a recent criminal trial. Much work has been done on designing algorithms that build phylogenetic trees given representative sequences of their DNA. The optimization criteria preferred by biologists for building trees is NP-hard. So, heuristics are often used that return many possible trees, instead of single optimal tree. This talk concentrates on the heuristics used for tree reconstruction, as well as how to summarize, analyze, and visualize these sets of trees. In particular, we will focus on fast reconstruction methods with provably nice properties, calculating biologically meaningful distances between trees quickly, and visualizing large sets of trees using the treecomp package designed by our group, as a module for the Mesquite system (developed by Wayne and David Maddison). (This work is joint with Nina Amenta, David Hillis, Tamara Munzner, and Tandy Warnow and is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.)
The Volume Weighted Average Price Option
Speaker: Antony Stace
Institution: University of Queensland
Date: Thu 16 Mar 2006
Location: Room 216, Prentice Building (42), University of Queensland
Abstract: In this talk I introduce the volume weighted average price (VWAP) option. VWAP options have a payoff that is dependent on both the stock price and volume of stock traded over the lifetime of the option. I give some real work examples of both the VWAP price and VWAP options. Following this, I describe several different methods that I have developed to price VWAP options. I concentrate on the valuation of European style, fixed and floating strike call options. Little additional effort is required to adapt the results of this work to value puts.
Bounds for the decay parameter of a general birth-death process
Speaker: David Sirl
Date: Thu 9 Mar 2006
Abstract: In the study of continuous-time Markov chains with state spaces consisting of an absorbing state, which is accessible from an irreducible transient class, the so-called decay parameter is of fundamental importance. Aside from being of interest in its own right, the decay parameter plays a central role in the theory of the quasi-stationary distributions of such processes. Despite its importance, it is notoriously difficult to evaluate or even approximate. We outline its significance in the aforementioned contexts, then introduce an alternative characterisation and indicate how this leads to explicit bounds for the value of the decay parameter of a general birth-death process in terms of the birth and death rates only. An immediate corollary is a necessary and sufficient condition for positivity of the decay parameter. We illustrate the power of these results with several examples. This is joint work with Hanjun Zhang and Phil Pollett
An exactly solvable model of recombination, mutation and selection
Speaker: Professor Michael Baake
Institution: University of Bielefeld, Germany
Date: Wed 1 Mar 2006
Location: Richard Berry Building, The University of Melbourne
Abstract: Population genetics is concerned with the time evolution of a large ensemble of individuals, represented by their genetic sequences. The latter, in the course of reproduction, change under the influence of mutation, selection, recombination and various other factors. Though this is a problem of stochastic nature, important and relevant information can be extracted from its deterministic infinite population limit, which leads to a system of nonlinear differential equations. In this talk, starting from the case of pure recombination, a relevant continuous time case is discussed that can be solved exactly. In a second step, this exact solution is extended to include arbitary mutation and additive selection. This could serve as the starting point for further extensions of perturbative type and should be more realistic than the models of neutral evolution used so far.
Maritime Path Planning in Minefield Threat Environments
Speaker: Ranga Muhandiramge
Institution: University of Western Australia
Date: Thu 2 Feb 2006
Abstract: The Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO) have funded a project to investigate the ways in which mathematics, and in particular operations research, may be helpful in the problem of minefield path transit at sea. These include finding minimum risk paths and detection/clearance of mines. Many different models of the problem will be formulated and solved using different network algorithms. Of particular interested is network weight constrained shortest path problem (WCSPP) formulation and its relation to the continuous version of the problem. Improvements to the WCSPP algorithm will also be presented.
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Where to eat and shop in Portland, Maine
Cape Elizabeth in Twin Lights State Park.
Thrilling as it may be discover a new destination, to stumble across unexpected corners of a foreign city, there’s something equally rewarding about returning to the same spot year after year. You build up a relationship with the place, internally noting how it changes with the passing of time. Favorite finds become familiar haunts and neither map nor smartphone is required to navigate them. Eventually, you develop an irrational sense of ownership, as if this town or seashore or patch of woods somehow belongs more to you than to other travelers who know it less intimately.
I do not have many places like this. Part of me is anxious about all the things I haven’t seen and feels guilty about returning to one in particular. It’s the moral equivalent of rereading a beloved book when I could/should be tackling that new nonfiction paperback on my desk.
The exception to the rule is Maine. My family's annual road trip through the state has been repeated so often as to verge on ritual. And while I’m excited to try the new restaurant in town or to see how certain areas have blossomed, I’m also content to stop at the same stretches of coastline that haven’t changed in eons. It feels like a homecoming of sorts, even if it’s to a place I have never lived.
For this past Christmas, at a time when no one in their right mind goes to the beach, my family took a drive up to the shimmering sand flats and bramble-blanketed dunes. We stayed in Portland, which retains a small-town vibe, despite being the largest city in Maine. It’s one of the more delicious places on this planet, with a restaurant-to-population ratio that would shame Paris. And while bare Edison bulbs, exposed brick, ironic tattoos and beards may be in abundance, it’s hard to scream about Brooklynification when the results are this good. Unlike a many places with these trappings, Portland never feels self-conscious about its coolness. There’s a lingering warmth, a refreshing lack of pretension, and a sense of community that makes it all feel genuine rather than trendy.
Even in December, Maine's coast is shamelessly photogenic.
The fact that a great many Bostonians will drive to this restaurant for dinner tells you a lot. That virtually all of the staff have stuck around since the joint launched more than a decade ago says even more. Seasonal, local and mostly cooked in a roaring, open hearth, meals here are the kind that guests end up gushing over months or even years later. On this latest visit, duckling cooked two ways—rare seared breast and confit leg—and a deceptively simple-sounding bluefish with potato gratin were standouts. The roasted mussels swimming in lemon-almond butter never leave the menu and they never should.
Standard Baking Co.
Savory loaves like these at Standard Baking Co. also feature at Fore Street.
These people work miracles with butter, sugar and gluten. Artisanal breads with crackling crusts, ethereal morning glory buns, crumbly scones studded with tart blueberries—I dare anyone to walk in the door and not leave cradling bags of carb-laden goodness.
Central Provisions
All interior shots were too much of a blurry, grainy, whiskey-soaked mess.
Though this list is mostly dedicated to old favorites, I liked this newcomer so much that I decided to add it. The inventive small plates earned it a recent James Beard nomination and the drinks are pretty perfect. What won me over though was the staff, who were as friendly as could be despite the line out the door.
LeRoux Kitchen
I want everything.
I’m more likely to splurge on a Le Creuset or a Japanese rice cooker than shoes, and this store is my kryptonite. They have every kitchen gadget a cooking geek could ever want and I’ve never, ever managed to leave empty handed.
Sherman’s Books & Stationery
Creative genre titles include this and and "not nonfiction."
Independent, well-run English-language bookstores are one of the things I miss most about my country. Sherman’s, both here and in Bar Harbor up the coast, is the kind of place where the staff have extensive recommendations on just about any genre.
Salt Cellar
Because everything tastes better grilled on a slab of Himalayan pink salt.
Shades of the occult... or a really tricked-out yoga studio.
Absurd as its premise might sound, this shop dedicated exclusively to salt is fun to browse. Aside from every sort of flavored salt imaginable, there are salt-centric cookbooks, salt slabs for cooking, sculptures, knick-knacks and an entire room full of glowing salt lamps. Should you need a gift for the amateur chef, yoga teacher or weird aunt (or yourself. Some of this stuff is pretty cool) in your life, but aren't planning a trip to Portland, you can always check out their online store.
The Holy Donut
Photo courtesy of Felice Boucher and The Holy Donut.
Photo courtesy of Lauren Lear and The Holy Donut.
I should preface this by saying the last time I ate doughnuts for breakfast was over a decade ago. These tender potato fritters are a far cry from your standard Krispy Kremes though. We ordered sweet potato-ginger, toasted coconut, cranberry-glazed and maple-bacon (my personal favorite)... which lasted less than 15 minutes. The doughnuts themselves are barely sweet, which helps balance out the sugary glaze. Though the place was absolutely mobbed when we visited, the staff couldn't have been friendlier. I wrote more about this here.
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So Much Confusion, So Little Time
The walking "sound bite," Buffalo, New York, businessman Carl Paladino, who is the Republican Party's nominee for Governor of the State of New York, has unleashed yet another firestorm, this time centering around his remarks concerning the nonexistent "right" of those steeped in perverse sins against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments to "marry" and the hideous displays associated with their annual exhibitions of gross indecency (see No Room In The Big Tent For Catholics and Fearing to Offend Men Rather Than God). Although Mr. Paladino, correctly expressed his opposition to non-exist "right" of unrepentant practitioners of perversity to "marry" and gave a frank and refreshingly honest, if at times too graphic, assessment of the public exhibitions of this sin that cries out to Heaven for vengeance, he also said that he was not opposed to the sin itself, only to the assertion that those who engage in it have the right to "marry" and that they are wrong to push their agenda publicly by means of their annual "parades."
So much confusion, so little time.
First, Carl Paladino, as could be expected, has been denounced by his Democratic Party opponent, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a pro-abortion, pro-perversity Catholic who is in perfectly "good standing" with the officials of the counterfeit church of conciliarism despite his support for the chemical and surgical assassination of children and despite his support for "right" of those engaged in perverted acts against nature to "marry," and others of the usual "suspects" as a "homophobe."
This state of affairs has come to pass because there has been an almost complete loss of the sensus Catholicus among the lion's share of Catholics who are attached to the structures of the counterfeit church of conciliarism, most of whom accept sloganeering and appeals to sentimentality quite willingly as worthy substitutes for a humble and docile submission to the binding precepts of the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law as they have been entrusted by Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to His Catholic Church for their eternal safekeeping and infallible explication. We have millions upon millions of little "popes" and "popessas" running around thinking that they are "good Catholics" who have "compassion" for those who simply have a "different lifestyle" than they do.
The loss of the sensus Catholicus, a phenomenon that was treated briefly in Sunday's article, Distracting Us With More Side Shows, part three, has been hastened also by the fact that a culture friendly to unrepentant acts of perversion and an entirely phony category of human self-identification based upon an attraction to and/or persistence in such perverted acts has been fostered by many, although far from all, clergy in the "hierarchy" and the presbyterate of the counterfeit church of conciliarism. It is this "homophile" culture that makes Carl Paladino's challenge to Andrew Cuomo to ask his "parish priest" what he thinks about "marriage" "rights" for those engaged in perversity a very risky proposition as Andrew Cuomo and his equally thuggish father, former New York Governor Mario Matthew Cuomo, know lots and lots and lots of conciliar clergymen who are very open to the agenda being promoted by those engaged in unspeakable acts against nature and who support "marriage" for such people.
It is apposite once again to cite the following passage from Pope Gregory XVI's Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832, to demonstrate what must come to pass in a nation where the Catholic Faith does not inform public policy and social life in all that pertains to the good of souls:
This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error," as Augustine was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly "the bottomless pit" is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws -- in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty. (Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, August 15, 1832.)
There is no constitutional, legal, secular, naturalistic, non-denominational, inter-denominational or electoral way out of this bottomless pit. Our Lady has shown us the way out: the fulfillment of her Fatima Message. Who is listening? Who cares?
Second, it is unfortunately the case that Carl Paladino is, despite opposing the "right" of those to engage in perversity to "marry" and his open revulsion at the exhibitions in support of perverted acts against nature, has "no problem" with perversity as long as those who engage in it are not "in your face" about the matter. This betrays a real lack of a sense of the horror of personal sin as it is one thing to treat the erring sinner with kindness while at the same time condemning any and all acts of violence against him for promoting his sinful choices. It is quite another to dismiss the effects that "private" sins have upon social order as it is impossible to maintain a just social order if human beings are at war with the Most Blessed Trinity by means of persisting in grave sins, no less those that cry out to Heaven for vengeance:
The more closely the temporal power of a nation aligns itself with the spiritual, and the more it fosters and promotes the latter, by so much the more it contributes to the conservation of the commonwealth. For it is the aim of the ecclesiastical authority by the use of spiritual means, to form good Christians in accordance with its own particular end and object; and in doing this it helps at the same time to form good citizens, and prepares them to meet their obligations as members of a civil society. This follows of necessity because in the City of God, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, a good citizen and an upright man are absolutely one and the same thing. How grave therefore is the error of those who separate things so closely united, and who think that they can produce good citizens by ways and methods other than those which make for the formation of good Christians. For, let human prudence say what it likes and reason as it pleases, it is impossible to produce true temporal peace and tranquillity by things repugnant or opposed to the peace and happiness of eternity. (Silvio Cardinal Antoniano, quoted by Pope Pius XI in Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929.)
One would hope that Mr. Paladino would be challenged himself by someone to recognize that it is indeed impossible to produce true temporal peace and tranquility by things repugnant or opposed to the peace and happiness of eternity, that those who commit grave sins against nature are their own worst enemies as they help to further sow the seeds for social disorder by warring against Our Lord and doing the devil's work by defacing His Sacred Image within their own immortal souls, which are made in His image and likeness and have been redeemed by the shedding of His Most Precious Blood.
In order to once again help readers to combat the sloganeering and sentimentality that are used to promote the agenda of perversity, perhaps even by some of our own family members and friends and associates, permit me to summarize some salient points that are simply simple statements of Catholic truth that are not open to debate and from which no one can dissent unless a person can prove that he is not a contingent being (that is a person who has created himself) and that is body is not destined one day for the corruption of the grave until the General Resurrection on the Last Day:
1) God's love for us is an act of His divine will, the ultimate expression of which is the salvation of our immortal souls.
2) Our love for others must be premised on willing for them what God wills for us: their salvation as members of the Catholic Church.
3) We love no one authentically if we do or say anything, either by omission or commission, which reaffirms him in a life of unrepentant sin.
4) Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ hates sin. He wills the sinner to repent of his sins by cooperating with the graces He won for them on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flow into his heart and soul through the loving hands of Our Lady, she who is the Mediatrix of All Graces.
5) One of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to admonish the sinner. We have an obligation to admonish those who are in lives on unrepentant sin to turn away from their lives of sin and to strive to pursue the heights of sanctity.
6) God has compassion on all erring sinners, meaning each one of us. He understands our weakness. He exhorts us, as He exhorted the woman caught in adultery, to "Go, and commit this sin no more."
7) It is not an act of "love" for people to persist in unrepentant sins with others.
8) It is not an act of "judgmentalness" or "intolerance" to exhort people who are living lives of unrepentant sin to reform their lives lest their souls wind up in Hell for eternity.
9) Mortal Sins cast out Sanctifying Grace from the soul. Those steeped in unrepentant mortal sin are the captives of the devil until they make a good and sincere Confession to a true priest.
9) Certain sins cry out to Heaven for vengeance. Sodomy is one of the four sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance.
10) Those engaged in natural or unnatural acts against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments do not "love" the individuals with whom they are sinning. Authentic love cannot exist in a soul committed to a life against the Commandments of God and the eternal welfare of one's own soul, no less the souls of others.
11) Those engaged in natural or unnatural acts against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments are not fit to adopt children.
12) Those engaged in natural or unnatural acts against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments are not fit to adopt children because their very sinful lives put into jeopardy the eternal of the souls of the children they seek to adopt. It is not possible for people who are sinning unrepentantly to teach children to hate sin as God hates sin. They are immersed in sin. Pope Pius XI put it this way in Casti Connubii, December 31, 1930:
But Christian parents must also understand that they are destined not only to propagate and preserve the human race on earth, indeed not only to educate any kind of worshippers of the true God, but children who are to become members of the Church of Christ, to raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God's household, that the worshippers of God and Our Savior may daily increase.
13) Those engaged in unnatural, perverse acts against the Sixth and Ninth Commandments are further unfit to adopt children because they have no right in the Divine Positive Law or the natural law to live together as a "couple." Once again, Pope Pius XI's Casti Connubii:
Nor must We omit to remark, in fine, that since the duty entrusted to parents for the good of their children is of such high dignity and of such great importance, every use of the faculty given by God for the procreation of new life is the right and the privilege of the married state alone, by the law of God and of nature, and must be confined absolutely within the sacred limits of that state.
14) Those engaged in unnatural, perverse acts against the Sixth and Ninth Commandment have no right in the Divine Positive Law or the Natural Law to present a "model" of parenthood that is from the devil himself. The words that Saint Paul wrote about perversity in Rome in his own day are quite apropos of our own:
Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use against which is their nature.
And in like manner, the men also, leaving the natural use of the women, have burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men working that which is filthy, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error.
And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy.
Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things are worthy of death; and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them. (Romans 1: 24-32)
15) Matrimony was elevated to a Sacrament by Our Lord at the wedding feast in Cana. The Holy Sacrament of Matrimony is entered into by one man and by one woman to achieve these ends: the procreation and education of children, the mutual good of the spouses, a remedy for concupiscence. Pope Pius XI noted this in Casti Connubii:
This conjugal faith, however, which is most aptly called by St. Augustine the "faith of chastity" blooms more freely, more beautifully and more nobly, when it is rooted in that more excellent soil, the love of husband and wife which pervades all the duties of married life and holds pride of place in Christian marriage. For matrimonial faith demands that husband and wife be joined in an especially holy and pure love, not as adulterers love each other, but as Christ loved the Church. This precept the Apostle laid down when he said: "Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church," that Church which of a truth He embraced with a boundless love not for the sake of His own advantage, but seeking only the good of His Spouse. The love, then, of which We are speaking is not that based on the passing lust of the moment nor does it consist in pleasing words only, but in the deep attachment of the heart which is expressed in action, since love is proved by deeds. This outward expression of love in the home demands not only mutual help but must go further; must have as its primary purpose that man and wife help each other day by day in forming and perfecting themselves in the interior life, so that through their partnership in life they may advance ever more and more in virtue, and above all that they may grow in true love toward God and their neighbor, on which indeed "dependeth the whole Law and the Prophets." For all men of every condition, in whatever honorable walk of life they may be, can and ought to imitate that most perfect example of holiness placed before man by God, namely Christ Our Lord, and by God's grace to arrive at the summit of perfection, as is proved by the example set us of many saints.
This mutual molding of husband and wife, this determined effort to perfect each other, can in a very real sense, as the Roman Catechism teaches, be said to be the chief reason and purpose of matrimony, provided matrimony be looked at not in the restricted sense as instituted for the proper conception and education of the child, but more widely as the blending of life as a whole and the mutual interchange and sharing thereof.
16) It is never permissible to put even one child into spiritual, if not physical, jeopardy by claiming that so many others would be helped if the Church did not cooperate with an unjust law. Our Lord said that it would be better for one to have a millstone thrown around his neck and thrown into a lake than to lead one of his little ones astray. He was not joking.
17) The civil state has no authority from God to sanction illicit relationships, whether between a man or a woman (such as Andrew Cuomo's relationship with his current girlfriend, which he is publicly flaunting) or between those of the same gender who are committing sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance. What Pope Pius XI wrote in Casti Connubii about "civil unions" between unmarried men and women applies just as equally to those who are committed the sin of Sodom:
To begin at the very source of these evils, their basic principle lies in this, that matrimony is repeatedly declared to be not instituted by the Author of nature nor raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a true sacrament, but invented by man. Some confidently assert that they have found no evidence of the existence of matrimony in nature or in her laws, but regard it merely as the means of producing life and of gratifying in one way or another a vehement impulse; on the other hand, others recognize that certain beginnings or, as it were, seeds of true wedlock are found in the nature of man since, unless men were bound together by some form of permanent tie, the dignity of husband and wife or the natural end of propagating and rearing the offspring would not receive satisfactory provision. At the same time they maintain that in all beyond this germinal idea matrimony, through various concurrent causes, is invented solely by the mind of man, established solely by his will.
How grievously all these err and how shamelessly they leave the ways of honesty is already evident from what we have set forth here regarding the origin and nature of wedlock, its purposes and the good inherent in it. The evil of this teaching is plainly seen from the consequences which its advocates deduce from it, namely, that the laws, institutions and customs by which wedlock is governed, since they take their origin solely from the will of man, are subject entirely to him, hence can and must be founded, changed and abrogated according to human caprice and the shifting circumstances of human affairs; that the generative power which is grounded in nature itself is more sacred and has wider range than matrimony -- hence it may be exercised both outside as well as within the confines of wedlock, and though the purpose of matrimony be set aside, as though to suggest that the license of a base fornicating woman should enjoy the same rights as the chaste motherhood of a lawfully wedded wife.
Armed with these principles, some men go so far as to concoct new species of unions, suited, as they say, to the present temper of men and the times, which various new forms of matrimony they presume to label "temporary," "experimental," and "companionate." These offer all the indulgence of matrimony and its rights without, however, the indissoluble bond, and without offspring, unless later the parties alter their cohabitation into a matrimony in the full sense of the law.
Indeed there are some who desire and insist that these practices be legitimatized by the law or, at least, excused by their general acceptance among the people. They do not seem even to suspect that these proposals partake of nothing of the modern "culture" in which they glory so much, but are simply hateful abominations which beyond all question reduce our truly cultured nations to the barbarous standards of savage peoples.
Any questions, Andrew Cuomo?
Any questions, Carl Paladino?
Any questions, Staten Island Dan Donovan?
Oh, who is Dan Donovan? He is the District Attorney of Richmond County (Borough of Staten Island), New York, who issued the following statement after Paladino made his remarks to a group of Orthodox Talmudic rabbis about the "right" of perverts to "marry" and their public exhibitions during their parades:
And interestingly, Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan (the GOP candidate for attorney general, who has refused to endorse Paladino) condemned the statements.
“Any statements of this nature are offensive,” Donovan said in a statement. “We should be fostering a dialogue on tolerance. These statements do not achieve that, and I do not agree with them.” (Paladino condemn-athon.)
Hey, Dan Donovan, you supposed Catholic, meet the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen:
"America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance. It is not. It is suffering from tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. Our country is not nearly so much overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded.....In the face of this broadmindedness, what the world needs is intolerance." (Fulton Sheen's "A Plea for Intolerance," 1931)
Got that, Danny boy? Tolerance? We can never be tolerant of the open promotion of sin under cover of the civil law and throughout the nooks and crannies about what passes for "popular culture."
Do Andrew Cuomo or Carl Paladino or Dan Donovan or anyone else out there who has "no problem" with perverse sins against nature and/or are concerned only about bestowing "marriage 'rights'" upon those steeped in such perversion and their public exhibition understand what God did to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha?
And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken. Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor. The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor. And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.
And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt. And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt. (Genesis 19: 21-29.)
Do Andrew Cuomo or Carl Paladino or Dan Donovan or anyone else who is "tolerant" of a "lifestyle" that was responsible for the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha understand that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, He Who suffered unspeakable horrors in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death because of each one of our sins, warned the Apostles that those who rejected their preaching in His Holy Name would suffer a worse fate than the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, meaning that He, the very Second Person of the Blessed Trinity made Man in the Virginal and Immaculate Womb by the power of the Third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost, at the Annunciation was ratifying the historical truth of the destruction of these cities where unnatural vice was practiced and promoted openly?
And into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till you go thence. And when you come into the house, salute it, saying: Peace be to this house. And if that house be worthy, your peace shall come upon it; but if it be not worthy, your peace shall return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet. Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. (Matthew 10: 11-15.)
Any questions, fellas?
We must redouble our own efforts in prayer and sacrifice and penance and fasting and mortification to plant the seeds as the consecrated slaves of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary for the restoration of Christendom, praying as many Rosaries each day as our states-in-life permit in reparation for our many sins, each of which has wounded Our Lord once in time and wounds His Church Militant on earth today, and those of the whole world:
Francisco Marto spent long hours in church to console the "good God." So must we:
With his sister Jacinta and his cousin Lucia, he had been blessed with three appearances by an Angel, and six by Our Lady.
At his third appearance, the Angel said to these three young shepherd children: "Console your God". These words impressed Francisco very deeply, and guided his whole life. He wanted to be the "Consoler of Jesus". He felt most hurt when he saw Jesus offended, and his ideal was to give Him consolation. He wanted to avoid sin, and others to avoid it, to save his Saviour sadness. He made very sacrifice he could to give consolation to Jesus. To do this he would stay along for long hours in church, or hide himself in some lonely place. Shortly before he died, he said "In haven I'm going to console Our Lord and Our Lady very much." (Holy Card of Francisco Marto.)
Anyone who thinks that he is "consoling" Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ while he remains "neutral" about or supportive of any of the four sins that cry out to Heaven for vengeance is deceiving himself quite possibly to the point of his own eternal perdition, Such a person is in need of our prayers, to be sure. However, such a person is a proximate source of social chaos, not an instrument of justice founded in the binding precepts of the Divine Positive Law and the Natural Law. Sloganeering and sentimentality do not secure one's salvation. Indeed, they are instruments of the devil to lead sloganeers and sentimentalists into Hell as they take many others with them.
Conscious of making reparation for our own sins, which, although forgiven and thus no longer exist, are in need of our making satisfaction here in this passing, mortal vale of tears before we die, may our Rosaries each day help lift the scales from the likes of the confused Catholics and non-Catholics in public life, thereby hastening their return or conversion to the Catholic Church, outside of which there is no salvation and without which there can be no true or lasting social order.
Vivat Christus Rex! Viva Cristo Rey!
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.
Saints Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, pray for us.
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CokeMachineGlow lists, Neutral Milk Hotel, Mitzvahpalooza and Dolphins
Thursday, December 01, 2005 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: kbade
BELLE & SEBASTIAN: What's that I'm listening to? It's the new Belle & Sebastian, freely downloadable from Matador records.
JENNY LEWIS of Rilo Kiley is profiled in Harp magazine in advance of her solo album, Rabbit Fur Coat, which is due in January.
THE HIVES' Howlin' Pelle Almqvist has a "List of Music You Should Hear" up at Amazon, ranging from the new Richard Hawley album to the best of John Lee Hooker.
SEASON OF THE LIST: Traveler's Diagram has a Top 25 of 2005 posted. And CokeMachineGlow has a listravaganza with great lists like "Top 8 Songs from Mediocre 2005 Albums," "Top 30 'Other' Albums of the '90s" and "Top 10 Nonsense Michael Stipe Lyrics From Early R.E.M. Songs."
SONY XCP CD DEBACLE: In response to Sony's recall of CDs with the PC security-threatening copy-protection scheme, Amazon has been proactive, but other retailers not so much. This may change once it gets around that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer dispatched investigators who, disguised as customers, were able to purchase affected CDs in New York music retail outlets.
FILESHARING: In an untirely unrelated story, a report by Jupiter Research suggests European consumers who download music from illegal file-sharing websites vastly outnumber those using legal services.
JENS LEKMAN draws comparisons to Stephin Merritt, Morrissey, Jonathan Richman and Belle and Sebastian on the Pitchfork. You can check him out with legal MP3s via My Old Kentucky Blog and the Secretly Canadian label.
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL: It appears that NMH mastermind Jeff Magnum left cassettes of demos behind when he moved out of one of his college pads. So it was only a matter of time before they landed online.
CHRIS CORNELL of Audioslave and Soundgarden is demanding that his ex-wife, ex-manager give him his money back. And don't forget to give him back his black T-shirt...
DANIEL JOHNSON has been hospitalized in Waller, TX, probably for lithium poisoning.
DESTROYER -- fronted by New Pornographer Dan Bejar -- is working overtime to finish an album for February 2006.
TOE-STUBBER: Music that makes you go "ow!" And not in that good Godfather of Soul way, either.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The shamed supermodel has dumped the troubled singer again, after learning he skipped out on rehab. And it looks like Moss won't be the only one singing "Fairytale of New York" with the Pogues this holiday season.
BRADGELINA: Pitt and Jolie barred non-Japanese media from their press conference to promote Mr. & Mrs. Smith. But in the age of the Internet, it was only a matter of time before people translated the Japanese stories and even posted the video. And watching that video makes me think that there might be something goin' on between those two.
MITZVAHPALOOZA: Tabloid Baby has exclusive photos from the star-studded bat mitzvah staged by multi-millionaire defense contractor David H. Brooks, as noted here yesterday. They did cause me to wonder whether anyone should invite Don Henley to a bat mitzvah... SEMI-RELATED: The story causes Amber Taylor to ask the eternal question: Springsteen or Petty? The answer, of course, is Presley.
BRITNEY SPEARS and husband Cletus have transformed their baby's bedroom into a nativity scene.
JULIA ROBERTS tops The Hollywood Reporter list of bigtime actresses, despite the fact that she wasn't in any movies this year. High School + Money = Hollywood.
COLIN FARRELL is almost a porn star, as former Playboy Playmate Nicole Narain feels confident she and the Internet Commerce Group will beat back the injunction Farrell obtained against the release of the video he made with Narain.
PINK has been signed to a Janis Joplin biopic to be directed by Penelope Spheeris.
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE The kid stars and director chat with the Daily Mail.
JESSICA ALBA is asked stupid questions in Entertainment Weekly, to good effect: "So do you ever wake up, look in the mirror, and say, 'Holy crap! There's a totally hot chick staring right at me!' and then realize, 'Oh, It's just me'?"
GARFLECK: With Jennifer Garner's bun almost out of the oven, Ben Affleck's flack is denying rumors that the couple has snagged an exclusive "seven-figure" contract with Starbucks to quaff and be photographed toting the popular, burnt-smelling coffee. Starbucks also denies any deal.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: The American College of Radiology has warned Cruise and Holmes against performing their own fetal ultrasound exams, saying not only is the practice unsafe, it could be violation of federal law.
JUDE LAW and SIENNA MILLER: Miller is reportedly miffed that Law plans to spend Christmas with his kids instead of her. A source told London's Daily Mirror: "She doesn't seem to understand that Jude's children have to take priority and it's not all about her and what she wants to do. Jude has other responsibilities, but she seems to be trying to make him feel guilty."
ROD STEWART is a dad for sixth time, not counting Stacy.
ELTON JOHN and GEORGE MICHAEL are will be taking advantage of a new British law offering homosexuals many of the legal protections available to married couples. With other men, not with each other, that is.
KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is reportedly so desperate to win back ex-love Jamie Dornan she's delivering flowers and food to his home. What would Elizabeth Bennet say?
IRAQ: Bill Roggio blogs the turnover of control of the western border to the Iraqi Security Forces and notes the start of Operation Iron Hammer in the city of Hit. Kevin Sites visits one of Saddam's torture chambers in Sulaymaniyah. Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria seems grudgingly optimistic about prospects for the future. The peace activists called Christian Peacemaker Teams blame the US for the abduction of four of their members by the Swords of Righteousness Brigade.
CULT OF THE iPod: Piper Jaffray analysts predict that within five years, Apple could release an iPod with one terabyte of storage for about 500 bucks.
TINFOIL HATS: Wired has a piece about marketing to Americans concerned about exposure to mobile phone and electrical infrastructure. Ruth Douglas Miller, chair of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society's Committee on Man and Radiation, says scientific evidence does not support claims that signals emitted by everyday devices are harmful. And regular Pate visitors know tinfoil hats can do more harm than good.
SEATTLE HORSE-SEX UPDATE: James Michael Tait has pleaded guilty to trespassing in connection with a fatal horse-sex case. Tait was videotaping friend Kenneth Pinyan and a horse when Pinyan suffered internal injuries that led to his death.
DOLPHINS help alleviate mild to moderate depression.
PANDA CUB Tai Shan made his public debut at the National Zoo Tuesday, "reducing one of the hardest-bitten press corps in the world to cooing and incoherent babble." Video at the link.
TWO-HEADED TURTLE is drawing big crowds at a Chilean Serpentarium. Photo at the link.
STOWAWAY CAT UPDATE: Emily, the house cat found in France about a month after wandering from her home in Wisconsin, is set to fly business class home.
THE WORLD'S UGLIEST DOG: The late Sam is mourned in this video report from CNN.
Iron & Wine/Calexico, Jelly Roll Morton, Black Mountain, Monkeys and Haggis
Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - 08:00 AM
RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER: Okay, so I was off by a week on Charlie Brown, but Rudolph definitely airs on CBS tonight. To warm up for the show, you can check out author Rick Goldschmidt's Rankin/Bass tribute site, go to TVParty for a look behind the scenes or straight to Time and Space Toys for Rudolph merch.
ANIMAL COLLECTIVE: Noah Lennox and David Portner are interviewed in CMJ and seem every bit as odd as the band's music.
IRON & WINE and CALEXICO are streaming a gig from NPR tonight.
THE BAND, its influences and impact are essayed at Stylus.
JELLY ROLL MORTON: The Village Voice reports that the interviews Alan Lomax recorded with Jelly Roll Morton for the Library of Congress in 1938 — the first jazz oral history, complete with musical demonstrations — have been released complete and unexpurgated as a seven-CD box.
ROGER DALTREY, out promoting a DVD set of Who live performances of Tommy and Quadrophenia, talks about the industry and his career in rock: "His parents were never convinced, however. 'Certainly till the last few years of their life, they felt: "One day you'll get a real job, son." And that was after Tommy!'"
THE ROLLING STONES are slated for the Super Bowl halftime show.
LAURA VEIRS: So Much Silence is killing music with MP3s of her recent gig for KCRW: "This is the first I'd listened to her, and it's quite intriguing."
GARY GLITTER: Vietnam is considering releasing the former British rocker charged with child molestation on 40K bail, but he would not be allowed to leave the country.
THE POSIES get a profile in Glide magazine.
PINK FLOYD'S DAVID GILMOUR is famed for his philanthropy, but when it comes to his kids, acts like money is the root of all evil today.
PAUL WELLER is still ruling out any chance of reuniting The Jam. Weller also denied recent reports that he is worth £165 million -- much to the dismay of Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher.
OASIS: Speaking of which, Noel and brother Liam are feuding again, requiring separate buses on the Aussie leg of their tour.
BLACK MOUNTAIN tells ChartAttack that the band is not feuding with Broken Social Scene. Well, of course not; both bands are Canadian. You can download a couple of Black Mountain tracks from the band's label.
JACK WHITE and wife Karen Elson are expecting a child, according to Star magazine. No word on whether they are expecting Jessica Simpson's child.
JACKO: In other paternity news, Michael Jackson's ex-wife has reportedly told an Irish newspaper that Jacko is not the natural father of their children. I am shocked! C'mon, is Jacko the natural anything?
MORRISSEY talks to Billboard about working with legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone for his upcoming album.
THE RECORDING BIZ is complaining that some users of the Live365 site aren't following the Byzantine laws for webcasts.
FREE DOWNLOADS: *Sixeyes is touting one of its sponsors -- eMusic's trial offer of 50 Free Downloads, no strings.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled singer has reportedly left rehab after a week.
BECOME PRESIDENT OR DIE TRYIN': Most people who call President Bush a gangster don't mean it as a compliment. But rapper 50 Cent continues to be the anti-Kanye, calling Dubya "Incredible… A gangsta. I wanna meet George Bush, just shake his hand and tell him how much of me I see in him."
50 CENT, TOM PETTY, AEROSMITH, DON HENLEY and JOE WALSH are available for bat mitzvahs, if you're a multimillionaire defense contractor.
THE FRENCH HOTEL and her former BFF have sunk to selling their cancelled "reality" show to the E! channel. So what does the "E" stand for?
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE: A newly-revealed letter by author C.S. Lewis shows he opposed the idea of a screen version of his Narnia books. The letter was written decades before the creation of computer-gererated effects, but whatever.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise won the title of "Tackiest Star of the Year" in a poll taken by the Los Angeles Daily News, over stiff competition from Paris Hilton and Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, Jude Law and Sienna Miller, and Anna Nicole Smith. Cruise promised to donate the ultrasound machine he bought for Holmes to a hospital when the child is born, thereby looking like less of a nutball and getting a tax deduction. SEMI-RELATED: Desert circles in remote New Mexico mark the huge mountainside vault constructed to protect the works of L. Ron Hubbard, the late science-fiction writer who founded the Church of Scientology in the 1950s.
LENNY KRAVITZ is reportedly in talks to play Jimi Hendrix in a biopic a la Ray and Walk The Line.
JESSICA SIMPSON: Future ex Nick Lachey has hired an aggressive PR flack to combat the one hired by Jessica's creepy dad-manager Joe. And Joe has been mending fences with US Weekly by giving them the scoop on the couple's separation.
BRITNEY SPEARS has reportedly sent Christina Aguilera a self-help guide to marriage. Because the pop tart is a supermom. Excuse me, I have to lie down for a moment.
LOST: Paper magazine has a catch-up guide for those who want to start watching or want to pretend that they do.
STARSKY AND HUTCH is being remade for French TV so that it's "less macho." But of course. After all, in the States, the cops don't surrender at the end of the show.
KATE BECKINSALE explains that making the sequel to Underworld is all about keeping the spark in her marriage to director Len Wiseman, particularly her black leather catsuit: "What can I say, guys like it. That costume is really just sex fetish wear."
IRAQ: Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), back from his 4th trip to Iraq in the past 17 months, reports real progress on the economic political and security fronts. Sen. Lieberman notes that "polls conducted by Iraqis for Iraqi universities show increasing optimism. Two-thirds say they are better off than they were under Saddam, and a resounding 82% are confident their lives in Iraq will be better a year from now." He adds: "American military leaders estimate that about one-third of the approximately 100,000 members of the Iraqi military are able to 'lead the fight' themselves with logistical support from the US, and that that number should double by next year." Bill Roggio, blogs from Husaybah about the Iraqi troops there -- and the Marines' opinion of them. Kevin Sites blogs from northern Iraq. Virginia governor and prospective Democratic presidential candidate Mark Warner said on Monday that the US needs to set milestones for progress, not a firm withdrawal date.
IRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad claims to have felt "a light" surrounding and protecting him while addressing the UN in September. Which makes eeryone more comfy with the nuclear program and his comments about wiping Israel off the map.
CULT OF THE iPod: The true cultist has an iPod-compatible bed.
SOME MP3 PLAYERS are among PC magazine's ten worst products of the year.
MONKEYS have an accent depending on where they live, according to a new study at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute. For example, in France, they call themselves "minkeys."
THE FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE: Not only the theme to The Green Hornet, but also a scientific mystery now solved.
SHEEP are singing ringtones for the holidays.
HAGGIS SEASON starts today.
Smoosh, Holiday Music, The Life Aquatic, Cheetah cubs and a Stolen Lion cub
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 08:00 AM
CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE: A Charlie Brown Christmas airs tonight on ABC. Unsurprisingly, network suits didn't dig it at first. That was 40 years ago. Granted, it's not quite the same without the Dolly Madison commercials, but the dancing is still very cool. UPDATE: The show airs next Tuesday, Dec. 6. I should learn to read more carefully.
SMOOSH: Seattle's tween twosome get a four-star concert review in Glasgow: "These kids are more than all right." Audio and video of the sisters is available at SPIN magazine.
THE ARCADE FIRE frontman Win Butler talks to Canada's National Post about trying to remain unaffected by sudden success.
THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES for this year are Black Sabbath, Blondie, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Sex Pistols and... Miles Davis? The Stooges, The Dave Clark 5, The Patti Smith Group and Joe Tx appear to have been stiffed yet again. At Punk Turns 30, Theresa Kereakes asks several questions and "can only imagine the 'all star jam at the end of the night."
THE DECEMBERISTS are rumored to be signing with Capitol Records.
THE PORTLAND SCENE is surveyed by Canada's Globe and Mail, with the usual focus on The Decemberists and The Shins. But there's a nice look back at past "scenes" at the end of the article.
SEASON OF THE LIST: PopMatters issues "An Indispensible Guide to Holiday Music."
THE CRIBS are nifty little punk outfit that has some downloads through the band's site, but nip over to Insound for the freebie of "Hey Scenesters!" There are free downloads from other bands on the page, including stuff from American Analog Set, Antony and the Johnsons, Castanets, CocoRosie, Deerhoof... and that's just the A-D page.
AQUALUNG frontman Matt Hales gets a Pop Quiz in the San Francisco Chronicle. Feel your age as it's reported that he had no idea his band shared a name with the most famous album by Jethro Tull.
JOSE GONZALEZ: I don't think I've mentioned this young Swedish singer-songwriter before, but Australia's The Age says: "His songs are reminiscent of folk-pop's gentle giants, from Paul Simon and Nick Drake to Elliott Smith and Sufjan Stevens, but his influences are much more diverse, thanks to his Argentinian-born parents and the hardcore punk scene of his teenage years in Gothenburg." You can stream a few live tracks from songs:Illinois, including an acoustic cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
THE LIFE AQUATIC has just debuted on cable TV, so it's probably no accident that The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions Featuring Seu Jorge came out a week ago. If you haven't seen the movie, we're talking David Bowie songs performed as Portugeuse cabaret music. Brooklyn Vegan is killing music with links to downloads.
SUFJAN STEVENS: You Ain't No Picasso is uncharacteristically killing music by further circulating the bonus track on the vinyl version of Illinois
R.I.P. CDs? It's the San Francisco Chronicle's turn to look at digital alternatives, including MP3 blogs and online radio stations that frequently supply material for this site.
JESSICA SIMPSON: It appears that American Media Inc. occasionally gets it as wrong as The New York Times. Who'da thunkit? But that may not be the funniest Nick and Jessica story of the day if it pans out that there was no prenup.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: The Mean Girl was spotted getting very friendly with Johnny Knoxville, whose wife was nowhere to be seen. At least they weren't caught canoodling.
MADONNA gets no kick from Vicodin, but is "a lot of fun" on morphine. If I was forced to listen to her, I know I would prefer the latter.
THE FRENCH HOTEL was in tears when authorities took away her night monkey. No surgery was involved.
GEORGE CLOONEY groped Matt Damon daily while shooting Syriana. Most workplaces would consider that sexual harassment, but not so in the land of the casting couch.
GRAMMY BAROMETER: It seems that the Grammys may be accurately predicted by the year-end VH1 Top 20 Countdown. I wish that was shocking.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Roger Ebert says the script was ghost-rewritten by Emma Thompson, who penned the screenplay to Sense and Sensibility.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA: Folks in both Japan and China are irked that the big roles all went to Chinese actors.
JUDE LAW and SIENNA MILLER: Their friends say the fighting spices things up.
EVERY CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVER MADE: juiceenewsdaily is just daring someone to disprove it.
FELICITY HUFFMAN: The award-winning Desperate Housewife says she suffered from anorexia and bulimia and credits meeting her future husband, William H. Macy, with helping her over self-esteem issues.
OSCAR FRONT-RUNNERS, according to Premiere magazine. The person who posted this notes that Woody Allen's Match Point -- a winner at Cannes -- is notably absent.
KING KONG: The PR machine shifts into a higher gear with this rave piece in the latest Newsweek.
SEATTLE SUPERTRAIN: Two monorail trains clipped each other on a curve in the tracks Saturday evening in the heart of Seattle, resulting in minor injuries. I hope the passengers get the hot coffee and cool music they were promised.
IRAQ: Bill Roggio is blogging a storm from Husaybah, including a backgrounder on Operation Steel Curtain, and accounts of a night patrol and follow-up foot patrols, during which Corporal Austin Hall told Roggio: "Over three weeks ago, we wouldn’t have gotten 200 feet into this city without taking fire."
IRAQ II: The Christian Science Monitor looks at the perception gap "that has put the military and media at odds, as troops complain that the media care only about death tolls, while the media counter that their job is to look at the broader picture, not through the soda straw of troops' individual experiences." Actually, the managing editor of the AP, as well as editors of its member newspapers have admitted they are the ones looking through the soda straw. Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, writes that "objective realities in Iraq suggest that the military is too optimistic -- but also that the public and the strategic community are becoming too fatalistic." And journalists and academics are even more negative than that.
CANADA: A corruption scandal forced a no-confidence vote that toppled Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal government, triggering an unusual election campaign during the Christmas holidays. Regular visitors here may have seen this coming since May.
HOW TO REACH A HUMAN from many corporate automated phone systems.
DEJA VU: Tonight on It's the Mind, we examine the phenomenon of deja vu -- that strange feeling we sometimes get that we've lived through something before, that what is happening now has already happened.
ABUSED CHEETAH CUBS UPDATE: The two cheetah cubs held captive and abused at a remote village restaurant in eastern Ethiopia are now in the custody of a government veterinarian and US troops.
LION CUB SNATCHED -- two Arabic-speaking parrots -- from the Gaza Zoo by armed robbers. Reuters notes: "Rival armed groups have been trying to stake a claim to power in Gaza ahead of key parliamentary elections in January." It's not clear how the parrots figure into that, but whatever.
MOOSE MEAT: Alaska inmates at a prison work farm are taking on a new assignment: butchering the meat of moose struck by trains each winter along 68 miles of railroad track.
RUNAWAY OSTRICH captured by local police in St. John, IN. The bird was originally mistaken for an emu.
Richard Thompson, Chris Whitley, Rogue Wave, Cheetah cubs and Siberian Chipmunks
Monday, November 28, 2005 - 08:00 AM
OH, THE HUMANITY! AND THE M&MS!
RICHARD THOMPSON: Billboard has details on the incredible box set coming in February. But wait, there's more... if you pre-order direct.
HARRY AND THE POTTERS: The band that plays the Hogwarts ball in Goblet of Fire is made up of members of Pulp and Radiohead. ANAblog is killing music with three downloads.
SEASON OF THE LIST: Best of 2005s from The Catbirdseat and Torr.
PINK FLOYD: After some rude comments at the UK Music Hall of Fame ceremony, Roger Waters is back to signaling he's up for a reunion.
LED ZEPPELIN: London's Independent has a book excerpt that nicely recaps the birth of the band from the corpse of the Yardbirds.
GARY GLITTER: Authorities in Vietnam have formally extended the former glam-rocker's detention by four months, while claims that he had sex with under-age girls are examined.
THE MAGIC NUMBERS get reviewed by Newsday's people in the street. You can stream them for yourself via MySpace and the band's sampler. But this week, Chromewaves (and other music blogs) are killing music with the band's acoustic cover of Beyonce's "Crazy In Love".
CHRIS WHITLEY: The critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter has died of lung cancer at age 45. Doveman front man Thomas Bartlett has posted a cover of "Loco Girl" in memoriam.
WILSON "LIT" WALTERS, JR., a member of the Grammy Award-winning Fairfield Four gospel group, also has died of cancer. He was 74.
COLDPLAY frontman Chris Martin insists he had no idea how to give a woman an orgasm until recently. He is married to Gwyneth Paltrow, an actress. Just sayin'.
THE STROKES are interviewed about the upcoming album, First Impressions of Earth, in London's Guardian.
DEPECHE MODE frontman Dave Gahan faces reality. At least he won't face Pittsburgh's airport security.
ROGUE WAVE is profiled at ChartAttack. The band's second album, Descended Like Vultures, is getting good reviews at Metacritic for its Garden State sorta sound. You can stream Rogue Wave from two MySpace pages.
THE ARCTIC MONKEYS are the peg for another story about the Internet's impact on the music biz -- this one's in London's Independent. Greg Kot notes the digital democratization of the music biz in the Chicago Tribune.
GARBAGE frontwoman Shirley Manson is supporting a new US campaign to encourage young stars to wear earplugs and spare their eardrums.
U2 with opener Patti Smith in NYC is reviewed in the Village Voice. Sounds like Bono knows how to politick better than Patti.
BOB GELDOF is slamming Italy for failing to give more to the world's poor and urged its leaders to help break a deadlock in international trade talks. Bono, meanwhile, is upset with Canada.
RYAN ADAMS was briefly joined by ex-galpal Minnie Driver last week at Adams' show for Wall Street Rising's Music Downtown Series.
PAT MORITA died Thursday at his home in Las Vegas of natural causes; he was 73.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Walk the Line hold the top spots again. Pride and Prejudice moved up from ten to seven after expanding to 1,300 screens, with a pre screen average rivalling the third-place Yours, Mine and Ours.
MADONNA, who values her family's privacy so much, is blabbing about how musical her kids are on British TV.
MISCHA BARTON: The O.C. hottie is engaged to Kimberly Stewart's scuzzy-lookin' ex-fiance and reveals she avoided sleeping with Leonardo DiCaprio. Proof that there is no accounting for taste.
KIMBERLY STEWART, meanwhile, has ended her engagement to Laguna Beach reality "star" Talan Torriero after eleven days.
JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT explains why her pop career is a big hit in Japan: "They don't understand what I'm singing." I think she's nailed it.
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE gets a boffo advance review in the Daily Mail. andPOP wonders whether Narnia will become Hollywood's next successful foray in tapping into the Christian niche market.
BRITNEY SPEARS' husband Cletus has installed a shark tank at their Malibu home. Just the thing to welcome their new baby.
BRET MICHAELS: The Poison frontman has leapt from the "Where are they now?" file by cheating death when a mystery gunman in a white Ford F-150 riddled his tour bus with bullets Monday night.
GEORGE CLOONEY has had the worst year of his life, culminating in beating a rattlesnake to death with a baseball bat after it fatally attacked his beloved dog. So won't you please give him an Oscar?
KATE WINSLET thinks she still looks hot naked in her upcoming movie, Little Children. I'll be the judge of that.
PORN STARS eating foot-longs is irresistable to the press.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN SEQUELS: Plagued by thievery.
JACKO CONVERTING TO ISLAM? There are multiple reports of it in the Middle East. It would explain his recent anti-Semitic remarks.
KURT VONNEGUT praises terrorists.
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Jolie and Pitt did Thanksgiving in Pakistan. And are Joss Stone fans.
IRAQ: The Economist reports on Arab public opinion turning against terrorism in Iraq and throughout the Mideast. The preacher at a major Sunni Arab mosque condemning terror attacks is the latest example. Stories of dozens of Iraqis who have reportedly been forced to help insurgents probably help turn locals against the terrorists also. However, Abu Hussein, Saddam's torturer and executioner at Abu Ghraib, is ready to return to his job if Saddam comes back. Reading that article suggests that former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi's comment that human rights abuses by some in the new government are as bad now as they were under Saddam are pandering to the Sunni Arab minority and secular Shiites ahead of the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections.
IRAQ II: Iraqi troops are now in full control of Kut; it is the first major city where security is wholly in Iraqi hands. US troops have officially handed over Forward Operating Base Danger -- the site of Saddam’s largest palace -- to the Iraqi government on Tuesday; it is the 29th American base so relinquished. Returning from his third trip to Iraq, US Rep. Mark Kennedy said he was pleased with the progress the military is making: "By far the No. 1 concern of the military is not their conditions there or the enemy they are facing, but the tone of the debate in Congress on Friday and, generally, the tone of many people in the media. It was regularly brought up.'' UPI's Pam Hess, just back from nine weeks as an embedded reporter, suggests finds the situation more complex than portrayed in the press and that the military was honest with her about it. A bipartisan poll shows that while most disapprove of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war, about the same number views Democratic criticism of the war as hurting troop morale and motivated by politics.
IRAN reportedly offered North Korea oil and natural gas as payment for help in developing nuclear missiles. Russia, which is opposing sanctions for Iran's intransigence regarding its nuke program, will be glad to read reports that Iran is secretly training Chechen rebels in sophisticated terror techniques to enable them to carry out more effective attacks against Russian forces.
YOUR MOMENT OF SITH: The Death Star is approaching Saturn.
CHOCOLATE POLLUTION: The EPA action against the Blommer Chocolate Co. factory has made national newswires.
HURRICANE KATRINA: The dramatic story about snipers on a bridge shooting at relief contractors now seems doubtful. It's getting to the point where it seems like the part about the hurricane hitting the Big Easy is one of the few things the press got right.
BUSH'S SECRET PLAN FOR INTER-GALACTIC WAR: A former Canadian Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister under Pierre Trudeau is alarmed: "The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning." The speech ended with a standing ovation.
FRENCH RIOTS: French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin -- who is a man -- has dismissed claims by some of his party colleagues that rap music fuelled suburban rioting in France. Meanwhile, the L.A. Times reports on rising Islamic fundamentalism in France, including recent arrests that reveal that France has been targeted by an alliance teaming Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, with an Algerian-dominated network. If only France had not invaded Iraq...
COMING TO AMERICA: King Mswati III of Swaziland who is expected to show up "bare-chested, red feathers in his hair and sporting a traditional leopard-skin loincloth." He has 14 wives, who are selected in an... interesting manner.
ABUSED CHEETAH CUBS: US soldiers who discovered two endangered cheetah cubs being held captive and abused in a restaurant in a dusty, remote Ethiopian village have launched a campaign for the animals' rescue.
DEER are breeding like bunnies, not only in the Twin Cities (as previously reported), but also in Council Bluffs, IA, which is debating reinstituting bow hunting. The bow control lobby is quire irked.
SIBERIAN CHIPMUNKS are wanted dead or alive after fleeing from an enclosure in southern England.
DRUNKEN MOOSE frightens Swedish family.
FLAMINGOS TOP TURKEYS in Kingston, NH this past Thanksgiving.
PARROTS: The Royal Navy mascot has been forced into shore duty on doctor’s orders. ALSO: A cheating husband was exposed after his wife's parrot imitated him calling out another woman’s name. Future mistresses will be nicknamed "Polly."
More Hottest Bands and Top Albums, World's Ugliest Dog and Llamas
Friday, November 25, 2005 - 08:00 AM
KATHLEEN EDWARDS: Although she doesn't see herself as alt-country, *Sixeyes does and hooks you up with seven legal MP3s from her website. If you haven't heard her, I would recommend starting with "One More Song the Radio Won't Like," which is equal parts Lucinda Williams and Neil Young.
JEFF TWEEDY talks to Paste about the new live Wilco album, singing covers versus originals, ambivalence about our multimedia age and more.
BOB DYLAN: A collection of poems he wrote in 1960 sold for 78K at an auction of rock and pop memorabilia. A medallion worn by Jimi Hendrix during his memorable performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival failed to attract any bidders at its pre-sale price of 60-80K.
JIMI HENDRIX: Speaking of Jimi, his 1967 classic "Purple Haze" will figure a "musical culture" exam required for French high school students to graduate.
THE 33 HOTTEST BANDS IN CANADA: i (heart) music, inspired by the Information Leafblower blogger poll of US bands, has produced a blogger poll for bands from the great white north, eh? one of the participating bloggers, Frank at Chromewaves, shows his picks to click.
THE UK'S HOTTEST 47 ACTS: Yet another blogger poll, with Take Your Medicine covering the other side of the Atlantic.
SEASON OF THE LIST: My Old Kentucky Blog has a Top 25 albums list, plus a few bonus lists. Gorilla vs. Bear has a Top 50 albums list, broken in halves; one ranked, one alphabetical.
GARY GLITTER might face a firing squad if found guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl in Vietnam. The country very rarely, if ever, executes foreign tourists, but Vietnamese jails are notorious for their squalor, harsh treatment of prisoners and lack of attention to sanitation, hygiene and food. Even if he is not prosecuted in Vietnam, Glitter could face charges in the UK if he ever returned, under the Sex Offences Act 1996. Glitter denies the charges, but a local paper quotes Glitter as saying "When they met me, they all told me that they were older than 20."
ARCTIC MONKEYS: Prefix has a two-part interview with Britain's Newest Hitmakers. Also, noting the band's anger that some are trying to sell free MP3s on sites like eBay, Take Your Medicine has a load of downloads.
BOB GELDOF was to receive the Man For Peace award at the annual Nobel Peace Prize laureates meeting in Rome on Thursday.
PATTI SMITH: Greil Marcus essays her debut, Horses, in the Village Voice.
CHEAP TRICK and ROGER DALTREY are all part of your Rock And Roll Fantasy...Camp. The camp with the difference? (via Ken King)
PAYOLA: Warner Music Group Corp., the third largest record company in the US, coughs up five million bucks to settle charges pursued by NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
COMMERCIAL ARTISTRY: London's Independent looks at the fates of bands that sell songs for commercials.
SUFJAN STEVENS: London's Observer sees the eccentric-but-spiritual folk-rocker as translating America for Europeans and selling 100,000 copies of the Illinois album while avoiding traditional publicity.
U2: The Vertigo tour has already grossed around 300 million bucks and will probably beat the prior record set by the Rolling Stones.
BOY LEAST LIKELY TO will finally release their album in the US in April, after making their live US debut at SWSX. You can stream some bouncy, twee pop at the band's website.
THE BETA BAND has met its omega, but Steve Mason is going forward with King Biscuit Time.
NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS has announced its Cool List for 2005, along with the new Fool List. I made neither, but will try harder in '06.
INDIE LABELS: NPR has a streaming report on the inreasing influence of the independents to the recording biz.
PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE: The troubled singer is reportedly sequestered in a West Country studio laying down tracks for a solo album, contradicting reports that he is in rehab in Arizona. Meanwhile, Moss's stalker is on the run, armed with bomb-making materials, police have warned. No wonder the shamed supermodel is jumping around topless until she falls over (yeah, that's NSFW).
JACKO blames his mounting money problems on Jews, likening them to leeches. Jackson apologized to Jewish groups a decade ago for the lyrics "Jew me/Sue me/Everybody do me/Kick me/Kike me" on the song "They Don't Care About Us." No wonder he's moved to the Middle East.
JUDE LAW and SIENNA MILLER were at Balthazar on Tuesday, caught canoodling and getting into a screaming match. Actors love drama.
JOSS STONE reportedly broke up with music producer Beau Dozier (son of Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier) on the advice of Mick Jagger. Which is the definition of looking for love advice in all the wrong places.
LOHAN LOWDOWN: Lindsay Lohan's relationship with Jared Leto has gone from low-profile to no-profile. But at least Page Six refers to Leto as a "legendary swordsman."
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise tells People magazine that he and Holmes will wed after their baby is born, possibly next summer or early fall.
BRADGELINA UPDATE: Jolie and Pitt plan to visit quake survivors in northern Pakistan. But Reuters can't help but add that Jolie was "dressed in light-coloured trousers and a black raincoat," with Pitt "sporting a gray wool knit hat, as well as the start of a beard." The couple was also spotted looking at houses in Washington, D.C. on the same day Jolie got her Cambodian citizenship. Jolie came close to passing out in Los Angeles International Airport; fortunately, no one was injured in the stampede of men offering CPR.
HARRY POTTER: Daniel Radcliffe is Britain's richest teenager, with a personal fortune of £23million.
KIRSTEN DUNST is hanging out with Tara Reid; websites are now calling her "Kirsten Drunkst."
JOAQUIN PHOENIX has hinted to reporters that acting is so consuming he’s considering quitting. Perhaps he could make lotion with Kate Hudson.
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: One of the five characters may be killed during the May sweeps. Teri Hatcher has filed a libel lawsuit against a British tabloid that claimed she had sex in a van outside her L.A. home. Libel law if much more plaintiff-friendly in the UK, natch.
CHARLIZE THERON will marry longtime boyfriend Stuart Townsend on the day it becomes legal for gays and lesbians to wed across America. Which sounds politically correct, but is also a great excuse for her to not marry him.
BRITNEY SPEARS finally sells those baby pictures. I wonder whether Britney demanded that rival Xtina's wedding get stuck in the corner of the cover or whether People was just countering the Xtina wedding pics in OK! magazine...
WHITEWASH SUPREMACISTS: Teen People magazine ran a sanitized story about a neo-Nazi teenage singing duo on its web site, despite reports that it has canceled a planned feature story about them that downplayed their racist views. The story seems to be removed now; a search for the girls' last name turns up a document, but will not return a link. According to media reports, the mag was planning to run a feature profile them in its February issue, but had promised to refrain from using the words "hate," "supremacist," and "Nazi."
IRAQ: In the L.A. Times, Max Boot compares polls of the American public, the Iraqi public, US military officers, journalists and academics on the state and direction of the country. Michael Yon blogs (with pics) the redeployment ball held by the Deuce Four, with a cameo by Bruce Willis. The Pentagon tentatively plans to reduce troops in country by three brigades and, under a "moderately optimistic" scenario, drop troop strength by more than one-third. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Peter Pace claims that the training of Iraqi forces is going "extremely well" and could help pave the way for a pullout. Though US officials are doubtful, DNA tests are being carried out to determine whether al-Zarqawi was killed in a recent US-led raid. Major General Rick Lynch, spokesman for the US-led multinational force, said he expects the MNF to capture or kill him "in the not too distant future." I'd like to see that, but don't know how much impact it would have.
THE UNITED NATIONS Security Council on Wednesday issued an unprecedented condemnation of Monday's Hizbullah attacks on northern Israel. The condemnation followed by two days a failed attempt on Monday, when Algeria came out against any mention of Hizbullah in the statement. When asked what changed from Monday to Wednesday, one diplomatic official replied: "John Bolton."
MR. POTATO HEAD, Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder are among those targeted by the New York Public Interest Group as dangerous this holiday season.
GOOGLE BASE is becoming "porn heaven." Couldn't have seen that coming a mile away.
SAM, THE WORLD'S UGLIEST DOG, died just short of his 15th birthday.
THE DOGS OF WAR can get their own body armor, which can double as a harness for lowering and lifting canine combattants from a helicopter.
A WALRUS USIK was stolen in Wasilla, Alaska.
LLAMAS may be wonderful pets and companion animals, but don't cross one unless you want to face the three sets of razor-sharp "fighting teeth," which llamas use to rip the scrotum from male competitors in the wild.
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Ethknoworks LLC
Michael Agar @alcaldemike
The Professional Stranger
Santa Fe New Mexican
Mike's auto-obituary published in the Santa Fe New Mexican
Grupo Antropocaos
The backyard coyote
In the Zapatista village
Village Headquarters
The workshop at the medical school in Tegucigalpa
Pontificating at the Central American Anthropology meetings
My job description
Hiker watch
Thoughts and Hallucinations
Tags: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Mike promised in his auto-obituary that he would be available as a ghost for a while on his home page. While waiting for his appearance, under the photo to the left are links to some obituaries and tributes written after Mike's death, which was on May 20, 2017, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And to paraphrase the last and very fitting line of the AAA obit: Now it is time to go to your local jazz club, or turn up the volume on that Miles Davis, order or pour a Jameson's on the rocks, and have that conversation with Mike.
And many, many thanks to all of the people who have expressed their condolences and shared their memories with Mike's family, friends, colleagues, and one another.
March 16, 2018 3:16 PM EDT
Mike: Una noticia verdaderamente triste. Aprendí mucho leyéndote y recuerdo nítidamente nuestros encuentros en Bolonia y Lisboa, tu conversación lúcida y divertida compartiendo destilados y Camel sin filtro. Qué pena, siempre lo pensé, no haber podido invitarte a la UAB en Barcelona. Te recordaré siempre con cariño y respeto. Para tu familia, con afecto: “Carbón para Mike” (B. Brecht). Aurelio
- Aurelio Diaz
Michael inspired me to do the work I wanted to do--with his irreverence and seriousness about ethnography, social science, and his endless fascination with research itself and how we know stuff. He is as special as it gets. A warm, funny man who was intellectual as heck--as he noted in his self written obit--a cross between cowboy and scientist. So many people read his work and learned. I think about him all the time. So lucky to have known him.
Click here to send email to Ethknoworks
The Lively Science: Remodeling Human Social Research
Wonder why studies you read about your world usually don’t get who you are and how you really live? Frustrated that “the numbers” don’t solve the problem? Does it bother you that policies and programs, more often than not, don’t work like they’re supposed to? People, organizations, countries–they rely on information about real human social lives. Usually they don’t have it because they only test what they think they already know in narrow situations of their own design. The results have value, some of the time, but it’s not nearly enough.
We need a human social science that begins and ends in the real worlds of the humans that it claims to be about. One has been around for a couple of hundred years. The Lively Science tells the story of its historical roots and the reasons for its neglect, blends in new intellectual tools, and argues that it’s time to get on with a science that changes research objects into human subjects and learns who they are and what they’re trying to do before conclusions are drawn.
Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation
Living in a world of linguistic and cultural differences
Dope Double Agent: The Naked Emperor on Drugs
A personal story of decades of work in the substance abuse field, a story of how our ineffective drug policy came to be and stayed in place. Now available as an e-book at iBook on iTunes and on Barnes and Noble.
Independents Declared: The Dilemmas of Independent Trucking
The story of the working world of independent truckers in a time of deregulation
Nonfiction, Introductory Text
The Professional Stranger (second edition)
An introduction to ethnography
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NEW ALBUM: UNDER HER SPELL
Rock band from Nova Scotia, Halifax band, Canadian Band
CHECK OUT THE ALBUM
Music Video Review: Dali Van Gogh Get Out of Town on ‘Down at the Hitching Line’
" There’s nothing that’ll get your creative juices cranked up in quite the same way that a road trip will, especially when it means seeing one of your favourite bands. It’s why Dali Van Gogh now have a new music video for “Down at the Hitching Line” – a song about leaving your home town, which was coincidentally written while the band were leaving their hometown. "
- Alex Cook, The East
For the full article click here.
New Music Video by Dali Van Gogh Receives 100,000 Views in First Two Weeks
Arms Race, the latest in a string of video releases from Halifax's Dali Van Gogh, has just broken the 100,000 view milestone on Facebook.
Dali Van Gogh Partners with CAF's Soldier On in Charity Drive
Halifax's Dali Van Gogh are pleased to announce a partnership with Soldier On, a program supporting both serving and former Canadian Armed Forces members with mental and/or physical injuries.
Halifax based rock band Dali Van Gogh have signed a new partnership with Soldier On, a Canadian Armed Forces program that provides opportunities and support for members of the Canadian Military with mental illness or physical injuries as a result of their service, helping them to recover and rehabilitate through the transformative power of sport. The band is embarking on a 6-month fund-raising campaign, raising...
Dali Van Gogh featured in UK's Fireworks Rock and Metal Magazine.
"... this quintet creates a monstrous river of sound that occasionally flows to some unlikely places. Dali Van Gogh continue to make musical legends from Canada's musical heart."
- Bruce EJ Atkinson, Fireworks Rock & Metal
Dali Van Gogh's latest album, Under Her Spell, has received a glowing review in Fireworks Rock and Metal, one of the United Kingdom's most read print music magazines.
The review is written by Bruce EJ Atkinson, Bruce is internationally published through Frontiers Records bi-monthly music magazine, Melodic Rock, and the UK’s glossy bi-monthly periodical ‘Fireworks’ magazine, plus a Weekly Column; ‘Under...
Music Video: Dali Van Gogh Get the Party Started with ‘Have It All’ - Video review by The East
Nova Scotia rockers Dali Van Gogh have premiered their latest music video, “Have It All,” off of their recent album Under Her Spell. Featuring footage from one of their live shows at Garrison Brewing in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the result is an atmosphere built for rock ‘n’ roll enthusiasts just looking to have a good, carefree time.
The audio begins with a groovy drumbeat before the rest of the band joins in for a gritty, funk-esque jam that spontaneously slaps sunglasses on everyone within earshot. Listening to the track without confidently strutting down the street would be a herculean task.
For the full review, click h...
Under Her Spell - Album Review by Divide and Conquer
Dali Van Gogh is a hard rock band out of Halifax, Nova Scotia that recently released Under Her Spell. The songs are really ones that for the most part sound best turned up real loud or live. They have an old school energy to my ears.
The band busts out of the gates with “Get Away” which has a mix of attitude and a sliver of rock opera. I think it was the organ that had me thinking rock opera. Either way the band rocks. They are multiple vocalists on this track trading measures and sometimes combining efforts.
Click here to read the full review.
Isaac Kent and Rachelle Moreau Interview with The Wolf's Den
Isaac and Rachelle stop by The Wolf's Den on 97.5 Sackville for an interview with Wayne Schnare. They talk about the new album (Under Her Spell), the NSCC Music Program, and what makes a great musician.
Check out the full segment in podcast form below.
Dali Van Gogh featured on Rockwired.com
DALI VAN GOGH is a band that has gone through numerous changes in the seven years that I have know you guys and now you have a fantastic new album UNDER HER SPELL. How do you guys feel about the pending release?
ISAAC: I'm pretty proud of the album overall. People haven't really seen it because we've been trying to keep things under wraps until the release. You've been following us long enough to know the history of the band. We're on line up number four now. Despite all of the changes it just keeps going. People come on board and people leave. People have lives and things like that. You've got people who are getting mar...
Music Video: Dali Van Gogh Grow Their Cult with ‘East Coast Witches’ - Video Review by The East
Halifax rock group Dali Van Gogh defend “Get Away” with an example of what happens to those who mock them. With the release of their latest single from their new album, Under Her Spell, they announce that they’ve entered an agreement with a nearby coven.
For the full review, click here.
Dali Van Gogh Release New Single and Music Video: East Coast Witches
Haligonian hard rockers Dali Van Gogh have dropped their latest single, “East Coast Witches”, with a fiery new music video directed by Andrew Hartlen.
Hot off a sold out, Q104 presented release show at Garrison Brewing, Dali Van Gogh have released the latest single from their new album, Under Her Spell; East Coast witches is a tongue in cheek satire of Atlantic Canada's club culture, fuelled by a Hendrix inspired, talk-box driven guitar riff by Isaac Kent.
“We debuted the song at the Marquee Ballroom over a year ago [Oct 7th, 2017],” Says Kent, “and since then it has been a fan favourite in our se...
NEW MUSIC: OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
Join our mailing list for the latest news, tour dates & giveaways!
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नाग कन्या र बिकनी किलरको बिहे !
सारा नेपालीले दशैं मनाइरहेको बेला नाग कन्या विश्वास र बिकिनी किलर मिस्टर नटवरले आज केन्द्रीय कारागारमा बिहे गरेछन ! पत्र पत्रिका र अन्य मिडियामा चर्चामा आउने खोजे जस्तो भान पारेकी नाग कन्याले दशैंको चुप चाप समय नै किन रोजिन र नेपाली मिडियाले भन्दा पहिले यसलाई भारतीय मिडियाले कसरी थाहा पाए मलाइ चाहि शंका लागेको छ (हुन त यो शंकै शंकाको सम्बन्ध हो) ।
पढ्नुस टाइम्स अफ इन्डियाको भर्खर अपडेट गरिएको समाचार :
KATHMANDU: Once known as the Serpent and Bikini Killer, Charles Sobhraj acquired a new moniker on Wednesday: newly-wed, tying the knot Nepali-style with his 20-year-old Nepali fiancée Nihita Biswas.
On Wednesday, Nepal celebrated Bada Dashami, the 10th day of its biggest Hindu festival Dashain, traditionally regarded as an auspicious day for weddings. While pairs headed for temples to say “I do”, for 64-year-old Sobhraj, it was a more sombre ceremony in Kathmandu’s Central Jail where he has been serving a life sentence for murder.
The bride wore a pink T-shirt and trousers while Sobhraj kept his trademark cap as they exchanged vows and tikas, the red vermilion mark. He was allowed to come out of his cell and in the presence of curious prison guards and other inmates, the short ceremony was conducted to make them husband and wife.
The "marriage" comes after their engagement in July following Nihita's visit to the prison to offer to interpret for Sobhraj's visiting French lawyer, a visit whic both say resulted in love at first sight.
However, like the whirlwind romance that was marked by controversy, the wedding is also going to be controversial. There was no priest though the bride’s brother and mother Shakuntala Thapa turned up to show their support. Thapa, a leading lawyer, is also fighting Sobhraj’s case in Supreme Court, challenging a lower court decision that declared him guilty of the murder of an American backpacker, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975.
Sobhraj’s appeal will be heard on October 19, after Nepal’s courts reopen after the long holiday break. If he is set free by the apex court, as Nihita claims it will, the couple plan to proceed to France and get married in accordance with French laws.
The wedding is Sobhraj’s second one, though in between he had several girlfriends and a common law wife of Chinese origin with whom he has a daughter. The newly weds have decided that the daughter, now six, will live with them.
Sobhraj’s only recorded and official wedding was to a French woman who divorced him during his imprisonment in India and later married an American.
If the apex court rejects Sobhraj’s appeal, the couple has decided that Nihita will go to the International Court of Justice to fight for his release. Sobhraj claims he was framed by police and not given a fair trial.
Links to this post Posted by: पीजी Labels: समसामयिक
New Bob Marley Video for Awareness by Save the Children - High Tide and Low Tide
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के तपांइ संग श्रम इजाजत पत्र छ ?
एक महिनाको मेरो नेपाल बसाइ पत्तै नहुने गरी सकियो, मैले मेरो सामान चेक-इन गरी बोर्डिन्ग पास पनि लिइ सकेको थिए । फेरी कहिले फर्किने हो केही था...
कामरेड प्रचण्ड!, तपाईले चाहिँ के गर्ने त ?
राजतन्त्र नै नेपालको प्रगतिको एकमात्र तगारो भएको र सो को अन्त हुनासाथ राष्ट्रले विकासपथमा फड्को मार्ने र १० बर्षमा १० हजार मेगावाट बिजुली उत...
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Oracle Adds Artificial Intelligence to Cloud Applications
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AtScale 6.0 Brings Its Universal Semantic Layer to the Google Cloud
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Tableau Presents 10.5 Beta Release
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Automic Unveils New Release Under CA Technologies
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MicroStrategy Introduces New Updates to Primary Platform that Simplifies Sharing Analytics
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Compuware Ramps Up Mainframe DevOps Support
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IBM Speeds Up Access to Data Analytics
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Syncsort to Ship Mainframe Analysis Tool
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TidalScale Teams Up With Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to Enable Largest Cloud Servers in the World
At Oracle OpenWorld, TidalScale announced that it has partnered with Oracle to enable Oracle Cloud users to combine multiple bare metal servers into a single logical server instance through TidalScale's inverse hypervisor technology.
SnapLogic and Maritz Motivation Solutions are Collaborating to Provide Employee Engagement Initiatives
SnapLogic and Maritz Motivation Solutions, a provider of employee engagement solutions, are forging a new partnership that will make it faster and easier for companies to create and manage world-class employee engagement programs. Leveraging SnapLogic's modern integration technology, Maritz's CultureNext engagement platform will connect seamlessly and in real-time to employee data anywhere in the organization, whether from HR information systems such as Workday or employee communication and collaboration applications like Slack and others.
MapR and DataScience.com Collaborate to Offer Data Science and Machine Learning Services
MapR Technologies is partnering with DataScience.com, an enterprise data science platform provider, to launch a joint solution that will power collaborative data science projects. With this partnership, DataScience.com customers can enjoy a truly collaborative workflow environment where their data science experiments can run directly on the MapR Platform without needing a separate compute cluster to access data.
MarkLogic’s Gary Bloom on What to Do Before You Start an AI Project
The way MarkLogic CEO Gary Bloom sees it, interest in artificial intelligence is soaring: Everyone wants to talk about it and everyone wants to apply intelligence for better insights and better decisions. But there is just one problem.
The Need for Intelligent Data Modeling
How rapidly digital transformations have occurred since 2007. A decade ago organizations had not yet turned en masse to leverage social platforms such as Facebook. Consumer technology and its potential went largely ignored and companies were mainly focused on data mining, search technology, and virtual collaboration. Surely it is time for a new generation of intelligent data modeling to step up and enable advertisers and marketers to target consumers more accurately.
Apache Cassandra and Apache Ignite: Better Together
Apache Cassandra is a popular open source, distributed, key-value store columnar NoSQL database used by companies such as Netflix, eBay, and Expedia for strategic parts of their business. When combined with Apache Ignite, Apache Cassandra becomes even more powerful, allowing it to be used for today's most demanding web and cloud applications.
Guidelines for Understanding the Next-Generation of Hadoop Technologies
Hadoop adoption in the enterprise is growing steadily and with this momentum is an increase in Hadoop-related projects. From real-time data processing with Apache Spark, to data warehousing with Apache Hive, to applications that run natively across Hadoop clusters via Apache YARN, these next-generation technologies are solving real-world big data challenges today.
TIBCO Signs Agreement to Buy Data Virtualization Business from Cisco
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Data professionals and vendors converged at Strata Data in New York to trade tips and tricks for handling big data. Top of mind for most was the impact of machine learning and how it's continuing to evolve as the "next big thing."
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Oracle Leverages Automation and Machine Learning to Heighten IT Security and Management
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BDNA Partners with Amazon to Develop New Cloud Tool
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Alation and Paxata Deliver Governance for Insight for Hybrid, Multi-Cloud Data Lake
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BlueData Adds New Innovations for Docker Containers, Deep Learning and More
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iguazio Launches the Unified Data Platform, boosting AI and Machine Learning Strategies
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Black Friday Checklist Prepares Retailers for Online Holiday Shopping Season
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SAP Enhances its SAP Cloud Platform to Drive Business Agility
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Information Builders’ iWay Adapter Ready for SAP NetWeaver
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Infoworks Introduces its Cloud Big Data Warehousing Platform
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The Fundación travels to Northern Europe and Asia with Serrano Ham
The Fundación has held numerous promotional activities, including participation in trade shows, training sessions at catering schools, participation in social and cultural activities, reverse trade missions and presentations for members of the press, importers, consumer motivators and restaurateurs.
The Fundación del Jamón Serrano Español has wrapped up the first phase of this year's international Promotional Campaign with notable press coverage after successfully completing the activities that were conducted in Germany, Denmark and Japan during the first quarter of the year.
In February the Fundación traveled to Germany for a full program of presentations and promotional activities in Munich and Berlin. To begin, a full program of training courses was offered at the Munich School of Catering, as well as the first phase of a tapas contest using Serrano ham, organized for all of the students at the school.
These courses were followed by Serrano ham slicing and tasting sessions to familiarize restaurateurs, members of the press and consumer motivators with the characteristics of our product.
From here, we moved to Berlin, where Fundación Serrano ham participated in sessions for the Berlinale, the prestigious film festival, including presentations at the receptions organized by the Spanish Embassy and Hogan Lovells International, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of the Spanish Embassy in Berlin. Guests included political authorities, diplomats and institutions, celebrities, politicians, members of the press, etc.
The activities held in the German capital wrapped up with a course of training programs for the Berlin School of Catering, a second stage of the Serrano ham tapas contest and a second Serrano ham slicing and tasting session for restaurateurs and the press.
Germany is the number one international market for Spanish Serrano ham. Last year, 960 tons of complete, bone-in hams and 6,300 tons of boned or sliced ham and portions were sold in the country.
Promoting Serrano Ham in Denmark
The next stop for the Fundación was Denmark, a market with high buying power an unquestionable interest for Spanish ham producers. Activities centered around the Copenhagen Food Fair, the most important food fair in Denmark, with various promotional pursuits in collaboration with PDO Ribera del Duero and Baena olive oil as part of the "Original Flavors, the Mediterranean Essence" program.
The success of the tasting sessions and live show cooking by chef Fernando del Cerro (one Michelin star at his restaurant, Casa José, in Aranjuez-Madrid) deserve special mention.
Promotional activities also included a Serrano ham presentation for authorities, press, importers and hotel and catering representatives at Pintxos Restaurant and Tapas Bar in Copenhagen, in coordination with Turespaña in Denmark and with the collaboration of chef Fernando del Cerro.
The next block of activities included Serrano ham training sessions for Danish catering students, held at the Catering Schools in Copenhagen, Odense and Aalborg, with the various phases of this year's tapas contest for the students of these three schools, as well as for students at the Hotel Management Schools in Aahrus and Sielkeborg.
European Journalists and Consumer Motivators Visit Spain
We complemented our promotional campaign in northern Europe by organizing, for the second year in a row, the visit of a group of journalists from Germany, Poland and Denmark so they could see firsthand the Serrano ham production, control and quality processes.
The group visited various drying sheds belonging to the Fundación to observe the production, quality control and certification processes. They also received information on the nutritional characteristics of Serrano ham and serving suggestions to transmit to their national media, and participated in a tasting session.
Fundación Serrano Ham, with Almudena Grandes at the European Literary Program
The strategy of the Fundación for promoting Serrano ham in cultural and social settings and sports events, both in Spain and abroad, was also initiated this year in Berlin, where the Fundación accompanied writer Almudena Grandes at a colloquium held at the European Commission headquarters in Berlin. The talk was organized by Instituto Cervantes and fell within the framework of the European Literary Program.
The Spanish novelist was the invited guest in a debate with the general public and representatives of the European Commission, EUNIC, the Goethe Institute, the French Institute, etc., on her latest novel. Following the session she joined everyone in tasting Serrano ham and wines from Ribera del Duero in an act which helped to spread our country's literary and gastronomic culture in the German capital.
Fundación Serrano Ham, in Japan
The burgeoning Japanese market was also one of this year's promotional objectives, The Fundación de Jamón Serrano, in connection with the OECE (Spanish Meat Export Office), to which the Fundación belongs, participated in Foodex, the prestigious food show held in Tokyo. We also participated in complementary activities such as the presentation, slicing demonstration and tasting at the prestigious HIllside Banquet Pachon restaurant in Tokyo for representatives of the restaurant, sales, distribution and media sectors.
Presentation at the AECOC Meat and Meat Products Congress
The interest generated by this training, informational and promotional activity has led the Fundación to participate in the recent AECOC Congress (Spanish Association of Commercial Codification) for Meat and Meat Products, a forum of great interest for analyzing the evolution and trends of our sector.
The Fundación manager, Jose Ramón Godoy, gave a presentation on the importance of communication, training and information on meat products: the need to transmit to the consumer the valuable properties and characteristics of the product in a sector in which negative news is often the norm.
He spoke of the communication, training and promotional campaigns carried out by the Fundación Jamón Serrano in various markets and through different channels, and explained our social network project.
Participation in the European Commission Consultative Group
The last action we would like to highlight is the participation of the Fundación in the European Commission Consultative Group for Agricultural Production, held in Brussels.
Issues of vital importance to our product were addressed, such as the possibility of transforming the TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) to PGI (Protected Geographical Indication), a designation which can provide greater protection and possibilities for the growth of Spanish Serrano ham. Other points were related to the protection of Quality Designations, working to implement EU Regulation 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs, which includes Serrano ham.
About the FUNDACIÓN del JAMÓN SERRANO ESPAÑOL
The FUNDACIÓN DEL JAMÓN SERRANO ESPAÑOL was created in 2000 and comprises close to one hundred ham manufacturing industries in 13 regions. Its objective is to promote, publicize and protect the "Jamón Serrano" designation, backed at Community level by the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) label.
Hams bearing the FUNDACIÓN counter label are available only in the categories of Reserva, for hams that have been cured for a minimum of 12 months, and Gran Reserva, for jams with cured for more than 15 months. Sliced ham bearing the counter label has been cured for a minimum of 10 months, placing FUNDACIÓN hams well above the minimum levels required by EU legislation on TSGs.
FUNDACIÓN JAMÓN SERRANO Corporate Communication José M. Alvarez. Tel.: 646 65 28 46. E-mail: comunicacion_arroba_fundacionserrano.org
HIGHLIGHTED VIDEO
El Jamón Serrano un alimento excelente. Presentacion
Pedro Delgado
"Jamón Serrano has always been part of the cyclist's diet"
SURVEY - your opinion
How many times a week do you eat Serrano Ham?
Two or three times
Hardly ever
'El Elegido' ('The Chosen'), winner of the online video contest organized by the Fundación
FJSE Regulations and Application forms
How to choose a Serrano Ham
Other Press Releases
FJSE bulletins
INTERVIEWS AND REPORTS
FUNDACION DOSSIER
Articles on Nutrition
Nutrition Catalog
THE ABC OF SERRANO HAM
SLICING GUIDE
RECIPES WITH SERRANO HAM
Jamón Serrano © 2020 Fundación Jamón Serrano Español
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How To Make Great Home Videos...
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Phil Smith Hoping For Fair Grand National
Phil Smith, best known for being the BHA Handicapper who determines the weights each year for the Aintree Grand National, is hoping that he has made the 2014 renewal both fair and competitive.
Unlike many handicap races run in the UK and Ireland, Phil Smith has completely free reign over the weights that he issues for the National each year limited only by the fact that the highest weight a horse can carry around the Aintree fences is 11-10.
Generally the weights are determined over a two week period between the date that all entries must be declared and the date he announces them in February and although subsequent races by the potential runners can show an improvement in their performance, this year, on balance, Smith seems happy with the job he has done.
Speaking at the 2014 Crabbies Grand National lunch yesterday, Smith said “Tidal Bay is a 13-year-old and he is carrying top-weight of 11st10lb.
I will be overjoyed if he wins as it will be great for the race for a top-weight to win.
Tidal Bay has been a fantastic horse. I hope it will be a competitive race with a close finish.
“I think this year’s race is a significantly better contest than last year – just in terms of the depth of quality in the race.”
Unlike previous years where some trainers and connections have felt unduly penalised when the weights have come out, this year most seemed very content with the weight they had been given and with Tidal Bay unlikely to be withdrawn it means that all original weights will stand.
But Smith did note that there were some horses whose weights would have gone up based on performances last week, had they not been set in stone back in February, including Goulanes, the David Pipe trained eight-year-old.
Smith said “Goulanes, who won at Uttoxeter on Saturday, would have been 9lb higher, while Balthazar King who would also be 9lb higher after his Cross Country win at Cheltenham.”
For now though they all remain hopeful of there chances and the full list of 2014 Grand National Odds is available here.
March 20, 2014 /by Simone Wright
Tags: 2014 Grand National, BHA Handicapper, Phil Smith
http://www.grand-national.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/PhilSmith.jpg 340 620 Simone Wright http://www.grand-national.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/gn-logo2016green.png Simone Wright2014-03-20 10:12:252018-05-03 13:45:45Phil Smith Hoping For Fair Grand National
5 Long-Shots for 2014 Grand National
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Back In Focus Out Of Grand National Running
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Jason Maguire Grand National Option For Balthazar King
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Two Highly Recommended Readings
I hope that all Dorf on Law readers have enjoyed the holiday break, and that at least some of us took seriously Professor Colb's moving call to allow our professed values to change the way we think about what we eat.
Although it is not our usual practice to publish Dorf on Law posts on weekends, I wanted to take just a moment to bring attention to two "must reads":
(1) Thomas Palley, a progressive economist (which is, despite all evidence to the contrary, not an oxymoron), has penned a satirical essay, "Economists Without Borders (Economistes Sans Frontieres)," which manages to be surprising in two important ways: (A) It uses the ebola virus as a leaping off point for humor, and (B) It shows that economists can be funny.
(2) In his post two days ago (which I also highly recommend, but which loyal readers will surely have already read), Professor Dorf briefly mentions a guest Verdict column by Cornell Law Visiting Professor Joseph Margulies: "Lessons From Ferguson." I cannot emphasize strongly enough how great this column is. I dare say that it will make you think about criminal justice in new ways. It is almost poetic.
Now you know.
Posted by Neil H. Buchanan at 7:00 AM
David Ricardo said...
Columns like the Margulies one cited by Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Dorf are slowly educating Americans that this nation does not have the justice system that we think we have, that is shown in popular culture and that provides justice for all. Consider the following that takes place daily in America
1. Individuals are brought to trial in capital offenses without benefit of competent counsel. The Supreme Court says that ignorant defendants are responsible for the errors of their attorneys even though they have no knowledge or control over those attorneys. We actually execute people because their attorney did not file papers on time!
2. The accused but untried and un-convicted are often incarcerated for months in jails because they cannot afford bail.
3. Prosecutors ‘bribe’ witnesses who are themselves accused with promises of lenient treatment if they will testify against other defendants. This information is often denied defendants at trial.
4. Evidence is lost, mishandled, denied to defendants. Think about the backlog of testing of rape kits.
5. Privately operated prisons lobby state governments to increase sentences because they, the private prisons benefit from a higher prison population.
6. Property, including money, autos, jewelry etc is taken from citizens simply because the authorities believe they may have been used in a crime or believe they may be the fruit of a crime. This is done without any charges being filed, without any due process, or process at all and the victims of this state crime are without recourse. Local police are funded by these actions.
7. Poor, ignorant and/or mentally ill accused are interrogated without counsel for hours and threatened with long prison sentences unless they confess and plea bargain to a crime they may or may not have committed.
If this sounds like a Soviet era justice system or the type of justice system that exists in corrupt dictatorial nations it is because it is. With respect to justice, the American Dream is just that, a dream. Reality is a Kafka-esque nightmare.
pvine said...
Margulies's pinning the death of Michael Brown exclusively on what he describes as an "us" versus "them" mentality that, according to him, is at the core of America's criminal justice system is myopic.
Margulies's anti-government, anti-establishment, narrow-minded rhetoric does nothing to prevent another killing of an unarmed Black youth at the hands of a White police officer.
The issues that led to Michael Brown's death, and will inevitably lead to the tragic death (or imprisonment) of Black youth in the future are far more complex than the Margulies "us" vs. "them" theorem.
Margulies may want to analyze the deterioration of the Black family structure over the last 50 or so years and determine whether an "us" vs. "them" mentality caused that dysfunctionality. Or whether there was something else more basic, more connected to personal responsibility, at play?
I am surprised to find myself in agreement with pvine and disappointed in Neil. The essay by Professor Joseph Margulies was indeed myopic, missed many of the real issues that plague the criminal justice system, and ignores the political reality in the country today.
Margulies is correct to point out that much criminal justice reform has focused on sentencing reform rather than police and prosecutor reform. That is indeed true and indeed a problem. Yet the changes in prosecutor and police practices since the 1960s have nothing to do with an "us vs them" mentality. It has everything to do with a shift away from legislative authority to executive authority, a shift whose momentum continues to build. This shift has happened because there has been a huge increase is social complexity, partially as a result of technological and economic progress but partially as a result of the increase in social diversity on both a national and global scale. These rapid and complex changes have required rapid and complex responses from government. With limited time and resources it been far easier for legislatures to pawn off the difficult work to government bureaucracies overseen by the executive branch. In short, one cannot separate out prosecutor and police practices--such as the vast increase in plea bargaining--from the overall rise in the administrative state--they are part of the same trend.
Where Margulies wanders off track is that he confuses the focus of police power with the origin of police power. In is true that at certain places and in certain situations that police have used their power both to increase rather than decrease racial divides and that there is sometimes an us vs them mechanic in play. But that is correctly seen for what it is: an abuse. That wasn't the underlying social justification for giving the executive increased power. The problem with Margulies's "Kumbaya" approach is that it only addresses one head of the hydra and makes no attempt to attack the body. I don't dispute that there is or has been a "punitive trend" in American life but poetic bromides are at best temporary bandages--so long as the executive has so much asymmetrical power people will continue to be attracted to that power precisely so they can use it for punitive purposes--if not blacks, gays; if not gays, pedophiles; if not pedophiles, whatever next group the social norm decides to make out cast.
We are now in the throes of what I have come to call "gangster government," where the real desire of political parities is not social unity but a fight over who controls the Executive gang. Naturally, people like Margulies (and it appears Neil too) think that when they control the gang that polices and prosecutes the people they have achieved social unity. That is an illusion. Genuine social unity begins with a restoration of the proper power balance between the policy makers and the executors of that policy, for it is the policy makers--the legislatures--who can truly claim the will of the people: never the executive. However, for reasons great and small the restoration of said power balance will likely have to wait end of the American experiment in democracy.
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Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 (Final)
130 March 16, 2011 January 24, 2016
49 Days: Episode 1
49 Days had a slow ratings start (8.6%), but when I’m talking about dramas that hook my interest from the get-go, the ratings discussion is really just an afterthought. I was much more interested in seeing whether the drama would be able to capitalize on its promise, and although I approached warily, I found myself responding really well to the first episode.
The story itself didn’t hold many surprises — it was all given away in the promos and premise descriptions — so what made it work was the relationships the drama has built, and the characters who hint at being much more than meets the eye. Even if that means that for this hour, we had to sit through a LOT of Nam Gyuri‘s acting, which ranged from badly stilted to middling. But everyone else? I’m excited.
10cm – “Talk” [ Download ]
We’ve covered the setup in all the pre-premiere posts, so without further ado:
EPISODE 1 RECAP
We start out with scenes from modern life in Korea, and the clips converge on a central theme of birth and death. Old life passing, making room for the new.
Playing a guitar on the ledge of a high-rise (because, sure, why not?) is our pretty-boy Grim Reaper (Jung Il-woo), looking over his domain with a detached eye.
Down below, a traffic jam strands three young ladies in a cab, with an engagement ceremony fast approaching. The stressed-out bride — er, fiancée-to-be — is about to lose it; SHIN JI-HYUN (Nam Gyuri) has many nicknames, one of which is “crybaby,” and she’s about to prove its aptness here.
Averting disaster is her stalwart best friend, SHIN IN-JUNG (no relation) (Seo Ji-hye), who urges Ji-hyun and their third friend PARK SEO-WOO (Bae Geu-rin) to make it on foot. When Ji-hyun’s heel breaks, it’s In-jung who gives up her flats and runs on in her stocking feet.
Elsewhere, an architect works at his desk, only looking up when he is reminded that the engagement ceremony is approaching. This is HAN KANG (Jo Hyun-jae), who dresses in his suit and heads toward the venue.
A classic misdirect makes us think (if we haven’t read the plot synopsis by now) that he’s the late groom-to-be, and he tugs nervously at his tie like a bachelor with cold feet. But no, it’s a fake-out: He bursts into the ceremony as it’s just winding down.
The happy couple isn’t greatly disturbed so there’s no big drama here — at least, until we pan back to Kang’s uncomfortable face and realize that no, he’s not the fiancé. He’s the guy who wishes he were.
It’s one of those subtle things we don’t realize right away, but comes through the more we see Kang in the couple’s presence. In fact, the dynamic niggles at my memory… Where have I seen this before? (Aside from every other drama ever.)
Ji-hyun greets Kang with friendliness, but he coldly ignores her and focuses on talking to his hyung, fiancé KANG MIN-HO (Bae Soo-bin). We get the sense Ji-hyun is used to being snubbed but keeps trying because she wants to win Kang over, but he’s not having it. (AH! It’s Love, Actually.)
Case in point: Min-ho asks Kang to hold Ji-hyun’s hand because she keeps tripping over her dress, and he stutters an excuse to avoid it. She’s miffed at his rejection, but Kang is working in self-preservation mode here, and just trying to get along without being found out.
The only person to pick up on something in Kang’s behavior is Ji-hyun’s dad, who looks at him quizzically. Min-ho explains that they met while he was studying for his MBA in the States. Kang is a high school classmate of Ji-hyun’s, and “practically a genius” as an architect.
Now on the other end of the income bracket, we have poor SONG YI-KYUNG (Lee Yo-won), who hunches in her tiny apartment eating a bowl of instant ramyun for dinner, looking like all the life has been drained out of her eyes. She trudges lifelessly to her soul-sucking job at a small convenience store, where she works in a dull daze. Even when a customer tries to engage her with a friendly smile, she looks right through him and dismisses him.
Ji-hyun’s father is called away from the engagement ceremony with an upsetting call, and he stumbles home drunk that night. Guess the news must’ve been bad, because he urges the kids to marry right away — like, this month. They protest, but he reverse-psychologies them, asking, So of a sudden you don’t want to marry, is that it?
Clearly there’s some reason prompting them to hurry — I’m guessing it’s financial, related to Dad’s investment business — but he doesn’t divulge it.
The hasty wedding isn’t what Min-ho or Ji-hyun had planned, but they dutifully go along with it, and Min-ho makes his official proposal to seal the deal. Then, they call their wedding party for dinner that night (where, we may note, Kang acts distant toward Ji-hyun but happens to know all of her food preferences).
The happy couple reminisces about their first meeting, which spins us off into a flashback to a hiking trip that Ji-hyun had gone on with In-jung.
What started off sunny and invigorating had turned dark and rainy, and the girls had been separated in the woods. Min-ho had found her huddled and shivering in the woods, and carried her to safety and called an ambulance to tend to her.
Kang is already hating being here at all, and as he listens to this romantic story, it’s all he can do to will his head not to burst. He keeps his arms crossed grumpily and endures the adoring couple.
And while In-jung is the model of the perfect, caring, thoughtful best friend, I suspect there’s more there, too. (Granted, I’m keeping in mind what I know from her character description.)
For example, everything In-jung does and says is perfectly sweet. And I don’t suspect her of being a scheming backstabber (not yet, at least). But she has an overcompensation thing going on, like she’s trying to will herself to be happy for her friend, in the way that Kang is trying to will himself not to shoot himself in aggravation.
The girls go through the wedding plans, with organized In-jung on top of the to-do list. As an example of how sweet but dim Ji-hyun is, she exclaims that her bridesmaids ought to wear the same wedding dress when they marry — ostensibly to save money, but kind of mind-numbingly self-absorbed, no? But her friends are well aware of her cute, simple ways and laugh along with her.
In-jung had until recently been Ji-hyun’s roommate, but upon the wedding, her old room will be turned into a study. Usurped in more ways than one, perhaps?
It’s the dead of night (well past 3am) when Yi-kyung’s convenience store is held up by two robbers wielding a knife. They demand money, but find her contained reaction a little unnerving. Seeing that she doesn’t even flinch, one growls, “Do you wanna die?” She challenges him, “Stab me.”
The cops arrive to arrest the failed thieves, and even the police officer tells Yi-kyung incredulously that she should’ve handed the money over to keep herself safe.
The boys meet up for an early-morning workout session, and Kang asks Min-ho to relieve him of groomsman duties. We can surmise his reasoning for wanting out, but he’s also got his reputation for indifferent detachment working in his favor, and Min-ho assumes he just finds such things tiresome. He lets his friend off the hook, and says that it was Ji-hyun’s affection for tradition that they had persuaded him to join them in the first place.
Min-ho recalls that Kang had been intending to track down a woman once he came back to Korea — which suggests he’s newly arrived — and says that it shouldn’t be so hard to find a person in such a tiny country. Kang deflects this, though, which makes me suspect that he may have been looking for his old friend Ji-hyun. (And, perhaps, found her too late?)
Kang tries to avoid Ji-hyun when he runs into her later, but she follows him and tries again to engage him. She explains that she wants all her and Min-ho’s closest friends to be a part of their big day, and Kang has a double claim — he’s Min-ho’s closest buddy, and also her old friend.
Kang sets her straight, saying that they are NOT friends, thankyouverymuch, prompting Ji-hyun to wonder if he’s still holding a grudge from “that time.” Whatever happened, it’s clear that he IS still thinking of it, while Ji-hyun scoffs that if anyone should be feeling bad over it, it should be her, not him.
Not wanting to delve into old wounds, he tells her flat-out that he doesn’t want to be a part of the wedding party, and that yes, it’s because of her. He assures her he’ll treat her properly as hyungsoo-nim (my brother’s wife), so she can be satisfied with that.
Ji-hyun is hurt by his rejection, and fiddles with her fingers in a recurring nervous tic. She tells her friends that Kang really is a jerk, and they advise her to let go — why does she insist on calling Kang a friend when he hates her? She sighs that as much as he can be a pain in the ass sometimes, she doesn’t hate him.
Ji-hyun is surprised to hear Min-ho call Kang sensitive, but he tells her that Kang has dealt with a lot of pain, like the proper k-drama hero he is.
Complicating the dynamic (I’m sure) is the fact that In-jung works for Ji-hyun’s father. Min-ho also works for Future Dad-In-Law, meaning that In-jung is his secretary as well. Eep. I’m sure that isn’t problematic, eh? Especially since her boss’s wife to whom she must defer is her best friend from high school. Even if nothing dramatic were to happen, you get the sense that something’s gotta give, here.
Ji-hyun goes shopping for her bridesmaid’s dresses, taking particular care to find a dress that’ll look pretty on In-jung, since she’s picked out a groomsman to match her up with. She takes the dress with her to have her friend try it on.
Hot Reaper Boy speeds along on his motorcycle, on his way to a scheduled, uh, appointment. Pulling over, he consults his smartphone… er, smartdeathwatchdevice. He’s got five minutes till the scheduled demise of a Mr. Kim Jin-soo, and settles back to wait.
At the same time, Yi-kyung stares dully at her calendar — okay, lady, you’re starting to be a real downer — which is fixed on an old date: March 15, 2006. She puts on a black dress, suggesting that she lost not only a loved one but also herself on that day.
Yi-kyung takes the bus to a particular location, carrying a desiccated rose, not noticing that she is passed by the Reaper or that she is being followed by a man.
She crouches by the road, next to a warning sign indicating a dangerous accident-prone area. A flashback takes us back to some time ago, when the bloodstain was fresh on the road. A young man’s body had hit the ground here.
Making a sudden decision, Yi-kyung rashly steps into the busy road, directly into the path of an oncoming truck. She closes her eyes to await impact.
But a man dashes into traffic to spin her out of harm’s way, and they hit the ground safely.
The truck, on the other hand, swerves to avoid her. What results is a multi-car pileup on the highway, which catches the Reaper by surprise — I bet he thought it’d be a lot easier figuring out where his body would end up, but now he’s got a dozen cars to choose from. The Reaper sighs in frustration, just as the guy in front of him — stuck in traffic in his car — clutches his heart.
Ji-hyun isn’t initially caught up in this nightmare wreckathon, but when a motorcyclist skids in front of her, she swerves to avoid running him over… and that sends her into a truck, the force propelling her out the windshield.
Landing on the ground, her eyes flutter open and she gets to her feet, apparently unharmed. She looks around to get her bearings, glancing over at the nearby car — hers — where people yell at the young woman inside. Which is her.
Shock. Her real body is hunched over and bloody. Ji-hyun tries to touch something, but her hands only ripple into the man in front of her, and nobody can hear her. Oddly enough, one dude looks straight at her, to her relief. But the next moment, he’s gone.
Ji-hyun gets into the ambulance with…herself…and watches her body failing to respond to revival attempts.
In the hospital, Yi-kyung’s rescuer watches over her body. He’s the kindly fellow who’d tried to smile at her at the convenience store the other night, which doesn’t entirely explain his presence but suggests he may have been trying to gain her attention for a while now.
When she wakes up, he’s gone, and she looks just as depressed as she did before. Perhaps even more so, since she’s still alive.
Ji-hyun watches as her parents and Min-ho rush into the emergency room, distraught to see her lying prone and hooked up to machines. They break down as her body is wheeled into surgery, and Ji-hyun screams out to them, but she’s kept strictly on her side of the Great Divide — her voice goes unheard, and her touches are repelled by some cosmic mojo.
Reaper Boy walks through the hall, and Ji-hyun remembers that he’d seen her at the accident site and chases after him. The rules of her condition establish that she cannot travel through solid objects, though, so she has to wait on the other side of a door until a living person opens it for her.
She joins the Reaper in another hospital room, where he awaits his time to step in. Spotting her, Reaper Boy gripes, “Shin Ji-hyun! Why don’t you pay attention when you drive?!”
But before he can talk to her, he’s got a job to do. The man in the hospital bed flatlines, and his soul literally leaves the body just as the doctor pronounces him dead.
Reaper greets Dead Man and leads him away, where a celestial portal opens up with a wave of the Reaper’s hand. Dead Man steps inside the elevator, on his way to the After.
The Reaper indicates that she should follow him, and he takes her to the rooftop for a chat. She asks if he’s the Angel of Death/Grim Reaper, but he’s indignant to be called such a passé term: “I’m a Scheduler.” His job is to be there when a person’s scheduled lifetime is up.
She asks if she’s dead, which he confirms. Although his work today hadn’t been about her, thanks to the accident, the plans had a last-minute hiccup: “It’s the case we Schedulers hate most — when our Schedules get messed up!”
Well, sooor-rrrry Mr. Snippy! It’s too bad that death was so inconvenient to you.
Ji-hyun wasn’t scheduled to die today, and Mr. Not-A-Reaper explains that every so often, a troublemaker arises to mess things up. Like today’s attempted suicide.
If there’s anything worse than dying, it’s finding out that you weren’t supposed to die. Ji-hyun clings to hope that he’d made a mistake, insisting futilely that she can’t be dead.
And true, Ji-hyun’s not dead yet, not technically. But she is as good as gone, and the Scheduler shows her what he means by taking her to her hospital room.
Her friends burst in, in shock and grief, and listen in horror as the doctor declares her body in a vegetative state; she’s “practically brain-dead.”
The Scheduler tries to lead Ji-hyun away. She freaks out, thinking he’s about to guide her to the hereafter, she tries to run. But you can’t cheat death, and there’s no escaping him.
He tells her he won’t force her on that stairway elevator to heaven. Which means, she’ll have to decide to get on it herself.
So he lays out the deal:
In his time as a Scheduler, he’s had two previous cases like hers, where the people died as a result of someone else’s unexpected action. She has two options: Either decide that she’s ready to move on to the afterlife anyway, or find three people in the world who truly love her. This she can prove in the form of tears shed while thinking of her.
The rationale is: Those tears indicate that this is a life with enough value to grant another chance.
The Scheduler adds caveats — family members are excluded — but Ji-hyun is thrilled, since this plan seems pretty easy to her. After all, her hospital room was host to more than three tears already.
But the Scheduler smirks — not all tears are created equal. She must collect three pure tears. To illustrate, he takes her to a funeral and instructs her to observe carefully the tears of the attendees.
The Scheduler describes what she’s seeing: That lady sheds tears of pity, that one is crying in consolation to herself, and the other lady is forcing them out of courtesy. When the tears drop, they dissipate into a puff of color, indicating that they’re not “pure” tears of love. By contrast, pure tears of love burst into a flare of white mist, as demonstrated by one funeral-goer. That woman, therefore, truly loved the deceased. Too bad she’s her sister, which would negate her tears in Ji-hyun’s case.
On the other hand, the deceased’s husband cries green tears — they’re sad, but still tinged with hope for his own future. The Scheduler tsks-tsks as he looks over the other color-tainted tears in the room, sighing, “Humans sure are complicated.”
Still, Ji-hyun is confident she can accomplish this in her allotted 49 days, and accepts the task.
Next, the Scheduler takes her to the convenience store and briefs her on the profile of the woman whose body she is allowed to use: Yi-kyung is 28, grew up in an orphanage, and graduated from university after studying hotel and tourism. She worked in a Seoul hotel for two years, was unemployed for a year, then had a string of convenience store gigs.
Ji-hyun doesn’t approve of her Body — that disheveled hairstyle, and those clothes! — but the Scheduler tells her that this woman is connected to her. He doesn’t clarify what Yi-kyung’s critical role was in determining Ji-hyun’s own fate.
Ji-hyun is instructed to act only after Yi-kyung falls asleep, so she waits in Yi-kyung’s dingy apartment till her host comes home from her graveyard shift.
Once Yi-kyung falls asleep, Ji-hyun hovers over her as her soul is absorbed into the body. Moments later, Yi-kyung awakens — or should I say, Ji-hyun’s Soul In Yi-kyung’s Body. (We need a name for this. Ji-hyun-kyung? Ji-hyun’s Soul? The Host?)
In any case, Ji-hyun’s Soul gets up in her unfamiliar body, and acquaints herself with her new (temporary) home. Trembling in excitement, she declares tearily, “I’m…Shin Ji-hyun!”
We’ve already established that I love the premise of 49 Days. There’s something about that category of Second Chance At Life stories that really works for me — it’s a universal theme, and one that everyone ought to be able to relate to. There’s a dash of whimsy in the idea, but it’s not a far-fetched work of fantasy — I think this drama is really more about the real-world aspect than the supernatural element of Reapers and souls and the afterlife.
Plus, I LOVE shows like Dead Like Me — which is fabulous, if you haven’t seen it already — and Flowers For My Life and Who Are You?, which play with the idea of learning to live through experiencing death.
Then there’s the bit where Ji-hyun’s host happens to be this Walking Dead of a character. I appreciate this choice from several angles, the most basic one being that these two almost-dead girls will somehow renew life into each other, in a metaphorical AND literal way. It’s what Who Are You did so well, in explaining why the host body was chosen. A drama like this needs some concrete rules (you always need rules when you’re dealing with fantasy elements, otherwise you just lose all grasp of reality), and if the choice were arbitrary, we’d have some tricky moral areas to deal with. (Such as: Is it fair, or ethical, to hijack a random stranger’s life, even temporarily?) But Yi-kyung is directly responsible for the crash(es), so it makes sense that she would be host to Ji-hyun’s second chance. I’m willing to go with it, because the drama establishes that Yi-kyung hijacked Death. The rule works for me.
It also suggests that Death isn’t always prescribed, which is a thought I like. It means that not all deaths are preordained by some elevator-wielding God, and that you have a choice to divert the course of events with a (rash, impetuous) act of free will. Cold comfort, maybe, but oddly reassuring nonetheless.
As for the characters:
As I said, we all know how this story gets going, so what carries the episode is really the characterizations. Often a drama will have actors I love playing characters I most decidedly do NOT love. That makes me sad. While it’s too early to weigh in yet on 49 Days, I like that so far, everyone seems normal and fair, just dealing with their personal struggles in their quiet way. I can see In-jung turning into a cold bitch, but if she does, I think we’ll get to see her develop into that, rather than landing there fully-formed with a slitted eye and an evil cackle. Seo Ji-hye is a lovely, nuanced actress so I’m looking forward to what she does.
Lee Yo-won is an actress I’m not super excited about, but based on the few minutes we see of her as Ji-hyun, I think she’s got the ability to cover the range needed, going from washed-out and leaden to bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in (literally) the blink of an eye. She’ll need to be sharp and smart with her transitions to carry this role, and I think she’s equal to it.
As for Jo Hyun-jae — I confess that I haven’t liked a lot of his roles before. It’s a case of liking the actor but having his characters leave me cold. But I LOVE where they’re going with Kang, even if it’s super-obvious what’ll happen and loaded with a fair number of cliches. I do suspect that with a different actor, he might not be as relatable or sympathetic, though, and I’m liking what he’s doing with his eyes. Maybe it’s from the maturity that comes with undergoing military service, or maybe it’s from his father’s death, but he’s got this haunted, sad look about him that seems new, which really works those heartstrings.
I’m not actually a huge fan of Love, Actually, but there’s something super compelling about that romantic conflict — of loving your best friend’s girl, and wanting them to be happy, and stepping back to avoid trespassing on that.
Only, in true k-drama style, here we’ll get him his heart’s desire, kind of. (They’re setting him up with Yi-kyung, but it remains to be seen whether it’s Yi-kyung proper or Ji-hyun’s Soul In Her Body). Plus, the drama paves the way for him to do so without guilt because we’ll have Ji-hyun’s fiancé (presumably, I’m guessing from promos) reneging on his love to the heroine first. (In Min-ho’s defense, he does think she’s not long for this world. Then again, maybe that’s added indictment, not defense.)
Official posters for 49 Days
Could there BE any more stills from 49 Days?
Even more stills from 49 Days
More stills from 49 Days
First trailer for 49 Days
Bae Geu-rin joins 49 Days
49 Days begins filming
Flirting with the afterlife in 49 Days
Tags: 49 Days, Bae Geu-rin, Bae Soo-bin, featured, first episodes, Jo Hyun-jae, Jung Il-woo, Lee Yo-won, Nam Gyuri, Seo Ji-hye
130 All Comments Most Recent
1 Dee Dee
I'm so excited!
I can't believe I was first!
pabo ceo reom
It's something to watch that's for sure. I was on a drama lull.. ready to dig myself into something. :)
Ambie
So for switch-a-woo names... Ji-b-Yi or Ji-n-Ky (Jinky...you know like scooby doo?)
watch 49 Days Episode 1 English Subbed here: http://kimchidrama.blogspot.com/2011/03/49-days-episode-1.html
Hazel, thank you so much for this kimchidrama link ! Kamsahamnida :)
2 tildy
Wow, I completely forgot this started today! I'll be back once I've watched the eppy.
Me too Dx
BTW... do all Reapers have Beats Headphones by Dr.Dre? D:
If so I want to be a Reaper ;(
Casie
I know, right? Being employed in the after life has it perks.
You know, this is going to sound kind of wack but I'm getting the feeling that the Reaper. . .sorry. . .Scheduler might be the guy that died five years ago for LYW's character? Hm, just a theory because we don't get a picture of his face and that he became a Scheduler five years ago. . .well we'll see.
3 Anne
Looks really interesting! I'll be sure to check it out! Thanks again for your amazing (and quick) recaps~ <3
4 vic
i’ve seen it ,it was not what i expected (and that’s a bad thing). there is no tention or anything, it’s not like the trailer (witch was great btw), i was hoping for something as dark as the first episodes of ‘a love to kill’ or "zeni geba" ,and i got served
so i wonder why did they make a dark trailer for a light drama !?
5 janna
The special effects are so errrr uhhhhh I'll pass on that...
I was a little irritated that the grim reaper scene on the building wasn't really a quiet reflection time scene as it was in the beginning being drowned out by that obnoxious dippy OST track.
Reapers use cellphones instead of post-its now?! Technology!
izocha
lol. The cell phones will really hurt when they rain from the sky.
LOL! I miss Dead like Me :(
The special effects are bothering me as well. Especially the ripples that come up when Nam Gyu Ri's character touches anything...
Cause everything has an app. Blame Apple.
6 xiaoSxin
I haven't watched this drama yet.. and I have been getting mixed reviews on this. I guess I have to watch it first myself before I decide which camp I am on. Love it? Hate it?
7 floralnori
Having just watched the raw & read the recap, I'm unsure about the "rules." Does Ji-hyun only have Yi-kyung's body when she's asleep and Yi-kyung takes back her body when she wakes up, or does Ji-hyun have Yi-kyung's body for 49 days... I'm just confused. :)
8 Nhu
I hope they play a bit with Ji-Hyun's fiance, by posing the question of whether he SHOULD stick around, or break off the engagement. We would like him to, obviously, because we know that Ji Hyun's grasping to get back to life, but thinking about it realistically, if someone is in a coma with little chance of regaining consciousness, wouldn't you persuade someone to move on? There could be a lot of emotional conflict there.
yes! I'd like to see how that works out too... there's a bit of "While you were sleeping" going on there.
9 bluelime
thanks for the recap!! =)
10 coconutjuice
Ahhhh I haven't been excited since Secret Garden! I don't think I'll be able to sleep thinking of having a new drama to watch.
11 cecee
great summary! I thought this episode was done rather well. I didn't like JH character though nor do I care for the actress protraying her. She seems wooden and "plastic" to me. Sorry. As for LYW, I thought she did a good job. It's still too early to tell but I am liking it so far.
12 ronda
Just watched it , it was good ! Finally a drama I cab watch wed - thurs yay !
13 hpn88
Something about the drama's pacing felt a bit...off
Lee Yo Won's character was such a downer, I had to forward very scene she was in. And Nam Gyuri's acting after the crash left a little something to be desired. I didn't feel her confusion and fright at all. I'm almost more invested in the side characters like the best friend (In jung) and what the deal is with her Dad then the main plot.
The best part of all of this was Jung Il woo. He looks fabulous and the character seems to have some originality.
I think I'll have to watch the next few eps to judge fully though.
14 swui
Hmm...JB okayed it...but the comments negate it....
Hmm...I'll wait on this...though I do admit fantasy life and death stories are a personal favourite of mine...and I DO love the male actors...
15 Biscuit
I haven't watched this yet, but I did like the bit about the "pure" love and the examples used. Even though there are several male characters involved, it doesn't have to be her "winning their hearts and love" in a romantic way.
This does give a lot of opportunity to get into the aspect of friendship and love in different areas.
yes, I liked that bit too. In fact, I thought all of the rules surrounding the "Scheduler" were interesting. It suggests that it's an institution of sorts haha.
I'm confused about the "pure" aspect of it though. Pure sadness?
Something that truly sprouts from the heart, I suppose.
16 joZD
just watched the first episode.
two things I can't stand:
1) the editing is really choppy.
2) Nam GyuRi. Yes, her face BOTHERS ME. (Hopefully we won't see her anymore from now on? preeeety pleeeeeese?)
she looks too much like a china doll. her eyes freak me out- they look so black. I can't tell if it's because she's wearing circle lenses. They didn't use to bother me when she was in the girl group, See Ya. But in a drama and in posters, it's a bit disconcerting.
She didn't end up annoying me as much as I thought she would in this episode, though.
At first glance, NGR comes across as real pretty, but after a bit, things (like noticing how her cheeks don't ever change w/ the facial expressions she's trying to make) really starts to bug you.
Agree on both counts. At first I thought it was because I was kind of tired when I watched the first episode, but whenever they switched to another scene, everything just felt weird. I think this should improve though since everything's been kind of set up.
Even though it sounds shallow, Nam Gyuri's face bothers me too. I guess it would be acceptable if she was doing a decent job, but I really couldn't wait for her to get off screen. Oh well, it's only episode one. Maybe she'll get better as the show goes along and I'll start to like her like Seo Woo in Cinderella's Sister.
17 jheart
Thanks a lot for the wonderful recap
The first espisode was good
It met my high expectation.
Like the tone of the drama.
I hope the rating will go up soon.
18 guini
...not bad, Its kindda okay to me. Its early to say but i'm being optimistic to this one.
19 sorcy79au
Ooh! How exciting. Something else to crack! over.
I haven't watched the episode yet but from the recap I'm liking Jung Il-Woo's character. He sounds like a very anal scheduler (lol) someone I'm sure I can become very enamoured with.
Thank you for the recap!! I'm glad they had the car accident/Ji-hyun's death in the middle of the episode. Made things move faster. I was afraid they were going to drag Ji-hyun's life on and have the death scene at the very end.
With Ji-hyun inhabiting Yi-kyung's body after YK falls asleep- does that mean YK will not physically sleep for the next 49 days?!
I wonder if Yi-Kyung's rescuer will make more appearances. I bet he will get with her in the end!
I'm curious about that too. I also like it so far. I read somewhere that the scheduler is YK's first love, but he doesn't remember any of that. That would be interesting. Thanks for the fast recap/review JB.
and LOL at your Zepplein's reference.
21 Jenju
YESSSS!!!!
Thank you so much!!! Have been waiting for this all day :)
Jung Il Woooooooooooo!
22 Bluefyre
Haha. Reapers. When I see that word. I think of two things: Bleach and Death Note. >.<
Now I shall think of another: Jung Il Woo! :D
Nam Gyuri is too pretty for her own good. Bae Soo Bin too, but he's excused. JK! ^^
Wow. I like this first epi very much. I think I've found my new crack. I hope the ensuing eps will be as good.
Thanks so much, JB!
Death note! The first thing i thought with Jung Il Woo character was: Ryuk. I bet he loves apples too :).
23 ninsarama
i like the premise. i have to say that i am thankful that nam gyuri won't be in the drama past this episode. she looks and acts like a doll. it's like she knows she's pretty. anyway, i like lee yo won, and i understand why other people don't. but she's always appealed to me. she gives off a sincere aura that i like.
24 KDR
Liked the 1st ep but I can't wait for the 2nd one. I did not care for the CG effects but I like the characterizations so far. I love Dead like me as well but I am hoping this will be a more lighter version of death...
I'm sensing something was or is still going with Min-ho and In-jung. This is a kdrama afterall, it happened before. That's just my guess though.
26 Daniela
Good first episode. I enjoyed Nam Gyuri´s character. Her easy-going attitude is fun to watch. She is in the border line to childish, but its fun. Maybe she is not the best actress but she has charm.
The other characters, well I cant say much yet. Song Yi-kyung was in zombie mode the entire episode. I want to see Shin Ji-Hyun personality in her.
The Reaper,oh sorry, Scheduler, is one of the type of characters I love, if he stays this way. I hope that he doesn’t get involved with the others characters. I say this because I have this weird feeling that he is the dead boyfriend. Please, no. Writter (or writters) leave him like “im doing my job” type,but no indifferent. This supernatural friend to…she (I don’t know how to call her yet), the cool (and for what I see today) sometimes grumpy companion and if if not much to ask, her conscience, her guide. Don’t let him involved in the drama (the drama into the drama…you know what I mean), let him be this outsider watcher. And please, above all, DON’T MAKE HIM FALL IN LOVE WITH HER.
I’m asking for to much and it’s only the first episode. Well, they don’t charge for wishing, right? Ok, I´ll keep watching. I hope it stays good.
Thank you for the recap!
27 yay
I hate it when a person that commits suicide does it in a way that will harm others as well.
jomo143
Not to mention make someone else a murderer! Bad bad bad!
28 Raitei
This drama sounds so nice. Thanks for the recap. Might probably go and watch it. :D
29 Jesus0saves
LOVE this drama!!
Especially Jo Hyun Jae...
Never really knew him before this drama began... but his (obvious) interest towards engaed nam gyuri is TOTALLY grabbing my attention and I cannot WAIT to see where that leads!!
Mrs. Jo Hyun Jae
he had a lot of practice with me. i was also engaged to someone else before we got hooked up. he can be such a jerk when jealous.
30 kkk
Thank you for the recap!!
I have hope for 49 days... even though some people were disappointed with it, I really liked the 1st episode... which brings me to... Why so little mention of Jung Il Woo?
For me, he totally stealed the show. And no, not just because he absolutely pretty gorgeous to look at but he was spot on with his acting as well...
31 SadieStarr
i tottally forgot bout this one..but its completely awsum!!! :D i luv jungIlWoo...wish he was a human and had a love line here... D: but jo hyun jae was good too :D...deffi..nam gyuri...well shes nam gyuri...nothing exciting :p
32 nokcha
Waiting to read the recap until I've watched the drama and waiting to watch the drama until the subs are ready. But I had to comment about 10cm! Fantastic!
I love it. I need not say anymore. There's a reason why I love misunderstood delinquent j-doramas, because it talks about giving chances to people and it's one thing that I am appreciating about this.
As for the "not all deaths are preordained by some elevator-wielding God" aspect, it works with my belief in a way that I believe in the forked-road theory (I forget the proper name to it). It's this concept that God - or whatever higher power(s) you so choose to be put here - has the ability to see into the future, but that also the future consists of branches (like forked roads) that we must choose to travel. Every branch would have many more branches and those would have their own, and for every path we choose to follow, possible branches become sort of moot point (and this is where we can insert discussions concerning parallel worlds/universes, but let's step away from that for now). Now, God being, you know, all-knowing, he can see into the future, but what if he chooses not to? (But this brings into question how an Omnipotent being knowing and being knowledge can block knowledge when it is knowledge. . . But like I said, that's another complexity to discuss elsewhere.) It's the idea that fate and choice (freewill?) coexists in this world - whether there's a God or not. A lot of questions this here belief of mine, but that's why we live life asking them (or at least I do).
Um, this drama is making me think. . . I like it!
Also, I do love the Scheduler concept. . . So much for "I need not say more" there Ani. *rolls eyes at self*
34 camille
So far it's good, though I am still waiting for the English subs.
Almost everything in episode 1 we have seen already through the previews, etc. I like LYW's acting especially at the convenience store when she was robbed & beaten by the thieves. Looking forward to seeing her acting two opposite characters in one body.
35 Jo
I want jung il woo and nam gyuri to end up together...forevaa!
36 RunLolaRun
I didn't mind Nam Gyuri in "Life is Beautiful" but here so far she is annoying the hell out of me. So irritating.
I was very 'meh' about Lee Yo Won in the beginning but I actually like her here and can't wait to find out more about her character. Everyone else is doing great, loving this drama so far. Soundtrack could be better though. Hehe.
houka
I felt the same for Nam Gyuri.
I always like Lee Yowon & I think she did a wonderful job portraying her character as a downer. I am sure in the next episode we will see her in a different mood & I am excited about that.
37 GrandmaFran
seriously, it felt like my life was missing something. i would come to this site far too many times in a day, forgetting there weren't any drama recaps at the moment. thank you for this recap!
38 julie
ohhh i still need to watch! anyone know the link to watch with eng subs?
39 Mrs. Jo Hyun Jae
Ji-hyun's dad has cancer, that's the call he received during the engagement party.
I love how my husband has been portraying his role so far - i-love-you-but-i-can't-so-will-hate-you-instead. and i do agree with you, JB, my husband's eye work is great, just GREAT!!!! his eyes has always been one of his best assets so i am glad that he is using it well here.
i am also liking SJH's eye work.
i know ngr is receiving a lot of bad reviews of her acting but i sorta like her character. i hope she gets her second chance.
i agree with daniela, i hope reaper stays out of the human drama. he will be a lot cooler that way.
Reapers today, robotic lovers tomorrow.
I have a theory about the guy who saved Yi-Kyung. I'm guessing his body is taken over by the guy Yi-Kyung was crying over. And he's in a similar state as Ji-Hyun (i.e. Three Pure Tears). I'm also guessing that he's Yi-Kyung's old love? The reason I say that "the guy" who saved Yi-Kyung is taken over by her possible dead lover is because the Scheduler (aka. Grim Reaper) said to Ji-Hyun that there were couple cases of the kinds of situations Ji-Hyun got into. One of them just went to the afterlife but I'm guessing the other took the same option Ji-Hyun just took. SO, I'm interested how this will all play out. Then again... I could be wrong with this whole theory... lol but I think I'm right, just since this is a k-drama. lol
ilukd
WOW .. that will be freaking good story ... lets see ...
haha, that would make Jung IlWoo one unlucky reaper; for him to have all those "cases" in such a short time.
But, I've also heard the theory that he's YK's first love? Maybe the reaper is made in his image while the guy that saved YK is the first love's soul?
ack! So many theories haha
I thought I was going to die from boredom due to the lack of interesting dramas. But this! It gives me hope. Sounds interesting enough for me to anticipate the next ep! Ty fr reviewing/recapping!
43 weekwand
finally.....
i have more kdramas to watch on weekend, at least i should be able to watch the eng-subbed version.
*looking for eng-subbed version*
i usually watch the raw, read the recap and watch the eng-subbed version.
i'm lucky to be in the same timezone...well, only 2 hrs later :D
it's thursday.....yay
44 Jessica
This show sounds really good! I am so eager for the eng subs!
45 Dara
Mix feeling, will follow your recap for now. Thanks JB.
46 Almontel
i was wondering what i'd watch since DH and MP got off the air..
thanks for the recap...i think it's worth watching...kinda similar to Ghost..ke ke ke..
so far i like the Scheduler...isn't he the same guy from Gumiho?
let's wait and see how the story will develop..and if it'll keep us interested..
weekwand
i don't think JIW play in Gumiho.
you can check this site if you wanna see what drama/movie he's in before
http://www.hancinema.net/korean_Jeong_Il-woo.php
47 belleza
From what I gather, Jung Il Woo is Morpheus with an ajumma fro, Nam Gyu Ri is the doll girl version of Neo, and somebody forgot to give Lee Yo Won a script.
Epsiode 1 was awesome. ;)
Indeed, Lee YoWon had only uttered two words in that whole episode... "stab me" lol. but I think she was great especially in showing us the transition from a downer to a bright person. Can't wait to see the next episode.
48 QT
Jung Il Woo make one hot grim reaper! & I really want to watch the drama after reading the screen caps ^^
49 cinnamona
thanks for the recap, and the song!!! before i thought that korean music was or traditional, or made by boys band, but this one, and the "my one and only love" that you put on the first ep of my princess, I litteraly love them!!!!
50 hannah
I read somewhere that this drama is going to be 24 episodes. dramawiki says TBA. If it's really going to be 24 eps long I'm a little skeptical if it can actually keep the plot moving and remain interesting. but I really hope it will turn out good and for their sake better ratings. anticipating interactions between Han Kang and Yi Kyung. ty for the recap :).
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VICTORIA HIGHLANDERS FOOTBALL CLUB
Victoria Highlanders
Why Highlanders Residency?
Values & Philosophy
Our Pathway
Residency Staff
PCSL (1st Team)
VISL Div 2 (2nd Team)
Highlanders, Tigers Advance to 2019 PCSL Challenge Cup Finals
(Photo: John Richardson)
VICTORIA, B.C. – The 2019 Pacific Coast Soccer League (PCSL) Challenge Cup playoffs kicked off with a pair of semi-final matches at Centennial Stadium on Saturday, July 27th. In the first match of the day (2:30 p.m. kickoff), FC Tigers Vancouver scored four second half goals, including a brace from Farivar Torabi, on their way to a 5-1 win over Surrey United. The second game of the playoffs (4:30 p.m. kickoff) saw Victoria Highlanders FC come back from a 1-0 deficit at halftime to take the 2-1 win over Okanagan FC with UVic Vike Ian Whibley recording the brace. FC Tigers Vancouver and Highlanders FC will play for the 2019 Sheila Anderson Memorial Challenge Cup on Sunday, May 28th (1:30 p.m. kickoff) at Centennial Stadium.
FC Tigers Vancouver vs Surrey United
In the first game of the afternoon, FC Tigers Vancouver took on the third-seeded Surrey United. The opening stages of the match saw both teams settle into the match as both teams battled for possession. United created chances in the early going, but Vancouver’s backline was able to turn them aside. In the 34th minute, Taynoure Bashghare converted on his chance to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Vancouver came close to extending their lead, but Surrey United held on to keep the score 1-0 after 45 minutes of play.
The second half saw Vancouver’s Farivar Torabi put the game away within a span of five minutes. Torabi’s first goal of the match was in the 63rd minute before he completed the brace in the 68th minute to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Vuk Ceranic added to the lead in the 82nd minute and Nicolas Budhisa rounded out the scoring for Vancouver in the 87th minute. In the closing moments of the match Marco Visintin broke up the clean sheet when he converted in the 89th minute for Surrey. At the final whistle FC Tigers Vancouver walked away with the 5-1 lead and advanced to the 2019 PCSL Challenge Cup Finals.
Victoria Highlanders FC vs Okanagan FC
Victoria Highlanders FC squared off against Okanagan FC in the second semi-final matchup. Highlanders’ goalkeeper Ethan May was busy early on as he turned away a tough angle shot in the 6th minute before grabbing a deflection off an Okanagan free kick in the 15th minute. Those saves were followed up by near misses from Jorge Angelmira, in the 25th minute, and Randy Hubber, in 31st minute.
The Highlanders created a pair of high-quality scoring chances in the final minutes of the half. Patrick Nelson’s long distance shot in the 40th was covered up by the Okanagan goalkeeper and Ian Whibley’s point-blank chance was pushed aside in the 42nd minute. Bad luck followed shortly after as Bobby Eng deflected a cross into his own net in the 43rd minute and Okanagan FC held a 1-0 at halftime.
With a berth in the Challenge Cup Finals on the line, the Highlanders came out of halftime with energy and took advantage of some creative offense. Cam Hundal cut up the left side and into the box before sliding it over to Whibley who fired it into the back of the net in the 51st minute tying the game at one. Whibley struck again when he took advantage of a Cam Hundal long ball that found him behind the defense before firing it past the goalkeeper to give the Highlanders a 2-1 lead.
Okanagan FC came close to tying the game in the 58th minute but the shot went just wide. Whibley came close to converting the hat trick in the 82nd minute but his chance, as well as Ryan Ashlee’s follow up chance, were blocked by the defenders. The Highlanders defense and Ethan May fought off Okanagan FC’s efforts to tie the game and Victoria earned the 2-1 win. With the win the Highlanders will move on to face FC Tigers Vancouver in the 2019 PCSL Challenge Cup Finals on Sunday afternoon.
Victoria Highlanders Second Team is back in action on Sunday, July 28th as they host FC Tigers Vancouver in the 2019 PCSL Challenge Cup Final at Centennial Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. $5 For Entry and Kids 12 & Under Get In For Free. The match will be streamed on the Highlanders Official YouTube Channel. For more details head to www.highlandersfc.ca.
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Getbig Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Forums > Getbig Main Boards > Gossip & Opinions (Moderators: Max_Rep, Princess L, Ron, Mr. Zimbabwe, OneMoreRep, chaos) > Dennis Rodman: LeBron James Would Be 'Average Player' If He Played In 80s, 90s
Author Topic: Dennis Rodman: LeBron James Would Be 'Average Player' If He Played In 80s, 90s (Read 4268 times)
BDsauce
Dennis Rodman: LeBron James Would Be 'Average Player' If He Played In 80s, 90s
Basketball Hall of Famer, North Korea ambassador and unique human being Dennis Rodman has decided someone needed to say it: LeBron James obviously would be an average NBA player in the 1980s or 1990s.
You see, as Rodman explained Friday on The Dan Patrick Show, James plays in an era when basketball has gone soft. Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen (and presumably Dennis Rodman) were playing in a real era and therefore are better than the four-time MVP.
“LeBron came into the age of the game at a perfect time. Michael came into the game when back then you could hit people, knock him down, shoot a free throw and get back up,” Rodman said. “And LeBron can’t do that. All they do today is (complain) about a foul.”
Rodman presumably has knocked James down and had him not get back up.
“If LeBron was playing in the late ’80s and early ’90s, he would be just an average player,” Rodman said. “LeBron is more like … there’s no flash to his game.”
For what it’s worth, Tracy McGrady, a former NBA scoring champ, current San Antonio Spurs reserve and much more normal human being, sort of agreed with Rodman on Friday in Miami.
“It’s different then it was,” McGrady told USA TODAY Sports’ Alex Kennedy. “Then, when I came in ’97, you had men in the league. There’s a lot of boys in this league now. And that’s what I’ve been trying to tell guys when they’ve been asking me questions about LeBron and Jordan. I’m like, ‘Come on man, y’all can’t be serious.’ This man MJ was playing against grown men out there. There’s a lot of boys in the league right now. That seems to be the difference.”
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/06/dennis-rodman-michael-jordan-lebron-james/
El Diablo Blanco
Nom Nom Nom Nom
Re: Dennis Rodman: LeBron James Would Be 'Average Player' If He Played In 80s, 90s
You have to laugh at a society where grown men get paid to run up and down a hardwood floor bouncing a big orange ball that they have to throw through an orange ring and get paid millions to do it. Their contribution to society in the end is the same as Vince Goodrums
To DR's point. I don't remember but only a couple guys in the 80's or 90's that can run and jump as high as Lebron. Magic, Bird, Barkley, Malone etc... wish they could jump like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsi5VTzJpPw
G_Thang
The World South of the USA isnt for pussies!
Quote from: BDsauce on June 10, 2013, 09:43:15 AM
“It’s different then it was,” McGrady told USA TODAY Sports’ Alex Kennedy. “Then, when I came in ’97, you had men in the league. There’s a lot of boys in this league now. And that’s what I’ve been trying to tell guys when they’ve been asking me questions about LeBron and Jordan. I’m like, ‘Come on man, y’all can’t be serious.’ This man MJ was playing against grown men out there. There’s a lot of boys in the league right now. That seems to be the difference.” [/b]
McGrady is right. The league is full of high schoolers and undeveloped college players. Complete junk. Detroit would have sent Lebron off the court crying, and he would have been in foul trouble after the 1st qtr against Boston.
Archer77
Team Shizzo
Quote from: El Diablo Blanco on June 10, 2013, 09:55:26 AM
More people need to put the whole hero worshipping sports star thing into perspective. If every sports star in the planet disappeared the world wouldn't change one bit.
He Sees The Stormy Anger Of The World
Lebron wouldn't be shooting the ball around Rodman, for fear of having his shot blocked into the stands. He would be doing assists like a mofo.
All games now are 4th quarter games.
and yet McGrady cant seem to score 20 points a game against these "BOYS"
Quote from: Archer77 on June 10, 2013, 10:04:35 AM
Wrong, the world would probably change for the better, less gambling degenerates, people actually doing stuff with their lives than spending all day Sunday indoors watching sports. More work would be achieved. Without sports this world might be a better place.
Sports are the original Reality shows for brainless entertainment and most of the time it's scripted as so.
Ronnie Rep
Getbig!
Quote from: Parker on June 10, 2013, 10:05:11 AM
You are dillusional! I love Dr.J. he is my favorite NBA player of all time, but not for one minute would I say that he was better than Lebron! Rodman would have a snowballs chance in hell of stopping Lebron! Rodman is a drunken drugging cross dressing moron who had physical gift!
Hulkotron
attain great strength lifting heavy weights
The hand-checking rule (which was not in place for most of Jordan's career) fundamentally changed the game (i.e. made defense a lot harder), although letting them actually play zone now balances that out some.
LeBron would be among the best two or three players in the league in any era regardless.
Quote from: Ronnie Rep on June 10, 2013, 11:32:57 AM
Rodman's cross dressing, and drugs have nothing to do with this. Rodman gave Shaq fits and was a rebounding king...He gave zero fucks, protected the ball, threw elbows, etc. which is why he would have given Lebron hell. Rodman was athletic, not a slow poke, played like a monster, something you don't see nowadays.
Rodman should have won the finals MVP in the Bulls last year. he was dominant but they still gave it to Jordan but Rodman was averaging something like 20 rebounds per.
THEBOSS
Another day of being huge
Its pathetic
Dreadlifter
I always get the feeling too many people either forget how good Rodman was due to his all-round wierdness over-shadowing memories of his playing days or are too young to have seen him play.
Guy was a defensive demon. I modelled my game (though in no way my life) on his.
Quote from: Dreadlifter on June 10, 2013, 12:00:50 PM
when Rodman was pulling down rebounds, nobody could stop him. Hardly anybody plays like that today. And elbows, please...Lebron and company would be flopping all over the court, trying get a foul called.
Don't forget his D. Rodman was a monster on defense. The guy is an all around winner. Not sure Lebron will ever see 5 rings.
Remember his outlet passing as well. Dude would grab a board and Pippen, Jordan, Thomas..... would break and he would bomb 3/4 court passes perfectly.
UPINTHEMGUTS
I can spot crazy pussy....
LOL...ok dude. Jibberish. This world would be a better place without a lot of things but I wouldn't put sports at the top of the list.
He averaged 8.3 rebounds a game against Utah in the '98 Finals. He also gave up 25 PPG to Malone so his defense wasn't especially remarkable (although that's not a bad result against Karl). Rodman was a great player, maybe the most unique the league has ever seen, but he wasn't especially good in that series.
Meanwhile Jordan was averaging 34 PPG (at 35 years old!) and pretty much single-handedly winning games since Pippen was crippled.
Quote from: Hulkotron on June 10, 2013, 12:13:22 PM
He averaged 8.3 rebounds a game against Utah in the '98 Finals. He also gave up 25 PPG to Malone so his defense was especially remarkable (although that's not a bad result against Karl). Rodman was a great player, maybe the most unique the league has ever seen, but he wasn't especially good in that series.
My favorite era of b-ball. I sometimes watch youtube clips over and over of those games. Clyde, Malone, Barkley vs Jordan
Quote from: XFACTOR on June 10, 2013, 12:15:13 PM
Growing up in the '90s with Jordan and the Bulls spoiled the NBA for me. I still love watching it but it's not the same anymore.
yep, shit would be hilarious to see...
And you know what, if he was on Lebron's team, he would be HUGE help, pick off a rebound, pass it, and Lebron would have an easy 2 points...
We were lucky to have seen it! I remember going to the old chicago stadium and watching Jordan get introduced right through the end of the game scoring 38. There is nothing like it. I go to a lot of games in different cities and I have yet to feel anything close to that.
the game has sucked for a bit. Stern doing too much tinkering. Did you see the end of the game last night? With about 5 minutes left you could see the stadium emptying out. Fucking shit fans in Miami. one of the main reasons why I hate seeing them win, they have the worst fans out there. In the first round you could see groups of empty seats.
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Major religious groups
Title: Major religious groups
Subject: Landtag of the Free State of Saxony, Assembly of the Republic (Portugal), French-speaking electoral college, Achnashellach railway station, New Century Forum
Collection: Religion-Related Lists, Religious Demographics
The world's principal religions and spiritual traditions may be classified into a small number of major groups, although this is by no means a uniform practice. This theory began in the 18th century with the goal of recognizing the relative levels of civility in societies.[1]
History of religious categories 1
Religious demographics 3
Largest religions 3.1
Medium-sized religions 3.2
By region 4
Trends in adherence 5
World Christian Encyclopedia 5.1
Maps of self-reported adherence 6
Sources 10
History of religious categories
An 1821 map of the world, where "Christians, Mahometans, and Pagans" correspond to levels of civilization (The map makes no distinction between Buddhism and Hinduism).
An 1883 map of the world divided into colors representing "Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Mohammedans and Pagans".
In world cultures, there have traditionally been many different groupings of religious belief. In Indian culture, different religious philosophies were traditionally respected as academic differences in pursuit of the same truth. In Islam, the Quran mentions three different categories: Muslims, the People of the Book, and idol worshipers. Initially, Christians had a simple dichotomy of world beliefs: Christian civility versus foreign heresy or barbarity. In the 18th century, "heresy" was clarified to mean Judaism and Islam; along with paganism, this created a fourfold classification which spawned such works as John Toland's Nazarenus, or Jewish, Gentile, and Mahometan Christianity, which represented the three Abrahamic religions as different "nations" or sects within religion itself, the "true monotheism."
Daniel Defoe described the original definition as follows: "Religion is properly the Worship given to God, but 'tis also applied to the Worship of Idols and false Deities." At the turn of the 19th century, in between 1780 and 1810, the language dramatically changed: instead of "religion" being synonymous with spirituality, authors began using the plural, "religions", to refer to both Christianity and other forms of worship. Therefore, Hannah Adams's early encyclopedia, for example, had its name changed from An Alphabetical Compendium of the Various Sects... to A Dictionary of All Religions and Religious Denominations.[2]
In 1838, the four-way division of Christianity, Judaism, Mahommedanism (archaic terminology for Islam) and Paganism was multiplied considerably by Josiah Conder's Analytical and Comparative View of All Religions Now Extant among Mankind. Conder's work still adhered to the four-way classification, but in his eye for detail he puts together much historical work to create something resembling our modern Western image: he includes Druze, Yezidis, Mandeans, and Elamites under a list of possibly monotheistic groups, and under the final category, of "polytheism and pantheism", he listed Zoroastrianism, "Vedas, Puranas, Tantras, Reformed sects" of India as well as "Brahminical idolatry", Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Lamaism, "religion of China and Japan", and "illiterate superstitions".[3]
The modern meaning of the phrase "world religion", putting non-Christians at the same level as Christians, began with the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. The Parliament spurred the creation of a dozen privately funded lectures with the intent of informing people of the diversity of religious experience: these lectures funded researchers such as William James, D. T. Suzuki, and Alan Watts, who greatly influenced the public conception of world religions.[4]
In the latter half of the 20th century, the category of "world religion" fell into serious question, especially for drawing parallels between vastly different cultures, and thereby creating an arbitrary separation between the religious and the secular.[5] Even history professors have now taken note of these complications and advise against teaching "world religions" in schools.[6] Others see the shaping of religions in the context of the nation-state as the "invention of traditions".
Religious traditions fall into super-groups in comparative religion, arranged by historical origin and mutual influence. Abrahamic religions originate in the Middle East, Indian religions in the Indian subcontinent and East Asian religions in East Asia. Another group with supra-regional influence are Afro-American religion, which have their origins in Central and West Africa.
Middle Eastern religions:[7]
proselytizers.[8]
Iranian religions (not listed below due to overlaps), partly of Indo-European origins,[9][10] includes Zoroastrianism, Yazdânism, Ahl-e Haqq and historical traditions of Gnosticism (Mandaeism, Manichaeism). It has significant overlaps with Abrahamic traditions, e.g. in Sufism and in recent movements such as Bábism and the Bahá'í Faith.
Indian religions, originated in Greater India and partly of Indo-European origins, they tend to share a number of key concepts, such as dharma, karma, reincarnation among others. They are of the most influence across the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, Southeast Asia, as well as isolated parts of Russia. The main Indian religions are Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
East Asian religions consist of several East Asian religions which make use of the concept of Tao (in Chinese) or Dō (in Japanese or Korean). They include many Chinese folk religions, Taoism and Confucianism, as well as Korean and Japanese religion influenced by Chinese thought.
African religions:[7]
The religions of the tribal peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, but excluding ancient Egyptian religion, which is considered to belong to the ancient Middle East;[7]
African diasporic religions practiced in the Americas, imported as a result of the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 18th centuries, building on traditional religions of Central and West Africa.
Indigenous folk religions) of major religions. Includes traditional African religions, Asian shamanism, Native American religions, Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditions, Chinese folk religions, and postwar Shinto. Under more traditional listings, this has been referred to as "paganism" along with historical polytheism.
New religious movement is the term applied to any religious faith which has emerged since the 19th century, often syncretizing, re-interpreting or reviving aspects of older traditions such as Ayyavazhi, Mormonism, Ahmadiyya, Pentecostalism, polytheistic reconstructionism, and so forth.
Religious demographics
One way to define a major religion is by the number of current adherents. The population numbers by religion are computed by a combination of census reports and population surveys (in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example the United States or France), but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count.
There is no consensus among researchers as to the best methodology for determining the religiosity profile of the world's population. A number of fundamental aspects are unresolved:
Whether to count "historically predominant religious culture[s]"[11]
Whether to count only those who actively "practice" a particular religion[12]
Whether to count based on a concept of "adherence"[13]
Whether to count only those who expressly self-identify with a particular denomination[14]
Whether to count only adults, or to include children as well.
Whether to rely only on official government-provided statistics[15]
Whether to use multiple sources and ranges or single "best source(s)"
Largest religions
The table below lists religions classified by philosophy; however, religious philosophy is not always the determining factor in local practice. Please note that this table includes heterodox movements as adherents to their larger philosophical category, although this may be disputed by others within that category. For example, Christianity and Islam include those are culturally Christian and Muslim as well as indigenous people combining folk religions or shamanism with either.
The population numbers below are computed by a combination of census reports, random surveys (in countries where religion data is not collected in census, for example the United States or France), and self-reported attendance numbers, but results can vary widely depending on the way questions are phrased, the definitions of religion used and the bias of the agencies or organizations conducting the survey. Informal or unorganized religions are especially difficult to count. Some organizations may wildly inflate their numbers.
Cultural tradition
Christianity 01 !2,200 01 !Abrahamic religions Levant region [16]
Islam 02 !1,600 02 !Abrahamic religions Arabian Peninsula [16]
Hinduism 03 !1,100 03 !Indian religions Indian subcontinent [16]
Chinese folk religion 04 !754 — 1,000 04 !Chinese religions China 1:;[17] 2:[18]
Buddhism 05 !488 — 535 05 !Indian religions Indian subcontinent [16]
Medium-sized religions
The following are medium-sized world religions:
Taoism 01 !12–173 01 !Chinese religions China [17]
Shinto 02 !100[nb 1] 02 !Japanese religions Japan [19][20]
Sikhism 03 !28 03 !Indian religions Indian subcontinent [21]
Judaism 04 !14 04 !Abrahamic religions Levant region [16]
Korean shamanism 05 !5–15 05 !Korean religions Korea [22]
Caodaism 06 !5–9 06 !Vietnamese religions Vietnam, 20th century [23]
Bahá'í Faith 07 !5–7.3 07 !Abrahamic religions Iran, 19th century [24][25][nb 2]
Jainism 08 !4.2 08 !Indian religions Indian subcontinent, 7th to 9th century BC [26]
Cheondoism 09 !3–4 09 !Korean religions Korea, 19th century [27]
Hoahaoism 10 !1.5–3 10 !Vietnamese religions Vietnam, 20th century [28]
Tenriism 11 !5 11 !Japanese religions Japan, 19th century [29]
Religion by region
Religion in Africa
Religion in Antarctica
Religion in Asia
Religion in the Middle East
Muslim world (SW Asia and N Africa)
Religion in Europe
Religion in the European Union
Religion in North America
Religion in Oceania
Religion in South America
Trends in adherence
Since the late 19th century, the demographics of religion have changed a great deal. On the one hand, since the 19th century, large areas of Sub-Saharan Africa have been converted to Christianity, and this area of the world has the highest population growth rate. On the other hand, some countries with a historically large Christian population have experienced a significant decline in the numbers of professed active Christians: see demographics of atheism. Symptoms of the decline in active participation in Christian religious life include declining recruitment for the priesthood and monastic life, as well as diminishing attendance at church. In the realm of Western culture, there has been an increase in the number of people who identify themselves as secular humanists. In many countries, such as the People's Republic of China, communist governments have discouraged religion, making it difficult to count the actual number of believers. However, after the collapse of communism in numerous countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, religious life has been experiencing resurgence there, both in the form of traditional Eastern Christianity and particularly in the forms of Neopaganism and East Asian religions.
World Christian Encyclopedia
Following is some available data based on the work of the World Christian Encyclopedia:[30]
Trends in annual growth of adherence
1970–1985[31]
1990–2000[32][33]
% change 1970–2010 (40 yrs)[25]
3.65%: Bahá'í Faith 2.65%: Zoroastrianism 1.84%: Islam 9.85%: Daoism
2.74%: Islam 2.28%: Bahá'í Faith 1.70%: Bahá'í Faith 4.26%: Bahá'í Faith
2.34%: Hinduism 2.13%: Islam 1.62%: Sikhism 4.23%: Islam
1.67%: Buddhism 1.87%: Sikhism 1.57%: Hinduism 3.08%: Sikhism
1.64%: Christianity 1.69%: Hinduism 1.32%: Christianity 2.76%: Buddhism
1.09%: Judaism 1.36%: Christianity 2.62%: Hinduism
1.09%: Buddhism 2.60%: Jainism
2.50%: Zoroastrianism
across 40 yrs, world total 2.16%
2.10%: Christianity
0.83%: Confucianism
0.37%: unaffiliated (inc. atheists, agnostics, religious but not affiliated)
Maps of self-reported adherence
Map showing self-reported religiosity by country. Based on a 2006–2008 worldwide survey by Gallup.
World map showing the percentages of people who regard religion as "non-important" according to a 2002 Pew survey
Religions of the world, mapped by distribution.
Predominant religions of the world, mapped by state
Map showing the prevalence of "Abrahamic religion" (purple), and "Indian religion" (yellow) religions in each country.
Map showing the relative proportion of Christianity (red) and Islam (green) in each country as of 2006
Map showing the distribution of world religions by country/state, and by smaller administrative regions for the largest countries (China, India, Russia, United States), according to the most recent data available (2012).
Buddhism, Chinese religions, Hinduism, indigenous religions
Category:Religion by country
^ Controversial, see the references.
^ Historically, the Bahá'í Faith arose in 19th century Persia, in the context of Shia Islam, and thus may be classed on this basis as a divergent strand of Islam, placing it in the Abrahamic tradition. However, the Bahá'í Faith considers itself an independent religious tradition, which draws from Islam but also other traditions. The Bahá'í Faith may also be classed as a new religious movement, due to its comparatively recent origin, or may be considered sufficiently old and established for such classification to not be applicable.
^ Masuzawa 2005. pp. 49–61
^ Masuzawa 2005, pp. 65–6
^ Masuzawa 2005, 270–281
^ Stephen R. L. Clark. "World Religions and World Orders". Religious studies 26.1 (1990).
^ Joel E. Tishken. "Ethnic vs. Evangelical Religions: Beyond Teaching the World Religion Approach". The History Teacher 33.3 (2000).
^ a b c , Encyclopedia BritannicaClassification of religions: geographicalCharles Joseph Adams,
^ Samuel 2010.
^ Anthony 2007.
^ a b c d e
^ a b 2010 Chinese Spiritual Life Survey conducted by the Purdue University's Center on Religion and Chinese Society. Statistics published in: Katharina Wenzel-Teuber, David Strait. People’s Republic of China: Religions and Churches Statistical Overview 2011. On: Religions & Christianity in Today's China, Vol. II, 2012, No. 3, pp. 29-54, ISSN: 2192-9289.
^ 1995 survey results published by the Information Office of the State Council of China. Source: Xinzhong Yao. Chinese Religion: A Contextual Approach. Bloomsbury Academic, 2011. ISBN 1847064760. p. 9
^ Indian Registrar General & Census Commissioner. "Religious Composition". Census of India, 2001
^ Self-reported figures from 1999; North Korea only (South Korean followers are minimal according to census). In The A to Z of New Religious Movements by George D. Chryssides. ISBN 0-8108-5588-7
^ Sergei Blagov. "Caodaism in Vietnam : Religion vs Restrictions and Persecution". IARF World Congress, Vancouver, Canada, July 31, 1999.
^ Other Religions. Pew Forum report.
^ 2001 Census of India data on religions. Government of India.
^ Self-reported figures from North Korea (South Korean followers are minimal according to census):
^ Janet Alison Hoskins. What Are Vietnam's Indigenous Religions?. Center for Southeast Asian Studies Kyoto University.
^ Self-reported figures printed in Japanese Ministry of Education's 宗教年間 Shuukyou Nenkan, 2003
^ The results have been studied and found "highly correlated with other sources of data", but "consistently gave a higher estimate for percent Christian in comparison to other cross-national data sets."
^ .
Animated history of World Religions—from the "Religion & Ethics" part of the BBC website, interactive animated view of the spread of world religions (requires Flash plug-in).
BBC A-Z of Religions and Beliefs
Major World Religions
International Council for Inter-Religious Cooperation
International Imam Organization
Major groups
Abrahamic
Karaite
Haymanot
Independent Catholicism
Old Catholicism
Church of the East
Jesuism
Hanbali
Shafi'i
Twelver
Isma'ilism
Zaidiyyah
Ibadi
Quranist
Bábism
Azáli Bábism
Druzism
Samaritanism
Indo-Iranian
Vaishnavism
Shaktism
Shaivism
Smartism
Digambara
Śvētāmbara
Manichaeism
Yazdânism
Yazidism
Ishikism
Ali-Illahism
Yarsanism
Dievturi
Druwi
Romuva
Mordvin
Central and
Northern Asian
Burkhanism
Tengrism
Faism
Luoism
Neo-Confucianism
Shenism
Wuism
Muism
Benzhuism
Bimoism
Dongbaism
Hmongism
Meishanism
Mileism
Shigongism
Yiguandao
Caodaism
Satsana Phi
Gawai Dayak
Hoahaoism
Javanism
Đạo Mẫu
Akamba
Bambuti
Bushongo
Cushitic
Efik
Fon and Ewe
Guanche
Isoko
Khoisan
Lotuko
Lugbara
Mbuti
Serer
Diasporic
Kumina
Quimbanda
Vodou
Winti
Bathouism
Bongthingism
Donyi-Polo
Kiratism
Sanamahism
Sarnaism
Aboriginal Australian
Mesoamerican
Raëlism
Historical religions
Mesopotamian
Ossetian
Mithraism
Zurvanism
Neoplatonism
Apostasy / Disaffiliation
Entheogens
Ethnic religion
Folk religion
Orthopraxy
Henotheism
Nontheism
Panentheism
Polytheism
Transtheism
Evolutionary origin
Neurotheology
Religion and
proselytism
toleration
National church
National religiosity levels
Religiocentrism
Secularism and
LaVeyan Satanism
Humanistic Judaism
Irreligion by country
Secular theology
and lists
Abrahamic prophets
Mass gatherings
Religions and spiritual traditions
WorldHeritage articles needing clarification from April 2012
Articles needing additional references from May 2014
All articles lacking reliable references
Articles lacking reliable references from August 2015
Religion-related lists
Quran, Arabic language, God, Muhammad, Shia Islam
Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga, Jainism, Sikhism
Gautama Buddha, Tibetan Buddhism, Sīla, Mahayana, Hinduism
Khalsa, Guru Gobind Singh, Dasam Granth, Indian religions, Religion
Yoga, Mahabharata, Buddhism, Upanishads, Ramayana
Landtag of the Free State of Saxony
Religion, Judaism, Christianity, Anglicanism, Abrahamic religions
Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)
French-speaking electoral college
Achnashellach railway station
New Century Forum
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t:+44(0)20 7127 9223 e:imoffice@independentmediators.co.uk
CSR / Pro Bono
Our Mediators
Charles Dodson
Phillip Howell-Richardson
Michel Kallipetis QC
Jonathan Lloyd-Jones
Mark Lomas QC
Bill Marsh
Andrew Paton
Nicholas Pryor
Refer a Case
Mediation Agreement
Fees/Terms and Conditions
Code of Conduct / CPD
National and International Seminars
In House Seminars
Home » News » Independent Mediators wins an award
Independent Mediators wins an award
Corporate Vision Magazine has announced the winners of the 2016 UK Corporate Excellence Awards. We are very proud to announce that Independent Mediators have been awarded ‘Best Mediation Chambers 2016’.
The press release from Corporate Vision Magazine (shown below) speaks for itself and reflects why we are so proud to have won this award;
‘Success takes many forms in the business world and ranges from the ability to consistently deliver high quality service and products, to being the driving force behind innovation in their industry, thus helping the everyone involved in their sector to thrive.
As such, the 2016 UK Corporate Excellence Awards focuses on firms across the United Kingdom who have proved, without a doubt, that they have been achieving business excellence despite the challenging conditions that this year has presented.
Naomi Douglas, Awards Co-ordinator, commented: “It has been a challenging year for UK businesses, particularly with the uncertainty surrounding the situation between Britain and the European Union. However, despite all these challenges, this has not stopped UK businesses from achieving true excellence in their respective sectors, and it is this success that this awards programme has highlighted, showcasing winners from across the corporate landscape whose hard work and commitment to excellence has enabled them to overcome these challenges. I hope that my winners can build upon this achievement and would like to wish them the best of luck for the future.”’
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Independent Mediators awarded Who's Who Legal Mediation Firm of the Year 2019
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© 2020. Independent Mediators Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Car hire is advisable in La Manga if you want to make the most of the superb facilities which are spread across the club's 1,400 acres. A rental car is the best way to get around the resort and is a must if you plan to explore the local coastline and the Spanish villages which pepper the shores of the Mar Menor.
The historic city of Murcia is a good shopping centre just 45 minutes drive inland. The ancient port of Cartagena is 20 kilometres along the coast and less than an hour's drive north is the cosmopolitan city of Alicante with its wonderful shops, beaches and round the clock entertainment.
About 25 kilometres north west of Alicante are the fantastic Cuevas de Cantalobre, a prehistoric cathedral like cavern where some of the weird and wonderful rock formations resemble candelabra ("canalobre" in Spanish).
Europe's largest palm gardens are worth a visit, 25 kilometres south west of Alicante at Elche.
Drive a short distance from the club to the tip of the peninsula where you'll find the local village of Cabo de Palos, with its popular Sunday market, lively bars, harbourside fish restaurants and ceramic shops (which are wonderful for attractive and incredibly cheap gifts to take home with you after your holiday.)
These are some of the questions you should be asking yourself before choosing your car hire company:
Does the company have a dedicated desk inside the airport where you can collect your keys and sort out the necessary paperwork and any problems? There's nothing worse than arriving in the middle of the night to find no car.and no one to complain to!
Does the company give a commitment on the quality of its cars are they, for example, all under a certain age?
Will you have to pay the local IVA tax (Spanish VAT) of 16% or is it included in the price?
Does the company offer "no quibble" insurance to cover such things as collision damage and theft? Is unlimited third party insurance and basic personal accident damage for the driver and occupants included?
Will you have to pay an "excess" charge in the event of an accident?
There have been instances of "motorway pirates" targeting foreigners in hired cars in this area of Spain so keep all your valuables with you when you stop at a service station and never leave the keys in the ignition. The favourite trick is to try and flag you down on the hard shoulder on the basis that something's wrong with your car. Ignore anyone who tries to do this and check your car at the next service area if you think there's a problem.
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Though he didn't know it then, BUCK MELOY's fishing career began when he was a small boy dangling hooks baited with earthworms off a dock in Lake Michigan. In 1972, he discovered fishing for pay when he crewed for an equally green friend gillnetting salmon from a tiny double-ender in Puget Sound. No income materialized that year, but the hook had been set and he continues to fish for his living to this day. The Boldt Decision, and the bad management that followed it, made him seek opportunities in more distant waters. He has crabbed, trolled, seined, and long-lined halibut from Washington state to Southeast Alaska and Bristol Bay, finally settling down in Cordova from which he fishes sockeye on the Copper River Flats and in Prince William Sound. He will probably keep doing it until his feet swell too much to allow him to get them into his boots. Buck can be contacted at buckmeloy.com.
Astoria Winter
A succession of dreary days
muddles the sharp edge of optimism.
Cheerless,
unwarming,
they plod past like a soggy dog,
head drooping,
who does not pause
even to sniff wet posts.
(Elegy for a fisherman)
Standing under midnight moon, alone,
The blind old man weaves his dreams.
He fondles web, salmon gillnet,
Tool of years of living, living.
His mind sees with eyes no longer his.
Worrying web through crooked fingers
He feels his life, his years:
Another salmon, another yet;
Pull web, stretch, pop fish to deck.
Another salmon, another. . . .
"Dad," she says, afraid for him.
"Dad, it's late. You must be tired."
"Yes," he says, shifting arthritic foot on lawn,
Picking yet more fish no one can see,
"I am tired."
"It's slow tonight; you can sleep."
"Yes," he says. "I will sleep."
But his hands continue their slow work;
His eyes stare blankly, imagining fish.
"Come, Dad, we will find your bunk."
"I will sleep," he says, and lays aside the web.
She helps him into his house
Where the old man lies down.
And he sleeps, dreaming years,
And never wakes.
"Ya' didn't let it boil! Ya' gotta let it boil! I told ya'!"
Clarence knew how he wanted his Hills Brothers prepared, and wasn't going to stand for any goddam greenhorn messing it up. He drank his coffee the same way on the troller that he had for the first 35 years of his working life, when he had been a logger in Washington's virgin forests: strong and boiled in an open pot. "It ain't no good 'til it's boiled!"
Later, sipping boiled coffee in one of Southeast Alaska's many coves on Clarence's 46' ocean troller, I had to agree that its flavor was fine. As he pointed out, if the water had an off flavor, you could always add a little canned milk to the coffee, or brandy, and it would straighten right up. I didn't agree with him on the canned milk part, but I had learned not to argue. Clarence had a definite mean streak and was ornery enough even when in a good mood.
His mood was fine now, as it was when the fishing was good and once each evening when, the boat cleaned up and dressed coho and kings tucked in neat rows in ice in the hold, he would tell tales of his years in the woods, and his early years logging and fishing in Southeast. His favorites were hard-boiled like his coffee. Unlike his coffee, they usually ended with someone in the hospital or a grave, a snapped choker or an axe handle having wreaked ugly mayhem.
I enjoyed these story-telling sessions. Clarence was as tough as human beings come. And though I didn't share his automatic distaste for "tar-heels" and "siwashes", nor share his enthusiasm for bare-knuckled discourse or brutally delivered justice, I was fascinated by the verbal history of the Northwest and Alaska that for him had begun in the opening days of the century. These were days when light and heat and cooked food all meant burning something, when dry clothing and bedding meant sleeping the moisture out of it, when seal or other oil was how one made Gore-Tex, when men needed to be as strong as the mules or horses that dragged logs out of the woods making roads as they dragged them. Fresh meat was what one trapped or shot, and salt was the preservative.
If Clarence's was a "frontier mentality", he had found the place for it. Ketchikan in the early 1970s was still a somewhat brawling place. And there were millions of trees yet to fell, uncounted wild animals to fill larder and provide wardrobe.
And ocean trollers roamed the inside and outside waters nearly unconstrained by seasons or limits other than those imposed by weather, low prices, or lack of fish. Pretty much self-contained, these vessels had large holds, big water and fuel tanks, and the manufactured ice that had finally replaced salt as a preservative, now enabling them to make 10-12 day trips between deliveries. Food for the two aboard easily stayed adequately fresh in ventilated larders. And a troller like this could drift the night on the open ocean, or anchor securely in any cove or bay, stabilizers down, hanging on its huge anchor and a great length of steel cable, to wait out any storm.
We did this once, at Noyes Island just in from the ocean, when it blew a steady 50-knots out of the south for nearly three days. Clarence chortled when one seiner after another sought refuge in our bay, only to drag anchor time after time. With my hands puffed and aching from their unaccustomed work, I could sympathize with the two or three crewmen who had to repeatedly hand-haul their anchors while their skippers moved back up into the bay to make yet another attempt to get the pick to stick. Already exhausted from days of heavy sockeye hauling, soaked to the skin from struggling with the anchor on the bow in gale-driven rain, hats long since blown beyond retrieval, their despair was almost palpable when the skipper finally gave up, choosing instead to face the storm outside in search of better anchoring ground in some other cranny.
"Siwash bastards, don't know nuthin' 'bout anchors. Hee, hee. Gotta have a real anchor here, and a lotta chain." Clarence didn't have anything nice to say about anyone, and the pleasure he took in the calm coziness of his warm fo'c's'l was greatly enhanced by the turmoiled suffering of our wannabe neighbors.
He did have at least one fishing buddy, however. Each evening he would warm up his two-way A.M. radio. At the appointed hour, he would shout a few words into the microphone, listen to the roaring snapping and crackling that returned, shout a few more words, listen again. Though I could never make out a hint of any human sound coming from the speaker, Clarence generally smiled when he snapped the set off. "Cohoes starting to show at the Cape. We'll head down soon as the wind slacks, afternoon t'morra."
His 73 years may have been making him a little soft. He spoke of his wife once, acknowledging that "she's a good woman, that one." It was that woman who had purchased the radar mounted in the wheelhouse, the only piece of modern equipment there apart from the depthsounder. It had never been turned on; Clarence didn't know how to operate it. "She thought it'd be safe in the fog, but it don't do nuthin'." Mounting that radar was the closest thing to a concession to someone that I ever knew Clarence to make.
He certainly didn't make any to me. On our second day out, we had gotten into a school of frenzied feeding coho. Even if I knew what I was doing, I would have been hard-pressed to keep up with eight lines on four poles. Clarence shrieking "It's a hot day; get those damn fish dressed godammit!" didn't help. In my rush to catch up, I dressed them without gloves. Big mistake.
These feeders were so hot-bellied that the skin burned right off my hands. Most of it healed within two days, but where the cuffs of my Helly jacket rubbed, the damage deepened and festered. Worried that I might become unable to work, Clarence prepared the remedy: liquid coal tar mixed in water slightly hotter than I could stand, in which I soaked both wrists morning and evening, followed by an application of Race's Buckley's Boil and Fish Poison Drawing Salve. This excruciating "cure" did keep things from getting any worse, but I lived with the raw sores, and the carpal tunnel syndrome that also developed, for more than a month.
The swollen hands were another matter. Though I had to knead them against the planks in my bunk for 10-15 minutes each morning to enable getting thumb and forefinger close enough together that I could hold laces to tie my shoes, they returned to near-normal a day after I left the boat.
And I left it when I could. We departed Craig after our first delivery and trolled our way around towards Ketchikan. 10 days later, when Clarence declared the trip over, I went below and packed by gear. We had good, clear weather, and I spent the day mostly on the bow, talking with the porpoises who played tag with the bowstem for hours. I still talk with porpoises, having learned on that trip that they enjoy it as well.
Clarence spoke to me with a tone almost bordering on respect when I brought him a sandwich in the wheelhouse. I knew what was coming. "I'll be making my next trip in 3 days. You can come if you want."
The money had been good, even at the sub-standard 10% rate he was paying me. And I had learned more about salmon behavior and how to catch them than I had ever imagined. "No thanks," I said.
His disappointment was barely perceptible, and we had no further discussion. When we reached Thomas Basin and the Hornet was secured in its slip, I grabbed my gear and headed up the dock. I picked up my last check from Clarence the next day. "I still gotta spot," was all he said as he handed it to me.
It was nearly a decade later that I next saw Clarence. I was running the Gale Anne from Bellingham to Cordova to try my hand at gillnetting the Copper River Flats. My crewman and I had pulled into Thomas Basin to try to get at least one radio working before our trip across the Gulf. Clarence was tying gear on his back deck. He looked the same, as tough and wiry as ever. He recognized me. "Looks like you been moving up in the world." I told him my plans.
"I don't fish so hard no more," he told me, by way of telling me his.
That was the last time I saw him. A few years later I learned that he had been murdered, his body found in a gully some time after he had been reported missing. Though no one was ever charged in the crime, there was widespread speculation that he had been shot by a person with whom he had been having a dispute over payment on some piece of gear.
I can imagine this man in his eighties being belligerently aggressive in a dispute. But, lacking the mean quickness of his youth, and perhaps misjudging his adversary, he found himself on the wrong end of an axe handle -- in this case a gun -- and paid the ultimate price for his miscalculation.
Though his rough end saddens me, I recognize that there is something appropriate about the way he met it. Surely Clarence would not want to have been seen dying sallow and wan, intubated in a hospital bed, coughing against tiny microbes or struggling against the ultimate deterioration of his own aging cells.
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BitCoin and Cryptoasset Regulation: Recent Cases from Canada
November 27th, 2019 | Category: Blockchain,Business Issues,General
In a recent pair of decisions, the law around bitcoin, crypto-assets and blockchain-enabled tokens is continuing to evolve:
1. 3iQ and “The Bitcoin Fund”
In 3iQ Corp (Re), 2019 ONSEC 37 (CanLII), the Ontario Securities Commission has ruled in favour of a bitcoin fund manager in an interesting decision that pits the development of a novel asset class (a bitcoin fund) against legal prospectus requirements, the public interest jurisdiction of the Securities Commission, and the purposes and principles of the Securities Act itself.
A fund manager – 3iQ – wanted to launch a so-called “bitcoin fund” to enable members of the public to invest in a managed fund that was dedicated to bitcoin. Initially, the Director denied a receipt for The Bitcoin Fund’s prospectus because of concerns about bitcoin, namely: concerns about the crypto-asset’s liquidity, integrity of the markets for that cryptocoin, and concerns about this fund’s ability to value and safeguard the asset and file audited financial statements.
In a hearing to appeal the initial refusal, the Commissioner issued reasons allowing the prospectus for this fund. Among the issues was the question of whether bitcoin is an “illiquid asset” as defined in NI 81‑102. If so, the proposed fund would not comply with the restriction against holding illiquid assets in section 2.4 of NI 81‑102. While the Commissioner did not go so far as to declare that bitcoin is NOT an illiquid asset, the conclusion was: “Staff has not demonstrated that bitcoin is an illiquid asset,” which arrives at the same point. As for the question of protecting the public interest, the Commissioner turned a bit philosophical about the role of the Securities Commission in acting as guardian of the public.
To take a risky asset like a bitcoin fund and “professionalize” the investment process by pooling investor funds under a professional management structure is a way to mitigate those risks – something that the Commission should encourage, not discourage. “Capital market participants”, quipped the Commissioner, “should be encouraged to engage with the Commission, and not incentivized to avoid doing so.” This is the case especially when it provides an alternative to investors acquiring bitcoin through unregulated vehicles.
… And what do “unregulated vehicles” look like? That bring us to the next case.
2. The “Einstein Exchange” crypto-asset trading platform
On November 1, 2019, the BC Securities Commission was concerned enough about rumours of imminent collapse at a cryptocoin exchange that it applied to court for an order appointing an interim receiver to seize and protect any assets of the so-called “Einstein Exchange”. The exchange was an unauthorized Vancouver-based crypto-asset trading platform. Better known as an “unregulated vehicle”.
Grant Thornton acted as interim receiver and as outlined in its Receiver’s Report, the receiver executed a Friday night search and seizure to sift through the allegations that the Einstein Group owed customers between $8 and $10 million USD. After itemizing the cash, assets, and the state of any cryptocurrency wallets under the control of the “Einstein Exchange”, the receiver determined that the Einstein Group had less than $45,000 in cash and cryptocurrency.
The receiver was quickly discharged and the BCSC investigation continues.
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Nicaragua’s South Caribbean Coast Improves Readiness for Climate Change
By José Adán Silva
The effects of climate change have hit Nicaragua’s Caribbean coastal regions hard in the last decade and have forced the authorities and local residents to take protection and adaptation measures to address the phenomenon that has gradually undermined their safety and changed their way of life.
UN Strengthens Kenya’s Resilience to Disaster
By Miriam Gathigah
Kenya’s lack of capacity to cope with wide-scale disaster has seen thousands of households continue to live precarious lives, especially in light of erratic and drastically changing weather patterns.
El Nino Creates Topsy Turvy Weather in Sri Lanka
By Amantha Perera
Residents in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo and outlying areas have been waking up to misty mornings of late. A decade ago, regular mist in this area just above the equator would have been a noteworthy event. These days, it is a regular occurrence in some parts north of the capital.
Nations Most at Risk have Least Familiarity with Term “Climate Change”
By Kitty Stapp
Although four in 10 adults have never heard the phrase “climate change,” many are aware that something is amiss with local weather patterns, a new survey covering 119 countries has found.
The Biggest Lessons Nepal Will Take Away From This Tragedy
There has never been any doubt that Nepal is sitting on one of the most seismically active areas in South Asia. The fact that, when the big one struck, damages and deaths would be catastrophic has been known for years.
Key to Preventing Disasters Lies in Understanding Them
By Ramesh Jaura
The Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction concluded on Wednesday after a long drawn-out round of final negotiations, with representatives of 187 U.N. member states finally agreeing on what is being described as a far-reaching new framework for the next 15 years: 2015-2030.
‘Cyclone College’ Raises Hopes, Dreams of India’s Vulnerable Fisherfolk
By Stella Paul
Ten years have now passed, but Raghu Raja, a 27-year-old fisherman from the coastal village of Nemmeli in southern India’s Kanchipuram district, still clearly remembers the day he escaped the tsunami.
Building Disaster Resilience Amidst Rampant Poverty
Of the thousands of landslide-prone villages he has visited and worked with, R M S Bandara, a high-ranking official from Sri Lanka’s National Building Resources Organisation (NBRO), says only one has made him sit up and take note.
When Helping Hands Make a Disaster Worse
By Jewel Fraser
Relief work done by emergency responders during natural disasters may inadvertently exacerbate problems caused by climate change and lead to further disasters, recent reports suggest.
Climate Change an “Existential Threat” for the Caribbean
By Desmond Brown
When it comes to climate change, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves doesn’t mince words: he will tell you that it is a matter of life and death for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
OPINION: Boosting Resilience in the Caribbean Countries
By Jessica Faieta
Having lived and worked for more than a decade in four Caribbean countries, I have witnessed firsthand how Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are extremely vulnerable to challenges ranging from debt and unemployment to climate change and sea level rise.
Traditional Wisdom to the Rescue in Cyclone Season
By Malini Shankar
May and November bring the most vicious cyclones to the Bay of Bengal rim countries in Southeast Asia.
Chile Graduates in Earthquake Preparedness
By Marianela Jarroud
Chile appears to have learned a few lessons from the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, and it successfully drew on them the night of Apr. 1, when another quake struck, this time in the extreme north of the country.
When Poverty Quietly Morphs into Catastrophe
By Miriam Gathigah and George Gao
Wambui Karunyu, 72, and her seven-year-old grandson are the only surviving members of their immediate family. Karunyu’s husband and five children all succumbed to the hardships of living in the semi-arid area of lower Mukurweini district in central Kenya.
India Beats a Cyclone
“No casualties have been reported till now,” India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) declared at 9:30 am the morning after the near Super Cyclone ‘Phailin’ made landfall in India’s east.
When Disaster and Disability Converge
By Lucy Westcott
Like many people living in the path of Hurricane Sandy last fall, Lauren Scrivo needed more battery power. Despite a call offering help from the mayor of Fairfield, New Jersey, where Scrivo lives with her family, her concerns went far beyond extra water bottles and flashlights.
Quakes Could Collapse Kathmandu
By Naresh Newar
As the chief of building codes and earthquake safety of the Lalitpur Municipality, located about 10 km from Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, Sainik Raj Singh has the tough job of cracking down on builders who fail to comply with the government’s construction regulations.
In Sri Lanka, the Tempest Comes Unannounced
It was several hours before dawn when Afthas Niflal, a young fisherman in southern Sri Lanka, felt the sea start to rumble beneath him.
The Sri Lankan Monsoon, Better Prepared Than Sorry
The monsoon in Sri Lanka is always a much-awaited event. There is something about the sight of the gathered clouds, the washed trees and the drenched landscape that stirs romance even in the most hardened of souls.
Beefing Up Disaster Response in Nicaragua
Nicaragua, which is prone to natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and flooding, is confronting them with prevention measures and community drills and training in high-risk areas.
Stories Sprout like Warnings in Japan’s Tsunami Wasteland
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
As a survivor of Japan’s deadliest tsunami in living memory, Shun Ito dedicates his mornings to evoking stories of heroism that helped to save lives in this port town that was decimated on that fateful March afternoon two years ago.
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Desert Dancer (DVD REVIEW)
Desert Dancer
DVD Review by Kam Williams
Iranian Dancer Defies Sharia Law to Pursues His Passion in Fact-Based Inspirational Drama
Afshin Ghaffarian (Reece Ritchie) had the great misfortune of being born in Iran in the wake of the Islamist coup d’etat of 1979 which meant he was reared under a repressive religious regime which banned all the arts, from painting to poetry to playing music. So, when little Afshin began to exhibit an insatiable interest in dance as a youngster, he was warned by his mother (Nazanin Boniadi) that the activity was banned in accordance with the dictates of the nation’s authoritarian Ayatollah.
Nevertheless, she enrolled her son in the Saba Arts Academy, a fledgling studio secretly operating in the shadows. Under the tutelage of Mr. Mehdi (Makram Khoury), Afshin exhibited early promise while enjoying the freedom to express himself creatively, at least until the fateful day the place was trashed by morality police enforcing of Sharia law.
Fast-forward a decade or so and we find the promising prodigy now attending the University of Teheran but still holding fast to the impractical pipe dream of becoming a professional dancer. Along with a few curious classmates, he forms an underground company which proceeds to practice regularly in an abandoned factory loft.
Elaheh (Freida Pinto) is the only member of the modern dance club with any formal training, having been surreptitiously schooled in technique and choreography by a mother who’d been a prima ballerina prior to the fall of the Shah. Against the ominous backdrop of the burgeoning, student-led Green Revolution of 2009, Elaheh gradually forges the motley crew into a concert-quality troupe.
But between the tense political climate and the official state sanction against public performances, it looks like the idea staging a concert for an audience is out of the question. Thus unfolds Desert Dancer, an uplifting, overcoming-the-odds drama, recounting the real-life dilemma of defiant Afshin Ghaffarian and his equally-rebellious comrades.
The movie marks the absolutely splendid directorial debut of Richard Raymond who has crafted a visually-engaging spectacular with a compelling plotline leading to satisfying resolution. The story seamlessly interweaves inspired dance sequences, organized resistance and a little old-fashioned romance while touching on a litany of themes like love, loyalty, friendship and betrayal.
A must-see biopic poignantly illustrating the indomitability of the human spirit, even in the most oppressive of circumstances.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG-13 for mature themes, violence and drug use
Distributor: Fox Home Entertainment DVD Extras: Desert Dancer: In Conversation with Afshin Ghaffarian; The Rise of the People; First Memories; and the theatrical trailer.
To see a trailer for Desert Dancer, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZC3er0RuVw
To order a copy of Desert Dancer on DVD, visit:
Posted by Kam at 7:21 AM
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Emad Al Khaja
QIB and INJAZ Qatar sign deal to launch financial literacy programme
Mon, 2018-05-14 14:24 — newsdesk
Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has signed an agreement with the youth organization INJAZ Qatar to sponsor a three-year financial literacy programme for selected high schools and universities in Qatar. The agreement was signed by Bassel Gamal, QIB Group CEO and Emad Al Khaja, INJAZ Qatar CEO. The new "Personal Finance Program" is a five-week training with interactive sessions tailored specifically for high school students and university freshmen. The programme explores ways to earn money and spend it wisely by budgeting, saving, and investing. Courses include the cautious use of credit cards, and protecting your personal finances. Emad Al Khaja said the course was in line with local cultural requirements, as Islamic banking principles are incorporated into the programme.
https://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/14/05/2018/QIB-and-INJAZ-Qatar...
INJAZ Qatar
Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB)
Bassel Gamal
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Ethnic differences in the prevalence of polymorphisms in CYP7A1, CYP7B1 AND CYP27A1 enzymes involved in cholesterol metabolism
Vera Dias, V Ribeiro
Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering Centre for Molecular and Structural Biomedicine, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005, Faro, Portugal
Date of Submission 11-Feb-2011
Date of Decision 05-Mar-2011
Date of Acceptance 27-Mar-2011
Date of Web Publication 3-Sep-2011
Vera Dias
Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering Centre for Molecular and Structural Biomedicine, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005, Faro
It is well known that drug disposition and response are greatly determined by the activities of drug metabolizing enzymes, which are polymorphic. Some of these polymorphisms are clinically relevant and presented an ethnic-dependent pattern of distribution. The characterization of the genetic distribution of different populations allows the selection of therapeutic options in accordance with the genetic background, with the objective to avoid adverse reactions and inefficacy of the treatment. In this work, we studied selected genetic polymorphisms in drug metabolizing enzymes in three different ethnic groups - Portugal, Mozambique and Colombia. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) genotyping methods were developed for drug metabolizing enzymes, namely, cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) (−203A>C, −346C>T, −496C>T, N233S, G347S), sterol 27-hydroxylase (CYP27A1) (R164W, A169V, D273N, V400A) and oxysterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7B1) (−116C>G, R324H, 1774C>T) to characterize the allelic distribution of these polymorphisms among three different ethnic/geographic origins. A total of 12 CYP7A1, CYP27A1 and CYP7B1 genetic variants were genotyped in a sample of 92 Portuguese, 151 Mozambican and 91 Colombian subjects. The variants N233S in CYP7A1 and 1774C>T in CYP7B1 were not detected in any population studied. The promoter polymorphisms in CYP7A1 (−203A>C, −346C>T, −496C>T) had high frequency in the three ethnic groups. G347S (CYP7A1), R164W, A169V and V400A (CYP27A1) were present in a low frequency but with a similar distribution in the three ethnic groups. Significant differences were observed for D273N (CYP27A1), −346C>T (CYP7A1), −116C>G and R324H (CYP7B1)Our results demonstrate a high variability of drug metabolizing enzymes between the different populations analyzed, indicating that at least some of these polymorphisms are ethnic specific.
Keywords: Cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase, drug metabolizing enzymes, oxysterol 7α-hydroxylase, sterol 27-hydroxylase
Dias V, Ribeiro V. Ethnic differences in the prevalence of polymorphisms in CYP7A1, CYP7B1 AND CYP27A1 enzymes involved in cholesterol metabolism. J Pharm Bioall Sci 2011;3:453-9
Dias V, Ribeiro V. Ethnic differences in the prevalence of polymorphisms in CYP7A1, CYP7B1 AND CYP27A1 enzymes involved in cholesterol metabolism. J Pharm Bioall Sci [serial online] 2011 [cited 2020 Jan 19];3:453-9. Available from: http://www.jpbsonline.org/text.asp?2011/3/3/453/84465
The main promise of pharmacogenetics is the individualized therapy, giving the patient a dug selection and dosage in accordance with his genetic profile. This kind of treatment should prevent adverse reactions or treatment failure and provide more effective and safe therapeutics for each person.
Although many polymorphic transporters and receptors have been associated with clinical consequences, drug metabolizing enzymes are the most likely reason for inter-individual variation in drug response. [1]
Cytochromes P450 (CYP) play a key role in drug response and also in the metabolism of endogenous compounds. Several polymorphisms have been described for these enzymes and their functional consequences may result in a moderate reduction, a lack or an increase of enzymatic activity.
Cardiovascular diseases are the most prevalent cause of death and morbidity in developed countries and excess of cholesterol is a known factor for the progression of cardiovascular events. Cytochromes P450 are involved in cholesterol homeostasis, playing key roles in cholesterol metabolism, either in its synthesis or elimination through biosynthesis of bile acids, the main products of cholesterol catabolism. [2] Besides the role of CYPs in the homeostasis of endogenous substrates, these enzymes may be of crucial importance in the metabolism of drugs used to treat cardiovascular diseases. [3] The cholesterol lowering drugs in use are mainly 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins), fibrates, ezetimibe and bile acid binding resins that act in reducing the levels of cholesterol by different pathways. [4]
Clinically relevant drugs are transported and metabolized by polymorphic proteins. Some of these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with altered function of the protein. [5],[6]
Cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the classical pathway for the synthesis of bile acids and its activity is highly variable among healthy individuals. [7] CYP7A1 is highly regulated by bile acids via Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR). [8] It has narrow substrate specificity for cholesterol, which makes this gene an important candidate in disorders of cholesterol and bile acid metabolism. In fact, some polymorphisms of CYP7A1 have been associated with gallstone disease and familiar hypertriglyceridemia [9],[10],[11] and recently were associated with increased plasma low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol concentrations. [12]
Sterol 27-hydroxylase (CYP27A1) and oxysterol 7α-hydroxylase (CYP7B1) are involved in bile acid synthesis in the alternative pathway. [13]
CYP7B1 has high homology with CYP7A1 and it was hypothesized that the main function of this enzyme is the inactivation of oxysterols, protecting the liver from cholestasis. [7] Mutations in CYP7B1 are related with spastic paraplegia autosomal recessive type 5A (SPG5A), which is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a slow, gradual, progressive weakness and spasticity of the lower limbs. [14],[15] Absence of CYP7B1 is the cause of congenital bile acid synthesis defect type 3 (CBAS3), which is characterized by severe cholestasis, cirrhosis and liver synthetic failure. [16]
CYP27A1 is a ubiquitous enzyme involved in the 27-hydroxylation of cholesterol and in the formation of potentially important regulatory oxysterols, [17] indicating a potential regulatory role for CYP27A1. Mutations in CYP27A1 were identified in patients with cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis, a rare sterol storage disorder characterized clinically by progressive neurologic dysfunction, premature atherosclerosis and cataracts. [18]
CYP7A1, CYP27A1 and CYP7B1 are repressed by bile acids via nuclear receptors. [19]
An evaluation of SNP frequencies among different populations with variable ethnic background will certainly be useful to characterize the changes in drug pharmacokinetics and predict differential susceptibility to possible adverse effects.
In the present study, we examined the allelic frequencies of 12 CYP7A1, CYP27A1 and CYP7B1 SNPs that may have an important role in drug metabolism, in populations from three different ethnic/geographic origins.
The populations under study consisted of 92 Portuguese, 151 Mozambican and 91 Colombian subjects. The populations from Mozambique and Portugal have been described elsewhere. [20],[21] Colombian subjects were from the Northwest region, mainly from Antioquia and Chocó Departments (62 men, 27 women). This study followed the recommendations of the Declaration of Helsinki, promulgated in 1964 (http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/helsinki.php3). Genomic DNA was extracted from whole peripheral blood using the Qiamp DNA Extraction Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) or Chelex (BioRad, Berkeley, USA) according to the manufacturer's protocols.
Pharmacogenetic analysis of polymorphic variants
Each of the 12 SNPs analyzed in CYP7A1, CYP7B1 and CYP27A1 (NC_000008.10, NC_000008.10 and NC_000002.11, respectively) were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assays. [Table 1] lists the primers employed in performing PCR for the analyzed SNPs.
Table 1: Primers used in polymerase chain reaction
Genomic DNA was added to PCR mixtures of 25 μl consisting of 1× PCR buffer, 1-4 mM MgCl 2 (Promega, Wisconsin, USA), 0.2 mM dNTPs (Promega, Wisconsin, USA), and 1.5 U of Go Taq polymerase (Promega, Wisconsin, USA). PCR amplifications were conducted (Tpersonal Themocycler, Biometra, Göttingen, Germany) using one denaturation step at 94°C for 2 min, followed by 30-35 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 40-55°C for 30 s and 72°C for 1 min and a final PCR extension of 3 mins at 72°C.
After amplification by PCR, genotype assignment was performed by digestion of amplification products with specific restriction endonucleases [Table 2], separation by electrophoresis on 8% or 10% (W/V) polyacrylamide gels and visualized with ethidium bromide staining under UV light (AlphaImager, AlphaInnotech, San Leandro, USA).
Table 2: Restriction endonucleases used in PCR-RFLP
Fisher's exact test was used to assess Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Statistical analyses were performed using the Student's t-test and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) one-way test.
All analyses were performed using the Primer software.
A total of 12 CYP7A1, CYP7B1 and CYP27A1 genetic variants were genotyped in a sample of 92 Portuguese, 151 Mozambican and 91 Colombian subjects [Figure 1]. The allelic frequencies of CYP7A1, CYP7B1 and CYP27 in different ethnic groups are shown in [Table 3] and in [Figure 2],[Figure 3],[Figure 4].
Table 3: CYP7A1, CYP7B1 and CYP27A1 allelic frequencies (%) in subjects of different ethnic groups
Figure 1: CYP7A1, CYP27A1 and CYP7B1 polymorphisms. Patterns of DNA fragments obtained for each genotype identified. PCR-RFLP analysis was performed using specific primers and enzymes described in Tables 1 and 2
Figure 2: CYP7A1 polymorphisms. Patterns of DNA fragments obtained for each genotype identified. PCR-RFLP analysis was performed using specific primers and enzymes described in Tables 1 and 2
Figure 3: CYP27A1 polymorphisms. Patterns of DNA fragments obtained for each genotype identified. PCR-RFLP analysis was performed using specific primers and enzymes described in Tables 1 and 2
Figure 4: CYP7B1 polymorphisms. Patterns of DNA fragments obtained for each genotype identified. PCR-RFLP analysis was performed using specific primers and enzymes described in Tables 1 and 2
The variants N233S (CYP7A1) and 1774C>T (CYP7B1) were not detected between the individuals analyzed from Portugal, Mozambique and Colombia. In contrast, the CYP7A1 promoter variants had a high frequency between the three populations studied. While the frequencies for the −203C>T and −496C>T variants were similar between the three populations, the −346C>T variant was significantly lower for the population of Mozambique (P < 0.001) compared with Portuguese and Colombian individuals. The frequency of G347S was similar between individuals from different ethnic backgrounds, but with a low allele frequency (0.5% for Portuguese and Colombian and 2.3% for Mozambican individuals).
For CYP27A1, the variants R164W, A169V and V400A had a low allelic frequency for the populations studied. The variant D273N was significantly more prevalent in Mozambican (14.6%; P < 0.001) and Colombian (17%; P < 0.001) individuals than in the Portuguese (1.6%) population.
For CYP7B1, the variant −116C>G had a low frequency in Portuguese (4.3%) and Colombian (3.3%) individuals, but had a higher frequency among Mozambicans (14.9%; P < 0.001). The variant R324H had low frequency between Portuguese (3.8%) and Colombian (4.9%) populations, but was not found in Mozambican (0%; P < 0.001) individuals.
None of the genetic variants showed any significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
Drug metabolizing enzymes play a key role in cholesterol metabolism and may be important in the metabolism of some lipid-lowering drugs such as some statins. Although influx and efflux transporters are important for the disposition and efficacy of many drugs, CYP enzymes are important contributors for inter-individual variation in drug response.
As the response to a large range of drugs is highly variable, pharmacogenetic diversity may in part contribute to this variability, being important in the context of therapeutic efficacy and safety. An evaluation of SNP frequencies among different populations with variable ethnic background will certainly be useful to characterize the changes in drug pharmacokinetics and predict differential susceptibility to possible adverse effects.
Except for the polymorphism of −203A>C (CYP7A1) and some variations of CYP27A1 found in some patients with cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis, there is not much information about CYP7A1, CYP27A1 and CYP7B1 polymorphisms. However, these enzymes are extremely important in bile acid synthesis and their accumulation in the organism has harmful consequences for individual health. So, it is important not only to know the genetic background of populations from different origins, but also to determine the functional consequences of these genetic variants for the enzyme activity.
We analyzed the frequencies of 12 SNPs in three CYP enzymes in individuals from Portugal, Mozambique and Colombia. From these SNPs, CYP7A1 N233S and CYP7B1 1774C>T were not detected in any of the three populations in the study.
The variant N233S of the CYP7A1 is localized in exon 3 and CYP7B1 1774C>T is localized in exon 6, 3′-downstream region. The absence of these SNPs in the populations analyzed may indicate that these mutations are localized in conservative regions of the gene and their substitution may lead to non-functional proteins.
The allelic frequency for CYP7A1 −203A>C among Caucasians ranges from 36.7 to 48%. [22],[23],[24],[25],[26],[27] The estimate of 41.8% found in Portugal is in the range for a European/Caucasian population. The allelic frequency obtained for Mozambicans (52.6%) is lower than that reported by Nakamoto et al. for an African (58.3%) or an Afro-American (58%) population, and the frequency for Colombians (40.7%) is significantly higher than that for a Mexican-American (24%) population. [27] This discrepancy may be caused by differences in sample sizes between these two studies, but the most probable cause is the origin of the samples. Africa has different ethnic groups in accordance with the geographic localization. The African subjects analyzed by Nakamoto et al. were from Yoruba of Ibadan, Nigeria, localized in Guinea Golf, West coast, while the individuals analyzed in this study were from Mozambique, localized in East coast of Africa, which can explain the allelic frequencies observed. The high frequency determined in Colombians is consistent with the European (Spanish) ancestry of a wide percentage of the population.
CYP7A1 −203A>C was associated with LDL-cholesterol [12] and in patients with hypercholesterolemia, −203A>C was associated with LDL-lowering response, [24] as was observed after treatment with statin therapy. [28] Therefore, this SNP contributes to the efficiency of statin treatment. Recently, this SNP was also positively associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in healthy postmenopausal women [29] and it was considered a genetic risk factor for gallbladder carcinoma, but with a modest contribution in the susceptibility to gallstone disease. [30]
The allelic frequencies obtained for CYP7A1 −496C>T were high but similar between the three populations studied. The results obtained for Portugal (36.9%) and for Mozambique (50%) are in agreement with the previous reports for a Caucasian (36.7%) and African (55%) population, respectively. [27]
The allelic frequency of CYP7A1 −346C>T was high for the three populations studied, but significantly lower for the population from Mozambique (13.9%; P < 0.001).
The allelic frequency obtained for CYP7B1 −116C>G (4.3%) in Portuguese is in agreement with the frequencies obtained by Jakobsson et al. for a Swedish population (4.04%). [31] In the population of Mozambique, the allelic frequency (14.9%) was significantly higher than that observed for the populations of Portugal and Colombia (3.3%). However, reports on the populations from these geographic points are not found in the literature for comparison.
The genetic variants −203C>A, −346C>T and −496C>T are localized in the promoter region of the CYP7A1 gene, and therefore, it is much likely that these polymorphisms have functional significance. In fact, studies on the promoter region of CYP7A1 revealed several cell-specific enhancer elements [32] and in another study, the deletion of this region in HepG2 cells resulted in a 2.5-fold increase of basal promoter activity and this segment bound a negative regulatory protein of HepG2 cells. [33] These results suggest that polymorphisms in CYP7A1 promoter region may modulate transcriptional activity and consequently the rate of cholesterol catabolism and its flux through the body.
CYP7B1 −116C>G is localized in the promoter region of the gene and it was found to be associated with an altered promoter activity. [31] Besides, this polymorphism was considered ethnic-dependent since significant differences in allele frequencies were observed for populations with distinct geographic localization, [31] which is in agreement with our observations.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description of several polymorphisms analyzed in this study, namely CYP7A1 (−346C>T, N233S, G347S), CYP27A1 (R164W, A169V, D273N, V400A), CYP7B1 (R324H, 1774C>T).
CYP7A1 G347S and CYP27A1 R164W, A169V and V400A were rare, with similar allelic distribution among populations.
The polymorphism G347S is localized in exon 4 of CYP7A1. Gly (G) is an important amino acid for proper folding of the protein and is known to be a helix breaker and folding blocker of proteins. Hence, the substitution of a glycine in the protein can lead to conformational changes of CYP7A1.
The allelic frequency of CYP27 D273N for the Portuguese population (6.5%) was significantly lower than that observed for Mozambique (14.6%) and Colombia (17%) populations and it represents the only polymorphism in this study, with a distribution significantly different from the Portuguese population.
The variants R164W and A169V are localized in exon 3, while the variants D273N and V400A are localized in exon 4 of CYP27A1. The variants R164W and A169V appear to be located in C-helix α, which is involved in conformational structure of the protein. [34] Arg residues (R) play important roles in proper folding of proteins as they can form salt bridges with Asp (D) and Glu (E) residues to stabilize the tertiary structure of proteins and, as these polymorphisms are near to conservative amino acids, with important functions in folding and stabilization of the conformational structure of the protein, these genetic variations may be important in predicting the correct folding of CYP27A1. In fact, more than 70% of the mutations reported in cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis are Arg, Gly or Pro polymorphisms, suggesting that these patients have conformational CYP27A1 changes.
D273N appears to be located on the third substrate recognition site and V400A in the fifth substrate recognition site sheet β1-4, which is involved in heme binding. [34] These sites are very important for the functionality of CYP27A1, and although the polymorphisms do not lead to substitutions of very different amino acids, the low frequency found for these SNPs suggests that they are localized in semi-conservative regions.
Alterations in protein amino acids can lead to complete loss of its folding and, consequently, its structure, which can have drastic effects such as the elimination of enzyme active sites, creation of new binding sites or general dysfunction.
The allelic frequency for CYP7B1 R324H was similar between Portuguese (3.8%) and Colombian (3.3%) populations, but significantly different from Mozambican (P < 0.001) population, where the polymorphism was not found.
The genetic variant R324H is localized in exon 4 of CYP7B1. The low allelic frequency observed for this SNP may be explained by the fact that Arg (R) is involved in proper folding of proteins and can form salt bridges with Asp and Glu residues to stabilize the tertiary structure of the protein.
While polymorphisms in the promoter region can modify the degree of gene expression, polymorphisms in the coding region may have a direct effect on enzymatic activity, altering drug pharmacokinetics.
Considering Africans, Asians and Europeans as major population groups, it is becoming more documented that there is a clear genetic variation among these populations, with the main reason attributed to the early evolutionary history of human origins in Africa and subsequent expansion throughout the world. [35] The location of African population analyzed in this study, Mozambique, was a Portuguese colony in the late 15th century, and some admixture between Mozambicans and Portuguese was expected. However, studies performed in the Mozambican population only detected, in the male gene pool, a small fraction of lineages from European origin. [36] Therefore, although the Iberian Peninsula was under Muslim influence for centuries, DNA analysis shows that that the Portuguese population is closely related to other populations of Western Europe. [35],[37] According to Dupanloup et al., an earlier European-wide study had pointed to a small North African and Arab element in modern day Iberian ancestry when compared to the pre-Islamic ancestral basis, and the Gibraltar Strait seems to have functioned much more as a genetic barrier than a bridge. [35] The genetic background of the Colombian population is considered a mixture of Spanish and native individuals, with prevalence of European ancestry of today's population. [38] Our results suggest genetic similarities of all polymorphisms studied (except for CYP27A1 D273N) between Portuguese and Colombian populations, but major differences in SNP frequencies between Portuguese/Colombian and Mozambican populations. These results demonstrate that analyses of populations from different ethnic backgrounds are essential for obtaining adequate results in genotype/phenotype correlation studies and to predict differential susceptibility to possible adverse effects.
Pharmacogenetics constitutes the most important part of future molecular medicine. For this, molecular diagnostics along with molecular specified drug therapy will allow a safer and more efficient treatment.
We consider CYP7A1, CYP27A1 and CYP7B1 as good candidates for pharmacogenetic analysis of cholesterol-lowering therapy since these CYP enzymes play key roles in cholesterol homeostasis, and genetic variations in these genes most likely have a great impact on total body lipid metabolism. The characterization of variants in these genes among individuals from distinct geographic backgrounds will allow the development of new, more effective and safer drugs for each person. An evaluation of SNP frequencies among different populations with variable ethnic background will certainly be useful to characterize the changes in drug pharmacokinetics and predict differential susceptibility to possible adverse effects.
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31. Jakobsson J, Karypidis H, Johansson JE, Roh HK, Rane A, Ekström L. A functional C-G polymorphism in the CYP7B1 promoter region and its different distribution in Oriental and Caucasians. Pharmacogenomics J 2004;4:245-50.
32. Molowa DT, Chen WS, Cimis GM, Tan CP. Transcriptional regulation of the human cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase gene. Biochemistry 1992;31:2539-44.
33. Cooper AD, Chen J, Botelho-Yetkinler MJ. Characterization of hepatic-specific regulatory elements in the promoter region of the human cholesterol 7-hydroxylase gene. J Biol Chem 1997;272:3444-52.
34. Sawata N, Sakaki T, Kitanaka S, Kato S, Inouye K. Structure-function analysis of CYP27B1 and CYP27A1. Eur J Biochem 2001;268:6607-15.
35. Dupanloup I, Bertorelle G, Chikhi L, Barbujani G. Estimating the Impact of Prehistoric Admixture on the Genome of Europeans. Mol Biol Evol 2004;21:1361-72.
36. Pereira L, Gusmão L, Alves C, Amorim A, Prata M. Bantu and European Y-lineages in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ann Hum Genet 2002;66:369-78.
37. Novembre J, Johnson T, Bryc K, Kutalik Z, Adam R, Adam I, et al. Genes mirror geography within Europe. Nature 2008;456:98.
38. Bedoya G, Montoya P, Garcia J, Soto I, Bourgeois S, Carvajal L, et al. Admixture dynamics in Hispanics: A shift in the nuclear genetic ancestry of a South American population isolate. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2006;103:7234-9.
1 Maternal Betaine Supplementation throughout Gestation and Lactation Modifies Hepatic Cholesterol Metabolic Genes in Weaning Piglets via AMPK/LXR-Mediated Pathway and Histone Modification
Demin Cai,Mengjie Yuan,Haoyu Liu,Shifeng Pan,Wenqiang Ma,Jian Hong,Ruqian Zhao
Nutrients. 2016; 8(10): 646
2 Maternal dietary betaine supplementation modifies hepatic expression of cholesterol metabolic genes via epigenetic mechanisms in newborn piglets
Demin Cai,Yimin Jia,Jingyu Lu,Mengjie Yuan,Shiyan Sui,Haogang Song,Ruqian Zhao
British Journal of Nutrition. 2014; : 1
Dias V
Ribeiro V
Cholesterol 7%26#945;-hydroxylase
drug metabolizing enzymes
oxysterol 7%26#945;-hydroxylase
sterol 27-hydroxylase
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KSP Library > Policies
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Important Tables
Chemistry Olympiad Test Questions
SI Units/Conversions
Thermodynamic Data
Alcohol Nomenclature:
Alcohols are just like other substituents. There isn't anything real special about them. I'm assuming you've read all the sections before this, so I can breeze through this section.
Molecules with alcohols are called -ols. For instance is methanol. (methane - ane + ol = methanol).
Among alcohols, there are primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols.
The structure on the left is the primary alcohol. Primary alcohol means that the -OH is attached to a carbon group which has NONE or ONE other carbon attached to it.
Secondary alcohols, as demonstrated by the middle structure, has an -OH group attached to a carbon which is attached to two carbons. It is also called a sec-alcohol.
Tertiary alcohols, the right structure, is an alcohol with the -OH group attached to a carbon with connections to three other carbons. Tert-alcohols, as they are called, are very bulky. The significance of these comes later on.
If you want to know how it stands in terms of functional group priority, hit this link.
Name this
This is 2,5-heptadiol. No cis/trans becuase it's an alkane. Alkanes have free rotation.
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Talk about Ontology on the Go!
Here's the new site, www.LiHeLiSo.org, as of November 15ish, 2008.
Enjoy! And thanks for reading us.
Ontology on the gone!
The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society
Miscellanea and Ephemeron
[Previous entry: "Manga review: Cafe Kichijouji de, Vols. 1-3"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Comic review: Every Girl Is The End Of The World For Me"]
05/23/2006 Archived Entry: "Comics anthology: Mome, Fall 2005"
Mome, Vol. 2 (Fall 2005)
Edited by Gary Groth
Published by Fantagraphics
Review by Leigh Anne Wilson
The Fall 2005 issue of Mome, from Fantagraphics, is an anthology of comics from several contributors. Printed on high quality paper with a fancy glossy sheen, Mome comes across like a Virginia Quarterly Review or Ploughshares -- its serious presentation demands that the comic medium be considered with the same respect as any literary art form. On many levels, Mome succeeds admirably. It features a wide variety of artists with just as many separate styles and influences. Some take a traditional approach, like Jonathan Bennett's "Needles and Pins," and some dip into the experimental, like the minimalist "Event," Anders Nilsen's emotional tale told almost entirely by using different colored squares. While some of the comics in the anthology fall short of the high standards one would expect from a top literary journal, there are far more that are well-deserving of serious literary appreciation.
Sophie Crumb, who by now must be utterly sick of the inevitable comparisons to her famous father and, by extension, to underground commix in general, is about to get it again from me, so close your eyes: "Parker, the Vegan Bike Punk," looks like an R. Crumb drawn, G-rated version of Gilbert Sheldon's "Little Orphan Amphetamine," and the message is the same: it's darned hard to hide that middle class bourgeois core. For example, I'll admit how easily Crumb the Younger exposed my own bourgeois core -- I prefer her gently humorous "Parker" over the violent and depressing "Amphetamine." Crumb's story makes the exact same point, but without the sledgehammer.
Jeffrey Brown's "Our Jam Band Is Going to Be Sweet" is a tale as well-told as any story in The New Yorker. What seems at first to be a straightforward detective story along the "Law & Order" lines. Once the story begins to draw to its close, you realize that it wasn't about police work at all, but rather a revelation of apathy and betrayal. The spine of the piece is the pathos of the human condition, and the detective story line is only what cloaks it.
Andrice Arp's "Cormorant Feathers" is a visual adaptation of a Japanese creation myth, explaining the origin of Japan's ruling class and their descent from gods. The blue/black two-tone coloring is reminiscent of the Ignatz series, as is the moody, dreamy quality of the illustrated narrative as a whole. "Feathers" recreates the birth of the father of Jimmu, Japan's legendary first emperor, and by dusting off classical mythology and repackaging it for comic book readers, comes across in this series as one of the two most creative stories presented.
Although Mome clearly wants to prove that comics are a serious artform, this isn't to say the creators take themselves too seriously. In an interview with Publisher's Weekly, editor Eric Reynolds says, "There's something fitting in having an anthology of contemporary talent named after an archaic word meaning 'blockhead.'"
The Wapshott Press
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Modern World History
Northern Ireland 1965-85
Level: GCSE
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How successful were the British Government in brining peace to Ireland?
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Bethany Wadlow With what success has the British Government tried to deal with the Irish 'troubles' in the years since 1972? In this essay I will examine the policies of which the British Government have introduced since 1972 in attempt to bring peace to Northern Ireland, I will then decide how successful these policies have been in doing so. The first policy the British government tried was direct rule. This was introduced in 1972 after the events of Bloody Sunday had taken place to try to put a stop to the worsening violence in Ireland. The enforcement of direct rule was when the British Government suspended the Northern Ireland parliament and ruled directly from West Minster. It was by a British government minister, the Northern Ireland secretary. This was necessary because the schemes which had been put in place in the late 1960's in attempt to bring peace had all failed and Catholics were still angry. In 1960 the social democratic labour party was formed, this was the largest nationalist social party. They campaigned using peaceful methods for changed but had no success and so many Catholics turned to violence after bloody Sunday so that they would finally be paid attention to. When the internment policy was introduced in 1971 the provisional IRA began to use methods which were much more violent in attempt to reunite Ireland. IN response to this, protestant parliamentary groups set up and the British Government was expecting a civil war at any time soon. Direct rule failed as it was clearly never going to bring peace because both Catholics and Protestants hated being run by the British and wanted rid of the policy. ...read more.
An increase in violence between 1990 and 1993 between the loyalists and the IRA showed great need for the Downing Street declaration yet Sinn Fein detested it as his views were that it prevented a united Ireland. Politicians had mixed opinions about the declaration but the SDLP and the Ulster Unionist party welcomed it with open arms. The Downing Street declaration was only ever meant to set a basic plan between the British and Irish governments but the simple policy was a failure as it was not seen as a long term lasting solution although it was a step in the right direction. The policy also failed as it did not do as it aimed to by immediately stopping the violence, as there were many more killings in summer 1994. Yet it could be argued that the Downing Street declaration was mildly successful and did make an impact because on the 31st of August the IRA called a cease-fire and on the 13th of October so did the loyalists. However as the declaration was not a permanent fixture this peace was likely to be rare and short-lived and so the declaration was not much of a success. Though the Downing Street declaration did lead to a chain of positive events beginning with Senator George Mitchell setting up Principles for decommissioning weapons in 1996. Then following this in 1997 Tony Blair became the new Prime Minister of Britain and appointed Mo Mowlam as secretary of state for Northern Ireland. She did many things that had never been tried before such as visiting IRA terrorists inside jail and talking with them, Margaret Thatcher had refused to ever communicate with terrorists and therefore this big step helped gain support of the peace process from both religions. ...read more.
Also the Good Friday agreement was suspended whenever the two sides would not speak. The IRA also played a huge part in acting as a barrier to bringing peace to Northern Ireland, they brought violence, decommissioning problems and also affected Sinn Feins place in peace talks. The British government tried many things to solve the problems of conflict in Ireland, but were always met with little success. However each new policy did bring a small amount of change before the problems started again. I feel that the British government has given NI and particularly the catholic more say in how their country is run, so after the Good Friday agreement was introduced the two sides would not talk and so the agreement was abandoned. The British government has tried many different things to bring peace to NI. Some have been more successful than others and there is certainly less violence of the streets of Northern Ireland today. There have been many years when peace seemed like it was never going to happen. Today the idea set up by the good Friday agreement is finally working and both Catholics and protestants are prepared to work together to make northern Ireland a success. The IRA still exists today but it is no longer so violent and is not seen as a threat. Although after examining all the policies the British government have introduced I believe that the one which helped most to deal with Northern Irelands 'troubles' was the Good Friday agreement as it is still in place today and involves the contribution of both Catholics and protestants. However the British Government themselves have not been entirely successful as they have had to continuously introduce new policies and nothing has stayed consistent. ...read more.
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shops, schools etc. An enormous wall has been built in Belfast. This 'peace line' is meant to stop violence between Catholics and Protestants. The idea of mixed housing has little chance of happening in the near future. The housing system promotes divisions and bad feeling between the two religions because the Protestants get the best land and they never mix.
Northern Ireland Essay
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Are Ringforts simple 'enclosed homesteads' or 'the residences of the aristocracy'?
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It still exists today because every time one of the paramilitary attacks the opposite group, all peace attempts fail and the lack of trust increases hugely. Not only within the NI Government but within the communities as well. In the 1950's and 60's, there was an approach at calm and peace between the Nationalists and Unionists.
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How to Plan an Awesome Tour of Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley: Part 1 - Getting to Peru and Touring the Sacred Valley
Assuming you are now planning your own leg through the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu, as explained in my earlier post, here's where you start.
View from the Lima Airport Wyndham: Not that Glamorous
In 2020, Cusco is going to open its first international airport, outside of the town of Chinchero. Locals are already investing in property around the town, when getting to Machu Picchu from New York will take only an eight hour flight and then a three hour train ride. Until then, the only way to get to Cusco and the Sacred Valley is through Lima.
Expedia lets you book flights from the U.S. through Lima into Cusco and then return from any other destination in Peru (such as Arequipa or Trujillo) back through Lima into the U.S. This saves you about $100 on each leg versus booking as four separate flights. If you want to stay overnight in Lima, however, you'll need to book your return from Lima and a separate leg from Arequipa, Cusco, or wherever you've ended up at the end of your Peru journey: return flights from other towns such as Arequipa all come in to Lima in the morning and for a single-booking return you'll need to take a late-night red-eye home on the same day. Plan the return carefully. If you are flying on a non-LAN-code-share airline such as United you can't check luggage through (no matter what the United agents may tell you in Newark). We missed seeing Lima as there was no place to store our luggage and the gate doesn't open for check-in until two hours before the flight. The only option is to plan an extra day in Lima at the end of your trip (which I'd recommend if we were doing it over again) or hire a tour guide in Lima that will take your luggage with you.
Cusco Airport
Speaking of checking luggage. When you arrive in Lima on United you must pick up your bags at the baggage claim and then recheck on to Cusco. Unsure if this is true on a code-share such as American, but best to wait at baggage claim and see - returning to baggage claim after you leave is a hassle that requires some elementary Spanish, Peruvian security, and an extra hour and a half. Best to stay with baggage claim in Lima to make sure your bags get safely checked on your morning flight.
Also - you will need to check in to each leg of the flight separately, but you need to be checked in and ready to fly on the first leg first. If you have a laptop with wi-fi that's easy enough to check in to the second leg on LAN (or United on the return) from the airport in the U.S. (or Arequipa, if flying back on a joined leg). This bit of double-check-in is a worrisome hassle but we had no problem checking in online once we flew the first leg of each portion. Peru has two major airlines - LAN and Peruvian. The LAN website has an English version that's as easy to use as any major U.S. airline.
Most flights from the U.S. arrive in Lima between 8 and 10pm, with onward flights to Cusco starting at 5:30am the next morning. You could hang out at the airport all night but I recommend booking a room at the Wyndham Costa del Sol Lima Airport - it's across the street from check-in and the Ikea-like rooms are serviceable enough to get a good nights sleep before a day of intense touring in high altitude. Don't be fooled by fashionable pictures on the hotel website: there's nothing memorable about this European, serviceable hotel, but you get two free tickets for Pisco Sours with your room and you'll be happy you got a bit of sleep. Or you can hang in the lobby and befriend other English speaking tourists headed off to or returning from deep jungle hikes. If you're like us you'll be excited to start your Peruvian adventure and so the Pisco Sours will be a necessary nightcap as a few hours of sound sleep is essential.
Leaving Lima
Flying Over the Andes
Start your day the next morning boarding a LAN flight to Cusco, along with a hundred other excited Peruvian families. Flying out of the coastal airport and up thirteen thousand feet into the Andes (the longest mountain range in the world) will be a great way to start to witness the beauty of the continent. Exiting the airplane in Cusco, you may, like me, feel dizzy, or slightly nauseated. Feet touching ground, you're at 11,150 feet above sea level. If it's June you'll feel a wintery nip in the air and want to zip up your jacket. If you heeded my first post, you've booked Tambo del Inka in the valley and are headed out of town. But how to get there?
Many who come to the Sacred Valley never leave
The best way is to hire a local guide who will drive you to your destination and spend the next three days showing you the sights and flavors of the Sacred Valley. The weather, countryside, and steep mountainous terrain of this valley is simply gorgeous. It's not for nothing that many Americans who pass through here go native: it's reminiscent of the high mountains around San Francisco in the Sixties, an enchanting destination all its own, with its own simple lifestyle, friendly people, and amazing fresh food and fresh air. We researched a few online recommendations and arranged an independent local guide, Oscar Zuniga, by emailing him at gascorth@hotmail.co.uk. Oscar doesn't have a web page as it's something of a bother to get one up in Peru. But he speaks good English, has studied tourism, and was a friendly, informative, and entertaining guide who made our first few days in Peru truly memorable. He comes highly recommended (if you contact him, mention you saw his name on my blog). Tambo del Inka and other major hotels will also book tour guides for you - though you will pay twice the price and they simply arrange someone like Oscar. But if having an official invoice is what you need that's what you may need to do. Take my word, however, Oscar was great, and needed no hotel middlemen (he used to work at Tambo and knows everyone there anyway).
Pisac Market
Oscar suggested our itinerary - visit Pisac and the Sunday market on our way to our hotel in Urubamba (a great start to our stay, the first day felt like an entire vacation all on its own). It was a great kick-off to the experience, though you may huff and puff your way up the hillsides at Pisac on your first day in the high altitude. Remember to take it easy and drink plenty of water, the Sacred Valley being a desert.
Alpaca Weavers of Chinchero
The second day he toured us around Chinchero, where we saw native weavings and the local
Agricultural Terraces of Moray
Salinas de Maras
church, along with stops at the amazing agricultural terraces at Moray and the salt farms at Salinas de Maras (both of which are must-sees, and start to give you real appreciation for the scientific achievements of the Inca civilization). Meanwhile, enjoy the hospitality at Tambo del Inka - they greet you with a cup of Coca tea (for altitude sickness) and check you in with hushed attention. Then off to spa, pool, or massage in between touring ancient wonders.
Tambo del Inka
The food at Tambo is okay (the outdoor bar is outstanding), but to really start to enjoy Peruvian cuisine, walk the short distance from the hotel to one of two most excellent restaurants. Tres Keros, which is a romantic second story family affair with simple but delicious grilled meats, or El Huacatay, which is recommended in the tour books. Getting off the hotel grounds also gives you a flavor for the local culture. (Hint: if you haven't noticed the Peruvian dogs running free by now, you will surely be commenting on their uncanny ability to avoid the cars. American dogs would be in mortal danger, here. Yet perhaps happier....)
The third day, check out of Tambo (say goodbye to paradise) and head for a day of touring at Ollantaytambo, the hiker's jumping-off point to Machu Picchu.
The ruins at Ollantay are second only to Machu Picchu itself, and worth a good half day. Here you will see an Incan village still inhabited - tour the homes and bars, and sample the chicha corn beer. Learning about the Incas in Ollantay will provide all the background you need to start to appreciate the next leg: Machu Picchu itself. Be sure to slather on plenty of sun screen at Ollantay - there's no protection here, the coolish weather is deceptive, and I got a nasty burn on the back of my neck despite hats and SPF 90 on my face.
You will need to purchase your train tickets from Ollantay to Machu Picchu in advance. Do this on the PeruRail website a couple of weeks before you leave (in high season they will sell out the day of the trip). Despite what the website says, you can bring your luggage on board, but if you want to be super safe like me, you can email the PeruRail customer support office and ask for a pass for your luggage. They will send you a confirmation email specifying your luggage size, which you can show to the train conductors. This won't be needed but can be a comfort.
The hour and a half ride from Ollantay to Machu Picchu is an adventure in and of itself. You are headed lower in altitude and towards the Amazon, so the vegetation slowly changes from high desert to jungle. Watching the terrain change before your eyes, you realize you're headed to the higlight of your trip: the bucket-list item of Machu Picchu, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
(Continue reading here....)
Posted by Martin Schecter at 7:38 PM
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Martin Schecter
Martin Schecter, author of cincritic.com, is a former movie critic for the Arizona Wildcat and book reviewer for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He attended the NYU Cinema Studies program and has an MFA from the University of Arizona. He is also the former Executive Producer of the movie-review website, On2Movies.
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It’s been a while since anything got posted on here, so here’s a little update of what’s been happening this winter.
Wild Flower Sextet – Album Release Tour supported by Jazz Services
The Wild Flower Sextet debut album is all set for its February 2015 release and our 13-date tour has been awarded Jazz Services Touring Support, which we’re all thrilled about! Here’s a preview of the tour poster which has just been finalised and sent off to the printers:
The dates are about to go up on the gigs calendar so check to see if we’re coming to anywhere nearby – we are going all over the U.K.
Jiannis Pavlidis / Matt Anderson Duo Record
Jiannis Pavlidis and I were in the studio last weekend with James Hamilton’s New Jazz Records, recording tracks for an online-release duo album which should be coming out around Easter. We’ve also been doing a few gigs with the duo, such as last night at Newcastle’s Jazz Cafe – read a review of this from Russell at Bebop Spoken Here. This project is centred around standards, played in an open, often implied manner inspired by players like Jim Hall, Sonny Rollins and Art Farmer.
Jiannis Pavlidis / Matt Anderson Quartet
Another collaboration with Jiannis has been our new, as-yet-unnamed quartet, where we’ve been focusing on original material. Tim Carter is playing drums here as well as Simon Read on double-bass, and we’ve got our first gig with this line-up at Cafe Lento, Leeds, on the 8th May 2015.
Posted in News/Blog
Wild Flower Sextet Album on Jellymould Jazz
I’m very pleased to announce that the Wild Flower Sextet album is due to be released on the Jellymould Jazz label this coming February 2015! It’s a real honour to be included on this great independent label, with some of their latest releases including great albums which I love by Tommy Andrews, Sam Leak and Hannes Riepler. See www.jellymouldjazz.net for more info!
We’ve also arranged for a 13-date U.K. tour to promote the album launch, including launch gigs at Leeds College of Music (3rd Feb) and Pizza Express, London (9th Feb). We are once again indebted to the great Jazz Services for a touring support grant here.
The artwork is nearly finished and I’ve just approved the final master of the audio, so we’re gearing up to go to the printers by the end of this month. Can’t wait!
Jazz Services funding cut 100%
There’s been a great deal of talk over the past few days over the announcement by Arts Council England that Jazz Services will not continue to receive funding from 2015 onwards.
As a young jazz performer in the early stages of my career, I must say I’m extremely disappointed that the Arts Council has made this decision. Jazz Services has, for the past 30 years, provided extensive support to the jazz scene nationally through a variety of effective, cost-efficient schemes that directly benefit musicians and, I would argue, keep the UK jazz scene alive. Most of these schemes are unique to Jazz Services and will totally cease to exist without its support.
For example, the Touring Support Scheme provides invaluable assistance to bandleaders seeking to organise national tour for their bands and is (to my knowledge) the only jazz-specific touring funding available. It provides financial support towards travel and accommodation costs which takes the risk out of the common scenario of travelling 400 miles for a door-take gig which you could very well end up losing money on if there is a small turn-out, but which you need to do to grow your audiences across the country.
Another great and unique scheme is the Recording Support Scheme, which I have benefited from with my Wild Flower Sextet project. This provides 50% funding towards making a debut album, which, for me and many others I’m sure, was absolutely vital in enabling me to make an album, another risky and highly expensive venture which is essential to reaching a bigger audience. Support is then provided as above to tour this album.
These are just two schemes of many including the Jazz Promoters Award (helping new promoters establish jazz gigs), International Showcases (promoting UK jazz ensembles abroad) and more. I must stress that none of the other jazz-related organisations that have kept their funding (Jazz North, Manchester Jazz Festival, Jazzlines, Tomorrow’s Warriors, East Midlands Jazz, Serious) provide anything that comes close to Jazz Services’ Touring Support and Recording Support Schemes at a national level. This isn’t to criticise these great organisations, they just don’t have a national focus of promoting jazz at a grass-roots level – it isn’t in their remit.
The reasons for ACE’s decision remain unclear, although perhaps we will hear more about this in the coming weeks and months. Whatever the concerns are, I sincerely hope Jazz Services can manage to put a plan in place to address them and successfully appeal this decision. Obviously we live in a climate of cuts where the arts are under a tremendous amount of pressure from the government, and that is a different debate, but with the value that the jazz scene brings to the UK both in money and cultural terms, I would argue that the axe has fallen in the wrong place here.
There is a petition in place here which I would encourage you to sign: https://www.change.org/petitions/arts-council-england-in-the-light-of-the-cessation-of-npo-support-for-jazz-services-we-request-arts-council-england-enable-adequate-funding-for-jazz-services-to-continue-their-invaluable-work-for-uk-jazz. It’s also worth visiting the Jazz Services website to see their reaction to this and how else you can help them fight this decision: http://www.jazzservices.org.uk/index.php/support-jazz-services.
Wild Flower Sextet Album Update
Apologies for the silence recently – there’s been so much going on that I haven’t had time to post about any of it!
Just to update a little bit, the Wild Flower Sextet album has now been mixed and I’m really pleased with how it’s sounding so far. Here’s a picture of Barkley McKay hard at word doing a live mix-down at Valley Wood Studios:
Barkley uses a mix of analogue and digital equipment for his mixing process, running everything through analogue processors, effects and mixing desk in a live mix-down onto his Mac, so you get the best of both worlds with the warmth of analogue and the flexibility of digital. The next step is getting the recording mastered which is underway at the moment!
The album is also going to come out on a label – more details soon!
Wild Flower Sextet Recording Session
We had an absolutely fantastic time last weekend recording the Wild Flower Sextet album with the help of Barkley McKay at Leeds College of Music. I’ve been listening back to the unmixed tracks and I’m really excited to get them mixed and mastered and get them out into the world!
You can listen to an unmixed sneak preview of the outro of ‘J.G.’ on my Soundcloud here:
Thanks so much to all of our backers so far for the crowdfunding campaign also. We’ve raised £546 which will be so helpful in meeting all of the costs involved in making the record. There is still 24hrs left to get involved at http://www.sponsume.com/project/wild-flower-sextet-album.
Thanks to all of our backers so far!
The Wild Flower Sextet crowdfunding campaign is still going strong, with 57% (£426) raised so far and a couple of weeks to go.
Thanks so much to our backers so far Tom Barber, James Bull, Jeremy Bye, William Powell, Alan Howell, John Marley, John Warren, Will Barber, Caroline Anderson, Michael Anderson, Lesley Jeffries, Toby Cosmo Archer, Trevor Prinn, Richard Armstrong and Gwen Hanson.
I can’t wait to start setting up for the recording at Leeds College of Music a week today – very exciting stuff! Now, back to practising the material…
Sponsume campaign update and Jazz North East fundraiser tomorrow
Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed to our Sponsume campaign so far for the Wild Flower Sextet – we’re up to £216 already! A full list of names will follow soon but for now check out our progress or get involved by following the link at http://www.sponsume.com/project/wild-flower-sextet-album or clicking in the box on the right.
If you are in Newcastle do come along to a fundraiser I’m involved with tomorrow for Jazz North East. I’m playing first in a quartet with Lloyd Wright (guitar), Mick Shoulder (bass) and Adam Sinclair (drums) at The Bridge from 2pm, then in a quintet with Simon Spillet (sax), Paul Edis (piano) and again Mick and Adam on bass and drums at The Jazz Cafe at 4pm. There are lots of great bands on all day, so it’ll be well worth a visit.
Wild Flower Sextet Crowdfunding Campaign
The Wild Flower Sextet has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Sponsume.com to help raise funds towards our debut album, which we’re recording in February this year with support from the Jazz Services Recording Support Scheme – check out the page at http://www.sponsume.com/project/wild-flower-sextet-album to get involved!
Here is my video pitch for the campaign:
There are all sorts of rewards on offer from donations of £1+ up to £250!
Also come and see us play if you can – we’re at Sela Bar, Leeds, tonight or Wakefield Jazz on Friday.
Matt Anderson and Jiannis Pavlidis Duo
Matt Anderson and Jiannis Pavlidis Duo – Alone Together
http://www.matt-anderson.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/duo2-Alone-Together.mp3
Matt Anderson and Jiannis Pavlidis Duo – When Sunny Gets Blue
http://www.matt-anderson.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/duo3-When-Sunny-Gets-Blue.mp3
Matt Anderson and Jiannis Pavlidis Duo – Solar
http://www.matt-anderson.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/duo4-Solar.mp3
Wild Flower Sextet awarded Jazz Services Recording Support
I’m very grateful that Jazz Services has kindly awarded the Wild Flower Sextet a place on its Recording Support Scheme 2013. The funding this provides will enable us to record our debut album in February next year, with a view to touring this nationwide in the Autumn.
Part of the funding requires us to raise more money from external sources in support of the album, so we will be holding a fundraising gig in Leeds on the 16th January (venue tbc) where there will be a chance to pre-order copies through our crowdfunding campaign, more details of which will be announced soon!
22 Jan: LS6 - w/ Eirik Berg Svela and co.
7 Mar: Villars Vanguard - Guest soloist
14 Mar: Scarborough Spa Grand Hall - Matt Anderson Quartet - BOYES Celebrity Concert
15 Mar: Sela Bar - w/ Exiles House Band
Twitter: mattandersonsax
RT @vortexjazz: ✨ TONIGHT ✨ don't miss @MattAndersonSax Quartet feat. Alberto Palau Garcera (piano), @Willonbass (double bass) & @jdavismus… Thu, 16 Jan 2020 12:33:17 from Twitter for Android
RT @vortexjazz: ✨ TONIGHT ✨ CALUM GOURLAY BIG BAND Tickets still available! 👉 https://t.co/kscyUndhHF @calbass @AlexRidoutMusic @Laur… Fri, 13 Dec 2019 12:39:56 from Twitter for Android
Some of my favourite UK jazz artists on this programme, delighted to be among them for 11th December! Go listen eve… https://t.co/oKYNaIR5AQ Tue, 19 Nov 2019 12:42:41 from Twitter for Android
@mattandersonsax
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Archivi tag: USA
Don’t ask, don’t tell. 56 su 60
22 Settembre 2010 rainbowcitazioni, Lady GaGa, politica, USALore!
TODAY WAS AN ENORMOUS DISAPPOINTMENT, FOR MYSELF, AND FOR MANY YOUNG AMERICAN PEOPLE. NOT ONLY BECAUSE DON’T ASK DON’T TELL WAS NOT REPEALED BY OUR SENATORS, BUT MOREOVER BECAUSE LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE IS BEING ABUSED TO STOP PUBLIC BUSINESS, PUBLIC DEBATES, FROM HAPPENING WHILE AMERICA IS WATCHING. THERE WAS A DEBATE TODAY, WE JUST DIDN’T GET TO WATCH IT. INSTEAD, IT HAS BEEN CUSTOMARY NOW FOR ANTIQUATED PROCEDURES AND PARTISAN POLITICS TO TAKE PRECEDENCE OVER DEBATE, AMERICA’S NEEDS, AND TODAY, SADLY, OVER THE NEEDS OF US TROOPS. I WILL KEEP FIGHTING, I WILL NOT GIVE UP. I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF THE LGBT COMMUNITY AND SLDN AND I WILL CONTINUE TO ACTIVATE AS MANY YOUNG PEOPLE AS I CAN, AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO GET POLITICALLY INVOLVED IN THEIR FUTURE
Via Lady Gaga Official Website
Don’t ask, don’t tell
17 Settembre 2010 rainbowLady GaGa, politica, USALore!
Tweet your Senator
31 Luglio 2009 MondoBarack Obama, internet, politica, twitter, USA, web 2.0Lore!
E dall’amministrazione Obama, un’altra svolta 2.0 per quello che riguarda la politica.
Non più lettere per contattare i senatori, ma tweet che vengono poi raccolti nella piattaforma.
Dal sito di Obama è infatti ora possibile ad accedere a Tweet your senator: inserendo il proprio cap si viene reindirizzati alla home page di Twitter con già impostato il campo @reply ad uno dei propri senatori per far sapere quello che si pensa sulla riforma dell’assistenza sanitaria ed invitarlo a votare.
La pagina mostra poi una cartina aggiornata in tempo reale con i tweet geolocalizzati ed è anche possibile selezionare un singolo stato e seguirne solo i tweet relativi.
È un’idea interessante, che avvicina ancora di più i cittadini al governo e tutto il sistema politico all’interazione bidirezionale con il web e soprattutto con Twitter che sta diventando sempre di più centrale nelle discussioni politiche (a partire dalle primarie americane alla rivolta in Iran).
via Internet P.R.
Obama al Cairo
5 Giugno 2009 MondoBarack Obama, citazioni, politica, USALore!
Ecco il discorso integrale che Obama ha tenuto ieri mattina a Il Cairo.
Da leggere tutto. Ed essere orgogliosi e fieri che almeno da qualche parte del mondo esiste un Presidente così.
I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt’s advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.
“We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world – tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.
Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam. Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust. So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. This cycle of suspicion and discord must end. I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings. I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground.
As the Holy Koran tells us, “Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.” That is what I will try to do – to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart. Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith. As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.
I know, too, that Islam has always been a part of America’s story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, “The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.” And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, served in government, stood for civil rights, started businesses, taught at our Universities, excelled in our sports arenas, won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library. So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words – within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum: “Out of many, one.”
Much has been made of the fact that an African-American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores – that includes nearly seven million American Muslims in our country today who enjoy incomes and education that are higher than average. Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one’s religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state of our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That is why the U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.
Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of race, religion or station in life, all of us share common aspirations – to live in peace and security; to get an education and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity. Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all. For we have learned from recent experience that when a financial system weakens in one country, prosperity is hurt everywhere. When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk. When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations. When violent extremists operate in one stretch of mountains, people are endangered across an ocean. And when innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. That is what it means to share this world in the 21st century. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings. This is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes subjugating one another to serve their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating. Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; progress must be shared. That does not mean we should ignore sources of tension. Indeed, it suggests the opposite: we must face these tensions squarely.
And so in that spirit, let me speak as clearly and plainly as I can about some specific issues that I believe we must finally confront together. The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms. In Ankara, I made clear that America is not – and never will be – at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security. Because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people. The situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America’s goals, and our need to work together. Over seven years ago, the United States pursued al Qaeda and the Taliban with broad international support. We did not go by choice, we went because of necessity. I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11. But let us be clear: al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet Al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with. Make no mistake: we do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case. That’s why we’re partnering with a coalition of forty-six countries. And despite the costs involved, America’s commitment will not weaken.
Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists. They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of different faiths – more than any other, they have killed Muslims. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam. The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind. The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace. We also know that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is why we plan to invest ê1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who have been displaced. And that is why we are providing more than ê2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend upon. Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: “I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.” Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future – and to leave Iraq to Iraqis. I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources. Iraq’s sovereignty is its own. That is why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. That is why we will honor our agreement with Iraq’s democratically-elected government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all our troops from Iraq by 2012.
We will help Iraq train its Security Forces and develop its economy. But we will support a secure and united Iraq as a partner, and never as a patron. And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter our principles. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. So America will defend itself respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities which are also threatened. The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer. The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world. America’s strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.
Around the world the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-semitism in Europe culminated in unprecedented holocaust. Tomorrow I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed – more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve. On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people – Muslims and Christians – have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations – large and small – that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own. For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It is easy to point fingers – for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought by Israel’s founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond.
But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security. That is in Israel’s interest, Palestine’s interest, America’s interest, and the world’s interest. That is why I intend to personally pursue this outcome with all the patience that the task requires. The obligations that the parties have agreed to under the Road Map are clear. For peace to come, it is time for them – and all of us – to live up to our responsibilities. Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It’s a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered.
Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build. The Palestinian Authority must develop its capacity to govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people. Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, and to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel’s right to exist. At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop. Israel must also live up to its obligations to ensure that Palestinians can live, and work, and develop their society. And just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel’s security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.
Finally, the Arab States must recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state; to recognize Israel’s legitimacy; and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past. America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. We cannot impose peace. But privately, many Muslims recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true. Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer. The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons. This issue has been a source of tension between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is indeed a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians. This history is well known. Rather than remain trapped in the past, I have made it clear to Iran’s leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question, now, is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build. It will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect. But it is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America’s interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path. I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America’s commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. And any nation – including Iran – should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the Treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it. And I am hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.
The fourth issue that I will address is democracy. I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other. That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn’t steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere. There is no straight line to realize this promise. But this much is clear: governments that protect these rights are ultimately more stable, successful and secure. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away.
America respects the right of all peaceful and law-abiding voices to be heard around the world, even if we disagree with them. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments – provided they govern with respect for all their people. This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.
The fifth issue that we must address together is religious freedom. Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind, heart, and soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it is being challenged in many different ways. Among some Muslims, there is a disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of another’s. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld – whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. And fault lines must be closed among Muslims as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq. Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat. Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism. Indeed, faith should bring us together. That is why we are forging service projects in America that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews. That is why we welcome efforts like Saudi Arabian King Abdullah’s Interfaith dialogue and Turkey’s leadership in the Alliance of Civilizations. Around the world, we can turn dialogue into Interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action – whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster.
The sixth issue that I want to address is women’s rights. I know there is debate about this issue. I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous. Now let me be clear: issues of women’s equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, we have seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women’s equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world. Our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons, and our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity – men and women – to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams. Finally, I want to discuss economic development and opportunity. I know that for many, the face of globalization is contradictory. The Internet and television can bring knowledge and information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and changing communities. In all nations – including my own – this change can bring fear. Fear that because of modernity we will lose of control over our economic choices, our politics, and most importantly our identities – those things we most cherish about our communities, our families, our traditions, and our faith.
But I also know that human progress cannot be denied. There need not becontradiction between development and tradition. Countries like Japan and South Korea grew their economies while maintaining distinct cultures. The same is true for the astonishing progress within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education. This is important because no development strategy can be based only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained while young people are out of work. Many Gulf States have enjoyed great wealth as a consequence of oil, and some are beginning to focus it on broader development. But all of us must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century, and in too many Muslim communities there remains underinvestment in these areas. I am emphasizing such investments within my country. And while America in the past has focused on oil and gas in this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement. On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America, while encouraging more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we will match promising Muslim students with internships in America; invest in on-line learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a teenager in Kansas can communicate instantly with a teenager in Cairo. On economic development, we will create a new corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries. And I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world. On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries, and to help transfer ideas to the marketplace so they can create jobs. We will open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and appoint new Science Envoys to collaborate on programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, and grow new crops. And today I am announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health. All these things must be done in partnership. Americans are ready to join with citizens and governments; community organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim communities around the world to help our people pursue a better life.
The issues that I have described will not be easy to address. But we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek – a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God’s children are respected. Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together. I know there are many – Muslim and non-Muslim – who question whether we can forge this new beginning. Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some suggest that it isn’t worth the effort – that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash. Many more are simply skeptical that real change can occur. There is so much fear, so much mistrust. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward. And I want to particularly say this to young people of every faith, in every country – you, more than anyone, have the ability to remake this world. All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort – a sustained effort – to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings. It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There is also one rule that lies at the heart of every religion – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples – a belief that isn’t new; that isn’t black or white or brown; that isn’t Christian, or Muslim or Jew. It’s a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the heart of billions. It’s a faith in other people, and it’s what brought me here today.
We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written. The Holy Koran tells us, “O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.” The Talmud tells us: “The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace.” The Holy Bible tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God’s vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God’s peace be upon you.
Via Daniele via Twitter
Via Corriere della sera
Why we all love Obama
2 Giugno 2009 MondoBarack Obama, citazioni, rainbow, USALore!
Sono un breve estratto dal comunicato stampa diffuso ieri dalla Casa Bianca.
Giusto gli ultimi due paragrafi, per riassumere il tutto:
These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
Qui la versione completa.
Via Byb via Gtalk
NOH8: Fight for our family, fight for us, fight for me
27 Maggio 2009 Mondonotizie, rainbow, USALore!
Con una decisione contraddittoria, la Corte Suprema della California ha dichiarato valida sia il referendum sulla Proposition 8 che i matrimoni celebrati prima della stessa.
Così ecco il video della campagna NOH8.
Nulla da dire sul video, semplice, efficace, che ricorda ancora una volta sempre i soliti concetti base: siamo i tuoi amici, siamo i tuoi colleghi, siamo la tua famiglia o i tuoi amici, siamo tutti uguali. Ma non siamo trattati equally.
Interesante poi il gioco di parole. No eight (inteso come no alla proposition 8) ha la stessa pronuncia di no hate (non odiare).
La campagna (silenziosa) è stata realizzata da Adam Bouska e ha già raggiunto 400 sostenitori, tra cui personaggi famosi come Tila Tequila e Perez (Hilton).
The New Yorker cover
25 Maggio 2009 Free MagentaCover art, design, giornali, iPhone, print, USALore!
Quella qua sopra è la cover del numero di Giugno del New Yorker, disegnata da Jorge Colombo sfruttando l’applicazione Brushes con un iPhone.
“The best feature of it is that it doesn’t feel like something that was done digitally; quite the opposite,” said Françoise Mouly, the art editor for The New Yorker. “All too often the technology is directed in only one direction, which is to make things more tight, and this, what he did very well, is use this technology for something that is free flowing, and I think that’s what makes it so poetic and magical.”
Questo invece il lancio ANSA:
WASHINGTON, 25 MAG – Difficile dire se diverrà un oggetto da collezionisti, come le celebri copertine disegnate in passato da Saul Steinberg, ma la ‘cover’ dell’ultimo numero della rivista New Yorker segna comunque una svolta: è la prima a essere stata realizzata interamente con un iPhone. L’artista Jorge Colombo ha disegnato una tipica scena di Manhattan, uno scorcio di Times Square con un carretto per la vendita degli hot dog. Ma è la modalità che ha utilizzato a essere innovativa. Colombo ha trascorso un’ora fermo di fronte all’ingresso del Museo delle cere di Madam Tussaud, nel cuore della città, e ha tratto ispirazione dalla scena di vita quotidiana per realizzare il proprio lavoro. Niente tavolozza, tempere e pennelli, però: solo un iPhone dotato del programma ‘Brushes’ per realizzare disegni. “Tra gli altri vantaggi – ha raccontato sul sito web del New Yorker, presentando la copertina – permette di disegnare senza essere notato: la maggior parte della gente pensa che tu stia controllando le mail”. Il magazine ha pubblicato online anche un video che ricostruisce le fasi della creazione della copertina. Fin dalla sua fondazione nel 1925, il sofisticato New Yorker ha fatto delle proprie copertine oggetti d’arte che spesso vengono riprodotti su poster e in volumi. L’autore più celebre resta Steinberg, con 82 copertine e centinaia di disegni per le pagine interne. La sua cover più famosa è probabilmente ‘View of the World from 9th Avenue’, un’opera del 1976 che mostrava un’insolita prospettiva del mondo visto da Manhattan. (ANSA).
via NY Times
via Ansa
L’attacco a Morgan Hill
28 Aprile 2009 hi-techbancomat, carta di credito, cronache, infrazioni, internet, Mondo, servizi pubblici, telecomunicazioni, USALore!
Degli aggressori non identificati, la notte del 9 aprile, hanno tagliato 8 cavi in fibra ottica in alcuni pozzetti della città di Morgan Hill (California del Nord, 33,556 ab.).
Voi direte.. vabbè. Sarà solo saltata l’adsl a qualcuno. Già:
Gli effetti, invece, sono stati devastanti. La città di Morgan Hill e parte di tre contee confinanti hanno perso il servizio di emergenza (il 911), le comunicazioni di telefonia mobile cellulare, i telefoni fissi, la rete DSL (internet) e varie reti private, le comunicazioni con i pompieri, gli antifurti remoti, i bancomat, i terminali delle carte di credito e il monitoraggio dei servizi di pubblica utilità. Inoltre, alcune risorse che non avrebbero dovuto esserne affette, come la rete interna dell’ospedale locale, hanno dimostrato di essere dipendenti da risorse esterne, lasciando per una giornata l’ospedale a cavarsela con le carte.
Il commercio è stato interrotto in un corridoio di 100 miglia intorno alla comunità, da San Jose a Gilroy e Monterey. I contanti sono stati re per un giorno mentre bancomat e carte di credito erano fuori uso e molti si sono trovati senza il denaro sufficiente per acquistare beni essenziali. I lavoratori dei servizi dipendenti dalle comunicazioni sono stati mandati a casa e le numerose aziende che gestiscono le operazioni just-in-time per l’agricoltura non potevano comunicare.
In altre parole, l’area era stata isolata dall’internet circostante.
Il movente dell’operazione è oscuro. Si è pensato a un furto a causa dell’interruzione degli allarmi remoti, ma nessun furto è stato commesso. A un tentativo di manipolare il mercato, ma non è emerso niente di strano. Al terrorismo, ma niente è accaduto. Alcuni pensano a una vendetta di ex lavoratori delle comunicazioni, data la conoscenza necessaria per una azione di tal fatta.
O forse, in fondo, è solo una prova…
E sarà. Ma quell’in fondo è solo una prova mi fa semplicemente venire i brividi.
Via MG Blog
Obama non chiama
6 Febbraio 2009 Risposte e citazioniBarack Obama, citazioni, Italia, USALore!
Nelle prime due settimane di soggiorno alla Casa Bianca il presidente degli Stati Uniti ha telefonato a cinesi e indiani, francesi e afghani, inglesi e israeliani, palestinesi e pakistani, ai banchieri per insultarli e ai manager per tassarli, ai creditori per le loro spettanze e agli operai per le condoglianze, ai petrolieri perché si convertano in giardinieri e ai finanzieri perché diventino seri, alla sarta della moglie per licenziarla, alla moglie per ammansirla, alla suocera per farsi aiutare, alla moglie di nuovo ma per farsi perdonare, a Bruce Springsteen perché gli restituisse un disco che gli aveva prestato, al segretario dell’Onu per lo stesso motivo, a un venditore di articoli sportivi per piazzare un canestro nella Sala Ovale, a un amico di Chicago per invitarlo a fare due tiri, al comico David Letterman che ha messo giù pensando fosse un imitatore, a Scarlett Johansson che ha messo giù perché stava entrando suo marito, al fioraio, al callista, di nuovo alla suocera per sapere se la moglie aveva ricevuto i fiori, a Hillary Clinton che ha fatto finta di non sentire, a Bill Clinton che ha fatto finta di ascoltare, allo psicanalista, ancora alla suocera perché parla di meno ed è più rilassante, a una cugina hawaiana, a un prozio keniota, al Museo delle Cere, al suo parrucchiere, ai generali di Baghdad, al sosia pacifista di Ahmadinejad.
Infine, esausto, si è ricordato anche del nostro amato Paese. Ha chiamato Tony Mantuano, il proprietario del suo ristorante preferito, e gli ha ordinato una mozzarella in carrozza.
via La Stampa
Actions speak / Goodbye Bush
25 Gennaio 2009 Free MagentaBarack Obama, pubblicità, USALore!
via Step by Step
via Tommaso
via PR Media Blog
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Iron Maiden - "The Final Frontier" (CD)
"The Final Frontier" track listing:
1. Satellite 15....The Final Frontier
Reviewed by EdgeoftheWorld on August 24, 2010
"Though 'The Final Frontier' doesn't find Iron Maiden heading where no band has gone before, at its best, it shows off the band's finely honed prog-metal skills to near-perfection. "
With "The Final Frontier," Iron Maiden continues the winning streak the band has been on since the dawn of the 21st century. It's a mostly excellent 70-plus minutes of metal, with plenty of twists and turns both lyrically and musically. It's also got some notable flaws, one of which — unfortunately — launches the album.
"Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" has an overly long instrumental intro that, while initially interesting, soon bleeds a lot of the energy from the song, despite Nicko McBrain's engaging drum part. Then, as Bruce Dickinson begins singing of a space traveler "blown off course," it begins to feel like a heavy metal version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." When the second part of the song finally kicks in, it's with a riff that strikes me as a little more Judas Priest than Iron Maiden. It's pretty rare that the lyrics rescue a song, but in this case, there's a great twist in which we discover that the titular "final frontier" isn't just outer space, it's the hereafter that our doomed spacefarer is heading into.
Just when I started to worry that the band was going to drift away from their core sound, "El Dorado" kicked in, with a "Wasted Years"-style guitar line and Steve Harris' trademark bass gallop kicking into full gear. It's an excellent stomper with lyrics about a thief looking to deceive you with visions of "pyramids of gold." Bruce Dickinson is absolutely amazing in the song's chorus and the guitar solos — well, this is an Iron Maiden album, do I really need to finish that sentence ... ?
The war tale "Mother Of Mercy" and "The Alchemist" also feature classic Maiden sounds, though "Mother" is a little more reminiscent of the band's more recent work. If you're looking for prog-rock symphonies that will keep you hanging on every note, you'll find them in both "The Talisman" and the apocalypse tale "When The Wild Wind Blows."
On the other hand, there are tracks like the Celtic legend-laced "Isle Of Avalon" that, despite some interesting instrumental interludes, feel a little bloated. That said, the slow "Coming Home" is the one track that failed to hold my interest, though it clocks in at a comparatively short five minutes, 52 seconds.
Janick Gers, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith's guitars are, as always, a multilayered pleasure to listen to, though it often seems that the band doesn't really take complete advantage of the options that a third guitarist affords. The rhythm section of Steve Harris and Nicko McBrain takes some interesting — and frankly funky — turns in the mid-section of "Isle Of Avalon" to great effect.
Producer Kevin Shirley more than earns his keep, with a warm sound that gives every instrument ample room to breathe, while never covering up Dickinson in the slightest. I especially like the drum sound, which has a nice resonance to it, without being either tinny or overblown.
Though "The Final Frontier" doesn't find Iron Maiden heading where no band has gone before, at its best, it shows off the band's finely honed prog-metal skills to near-perfection. This disc is deservedly going to be on a lot of metal reviewers' "best-of" lists at the end of this year.
Highs: "El Dorado," "Mother Of Mercy," "The Alchemist" and "The Talisman."
Lows: "Coming Home" and the overly long "Isle Of Avalon."
Bottom line: An excellent disc that continues Iron Maiden's 21st century winning streak.
4 out of 5 skulls
Reviewed by DeathCrush on August 24, 2010
"'The Final Frontier' is worth picking up if you want to “Up the Irons” and are already a die-hard Maiden fan like myself. However, the last three albums are without a doubt written and sung way better."
"The Final Frontier" was hyped up to be Iron Maiden’s last album, as Steve Harris was quoted as having the desire to complete fifteen studio albums. However, this later proved to be a false rumor. Iron Maiden has not worked together on an album since 2006, which marks the longest gap between records. Also, the length of the album clocks in at an unprecedented 76 minutes. This is by far the longest musical endeavor in the thirty years Iron Maiden has been in the business.
Is this necessarily a good thing or a bad thing? “A Matter of Life and Death” previously held the record for the longest Iron Maiden album, and was met with much positive reception. Naturally, you cannot blame the band for riding the coattails of their previous masterpiece. Where “A Matter of Life and Death” was not as catchy as the last two albums of the “comeback years” ("Brave New World" and "Dance of Death"), it was quite epic and beautiful. Constructed with complex instrumental trackings and lyrics that were reflecting the attitudes and issues of 2006, the album grew on me. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for "The Final Frontier." "The Final Frontier" is neither catchy nor epic, despite its length.
The first two tracks, "Satellite 15…The Final Frontier" and "El Dorado," are also the only singles on the album. "Satellite 15…The Final Frontier" has a lengthy (almost four-and-a-half minute) intro that is highly unique. You can clearly hear the banging as Nicko McBrain pounds the hell out of his drums, but you also hear an electronic-like synthesizer capturing the illusion of a long trip into space. The intro is unique, but the song falls apart from there. Bruce Dickinson, who gave one of his most memorable vocal performances on “A Matter of Life and Death,” especially on “The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg,” has digressed immensely on “The Final Frontier.” Right away, you can tell that Bruce’s voice is the focal point of the production, trying to rejuvenate an aging voice; even so, Bruce has an absence of any of the trademark operatic falsettos that made him famous.
In addition, where are the catchy and unforgettable choruses? I don’t think chanting “It’s the final frontier!” over and over qualifies as a well-planned chorus on the same level as “The Wicker Man” or “Wildest Dreams.” This one seems so ungraceful. The song that has an entertaining and catchy chorus is “Starblind,” which is a stronger track with a riff similar to “2 Minutes to Midnight.” The most unusual track is definitely “Isle of Avalon.” This is the track that I’ve been waiting for. It has the highly dark and creepy atmosphere that was much appreciated. However, this track takes time and patience to truly appreciate. It is undoubtedly the best song on the album, just not at first glance.
On songs like “The Talisman,” and “Isle of Avalon,” some of the transitions are pretty interesting. It seems that Iron Maiden wanted to take a progressive approach on some of the material by blending in fast tempos and slower tempos into the mix. Each song has its own unique sound and beat to it. This is commendable, but does not really give the album justice in the long run, or makes the album anything stellar for that matter.
For instance, on “When the Wild Wind Blows,” the song starts out with a promising intro, as the listener is immersed with this “wild” gust of wind coming in all directions from the speaker. Initially, I thought this might be the song that really rocks my proverbial socks off. To my dismay, this was unmoving to say the least. The song, while lengthy, is incredibly boring. If you think this is even remotely close and resembles the quality of “Sign of the Cross” and “Rime of The Ancient Mariner,” you are in for a rude awakening. I was expecting a similar feel on par with the above mentioned, but where all the other songs have somewhat of a clean transition, this one does not change tempo at all. This left me to question why this song was over ten minutes in the first place. What’s even more disturbing is Dickinson talking during a hefty duration of this song.
I can go on a track-by-track micro review analysis of what is a major turn-off of each song, but the bottom line is that Dickinson is unable to scale his voice, and gives a feeble attempt in songs like “Mother of Mercy” and “Satellite 15….The Final Frontier.” It is almost as if Dickinson did a complete 360 degree turnaround, reverting back to the “No Prayer For The Dying” and “Fear of the Dark” days. Interestingly enough, the songs sound like they can come from "The X Factor" sessions with Blaze Bayley because the lyrics and melodies are more suited to his vocal style.
“El Dorado” is the first single released, and is actually enjoyable. The galloping bass line and guitars mimic a western adventure. Harris’s bass work is put in the front this time. Anyone can clearly hear the pounding bass at all times, which compensates for the poor vocal performance by Dickinson. Like “Fear of the Dark,” Harris gives a memorable bass performance on the majority of the tracks, but this cannot compensate for the lackluster guitar riffs and poor songwriting. Like “A Matter of Life and Death,” the solos are not riveting either. However, “A Matter Of Life and Death” compensated for that with hypnotizing pieces on “Brighter Than A Thousand Suns” and “These Colours Don’t Run.”
I think there is a reason why on the “Final Frontier Tour” Iron Maiden decided to only play one track ("El Dorado"); none of the tracks are quite memorable. I do concede the fact that the last album, at first glance, was a bit of a downer. However, as time went on, it left a growing impression on me. Maybe with time this can be viewed the same way. After already listening to “The Final Frontier” four times, I still am quite disappointed with the album and cannot help but feel that Iron Maiden rushed this one in the studio. “The Final Frontier” is worth picking up if you want to “Up the Irons” and are already a die-hard Maiden fan like myself. However, the last three albums are without a doubt written and sung way better.
Highs: The bass lines from Harris and the pairing of "The Alchemist" and "Isle of Avalon."
Lows: Bruce Dickinson's aging voice. A sense of a lack of musical cohesion put forth by the band.
Bottom line: Definitely my least favorite of the albums since Bruce Dickinson returned.
Get more info including news, reviews, interviews, links, etc. on our Iron Maiden band page.
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Midlands Spotlight
Movie news, reviews, features and more thoughts coming soon...
Review - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
By midlandsmovies, Aug 16 2019 02:39PM
Review - Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (2019) Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a new film fable from Quentin Tarantino which harks back to a Hollywood cinema golden age yet mixes the loss of 50s innocence with 60s counter culture in the pulp-way only he knows how to.
Tarantino launches us into his screen obsessions (and in this film in particular, his love for the small screen) with a 4:3 black and white interview of TV Western star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his friend/stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).
Jumping forward to 1969 L.A. Dalton is concerned about his less-than-stellar career as the up and coming actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) moves in next door to him with her director partner Roman Polanski. Whilst the paranoid Dalton meets with agent Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) who encourages him to get into Italian Westerns, the laid-back Booth reminisces about a time he fought Bruce Lee whilst also meandering around town as a handyman seemingly without a care.
The Bruce Lee fight is one of the many comedic scenes and Tarantino’s fingerprints are all over the film which acts like a highlight reel of all his usual obsessions – Westerns (Django), martial arts (Kill Bill) and hippies and stunt-men (Death Proof) to mention just a few. But at 161 minutes oh boy is it long again, but at least it doesn’t take place in just one room like the disappointing chamber piece that was The Hateful Eight (our review).
As Rick Dalton tries his best to stake a claim in the movie world in Italy, Booth is enamoured by a hitchhiking hippie who takes him to the Spahn Ranch – the real-life desert commune location of the Manson Family cult. Radicalized by leader Charles Manson's teachings and unconventional lifestyle, Tarantino has brawly Brad searching for the ranch’s owner in one of the film’s best scenes. With tension and fear the director surprises the audience with the scene’s reveal whilst he returns with a violent ending typical of the director.
Tarantino also expertly plays with the medium of cinema too. We begin by watching the making-of a movie, but it literally becomes the movie in the absence of the film-crew and behind-the-scenes tech guys. But they are soon brought back in by Tarantino as he moves his camera back into place for a second take. And archive footage is mixed in with his usual eclectic soundtrack which feature classic hits from the era whilst almost 2 hours in, he decides to throw in a voiceover for good measure. Why not!
Perhaps the only director today to get away with such arrogant shifts in style, the film is so well made you can’t stop from watching – whether it be a slow-paced scene of Dalton reading a book, an elongated scene of Pitt making dinner for his narratively-important dog or the visually stunning shots of classic cars in the sun-drenched valleys.
And of course it is "about" the movies and history too. As Sharon Tate heads to a theatre to watch her own feature film, Margot Robbie is given few lines of dialogue but this gives power to her happy demeanour and innocent goldilocks which contrast with the audience expectations of the real-life tragedy that befalls her.
But as the film comes to its conclusion – Dalton has some mild success in Italy and returns with a new wife and Booth is let go as his odd-job man – four of the Manson Family members head to the Hollywood Hills preparing to murder these rich “piggies” of the motion pictures.
Tarantino plays upon the audience’s knowledge of the Sharon Tate case and yet like the best fairy tales of yore, he delivers a dream-like ending where the damsel in distress and wicked wolves (not Mr. Wolf) clichés are turned on their head.
The director throws everything into the flick where our focus on the real-life cursed heroine is actually sidelined by the enchanting performances of the fictional characters played by Pitt and DiCaprio.
Where fact and fiction blur, the film uses a terrific cameo by Damian Lewis as an uncanny Steve McQueen at the Playboy Mansion to continue with the real-life people in fictional set-ups. Excellent support also comes from Dakota Fanning, Bruce Dern and the late Luke Perry as well as Tarantino regulars Kurt Russell and Zoë Bell (as stunt coordinators, what else) and Michael Madsen.
But does anyone live happily ever after? Well although there are no glass slippers, there are LOTS of shots of feet, Tarantino’s favourite fetish. But the film’s resolution is the really satisfying surprise here. Known for his love of violence it’s strange that although there is a very uncompromising finale, it may just be his most uplifting ending yet – providing a little bit of lost Hollywood hope.
Far better than his last film, yet not quite hitting the heights of a Django Unchained or Jackie Brown, the film demonstrates that Tarantino truly is in a class of his own in a period where franchise building has mostly replaced the draw of the big-named actor. But this incredibly satisfying love letter to these fictional pulp princes and real-life silver screen starlets provides a brilliant fantasy romance steeped in the glow of an era long gone.
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter indeed.
★★★★ ½
Michael Sales
Filed under: Margot Robbie, Review, Drama, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Pacino, Tarantino, Hollywood, Brad Pitt, b-movie, Review 2019
Midlands Review - Vigilante Style
By midlandsmovies, Sep 17 2018 08:29AM
Midlands Review - Vigilante Style (2018)
Dir. Edward James Smith
A Pictured Visions Production
Vigilante Style is a new independent feature film written, directed and starring regional filmmaker Edward James Smith. Starting out as a short film all the way back in 2013, the filmmaker developed sequences over many years which eventually became this feature-length production.
The film begins with the “Our Feature Presentation” logo from Tarantino’s Kill Bill and Grindhouse and this ‘Funky Fanfare’ combined with a fast-paced montage a la Guy Ritchie hints where the filmmaker’s influences lie.
It starts by using voiceover as it flashes backwards and forwards in time concerning events from 10 years ago and how they affect the present. Vigilante Gilmer Diamond (Edward James Smith himself) is captured by Alex Steele (Jon Peet) and with revenge on almost everyone’s mind and a wide set of criminal characters, the movie tries to balance multiple story threads in a seedy tale of deception.
However, that is easier said than done. Characters are not fully introduced or fleshed out and the story becomes a mix of confusing tales all explained using expositional dialogue.
And it’s unfortunate as the dialogue is one of the problems here owing to a sound mix that varies so wildly it’s difficult to concentrate on the matters on screen. With amazing HD cameras available, it’s such a shame to see a film with a lot of potential undermine itself with poorly recorded audio. And although the acting verges on being suitably over the top, all the performances are undercut by that poor audio production.
As characters get their comeuppance and gangs cross-paths with each other, we see an increase in violence with fights, shootouts and even a cricket bat making an appearance. Because it was filmed over many years (it was one of our first blogs back in 2014), maybe the filmmaker’s focus changed and so the movie’s broken narrative reflects those altered ambitions.
I enjoyed the Leicester locations of my home town and it was great to see the filmmakers utilise so many varied buildings and streets around the city to keep a variety to the proceedings. Yet filming around the city exacerbates the sound issues with city traffic, background hums and windy alleys all causing their own issues.
Smith throws in a lot of varied techniques in his fast-paced film though. Voice-over, freeze frames and subtitles are added to his guerrilla filmmaking style and the use of chapter titles again show a nod to Tarantino. Yet the good editing is undermined by a lack of cinematography as a huge percentage of the film looks like mobile-phone footage at times.
But in reality it keeps coming back to sound – at times a decent soundtrack is used from artists like Suicide Bees, Blake J. Carpenter and Soul Release – but the dialogue and conversations need much more work. Better mixing and some ADR would go a long way – especially with the voiceover – and improve the viewing experience 10-fold.
Clearly a passion project, it has the vibe and seemingly the budget of a student film and it wears its b-movie credentials proudly on its sleeves. In many respects it seems more like a film that was good fun to make and I admired the passion of a group of friends getting a project together. However, willing friends doing you a lot of favours is one thing, trying to pull it together over a number of years is another.
And so, although it’s all undertaken with a lot of devotion you just have to try and ignore the lack of technical expertise. A number of different quality issues – some sections underlit, others overlit – continue to show a lack of consistency and ultimately it pays the price of its cheap shortcuts.
Maybe it’s a case of running before it can walk. Vigilante Style has flashes of editing and story proficiency but they are drowned out by some sloppiness and that one fatal flaw I keep coming back to – the sound and its design.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, even with a low budget a filmmaker needs to know what their budget is, and of course the limitations that brings. It’s a badge of honour to say you’ve made a feature film but sometimes the filmmaker is stretching that little bit too far with the resources at hand.
Expanding what I would imagine was an inventive short into a full feature is no easy task and Vigilante Style shows that good intentions can only go so far with a passionate but slapdash approach. More Neil Breen than David Lean, Smith has stretched a short concept to breaking point and only the most hardcore exploitation fans need apply.
Filed under: Action, Vigilante Style, Tarantino, Leicester, Gangster, Midlands Review, Exploitation, Edward James Smith, b-movie
The Grindhouse Planet Film Festival 2017
By midlandsmovies, Nov 26 2017 09:16PM
Grindhouse Planet Film Festival 2017
Still a young pretender on the Midlands circuit, the Grindhouse Planet Film Festival may have started small but has grown into a successful alternative to the mainstream regional showcases with its focus on the bloody and gruesome. Midlands Movies Mike heads to the home of horror for the second time for another dose of sleazy celluloid.
Now in its second year, the festival ran on 26th November with over 50 films being chosen to screen at Leicester city’s The Shed venue. With a cosy and friendly atmosphere the films comprised shorts and features from the local to the international whilst all the while maintaining its grass roots grime.
With a 48-hour film challenge and a question and answer session from filmmaker Steve Lawson, the event had a varying array of talented filmmakers and fans eager to see the nasty gems on offer.
The festival was spread over 10 hours and included such fan favourites as West Midlands zombie comedy Still, web-series sci-fi shocker The Rockman and dark drama All Bad Things.
Blood, guts, nudity, violence and laughs were all covered across the films and although Quentin Tarantino drew attention to the genre with his 2007 homage to the 70s double-features of his youth, it was great to see local filmmakers show their love for the exploitation movie tropes of the past as well.
Around the halfway mark, The Shed held host to a Q & A with Leicester filmmaker Steve Lawson of Creativ Studios. Having recently completed Hellriser (our coverage here) and a co-directing stint on short Time, and Again (review) the writer-director was happy to share his current experience with the passionate audience.
“Jumping from making my first film to working with distribution companies I realised very quickly you have to compromise a lot and change a lot of things but you cannot make films without producers”, explained Steve.
“After doing the low-budget Essex Heist which wasn’t a mega-seller but was distributed into Asda and other major retailers, other companies began taking my calls,” he joked. He went on to say: “My new film though is for Hereford Films (We Still Kill the Old Way) who are based in London. It’s a serious horror slightly away from the grindhouse style”.
Steve is a firm believer in filming efficiently which he says zero-budget filmmakers should have an understanding of - as whether you are making a £10,000 film or a £10 million film, filmmakers should prioritise the important business side of things. And with his career in full swing Steve gave some exclusive nuggets about his upcoming film.
“This new movie stars Shane Taylor from Band of Brothers as the lead and support comes from Rula Lenska who hasn’t made a film since Queen Kong. Actually I don’t know what I’m doing here as I start tomorrow at 9am and should be prepping!”
As well as Steve, we heard from Kelly McCormack who is heavily involved in the film-making scene in Leicester and beyond, and was down at The Shed supporting The Rockman (as associate producer) as well as Christmas based short The N0ughty List as a make-up artist.
“How did I jump from one to the other?” asks Kelly. “Well, they needed someone to put lots of fake blood on Santa and I had lots of fake blood”. Encapsulating the grindhouse spirit and community, Kelly feels the support from fans and filmmakers often help get these zero-budget films off the ground.
“I’ve been here most of the day and loved Charismata but the 48 hour film challenge was so good to watch to see what local people can do in a short time. Once you get a team that’s fully on board you know that it’s going to go mostly right with these mini-projects. Regarding the festival itself I was here last year but The Shed has had a refurbishment and the filmmaking community has had an even better atmosphere over the last 12 months so it’s made this year even more special”.
She adds that the spirit of genre film fans helps inspire others too. “There’s also a lot of networking going on and this is the type of festival where you can see people achieve whatever they set out to do. And we shouldn’t forget that big thanks should go to the organiser Marc Hamill as it’s been a really great day".
Another attendee was actor, filmmaker and grindhouse fan Ryan Flamson who starred as the main character for one of the entrants in the 48 hour film challenge.
“Well I starred as Coke-head the Clown [laughs] and it was a lot of fun and the short got a great crowd reaction. The turnout has been really good and the local talent is far better than people realise”.
Ryan adds, “People don’t always get the opportunity to showcase these types of films but Grindhouse Planet helps this and the quality of production is getting better and better. Especially with the budget limitations we all have”.
“Another thing is that people can come here to learn", says Ryan. "Steve Lawson gave a great Q & A about distribution and you can hear lots of feedback and get involved in networking too. I really loved The Killer Must Kill At Christmas from the 48-hour film challenge so recommend people go check that out”.
Check Ryan's recommendation below
With another successful year completed, the fans of saws, gore and more once again demonstrated their appreciation of all the talent on show and were buzzing to hear more about a third festival in 2018. Lets hope Marc and the team can grind out another successful full house of fright flicks next year. I'm almost certain he will.
Check out the official website here: http://www.grindhouseplanet.com
Check out The N0ughty List which is being shown before our own Batman Returns Christmas screening at Firebug in Leicester https://www.facebook.com/events/349772655487985/
Filed under: Roasted Films, Marc Hamill, Horror, Tarantino, Steve Lawson, bloody, Film Festival, Comedy, Grindhouse Planet, Festival, Grindhouse
Review - The Hateful Eight
By midlandsmovies, Jan 5 2016 02:34PM
The Hateful Eight (2016) Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs? Love. Kill Bill Vol 2? Hate. Inglorious Basterds? Meh. Django? Love. Jackie Brown? Solid. Death Proof? Hate. My love-hate relationship with Tarantino was established some time ago and for every film I consider a masterpiece there is an equal one which is a flawed indulgence. Not to say any of them aren’t interesting and there’s more in the awful Death Proof than some directors' entire careers. However, the only person who inspires such polar thoughts that comes to mind is Stanley Kubrick. I’ll leave which ones of his to another blog. So, where does The Hateful Eight appear on this spectrum?
Firstly, Tarantino harks back to a golden age of cinema and has shot the film in 70mm which is usually reserved for the epic and grand vistas of Lawrence of Arabia and Ben Hur. The opening shot from extreme close up to mountain range over 5 minutes shows that Tarantino has lost none of his nerve with the resurrected format. He challenges the audience with his decisions and simply says 'deal with it'. This opening leads to the set up where John "The Hangman" Ruth (played by a bearded and excellent Kurt Russell) is taking fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Red Rock where she will face the noose for her crimes. Along the way he picks up Samuel L Jackson’s Major Marquis Warren as well as Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) who join him along for the ride fighting the stormy winter. They end up at Minnie's Haberdashery where they cross paths with more mysterious characters who fill in their backstory. Slowly. Over 2 more hours.
And here we come to the first flaw. Tarantino’s direction (as always) is close to perfection. With a suitable Ennio Morricone score and the obligatory Chapter headings, it starts with all the quirky ingredients Tarantino likes to fill his icy boots with – the nods to past cinema, the screen titles and the mysterious characters. But as with Death Proof and Inglorious, the indulgence (which I admit is often part of his charm) is so overbearing that I wonder how he can drag such a slight narrative to a length of nearly 3 hours. The actors are superb though. Russell is all grizzled beard and suspicious like the great grandaddy to his role in “The Thing”, whilst Jackson chews up the scenery alongside Tarantino regulars Tim Roth and Michael Madsen. It’s just that despite the beginning being well constructed and the ending having an element of surprise, the middle is so meandering and dialogue heavy to the point of dulling the senses.
The cinematography is brilliant throughout with only Tarantino’s ego being able to sustain the idea of using 70mm to make a film that is almost entirely interiors (the stage coach then the lodge). This however enables the actors to mostly express in extreme close-up yet at the same time there is almost no shot without other character(s) in the background such is the extreme width of the lens. Pulling the audience ever closer to the octo-group and the suspected ulterior motives of each.
Tarantino torments the audience with an icy paranoia in this wintery location which is bloated and beautiful at the same time. Consistent it is not, but with some great performances – especially the bloodied and scarred Jennifer Jason Leigh – many will look past the film’s misgivings. But for me, the monologues are extended and lengthy even for this director. Although a tired and slightly trite Tarantino is still better than most, it's this ragtag band of unsympathetic and exposition-heavy characters that may be the most hated thing about it. Challenging in the right way it will leave many viewers cold and as a film in the career of Tarantino, I reckon it will be mostly lost to the wilderness.
7.5/10 Midlands Movies Mike
Filed under: 2016, Score, Review, Tarantino, Movie Music
Midlands Spotlight - Boz Dimond
By midlandsmovies, Jan 17 2015 01:22PM
Midlands Movies Mike speaks to Boz Dimond about his upcoming short film Jinxed and his long relationship with the creative industries. Mike chats film, gangsters and more with the ambitious filmmaker...
Since heading to art college back in 1996, Boz Dimond always had an eye for detail and a passion for film. But unlike most conventional filmmakers, Boz never attended university or film school but had always felt an affinity to the industry and at the tender age of 17, penned his first screenplay.
After putting his pen to one side to focus on his passion for music, Boz spent the best part of 10 years creating tunes and developing his technical and musical skills but never lost interest in film.
Although a far off ambition back then and the prohibitive cost of movies still being shot on film – thus keeping it out of the realms of most regional artists - Boz then attended the Hay on Wye Film School where he met writer/director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I, The Rum Diaries) and things finally changed.
Boz, forever a passionate film enthusiast, then found a natural move into filmmaking and used his passion for the alternative and love for both movies and music as a new playground as an emerging artist.
“I enjoyed Brotherhood of the Wolf and anything Tarantino does”, explains Boz now he has two short films under his belt.
“I am proud that Jinxed has become an official selection at the Beeston Film Festival in Nottingham whilst my other short, Our Hands Are Tied, is currently in post-production”,
Boz goes on to say,
He has also written his first feature called The Target which is currently in development with TestaRossa Productions. This spy thriller genre flick is set to be made in 2015-16 and Boz has many more ideas bubbling at his production company Diamond Flicks.
“I also have an idea for a character called Charlie Vegas who is one of the strongest characters I have written and I want to explore him in future projects inlcuding a film I penned called Villain. I would also love to go back to the old school British gangster movies like Get Carter and another film titled Villain which starred Richard Burton”.
“With their colourful language and strong stories, I see them as an antidote to the current crop of poorly made/acted straight-to-DVD crime films that are being made in the UK at the moment”.
With Jinxed being selected for inclusion in the Los Angeles Independent Film Awards, Boz is working with producer/editor Lawrence Donello (Trance, The Devil's Whispers) in making all his future projects a success.
Midlands Movies Mike
Find more about Boz and his films on the links below:
https://www.facebook.com/DiamondFlicks
https://www.facebook.com/filmstudioworcester
Filed under: Spotlight Archive, Worcestershire, Filmmaker, Film Festival, Tarantino, West Midlands, Gangster
Midlands Movies Features Archive - Django Explained
By midlandsmovies, Jul 12 2013 07:17AM
Features writer Gary Burbidge casts an eye over the heroic influences of the new Tarantino film due in 2012.
Upon the upcoming production of the new and eagerly awaited Tarantino presentation film and his take on The Spaghetti Western franchise, comes "Django Unchained". Something has to be mentioned on the legacy of this heroic and always mysterious character.
Appearing to be clocking up over 100 sequels under his belt stretching over four decades a lot has to be said and shed light on the original Django (1966) which the film opens with a mysterious figure in black dragging a coffin behind him approaching a rundown town which appears abandoned apart from a saloon. The original was banned in some countries upon release due to the many graphic scenes of violence portrayed. For Many other Django movies that came out of the result from this film feature a different story for the lone gunman and most have nothing to do with the original.
The closest that seems to come to an actual official sequel would appear 21 years later in 1987 featuring the original actor Franco Nero, entitled; "Django 2: Il Grande Ritorno" (The Great Return) aka "Django Strikes Again" directed by Sergio Corbucci, who directed the first film, and portrays an aged Django who has left his former life of violence behind only to find himself having to return back to the life he left behind. More recently in 2007 came a Japanese take on Django, entitled; "Sukiyaki Western Django" with actually stars Quentin Tarantino and this year’s Django: "Silver Bullets, Silver Dawn" which throws Vampires into the mix!
After all the history behind the Legend that is Django, Tarantino looks to certainly have his work cut out for him making his mark on this franchise next year, but looking back on films such as Robert Rodriguez's Desperado (1995) in-which co-stars Tarantino, and incorporates a modern day western type feel, if that has in any way, shape or form inspired Tarantino to make his mark on the western world then we may be in for a few surprises, not overlooking his golden touch on his past film presentations!
Almost leaning towards his love for Spaghetti Westerns with Ennio Morricone soundtrack scores in his later films, and lastly as you'd expect in a Tarantino film; an all star credited cast has been announced with familiar faces returning to the fold yet again to trademark his own legacy! The next chapter of this on-going western saga is set to see Django (played by Jamie Foxx) back at the helm in another story line to rescue the woman he loves.
Will Django live to face another day as his theme song suggests? The outcome awaits...
Midlands Movies Gary
Filed under: Filmmaker, Tarantino, Western, Feature Archive
Top 50 Movies of All Time as voted for by Midlands Movies readers 10-1
By midlandsmovies, Jul 4 2013 05:18PM
For previous blogs about the rest of the Top 50 please click the links below:
• 50-41 – http://goo.gl/zUSxr
• 40-31 – http://goo.gl/7P7w2
• 30-21 – http://goo.gl/hAUvI
• 21-10 – http://goo.gl/adVo2
Well, you can see the list quickly below but now I can finally talk about some of the big surprises that missed out in our readers’ Top 50 films. Just missing out on the Top 50 were seasoned classics like Psycho, Titanic, Natural Born Killers, Gladiator, Singing in the Rain, Seven Samurai, The Terminator, There will be Blood, Silence of the Lambs, Taxi Driver, Chinatown and Seven whilst One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest received just 2 low-scoring votes from everyone. LA Confidential & Anchorman appeared a lot but their scores were too low across the submissions to be anywhere near the list sadly. More surprisingly only one vote EACH went to the following films: Citizen Kane, Heat, Some Like It Hot, Fargo, Eternal Sunshine, Schindler's List & JFK (both my own!), Memento, Amelie and Vertigo. In comparison, this was the same as The Muppets Christmas Carol, 27 Dresses & Hook! Unbelievable! Anyway, it’s finally here so please read below for the Midlands Movies Readers’ Top 10...
10. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Dir. Irvin Kershner
Not quite the highest placed sequel on the list but the film that had to follow the cultural phenomenon of the original by going darker and more intimate as Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Dagobah-swamp creature Master Yoda before finding out some family secrets in the film’s infamous finale. A troubled production (Irvin Kershner would give direction to Yoda instead of Frank Oz by mistake) the film had a luke-warm (ahem) response when it was first released but with its character development, ingenious battle sequences and further probing into the power of the force, audience appreciation has increased over time and is now considered more thought provoking and satisfying than A New Hope.
9. Apocalypse Now (1979) Dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Coppola’s own journey through the jungle trying to complete this 70s war film was as much a struggle as his protagonist (Martin Sheen, who was also not spared as he had an infamous heart attack on set) who is tasked with tracking down Kurtz, an awol Colonel played by a bloated and bald Brando. Using rock and classical musical to accompany the horrors of hostilities, the film is the pinnacle of war allegory movies and the combat and questions raised are as relevant now as they were then. Although I am not fan of the film (especially the elongated REDUX which has ballooned like Brando), the film’s significance is undeniable from the making of the movie, through to the actors’ journey, the narrative and the multiple meanings of the gorgeous cinematography.
8. Django Unchained (2013) Dir. Quentin Tarantino
Only out this year, Tarantino’s western slave Django has escaped from his chains to a surprise high entry on Midlands’ movie-goers favourites with its blaxploitation vibe, (another) funky soundtrack picked by QT and great performances from Waltz (Oscar worthy), Foxx (badass) and DiCaprio (eviiiiiillllll). Despite a lengthy running time and (now obligatory but terrible)Tarantino cameo, it’s mixture of comedy, history and surprising amount of action makes me feel it that not only will it be appearing on many critics’ “Best of 2013” lists, but it will also be heralded a masterpiece for years to come.
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) Dir. Peter Jackson
For many, the Star Wars for a new generation as the story of a young Hobbit given a power to defeat an evil menace helped by a ragtag group of strange men and creatures had both a familiarity and “other worldly” vibe that audiences could relate to. Jackson’s spectacular visual imagery and roving camera gave the film a truly epic feel from the tight community of The Shire to the large battles. Containing one of my all time favourite sequences (entering the mines to the Balrog-Gandalf exit) the perfect balance of story, character, brilliant CGI and miniature use set up a story that would soon spawn even greater achievements like Gollum and the siege of Minas Tirith. The sequels may have won Jackson the Oscars but it required the most audacious opening to set the scene for the subsequent journey and the Fellowship showed how to do that without a fault.
6. Leon (1994) Dir. Luc Besson
Jean Reno plays the professional assassin protecting a young neighbour (Natalie Portman) after her parents are killed by corrupt policemen in this action-thriller from ‘94. With perennial scene-stealer Gary Oldman as the baddest of bad cops, Leon is a film that has both heart and horror with as many tender moments and growing pains as it has splatter, blood and bullets. The odd couple are perfectly cast and a series of brilliantly choreographed action scenes are balanced against the quieter personal moments. With European sensibilities, the film is less Hollywood-by-numbers and more of an intellectual tussle between action, character and the moral fibre of those around us.
5. Aliens (1986) Dir. James Cameron
THE highest placed sequel is this follow up to Scott’s space horror and Cameron gave the franchise a boost by subverting it into a Vietnam saga in space. After years in hypersleep, Ellen Ripley is thrown back into the bug hunt with an outfit of marines to see what has happened to the settlers on the planet the original xenomorph was found and with wise-cracks and military back packs, Cameron’s camera fizzles with excitement with slime and grime in every shot whilst there is action-a-plenty as the marines shoot everything in their sights. With Lance Henriksen brilliant as the ‘bot Bishop and a superb and eclectic ensemble cast, the movie was eventually nominated for seven Academy Awards, including a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver, the film’s ending featuring the Queen versus Ripley’s power-loader is one of the best bust-ups on screen.
4. Fight Club (1999) Dir. David Fincher
“Ban this sick filth” said the Daily Mail on the release of this film. Never has the point of a film been so greatly missed that to this day, the fighting is the thing viewers remember the least about it. From the snazzy camera moves and editing(all CGI, IKEA and “cock” insertions) to the expertly and explicitly written dialogue from the most unreliable of narrators, Fincher’s rug-pull is backed up by Pixies-infused post-masculine angst and Meat Loaf with tits. Pitt is as good as he ever was and Bonham-Carter made her career re-invention from Merchant Ivory lady to pasty gothic waif in just one movie. Pitch black humour combined with a great story, Fight Club shows how a film can be watched again and again making it a classic of modern cinema.
3. The Matrix (1999) Dir. The Waschowskis
“What is the matrix?” Well, to sum up the Waschowski’s brilliant bullet-time sci-fi magnum opus and how its modern reinvention of sci-fi, simulated reality and sentient machines couldn’t have been more on the movie-going pulse in 1999, consider this… Star Wars: The Phantom Menace also came out that same year. “Whoa”.
2. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) Dir. George Lucas
Despite the appreciation of its immediate successor, Lucas’ original Star Wars still commands a huge presence on the screen and although it is the shortest of the 6 franchise films, its classical boy-given-unwanted-challenge and powers narrative (Hobbit, Harry Potter, Matrix et al), wise old sage and meetings of Princesses and rogues along their journey, showed how Lucas took an established structure and transposed them to the galaxy far far away. Whilst adding an unforgettable musical score, brand new special effects and make up into the mix, Lucas’ characters were ones audiences could relate to, alongside the boo’s created during the presence of the best on-screen villain of all time. With a final climax that will echo in eternity, Star Wars is the childhood we can revisit again and again yet was sadly Lucas’ swansong in the franchise as he moved to bigger (but definitely not better) things. With this film we all wanted to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi....like our fathers.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994) Dir. Quentin Tarantino
20 years old next year, time has been very kind to Quentin’s nonlinear tale of violent thugs and pop-culture dialogue and it’s easy to see why it’s Midlands Movies’ readers’ number one. Watching today you get both nostalgia AND a sense of modernism with possibly the coolest soundtrack alongside genuine great performances from Travolta, Jackson, Thurman, Keitel and Bruce Willis who I often forget is even in it! This neo-noir film essentially turned Tarantino from a wunderkind into the global phenomenon we know today and the film’s violence and drug references are so uniquely balanced with its humour and love of character that its unique style has been much imitated yet never bettered. We happy? Yeah, we happy.
Filed under: Midlands, Top List, Tarantino, Favourite, Star Wars
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To promote athletic excellence, good sportsmanship and character-building relationships among athletes, coaches and parents.
The Milton High School Booster Club is a group of parents, volunteers and other interested parties whose mission is to enrich the MHS Athletic community and the community at large by providing financial support and assistance for the Milton High School Athletics.
The Booster Club was established as a support to encourage parent participation and to raise funds to enhance and expand the athletic programs that are available to each student at Milton High School. The Booster Club believes strongly that parent involvement during the high school years can be a key to the success of the individual student. The Booster Club shall endeavor to recruit volunteers to support athletic events and shall sponsor fund raising activities to benefit the athletic programs. The Booster Club recognizes that participation in high school athletics benefits everyone, and the Booster Club promotes opportunity to build and strengthen relationships among all involved; the student body, MHS staff and administration, parents and the community.
The Boosters raises funds through our Swing For Sports annual event, concession stands sales indoors and at Brooks field, and through memberships. The money raised is then used to offer scholarships for senior student athletes that are continuing on to post-secondary education. It is also used to support teams in obtaining new uniforms and equipment that the Athletic budget and user fees can not support. And an annual banquet to recognize all varsity athletes, individual awards and team successes.
© 2020 SportsEngine, Inc. The Home of Youth Sports and Milton High School Boosters (11361). All rights reserved. Visitor # 293,983
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Neil's Munro Climbing Home Page
Munro list
Home > Trip Reports >
Five single Munro's
Hillwalking in the Scottish Highlands - May & June 2008
The first of these was Schiehallion with Gareth Lynn. He was back from a long day in Glen Coe but had a few hours to spare on Monday afternoon. I was staying at Braeknowe with the family and had a chance to disappear for the afternoon. I had climbed this hill before on a number of occasions but it was a first for Gareth. Being the Early May Bank Holiday Monday the hill was very busy indeed. The new path seems to have made it more so. Families have realised that this is a great hill to take young children up with a high starting point and good path almost all of the way to the top.
Gareth enjoying the view from the summit of Schiehallion
The ascent was notable mostly for the speed at which Gareth and I went up and down. All those days out in winter have paid off in terms of the fitness regime. Another tick for Gareth and a repeat for me.
Next up was Beinn Dearg near Blair Atholl. This was significant as it was the first hill climbed with the aid of my newly bought mountain bike.
Allt Sheicheachan Bothy with Mountain Bike outside
The need for a bike had been in the back of my mind for some time. As I was working my way through the Munro's within easy reach of Edinburgh – well at least within a day’s drive – options for a day out where getting restricted. The Cairngorms, Ben Alder area and some single Munro's are much easier to climb with a mountain bike to ease access.
Route to Beinn Dearg
But buying the bike also meant I had to transport it and that means a bike carrier. Thule is a popular brand and after doing some research on the web and talking to Ian Cameron I bought the necessary equipment from roofrackshop.com based in Livingston. This took some time and ingenuity to fit as the Honda Civic does not seem to be designed with roof racks in mind.
Looking back to the bothy from the Beinn Dearg path
The starting point for my chosen route was the Atholl Estates Glen Tilt Car Park. The bike ride takes you all the way to Allt Sheicheachan Bothy where bikes can be left. I chose to padlock mine for safety to a handy ladder inside the bothy. The weather was great but it was a hard cycle.
Climb up to Beinn Dearg
From the bothy the walk up the hill was straightforward on good paths. The views from the top were good particularly across to Beinn a’Ghlo which I had climbed with Gareth on 27 April. Returning to the bothy I met three hikers who had spent the night there.
View from the summit trig point of Beinn Dearg
Following this was Beinn Buidhe in Argyll. This is another Munro that is accessed via a long(ish) track up a Glen. It stands on its own so linking with other hills is difficult. There may be Corbetts in the area but the nearest Munro's are in the Arrochar Alps.
Beinn Buidhe summit cairn
Ardkinglas Estate is very helpful to walkers and cyclists. The walkers' car park is at the head of the loch. Walkers' are welcome to ride bikes up to the last gate where there is a bike rack.
Route to Beinn Buidhe
Although it was a Sunday I only met one other walker on the hill. The summit lies up a short gully which gives an interesting ascent. I met the other walker coming down from the summit ridge at that point.
View north from Beinn Buidhe towards Ben Cruachan
Again once back at the bike it was a very quick cycle back to the car. Once there I stopped to visit Fyne Ales brewery which is very close to the head of the Glen and Loch Fyne. They sell a selection pack of different beers produced at this micro‑brewery which has operated since 2001.
Glen Fyne & Beinn Buidhe
For the next Munro Stob Ban in the Grey Corries I teamed up with Ian Cameron who came to meet the family at Braeknow. Ian was soon to return offshore so was getting a chance to climb as many hills as possible leaving Scotland.
Route to Stob Ban
Ian has a very similar type of Giant MTB and his advice was very helpful indeed when selecting which bike to buy. His bike was stashed in the boot of his car so it was quite straightforward to transfer that to the second bike rack on top of my Honda Civic.
Cars can drive up a forest track from Spean Bridge and this cuts out much of the ascent. It was still quite a hard pull straight from the start. The track to Lairig Leacach Bothy is also very rough and this meant pushing the bike in places. Ian, as a more experienced MTB rider, took these in his stride. Fitness was also no doubt a factor.
Ian at Lairig Leacach Bothy
Before long we were at the bothy and getting gear ready for the walk up Stob Ban. Overall the weather was fine but there were a few showers which turned to hailstones the higher up the mountain we walked.
Walking up Stob Ban
The summit is of course a sharp peak and after that we choose to descend by a different route which included a great corrie with fantastic rock formations showing extensive signs of glaciations.
Scree on the way down from the summit
Back at the bothy it was time to pick up the bikes and look forward to the cycle downhill back to the car. It was certainly an exciting ride and the brakes were almost in constant use to keep speed down. Again the surface of the track was the main issue. A smoother road and I would have been much happier with the ride back. Despite the roughness it was very quick and before too long we were back at the car and ready for the drive home. We had a stop at Laggan for a quick drink before it was back to Dunkeld.
View south to bothy and Stob Ban
My final single Munro in the run was A’Ghlas-bheinn which is north of Shiel Bridge in Ross-shire. This was climbed whilst on a family holiday to Ferry Cottage, Balmacara near Kyle of Lochalsh . The weather on this trip was very poor indeed. Rain straight from the car with showers off and on. The beginning of the walk is shared with the track to Falls of Glomach.
Path to Falls of Glomach
This has been much improved in recent years. However once past the forestry plantation the walk from the west is hardly trod at all. In the mist despite help from the GPS route finding was challenging indeed. Before too long it was heartening to get within sight of the summit. What was impressive was a water source very close to the actual top along with some flat grassy ground. The descent leads down to Bealach an Sgairne.
Route to A'Ghlas-bheinn
My original plan was to climb Beinn Fhada afterwards but the weather was too bad and time was marching on. There was also a steep climb in prospect after the bealach and this was none too appealing in the wet and windy weather. So instead I took the great path back down the glen to link back up with the Falls of Glomach track. The rain continued the whole way and by the time I got back to the car I was well and truly soaked. Another hill completed though and an interesting walk despite the weather.
View east to A'Ghlas-bheinn & Beinn Fhada
Track logs - GPS eXchange Format
Beinn Dearg [Blair Atholl] 01/06/2008
Beinn Bhuidhe [Glen Fyne] 08/06/2008
Stob Ban [Grey Corries] 15/06/2008
A' Ghlas-bheinn 29/06/2008
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Pääsu Villa
Wild violet Hall
The poppy hall
The lily-of-the-valley hall
The picnic hall
The lake house’s reed hall
Lake house, Bulrush hall
Pääsu Villa, Fireplace hall
Pääsu Villa, Fern hall
Pääsu Villa, Water lily hall
The beach house hall
Tube sauna
The barbecue cabin
An active vacation
Nelijärve has received its name due to the fact that from the top of the esker ridge, one could see four lakes at the same time: The lakes Urbukse, Sisaliku, Ahvena and Purgatsi.
The place became known in the end of the 1930s, when they began building the Tourist Home (architect Artur Perna) with the donation of Konstantin Päts, the President of the Republic of Estonia. Completed in 1938, the house became a popular holiday resort among the Estonian elite. Since 1948, they operated with the name Aegviidu-Nelijärve tourism base, later with the name Nelijärve holiday home. The house was completely renovated in 2003 and now it operates as Pääsu Villa, which is part of the Nelijärve Holiday centre.
n 1946, the swimming pool and sauna of the beach house were completed – currently the Beach House, renovated in 2002.
In 1950, the grey summer house was completed – currently the Lake House, rebuilt in 2010.
In 1956, the Green cottage was completed.
In 1964, the cottages “Crocodile” and “Dinosaur” were completed.
In 1969, the cottages “Crabs” were completed – currently the holiday houses are in year round use, rebuilt in 2006.
In 1980, the four-storey sleeping corpus was completed – currently the hostel, renovated in 2008.
In 1985, the restaurant building was completed – it currently accommodates the pub, the Great hall, the Poppy hall, the Wild violet hall, the Lily-of-the-valley hall and the Picnic hall.
A number of songs have been created at Nelijärve and about Nelijärve:
in the 1960s, “Vana klaver” – there is a dance party in the ski base…
The author of the lyrics, Uno Laht recalls the birth of the music by Gennadi Podelski at the Nelijärve Holiday home in the 1960s.
http://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/vikerkaar-kulaline-on-uno-laht (listen to the sound recording from 00:17:30)
„Vana Klaver“ sung by Kalmer Tennossaar:
Ask for an offer!
--> Accommodation
--> Catering
--> Saunas
--> Special offers
Do you wish to organise a company party, a seminar or just come to rest?
We will make you the best offer!
Ask for an offer
Info 24h +372 605 5940 info@nelijarve.ee | Müügiosakond +372 630 4350 (E-R kell 9:00 – 17:00) myyk@nelijarve.ee
Copyright © Nelijärve Puhkekeskus
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News India Times
DesiTalk in New York
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Gujarat Times
US India Global Review
Home 360 A couple digging a grave for their baby found another infant buried...
A couple digging a grave for their baby found another infant buried alive
The Washington Post · Kayla Epstein
Two-month-old Jyoti lies in a bed in a malnutrition intensive care unit in Dharbhanga Medical College in Dharbhanga in Bihar, India, April 16, 2015. REUTERS/Poulomi Dey/Files
The couple was at the cemetery in northern India to bury their baby, who died minutes after birth.
As they dug a small grave for their child, their spade struck something hard. It was a clay pot and, from inside, they could hear an infant crying. That, local police say, is when the villagers discovered a newborn, buried alive.
She was no more than two or three days old, according to police in the state of Uttar Pradesh, who were quickly summoned to the cemetery on October 10 and transported the baby to a local hospital. The infant had respiratory problems and was put on a ventilator according to Alka Sgarna, the medical superintendent who treated her and spoke to CNN. The baby also suffered from an infection and was underweight.
“We are looking for her parents and it is possible that they are involved in it,” local police superintendent Abhinandan Singh said at a briefing. “Such an act is difficult without their involvement. We have deployed police teams, even in civil dress, to trace the suspects.”
He vowed that authorities “will take strict action against the culprits.”
Investigating officer Pradeep Kumar Singh told the Washington Post on Tuesday that nobody had witnessed the girl being buried alive, and noted that the cemetery was located in a rural rural area and has no closed circuit television. Though they had not found the individuals responsible, they had filed charges against the unknown perpetrators for attempted murder and abandonment of a child.
India suffers from a significant gender imbalance in its population owing to a societal preference for sons, according to a government economic survey spanning 2017-2018. Abortions to terminate female fetuses are prevalent, according to the report, and even when such sex-selection tactics are not undertaken families will often continue trying to have children until they have a son, resulting in millions of “unwanted” girls.
An estimated 63 million women are “missing” from India’s population, according to the report, due to sex selection practices.
Some infant girls like the one found in miraculously alive in the Uttar Pradesh cemetery are abandoned or killed because of their sex.
It has been four days since the baby girl was discovered, Pradeep Kumar Singh said, and still nobody had claimed her.
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P O Box 7244, Newton Park, 6055
(041) 367-4644 | administrator@nmb-aquatics.co.za
About NMBA
NMBA Life Members
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Swimming Quote:
You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.
Nelson Mandela Bay Aquatics is the governing body of swimming, diving, masters, water polo, open water, synchronised swimming and the Learn to Swim programme in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole and is affiliated to Eastern Cape Aquatics and Swimming South Africa.
Open water swimming takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans and lakes or dams. The beginning of the modern age of open water swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when Lord Byron swam several miles to cross the Hellespont (now known as the Dardanelles) from Europe to Asia.
Synchronized swimming is a hybrid form of swimming, dance and gymnastics, consisting of swimmers (either solos, duets, trios, combos, or teams) performing a synchronized routine of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music, thus demands exceptional breath control when upside down underwater.
Water polo is a team water sport. The game consists of 4 quarters (or periods) in which the two teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into their opposition's goal, with the team that scores the most goals winning the game. A team consists of 6 field players and one goalkeeper in the water at any one time.
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Competitors possess many of the same characteristics as gymnasts and dancers, including strength, flexibility, kinaesthetic judgment and air awareness.
What's New at NMB Aquatics...
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Click here to get the latest time standards for the new season.
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Formerly operating as Eastern Province Aquatics or EP Aquatics, the Federation was established in the early 1900's to govern and promote aquatic sports in the western half of the Eastern Cape. Early 2014 saw the Federation falling in line with government's regional demarcations and the Federation now continues its work as one of nine Federations in the Eastern Cape, operating under the new name of Nelson Mandela Bay Aquatics (NMBA).
Nedbank NMMU Gala
Newton Park Pool - 09:00
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2nd A-League Gala
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Schools > Anne Bradstreet Early Childhood Center > ABECC Announcements >
Traffic Flows **Updated with Video and Diagrams**
posted Sep 1, 2018, 5:30 PM by Hillary Stasonis [ updated Sep 4, 2018, 4:24 PM ]
The following traffic patterns have been updated as of September 4th, 2018.
Traffic Flows with Opening of Anne Bradstreet Early Childhood Center (ABECC)
Please take note of the traffic flows for the new Anne Bradstreet Early Childhood Center (ABECC), the Middle School, and Atkinson Elementary. We ask your patience as we work through these new patterns, especially at the new school. We have created a video that demonstrates the new pattern for the ABECC, and we will have plenty of staff on site to help direct traffic and to implement any changes that could improve flow. We thank you for your patience and welcome your input.
Atkinson Elementary - pick up and drop off will remain the same as it was at the end of last year. Cars and buses will enter through Phillips Brooks and will follow the directions of staff, then will proceed out Beacon Hill Rd. onto Mass. Ave.
Click here to open a map with traffic pattern diagram for Atkinson
Middle School - those vehicles (cars and buses) that were exiting out Beacon Hill or onto Rte. 125 at the end of last year will now all exit out onto Rte. 125. They must turn left at the top of the road leading up to the ABECC, then turn right onto Rte. 125. Exiting onto Rte. 125 will remain a Right Turn Only. Cars will still be able to exit out to Parker Street as well.
Click here to open a map with traffic pattern diagram for NAMS
Anne Bradstreet Early Childhood Center (ABECC) - cars and buses will enter the Middle School from Main Street. Cars will drive to the right of the Middle School and then around the back to access the road up to the ABECC. Cars will be restricted to the right lane as they make their way up to the parking lot. Cars will then proceed around the outside of the parking lot and will follow directions from staff for drop off and pick up. They will then turn right out of the parking lot and exit onto Rte. 125 (Right Turn Only). Buses (and ONLY buses) will travel around the left of the Middle School and use the left lane heading up to the ABECC. They will discharge in the bus loop on the side of the building and then exit onto Rte. 125 (Right Turn Only). There will be no entry into the site from Rte. 125. Preschool parents are asked to not join the drop off cue in the morning until 8:35 because they will not be able to drop off until that time and joining the cue prior to 8:35 will slow down the drop off for Kindergarten students.
Click here to open a map with traffic pattern diagram for ABECC
ABECC Traffic Flow
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EXPAND TEXT
TidBITS#329 19960520
MailBITS/20-May-96
TidBITS on TidBITS
LaserWriter/LocalTalk Bridges with Open Transport
Crazy Ideas from Apple
Apple, the Business Market, and Geodesic Networks
by Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Despite all of the doom and gloom about Apple, the company is still doing well in the home and education markets. The doom and gloom comes in part from Apple's ever-increasing trouble in the business market. I don't think there's anything new in that.
Apple's heart was never in the business market. For all its lip service to business, Apple never felt passionate about building better word processing and spreadsheet boxes, even if the company did have the best one at the time of the big ramp up of the business microcomputer market, before Excel and Word moved to Windows. This lack of interest showed in Apple's attitude toward most business people. Apple's commercials portrayed outside consultants and mavericks as heroes, thus attracting outside consultants and mavericks to the Macintosh at the expense of attracting large businesses and conformists.
When compatibility with mainframes became an issue (for the short time people were off-loading mainframe data onto LANs) Apple didn't want to be there. With the advent of LANs, Apple didn't build the technology to deal with LANs on their own turf, large corporations. Instead, Apple built peer-to-peer networks of collegial desktop machines. Unfortunately, they never paid attention to two major problems: the network bandwidth and the multitasking necessary for those networks to function properly from the high-volume user's point of view. Power users would suffer from problematic performance hits when they tried to work while printing in the background and having their Macs accessed via file sharing.
For PC users, multitasking was less of a problem, because those two jobs were usually off-loaded to separate machines, whose jobs were to do nothing but run a printer or serve files. In contrast, on most Macintosh networks (especially after System 7 came out), every machine is potentially a server for everyone else, and everyone is their own print server. Only late in the game did Apple release the Apple Workgroup Servers.
Fortunately, the first problem, bandwidth, has been addressed, because most Macs now come with Ethernet, while the second problem, preemptive multitasking on faster processors, is being solved slowly. This is good for Apple, because peer-to-peer architecture is where the world appears to be headed. The whole Internet is a peer-to-peer, "geodesic" network, where each machine is optimized for its own particular function, be it serving or switching information. The Internet has no central repository of anything, and that has been Apple's view of networks since day one.
If it's any consolation, in the future, we won't even need LANs to do business. A couple months ago, I saw Netscape running in the bond trading room of the largest institutional trustee bank in the United States. In this case, Netscape beat PowerBuilder hands-down in a prototype development shootout. The prototype was the production version. Netscape can do anything from secure outside-the-firewall SQL calls to conducting actual cash commerce. Game over. Netscape is not special in this regard - any sufficiently secure browser/server combination can do the same thing. Either one, client or server, can be developed for a dime a dozen even now. This is especially true when compound document architectures come online, like Apple's Cyberdog.
We won't need LANs because the only real difference between a LAN and the Internet is a firewall for security, and the need for clients to speak Novell's TCP/IP-incompatible proprietary network protocol. With Internet-level encryption protocols like the IETF IPSEC standard, you won't need a firewall. The only people who can establish a server session with any machine connected to the net will be those issuing the digital signatures authorized to access that machine. Then, networks will need to be as public as possible, which means, of course, TCP/IP, not NetWare. It's like Heinlein's old joke about space: "once you're in Earth orbit, you're halfway to anywhere". So, once you've gotten rid of the firewall, you're everywhere.
<http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/html.charters/ipsec-charter.html>
What happens to the information concentrated behind those firewalls - or proprietary software markets, for that matter - when, because of strong cryptography, firewalls disappear? Remember what happened to those floating globs of grease in the detergent commercial? Surfacted away into tiny bits. I can hear Bill Gates now: "I'm melting! I'm melting!" Now you see why he's fighting so hard to be Internet-compatible all of a sudden.
In this "decade of the Internet," the user interface, platform, desktop, LAN, whatever, is meat and real life is on the net, to paraphrase William Gibson.
For the time being, I have thought that the Mac, at least as long as Apple makes most Macs, is the computer for the "best of us," not "the rest of us." I've learned to live with that. I no more worry about Apple's prospects than I do about Porsche's. I expect Apple management, like Herr Doktor Porsche, is just waking up to the fact that even though Apple designed the Volkswagen, it can't possibly mass produce them efficiently at a decent enough profit to advance the state of the art, which is where Apple's heart has been all along. Sooner or later, Apple will go back to cranking out 917s that demonstrate the power of the technology, 911s that offer a more affordable version of that power, and 928s that are for those of us who only want to look the part. Fortunately, there are lots of companies, like Power Computing, to produce Volkswagens for those who can't afford Porches, and "Macintosh" won't mean just "Apple" anymore.
To me, a fully-credentialed Mac Bigot and camp-follower, Apple's future means Cyberdog, and Cyberdog means breaking down large "glops" of information and software "grease" and surfacting them, fractally, into little bitty bits out into the net, where all machines, not just dumb Java terminals, can use them better. It also means developing cryptographically strong Internet-level security, so anyone can talk to any machine from anywhere if they have permission to do so, and nobody without permission can get in or see what those authorized people are doing. It means building into all network applications the ability to do digital commerce. That is, the ability to handle digital bearer certificates, like Digicash's ecash and the ability to handle micropayments, like the MicroMint protocol, or their successor technologies. Imagine if your code could send you money in the mail, or if a router did real-time load balancing by changing its micropayment price-per-through-packet when traffic got too high or too low. The future of the net may be a strange place, indeed.
<http://www.digicash.com/>
<http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~rivest/RivestShamir-mpay.ps>
Until that happens, I suppose Porsche parts is still a lucrative business, as long as developers keep in mind what business they're in.
[Robert Hettinga writes frequently about digital commerce and the Internet; for more on the topics above, check out his other essays.]
<http://thumper.vmeng.com/pub/rah/>
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HomeArticlesBreaking the Gaza Stalemate
Breaking the Gaza Stalemate
Only serious outside pressure on Israel to accede to reasonable Palestinian demands. (Safa/ps/Flicker)
By John V. Whitbeck
After the breakdown in the six-day “pause” to permit negotiations on a long-term Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and the resumption of Israel’s onslaught against the caged people of Gaza, concerned people everywhere are wondering how the conflicting demands of the two sides can possibly be reconciled when each side feels a compelling need to achieve some gain to justify its sacrifices – on the Palestinian side, over 2,000 dead, over 10,000 wounded and massive destruction of homes and infrastructure and, on the Israeli side, 64 dead soldiers and two dead civilians – and not to agree to anything that its own people could view as accepting failure or defeat.
Considering the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the respective demands may assist any foreign governments which are genuinely interested in ending the infernal cycle of violence and making progress toward a durable peace with some measure of justice to decide which side they should be seeking to convince or compel to be reasonable.
Is it unreasonable to demand, as Palestine does, that residents of Gaza be permitted to leave their cage; to build a proper port; to rebuild their airport (destroyed by Israel in 2002); to farm their fields, even within three kilometers of their border with Israel; to fish their waters more than three nautical miles offshore; to export their produce and to import basic necessities?
Additionally, is it unreasonable to demand that the 61 Palestinians released in the Shalit prison swap and effectively kidnapped by Israel soon after the kidnapping in the West Bank of three young settlers be re-released?
This is all that Palestine has been demanding. To what other people could such modest demands be denied, as they have been throughout seven years of siege and blockade?
On the other hand, is it reasonable to demand, as Israel does, that, prior to any definitive agreement ending the occupation, Gaza be completely “demilitarized”, thereby stripping its people of any means of resisting their 47-year-long occupation (a right of resistance to foreign occupation being recognized by international law) or even of reminding a world which has preferred to ignore them of their miserable existence.
A high degree of “demilitarization” of the State of Palestine might well be agreed to in a definitive agreement ending the occupation, since Palestinians would not wish to give Israel any future excuse to re-invade and re-occupy Palestine, but what is needed now is not acquiescence in the occupation but the end of the occupation.
For the Israeli government, the best result that it can now realistically hope for is to maintain the status quo ante (including the siege of Gaza) and to again get away with murder, and, with Western powers exerting enormous pressures on Palestine not to join the International Criminal Court or otherwise seek recourse to international law to protect the Palestinian people, Israel should be able to achieve this simply by not agreeing to anything with the Palestinians. Such a result would clearly be unjust and unsatisfactory for Palestine and ensure yet another round of death and destruction in the near future.
Only serious and principled outside pressure on Israel to accede to most of the reasonable Palestinian demands, accompanied by credible threats of meaningful adverse consequences for Israeli obstinacy, would offer any hope of achieving a win-win result which could make yet another replay of this latest onslaught unlikely. Unfortunately, with the United States, the major European states and Egypt all firmly aligned on Israel’s side, any such serious and principled pressure is difficult to imagine in the absence of some game-changing Palestinian initiative.
With a view to saving Israeli face while ending the siege of Gaza (and subsequently the occupation of the entire State of Palestine), the Palestinian leadership should publicly request the deployment of UN, U.S. or NATO troops to both Gaza and the West Bank to protect both Israelis and Palestinians from further violence pending a full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied State of Palestine.
Neither Israelis nor Palestinians will have peace or security until the occupation ends on either a decent two-state or a democratic one-state basis, and the current round of Gaza massacres may have produced a moment when even Western governments, notwithstanding their knee-jerk pro-Israel public pronouncements, are conscious of this reality and could, if given a significant prod and incentive to act on this consciousness, actually do so.
– John V. Whitbeck is an international lawyer who has advised the Palestinian negotiating team in negotiations with Israel. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
Gaza Running on 6 hours of Electricity per Day
Palestinian Party unity is No Substitute for a Political System
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The Parliament House | Momento Legere
Starring People of Color
LGBT TITLES
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momento legere.
The Weaver Trilogy #2
Most protagonists are heroes confined to the pages of a book . . . most heroes are not Watchers.
When Laney sends William home to be healed by his father, she thinks she will never see him again. After all, his home is in colonial Massachusetts in the story she wrote last year. But when William’s words and actions mysteriously begin to appear on her page, she wonders if she’s lost all control over her characters and their stories.
William will fight through the war around him, again and again, to reach the woman he loves, going against her desire to keep him safe. With the Gate Keeper on William’s side of the page working for The Wanderer, a woman determined to eradicate the Weavers, he must find a way to keep head-strong Laney out of the book, even if it means working with his archenemy, Jonas Webb.
The Watcher by Heather Kindt
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#CONSCIOUSNESS David Icke & Victoria Van Ayerst #MINDFULNESS
David Icke and Victoria Van Ayerst from Art of Consciousness. The full discussion, recorded 22nd December 2012. With David Icke becoming more and more elequent as each day goes past, and with more and more people, starting to understand he's touching reality with much of what he talks about, this one promises to be a real hum-dinger of a video! Watch with us!
David Icke & Victoria Van Ayerst - Art of Consciousness
~credits video: http://youtube.com/victoryentertainment ~Unslave Humanity Tactical Media: http://whynotnews.eu/?p=1990
This video is [FAIR USE] under © COPYRIGHT LAW it is: 1 noncommercial 2 trans-formative in nature 3 not competitive with the original work 4 not effecting its market negatively FAIR USE NOTICE: This video contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes
English writer and public speaker, best known for his views on what he calls "who and what is really controlling the world." Describing himself as the most controversial speaker in the world, he is the author of 19 books and has attracted a global following that cuts across the political spectrum.
David Icke marks his 20th year of uncovering astounding secrets and suppressed information with the publication of his most amazing book yet.
He takes the manipulation of the human race and the nature of reality to still new levels of understanding and he calls for humanity to rise from its knees and take back the world from the sinister network of families and non-human entities that covertly control us from cradle to grave.
David has moved the global cutting edge so many times since his incredible 'awakening' in 1990 and here he does it again - and then some.
His most staggering revelation is that the Earth and the collective human mind is manipulated from the Moon, which, he says, is not a 'heavenly body', but an artificial construct -- a gigantic 'spacecraft' (probably a hollowed-out 'planetoid') -- which is home to the extraterrestrial group that has been manipulating humanity for aeons.
He describes what he calls the 'Moon Matrix', a fake reality broadcast from the Moon which is decoded by the human body/mind in much the same way as portrayed in the Matrix movie trilogy. The Moon Matrix has 'hacked' into the human 'body-computer' system, he says, and it is feeding us a manipulated sense of self and the world 24/7.
We live in extraordinary times. On one side we are seeing the imposition of a global Orwellian State of total surveillance and control by those who serve the Moon Matrix, and on the other a fantastic energetic transformation is taking place -- what David calls the 'Truth Vibrations', a phenomenon he first predicted in 1990 and used as the title of his first book after his 'eyes opened'.
The Truth Vibrations are awakening vast numbers of people to remember who they really are -- infinite, eternal Consciousness.
Humanity is at a fork in the road and it is time to make a choice. Are we going to awaken to our true genius and potential as Infinite Consciousness? Or are we going to remain entrapped in body/mind and the manufactured illusions of the Moon Matrix?
One choice will give us freedom and potential on a scale we could not have thought possible, while the other will condemn us and our children to a global fascist/communist dictatorship on a scale that would make George Orwell wince.
You cannot read Human Race Get Off Your Knees and be the same person you were when you picked it up. It is life-changing, reality-changing and its information, if acted upon, will set us free.
Interview: October 22, 2010 Art of Conscious Living, Producer/Host Victoria VanAyerst
~infopowerment truthers network~
-new kind of unity against tyranny-
http://infopowerment.whynotnews.eu
http://facebook.com/infopowerment
~responsible people think4themselves
01 http://infopowerment.whynotnews.eu
02 http://empowering.whynotnews.eu
03 http://freemantv.whynotnews.eu
04 http://freegary.whynotnews.eu
05 http://sentientmind.whynotnews.eu
06 http://women4truth.whynotnews.eu
07 http://exomatrixtv.whynotnews.eu
08 http://feedthefirefilms.whynotnews.eu
09 http://holliegreig.whynotnews.eu
10 http://need2know.whynotnews.eu
11 http://911matrix.whynotnews.eu
12 http://davidicke.whynotnews.eu
13 http://truthhertz.whynotnews.eu
14 http://seattle4truth.whynotnews.eu
15 http://believersunderground.whynotnews.eu
16 http://nightvisionufofeeds.whynotnews.eu
17 http://alexjones.whynotnews.eu
18 http://untoldmysteries.whynotnews.eu
19 http://2012.whynotnews.eu
20 http://exopolitics.whynotnews.eu
21 http://wakeupproject-paltalk.whynotnews.eu "
http://www.occupythebanks.com/search?q=DAVIDICKE
http://www.occupythebanks.com/search?q=DAVID+ICKE
http://www.occupythebanks.com/search?q=CONSCIOUSNESS
Labels: 2012 , consciousness , David Icke , December , Exopolitics , Mindfulness , Philosophy , Reality
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Category: Books- NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases, Graph Databases and Object Databases
NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases and Object Databases books
Books- Big Data, Data Analytics, Data Mining, Data Management, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning / Books- NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases, Graph Databases and Object Databases
EBOOK – REDIS IN ACTION
This book covers the use of Redis, an in-memory database/data structure server. LINK to eBook Foreword Redis was created about three years ago for practical reasons: basically, I was trying to do the impossible...
Books- NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases, Graph Databases and Object Databases
eBook: Oracle vs. NoSQL vs. NewSQL: Comparing Database Technology
eBook authored by John Ryan, Data Warehouse Solution Architect at UBS. The cornerstone of any IT system is the database technology being used. And in today’s world of 24×7, real-time connectivity, you need a...
Building on Multi-Model Databases. How to Manage Multiple Schemas Using a Single Platform
Building on Multi-Model Databases How to Manage Multiple Schemas Using a Single Platform Authors: Pete Aven and Diane Burley Copyright © 2017 O’Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of...
Books / Books- NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases, Graph Databases and Object Databases
Building on Multi-Model Databases: How to Manage Multiple Schemas on a Single Platform,
O’Reilly eBook, Building on Multi-Model Databases: How to Manage Multiple Schemas on a Single Platform, explains what a multi-model database is and how to use it for agility in data management, securely, and at scale. Download...
Books- NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases, Graph Databases and Object Databases / Books- Object Oriented Programming
Secrets of Analysis
Authors: Jim Arlow and Ila Neustadt This book is best read on a iPad or Mac. You can buy it from the iBook Store If you are reading on any other device, there is a...
Books- NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases, Graph Databases and Object Databases / In-Memory Databases-Blog Posts / Vendors - Blog Posts / Vendors - Commercial
The Path to Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning – Free O’REILLY Book
The Path to Predictive Analytics and Machine Learning – Free O’REILLY Book SEPTEMBER 7, 2016 |BY KEVIN WHITE, MemSQL Organizations once waited hours, days, or even weeks to get a handle on their data. In an...
Database Considerations for Docker
Database Considerations for Docker Organizations have embraced container-based computing in the past couple of years. But as the technology matures and companies start to expand their container benefits into production deployments or into applications that deal with...
The Definitive Guide to Graph Databases
The Definitive Guide to Graph Databases e-book, Neo4j Authors: Michael Hungers, Ryan Boyd, William Lyon. For the right use case, relational databases are powerful tools. But today’s users are asking for more than an...
Graph Databases by Ian Robinson, Jim Webber, and Emil Eifrem. Foreword Graphs Are Everywhere, or the Birth of Graph Databases as We Know Them It was 1999 and everyone worked 23-hour days. At least...
Books- NoSQL Databases, NewSQL Databases, Graph Databases and Object Databases / Books- Semantic Web
Semantics for Dummies
Learn how databases incorporate semantic technology to make it possible to solve big data challenges that traditional databases aren’t equipped to solve. Semantics is a data model that focuses on relationships, which adds contextual meaning...
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Album Review: Dan Bern – Hoody
September 17, 2015 Joshua Hammond 1 Comment
Bob Dylan had a kind of wit that spanned beyond his age and his generation. Wise and political, he flawlessly walked a tightrope of teaching topically without clubbing his listeners with a heavy stick. Similarly, Merle Haggard pointed out the flaws in the Vietnam War protester, using his country, party voice to speak for a generation. Both men use their tongue-in-cheek charm to define and reach their generations indirectly, with a sarcastic snarl and a clever gift of gab.
Dan Bern is really not that different in his own right.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not comparing his legacy to Bob Dylan. I’m also not saying Bern can redefine a scene the way that Merle or Cash did.
They’re not in the same league. But in total fairness, who really is?
What I am saying is that there are flashes of cleverly-mumbled brilliance falling from Dan Bern’s mouth rather often throughout his newest album, Hoody.
His storytelling shines in tracks like “Merle, Hank and Johnny.” In it, Bern reflects on growing up as a farm kid in the Midwest; as the times changed and he spread his wings, he was lovingly reminded of his roots by hearing the songs of his childhood on the radio, wondering what his own daughter’s “radio songs” will be. The song illustrates Bern’s unique and creative approach to songwriting. The track also highlights Bern’s band and their ability to hang with the best players in Americana. The banjo and other strings sing beautifully in the breakdowns, building a sound that would fit comfortably at Sunday dinner on a Southern sunroom or the sold-out stage at the Ryman.
Track for track, country living flows from Bern. “Lifeline” touches on the joys of just being alive. “Turn On A Dime” is a confessional love song. “Late Show” is a peppy pro/con list of the party life and settling down.
Each track bleeds southern grace.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that Bern is limited by the charm of his clever lyrics; buried beneath the subtext and his slanted smile are meaningful messages. The album’s third track, “Welcome,” is a stunning example of Bern’s ability to protest-sing. The emotion of the track hits a fever pitch as Bern belts “can anyone stand up or are we all just too ground down/we’re just trying to get through the day without getting your ass handed back to you in town.” Touching on the exportation of American jobs, the manipulation and exploitation of our trust, and the swell of violence at home, the track bluntly highlights the widening cracks in the American Dream. Vintage in a very modern way, the track is lyrically reminiscent of messages Merle, Dylan and Cash championed.
In that aspect, he has my attention. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does with his soapbox.
Features, Reviews Bob Dylan, Dan Bern, Hoody, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard
Joshua Hammond
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Spittin' at Life with the Crazed Cowboys
Country music to milk goats by. These fun big hats are getting a rep for putting the owboy in cowboy music. Luckily, I caught up with them in National Gallery of Art (nah....) and we exchanged words.
Welcome to Hip Hop Country (RA)
www.crazedcowboys.com
[Ben] Thanks for the talk. But I gotta know. Just why are all your cowboys crazed?
[George Lee Jr] I can't explain it, and neither can the voices I hear inside my head. I'm completely sane, but those cowboys are just Crazed, and have been since I first landed here after naively being seduced and abducted by space rodents on Jupiter.
[Ben] If you could change country music today, dude, what besides Shania's body would you dig up and reconstruct?
[GLJ] ATLANTIS!!
[Ben] You boys seem to be of the FUN variety of countrytime music. Real Dukes of Hazzard, Hee Haw raisin', Bill Hicks kinda guys.
[GLJ] Bill Hicks was awesome!! I'm more of a Man From Uncle and Mighty Mouse guy as opposed to Hee Haw, though. I also miss The Equalizer. Whatever happened to that guy, and where is he when The Crazed Cowboys need him most? Puttin' out the good word toward wayward Edward Woodward!
[Ben] What are you tryin' to prove with your music and image?
[GLJ] Music can be fun AND good; some intelligence and humor can be achieved if you're willing to work a little, and the Beatles, Willie Nelson and The Band were better than Garth Brooks could ever be.
[Ben] Or do y'all go home and do Bach and smoke salmon?
[GLJ] I go home, listen to LUCKENBach, and read Salmon Rushdie. A contrast...a dichotomy....a conundrum, if you will, as it were, and so on...no one, I think, is in my tree....that is, I think I disagree.
[Ben] What's it like to sit around you all on a live gig night?
[GLJ] Have you ever pulled up alongside one of those big farm trucks with the perforated sides, and... "Phew!!"? Step on the gas, and wipe that tear away!
[Ben] How do you have fun on stage and at the bar?
[GLJ] Onstage, we mainly like to ridicule our lead guitarist, Lefty Z, and drummer, Crawdad Heck, as we dodge audience-generated projectiles of varying size and velocity. Our degree of enjoyment at the bar is in direct proportion to the size of the tab that the management has gracefully extended us....
[Ben] When music isn't eating at your collective souls, what do the Cowboys do for fun on the off hours?
[GLJ] I thought Collective Soul broke up!! Actually, I primarily watch Dionne Warwick and that other Jamaican Rasta-lady psychic on all-night cable infomercials. She predicted my second wife would leave, FIVE YEARS AFTER the fact. I'm hooked. I also have an exotic lint collection.
[Ben] And what's occupying the current time of the Cowboys right now?
[GLJ] We just released our second CD, titled 'Damn, It Feels Good To Be A Cowboy!' We had a blast making that record; we even did a Crazed cover of the song 'If I Only Had A Brain,' from the Wizard Of Oz. The whole album turned out great, he said, with all due modesty. Our Crazed manager, Paula Bright, better known to us as Crazy Miz B, has been doing a dynamite job promoting us on the web, and we're getting great airplay. Our local gig schedule is full, and things are looking good. We're hard at work on Album 3 already. I just finished a dynamite cover of Mott The Hoople's 'All The Way From Memphis.' Other than that, you know: Same old same old.
[Ben] Career-wise, I mean.
[GLJ] Ohhhhhhhhhhh, career-wise....I plead the Fifth, uh, Commandment.....
[Ben] Who are your influences, both before you picked up the guitar and after?
[GLJ] The Beatles, pre-1986 George Strait, Sean Connery, and those guys who rode up those ramps on motorcycles with guitars on their backs in the movie Bye Bye Birdie.
[Ben] Who would you kill or seriously injure to perform with/open for?
[GLJ] Sammy Davis, Jr., of course...or Nancy Kwan.
[Ben] Ever get the wild urge to take The Sound of Music or some show and just rewrite it into a hicksville production?
[GLJ] Funny you should ask. I've always wanted to do a dead-on straight perfect version of the original album Jesus Christ Superstar. I'd be Judas. I know, I know -- he was a jerk and a turncoat, but HE GOT ALL THE GOOD SONGS! (Actually, that's kind of how a BAND works, come to think of it...) No joke -- the music on that original album was fabulous. I'm not sure how the whole thing would play at Set Um Ups in Wentzville, MO, though...we come close enough to getting crucified as it is, for not playing enough 'Skynyrd' .....wouldn't want to set anybody off with the 39 lashes....Crawdad WOULD make a great Pontius Pilate, Bo Fiddly could be a Roman, and we ALL KNOW who Lefty Z would wanna be....YEEEEEEEHAAAAA!
[Ben] Now that country and rock are blending more and more every year, do you see yourself varnishing closer to the mainstream?
[GLJ] You're right about that 'blending,' although it smells a bit more like...'curdling.' To be honest, our music is already pretty much an amalgam of our favorite parts of every genre -- country, rock, pop, zydeco, rockabilly, swing, hip hop, everything-including-the-kitchen-sink --we just love everything except 'new country,' whatever the heck that is.
[Ben] Or are you really hoping to pan to the big hats for a while?
[GLJ] Nah, our music's for everybody. We're egregious agrarian gregarious egalitarians, as well as fomentors of antidisestablishmentarianism.
[Ben] Where can we all see you folks perform anytime soon?
[GLJ] Musically? We're performing non-stop in the St. Louis metro area for the next three months. We're really looking forward to playing the Twangtown USA Music Festival in Tennessee on Aug 4. Our complete gig schedule is available at our web site: www.crazedcowboys.com. Our trusty soundman Pecos Carmichael keeps the gig schedule up to date at the site, and includes directions so that even WE can find the gigs....
[Ben] Describe the best fight that happened while you crazed people were playing.
[GLJ] With all due respect for the ladies, (and I certainly do respect them, gentleman that I am) nothing beats a good chick-fight. At our first gig as The Crazed Cowboys, a nasty chick-fight broke out, with wigs falling off and everything, and we knew we were on a cosmic journey, blessed with a copious utopian cornucopia of Kowboy Karma.
[Ben] Any blood?
[GLJ] Thankfully, no. We're actually the peaceful type, and wouldn't much enjoy that, except in secret ritualistic meetings, of course. Even then, we only purchase it at authorized, sanctioned web sites or flea markets...
[Ben] What do you want on your tombstone?
[GLJ] I'm primarily a sausage man, though I'm trying to expand my horizons as of late, and have bravely ventured off into black olive territory once or twice.
[Ben] Any last words?
[GLJ] Proboscis! Thanks for the interview. It was a lot of fun. We appreciate what all of the intelligent, creative people on the web are making possible for indie artists like us. We love each and every person out there who has taken an interest in the Crazed Cowboys' music.
Check out our web site at www.crazedcowboys.com if you need a laugh and a pick-me-up via some good-time dance music. 'George Strait Meets The Beatles Gone Country At A Hip Hop Rave'---that's my description of your typical Crazed Cowboy song.
Check out our new album 'Damn, It Feels Good To Be A Cowboy!' if you want to see why that statement is true.
Be nice to other people whenever you can. Brush your teeth twice a day, and watch those between-meal snackies! Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me.
Thanks to every single Crazed Cowboys fan in the entire world. Thanks to the indie DJs here and abroad who are spinning the Crazed Cowboys. Get well, Alex. Crawdad: I need my copy of 'The Great Escape' back if you're not going to watch it. Hi, everybody at KFAV FM 99.9, Warrenton, Mo. Hi, Jayne Voss. LR Meter Maid, may I inquire discreetly: When are you free to take some tea with me? Hi, mom! xoxoxo, Peace, over and out, Time To Say Goodbye.....
Related MusicDish e-Journal Articles:
» George Lee Jr. & The Crazed Cowboys - Welcome To Hip Hop Country!! (2000-09-01)
Home » Music Spotlight » Spittin' at Life with the Crazed Cowboys
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Diversify Radio with Dan and Ryan Extends Programming to 2 Hours
July 30, 2013 (PRLEAP.COM) Business News
South Jordan, UT, July 30, 2013 – As announced in June, Talk Radio 105.7 FM/570 AM KNRS introduced Dan Luke and Ryan Smith, founders of Diversify, Inc. ("Diversify"), as hosts of the new 1 hour program, "Diversify Radio with Dan and Ryan". The inaugural program aired Saturday, June 15, 2013 and has already received strong ratings in its first month of production.
Due to the strong response from the show, KNRS has reached an agreement with Diversify Radio to increase the show to a 2 hour program that will now air from 1:00pm to 3:00pm every Saturday. "We are excited about the positive feedback to Diversify Radio and look forward to this additional air time as we try to share our message", said Dan Luke. "We are passionate about our message and we hope that listeners will share in that passion", Luke continued.
"Hosting a radio show was never a goal of ours", said Ryan Smith. "But we are excited about the response received thus far and look forward to growing our listenership". When asked why he feels the show has received such a positive response, Smith continued, "I think people are looking for straight forward advice. I think they are tired of the get rich quick schemes and other misleading messages from the investment world".
Diversify, and its affiliated companies, were founded in 2004 by the shows co-hosts Dan Luke and Ryan Smith. They provide investment, insurance and mortgage services to clients throughout the western United States. They have been recognized as one of Utah's 100 fastest growing companies having received the MWCN Utah 100 Award. They were also featured in Utah Business Magazine as recipients of the NABCAP Utah Premier Advisor award. Visit www.diversify.com to learn more or you may contact them at (866) 467-5115 or info@diversify.com.
Diversify is a branch office of DFPG Investments, Inc. Securities offered through DFPG Investment, Inc. Member FINRA/SiPC.
Diversify, Inc
Email Diversify, Inc
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Diary Archives(日記２００５年０３月分)
950 2005/03/01 (Tue) Oscar Goes To...: The 77th Academy Award(Final)
951 2005/03/02 (Wed) Another White Blues Man: Larry Carlton
952 2005/03/03 (Thu) His Repertoire For Ray Is "Ellie, My Love"
953 2005/03/04 (Fri) Friends Joined Gats To Sing "What's Goin' On"
954 2005/03/05 (Sat) His Mail Address Got Soul:
955 2005/03/06 (Sun) Erykah Badu Will Be Coming To Japan
956 2005/03/07 (Mon) Got Cold, Got Snot, Got Fever
957 2005/03/08 (Tue) Crusaders Live At Bluenote
958 2005/03/09 (Wed) A Time To Release? Stevie's New Album
959 2005/03/10 (Thu) What'll Be Second Single Off New Album From Stevie? : How Will I Know
960 2005/03/11 (Fri) Garfield The Movie: The Funkiest Cat In Town
961 2005/03/12 (Sat) Countdown To D-Day
962 2005/03/13 (Sun) Jimmy Smith: He's soooooo Funky
963 2005/03/14 (Mon) Chiara Civello: "Last Quarter Moon" Showcase Live
964 2005/03/15 (Tue) Marcus Miller: Silver Rain
965 2005/03/16 (Wed) Lyn Collins Died At 56
966 2005/03/17 (Thu) Predictions For "A Time To Love"
967 2005/03/18 (Fri) John Legend: New Legend Of R&B
968 2005/03/19 (Sat) Charlie Haden & Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Quietness For Sale
969 2005/03/20 (Sun) Hall & Oates: Picked Up Picks Hall Throw
970 2005/03/21 (Mon) Righteous Brothers: How They Got Their Name
971 2005/03/22 (Tue) Bridget Jones's Diary The Edge Of Reason
972 2005/03/23 (Wed) Angie Stone: Live At Blue Note
973 2005/03/24 (Thu) Stevie's New Album's Track Listing Is Leaked?
974 2005/03/25 (Fri) Angie Stone Is Perfect Old-Schooler
975 2005/03/26 (Sat) Kaki "Oyster" King; So Charming Lady Said Welcome To My Room
976 2005/03/27 (Sun) RAY Garners 4 NAACP Image Awards:@Stevie Sings "A Time To Love"
977 2005/03/28 (Mon) Ginza Soul School, Vol.2 : Talk About "Soul Movie"
978 2005/03/29 (Tue) "The Digital Garden" Party Plays Nothing But Prince's Music
979 2005/03/30 (Wed) Angie Stone Canceled Two Shows At Tokyo
980 2005/03/30 (Wed) （速報）アッシャー来日も中止
981 2005/03/31 (Thu) Matt Bianco Live: It's Family Business
日記過去分 吉岡 正晴
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STRICTLY COME DANCING STARS TEAM UP FOR NEW THEATRE SHOW ‘RIP IT UP’
Cliffs Pavilion, Southend on Sea
Sunday 24th September
Strictly Come Dancing’s Natalie Lowe has announced she is to star alongside Strictly Come Dancing champions Louis Smith MBE and Jay McGuiness in a new theatre show called ‘Rip It Up’.
Rip It Up’s promise to bring the fabulous soundtrack of the 1950’s to life in an explosion of song & dance that will see Natalie, Jay and Louis swing, bop, jitterbug, lindy hop, jive and ballroom their way through the greatest songs from the greatest decade of music; from romantic ballads and crooner classics to many of the era’s defining pop and rock ’n’ roll hits.
Brought to you from the producers and director of 2017’s smash tour Remembering Fred, which stars Come Dancing’s Janette Manrara and Aljaz Skorjanec, Rip It Up will also feature Radio 2’s Leo Green and his ‘50’s all-star band, along with a cast of dancers hand-picked by Natalie.
Natalie said, “To be able to work with these two incredible Strictly champions and choreograph routines with them to the music from music’s greatest decade is something that we are all very excited to be working on. Together we will dance through some of the most fantastic songs ever created.”
Jay McGuiness is best known as a vocalist in the boy band The Wanted, whose debut single ‘All Time Low’ hit the No. 1 spot on the U.K. singles chart in 2010. The band went on to have a further three No. 1 singles, including the global hit ‘Glad You Came’.
In 2015, Jay was confirmed as a celebrity contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, partnering professional dancer Aliona Vilani. The couple stole the public’s hearts with their graceful and energetic routines, becoming the series winners to lift the Glitterball trophy. The pair’s now infamous jive to the Pulp Fiction-inspired medley of Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’ and Dick Dale & The Del Tones’ ‘Misirlou’ has become the show’s most watched routine ever, amassing over 5 million hits on YouTube.
Looking forward to being part of ‘Rip It Up’, Jay said, “To perform with Radio Two’s Leo Green and his band, as well as share the stage with Natalie and Louis and such a talented cast of singers and dancers should be quite an experience. We have some great ideas and are looking forward to bringing them to the theatres around the country, singing and dancing to some of the greatest songs from one of the greatest decades”.
Louis Smith MBE is one of Britain’s sporting superstars after winning medals at three separate Olympic Games. He shot to fame at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 by winning a bronze medal in the pommel horse, before winning silver medals at both the London 2012 and Rio De Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.
After the London 2012 Olympics, Louis took part in and won that year’s series of Strictly Come Dancing, lifting the coveted Glitterball trophy with his professional dance partner Flavia Cacace.
Louis will be returning to training shortly in an attempt to win a medal at his 4th Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. Before that, however, he is delighted to be part of the cast of ‘Rip It Up’. Louis said, “A lot of people think of the music of the ‘50’s as just rock ‘n’ roll. Whilst this was the decade that brought us Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard and more, we will also be celebrating the music of Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and all the beautiful vocal harmony groups from that special decade.”
‘50’s classics likely to be featured in the show include Why Do Fools Fall In Love, La Bamba, Put Your Head On My Shoulder, Mona Lisa, Oh Carol, Dream Lover, Reet Petite, Volare, Teenager In Love, Unchained Melody, Mambo Italiano, Heartbreak Hotel, Don’t Be Cruel, Hound Dog, Shout, Good Golly Miss Molly, Magic Moments, Unforgettable and many more.
The forty-two date tour will begin on Monday 4th September at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen and will end on Sunday, 22nd October at Cheltenham Town Hall.
For tickets to see the show at the Cliffs Pavilion go online to www.southendtheatres.org.uk or call the box office on 01702 351135
www.RipItUpTheShow.com
@RipItUpTheShow
facebook.com/RipItUpTheShow
Witness the band, singers and dancers perform the greatest hits from the greatest decade as they dance their way through the ‘50’s at the following UK dates:
Mon 04 Aberdeen His Majesty's
Tue 05 Inverness Eden Court
Wed 06 Glasgow Pavilion Theatre
Thu 07 Gateshead The Sage
Fri 08 Scunthorpe Baths Hall
Sat 09 Buxton Opera House
Sun 10 York Barbican
Tue 12 Southport Southport Theatre
Wed 13 Rhyl The Pavilion
Thu 14 Northampton Derngate Theatre
Fri 15 Scarborough Grand Hall
Sat 16 Carlisle Sands Centre
Sun 17 Blackpool Opera House
Tue 19 Birmingham Symphony Hall
Wed 20 Cambridge Corn Exchange
Thu 21 Wrexham Aston Hall
Fri 22 Shrewsbury Theatre Severn
Sat 23 Swindon Wyvern Theatre
Sun 24 Southend Cliffs Pavilion
Tue 26 Portsmouth Guildhall
Wed 27 Guildford G Live
Thu 28 Poole Arts Centre
Fri 29 Yeovil The Octagon
Sat 30 London The Palladium
Sun 01 Reading The Hexagon
Tue 03 Margate Winter Gardens
Wed 04 St Albans St Albans Arena
Thu 05 Chatham Central Theatre
Fri 06 Hayes Beck Theatre
Sun 08 Aylesbury Waterside Theatre
Mon 09 Cardiff St David’s Hall
Tue 10 Liverpool Philharmonic
Thu 12 Halifax Victoria Theatre
Fri 13 Manchester Bridgewater Hall
Sat 14 Billingham Forum Theatre
Sun 15 Richmond Richmond Theatre
Tue 17 Ipswich The Regent
Wed 18 Tunbridge Wells Assembly Hall
Thu 19 Worthing Pavilion
Fri 20 Kings Lynn Corn Exchange
Sat 21 Bath Forum Theatre
Sun 22 Cheltenham Town Hall
Tickets go on general sale on Friday, 12th May, available at all venues and from www.Ticketmaster.co.uk
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About Saudi Petro Facts
PetroSaudi
A. A. Turki Group
Tarek OBAID
Abdulrahman AL TURKI
Amin NASSER
Saudis and Russians Come Together on Oil Production Cut Extension
Saudi Arabia and Equatorial Guinea Come Together
Saudi Arabia Now Fully Owns Largest American Oil Refinery
Saudis Get Some of Their Benefits Back
Saudis and Brits Coming Together on Vision 2030 Plan
New Pricing Strategy in Store for Saudi’s European Refiners
Saudis and Abu Dhabi Focusing on Renewables Market
Saudis and Chinese Get Closer Through Oil
Production Costs are a Saudi Ace in the Hole
Production Cut Agreement Remains on Shaky Ground
Saudis Seem Poised to Welcome Oil Investors
June 16, 2016 108
In the challenge to forge a new world in the oil business, Saudi Arabia finds itself seeking different avenues toward delivering revenue to the kingdom. However, they’re also fighting off other countries that are seeking to chip away a good portion of the lucrative market share that the Saudis have enjoyed for decades.
One of the measures discussed is to have foreign investors pool their money to invest directly into Saudi Arabia’s nationalized oil industry. The thought is that these companies would be allowed to invest in Saudi Aramco, which is run by the state. That investment would allow them privileges that previously weren’t available when it comes to exploration, drilling and sale of crude oil.
Two countries that have previously done this are Venezuela and Iraq, with neither a threat to come close to offering a sustained challenge. The economic collapse in Venezuela caused by the slide in oil prices has been marked by upheaval in the streets and rampant inflation. Meanwhile, Iraq still finds itself mired in conflict, with terrorist groups like ISIS hijacking oil deposits for their own benefit.
Another Middle Eastern neighbor that has designs on challenging Saudi Arabia is Iran, which made a concerted effort last year to ramp up oil production. Despite the continuing collapse of the market, Iran still increased their production by 740,000 barrels.
Regardless of that effort, it seems clear that weathering that challenge shouldn’t be difficult for the Saudis. For one thing, Iran continues to be plagued by political infighting and a reputation as a haven for terrorist groups like ISIS.
While such red flags haven’t dissuaded China from purchasing those resources, multinational businesses prefer more stability in their dealings. That’s something that Saudi Arabia can offer, which means the sales pitch should succeed.
Changes in Saudi cabinet: towards a much stronger Saudi Arabia May 10, 2016 By PetroSaudi Facts
Saudis Declare Victory in Oil-Shale War June 28, 2016 By PetroSaudi Facts
The three-year slide of oil prices has delivered a major hit to the financial stature of Saudi Arabia, primarily because of their status as the world’s top oil producer. While that title has seemingly fluctuated in the past year with Russia, the economic punch that those two nations provide has the ability to provide an…
During an economic forum in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the West African nation of Equatorial Guinea came to an agreement on May 11 that brings the two countries together on a variety of business projects. One of those is an agreement that will help finance what will be the region’s largest terminal for oil storage….
Though the impact of Saudi Arabia within the American oil market has been diminished over time, their ability to maintain a very clear presence once again came into focus on May 1. That was when Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom’s state-run oil company, finalized an agreement to take complete control of the largest oil refinery in…
Saudi Petro Facts
©2016 - SaudiPetroFacts
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Home Page Our Support Articles
The Combination Of SCENAR And Activity Based Program
For The Rehabilitation Of Individuals Affected By Paralysis
Coleman S., Gloucester, Great Britain
Аim ofThe regime of exercise therapy that was combined with SCENAR for this study was adapted and modernised from the Dikoul Institute in Moscow, Russia. This type of exercise therapy involves working one-to-one with a patient for up to four hours a day, for five days a week, and usually for a number of weeks. The regime of exercises includes Passive flexibility, passive strength, passive-active strength, active strength, balance and coordination, and gait retraining using weight-supported harnessed treadmill, parallel bars, and walking frames/sticks.
The hypothesis for this type of exercise therapy was that patterned neural activity by repetitive exercise stimulates the central nervous system to become more functional, as it does during development (ASIA, 1999) and might help to recreate neuro-pathways.
SCENAR-therapy was combined with this type of exercise therapy because the repetitive input of neuro-impulses would wipe out adapted central nervous system patterns and might physiologically help the body to regenerate these neuro-pathways.
Twelve Spinal Cord Injured (C4 - T12) and Two Head Injured Patients were treated for a number of weeks (2 - 45 weeks) using the above combination of treatment. The main findings were that patients reported:
Reduction in Pain;
Improved bladder/bowel function;
Reduced spasm/clonus;
Improved Strength;
Increased Sensation;
Decreased Hypersensitivity;
Increased Movement;
Increased Range of Motion;
Increased Energy/Feeling of well-being.
One Head Injured client, injured in 1998, was unable to provide real logical feedback with regards to his improvement. However, an independent consultant noted an increase from 0.1% (Nov 2001) to 5-10% (Nov 2002) of total brain function.
Through long-term treatment the combination of SCENAR and Exercise Therapy has shown to be extremely beneficial in improving a wide range of human physiological functions, even after over 28 years of paralysis. In order to maximise the benefits, treatment is required immediately after the injury has been sustained. Further studies are required in order to compare the benefits of this combination of treatment to the individual modalities.
© 2000-2015 SCENAR Academy, Moscow, Russia. All Rights Reserved.
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Cover Descriptions
2012 Covers » Cover Descriptions
January 6 COVER The porous deposit of candle soot can be used as a template for a super oil- and water-repellent coating. The soot is coated with a thin silica shell to form a replica and is then removed by calcination. The silica is treated with a fluorosilane, yielding a transparent, stable coating. This cheap and easily upscalable approach may inspire the design of anti-fingerprint coatings, which are desirable for touchscreens or glasses. See page 67. Photo illustration: Bricelyn Strauch and Yana Hammond/Science; candle image: Fotosearch
January 13 COVER A young wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) glides smoothly over the Southern Ocean swell during a calm day. Albatrosses take advantage of ocean winds to travel more efficiently. Recent changes in Southern Ocean wind conditions have allowed wandering albatrosses to travel more rapidly and shift their foraging range southward, with positive influences on reproduction and potential contributions to albatross conservation. See page 211. Photo: Paul Tixier
February 3 COVER Computer illustration of streams of matter delineating the network of cosmic voids, each tens of millions of light years across. Matter accumulates where the voids meet, forming a cosmic web of walls, filaments, and clusters of galaxies. This illustration was awarded first place in the informational graphics category in the 2011 Science/NSF International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. The winning entries are featured in a special section starting on page 525 and at www.sciencemag.org/site/special/vis2011/. Image: Miguel A. Aragon Calvo, Julieta Aguilera, Mark Subbarao
March 16 COVER False-colored scanning electron micrograph of ~8-micrometer-tall germanium crystals, separated by finite gaps, grown onto silicon pillars. In structures like this one, wafer bowing and layer cracking are absent, allowing single-crystal integration of different materials onto a silicon substrate, which serves as a platform for many applications, such as multiple-junction solar cells, x-ray and particle detectors, or power electronic devices. See page 1330. Image: Claudiu V. Falub, Laboratory for Solid State Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zürich)
April 6 COVER Polarized light micrograph of a thin section of gypsum crystals (CaSO4•2H2O). Vertical field of view ~4 millimeters. This natural and industrial mineral unexpectedly crystallizes from solution at room temperature upon a transition through a precursor, nanocrystalline bassanite (CaSO4•0.5H2O), a usually high-temperature phase. A detailed understanding of this crystallization route could lead to a new strategy to control gypsum scale and may open an alternative route for the production of “plaster of Paris” (bassanite).
April 13 COVER A series of spheres with two-dimensional patterns generated by computer simulation shows that Turing’s reaction-diffusion model may be the basis for skin patterning in animals. A modulation of one parameter value in a reaction-diffusion–based model causes the pattern to change gradually from spots to labyrinths, with the range encompassing the diversity of patterns seen on animal skin. See page 171 and http://scim.ag/comp_bio. Image: Seita Miyazawa, Osaka University
April 20 COVER A young polar bear (Ursus maritimus) on a piece of ice that is drifting in the Barents Sea, northeast of Svalbard, Norway. Polar bears depend on sea ice as a platform for hunting seals, but current melting and retreat of sea ice is increasingly forcing them onto land. A recent study has found polar bears to be evolutionarily older and genetically more distinct than was previously thought.
April 27 COVER Overlayed scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy images of a single atom (width 1.3 nanometers): tunneling current (gray veil) and force (colored surface) between a tungsten atom and a carbon monoxide molecule. The force shows a strong angular dependence and is attractive (blue minimum) in one direction and repulsive (dark red crescent) in others. The angular dependence of single chemical bonds determines the shape of molecules and crystals.
May 18 COVER We are all too familiar with human conflict, such as this bombing on 13 August 2006 in Beirut, Lebanon, by the Israel Defense Forces. In the special section on Human Conflict (see page 818), we examine the origins of conflict, trace its path through history, and consider its modern manifestations. We also analyze our innate ability to foster peace and look at societies that eschew war. This cover was chosen for visual imagery and not for any political message or endorsement. Image: Sang-Hoon KISH Kim/Sipa Press/Newscom
June 1 COVER Three-dimensional computer models such as this one help researchers explore the mechanisms behind core-collapse supernovae, the violent death of short-lived massive stars. In the image, tubes represent paths of gas falling into a supernova, deflected by an accretion shockwave (horizontal width of 600 km); colors represent different velocities. The question of how stars explode is one of the “Mysteries of Astronomy” described in a special News package beginning on page 1090. Visualization: Hongfeng Yu and Kwan-Liu Ma, University of California-Davis and the SciDAC Institute for Ultra-Scale Visualization; Simulation: John Blondin, North Carolina State University
June 29 COVER Wet bark of a Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia) in Union, Washington, USA (vertical dimension ~15 centimeters). Wild Pacific yew thrives in the damp coastal forests of northwestern North America, with thin bark ranging in color from rose to auburn. The anticancer agent pactitaxel was originally derived from yew trees. Such complex and useful compounds are just one of the many outputs from plant metabolic networks, as analyzed in the special issue beginning on page 1657. Photo: Don Paulson, www.donpaulson.com
July 6 COVER Structure of the Wnt signaling molecule (red) in complex with the Frizzled ligand-binding domain (yellow), schematically depicted as connected to the cell surface. A key feature of this structure is the visualization of a lipid group (blue) on Wnt directly engaging Frizzled. The Wnt/Frizzled mode of binding paves the way for the design of Wnt-based therapeutics. See page 59. Image produced by Eric Smith and Chris Garcia
August 3 COVER Illustration of the black hole in Cygnus X-1, a binary star system 6000 light-years away. A disk of stellar material feeds this black hole, which is 15 times as massive as the Sun but less than 60 kilometers across. As it falls toward the black hole, some of the material gets expelled in two opposite jets. A section highlighting recent research on black holes begins on page 535. For the story behind the cover, go to http://scim.ag/cov6094. Image: NASA/Chandra X-ray Center/M. Weiss
August 10 COVER Recycling aluminum cans (shown here in bales at a facility in Philadelphia, PA) is just one of the many approaches directed toward doing something productive with the world’s ever-expanding stream of waste. In the special section Working with Waste (page 662), we survey multifaceted efforts to tackle this global challenge. For the story behind the cover, go to http://scim.ag/cov6095. Photo: Huguette Roe, www.hroephoto.com
August 17 COVER Male rhinoceros beetles (Trypoxylus dichotomus) wield a huge forked horn on their heads. Sexual selection may favor the evolution of exaggerated trait sizes because the developmental mechanism responsible for increased growth also results in signal reliability. See page 860. Photo: Will Freihofer and Douglas Emlen
August 24 COVER Artist’s rendering of the airway epithelial cell surface in human lungs. The airway surface is lined by arrays of cylindrical cilia (shown as yellow projections) that are 7 micrometers long and 200 nanometers in diameter. The cilia and airway surface are covered by tethered biomacromolecules (shown as green hairs) that form dense, brushlike structures. These epithelial brushes protect the airways from infectious agents and ensure efficient flow of mucus from healthy lungs. See page 937. For the story behind the cover, go to http://scim.ag/cov6097. Image: Yan Liang (www.l2xy2.com), Li-Heng Cai, Michael Rubinstein
September 7 COVER Artist’s conception of the complex network of relationships between disease and the human genome. Hundreds of diseases and traits (represented by colored dots) have been mapped to specific chromosomal positions in the genome. Most disease-associated genetic variants fall outside of protein-coding genes, instead affecting the genome’s regulatory circuitry by modifying the DNA “switches” (some of which are depicted here as gray triangles, many others not shown) that control gene activity. See page 1190. Image: Rachael Ludwig and John Stamatoyannopoulos
October 5 COVER A solitary figure walks through a somber urban landscape. The permeating tone of sadness in this painting gives an impression of life with major depressive disorder, whereas the light punctuating the scene hints at hope. Because depression has become a serious problem in societies around the world, it is crucial to investigate the basic mechanisms underlying this disease and to develop effective prevention and therapies. See the special section beginning on page 67. For the story behind the cover, go to http://scim.ag/cov6103. Image: “Midnight Stroll” by Michael Bishop, http://mbishopart.artweb.com/
October 12 COVER False-colored scanning electron micrograph of a zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo (~0.7 millimeters across) at a late stage of development. Biophysical studies of model organisms such as zebrafish reveal forces that organize tissue patterns and shape cell layers and physical features (segments, cavities, and folds). The special section beginning on page 209 presents work in which physicists and biologists collaborate to explain the physical mechanisms of animal development. Image: Dr. Richard Kessel/Visuals Unlimited, Inc.
October 19 COVER Optical vortices emitted by an array of silicon ring resonators. The helical phase fronts, indicated by spirals, denote photons with orbital angular momentum. Emission results from the embedded angular gratings that extract the light waves traveling around the ring. The small emitters (diameter: 8 micrometers) can be integrated on a large scale into photonic integrated circuits, enabling new applications in optical communications and sensing, quantum photonics, and lab-on-a-chip. See page 363. Image: Yue Zhang (ciel924@126.com), based on data from Xinlun Cai, Jiangbo Zhu, and Siyuan Yu
November 23 COVER The lower hemisphere of a fast-spinning Earth shown 2 hours after a giant impact. Colors denote the silicate mantles and iron cores of Earth and the impactor. The debris evolves into a Moon-forming disk composed primarily of material from Earth’s mantle, explaining the isotopic similarity between Earth and the Moon. In this model, the fast-spinning Earth is slowed by an orbital resonance between the Moon and the Sun. See pages 1040, 1047, and 1052. Image: Sarah T. Stewart
November 30 COVER Computer-generated models of three-dimensional nanostructures that were self-assembled from synthetic DNA strands called DNA bricks. A master collection defines a 1000-voxel “molecular canvas” with a 25-nanometer edge. By selecting subsets of bricks, Ke et al. constructed a panel of 102 distinct shapes with sophisticated surface features and intricate interior cavities and tunnels. These nanostructures may find applications ranging from biomedicine to nanoelectronics. See page 1177. Image: Yonggang Ke
December 7 COVER End-on view of the atomic model of the bacterial actinlike ParM protein double-helical filament, generated from an electron microscopic reconstruction. A bipolar spindle of antiparallel ParM filaments pushes plasmids to the cell poles, constituting the simplest known apparatus for the segregation of genetic information. The loops on the outside of the 8- to 9-nanometer-thick filaments are involved in spindle formation. See page 1334. Image: Jan Löwe
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Black Women's Mental Health
Balancing Strength and Vulnerability
Stephanie Y. Evans - Editor
Kanika Bell - Editor
Nsenga K. Burton - Editor
Linda Goler Blount - Foreword by
Creates a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness, by merging theory and practice with both personal narratives and public policy.
This book offers a unique, interdisciplinary, and thoughtful look at the challenges and potency of Black women’s struggle for inner peace and mental stability. It brings together contributors from psychology, sociology, law, and medicine, as well as the humanities, to discuss issues ranging from stress, sexual assault, healing, self-care, and contemplative practice to health-policy considerations and parenting. Merging theory and practice with personal narratives and public policy, the book develops a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness in order to provide tangible solutions. The collection reflects feminist praxis and defines womanist peace in terms that reject both “superwoman” stereotypes and “victim” caricatures. Also included for health professionals are concrete recommendations for understanding and treating Black women.
“…this book speaks not only to Black women but also educates a broader audience of policymakers and therapists about the complex and multilayered realities that we must navigate and the protests we must mount on our journey to find inner peace and optimal health.” — from the Foreword by Linda Goler Blount
“By bringing together people in the social sciences, the humanities and policy in the writing of Black Women’s Mental Health, the editors help women in the academy begin to forge partnerships that help center and amplify black women’s voices. The book provides a bibliography of sources that researchers can utilize to build models for future research and programming.” — Women in Higher Education
For access to an online resource created by the editors, visit: Black Women’s Mental Health @ http://www.bwmentalhealth.net/
Stephanie Y. Evans is Professor and Chair of African American Studies, Africana Women’s Studies, and History at Clark Atlanta University. She is the author of Black Passports: Travel Memoirs as a Tool for Youth Empowerment and the coeditor (with Colette M. Taylor, Michelle R. Dunlap, and DeMond S. Miller) of African Americans and Community Engagement in Higher Education: Community Service, Service-Learning, and Community-Based Research, both also published by SUNY Press. Kanika Bell is Associate Professor of Psychology at Clark Atlanta University. She is also a licensed psychologist and owner of A.T.L. Psychotherapy & Consulting Services. Nsenga K. Burton is Digital Editor of Grady Newsource at the University of Georgia, where she also teaches news writing and multiplatform production. She is the editor of The Burton Wire.
Linda Goler Blount, President of Black Women’s Health Imperative
Introduction: Learning to BREATHE: Toward a Balanced Model of Black Women’s Wellness
Stephanie Y. Evans, Kanika Bell, and Nsenga K. Burton
Part I: Balancing Vulnerability
Sisters on Sisters: Inner Peace from the Black Woman Mental Health Professional Perspective
Kanika Bell
When the Bough Breaks: The StrongBlackWoman and the Embodiment of Stress
Chanequa Walker-Barnes
Representations of Black Women’s Mental Illness in HTGAWM and Being Mary Jane
Nsenga K. Burton
Selfies, Subtweets, & Suicide: Social Media as Mediator and Agitator of Mental Health for Black Women
Joy Harden Bradford
Part II: Balancing Strength
From Worthless to Wellness: Self-Worth, Power, and Creative Survival in Memoirs of Sexual Assault
Stephanie Y. Evans
The Travel Diaries: Excursions for Balance, Reflection, Healing, and Empowerment
Kami J. Anderson
My Body Is a Vehicle: Narratives of Black Women Holistic Leaders on Spiritual Development, Mental Healing, and Body Nurturing
Rachel Panton
Black Women’s Sexuality and Relationships: Embracing Self-Love through BREATHE-ing
Qiana M. Cutts
African American Mothers’ Parenting in the Midst of Violence and Fear: Finding Meaning and Transcendence
Ruby Mendenhall, Loren Henderson, and Barbara M. Scott
Part III: Strategies for Balance
Black Feminist Therapy as a Wellness Tool
Lani V. Jones and Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Looking Through the Window: Black Women’s Perspectives on Mental Health and Self-Care
Maudry-Beverley Lashley, Vanessa Marshall, and TyWanda McLaurin-Jones
Don’t Go Back to Sleep: Increasing Well-Being through Contemplative Practice
Veta Goler
Love Lessons: Black Women Teaching Black Girls to Love
Alero Afejuku, Sheila Flemming-Hunter, and Ayo Gathing
Transformative Mental Health for African American Women: Health Policy Considerations
Daniel E. Dawes and Keisha Braithwaite Holden
Diane R. Brown and Verna M. Keith
4-6581-4/4-6582-1(BB/RM/AV)
What's Wrong with Obamamania?
The Demise of the Inhuman
Speaking Power
The Peppers, Cracklings, and Knots of Wool Cookbook
African American Views of the Japanese
Beyond Banneker
The Obama Effect
Black Studies as Human Studies
African American Leadership
Dancing on the White Page
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Away Day Review - The Emirates Stadium - 23/2/11
Last updated : 24 February 2011 By Dan Buxton
We left at 2.30 in the afternoon and arrived back at 2 the next morning. However it was an experience to say the least. Got stuck in a bit of traffic on the way but the fun started on the way back. Drove around for an hour after the game trying to find the way home, and had a great laugh doing it, great choice of radio station :D 9/10
Ignored advice to park outside and tube in and landed on a car park right outside the ground, literally 100 yards from the turnstile. Cost £15 but there was four of us so cost wasn't too bad and we were off quickly after the final whistle 8/10
Away support were very good, as ever, and never stopped supporting the side. Ryan did get some abuse but it died down after his first couple of touches. Better home support than usual but not great by any stretch 6/10
Pies and Pints
Pie and Coke, I was driving, cost £5.70. Not too expensive, especially for London, and the pie was fantastic, one of the best I have had at a football match 8/10
Performance and Result
After leaving Carew isolated for the first half an hour the Potters came right into the game, gave it a real go, and deserved at least a point for their second half performance. Losing 1-0 is hardly a disgrace at Arsenal 7/10
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Riverfront Blues
Posted on February 26, 2014 by ssbb-admin
by Aosora Hikaru (青空 ヒカル)
DEEJAY ONE: Good morning, Detroit! You’re listening to WROX in the morning. I’m Johnny Danger–
DEEJAY TWO: I still think that’s a stupid pornstar name if I ever heard one.
JOHNNY: And that would be Bobby Killjoy, the wet blanket.
DEEJAY TWO: Hey, call yourself whatever you want. Whatever gets you the chicks. I’m Nate Rodriguez, and this is Rock Your Morning on WROX. Coming up: what does your choice of beer say about you? Find out in the eight o’clock hour.
“Good show, man,” Nate said, clapping his hand on his co-host’s shoulder. The coffee had been better than usual this morning, and he smiled as he inhaled the deep aroma, then took a careful sip.
“You too. Hey, wanna grab some drinks later?” John smiled over his shoulder as he coiled up the wires from the headphones.
Nate turned back from John’s chair and shook his head. “Sorry, can’t.”
John bit back a laugh. “What, do you have to wash your hair or something?”
“Yeah.” Nate rolled his eyes and took another sip of his coffee. “That’s it. Not even the fact that it’s not even after three yet and you’ve just asked me to go to a bar.”
“I said, ‘later,’ but whatever. I’ll see you tomorrow, dude.”
It had been frigid that morning when John and Nate had shown up long before sunrise to prepare for their radio show, and the temperature hadn’t risen much by the time Nate left the studio to go home. He pulled his coat collar up higher and shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked to his car. A light dusting of snow covered the ground, and his breath puffed out in front of him with his resigned sigh. He really did hate winter, but the WROX gig was good enough that he didn’t feel any need to leave Michigan. It was so rare to find a decent job in radio anymore, and as much of a tool as John presented himself as on air, he was a great guy in person. A good radio co-host is hard to find, too.
After fumbling his keys out of his pocket and scooping them up out of a pile of snow with a frustrated curse, Nate climbed in to his sedan and turned the key. He’d have to invest in remote start if he would remain in Michigan for another winter, because sitting in a freezing car wasn’t exactly the best way to spend one’s time. The car roared to life and he sat there for a couple of minutes blowing into his hands while he gave the car time to warm up enough to drive.
His phone chimed, and he pulled it out to see a text message from John.
I’m not shitting you, dude. Drinks?
Nate snorted. His thumbs flew over the touchscreen. Fine, drinks tonight. Where?
I know a sports bar in Rochester Hills. See you there.
The next text had an address, ready to be plugged into a map app or GPS for directions, but Nate didn’t need it. He’d been there before, on a few failed dates with girls and a few nights-out-with-guys he thought were dates but in actuality weren’t.
The roads were just slushy enough to command most of his attention, though thankfully it was mostly snow blown over from the drifts which lined the streets. Traffic crawled along as everyone else focused on the task so the car’s heater actually started blowing warm air before Nate got home, which was a rare occurrence. It was a rare treat to not arrive home with frozen fingertips.
He stopped outside his front door to kick the snow off his boots, and stepped inside only to be greeted immediately by a cat who seemed positive it was starving to death.
“Hey, Harvey. Yeah, I know I forgot to fill your bowl before work. You’re not going to die.”
The tabby gave an indignant meow and weaved himself through Nate’s legs. In the kitchen Nate found only an empty patch in the center of the bowl, and sighed as he gave it a quick shake to redistribute the kibble. “You’re spoiled, Harv. You know that?”
NATE: So I heard a rumor…
JOHN: Oh? What about?
NATE: You know the actress from Just Belong?
JOHN: Oh yeah, what’s-her-face, uh, Jan Beltrig?
NATE: Yeah, something like that. Well, I heard she’s engaged. Didn’t you say she was cute?
JOHN: I say many people are cute. Doesn’t mean anything. I think I even called you cute, once.
NATE: Johnny Danger, you are a terrible flirt. You and I both know that was actually an insult.
Nate hadn’t changed clothes before driving out to Rochester Hills, but when John walked in, he wished he had. The ripped jeans and t-shirts John usually wore had been replaced by a vest and button-down collared shirt.
John furrowed his brow and slid into the booth across from Nate, leaning over the table somewhat to be heard over the loud patrons cheering for the Pistons game. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
Oh fuck. “Nothing, sorry. I just didn’t know you owned clothes that didn’t look like you dug them out of a dumpst– Ow!” Nate reached down to rub his shin. “Damn, dude.”
Grinning, John picked up the beer menu. “Deserved it.”
“It’s not my damn fault you wear shitty clothes to work.” Momentarily distracted by a particularly impressive three-point shot by the Pistons, Nate turned back to John. “So what’s up? Why did you want to go out for drinks so badly?”
John didn’t even look up from the menu as he spoke, and Nate had to fight not to stare at the shadows his long eyelashes cast across the tops of his cheeks. He hadn’t noticed those before now. “Well, we’ve worked together now for… What, three months?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“And I know next to nothing about you. Like, how the fuck are we supposed to act like best friends on the radio show if we aren’t even acquaintances in real life?”
The timely arrival of the waitress served only to give Nate more time to mull over this. He had already been toeing the dangerous line of a crush on John, even without them hanging out together. Now, with this unrestricted time to appreciate his looks and undisguised personality, he could already feel himself crossing the imaginary threshold. On top of that, the way John had show up tonight, dressed up like he wanted Nate to want him…
John even ordered the same thing Nate was about to order, which, as much as Nate was loath to admit, was a good sign for future outings together.
“Blue Moon, huh?” John grinned after the waitress walked away. “Are you copying me, Nathan?”
Nate shrugged. “Nah. Just, you know, my favorite beer. Yours, too?”
It hadn’t taken long for the waitress to return, and John accepted the bottles of beer and thanked her, then slid Nate’s across to him. “Well, this time of year it is. In the summer I prefer Oberon.”
“Oberon’s good stuff,” Nate murmured. This whole thing felt like it was spiraling out of control, and he had to get it together because he really didn’t want to fuck this up now. He finally had a co-host he liked, at a radio station he enjoyed working for, and he couldn’t let something so ridiculous as a crush ruin it. John made such a production about women at work, and every way Nate had tried to be subtle about asking about men had been met with jokes of the “no homo” variety. All Nate having a crush on John was going to do was break his heart (again) and make work a living hell (again).
“How are the Pistons doing?”
Nate shook his head, then turned his attention back to John. He’d been staring at the TV without seeing anything. “Uh, they’re doing okay.”
“Dude, they’re losing by like thirty points. The fuck are you thinking about?”
“Nothing, man. So what do you want to know, then, to start this new best friend thing you want going on?”
John took a long draw of his beer, narrowing his eyes and frowning in thought. “Where did you live before you moved here?”
“I was in Virginia.” Oh God, please don’t let him ask why I moved… Please don’t make me have to explain the crush that made it too awkward to look him in the eyes anymore. Don’t make me have to say why I had to leave.
“That’s cool. I visited there once. Spring break in college.” Grinning, John leaned forward onto the table, which brought his head more directly under the light over the table. Damn, but he was handsome, highlighted now by how the light and shadows threw the angles of his face into sharper relief.
Nate bit his lip as he brought up his own beer. The pain, he hoped, would snap him back to reality. He wouldn’t be going out for drinks with John again. It was far too dangerous, contained too much material to encourage this unnecessary infatuation. “Really? And how was that?”
John laughed. “Fucking insane.” The bar erupted in cheers again, and both Nate and John turned their attention to the televisions for a moment. After the excitement from the score died down, John continued, “I had a blast, though. Lots of alcohol.”
“And all the girls you wanted, right?” The basketball game was an easy way to distract himself from the sick feeling settling into the pit of Nate’s stomach, that familiar sensation of knowing with absolute certainty the person across from you does not nor will ever share your feelings for them.
John canted his head to the side slightly, his brow furrowed. “If I wanted them, I guess.”
If Nate hadn’t been so absorbed in his own thoughts, with his mind made up about John, he might have actually heard what John said. “Hey, uh, listen,” Nate downed the last of his beer, then pulled out his wallet and threw a few bills on the table. “I should get going. Harvey seemed pretty lonely when I stopped home earlier and I don’t want him to pee on my shit. Just let me know how the Pistons game goes.”
Nate ignored John’s protests as he slid out of the booth and walked out to his car as fast as he could. Saying yes to meeting John for drinks seemed to have been the stupidest idea ever. He couldn’t handle even the notion of starting a friendship without getting a God damn job-killing crush on John. Now it would be fucking awkward at work, and he’d have to find yet another place to move. Harvey had barely handled the move from Virginia to Michigan. Maybe Nate could find another local station to take him on as a deejay, even if he couldn’t get another morning show position again.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and Nate ignored it as he climbed into his car and dropped his forehead against the steering wheel.
JOHN: Hey, Nate?
NATE: Yeah, Johnny?
JOHN: Did you hear the Pistons won last night?
NATE: Really? They were losing so badly I stopped watching.
(A beat of uncomfortable radio silence passes, too short to be noticed by anyone but John, Nate, and anyone in the studio with them)
JOHN: Yeah, they came back to win the game, but not by much.
NATE: That’s cool, wish I’d watched the rest of the game.
JOHN: (hesitates) Me too.
It had been a long and mentally exhausting show with both of them trying to pretend nothing strange had happened the night before at the bar. If Nate thought his stomach was fucked up last night at the bar, it was nothing compared to how it had churned for the entire time they’d been on the air. After the show, Nate excused himself as quickly as possible. He started to compose his resignation letter in his head while walking to his car, fishing for his keys in his coat pocket, when a voice behind him drew him up short.
“Nate. The hell was that last night?”
Nate looked John in the eye, furrowing his brow and digging deep for the energy to lie. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, John.” He found his keys in his pocket, and started toward his car again.
John scoffed as he turned to stand in front of Nate again. “You know damn well what I’m talking about. Last night. Why the fuck did you bail on me?”
“I just… I don’t want to talk about it,” Nate grimaced, gripping his keys tight in his hand, his eyes pleading. “Please.” That sick feeling had come back now, worse than ever.
After a moment of staring Nate in the eyes, John stopped and took a breath. “Listen, please. I asked you out because I wanted to get to know you better. I wasn’t lying–”
“Wait.” Nate shook his head, the pain of his keys digging into his palm keeping him in the moment. “Asked me out? Like… A date?”
“Oh, God.” John’s eyes went wide, his mouth falling open in horror. “Shit. I… I didn’t mean to…” He stepped back, bringing his hands up in front of him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to offend or… Or scare you.”
“You wanted that to be a date?” Nate blinked a few times as he tried to parse what John had said. Was this some sort of sick joke? Had John seen through his act, and was this an attempt to make Nate pay for it?
A look of panic had taken up residence on John’s face, and he backed away a few more steps. “Listen, Nate, I don’t want to ruin this. Please don’t take that the wrong way. I thought you… I’m so sorry.”
Nate stepped closer to John to close the distance, praying his heart would slow down and that his stomach would stay calm enough to keep him from spewing all the coffee he’d downed over the course of their broadcast. “You thought what? That I was gay?”
John nodded, his eyes still wide with terror.
“Well, I’m not.” When John’s face fell, Nate held up a hand. “I’m bi. So you weren’t entirely wrong. But…” He shoved his keys back into his pocket; he wouldn’t be needing those quite yet. “I thought you were straight, though.”
“Oh, God no.” John shook his head with adamant denial. “I’ve known forever I was gay.”
“So all the talk about the ladies…?”
“Just a show. All for show. It’s easier to be popular on the radio if you act like a player than if you act like you’re gay.”
“That’s interesting, then.” Nate crossed his arms over his chest, shoving his hands under his arms to warm them. “So… Since we’ve established this… What are you doing Friday?”
NATE: So, since we’re talking about that new Detroit-style pizza joint downtown, how do you feel about pizza?
JOHN: Pizza’s great. Pizza is like manna from the gods, man. I could live off the stuff.
NATE: Yeah? I’m not sure I needed to know that.
JOHN: I would marry pizza if I could.
NATE: Yeah, really didn’t need to know that.
JOHN: I would make sweet pizza babi–
NATE: Johnny. Stop.
Friday night Nate paced the living room floor in his apartment, ignoring Harvey’s curious meows. John was due to arrive at any second and Nate’s stomach had twisted itself in knots, his hands quivering with the slightest tremor. He pulled his phone out of his pocket for the thousandth time, expecting to find nothing again, but this time there was a text from John. Nate drew a careful breath, half expecting a cancellation, and opened the message.
Hey, I stopped at a party store near your house. Want anything?
It took a few tries to keep his thumbs still enough to tap out the reply. Nah. Whatever you want to grab is fine. Hope you don’t mind Harvey, he’s seeming a little attention-starved tonight.
Nate’s phone chimed again, and he laughed at the response: As long as he doesn’t eat my pizza we’re cool.
With his fear of John abandoning the plans to hang out alleviated his stomach uncoiled itself, and Nate sank onto the sofa. The Pistons were playing again tonight and he turned on the TV, settling in on the sofa to watch the game while he waited for John to arrive. True to Nate’s texted warning to John (and indeed, to his own feline personality), Harvey jumped up on the sofa and curled up on Nate’s lap, purring in an adamant solicitation for petting.
When the knock sounded on the door, Nate scooped Harvey up and deposited him onto the sofa next to him. He ignored Harvey’s affronted meow as he stood up and wiped the sweat off the palms of his hands onto his jeans. John’s arrival, and all that meant, had put the knot back in his stomach and set his heart fluttering in his chest. All the possible ways this could go wrong rushed through his head like a train barrels down its tracks, and he had to take a deep breath before he could open the door.
John grinned, holding up a six-pack of Blue Moon. “Hey! Thought this would be perfect. Is the pizza here yet?”
“Not yet. Should be any minute, though.” Nate held out his hand for the beer, then stepped aside to allow John to enter. “Don’t mind Harvey. He’s a little shy around strangers.”
As if on cue, as soon as John stepped over the threshold, Harvey gave a distressed meow and jumped off the sofa to run into the bedroom as quickly as he could. John, to his credit, merely chuckled. “Cats. A dog would’ve knocked me over and tried to lick my face off by now.”
Nate grinned, closed the door behind them, and went to put the beer into the fridge. “And that’s the exact reason why I don’t have one.”
“Not a dog person?”
“Nah. I prefer Harvey. He’s a little devil sometimes, but he’s my devil.” Nate pulled a couple of beers out before leaving the kitchen, and held one out for John. “I put the Pistons on. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Course not! Maybe they’ll win again. Maybe it’ll be less of a train wreck this time.” John took the beer and sank onto the sofa, sticking close to one end.
Good. That meant Nate could sit there on the sofa too without making it more awkward than it had to be, or like he was presuming too much. An empty cushion between them left room for personal space and maybe Harvey, if the cat decided John was worth investigating. Right as Nate was about to sit, though, there was a knock at his door. He straightened again with a groan. “Must be the pizza.”
“Want me to chip in for it?” John stood up again to pull his wallet out of his back pocket.
Nate shook his head as he crossed the living room to the door. “Nah, I’ve got it. Besides, you bought the beer.”
The game was amusing enough while they ate their pizza. Turned out John was a bigger Pistons fan than Nate had thought, and he was very vocal about his support for — and, alternatively, frustration with — the team. Nate could easily have spent more time just watching John watch the game than he actually did paying attention to the basketball game itself. The way John tensed up on the sofa as the team ran the ball down the court, the way he held his breath every time someone tried to make a basket — never interesting on anyone he’d met before, but somehow, in this context, John’s passion fascinated him.
The best part was how John would let that all go with every score, his body relaxing as he let out the sharp exhale. Of all the things Nate had ever found attractive about anyone ever before — man or woman — this was definitely the strangest. Not that Nate was complaining; it was certainly the most unique thing he’d ever noticed about a person.
John turned to Nate, his eyes bright, a grin wide across his face. “Wasn’t that a fantastic — why are you staring at me?”
For a moment, Nate froze. He could lie, as he had been doing to John for months now, the entire length of their professional relationship, or he could tell the truth. After all, hadn’t they had that talk? Hadn’t John admitted he had attempted to ask Nate out as a date instead of just guys hanging out together? Hadn’t they both confessed, in that weird roundabout not-really-saying-it way, that they were attracted to each other?
No, this wasn’t the time for lies. This was the time for the truth.
“You truly enjoy this, and it shows. And I think that’s beautiful. You’re — you’re beautiful. When you get passionate about something, I mean.”
John blinked slowly, then took a long draw from the bottle of beer as a thoughtful sort of look furrowed his brow. Nate held his breath, wondering if perhaps he had crossed a line, admitting such.
Before he had a chance to ask if he had, John leaned across the couch cushions and kissed him. It was a soft kiss, one that asked permission as much as granting it, one that seemed so unlike the rough exterior John tried to give off at work. Nate gave a pleased hum, responding to the kiss in kind, parting his lips to perhaps encourage John further–
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” John murmured, pulling back the slightest bit, hesitant. “I shouldn’t have–”
Nate grabbed a fistful of John’s shirt, pulling him in again. “Don’t be. I’m glad you did.”
When their lips met again, it was tentative again, as though John were waiting for Nate to say he’d been mistaken.
Nate couldn’t blame him, to be honest; he’d heard it himself from guys in college and even a few others years after that. He would say he was kidding, or just confused, or just wanted to see what it was like, and they never had good timing with that sort of revelation. He pushed the thoughts from his mind and kissed John with ever-growing intensity in an effort to bury those memories even deeper.
The longer they kissed there, the more John relaxed, his hands starting to come up to wander over Nate’s arms. John broke the kiss again but only for a moment, so he could move closer to Nate on the couch, and when their lips met again it was as if a floodgate had opened, with John clinging to Nate and his kisses growing more desperate.
It was as though John had needed Nate as badly as Nate had needed him, and it was such a dramatic change from what Nate was used to in every other romantic situation. It was wonderful and it was sloppy and it was everything Nate needed after so much failure in his relationships.
Nate pulled John closer, sliding down the couch to pull John over him. It wasn’t long before John had his hands up Nate’s shirt, curious fingertips brushing over every secretly ticklish spot, idly rubbing and pulling at Nate’s nipples. Nate gasped against John’s lips, his back arching up into the touch, and John laughed. He sat up, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it aside, and when Nate let his eyes wander down to John’s chest, he gasped again, for an entirely different reason.
John sat back, giving Nate the chance to sit up and reach out a tentative hand to brush his fingertips over one of the rings looped through each of John’s nipples. “Holy shit. I would have never guessed. You just seemed so–”
“Yeah, it usually surprises. You gonna take yours off too?”
Nate grinned, then gave one of John’s nipple rings a slight tug. “Maybe I’m just too busy enjoying the show.”
John raised an eyebrow, then pushed himself up from the sofa. “I didn’t realize I was being expected to put on a show.”
“That’s not what… No, John, don’t–” Nate stopped, cut off by John’s fingers against his lips. His eyes grew wide as John brought his other hand up, pressing his index finger against his own lips in a silent shh.
Nate took a deep breath, then nodded, sinking back onto the sofa as John straightened up again. A wide grin spread across John’s face, brightening it in ways Nate hadn’t imagined possible, as John moved his fingertips in a lazy slide down his stomach to his belt buckle.
When the first click of metal against metal sounded, followed by the slide of leather, John blew out a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding. His own jeans felt uncomfortably tight, the denim stretched taut over his hard cock. He moved a hand down to reach for the button of his own jeans, but John let go of his belt to grasp Nate’s wrists.
“Nuh-uh. You’re gonna watch first. You talked before about enjoying the show, so that’s what you’re gonna do. No touching.”
Nate let go of the button, and John let go of his wrists. As John straightened up again Nate let his hands fall to his sides, and he caught his lower lip in his mouth in anticipation. The way John gyrated his hips the slightest bit as he undid his jeans, sliding them down and kicking them aside, made Nate’s breath catch, made him roll his own hips up as though there would be something there besides unyielding denim and unfeeling air to meet him.
John’s eyes flicked down to Nate’s hips, and the corner of his lips lifted in a lopsided grin as he worked his boxers down in a slow torturous tease. When his cock bobbed free, Nate let out another strangled groan. A generously sized ball sat at the very tip of John’s cock, with another sitting just below the head on the bottom, and in that moment Nate could think of nothing more than how that would feel inside of him.
“Oh my God, John,” Nate managed to choke out, his fingertips digging into the sofa cushions while his eyes were glued to John’s hand’s lazy strokes up and down the length of his cock. With each stroke over the head, John lingered at the piercing, as though he could read Nate’s mind and knew that was what Nate was drawn to.
John stepped out of his boxers, stepping forward again even as his hand stroked along his cock. “Didn’t expect that, either, did you?”
Nate only shook his head in response, dragging his fingernails up the sofa fabric before extending a hand, reaching out for John’s cock. All he wanted was to feel it, warm and alive in his hands, maybe even taste that bitter tang of the jewelry against his tongue.
With an eyebrow raised, John stopped just short of Nate’s reach. “Oh, no, you don’t get to touch until you get all that clothing off, too.” He crossed his arms over his chest and Nate had to stop himself from sighing at just how gorgeous he looked that way. John’s cock still stood out in front of him, a single clear drop of pre-come clinging to that silver ball at the tip. Somehow the way his arms crossed in front of him framed those pierced nipples perfectly, and Nate had to control how quickly he stood up from the sofa to tear his own shirt over his head.
John chuckled when Nate nearly tripped over his jeans in his haste to remove them, but helped Nate regain his balance anyway. They stood there for a silent moment, naked, until Nate pulled John forward into another hard kiss. John pulled back and grinned, then murmured, “Been wanting this for a while, huh?”
“Too damn long to stand here staring at each other naked,” Nate muttered, then took John’s cock in his hand, sliding it along the shaft in smooth strokes. The ring took a few movements to adjust to, but it didn’t take very long at all until John was breathing soft moans into Nate’s ear.
It was remarkably rewarding to discover the areas which drew the best reactions from John. The ring itself seemed to be a great source of pleasure for him, and Nate loved the ways John would gasp or writhe, or how his cock would twitch from the stimulation each time Nate’s fingers brushed one of those metallic spheres.
The movements of John’s hips grew more demanding, pushing forward into Nate’s hand faster and faster until he finally grasped Nate’s hand and pulled it up away from his dick. A small smile playing across his lips, he advanced and urged Nate backward. He didn’t stop until the backs of Nate’s legs hit the sofa, and after a firm kiss, he pushed Nate back onto it.
“What was that for?” Nate started to push himself back up, but John crawled onto the couch over him. With a hand planted to the side of Nate’s head, John reached down between them and lined his cock up against Nate’s.
“This.” With his hand wrapped around their cocks, John pushed his hips forward.
Nate hadn’t considered before how frotting could have possibly gotten better than it had been any other time he’d engaged in rubbing his dick against someone else’s, but the presence of John’s piercing there, stroking against that sensitive spot right under the head of his dick, made it phenomenal. It seemed safe to assume John felt the same way, judging by the way his eyelids fluttered closed and a low groan slipped from between his lips with that first push.
Just like before, when watching the basketball game, that look of utter focus and enjoyment on John’s face was unspeakably beautiful to Nate. Each time their cocks slid through John’s fist, they both let out desperate moans. Nate started to bring his hips up to meet each thrust, to make the sensation more powerful, to press that piercing against his own sensitive dick.
John looked down at him while their bodies moved in unison, and something burned in his eyes so similar to that need Nate felt within himself. Without saying a word, Nate reached up to tangle a hand in John’s hair and pulled him down into another hard kiss. Everything, it seemed, had been building to this moment between them. All that awkward conversation in the halls at the station, all the times their eyes had met during a broadcast, even that horrific disaster of a date — all of it, leading to this between them.
With a soft groan, John pulled back just enough to speak. “Do you want to — oh, God — move somewhere or…”
“I swear, John, if you stop doing what you’re doing I will never forgive you.” Nate slid a hand down John’s chest to pinch at one of his nipples, and the way John’s body twitched pushed him against Nate a little harder. “Fuck, it feels good when you do that.”
John didn’t so much ask for clarification as he did grunt in a questioning tone, and in response Nate brought up his hips and rested his heels on the backs of John’s thighs. The change of angle pressed John’s dick against his more fully, and Nate moaned low in his chest before breathing, “That.”
Grinning, John slid his hand along their cocks while he pushed, and Nate couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. The pleasure radiating from the superficial joining of their bodies flowed through him, threatening to drown him. He moved to meet John, his hands clawing at John’s arms and shoulders to try to pull him closer, the orgasm he so desperately wanted lingering just out of reach.
“Do it,” John panted, the arm supporting him quivering so strongly Nate could feel it in the couch cushions. “Let me see you come, Nate.”
The tone of John’s voice, that low growl that colored the words, turned out to be Nate’s undoing. He let his head fall back as he dug his fingertips into John’s shoulders, a cry tearing itself from his throat as he spurted through John’s fingers. The metal ball on the bottom of John’s dick, which had felt so wonderful while the orgasm was building, quickly became too much. It was a sublime torture, but only lasted a handful of seconds more until John’s ragged breaths built into a strangled cry of his own and another hot splash of come landed on Nate’s stomach.
John let go of them, bringing that hand up to cup to Nate’s cheek and kissing him between desperate panting breaths. After a moment he drew back, gazing down into Nate’s eyes with that sleepy, melty look Nate had often seen in other lovers.
And then, John frowned.
“… What is it?” Nate murmured, his eyebrows knitting together.
“I got…” John pulled his fingers back, holding them up for Nate. “Stuff on your face.”
Nate brought his own hand up, wiping them across his cheek and peering at them. When he noticed his fingertips glistening with their shared spunk, he let out a soft laugh. “I see. How about we get in the shower and clean up? I might forgive you for such a trespass if you help me wash off.”
Grinning, John carefully climbed up off of Nate, and held a hand out to help him up from the sofa. “I think that’s fair.”
JOHN: Hey, Dave, how did that Pistons game on Friday go?
NATE: Of course, Johnny calls our intern in, and he wasn’t even ready — whoa, Dave, be careful — so now he has to get to a mic.
DAVE: Yeah, I’m here. The Friday Pistons game? Didn’t you guys watch?
JOHN: Too much beer.
NATE: Yeah, it’s all sort of a blur.
DAVE: (with a dubious sort of tone) They won.
JOHN: Awesome. Thanks, buddy.
DAVE: You guys seem to be in good spirits for spending the whole weekend drinking.
NATE: Johnny and I know an ancient hangover cure. Can’t share it with the interns, sorry. You have to earn that sort of info.
DAVE: If you insist.
NATE: Thanks, Dave. I think they want you back now.
JOHN: Hey, move that box when you go past it. Don’t just kick it.
NATE: You’re too bossy.
While Nate packed up after the show that morning, John grinned at him from across the room. Quickly, Nate dropped his eyes, hoping not to give too much away — sure, they’d had a great time that weekend, but it was way too early to let anything on at work and it would be too easy to scare John away.
It was hard not to grin in return, though, when John walked past, clapped a hand on Nate’s shoulder, and murmured as he went by, “Wanna come over to my place tonight?”
Nate finished packing, and on his way out of the building, he bumped his shoulder against John’s and replied under his breath, “I’ll bring the condoms.”
Moltslawn Industries
After Medals
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Reconstructive Hand Surgery In Tetraplegia
Reconstructive hand surgery and upper extremity surgery, assessment, rehabilitation and outcome in tetraplegia after spinal cord injury by Professor Jan Fridén, MD, PhD and his team.
How the procedures work
Surgical Training
SAID & DONE
Tetraplegia Hand Surgery One of the Themes at BSSH Instructional Courses in Hand Surgery, Manchester, UK
The Instructional Course in Hand Surgery recently held in Manchester focused on tendon injury, paralysis and rehabilitation. This course attracted about 100 delegates from all over Europe. Multiple lectures covered surgical restoration of hand function using tendon transfer techniques for example after plexus and nerve injuries, cerebral palsy, stroke and tetraplegia. In additon to British lecturers, three international speakers were invited: Professor Jan Fridén, Sweden, Professor Marco Ritt, the Netherlands and Dr Michael Sandow, Australia. Professor Fridén presented an overview of current knowledge in tetraplegia hand surgery with emphasis on reconstructive techniques for triceps function, grip and grasp and tetraplegia with spasticity. Much of the ensuing debate dealt with strategies to increase the awareness about the new and more efficient methods among rehabilitation doctors and neurologists. Participants asked why there are such big differences in availability of surgery between different countries. No simple answer could be presented but the congress delegates agreed that everybody has a personal responsibility to spread the knowledge about the recent advances and success in tetraplegia hand surgery.
We are currently conducting a survey of patients who have had reconstructive upper limb surgery. We would like to know how you judge the result of the operations."Click here to take survey".
Welcome to the homepage of the Swedish National Center for Reconstructive Hand Surgery in Tetraplegia. This homepage provides information about current strategies to improve hand and upper extremity function by surgery and postoperative training. With more than thirty years of history and nearly 800 operations in the field of reconstructive hand surgery in tetraplegia… [read more]
The 12th Tetrahand World Congress was held at the Swiss Paraplegic Centre in Nottwil, Switzerland on 28-31 of August 2019.
Muscle of the month
The Deltoid muscle is important for positioning of the arm and particularly moving it outward i.e., moving the arm away from the body. In C5-C6 spinal cord injuries, triceps function is frequently lost or weak. Triceps function can then be restored by transferring a portion of the Deltoid into the Triceps with little or no loss of Deltoid function. This is a well-established and secure operation to restore extension of the elbow.
What are feeds?
The contributors of this web page have no commercial interest or finanical support to declare. All patients indentifiable on this web site have given their consent to appear by name or on photo.
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BREAKTHROUGH: THE IDEAS THE CHANGED THE WORLD
Air Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Time Slot: 10:00 PM-11:00 PM EST on PBS
Episode Title: (#101) "The Telescope"
VIEW ALL LISTINGS FOR BREAKTHROUGH: THE IDEAS THE CHANGED THE WORLD
10:00-11:00 PM:
*SERIES PREMIERE* BREAKTHROUGH: THE IDEAS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD "The Telescope" (BREI) (#101) (TV-PG)
Look back in time to see how humans invented the telescope and used it to discover the universe.
BREAKTHROUGH: THE IDEAS THE CHANGED THE WORLD (PBS)
4/17/19 - ???
on hiatus or fate to be determined
CURRENT SEASON:
1 (6 episodes)
Missed an episode? Been wanting to catch up? This series is also available on:
completed airing its first season on 5/22/19; has yet to be renewed for a second season
(from PBS's press release, November 2018) Hear the amazing story of how visionaries changed the world forever, told through six iconic inventions that the modern world takes for granted.
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Home Movie Reviews Joshy (2016) Blu-ray Review
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Joshy (2016) Blu-ray Review
written by Dusty Stokes October 27, 2016
Hulu and Lionsgate have partnered up to bring us Joshy on Blu-ray starring Thomas Middleditch and Nick Kroll. Also featuring an appearance of Aubrey Plaza, this film was billed as a comedic boys weekend of debauchery to cheer up a friend’s suddenly canceled wedding, but is that really what this movie is about?
The Movie Itself (2/5)
The trailer for Joshy shows a wild and crazy weekend get together for a group of guys who are trying to keep their buddy afloat after his wedding gets canceled. The music and tone of the trailer suggests that this movie may be something akin to a somewhat muted Hangover style of craziness.
While in reality, the movie does feature some crazy situations involving drugs, alcohol, and women, this movie is not nearly the fun loving experience that you may be going into it expecting.
To start the film off and to set the mood, we quickly learn that Joshy’s wedding was canceled not due to cold feet or anything of the like, but rather the death of his fiancee by strangulation with his belt. He comes home from a workout to find his darling asphyxiated hanging off the door… things just get darker for him from there on out.
We learn that the deposit he placed on a cabin for the wedding cannot be returned, so off he goes with a group of buddies in hopes to bring a little cheer back into his life.
Once the group gathers together, we quickly can see a trainwreck in progress. Each of these men have a different idea of what the weekend will hold and each has their own issues to work on. We have Ari, who has marriage issues of his own he just wants Joshy to have a good time. There is Adam, who is awkward as hell and had a recent breakup, he wants to console and commiserate with Joshy, while Greg, is only around for a bachelor party. Lastly Eric, the man with all the plans, who aims to keep the weekend moving and do everything he can to keep Joshy’s mind off of his former partner.
Along the way the crew meets a group of women who confuse, confound, and only seem to make matters worse. We find ourselves going through a series of situations that take place over the course of the weekend. there are many failed attempts at keeping their minds off of their issues, all while failing to opening acknowledge them to themselves or others.
Ultimately, the arrival of Joshy’s would be inlaws for a quick check up/accusation finally sets him off and we see the emotion that he’s been penning up the whole time. This is what the movie has been building up to and unfortunately, it gets glazed over almost too quickly. The last night in the lodge is spent with the group actually opening up to each other and enjoying their time together as they play this ridiculously complicated board game. It is the therapy that you were hoping Joshy would get, and the bulk of the growth and closure for all characters…
…except that it ends in the morning. Everyone packs up and they all say goodbye and go back to their problems. At least that is what I took away from the ending. I was really hoping for more, but we see the ending credits just too soon.
Apart from the story being somewhat dissatisfying, the acting is done quite well. Middleditch plays the awkward role like he was born to do so, and each of his friends play their part equally convincingly. If you’re looking for an awkward and dark comedy, this may just well be up your alley. If not, then maybe I would recommend renting before buying.
Visuals/Picture Quality (4/5)
The majority of this film is spent in pretty boring locations, often in low lighting with lots of darker shades of coloring. While this sets the tone fairly well, it doesn’t translate to exciting visuals. That isn’t to say this isn’t a good looking film – just not a lot of awe inspiring moments to be had. There’s a lot of detail, the blacks are pretty deep, and when the scenes are well lit, the clarity is great. These scenes are just fewer in number.
Score/Audio Quality (4/5)
Joshy is almost entirely dialog driven, with a lot of time spent with multiple characters talking at once. The audio track (a DTS Master-Audio 5.1 track to be exact) handles all of this well, and I never missed a word, even during some of the shouting matches that take place. There is some decent ambient sounds in some scenes, but overall, this movie sounds about as good as it looks, pretty decent but not exciting. The movie is more about character interactions than anything else, so this makes sense.
Special Features (1.5/5)
The only included special feature is an audio commentary with the Writer/Director Jeff Baena, Producer/Actor Adam Pally, and Actor Thomas Middleditch. While some may enjoy this addition, it didn’t draw me in, although it is fairly informative.
Packaging (3/5)
Lionsgate has released this Blu-ray in an eco case with a sleeve with art on one side and a matching slipcover and disc art. Also included in the packaging is an insert with the UV code for a digital copy.
Joshy Overall (3/5)
Joshy was possibly presented in it’s trailers as something that it is not, which ultimately hindered the experience for me. It’s an awkward film with an awkward group of characters who do awkward things over the course of a weekend. It is somewhat entertaining, in a dark way and may be worth your time, but I recommend renting/streaming before buying.
You can pick it up here.
Note: This Blu-ray was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgement or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process.
Joshy (2016) Blu-ray Review was last modified: February 10th, 2018 by Dusty Stokes
Blu-rayComedyDramaLionsgateThomas Middleditch
Dusty Stokes
Life long gamer and all around nerd, Dusty "DustimusPrime" Stokes started up the site to teach himself the finer parts of making a website. It's since turned into so much more than that, and he couldn't be more happy.
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Dallas Stars News
Benn, Spezza and Seguin must be better if the Stars want to 'change the story' on this season (blog) according to Dallas News. Benn had surgery on a core muscle in the summer, Seguin hurt his heel in the World Cup of Hockey and Spezza has had two muscle injuries in his legs. Still, they are getting the most ice time on most nights and have battled through injuries in the past.
Is Dallas back to playing 'Stars hockey?' And what does that even mean anymore? according to Dallas News. DALLAS, TX - DECEMBER 13: Dan Hamhuis #2 and Adam Cracknell #27 of the Dallas Stars celebrate a goal against the Anaheim Ducks in the third period at American Airlines Center on December 13, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty.
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Liar & Spy
Title: Liar & Spy
Author: Rebecca Stead
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication Date: August 7th, 2012
Genre/Format: Realistic Fiction/Novel
Goodreads Summary: When seventh grader Georges (the S is silent) moves into a Brooklyn apartment building, he meets Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy. Georges becomes Safer's first spy recruit. His assignment? Tracking the mysterious Mr. X, who lives in the apartment upstairs. But as Safer becomes more demanding, Georges starts to wonder: how far is too far to go for your only friend?
Liar & Spy is an inspired, often-funny story about destiny, goofy brilliance, and courage. Like Stead's Newbery Medal-winning When You Reach Me, it will keep readers guessing until the end.
What Jen Thinks: I love Rebecca Stead's writing. I enjoyed it in When You Reach Me and have read First Light, as well. I just recommended First Light as a contemporary science fiction actually. I just love how lyrical her writing is. When she writes about the characters and the places they go, she seems to have a perfect blend and mix of how she describes them. It's hard to describe...I just know I love it.
Similarly to When You Reach Me, Stead takes readers on an unknown adventure with Liar and Spy. Having read When You Reach Me, I kept thinking and wondering and trying my hardest to figure out how she was going to surprise readers at the end...or if she was even going to! I think it's easy to get caught up in the wonderful characters and how they interact and their problems and to put aside the idea of something larger looming in the future of the story. That might be the brilliance of Rebecca Stead. Sure, we know somehow there is something not quite right, but at the same time, there is so much going on between George and school and his relationship with his dad and his new friend, Safer, that there isn't much time to spend dwelling on what part of the story we aren't being told. It just makes me want to smile and shake my head that she is able to pull this off. To me, it's a feat of an awesome author. Bravo!
What Kellee Thinks: Georges doesn't really enjoy school, because even his ex-best friend doesn't really associate with him. On top of that, his family has had to sell their home and move to an apartment because his architecture dad lost his job meaning his mother is always at the hospital working doubles. All Georges wants right now is something good to happen (and maybe a distraction) and Safer is exactly what the doctor ordered. Safer, a 12 year old home schooled boy who lives in his new apartment complex, is the founder of the Spy Club and it is now up to Georges and Safer to find out what is really going on in the apartment. The reader will also want to find out what happens to Georges at school where the bullying is just getting out of control.
This book is a great book of friendship, family and a proclamation that being different doesn't mean you have to be alone.
Rebecca Stead is a master at telling stories that are not what they seem at the beginning. Just like When You Reach Me, Liar & Spy is a mystery where clues are revealed slowly throughout the book.
Also, I love when art is integrated in a book and Rebecca Stead does it beautifully in this one. Georges was named after George Seurat because his mother loves Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" (they even have a print of it hung up in their living room). She says that we are all just dots of a bigger, beautiful picture just liked Seurat's artwork. The Seaurat print (or Sir Ott as Georges says) becomes a character in itself when it becomes a confidant of Georges on nights when he is home alone.
Oh, and I truly love this character- Bob English Who Draws- in the book. He is Georges's science partner and is quite the character. His spelling ideas are very interesting...
Read Together: Grades 4 - 7
Read Alone: Grades 4 - 8
Read With: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, Lemonade War (series) by Jacqueline Davies, See You At Harry's by Jo Knowles, Pie by Sarah Weeks, Capture the Flag by Kate Messner, Chase Against Time by Steve Reifman, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Snatch of Text: "I think of all those thousands of dots Seurat used to paint the picture. I think about how if you stand back from the painting, you can see the people, the green grass and the cute monkey on a leash, but if you get closer, the monkey kind of dissolves right in front of your eyes. Like Mom says, life is a million different dots making one gigantic picture. And maybe the big picture is nice, maybe it's amazing, but if you're standing with your face pressed up against a bunch of black dots, it's really hard to tell." (Read on Kindle, page numbers unavailable)
Mentor Text For: Dialogue, Predicting, Characterization
Writing Prompts: Write about a time in your life when you felt all alone - maybe when you felt like no one could understand how you were feeling or you felt like you couldn't talk to anyone about how you were feeling. How did you deal with the situation? Did you finally confide in someone?
Topics Covered: Art, Bullying, Friendship, Spelling, Family, Fitting in, Economy, Love, Denial, Adversity, Self-Confidence, Courage
Jen and Kellee*heart* It:
Posted by Jen Vincent at August 07, 2012
Labels: Characterization, Fiction, Narrative, Predicting
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above K'UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH
below K'UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH
This hexagram is made up of broken lines only. The broken lines represents the dark, yielding, receptive primal power of yin. The attribute of the hexagram is devotion; its image is the earth. It is the perfect complement of THE CREATIVE--the complement, not the opposite, for the Receptive does not combat the Creative but completes it . It represents nature in contrast to spirit, earth in contrast to heaven, space as against time, the female-maternal as against the male-paternal. However, as applied to human affairs, the principle of this complementary relationship is found not only in the relation between man and woman, but also in that between prince and minister and between father and son. Indeed, even in the individual this duality appears in the coexistence of the spiritual world and the world of the senses. But strictly speaking there is no real dualism here, because there is a clearly defined hierarchic relationship between the two principles. In itself of course the Receptive is just as important as the Creative, but the attribute of devotion defines the place occupied by this primal power in relation to the Creative. For the Receptive must be activated and led by the Creative; then it is productive of good. Only when it abandons this position and tries to stand as an equal side by side with the Creative, does it become evil. The result then is opposition to and struggle against the Creative, which is productive of evil to both.
THE RECEPTIVE brings about sublime success,
Furthering through the perseverance of a mare.
If the superior man undertakes something and tries to lead,
He goes astray;
But if he follows, he finds guidance.
It is favorable to find friends in the west and south,
To forego friends in the east and north.
Quiet perseverance brings good fortune.
The four fundamental aspects of the Creative--"sublime success, furthering through perseverance"--are also attributed to the Receptive. Here, however, the perseverance is more closely defined: it is that of a mare. The Receptive connotes spatial reality in contrast to the spiritual potentiality of the Creative. The potential becomes real and the spiritual becomes spatial through a specifically qualifying definition. Thus the qualification, "of a mare," is here added to the idea of perseverance. The horse belongs to earth just as the dragon belongs to heaven. Its tireless roaming over the plains is taken as a symbol of the vast expanse of the earth. This is the symbol chosen because the mare combines the strength and swiftness of the horse with the gentleness and devotion of the cow. Only because nature in its myriad forms corresponds with the myriad impulses of the Creative can it make these impulses real. Nature's richness lies in its power to nourish all living things; its greatness lies in its power to give then beauty and splendor. Thus it prospers all that lives. IT is the Creative that begets things, but they are brought to birth by the Receptive. Applied to human affairs, therefore, what the hexagram indicated is action in conformity with the situation. The person in questions not in an independent position, but is acting as an assistant. This means that he must achieve something. It is not his task to try to lead--that would only make him lose the way-but to let himself be led. If he knows how to meet fate with an attitude of acceptance, he is sure to find the right guidance. The superior man lets himself be guided; he does not go ahead blindly, but learns from the situation what is demanded of him and then follows this intimation from fate. Since there is something to be accomplished, we need friends and helpers in the hour of toil and effort, once the ideas to be realized are firmly set. The time of toil and effort is indicated by the west and south, for west and south symbolize the place where the Receptive works for the Creative, as nature does in summer and autumn. If in that situation one does not mobilize all one's powers, the work to be accomplished will not be done. Hence to find friends there means to find guidance. But in addition to the time of toil and effort, there is also a time of planning, and for this we need this solitude. The east symbolized the place where a man receives orders from his master, and the north the place where he reports on what he has done. At that time he must be alone and objective. In this sacred hour he must do without companions. So that the purity of the moment may not be spoiled by fictional hates and favoritism.
The earth's condition is receptive devotion.
Thus the superior man who has breadth of character
Carries the outer world.
Just as there is only one heaven, so too there is only one earth. In the hexagram of heaven the doubling of the trigram implies duration in time, but in the hexagram of earth the doubling connotes the solidity and extension in space by virtue of which the earth is able to carry and preserve all things that live and move upon it. The earth in its devotion carries all things, good and evil,, without exception. In the same way the superior man gives to his character breadth, purity, and sustaining power, so that he is able both to support and to bear with people and things.
THE LINES
Six at the beginning means:
When there is hoarfrost underfoot,
Solid ice is not far off.
Just as the light-giving power represents life, so the dark power, the shadowy, represents death. When the first hoarfrost comes in the autumn, the power of darkness and cold is just at its beginning. After these first warnings, signs of death will gradually multiply, until, in obedience to immutable laws, stark winter with its ice is here. In life it is the same. After certain scarcely noticeable signs of decay have appeared, they go on increasing until final dissolution comes. But in life precautions can be taken by heeding the first signs of decay and checking them in time.
Six in the second place means:
Straight, square, great.
Without purpose,
Yet nothing remains unfurthered.
The symbol of heaven is the circle, and that of earth is the square. Thus squareness is a primary quality of the earth. On the other hand, movement in a straight line, as well as magnitude, is a primary quality of the Creative. But all square things have their origin in a straight line and into turn form solid bodies. In mathematics, when we discriminate between lines, planes and solids, we find that rectangular planes result from straight lines, and cubic magnitudes from rectangular planes. The Receptive accommodates itself to the qualities of the Creative and makes them its own. Thus a square develops out of a straight line and a cube out of a square. This is compliance with the laws of the Creative; nothing is taken away, nothing added. Therefore the Receptive has no need of a special purpose of its own, nor of any effort' yet everything turns out as it should. Nature creates all beings without erring: this is its foursquareness. It tolerates all creatures equally: this is its greatness. Therefore it attains what is right for all without artifice or special intentions. Man achieves the height of wisdom when all that he does is as self-evident as what nature does.
Six in the third place means:
Hidden lines.
One is able to remain persevering.
If by chance you are in the service of a king,
Seek not works, but bring to completion.
If a man is free of vanity he is able to conceal his abilities and keep them from attracting attention too soon; thus he can mature undisturbed. If conditions demand it, he can also enter public life, but that too he does with restraint. The wise man gladly leaves fame to others. He does not seek to have credited to himself things that stand accomplished, but hopes to release active forces; that is, he completes his works in such a manner that they may bear fruit for the future.
Six in the fourth place means:
A tied-up sack. No blame, no praise.
The dark element opens when it moves and closes when at rest. The strictest reticence is indicated here. The time is dangerous , because any degree of prominence leads either to the enmity of irresistible antagonists if one challenges them or to misconceived recognition if one is complaisant. Therefore a man ought to maintain reserve, be it in solitude or in the turmoil of the world, for there too he can hide himself so well that no one knows him.
Six in the fifth place means:
A yellow lower garment brings supreme good fortune.
Yellow is the color of the earth and of the middle; it is the symbol of that which is reliable and genuine. The lower garment is inconspicuously decorated--the symbol of aristocratic reserve. When anyone is called upon to work in a prominent but not independent position, true success depends on the utmost discretion. A man's genuineness and refinement should not reveal themselves directly; they should express themselves only indirectly as an effect from within.
Six at the top means:
Dragons fight in the meadow.
Their blood is black and yellow.
In the top place the dark element should yield to the light. If it attempts to maintain a position to which it is not entitled and to rule instead of serving, it draws down upon itself the anger of the strong. A struggle ensues in which it is overthrown, with injury, however, to both sides. The dragon, symbol of heaven, comes to fight the false dragon that symbolized the inflation of the earth principle. Midnight blue is the color of heaven; yellow is the color of earth. Therefore, when black and yellow blood flow, it is a sign that in this unnatural contest both primal powers suffer injury.
When all the lines are sixes, it means:
Lasting perseverance furthers.
When nothing but sixes appears, the hexagram of THE RECEPTIVE changes into the hexagram of THE CREATIVE. By holding fast to what is right, it gains the power of enduring. There is indeed no advance, but neither is there retrogression
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Entertainment: What’s on in Blacktown
Rude returns
Comedian Rodney Keft, aka Rodney Rude, is back on the road with his newest show, Wrong Hole Tour, which he will perform at Blacktown RSL Club on Saturday, October 5, from 8pm.
Keft said audiences could expect a show that pushes all boundaries.
■ Details: castlehillrsl苏州美甲美睫培训.au.
Jokes aplenty
Comedian Rod Gregory, aka The Old Fella, will perform at Blacktown Workers Club on Saturday, October 5. The 60-minute show will include up to 56 jokes. Tickets cost $25 for visitors and $22 for members.
■ Details: 9830 0300 or bwcl苏州美甲美睫培训.au.
Bands to battle
Dural Country Club is searching for Australia’s next big music act in their Battle of the Bands competition. The club has enlisted Oxygen Music Group and producers Rick Will and Nat Love to record, produce, mix and master the winner’s EP. The prize is valued at more than $15,000. The competition is open to all bands from all styles and all ages.
■ Details: Wayne Kalil, 0487 850 743.
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CityLab: How Houston's Bus Network Got Its Groove Back
A short documentary gets viewers up to speed on the system’s overnight transformation.
LAURA BLISS
@mslaurabliss
Not long ago, Houston’s bus service befit a version of the city out of the 1950s. Despite decades of decentralized urban growth, most bus lines still zig-zagged into one small section of the downtown core, where only 25 percent of the region’s jobs are located. Route redundancies were rampant. And despite the all-day transit needs of university students and low-income riders, frequent service (meaning buses arriving every 15 minutes or faster) was mostly limited to weekday rush hours.
But as a new short documentary from Streetfilms recounts, one Sunday morning in August 2015, Houstonians awoke to a completely re-envisioned system—the first that the Metropolitan Transit Agency had undertaken in four decades. A less redundant, more grid-like network of routes “vastly expanded the reach of frequent service” and offered all-day, all-week service on several key lines, according to Human Transit’s Jarrett Walker, who worked with the city as a consultant on the redesign. Houston Metro was able to transform the system largely by trimming and tightening unnecessary routes, with no significant additional costs. The original before-and-after network maps are fairly breath-taking:
One fact the film excludes about the city’s huge overhaul is that, inevitably, not all Houstonians were or are supporters. Because transit officials focused on cutting redundant bus service with low ridership to open up capacity for heavier-use lines, some riders saw their walks to the bus stop get a little longer. “[W]hy take away what people are doing now that's working fine?" one frustrated rider wondered to the Houston Chronicle in August.
But so far the data suggest that the changes, even with their pain points, were worth it. “The early results are looking really good,” Christof Spieler, secretary of the board at Houston Metro, tells Streetfilms. Weekend ridership leapt up virtually immediately, as did numbers on Houston’s light rail system thanks to more complementary bus routes. By the third month of service, local ridership was up 8 percent. And transit experts believe that more people are poised to discover the new system as the months and years roll on, bumping up ridership more over time.
“Every city should do a ‘system reimagining’ of their bus network,” writesStreetfilms. And some are: L.A., with the second-largest bus fleet in North America, is considering following Houston’s lead.
(Source: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/04/how-houstons-bus-network-got-its-groove-back/476784/?utm_source=nl__link4_040516)
Posted by Greg Justice at 17:20
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This Dumb Industry: Violence and Science Fiction
By Shamus Posted Tuesday Feb 6, 2018
Filed under: Column 277 comments
The Death of Half-Life 3Previous Post
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Mr. BTongue (also known as Bob Case around these parts) just released a new video on videogame violence as a follow-up to his first video on videogame violence. This new video pokes at some longstanding flame wars regarding the American military, politics in games, the supposed obligations of artists to the societies they operate in, and diversity. But it’s also got some stuff about The Iliad in it and that’s always fun:
Link (YouTube)
I’m wary of pulling on any of the threads in his video. I think there are a lot of interesting discussions to be had here, but this ain’t my first visit to the internet. I know that before we even get started we’ll end up with some partisan announcing, “I HAVE STRONG OPINIONS ON AMERICA AND THE MILITARY AND I’M GOING TO MAKE YOU AGREE WITH ME BY DROWNING YOU IN OUTRAGE AND LINKS TO SOURCES IDEOLOGICALLY ALIGNED WITH MY POSITION.” And then we’ll end up in the same old Red vs. Blue ditch where all internet discussions go to die. As usual, a few people ruin it for the rest of us.
So let’s just skate past that stuff and talk about…
Spec Ops: The Line: The Discussion: The Return
It’s funny that Btongue brings up Spec Ops: The Line now, since we were just talking about it in the comments of the most recent post of Wolfenstein II. Some people disliked the game. In their view, the game traps you in contrived scenarios where you only have one option and many seemingly reasonable alternatives aren’t available. Then it turns around and condemns you for those actions, and seems to condemn you for wanting to play the game in the first place. I really liked the game, but I also understand where the critics are coming from.
Is the game really condemning the player, or just genre conventions? At some point we’ll end up in a quagmire arguing about authorial intent, but I don’t think the position of “the game is hostile to the player” is an unreasonable reading of things. The game even pointedly introduces you, the player, as part of the opening credits.
Gosh, thanks Spec Ops. I really feel like part of the team now.
So when the game starts chiding the protagonist for “wanting to be a hero”, it’s not hard to see that this condemnation might also be aimed at whomever is holding the controller. And this rubs people the wrong way because it makes all sorts of assumptions about how the player views the game.
I enjoy jumping the curb and running over people in Grand Theft Auto. That doesn’t mean I want to do that in real life or that I don’t know it’s wrong. I enjoy punching bad guys in the face as Batman, even though I’m fully aware that vigilantism is a terrible idea in practice. I’d be pretty pissed off if I started up a Batman game and the developers spent the whole time sneering at me and insinuating I’m some sort of violent thug because I enjoy being Batman.
Just like Batman exists in a world where Bat-themed vigilantism is a viable solution to crime, military shooters often exist in a world where military conflicts are simple good vs. evil, the lines are clear, and you can make the world a better place by shooting all the bad people. No, the real world doesn’t work that way, but that’s what makes this an escapist fantasy. I actually enjoy SOTL’s deconstruction of the genre, but I can’t really fault people who signed on for something else and didn’t like what they got.
The developers (seem to) have the position that people who enjoy typical military shooters are all sheeple:
"None of you actually THINK about the games you’re playing. You’re just mindlessly gunning down dudes."
And I’m sure that’s true for some segment of the fanbase. But I’m betting lots of people who enjoy these games have the introspection to recognize them for what they are and realize the real world doesn’t work this way. And for them the rhetorical position of SOTL comes off as presumptuous, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and unfair.
If nothing else I liked SOTL just for being different. If all shooters were grimdark “Apocalypse Now” styled explorations of no-win scenarios and we suddenly got a one-off game where you get to play as a righteous hero in a conflict that has clear sides and an unambiguous bad guy then I’d probably celebrate its novelty as well. “Finally! A game that understands we’re here to have fun!”
We Could Use More Science Fiction Right About Now
No. Wrong. You're doing it wrong.
Personally, I’d much rather they tore the labels off of things by placing their story in a sci-fi setting where we can consider whatever the point the game is trying to make without getting caught up in what political tribe the game is coming from. Rather than argue that games should advocate Ideology A or Group B, just take whatever part of that debate you want to talk about and transplant it somewhere that isn’t going to map to the American Red / Blue paradigm.
But I guess the public prefers the “realism” of modern settings. This traps writers into using existing armies for their shooters, which means reducing complex geopolitical conflicts into good guys vs. bad guys. And if you’re doing that, then it seems financially smart to make the home country of your biggest customer base the explicit good guys, and make villains of some small country that would never buy your game anyway. People refer to Call of Duty as “Propaganda”, but this implies a deliberate attempt to spread a particular view or manipulate public opinion. Having casually played a couple of these games, to me they come off as more pandering than propaganda. That doesn’t make it any more acceptable to people that dislike the designer’s rhetorical position about who the bad guys are, but I think the distinction is still important.
On the other hand, does the public really prefer “real world” settings, or has the industry just been bad at creating science fiction? It’s hard to tell public preferences from creative inertia, particularly since AAA publishers are obsessed with chasing trends in a way that entrenches familiar ideas. I know one of the big tentpole shooters went to space recently, but it was still space over Earth with the familiar roster of Earth-based armies. If you really want to get out of the shadow of the Red v. Blue fight then you need to go to a world where they’ve never heard of America. (Or so far in the future that they no longer care.)
This would be a win for me as well. I’d love to have the debate of “Did the Alliance actually bring peace to the Jondar homeworld or was that just an excuse to exploit their natural supply of quantum crystals? And even if they were there to take the crystals, wasn’t that kind of justified considering the external threat proposed by the Khildar Dominion?” Sure, people that like to argue about partisan politics will try to map this to the real world so they can write snarky clickbait think-pieces, but (assuming the writer did their job) an honest reading of the world will prevent a simplistic mapping of that world onto this one and we’ll all be obliged to consider the setting on its own terms without worrying about which team represents “our” party.
Okay, I really dig this world. But the shooting is just terrible.
The other benefit to sci-fi settings is the availability of “Orcs”. Shooter gameplay requires you to shoot a lot of dudes. This isn’t necessarily a problem if the game is comedic or overtly bombastic in tone, but the closer we get towards “realism” – the more straight-faced and somber the work tries to be – the more people will naturally see the world through a more realistic lens. If you’re fighting in a “realistic” modern-day setting, then once your body count hits the triple digits it’s hard to not look at what you’re doing and start wondering if all of this death is necessary. Sure, the bad guys need to be defeated. But don’t some of these guys have families? Aren’t they just human beings that have been brainwashed by the bad guys? Maybe these guys are conscripts who have no choice but to fight. Maybe they’ve been lied to their entire lives. Maybe they don’t really hate me but they had to sign up for the military to feed their families. Suddenly I’m not feeling very heroic. Even if I really am making the world an objectively better place in the end, it’s still a crappy job to mow down these poor slobs.
But in a sci-fi world we can create a strawman villain explicitly to facilitate gameplay. They can be bloodthirsty space-Orks that have no redeeming qualities. They can be robots. They can be insane bloodthirsty cannibal psycho killers. They can be vat-grown super-soldiers with no other dreams or aspirations in life except to kill. They can be a multi-racial band of cruel pirates or cultists so it doesn’t feel like the writer is singling out a real-world group. Or maybe they’re inter-dimensional demons of pure evil. Once we take a step or two away from realism we can facilitate copious amounts of fun shooting without turning one group of real-world humans into cannon fodder. Some people will still dislike the focus on violence, but that’s fine. Those people probably aren’t into shooters anyway.
Wait, Wasn’t This Supposed to Be About Violence?
One final thing I’ll add is that I think Campster hit on an important point back in 2012 when he made the case that violence-based gameplay isn’t just a creative habit, but also a natural result of having a computer running the game. Computers are good at simulating physical conflict and bad at simulating (say) dramatic conflict:
Campster’s explanation is kind of depressing because it’s harder to see a solution. Computers aren’t about to get any better at running a tabletop-style roleplaying session. AI is making huge strides, but I don’t think we’re anywhere near the point where your home computer can hold up a conversation that isn’t constructed from a canned dialog tree imposed by a writer. And even if we solved that problem, we don’t have the means to have the AI perform that dialog like a proper actor. Thus violent conflict can be resolved using formal rules that the player can master, and dialog-based conflict is still trapped in the “Choose Your Own Adventure” model of guessing your way through a tree of predetermined choices. Violence wins because it suits the hardware.
Sure, you can come up with games that aren’t centered on violent conflict. We’ve got The Sims, Cities Skylines, Crusader Kings, Rollercoaster TycoonYes, there are occasionally violent exceptions to the normal gameplay., Papers Please, The Witness, and hundreds of other games with no violence, or where violence is only a small part of the experience and often not directly controlled by the player. And many of those games sell incredibly well. But a lot of the really big flagship titles are still built on shooting and stabbing, and I doubt that will change anytime soon. The hardware is well-suited to that sort of thing, and so that’s what gets made.
Just make a little more of it with Sci-fi, okay? Right now sci-fi fans have to pin all their hopes on BioWare, and that doesn’t seem to be working out.
[1] Yes, there are occasionally violent exceptions to the normal gameplay.
Overthinking Zombies
Let's ruin everyone's fun by listing all the ways in which zombies can't work, couldn't happen, and don't make sense.
Trusting the System
How do you know the rules of the game are what the game claims? More importantly, how do the DEVELOPERS know?
DM of the Rings
Both a celebration and an evisceration of tabletop roleplaying games, by twisting the Lord of the Rings films into a D&D game.
If Star Wars Was Made in 2006?
Imagine if the original Star Wars hadn't appeared in the 1970's, but instead was pitched to studios in 2006. How would that turn out?
Tenpenny Tower
Bethesda felt the need to jam a morality system into Fallout 3, and they blew it. Good and evil make no sense and the moral compass points sideways.
277 thoughts on “This Dumb Industry: Violence and Science Fiction”
Matt van Riel says:
Tuesday Feb 6, 2018 at 6:38 am
“Right now sci-fi fans have to pin all their hopes on BioWare, and that doesn’t seem to be working out.”
lol… anyone doing that will get burned. Bioware’s done at this point, they’ll be the next big profile shut down for EA simply because not only is it impossible to hit whatever ridiculous expectations EA have for the game, it’s also a Destiny-inspired game… when Destiny is busy going down in flames itself.
Maybe the idiots at EA should stop chasing others’ ideas and try coming up with their own. I wonder who they’ll try and acquire next so they don’t have to… Bluehole, perhaps? Heh.
Galacticplumber says:
I mean, to be fair, any given AAA studio with proper shooter experience could make a game with similar ideas and do well on the grounds that the reason the current version is going the way of the dumpster fire is due to horrid business practices. It was a promising game with promising ideas that turned INTO a shitshow. Just do the same thing without that last part.
ulrichomega says:
Tuesday Feb 6, 2018 at 11:09 am
Luckily this is EA we’re talking about, so there’s not worry about that.
Granted, if you’re looking for sci-fi shooters, you’ve also got Destiny, Halo, Quantum Break, DOOM, Gears of War, Overwatch and Titanfall just in recent memory. It hasn’t been all that long since Killzone, Crysis, Resistance and Dead Space, either. One-offs like Bulletstorm, Hard Reset, Singularity, Binary Domain and Vanquish come and go. You’ve even got your post-apocalypses covered with Fallout 4 and Horizon Zero Dawn as long as you can dig some RPG elements.
It’s just, none of them do nearly as well as Call of Duty. And even that series isn’t what it used to be. Modern Warfare 3 apparently did 30 million in sales. Infinite Warfare and WW2 “only” did 12. Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds kinda seems to have taken up that torch, having sold 24 million.
BlueBlazeSpear says:
I was hoping that it wouldn’t be true; that Bioware wouldn’t be the next body tossed on the official EA corpse pile. But Anthem isn’t exactly inspiring confidence.
I’ve been troubled by the Kotaku article that suggests that Anthem is Bioware’s make-or-break moment. The implication being that EA is holding Bioware hostage and if we don’t cough up $60 for Anthem, we’ll also lose Mass Effect and Dragon Age along with everything else that once made Bioware great.
But the reality is that is Anthem sells well, the only thing that it buys us is more Anthem and Anthem-like games. That’s not what I want from Bioware. I don’t want MMO Action RPG game-as-service Shooters from them. I want a deep story and engaging characters. And every indication is that that’s gone forever whether Anthem fails or not.
Ninety-Three says:
A week or so ago it occurred to me that if Anthem fails, it could kill Bioware. Then I realized the thought was giving me the warm fuzzies. Their entire studio direction has been moving firmly towards the 100-hour collectathon full of empty “content” and they’re making noises about how they want DA4 to be even more of a zillion-hour game-as-service affair. As for Mass Effect… well they abandoned the setting, Andromeda and swaths of 3 suggest the writers have lost their touch, and the shooting was never exactly great. Bioware doesn’t have any hostages, everything that made them great to me is already gone.
If Bioware dies, some of those developers will move on to other companies, and maybe their productivity will end up put towards games I care more about. At this point it’d be hard for me to care less.
My wife’s been a long-time Bioware game fan and this reminds me very much of her hot take on the situation. She played roughly the first hour of Andromeda and gave up playing it, proclaiming that Bioware was already dead. And I can’t dismiss the notion.
Her read on the situation is that it’s probably in the best interest of gamers and future video games that Anthem actually fails instead of succeeds. It would free up the people who were making good Bioware games to go somewhere else and maybe start making good games again, and perhaps even send the bigger message to game makers/publishers that Anthem and its ilk aren’t what gamers necessarily want. I’d say that this view is optimistic, but I can’t say it’s “wrong.”
Liessa says:
Tuesday Feb 6, 2018 at 7:36 pm
I feel pretty much the same way, sadly. On the one hand, obviously I don’t want people to lose their jobs. On the other… I have no interest in Anthem, none whatsoever, and it’s obvious that Bioware are never again going to make the kind of games I like with EA breathing down their necks. If Anthem were to fail, maybe the talented people at Bioware (or what’s left of them) could go and form their own studio or something, and start making more traditional RPGs again.
…Or maybe not. Watching how their games have developed over the past few years, I get the feeling there’s been a distinct cultural shift at Bioware, and I don’t think all of that is to do with EA. I got into Bioware RPGs around the KOTOR / Mass Effect 1 era, and I’m honestly not sure whether there’s anyone left who even wants to make those kinds of games any more.
Zaxares says:
Wednesday Feb 7, 2018 at 6:12 am
I came to a similar conclusion a few years back. I think the turning point was basically somewhere between ME1 and ME2, and it was exacerbated by the two founders David Gaider and Greg Zeschuk leaving the company. Corporate culture is ALWAYS derived from the leaders, and with them gone, the company will slowly start to adopt the ethics and attitudes of whoever is the new person in charge.
It’s indeed a tragic state of affairs, but also one that I’ve seen play out over and over. The only thing we can do as consumers is look for whichever up and coming studio is making the new enthralling story-driven RPGs, and with our support, make them into the next Bioware.
Bloodsquirrel says:
I’ve long since given up on Bioware. When DAII was being launched it was easier to think that a big enough backlash could push them back into another direction, but at this point it’s clear that Bioware just isn’t interested in making actual RPGs anymore, and no longer even has anyone working there who has the sense of what the audience wants in one. They want to make action games interspersed with dialog trees, and those dialog trees are only a technicality away from being cutscenes.
It would just be silly at this point to continue to bemoan their newest projects for not being Baldur’s Gate. They’re no more the company that made that game than they are the company that made Halo. They’re a completely different studio, and deserve completely different expectations. They can go ahead and make a mediocre version of Destiny if they like. It doesn’t matter. They just aren’t capable of making the kind of games that I used to enjoy, so why bother asking them to?
Teddy McCormick says:
I think the reality of the situation is a lot sadder than you think. There are tons of people at Bioware who want to make actual RPGs, they’re desperate for it. But they have to make what their boss tells them to make, and the boss has to make what will make EA happy, and actual RPGs don’t make EA happy.
My mother-in-law worked at a game developer from a bit before EA bought it, up until shortly before EA shut it down; she saw the whole process. Her studio went into it thinking they could still be themselves, just with EA’s money behind them, but EA wound up with more control than the studio had expected. Then before they know it, they’re making all these terrible choices that they know are terrible choices but were handed down directly from above. They would try to do something gamer-friendly, but EA would get mad at them for it, and they’d have to change it. They would try to do something original, but EA would get mad at them, and they’d have to copy whatever was hot that week. She went from loving her job to being miserable.
The worst part is knowing that they were right and EA was wrong about all those choices – because, you know, the studio shut down. Like, if they’d at least made bank they could’ve been like, “Well, EA knows what they’re doing.” But they have even less of an idea what they’re doing than it looks from the outside – and the outside view doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Redrock says:
When we talk about Bioware, the question remains: why not leave? It wasn’t a viable question a few years ago, because finding a job in this market is tough. But today? Imagine, a new indie studio founded by ex-Bioware developers announces a Kickstarter for a new, original story-driven RPG. We see that Obsidian is doing well, Larian is doing well, inXile is doing well. Hell, I think Obsidian and inXile could hire quite a lot of Bioware refugees if they turned up.
So I don’t think that Bioware’s developers are really trapped by the vicious EA. Maybe they genuinely want to make Anthem. All in all, with the rise of indie cRPGs in recent years, I can’t say I actually miss the Bioware of old all that much.
I’m not sure if it’s true that there’s anyone who wants to make RPG’s at Bioware anymore. There were certainly there once… but so many of the Bioware vets left already.
djw says:
That’s fine. I am more than willing to say farewell to both Dragon Age and Mass Effect. I enjoyed both of them at the beginning, but I don’t trust Bioware and/or EA to make any more good games in that series anyway.
I’ll buy Anthem if its good, but not until its $20 (even if that means a 5 year wait).
Durrican says:
Dragon Age Origins was an amazing game, and it gave me a satisfying ending that showed me the consequences of my choices thoughout. It didn’t leave me feeling I wanted a sequel, but rather that I wanted to replay it to experience the alternatives. Maybe I’m the exception, but I didn’t feel it needed to be a franchise, and I’m fine with the series ending.
Sadly I can’t say the same for Mass Effect. The resolution that was built up from the first two games never happened, and the feeling I was left with after completing the trilogy was “What was the point?” The Extended Cut ending at least gave me a slideshow of consequences like I’d come to appreciate of old western RPGs, but too little, too late.
So I’m fine with both Dragon Age and Mass Effect ending, because as far as I’m concerned they ended a while ago.
Wednesday Feb 7, 2018 at 10:09 am
I’m with you in the sense that I would rather see no more Mass Effect and Dragon Age games than see some EA studio cranking out bad Mass Effect and Dragon Age games.
Wait that was the EXCEPTION to how Roller Coaster Tycoon was played?! Since when?
Droid says:
Tuesday Feb 6, 2018 at 12:32 pm
While we’re on a similar topic: Did you hear that Magicka supposedly has a Coop mode? I tried searching for it, but I could only find “Versus (in Arena)” and “Versus (in the campaign levels)”.
Philadelphus says:
A friend and I played Magicka 2 for the first time recently after watching Let’s Plays of it and somehow blew up enemies more often than each other. I think our copies might be bugged or something.
BlueHorus says:
Well, that’s one solution to Shamus’ habit of posting an article in the comments section: just take that post and put it in the next article!
On topic: Another benefit of the sci-fi shooter is a range of enemies; in your average military shooter, your enemes don’t really vary too much from:
Dude with gun/dude with other gun/dude with knife/dude in body armor/dude with really big gun/tank/helicopter.
But with sci-fi, you can get creative. Off the top of my head: claw monster, acid-spitting claw monster, shapshifting backstab monster, mob of small monsters with hive mind, screaming zombie monster, fireball-throwing monster, enormous tentacle boss, squeaky-voiced midget, flying robot with stabby bits, wall-crawling hit-and-run monster, sarlac pit…
Echo Tango says:
Sci-Fi also allows you to do things like have enemies that explode into smaller enemies when they die (swarm of insects; robot made up of smaller robots). You can extend that by having them re-form if you don’t kill all the little bits within a short time (swarm of insects; liquid-metal / T-1000 robot). Similarly, enemies that can keep fighting with bits destroyed, like a (giant) robot, or a zombie.
Sci-Fi also allows you to do things like have enemies that explode into smaller enemies when they die
Ugh, I hate when they do that. To kill an enemy, only to immediately need to kill several less threatening enemies, robs the first fight of any satisfaction.
Ideally, they should be threatening while broken up, not just some helpless junk to clean up.
They’d have to be more threatening, to the point where the broken-up version is the real fight. Don’t downshift tension; either keep it steady/rising, or drop it all the way back to baseline.
PPX14 says:
Space Invaders :)
Exactly; that last guy gets crazy fast, and him reaching the bottom is just as dangerous as the whole group reaching the bottom. And then you hit him, and the level ends.
That depends on what kind of encounter you’re building for. If you’re assuming all enemies are quick fights that are resumed by non-fighting states, that would work. A slow-burn horror game, or fight against an (nearly) unstoppable automaton would not require such a strict tension/emotion/time curve.
Horror games will have higher baseline tension, but if you’re killing stuff you’re providing catharsis, which means quiet time after a fight. Putting weaker challenges in that catharsis window is a frustration.
Nimrandir says:
Wednesday Feb 7, 2018 at 12:36 pm
. . . So they turn into a Pathfinder swarm?
Asdasd says:
I appreciate your thoughts on SO:TL, Shamus. I feel like I was kind of lazy in neglecting to come back to that thread in the other post. Sorry about that. I’m just not a responsible citizen when it comes to internet commenting!
” I don’t think we’re anywhere near the point where your home computer can hold up a conversation that isn’t constructed from a canned dialog tree imposed by a writer.”
Have you played Galatea, by any chance? I don’t think of it often, but when I do, it seems to be an artefact from another universe where this problem got a lot, lot closer to being solved.
To be clear, it’s still a dialogue tree, but one rendered in vastly greater fidelity than anything found in even the most celebrated CRPGs. And of course it takes full advantage of the scale: no graphics, no voice acting, and nothing else really to the game other than this setpiece conversation.
But it’s well worth experiencing just to see how far clever application of current tech and design paradigms can take us. And it does bring its own innovations, such as one-way gates that mean anything you choose to discuss can impact how future subjects will be responded to, if at all.
That game’s cool, but it’s all still manually-created dialog. Shooters (and other 3D games, like racing games or city sims) benefit from having a large portion of their interactivity generated by a well-defined system. Bullets follow physics + simple health mechanics -> shooter. Basic tax laws + land zoning + electricity and jobs to manage -> city sim.
I propose that we take that twitter bot that was turned into a nazi,stuff her into a model of hitler,and presto:We have a new wolfenstein game where the enemies can engage you in real time conversation.
You jest, but that underscores how difficult it is to put conversation into a game. Other systems are relatively simple physics equations or “good enough” abstractions like a healthbar, but conversation needs to be hand-made or use some kind of intensive / highly-trained AI system.
Paul Spooner says:
Get this man a badge.
Jennifer Snow says:
Has it occurred to anyone that you don’t really need to have the AI “hold a conversation” with you?
It is RIDICULOUS how bad games are at using non-verbal information given how much they spend on graphics and animation. It’s like paying to have Uma Thurman in your movie and then giving her no lines and having her only scene be sitting in the corner wearing a burka. You could have replaced her with a coathanger and nobody would have noticed.
You know what contributes to this problem? They make the player deaf and dumb and give them like, TWO interaction options. Maybe even one! What can you do to interact with things in the game world? You can move up to it, and click “interact” and get whatever canned interaction the developer programmed in.
This puts 100% of the load on the game developer to CREATE the interest in the game. They have to take your ONE BUTTON and make it do enough different, interesting things to make a viable game. The player is INCREDIBLY passive, which is silly because the player is the one with the brain and the free will and stuff!
Older text-based games at least had the interaction part where you could try large numbers of ways to interact with situations. They also kind of sucked, because of the “use toothpaste on frog” problem where there was still only one real interaction and you just had to guess until you figured out what insane combination the writer came up with THIS time–or, with the advent of the Internet, look it up. But that doesn’t mean that the *interaction* model was bad.
And it doesn’t necessarily have to be text. Look at all the crap lying around in a standard Bethesda game, for instance. Look at how much people COMPLAIN about not being able to interact with things. You can really only interact with all that STUFF in two ways: You can loot it, or you can steal it (assuming it’s “owned”). If you have enormous patience and are super-bored you may be able to pile it up in an interesting way (which will probably be destroyed when the cell resets). Or, as a remote option you can put it in a Junk Jet and launch it at enemies for lulz.
You can DO that for conversations. Don’t give the player a list of canned lines. Make them ASSEMBLE their side of the “conversation”. Have a lot of varied potential responses, most of which don’t involve real lines of dialog. Put most of the real “dialog” behind a wall of skilled assembly techniques. You know, like in life. Actually getting people to “talk” to you should feel like an attainment.
The problem is that a lot of the design choices in games prevent this kind of thing or make it prohibitive–and people aren’t really even aware that there are design choices involved. It’s just “the way you do things”.
What do I mean? Well, how about this one–the fact that in RPG’s, you almost always get ONE QUEST PER PERSON (or “questgiver”). That right there means that you’re going to have very few interactions with any given character. That makes a system where you do a lot of trial-and-error to get access to dialog prohibitive due to the expense and the fact that each individual interaction is a lot lower in value–you just want to get the quest and move on. Deciding to have a lot FEWER characters would enable many MORE interactions with EACH character.
MichaelGC says:
Y U not like teh AWESOME button?!?
I like awesome buttons fine, I just want there to be more of them!
The Awesome Button as envisioned by Saints Row 3 is actually a good way of doing it, by having Shift be a modifier to more than just movement. Reloading taking too long? Use Shift+R to just drop the half-empty mags (wasting ammo) to speed things up. Stealth attacks feeling feeble? Use Shift+LMB to unload your shotgun into the back of their head instead. Need to open a door in a hurry? Shift+E to kick the door down.
Games could definitely do with more Moira characters, or more Goodsprings / Megatonne locations. Too often it’s, as you point out, single-quest-then-move-on for people or locations, which necessitates them being very shallow, so their cheap to make. :)
This is probably also a major contributor to why, say, Bethesda’s open world titles are generally well-received despite inept writing of the first order, whereas Bioware’s much better writing is often not remotely as well-received. Bethesda’s games have a larger scope of interaction options. Not HUGE, but much, much larger than Bioware, which is 100% canned ham. Flaws in the latter are going to stand out dramatically.
I think everyone rues the necessary compromise of shallowness in bigger world adventures. The problem might be that if you strike out in the other direction, narrowing your scale but increase the depth, people will accuse you of cheaping out on your asset-building.
This won’t map perfectly, but Zelda: Skyward Sword eschewed the size of world and variety of locations compared to earlier instalments, opting instead in parts to return you to previously-visited environments that were different in some way (one sunk under water, another under hostile military occupation, etc). You’d meet the same inhabitant NPCs too, which meant that they’d have more than one quest to give you, more lines of dialogue and so on.
This really fleshed the world out, giving a greater sense of places as places – as opposed to one-and-done locales in a theme park of a world. But it came at a price. In-game, it made the world feel small, and that smallness pulled some people out the experience, becoming suspicious that assets were being reused out of cheapness, or laziness, or lack of time. There’s a reason ‘backtracking’ is a dirty word among gamers, be it fairly or no.
That’s probably the one thing outside of the waggle combat that people remember about the game today: that it was the small one, or the one Nintendo rushed to market. Unsurprising then that for Breath of the Wild they went in completely the other direction.
(I will go to my grave defending the waggle combat. And the silent realm quests. Oh my god, the silent realm quests. Now there’s an example of compelling non-violent gameplay – a fantastic blend of scavenger hunt, obstacle course and hide and seek.)
I guess the more meaningful comparator would be Dragon Age 2, but I haven’t played that game.
Also, I always liked how in City of Heroes, there were less quest-givers but each offered a whole chain of quests. It gave the writers a lot more time to round out their personalities, goals, speech habits and so on.
Wednesday Feb 7, 2018 at 9:29 pm
Fewer *characters* doesn’t necessarily mean that the game world needs to be small, btw.
Also, with very sparing use of canned dialog lines you can actually fill the game with mostly procedural characters who can have a wide range of possible interactions (because they’re using a procedural system) but are not so time-intensive to make.
You don’t necessarily have to end up with a situation where the world population is 95% goons that you mow down. :)
I’m not necessarily aiming this concept toward AAA games or major releases, either.
KarmaTheAlligator says:
it’s still a crappy to job mow down these poor slobs.
Probably should be “crappy job to mow down”.
Anyway, I’m all for more sci-fi, cause realism is boring.
I think it’s worth noting here, a distinction between “realism” and “real”. (Or does nobody else make this distinction?) The definition I use (it’s #2 in dictionary.com but their 1st that deals with books) is that realistic means internally consistent and having things presented as they really are, whereas “real” means it comes from the actual reality we live in, outside the fiction. So I can have a sci-fi that’s very realistic, but not based on (very much of) reality.
Didn’t know realistic had such a definition. I’d have gone with something else for that one, like believable, consistent, that kind of thing, since this is still fiction, but hey. Who am I to argue with the dictionary?
Anyway, yeah, I meant based on reality, not that having consistent and believable things is boring.
Mousazz says:
And, taking this line of thinking logically, you can draw conclusions that the reality we live in itself isn’t very “realistic”, since it’s filled with people having inconsistent motivations, silly idiot balls, and full of contrived Deus Ex Machinas.
Blackbird71 says:
Thursday Feb 8, 2018 at 4:49 pm
There is no such definition on Dictionary.com for either realism or realistic. Perhaps you meant to reference a different site?
Either way, the word most commonly used to describe what you are calling “realism” is verisimilitude.
Amazon_warrior says:
Hah. Well this is pretty relevant to where I am right now with games. It’s been a pretty shitty start to 2018 for me, and a previous comment thread here recently reminded me of Halo: Combat Evolved, a game I played back in the day and had fun with. “Just what I need right now! Low-context, guilt-free violence in a sci-fi setting!” I thought to myself. Except…. no, because after I dug out my very elderly (and yet apparently unopened?) Halo disc, it choked horribly on install under Windows 10 and I haven’t found a resolution that works. ::sadface:: (If/when I feel up to the challenge, I may try installing it under Mint w/ Wine instead.)
So…. now I’m playing Crysis instead as a substitute (shush, yes, I know, it’s seven years old now, I know). Except it’s not really a perfect substitute because I’m having to mow down all these North Korean chaps to get to the “shoot the gribbly aliens” bits. Not quite the guilt-free carnage I was hoping for! I kind of want an, “Excuse me lads! Please could you point me at the OTHER horrific alien killing machine that’s currently wrecking all your shit? Ta muchly!” option. ‘Cos right now I just feel like the worst bully…
I think that might be 10 years old… :D
I know! Poor hapless NK soldiers
XD 10 years old! Blimey, even worse than I thought! I was going on the ZP review I looked up on YT after I started playing, I think that was from 2011. (And is pretty much on the nose, so far…)
I think what makes it even worse is that in the back of my mind I’m perfectly aware that the stuff with the NK soldiers is basically a tutorial zone. And it’s right on the heels of that pornographic introduction of the nanosuits. Can it really be more overstated how unequal these first fights are?
It really is a poor man’s Far Cry (original) I’m afraid. Often fun in a similar stealth/traversal/choose your approach way and with some fun environmental manipulation I guess.
Not sure how well it actually escalates come to think of it :D The nano-suit cannot be stopped.
Yep, pretty much that. I recall enjoying original Far Cry up until maybe the last 1/3-1/4 of it, when it just kind of went wibble and deluged me with silliness and crap escort missions.
I have started trying to avoid pockets of NK chappies if I can:
Prophet: “Hey! There’s a bunch of NKA on the other side of the river.”
Me: “Then I just won’t go over there, bro.”
(And it actually worked that time. Woo.)
It’s my Thief heritage showing – the mark of the true professional is no one knowing you were even there!
This is why Im saddened by modern stealth games.You can just sneak around knocking out everyone from the shadows,and youll still get top marks.Even though theres a huge difference between going in and disturbing nothing and going in and having everyone know you were there once they wake up.
Oh, for sure. Trouble is, most modern “stealth” games are also action games and shooter games, so they tend to assume certain things about the protagonist that Thief went out of its way to counter (you are not a combat monster, you will likely die if you attract too much unwanted attention) and the setting perfectly sold a “softly, softly” approach that might be a harder sell for a setting that is more open to other approaches. No-KO ghost runs in Thief were still a thing I had to work up to and learn to appreciate, even so. They take a lot of patience and a penchant for delayed gratification that isn’t everyone’s cuppa – heck, sometimes *pokes OP re Halo* it’s not mine either!
You can still make a game that rewards perfect stealth and is very actiony.The (good) hitman games prove that.Stealth is not just crouching in the dark waiting for enemies to move away.Especially if you include fantastical elements like in dishonoured and deus ex.
I’ll confess right now that I never could get into the Hitman games. The whole “hide in plain sight despite being a 6’4″ slap-headed chap wearing a uniform nicked off a 5’4″ Asian chap” was a bit tricky to swallow, plus the DIAS thing of stealing the wrong uniform or carrying the wrong rifle into an area meaning either insta-fail or (effectively the same thing) everything getting abruptly very loud.
I know it doesn’t have to be, but I don’t think either Dishonored or Deus Ex (any of them – even the first*) incentivise a total ghost approach in the same way that the early Thief games did.
* Love it to bits, top game, etc., but the stealth could be fairly painful at times.
Thursday Feb 8, 2018 at 11:26 am
Haha that’s how I play Thief! Clear out the level and browse at my leisure. (No killing of course, Expert difficulty)
…Then I discovered the guards with helmets. Clang!
Why not dead space one instead? Everything you kill is unambiguously a horrible not even alive abomination against nature for which every moment of continued existence may well be it trying to kill organic life to reproduce, and the shooting mechanics are pretty fun.
I’ll add it to the list! Deciding to play Crysis was mostly a case of failing to install Halo, then skimming through my GoG library and remembering that I’d picked it up recently in a sale. Seemed a good moment to give it a red-hot go.
Two quick warning before you start. One batteries that need to be placed into ports have to be shoved in with gravity gun style kinetic manipulator. This can be finicky so you may have to wiggle it a bit instead of just expecting it to go smooth. Also if you like the look of the flamethrower just remember that the game is hard enough sci-fi not to let that work in a vacuum. Also not strictly necessary but good to know, the game also puts refills for your time stop juice near puzzles where it’s needed. Don’t be stingy with it because you think you’ll be out when you need it to progress.
Proper Science enough that flamethrowers don’t work in a vacuum? I approve already. :)
I suggest going through far cry 4.Not only are there a bunch of mooks for you to kill guilt free,but theres also plenty of good humor in that game,and the gameplay is refined enough.The radio towers are dull though,but there arent that many of them compared to carnivorous badgers and drug fueled quests.
Far Cry 4 is even more fun if you play it co-op with someone (although the requirements for single player progress suck).
I thought Far Cry 3 was where it was supposed to be at? I played Far Cry way back in the day, haven’t really bothered much with the franchise since. Alas, coop play isn’t really my jam!
Gameplay wise,they are practically identical.4 has a bigger map,you get the flight suit way earlier,it has more interesting animals,and better humor.Also 4 has its funny villain be the main villain,instead of just the first third part.
Thursday Feb 8, 2018 at 4:07 am
But it should be pointed out that Far Cry 3 actually has a decent story with an arc for the main character. I just never managed to get into Far Cry 4 because I had zero investment and it felt too much like a checklist. Far Cry 3 manages to add just enough narrative push to avoid that, I think. But 4 does have more verticality and early access to the wingsuit, so… whatever sails your boat, I guess.
Woah woah woah, it’s the complete opposite! After killing a few hapless seeming soldiers under a crazy dictator, the first mission is to find and kill a den of wolves! Forget that. And it looks like most of the game is killing either animals or soldiers that are basically the same as the NK ones in Crysis – slightly scared dimwits under a mad regime.
Ah,but you arent killing just any animals.You are being assaulted by the most vicious creatures of them all:The honey badgers!
Honey badgers are legit scary (heck, even a regular badger can be legit scary if you meet one in a bad mood).
I flip-flop on killing animals in games – I think it’s a bit tacky (mostly because game-animal behaviour is usually nothing like real-animal behaviour) but then otoh I spent hours running down deer in Oblivion, so…… I’d be a hypocrite if I claimed it was a deal-breaker!
I wince every time I see a road kill,or an animal limping,but Im not bothered by it in video games ever.With one exception.Postal 2 had such realistic cat growls and whines that I used the “silencer” mechanic only once,and it legit freaked me out.
ElementalAlchemist says:
Just make a little more of it with Sci-fi, okay?
Good news! It would appear that Obsidian’s secret project headed by former Interplay/Black Isle/Troika alums Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky is going to be of the sci-fi persuasion. Someone over on the official Obsidian forums dug up a fresh trademark registration for “The Outer Worlds” – https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/95951-the-outer-worlds-trademarks-obsidians-aaa-rpg/
Spec Ops sets up expectations in an unfair way by first presenting you with several avoidable problems (the woman who jump-scares you in an attempt by the developer to make you reflexively kill a civilian, the angry crowd), then hits you with the white phosphorus situation where you’re not just railroaded down one path, the game outright cheats to get the outcome it wants (it’s possible to take a shot that hits the remaining hostiles without killing all the civilians, except the game magically changes your previously-established area of effect and burns them anyway). That seems pretty deserving of criticism, but it’s not the biggest problem.
Whether or not the game is condemning the player or the genre, it doesn’t want to be played. Responding to criticisms that there’s no way to avert the white phosphorus incident, the developer said something to the effect of “You can turn the game off” and that’s an answer that a lot of people find to be bullshit. Not just because they paid $60 for a game that doesn’t want to be played, but because it’s kind of dumb artistically. The game is linear, if I stop playing, that doesn’t prevent its story from happening, it just prevents me from seeing it. I’m not averting anything if I stop reading a book where bad things are happening.
I have started to refer to this genre as, “Fuck you for playing.”
ETA: Most vexing example I’ve encountered so far was “Even Cowgirls Bleed,” a Twine intfic. AFAICT, basically whatever you do, it all goes to shit and then you are berated for being there. At least with Spec Ops, you know going in that you’re going to be shooting (representations of) people – an act that most people acknowledge is a Bad Thing IRL. Whereas with Cowgirls I felt like I was being berated for…. showing up to be told a story.
There’s a trope for that.
On a tangent, I must confess I also tend to dislike Shaggy Dog Stories, Shoot the Shaggy Dog stories, etc. Basically, anytime where the most insightful conclusion the author could come up with to end the story was, “none of this mattered, everything sucked, there was no point in telling this story at all except to point out how everything (you) sucks.”
There is always a trope for that! :p (Except that apparently there isn’t a trope for “There’s a trope for that” – unless it’s literally the entirety of tvtropes by definition…)
Thing is, games definitely do have room for exploration of the terrible (or amazing) things that humans can do – it’s just that there are better or worse ways to present such questions and handle the responses. F’example, in Sunless Sea there are quite a few storylines where you might do the right thing, but much more likely is that things will go Terribly Wrong and then you will Feel Bad – even if you were trying to do the right thing. Two that spring to mind are the Hunter’s Keep story with the three sisters and Pigmote Island. Once I realised that Hunter’s Keep tended to go bad if I poked it too hard, I consciously limited my interaction with the sisters to avoid triggering that scenario. Similarly, while I understand that it’s possible to achieve a peaceful outcome for Pigmote Island, it also seems to require quite a lot of luck and pretty high stats in the relevant attributes, so again I tend to avoid it early on in any playthrough because screwing it up makes me sad (may have something to do with my RL fondness for both guinea pigs and rats!). Conversely, a friend of mine (who has been quite scathing about SO:tL’s “Press X to commit atrocity” despite not having played it at all), freely admitted to trying the Hunter’s Keep storyline over and over despite the fact that generally it ended in Badness. He had rather an “…….OHHH. Crap.” moment when we were discussing it and concluded that it was just a differently shaped X for a different-shaped atrocity.
Perhaps you’re thinking of Genre Savvy?
I think the reason we’re willing to conscience atrocities in games is the same reason we play games in the first place. A game is a way of gaining experience without imposing cost. Violence has the highest real-world cost associated (as human life is so valuable) so we like playing games about violence because we can get a semblance of the experience without paying the cost.
Committing atrocities are the same way in games. It’s a low-cost avenue to exploring “what if I…” where such actions risk an outcome that would be terrible in real life.
Yeah, that’s definitely a feature. In fact, I made pretty much the same point (with different words) a few comments down…
shoeboxjeddy says:
It doesn’t cheat the AoE, you are directed to hit an explosive object. That object than spreads the damage out farther than you might have expected. This would be a real world concern that a trained user of that ordinance might expect but… Walker only understands how to use it, not when it would be best NOT to use it.
Bubble181 says:
Eh, it’s a pretty postmodern view of things, but it’s definitely artistically valuable.
“Leaving the theatre” for a movie you don’t want to see the end of, not watching a show or turning away from an installation, stopping reading,…
They are all valid ways of (inter)acting with a piece of art. It may not be what you’d consider a valid interaction, but it *is*. There have been quite a few conceptual art experiments/instances where the whole *point* was to get the audience to intervene and stop it, or to get the audience to turn away (in disgust). They’re ways of trying to make you think about your own actions and your own decisions. Where do *you* draw the line? What is or isn’t acceptable? These are actual questions you have to think about, sometimes.
I remember something similar in a “game” where school children were asked to react to bullying, and one about graffiti. In both cases, they were led along the slippery slope, starting off with something innocuous and innocent. In both cases, even right after lessons in what is or isn’t acceptable, children were way too willing to go far too far. And the same holds true for adults, of course.
Such pieces of art can be educational. They can be thought provoking. And they’re definitely confrontational.
Does this work in a game, I’m sure it *can* work well in a game. Whether or not SO:TL is a perfect example, I can’t judge on, being not really the target demographic.
So….. Milgram-experiment-as-game? I kind of see what you mean, but I don’t think it maps quite as neatly as that. Not least because most people now have an understanding that “game universe” != “real universe”. I am quite sure that ALL the commenters here would cheerfully admit to doing things in games that they would absolutely NEVER contemplate doing to a real person. Games are, to most people, a playground where they can explore behaviours they would never contemplate IRL – and test the boundaries of actions as permitted by the creators of the game. Playing a game, to many people, is a chance to challenge the “authority” of the game creator by finding unexpected loopholes and emergent behaviour. I do wonder how much of the ire at the WP bit in SO:TL is down to a lack of an in-game way to say, “Fuck this noise, let’s go home/find a different route.” (Which is something the game does really well at other points, and it’s a shame that those bits get drowned out by “That WP Bit.”)
While engaging in a dialog with the game creator is certainly a draw for some people, and in some games, I think the less meta desire to learn about the subject as presented is more prevalent. You say people explore “behaviours they would never contemplate” but I feel the last word might be better as “risk”. There are lots of behaviors that I would never contemplate in real life, and which I also don’t contemplate in a game context. The really fun stuff is what I do contemplate in real life, but which I consider too risky to act on, when they aren’t downright prohibitive.
Mmmmm. That’s a fair distinction! Game-as-elaborate-thought-experiment is a concept I can get behind.
Re: the artist trying to make me disengage with the art piece.
So, what if my response is to ignore the artist entirely? i.e. My counter to the “Just stop playing if it’s an atrocity, player.” attitude that Spec Ops: The Line presents me, is “No, I’m finishing this; Don’t tell me what to do, game!”[1] Is that a valid way to interact with the art piece? Authorial intent only goes so far.
[1] For me this remains rhetorical, since I actually became bored with the game’s trite message, on an otherwise broad, meaningful topic.
Tektotherriggen says:
I assume that the artist him/herself still expects someone to interact with (i.e. pay) them.
And I expect to pay for art that wants me to engage with it in some manner, and that I want to engage with, and guess what? Engage with it. The specifics of what that means will vary with genre and medium, but one thing remains constant. If my life is made directly more unpleasant in a general sense by your art I will criticize you for it quite vehemently. Doubly so if you sold the art to me in the first place as a pleasurable experience. That’s both bad business, and hipster bait-and-switch hack artistry.
Many modern games “cheat” rampantly to accomplish narrative goals, stealing control from the player in various ways. Gamers commit virtual atrocities every day. I don’t find any of this particularly remarkable.
There are plays, novels, and movies about protagonists who do entirely the wrong thing for what they believe is the right reason, destroying things, killing people. Tragedies and antiheroes are part of our culture. People enjoys these stories, and again, I don’t find it particularly remarkable.
SO:tL doesn’t do anything new; it mixes existing, pervasive ingredients together in a slightly different way. But something about it makes it different, makes it remarkable.
I find that fascinating.
I’d hazard a guess that most of those plays / novels don’t condemn the viewer / reader for interacting with them. Spec Ops: The Line, however, is definitely condemning the plaer.
Again, Walker is condemned for his badass hero complex driving him to do ever worsening acts to prove that he was actually in the right, he was FORCED into causing some bad to right a bigger wrong.
The player is criticized for wanting this but in a different context. “You’d be okay with this if you weren’t killing US troops or civilians, right? If the violence was less graphic, it’d be more fun for you, right? Why is that? That’s kinda fucked up. Are you defending yourself right now? You just blew that guy’s head clean off… that’s messed up!”
Presuming yourself to be above critique is really the most messed up thing of all.
I believe Shamus already pre-emted this, though. He posits that most players are to some degree self-aware, but still play games which are violent. Doing violent things in a game doesn’t necessarily equate to endorsing them in real life, which is the assumption that Spec Ops: The Line makes about its players. That assumption there, is the part that made so many people annoyed with the game.
Spec Ops is making the point “why is Call of Duty okay but many people think “Hatred” or “Rapelay” are not okay? What is it about the latter two that makes them unacceptable? The framing? It’s all fake no matter how you look at it, right?”
I don’t think it doesn’t want to be played, as such. The “then don’t play it” response is more of a half-hearted attempt on the developer’s part to get rid of people who are offended by the game railroading them into the WP thing.
I still don’t get why people get upset about it, as I mentioned before. That overwhelming desire to maintain that you are so much better than Walker is really intriguing to me. Personally, I believe that any human being is capable of any act of violence or unspeakable evil, given the right conditions. It’s by admitting to that inner darkness, that potential within us that we can actually gain enough reflection to keep those impulses in check. So I’m always a bit hesitant to proclaim that I would have done better than a character in a certain situation. But that boils to my original idea – I don’t think that SOTL blames the player for their actions as much as invites them to think on what they would have done and if there is a smidge of a chance that they would have screwed up too.
By the way, a stupid question to long-time comment lurkers or to Shamus directly, whoever can be bothered: what’s the stance on the f-word in these parts? It may be silly, but, well, stances on profanity vary wildly from culture to culture and demographic to demographic, and it’s always best to be safe and ask. Because screwed up is a very weak word in the context and writing it that way made my teeth ache.
EDIT: What the hell is wrong with me, I keep writing write instead of right. It’s not like I mix those two words up, either. I know the right word, I really do, but my fingers just do their own thing. So weird.
This works as a reply to several comments in this thread.
I still don’t get why people get upset about it, as I mentioned before. That overwhelming desire to maintain that you are so much better than Walker is really intriguing to me.
Because it goes against the rules of the videogame. The game sets up situations designed to bait you into doing an avoidable bad thing, and then fairly assigns blame if you don’t avoid the bad thing. But then you’re railroaded and cheated into the WP incident and it wants to present that in the exact same “I can’t believe Walker did the bad thing!” light as the previous two incidents, despite them being different because the player didn’t cause it (except in the much weaker sense that I caused Dumbledore to die by turning the page). For those things to be the same, you have to factor our player agency, and if you’re doing that, then why is Spec Ops a game and not just a movie?
Ah! I think I’m starting to get it. Maybe the problem comes from some people assigning too much meaning to the other choices in the game? Because, frankly, I don’t identify with Walker all that much, he doesn’t really work as a player stand-in for me, so I don’t differentiate too much between the instances where you actually have a choice (like the crowd thing) and the WP segment. So I don’t really feel like I’m personally being condemned there. But I can see how others may react differently. Interesting.
You’re not cheated into the WP scenario. Walker decides to do it and ultimately he has more agency in this story than the player. Walker decides using the WP is necessary and the player isn’t given the option to make a different decision because this is a linear storytelling game with limited player agency. It’s shown later in the games that if you thought you were outwitting the scenario, you really, really weren’t. Being mad about this one time in the whole game is really odd to me.
ehlijen says:
I admit I’m just making guesses here, as I never got very far in the game (I just couldn’t bothered by the shooting galleries).
From Shamus’ earlier post on the game, I got the impression that Walker at several points pushes on with his perceived mission despite the more useful option being to head home and report the mess he found.
To me, that sounds a lot like a player continuing to play a game that successively ramps up in unfairness even though they don’t want to experience that unfairness: It’s an expectation of vindication that surely must come, because that’s how things are supposed to be.
The game says “you followed walker past the point where he should have stopped, past the point where you should have stopped”. Was there a ‘return to base’ option? No, because there isn’t in walker’s mind, either. To be better than walker, the player had to do the thing walker couldn’t: leave.
Again, I haven’t played the game, so this is a guess. I don’t claim that this makes it a good game or worthwhile experience, but I do think I see the intention behind it. And when contrasted with the many games that bend their plot over backwards to celebrate the player character, I think it was an interesting direction to go.
If nothing else, I think SOTL will be talked about for longer than any given Call of Battlefield Warfare. So while it may be a worse game, I feel it is better art.
The game says “you followed walker past the point where he should have stopped, past the point where you should have stopped”.
Something like that.But at the same time,there are two more squad mates that follow walker despite their better judgment due to the chain of command and trusting their commanding officer.You are thrust in this unfair situation of military guys having to trust their leader even when they disagree with him,and you just have to deal with it like those two other guys.In the end,this trust ends up killing them,while you are the only (unlucky) one that can survive the whole ordeal.
Do you, though? You are playing walker, the guy in charge of the team. And his orders are, if I understand things correctly, to perform recon, not to get involved. So the player isn’t following orders, nor is the protagonist. Nor is the player subject to walker’s authority.
Nothing in or out of character is forcing the player to continue except for the desire for a story conclusion and/or more gameplay. In this, walkers drive onwards to find answers/meaning is mirrored. How long are you going to keep playing before you log off/bug out?
But you arent actually walker.The game starts by introducing you as a guest star of the game,and its in third person.So while you are controlling walkers body(most of the time),he is still autonomously issuing orders*,both to the two companions,and to you,the player.The only time you get actual meaningful control of walker is in the end,when you decide on his faith:Whether he lives,dies,goes back home or is utterly broken.
And sure,you can always decide to turn off the game just how the two npcs can decide to tell walker to fuck off and go back.However,if they do that,theyll probably be court martialed,and if you do that youll lose the continuation of the story you started involving yourself in.The longer those two wait to mutiny,the harder their trek back will be,and the longer you wait to disengage,the more involved in the story you are.So what is mirrored is the two guys sense of duty and trust in their commander with yours sense of immersion in the game and its story.
*other than the simple “go there,shoot that guy” orders you get during the shooting segments.
Walker has no power over the player other than what the player assigns him. The player can walk away far more easily than the NPCs (at all, in fact).
The question to the player is: How long are you willing to follow along, hoping for a better outcome than you deep down know this is going to get? Yes, if you log out you won’t get to see the end, but do you really still want that? What about after the next level? When does this feel wrong enough to make you stop?
Sure,its easier for the player to disobey walker than the two squadmates,but at the same time the player is less invested than them.The player is just playing a game,being immersed in a story,while the two are fighting for their lives,killing people.Im saying that the “push forward vs the option to disobey” ratio is the same.Lower stakes vs easier quitting for the player and higher stakes vs harder quitting for the squad mates.
I experienced this same sort of “Can I keep doing this?” feeling as I made my way through Shadow of the Colossus back in the PS2 era. I loved virtually everything about the game, but I couldn’t escape the sense that Wander’s quest was just . . . wrong. I describe it to friends as ‘the best game I will never play again.’
Folding Ideas did a video on the morality of Shadow of the Colossus, describing the player’s role as that of a viewer rather than a participant. The crux of the issue with Spec Ops is how it approaches that same line (no pun intended).
Spec Ops is a very nuanced situation in regards to “following orders.” The guy Walker is sent to check up on disobeyed his orders and stayed in Dubai to try to provide disaster relief for civilians, putting his own men at risk. This is often a path of nobility in military stories, the commander who disobeys orders to protect “the people.” The game then colors that by casting the motive in doubt, was that commander just after glory in doing this? And did he ORDER his men to stay with him or was it a “everyone volunteers to do the thing” situation like The Alamo? In any case, things went terribly wrong from there. Walker is ordered to simply do recon, but is shocked and horrified by what he finds and insists in breaking HIS orders to continue onwards. Walker uses the rhetoric that he “has no choice” but to continue and to use banned weapons and to attack non-military targets and so on. He also ORDERS his men to continue with him, creating a conflict in the chain of command for his subordinates. As Walker’s group of three continues on, they become traumatized by the things they do and Walker’s second in command begins using “I was ordered to do this” as a moral shield, just as real life Nazi troops tried to do following the end of WWII.
Disc says:
I’d say if you’re really going in with this mindset that “the player should just deal with my bullshit or fuck off”, when developing a game, then you should at least have an option in-game to just walk out from the situation. It’s a lot more powerful and meaningful way to make almost the same statement. I don’t know that it’d make the game any less aggravating for me, but I don’t see a reason why Walker & Co. couldn’t just have an option somewhere in there to actually leave the AO. The start would be the most obvious and and easiest to justify. Walker follows his mission, does the recon and then backs off.
The reason is that thats not walkers character.Its his stubbornness and propensity for heroics that made him decide to give the order to push forward.And the reason why the two npcs follow him is also given.The only unknown is why the player decides to follow walker.
This metathinking really doesn’t work in favor of the game in my view, it just makes it that much more annoying that you’re supposed to view it from this fairly obscure angle to “get it”. My annoyances aside, tha game feels a bit like looking at some weird piece of post-modern art and instead of finding any tangible meaning in it, it just makes you wonder how and why did it even get made.
I’d just rather have something tangible over vague. Or in this case, more aggressive over the passive-aggressive.
The point of the game is NOT to present an easy choice that the player can make from comfort and then feel superior about. It’s all about trying to do the right thing and the horrible consequences that can result. Players who want a good ending where they never do anything wrong have missed the point completely. That’s like saying “make a Moby Dick game where you can choose NOT to be obsessed with the whale and nobody dies and the ship doesn’t sink.” Wow, what amazing art you have made there.
Actually, I don’t think that’s what people want at all. The problem isn’t that the ending wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, the problem is that the critics believe the designer was condemning them for even engaging with the work. And that’s exactly the kind of reaction you’re going to get if you make something provocative like this.
Have a shitty ending. Have a shitty protagonist. But don’t accuse me the player of being a shitty person.
You can try to tell these people they’re “wrong” (like DL did earlier in this thread.) or that they’re just interpreting the game wrong, but you’re essentially arguing with authorial intent. Spec Ops spends a lot of time talking to “You”. Some of it is even in the snarky loading screens. I didn’t feel particularly condemned by the game, but I think this reaction to the game is perfectly understandable.
People were okay with The Last of Us. Or they got mad at Joel. The loading screens didn’t ask you how many people will die of zombie plague because “you” wanted to save your friend, thus blaming you for the actions of the protagonist.
I guess I have a couple of responses like that. If the criticism applies to you (aka, you play a lot of military shooters and think they’re fun and have zero worries about the “meaning” of such an action) you’re of course allowed to be offended, but maybe consider the substance of the critique first rather than freaking out and saying the game is bad and poorly written and this and that.
If the criticism DOESN’T apply to you (for example, you actually NEVER play military shooters and only tried this one out of curiosity or if you’re already very thoughtful about the role of violence in media or for whatever other reason) then just like… appreciate what the game is trying to do even if you think it has some flaws getting there?
The game is more of a “it makes you think” than a “EAT SHIT AND DIE, YOU PLAYER SCUM” type experience. When the game talks to YOU, it’s more meant to be shocking than deeply offensive. I’m pretty leery of the perspective that would cause someone to BE deeply offended. What about you makes you (the common you, not anybody in particular at all) so precious exactly? The game said it was messed up to do what I was doing in it and I responded “Huh… yeah it kinda is. I wonder where this is going…”
Well I think you’re kinda oversimplifying how the game can affect a person. I’m not against having thought-provoking games or media in general. I’ve consumed enough war movies and books to appreciate some dwelling in the horrors of war and such. War is all kinds of hell and madness, and yeah some people end up doing horrible shit in them. Trying to transfer that reality to be part of a video game is commendable effort in itself. But when you mix with constant passive-aggressive fingerpointing and a bunch of binary choices where they often go out of their way try to provoke you to do the monstrous thing, you’ve got a mix I’m surprised not more people got angry at.
What personally made me resent the game was becoming aware what the game is doing with its writing and doing it so poorly and with such a throw-in-your-face mentality, that I literally just wanted to punch the writer in the face toward the end. It’s not like I hated the game from the outset, but somewhere along the line it just devolved into a race to see if I can throw a spanner in the works and not to do what I deem the asshole of a writer is expecting me to do. The snarky loading screens are something I forgot even were there, but I imagine they didn’t exactly help with trying to see the game in a more neutral light.
The “Laws of War”-DLC for Arma 3 is a lot better example of how you can make what is essentialy a “military shooter” (I’d call it a milsim game, but I digress) into something thought-provoking and still have it be a good experience.
Post Edit: And by good experience I mean “enjoyable”, gameplay and storywise.
This response just leaves me with more questions. Why did detecting the writer’s goals (among them, to provoke an emotional response) lead you to “want to attack the writer in real life” and “made me try to sabotage the story” rather than engage with it? That… is saying a shit ton more about YOU than about the game.
I also want to comment about the “binary choices” line. The choices may be A or B (or occasionally C) but what the choices SAY is not so much. For example, at a certain point you can shoot a CIA agent who is mortally wounded. He’s given you enough reason to want him dead and there is NO chance to save his life. But the choice to shoot him or not has a TON of conflicting motivations! You could shoot him because he asks you to and you believe that no one should suffer as he will if he has to slowly die from his injuries. Conversely, you could leave him to die to MAKE him suffer. Or you could kill him out of anger, because you want to kill him for what he did. Or NOT kill him for the same reason. You could even, from a meta sense, not kill him because you want the achievement for shooting a deer a few moments later. Calling that interaction simply binary does the game a disservice, imo.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to engage with a story that keeps pulling me out of it. And why… Because the game treats you like an abusive spouse? Because I’ve got a strong aversion to comply when I feel like I’m being manipulated? Because of the heavyhanded attempts of trying to make you feel bad, even when it’s not technically your fault, because there’s no alternative? Because the writer seems to treat his audience like they’re 12 and don’t know any better?
How densely do you want me to break this down? Also, what does it matter? Besides, Shamus already said more than needs to be said about why people might feel negative about the game.
“That… is saying a shit ton more about YOU than about the game.”
My emotional response was what it was, because “engaging” with the story is what left me with that reaction. I engaged until I couldn’t. The rage I described was just what I felt at the time. There’s no deeper meaning to it if that’s what you’re looking for. Rationally I obviously don’t want to punch the writer (because what does it really benefit me or him in the long run?) and I know trying to derail what is a linear story is silly, but I’m sure you’re aware, that when a person gets angry, you’re not fully your rational self.
If there’s anything where I’d be willing to give ground, it’s the choices, since it’s been a few years and I honestly can’t remember all of them. Just that most them were between shitty option A and shitty option B and the general feeling that the writer’s trying to yank yet another response out of me. And that it kept repeating, scene after scene that tries to make some poignant point or pull on my emotions in some usually aggravating way and it fails to impress me. That particular scene with the CIA agent I barely remember beyond being annoyed that it’s obviously yet another scene that tries to play on your emotions.
If you’re gonna push this further, you need to remember this is all subjective. Despite my negativity, I don’t wish to make it seem like other people are wrong for enjoying it. This was just my subjective experience, and I hope you can see and respect it as such.
“If it’s not about you, it’s not about you” is a lazy form of argument that forgives shorthand on Twitter, but there’s no excuse for lack of nuance in your video game narrative. The designer has all the space they need to make their point, and it was very, very clear to me that the point was “you, player of this game, who gave me money to play it, are a bad person for wanting to play it”.
Telling your customers they are bad people for buying your product is bad business, and liable to get you assaulted (and possibly worse) in many situations.
Yeah Krellen, like, maybe you expressed it too aggressively (In deconstructions to friends, that’s the way I put it though).
But the answer the game posits is you’re doing bad things and should probably stop, rather than, the media is replicating the bad things we already do, and we are incapable of stopping.
It allows an out for the sufficiently detached, by criticising the player, ignoring themselves, ignoring the system they participate in. To get political again (I hope you forgive me Shamus), the game asks you to stop if you disagree, or continue, and I guess a lot of people justified it as a lesson they could preach, without condemning the complicity of everyone in our society, of our whole world. It tells you, you are bad for buying this (Though let’s face it, that broad a criticism should make any gamer ashamed-that it doesn’t is solipsism), and they’ve shortchanged the literature that inspired it (But you’re still clever for consuming it-hypocritical much?) Without going into as much good detail why. You can assume things of another person. You’re smarter, you’re better, you get the message. (It’s ok to shoot them). You’re Walker.
There are great moments, great scenes, great bits of commentary. All are ignored by “fans” who want to dehumanise an other, to justify their own righteousness. I’d ask them-what makes you different from Walker?
Not true.The game is criticizing media for presenting war in a glorified manner,and then presents you with all* the awfulness an actual war,and asks whether this real depiction makes you feel heroic.Not because it thinks you are an awful person for enjoying a fantasy,but because all other shooters are calling you heroic while making you do the same awful stuff.Medal of duty gives you a plane to bomb the shit out of some faceless people running around miles below you and then tells you “Great job bombing those faceless guys down there!You are awesome!You are a hero!”,and specs ops responds by giving you a drone to bomb the shit out of some faceless people and then tells you “Most of those were defenseless civilians.Thats fucked up.Do you feel like a hero now?Yeah,because you shouldnt.”.It does not condemn the player for following a linear path,it condemns the genre for presenting such a linear path as something good.
*Ok,not literally all.But as an abstraction,its close enough.
I am quite fascinated by a comparison of the reception of SOTL versus the reception of Doki Doki Literature Club – both upend baked-in tropes and assumptions in their respective genre and both are grimly determined to confront the player with the most brutal consequences of their actions. SOTL has you as the Guest Star and has all those jabby loading screen comments; DDLC upfront warns you about the content you may find inside (given some of the stuff it contains, that might even be a legal requirement) and even expects you, the player, to get busy with the game files to unlock the next content-nugget. Both have Horrible Stuff that will happen if you insist on playing – no dodges, short of turning off the game. Both games have presented me with some of the most uncompromising and uncomfortable game experiences I have ever had. Both had brilliant moments that had me questioning everything I thought I knew. The protagonists in both go through an actual character arc (whether it’s one the player approves of is a different matter). Neither is a genre that I would normally go for, but I felt like both had something to say to me regardless. I cannot say whether the fact that I in no way identify with Walker or DDLC Guy made it easier to step back a lil mentally (my first impression of DDLC Guy was that he was an insufferable jerk who absolutely DID NOT deserve a friend like Sayori – and if you’ve played it you know how that ends).
However, SOTL is still, as exemplified here, a very divisive game, whereas I can’t think that I’ve seen anything like the same amount of to-and-fro over DDLC. Ok, perhaps I haven’t looked in the right places, and DDLC is orders of magnitude smaller in scope and presence compared to SOTL – perhaps if as many people had played it, a greater variety of opinions would fall out?
For my money, SOTL might be the bigger, better known, earlier example of a game that questions the foundations of its existence and the player’s expectations of the genre, but DDLC seems like a more refined version.
(Hah – and I literally just noticed that there’s a new ZP episode on…….. Doki Doki Literature Club. Maybe it’s about to hit the big time after all?)
DDLC does give you a happy ending after all.If it stopped after the first big shock,it wouldve been received very differently.Spec ops,on the other hand,never lets go.It just pours more and more shit,even in the very ending where you get to choose walkers faith.Because no matter which of the four endings you get,all of them are horrible.
Also,I suggest everyone to watch Jesse Cox and Dodger play through doki doki literature club.Listening to her doing all the voices is adorable and makes the game such a delight.
Yeah, that’s a fair point.
Also, realised belatedly that “for my money” probably doesn’t mean much when one of the games in question is literally, legitimately free! (And somehow I had completely forgotten that until I watched the ZP. Braining I cannot into this evening, clearly.)
DDLC is also goofier throughout. There’s some haunting stuff in it, and questioning of genre conventions, but there’s never a point where it stops making jokes.
Ander says:
Saturday Feb 10, 2018 at 12:50 am
In the previously-mentioned ZP, Yahtzee argues the game would have been stronger had it just stopped at the first big twist. Ending there could have been quite effective if the game wanted to be primarily about depression, isolation, and friendship. I enjoyed the more existential stuff, but the game is strongest on this level. People wouldn’t spread the word as much, but I think they’d appreciate it.
DDLC is less focused on genre criticism than SpecOps is. DDLC was all deconstructive, sure, but it wasn’t as determined to make you feel bad for playing it, and I don’t think that would change much if the game had ended even as late as the endless date. The game as a whole is less focused, with its thoughts on determinism and purpose, not to mention the very concrete and nuanced presentation of depression in act 1. The lack of focus may even be a weakness, but it’s a trait that, I think, protects it from some hard backlash from fans of dating sims.
The difference is that DDLC represents a much more niche genre. And also that, I think, most people that play visual novels/dating sims kinda understand and admit to themselves that it’s all more than a little gratuitous and exploitative. But military shooters are percieved very differently, take more seriously. So DDLC doesn’t really blow anyone’s mind in respect to the genre. Not as much as SOTL intends to, at least.
And the cookier horror elements of DDLC also kinda undermine the seriousness of it’s message. In the end, it wants to be closer to Pony Island than SOTL.
While I agree with DL that SOTL doesn’t necessarily condemn the player all that much, I still find it oh-so-interesting that some people would balk at the slightest suggestion that there might be a hint of shittiness in them. That’s what bothers me about the negative responses to SOTL. That desire to argue that no, I’m a human being with perfect morals and not a smidge of weakness or bias or whatever, and how DARE you suggest otherwise, you piece of software. I know I have a number of flaws, just like anyone, but playing SOTL just makes me shrug and say “nah, game, I suck in slightly different ways than you assumed, good try, though” and move on. That a person would fell such indignation at a video game for suggesting they might be less than perfect is truly fascinating. So I’d say I get why people may think SOTL is condemning them, but I don’t get why they would be bothered by it.
Exactly. And I think a lot of the resistance to that is sort of macho bullshit, much like Walker. “You shouldn’t be offended”
I’m not. I’m looking for Kurtz being corrupted by his experience, not into something that tells of what he’s been through, but of a baser instinct of man. The game tells me I’m probably a jerk for playing it, and the only snarky response is “You’re a jerk for making it and profitting from it too, sorry bruvs, that’s capitalism”.
When the game talks to “You-the Player”, it is far less convincing and cutting than when it makes you act AS Walker, or includes the criticism in narrative. The game assumes you picked it up not knowing what an old af book on literature courses with a Hollywood adaptation was about. AKA-it treats you like an idiot. I’m sad that those points are the most loved.
The reason, I believe, there is no ingame option to walk away from the obviously deteriorating situation is because the game represents Walker’s world view. He doesn’t see going home as an option, therefore, there won’t be a visible option to go home.
The way out requires that the player look outside Walker’s narrow worldview, in this case being represented as needing to look outside the game world to find the ‘Quit Game’ button.
I see this as part of the point the game is trying to make (whether you agree with it or me or not is up to you, of course):
Expectations of ‘the way it should be’ can blind us to obvious answers outside the carefully presented field of view. The game is trying to convince us of walker’s viewpoint, but he is wrong. It us up to the player to see the solution walker is never considering. Clicking ‘Quit Game’ means the player broke through walker’s blinders as represented by the game itself.
Locke says:
Friday Feb 9, 2018 at 11:38 pm
The problem with the “you could always just turn the game off” answer is that it’s an out of game answer to in game atrocities. From an out of game perspective, yes, you could just stop playing, but the “lives” of video game NPCs mean nothing, so who cares? They aren’t sapient, they aren’t sentient, they aren’t even actual distinct entities. They’re component parts of a video game, and when you “kill” them, all you’re really doing is switching them from one state to another. Both states are equally lifeless and the entity actually responsible for switching them from one state to another is actually the video game, which they are component parts of. The actions of the player amount to a digital haircut – and the hair can be regrown instantly by reloading the level if we decide we don’t like it. The actions are only bad from an in-narrative perspective, and from that perspective we literally have no choice. No course of action within the narrative will cause the game to play out any way other than a bunch of civilians getting horribly murdered, and no amount of actions we can take outside the narrative will change that. The story of Spec Ops: the Line is exactly the same whether we decide to complete it or not.
If you don’t want harsh, divisive political discussion on your blog then why would you pick Wolfenstein 2 as a game to write about for your retrospective series?
Because I have lots of things to say about that game that have nothing to do with the obnoxious virtue signaling coming from The Usual Suspects.
I’ve always got the delete button and banhammer if things get out of hand.
Personally, I’d much rather they tore the labels off of things by placing their story in a sci-fi setting where we can consider whatever the point the game is trying to make without getting caught up in what political tribe the game is coming from.
I sympathize, but sometimes the point a game is trying to make requires those labels. SpecOps is a contemporary military shooter because it has things to say about contemporary military shooters and being a contemporary military shooter itself is the best way to do that. If, on the other hand, a game’s point, message, or theme is a little more general, then picking a fantasy or sci-fi setting (or any setting, really, that can’t easily be mapped to the here and now) is probably a good idea. Tolkien once said (I think) that he strived for applicability rather than allegory, and that strikes me as a pretty good rule of thumb.
I think, in this case, Shamus is on the side of SO:TL when he says to try to avoid politics. I don’t think he’s saying that SO:TL should not have been political. I think he’s saying that if shooters had avoided politics in the first place no one would have made SO:TL to criticize them, that the critique is valid, and that an obvious way to avoid such critique in the future is to avoid political pandering.
It’s impossible to avoid political messages though. If you make up a modern shooter but make all the participants fictional, you can still easily send messages like “war is necessary” or “war is awesome” or “combat is heroic” or etc. All points that someone could easily dispute, despite your fictional premise.
The point is to get the discussion of the topics without invoking the bundled conclusions of contemporary ideologies.
If you want to discuss (for example) whether war is good or not, a lot of people would naturally drift the discussion towards which current political party might be saying exactly that thing. Shamus’ policy is his policy, but a lot of times, talking about philosophical ideas without getting political is like talking about nutrition without ever mentioning food.
I would very much like to disagree with you, but I’m not sure that I do. I would like to believe that people can disagree with a game’s politics, a game’s perceived politics, or the politics implied by the game’s story and systems without that game generating a lot of partisan discussion because I would also like to believe that people can be political–which is to say have opinions–without necessarily being outraged about the game or viewing it in partisan terms. I suppose that depends on just what the game’s politics are. But I think it also depends on the extent to which people who disagree with the game’s politics view the game as actively hostile to their own politics or to them personally. And I think that the less overtly topical or nakedly allegorical the game is the less likely it is to be perceived as hostile.
That said, I don’t personally have a problem with politics in games, at least in the abstract sense. I don’t care for partisanship or mean-spiritedness, but if someone has something political to say and thinks that they can communicate it most effectively in game form then I say go for it.
I think you’ve put it quite well in that you put ‘have opinions’ in italics. People aren’t just interested in politics, they care. And once emotions get involved any discussion can easily get out of control.
It’s entirely possible for human beings to discuss anything – including politics – in a calm, constructive way; they just don’t. Which is sad, but such, it seems, is the nature of the Internet.
[shoeboxjeddy]…talking about philosophical ideas without getting political is like talking about nutrition without ever mentioning food.
This seems very true…but, no-one’s throwing the food at each other or screaming, which is a plus.
On a related note, I’d love to see the article Shamus has mentioned wanting write on Twitter and its cultural effects.
But he’s right, the chances of the comments section turning into an angry shitshow are pretty damn high…
Speaking of SF, can anyone explain Star Trek Discovery to me? I have watched off and on, and it just seems depressing, nonsensical and about as close to the “anti-trek” in spirit as they could have made.
Last episode, the cruel emperor (shouldn’t that be “empress”, guys?) who eats intelligent species brains for dinner, has been made captain of a ship she’s never been on, in a universe not her own, with the intent of sterilizing the Klingon home world or something. Sheesh!
Also, as far as I can tell, they wrote the main character as “male action hero”, and then told them to use an actress at the last minute or something. Oh, and add another female captain and a female admiral, also without a line of dialog that couldn’t have been written for a male actor.
And the main male characters so far are the evil captain, the “turns out he’s a Klingon and murderer” boyfriend, and the irritable gay engineer who talks to fungus. Is there any character that is even remotely likeable?
Makes me want to shoot mooks in a video game.
You’re missing several characters. The doctor was likeable. The alien first officer is mostly likeable. The talkative bestie who’s a killer captain in another universe is likeable.
Though that may all be differences in who you consider likeable. I like the spore guy, too. Michael goes through highs and lows. I’ll admit that I’ve never liked the captain or the Klingon, though there are others that do. (I follow the Trekyards channel on Youtube, and one of the two hosts really liked Lorca.)
That said, it is very low on the Trek scale of eutopic futures. I’m still hoping they do one more time jump and put us back before the first episode. I’m not holding my breath, though
Matt Downie says:
It’s not a show to be watched on-and-off. It’s a serial with an ongoing narrative, full of characters with carefully foreshadowed secrets (that then get spoiled on the internet).
I don’t know you want from the female characters to prove that they’re written differently from male characters. They’re Starfleet officers doing professional Starfleet officer things.
(I kind of agree about the style, though; it’s more Westworld than Star Trek.)
MelfinatheBlue says:
Um, first, spoiler warnings would have been nice (I haven’t seen anything of the second half of the season)!
Discovery (again first half of season, I cannot speak to anything after Jan 1), has some awesome moments. (First spoilers are quite vague, likely safe. I use no character names nor descriptions, and neither bit is a huge plot bit. Second are Lorca-specific, but are spoilers if you’ve not seen the first half of the season.)
We have a gay relationship that’s normal, no one makes anything of it, nor it is anything odd or strange! YAYS! We have people showing PTSD signs when they should. Okay, not very Trek, as that’s fairly dark, but it’s nice to see semi-realistic mental health issues. Captain is screwed up royally, well, I know of very few people who could order the death of their ENTIRE FREAKING CREW and not be screwed up. Yup, he was saving them from a worse fate, but still… Okay, yeah, that WAS DARK.
I’ve kinda been thinking of Discovery as newTrek. It’s grown up a bit, gotten a bit more angsty and dark, but is also going to interesting new places. Hey, they used FUCK! AND IT WAS AWESOME! (Yes, they did, and it was at a moment of great scientific awesomeness and was used in the fuck yeah sense and was a brilliant moment!)
Can’t help you with Michael, I watch it (and will watch the second half of the season in a binge when it’s all out but the cash I was using for CBS All Access for the first half has been earmarked for the “Melfina’s Teeth Are FUCKED” fund) for the other characters. I don’t hate Michael, but I don’t find her interesting or likeable. Jason Isaacs is well, I’ve had a crush on him since his Lucius Malfoy days so I love him as Lorca, I like the chief engineer and doc, the red-haired ensign is adorable and brilliant, and Mudd(spoiler warning for occasionally occurring character not in pilot) was exactly right.
Sorry about the spoilers. Wasn’t thinking of that! I found the whole series a deranged mess, so I wasn’t considering the fans. Nice to know there are some.
As for PTSD, it should be a lot more common. Michael takes insane risks again and again in the series, and should be practically catatonic after all the near death experiences. So should the spore guy, since he’s actually hacked his brain with alien DNA and nearly died.
The alien first officer is the only character I’ve found tolerable, but we don’t get any back story on him or his species, so they haven’t done much with him. The gay doctor is similarly brief.
But I insist this is the “anti-Trek”. Take away all the optimism and problem solving and humor, make all the characters one-note and grim. Lots of unreasonable orders barked out by macho characters. Add modern fight sequences that go on forever (no one gets tired.) I find it actually dull to watch and speed it up to 200% with subtitles, just to see if anything interesting happens.
Other than the red-headed engineer, do you find any of the female characters realistic?
The admiral reminds me of an old shrink of mine, actually, though my doc was never military. So yeah, she seems very normal and believable. I honestly can’t think of a single female character who seemed wrong to me, actually. They all just seemed like humans, some tougher than others, some more RRR, fight WAR than others (like a hallmate who played rugby and ended up breaking her nose twice in one season and loved it). Maybe since a) I am female, and b) I spent several years in a single-sex environment (Mount Holyoke, we aren’t a girls college without men, we’re a women’s college without boys), I’ve seen more uncommon women and thus don’t blink when they’re shown to me in media?
I’m giving Michael a pass on the seeming human thing, given her backstory. I’m actually kinda impressed she hasn’t had an emotional overload and breakdown.
Oh, also, my critical emotional brain turns off with most media. I never did notice Captain Janeway’s inconsistent characterization until I tried to write a fanfic involving her and could not get a handle on her character. Thankfully that was several years after Voyager was off the air and doesn’t seem to have stopped me enjoying episodes since.
I think it’s a self-defense mechanism like my turning off my physics brain, history brain, lore brain, and occasionally all thinking not related to “ooh, pretty booms/persons/scenery/tech/whatever!” Makes it a lot easier to enjoy bad movies as I just enjoy the shiny. Does tend to confuse people as I can explain to them why x, y, or z are acting the way they are in RL, what they’re likely motivated by, and what might be going on in their subconscious at the drop of a hat, but need a bit (less or more depending on how well put together the characterization is) to do the same for a movie, book, show, or play character.
To me,std is the perfect example of wasted potential.So they had the endings of ds9,tng and voyager to build on:
a world where federation is licking its wounds after a serious war,a newly uncovered secret part of the federation with sinister intentions,klingons are under a new,kind of controversial rule(which would justify “remain klingon” so much),borg may be coming back from the delta quadrant,and a plethora of great cameos they could use(a black vulcan,a female captain to promote into an admiral,a bunch of “on the cusp to be promoted” officers that they can use as a captain of a new ship in order to pass the torch,…),and they used NONE OF IT.Instead,they went with a prequel.But not a prequel,because the tech is more advanced than in the stuff its prequeled to,and the “familiar name” had to be recast in order to find a younger actor.Also,they killed off one of the best actors they had in the pilot episodes just to show how this is serious.
Commercially, the post-DS9 ST universe was more or less dead. Nemesis was a steaming hot pile of garbage, Voyager basically killed any chance at continuity by dumping oogles of silly future and borg tech in the UFPs lap (almost as bad as the ‘no more death, no more starships needed’ endings of the reboot movies). What video games where set in the aftermath didn’t do too hot and engaged in a mess of cross continuity garble that would not have been able to survive being put back on TV.
I think a spin-off was the correct way to go, James Bond or Doctor Who style. They needed that free hand.
As for the actor that got killed off: The entire season is building up to a moment similar to Michael’s mutiny in the pilot, except everything mirrored (or so it seems to me). This was not a series of episodes, but a full arc, and Shenzhou’s death was an important part of that. She did not just die ‘to show how serious things are’. (My apologies if I guessed wrong on who you meant by ‘best actor’).
Is it a good show? I dunno. I’ve been enjoying it a lot more since the return from the mid-season break, but it made serious blunders all the way through, in my opinion. I think I need to see the finale before I fully assess my feelings on it.
Ehh,the final continuity of those three shows couldve been ironed out.The continuity of the original was a big mess as well,but they managed to straighten that one out into something (more or less) coherent in tng.Theres a bunch of stuff that they did not keep(like the rich miners),and some stuff that they did(like the federation/klingon peace).Same couldve been done here.In fact,same WAS done here,only it was made into a prequel instead of a sequel because…..making a prequel is IN these days,I guess.
Or maybe they wanted the Terran Empire in the mirror-verse to still be around (remember that it got overthrown by DS9 in the timeline), forcing a time setting before then.
Has that theory actually been confirmed by the show?Small kudos are in order then.
Even then,there was upheaval in the mirror universe in the end of ds9 as well,so it too couldve been used.Not to mention that having the show set in mirror universe,the entirety of voyagers trek couldve been erased,and you could only have the characters remain as they are but with different back stories.
Oh right. Sorry. Major spoilers (and some guesses on the final episode) below:
The show is set in the prime universe, but they go to the mirror universe where the Terran Empire is shown off as the worst the Federation could become. They collect mirror Shenzhou and now the stage is set for Michael to have to mutiny against her again, a she did in the pilot, only everything is switched around: This time she is defending Starfleet ideals against her captain. The Terran Empire as seen in the TOS episode was important for this, as the shock of that encounter mentally prepared the Discovery crew to reject some the measures Prime Universe Starfleet seems ready to take in the face of utter destruction.
Non-spoiler version: No, the show is not set in the mirror universe, but they needed it to exist as it was in the TOS and ENT episodes.
Ehh,the same couldve been done in a sequel.Even with the empire fallen,terrans are not the good guys in the mirror universe.Heck,nothing says that they cant rebuild after their victory over mirror worf.
Also,the sequel would offer an opportunity to do that kind of a story without the need for a mirror universe,simply by making section 31 a more public thing.
Ugh, no. Please no more section 31 ever! Section 31 is a cancer on the setting in my opinion.
It undermines the very setting of the show if the ideal driven Federation only exists because 31 has bailed it out repeatedly through dirty dealings. The Federation was supposed to represent a bright future, but any regime held up by the likes of 31 is a dystopia through and through.
The entirety of std is section 31,only public.Even the lighting of the sets is dark like every time sloan was on screen.The only difference is that ds9 constantly presented section 31 as the bad guys.
To be honest, Star Trek Online did a valiant effort to continue the storyline post Voyager and the TNG movies. It might have gone a bit silly in some ways, but it’s a pretty interesting ride and it does Trek a lot better than virtually anything that’s been on screen since. The Iconian War actually ends in a very Trek way.
DeadleDark says:
You know, today I finally realized, what Discovery reminds me of. Mass Effect 2. Similar changes in tone (aren’t we edgy ones?), some good stories with some terrible plots. Only real difference – crew in Mass Effect 2 is likeable, for the most part
Galad says:
It sounds like an unsolveable problem to me – unless you turn to the genres that do not include violence by definition, like puzzles, adventure games, sims/management sort of games. Sorry, I’ve got nothing more, except to say that it’s good to see MrBTongue continue making videos, and even doing a shoutout for the blog here.
You could still have a game with minimal violence from the player, but which still includes violence. Many survival-horror games have the player be very weak, so that fleeing is usually the best option, instead of fighting the monsters. For another example, imagine a game where you’re a beat-cop, patrolling a bad neighborhood. Most of the time, you’re handing out parking tickets and telling kids to get their bikes off of the sidewalk. At one point, you encounter a mugging, and have to arrest the perpetrator. In a typical game, you’d be gunning them down; In this hypothetical example, you’d be using minimal force, to avoid a lawsuit and paperwork. :)
In this hypothetical example, you’d be using minimal force, to avoid a lawsuit and paperwork. :)
The Papers Please of violence sounds weirdly intriguing.
Police Quest isn’t exactly what you’re getting at, but it was a game that required you to observe police procedure, so while the player sometimes had to be violent with criminals they could only do so in a highly regulated way. A very interesting game. Sadly a recent attempt at kickstarting a spirtual successor didn’t work out.
I guess LA Noir would be an example of a game that did the exact opposite, cramming scads of traditional game violence into an otherwise refreshingly non-violent police procedural adventure game.
I was going to mention that, though I only know it from the Let’s Play.
Thanks for linking that. I do like a good let’s play. There’s also this RPS interview that provides some insight into the philosophy of the series and its ill-fated successor.
Sci-fi, unfortunately, is hard to do and harder still to sell. People don’t seem to be into it these days, be it space operas or cyberpunk. And, well, cyberpunk doesn’t really solve the problem, because it’s not removed enough from the present to avoid triggering people. See the critical reception to the excellent Altered Carbon Netflix series for an example.
Creating a compelling space opera universe, on the other hand, requires a lot of commitment,not to mention talent. The otherwise great Titanfall 2 barely manages to introduce two completely non-descript human factions. So I don’t think we’ll be getting decent a lot of decent far-flung sci-fi in gaming any time soon.
Oh, and a PSA : if you’re gonna watch Altered Carbon, don’t read the book first. Otherwise, the changes they made will seem really silly and simplistic. But absolutely do read the book afterwards – Richard Morgan is quite good.
Are critics panning Altered Carbon? That’s a shame. I’m 7 or 8 episodes in, and it’s great.
I read the book years ago. I kinda assumed that the add-on plot(s) were in a sequel I’ve never read. Though as I type this, I’m not sure there are any sequels (or prequels).
I’m really hoping it gets picked up for a season 2, and I’ve been wondering what a PC game adaptation would look like.
There are three Takeshi Kovacs books, but the other two are very different – they ditch the cyberpunk style for something more similar to military sci-fi. But the changes keep the books fresh, the other hand. Yeah, I enjoyed the show a lot too, but to my taste it adds way too much banal philosophy and screenwriting shortcuts (i.e. protagonist is the center of the universe) which really dumb down the novel and run against genre conventions that make both noir and cyberpunk strong.
And yeah, a game could be cool, especially since it has an in-universe excuse for respawning.
DHR says:
> Are critics panning Altered Carbon? That’s a shame. I’m 7 or 8 episodes in, and it’s great.
They’re mostly moaning about “whitewashing” because an Asian character sleeves into a white body. Even though that is a major part of the book.
It is and also isn’t, mainly because book Kovacs was resleeved so often he doesn’t really care. That’s one of the problems of the show, actually, the low-level philosophy and politics. That’s actually the difference between good and bad sci-fi and, to a lesser extent, between literature and simpler storytelling formats like film and TV. A good novel, like Altered Carbon, wouldn’t just introduce one central gimmick, like resleeving, and use it to very blatantly explore banal questions like “Is potential immortality good or bad? Is resleeving moral?”. No, a good novel builds a world, and no living world is built around a philosophical debate about a single piece of technology. Instead, it’s just a part of the world like any other, with a myriad implications and repercussions. Good sci-fi might speculate on some of those implications and their morality, but it would focus on timeless themes – you know, human nature, good and evil, that sort of thing. The novel isn’t obsessed with resleeving, it’s just there. The TV show is, and becomes lesser for it.
Make no mistake, still a great show, easily my favorite in a year at least. But, well, hard to beat a novel, especially for a mediocre screenwriter.
My reading of Altered Carbon seems to point in the other direction, that it wasn’t as good a book as it could have been because it was obviously written for ease of conversion into a screenplay. My review was originally posted in the forums, but here it is so you don’t have to click through:
This guy wants to write movies. In fact, he’s already sold several of his books for production, so maybe that’s his thing. But there’s a downside to movies. You can’t write anything that’s too expensive to shoot and produce, or it will never make money. Now, this is not a bad book. In fact it’s downright enjoyable. But a lot of the author’s effort goes into creating a “futuristic” and “gritty” and “forward looking” world, while at the same time always asking “could I turn this into a moderate budget sci-fi flick?” For this reason it has a very Dresden Files feel. Crazy things are always happening under the surface, but the actual environment is… LA, with fairly normal people walking around, doing fairly normal things. It succeeds as a story, but it fails as innovative fiction compared to, say, “A Fire Upon the Deep” by Vernor Vinge. Now, no one is clamoring to make movies of Vinge’s work, so I’m not faulting Morgan for knowing his audience. But I do rather feel as if I’ve been sold a bill of goods. “This is an amazing book” is not the same as “this is an amazing screenplay” by any stretch of the imagination. He toys with Singularity style trans-humanism, but doesn’t really go anywhere with it, because he needs it to be filmable with normal looking actors.
Plus it’s got the gratuitous sex and the the gratuitous matrix and the gratuitous clones so you can give actors multiple death scenes. Bluh. But again, I read all the way through it; It engaged me at some level. The tone was remarkably optimistic for a “cyber-punk” setting. Overall though, I wouldn’t recommend this book. If you’re looking for cyberpunk, read Snow Crash or Neuromancer. If you want singularity read Vinge. If you want screenplays, watch a movie instead.
Well, I think it was a good book, but I agree with you as well, actually. It could be easily converted into a good series. And the bits lifted straight from the pages work really, really well. It’s the changes that make little sense and the focus on certain ideas that weren’t there originally. It would have been much better if it just embraced the pulp instead of going for socio-political commentary and blockbuster screenwriting. Let me spoil some things to explain. Those will be spoilers of the pilot and the beginning of the book, characterization and not big plot points, but I’ll hide it nonetheless.
So. In the book, Kovacs is an ex-Envoy – a type of commando for the Protectorate (the galactic government) who specializes in being effective after resleeving. See, sending someone’s digitized consciousness across space is the fastest way to travel, so Envoys are needlecast into new bodies via cortical stacks wherever there is trouble and must be combat ready ASAP. They are also expert infiltrators, saboteurs, manipulators, etc. Kovacs is originally from a distant colony planet called Harlan’s World, which, some centuries ago, experienced a violent uprising led by Quellcrist Falconer. It was crushed byt the protectorate and she disappeared. Her teachings, known as Quellism, are still popular among people in violent professions, and Kovacs is something of a fan, even though he’s never met her and the whole thing was ages before his time. At some point he left the Envoys after a particularly nasty op, has been a merc ever since, got in trouble, got his concsiousness put in storage, and that’s when the story begins.
Now, in the TV series. Kovacs is still an ex-Envoy, but these time around Envoys were the revolutionaries under Quell. Kovacs knew Quell personally and they were in love (of course!). The uprising wasn’t some distant colony thing, no, it was The Uprising, one of the main galactic events. They were fighting the whole Protectorate and stack technology itself, because potential immortality is bad, I guess? In the end the Rebellion was crushed and Kovacs isn’t just an ex-Envoy, he is THE LAST ENVOY ever. There is more, but enough spoilers.
TV series has the cyberpunk, but not the noir, not in terms of story structure. Because you can’t have noir if you make your protagonist extra special. Imagine if Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon was an ex-superspy who almost killed Hitler, but was stopped at the last moment by Cairo, who also murdered his girlfriend. And now they face off again and the Falcon is actually the key to destroying the Nazis and Spade gets clues sent to him from his dead girlfriend. That sort of nonsense.
And don’t get me started on the politics of the show because it basically goes “perhaps no one should have a chance at eternal life because some rich assholes will also get eternal life and everyone rich and immortal inevitably becomes a sadistic murderous sex deviant”. I’m not even kidding.
Whew. There. I’ve vented. Still a great show, though. Really, really great. Joel Kinnaman is a revelation.
Mormegil says:
Plus Quell’s philosophy in the show boils down to I cured cancer but only rich people can afford it so my solution is to give everyone cancer! She deserved being exploded.
Hell, the fact that in the show it was Quell who invented stacks made me almost scream at the screen the way Kovacs screamed upon seeing his new sleeve in the mirror.
Plus can you imagine the horror of a universe where Quell succeeded in her terrorist plot?
Sorry everyone, you’re limited to 100 years no matter what. So rich people spend their 100 years in 18 year old sleeves and everyone who can’t afford it ages normally or has to literally sell their body –
the same as it stood before but now with absolutely no hope of change. Spend time in storage, well, that’s part of your 100 years gone. Her plan doesn’t get rid of the all powerful gods of society, it just makes you churn through them a little.
Well, to be completely honest there, the show itself doesn’t embrace that philosophy fully. And Tak does mention that he sees doubt in her words. Still, it was a gross simplification, which is a shame.
“Computers are good at simulating physical conflict and bad at simulating (say) dramatic conflict.”
I read a fascinating article a while ago arguing that opposite. Not that computers are inherently good at simulating dramatic conflict, but that computers seem good at simulating physical conflict because we’ve grown to accept the flaws in the simulations of physical conflict. Sadly, I cannot find the article, but as a thought experiment, it proposed an alternate world in the form of a review. To crudely summarize what I remember to be better written, it ran something like this:
“Shoot Dudes is an interesting experiment in game design, and we’re all for it. But it really shows how poorly video games simulation combat. Why should we take virtual combat seriously when a player cannot experience the haptic feedback of recoil? How can clicking a mouse be a suitable replacement for smoothly pulling the trigger back on a firearm? When you shoot someone, they simply fall down, sometimes with a scream; there is no simulation of the nuances of different wounds, of shock, of the rush of adrenaline. The developer couldn’t support the myriad of ways in which a soldier might try to use cover; the crude ‘snap to cover’ system is clumsy, and only works because the levels are incredibly artificially designed to support it. As for the psychological impact of combat, this was apparently deemed too complex and completely ignored.
“In comparison to a AAA title, like Harem Romance 7: Romance Harder, Shoot Dudes is shallow. HR7 tracks two dozen different emotional stats for every character, hundreds of states, and a nuanced system to simulate other characters interacting with each other and spreading information. This is the sort of thing computers do well, and there is a reason that romance titles have dominated the AAA charts for years.”
That’s arguing a slightly different issue. If I recall Campster’s argument correctly, it wasn’t really about realistic simulation. It was more about the fact that a representation of violence – e.g. things hitting or not hitting other things – is really easy to do an a computer. It’s all hitboxes, projectiles, an approximation of physics and such. Not realistic, sure, but interactive and believable. But for real interactive dramatic conflict you’d need something really close to a true AI. Because as of now you can aim and shoot a virtual gun in any direction, but conversation is limited to a handful of options and responses.
For a real interactive violent conflict you’d need something really close to a full simulation of human physiology and psychology. Dramatic conflicts are being held to a higher standard than violent ones.
Conversation in games need not be limited to a handful of choices and responses, and isn’t always.
Is there any other way to do conversation in games?
evilmrhenry says:
The Sims? Simulate the results, not the words.
Well, those aren’t real conversations, are they? At least, not in the context of “dramatic conflict”. And, well, I got the impression that Alan is insisting on discussing actual reality-based simulations, and I’d argue that the Sims is a greater abstraction than most modern shooters.
The Sims is more abstract than COD, but that’s the wrong comparison. The Sims is XCom. Top-down, you control a group, stats for members of the group are tracked individually, and you are working towards long-term goals rather than focusing on individual challenges.
It’s not inherent that one be limited to a handful of choices. A broader selection of choices is certainly an option. If the selection grows large enough, a simple list or wheel of choices may not be enough, but there are other user interface options. There is much to be said for typing. (I’m looking forward to games making better use of voice recognition.)
Given a large enough selection of topics, some well crafted generic answers, and a player trying to act reasonably in game, it can feel about as free as one is free to explore the oddly constrained spaces of many AAA shooter.
(I feel it reasonable to ask that the player try to act reasonably in game. In a shooter, when I intentionally empty my clip into an ally, and all that happens is he asks me to watch my fire, or I’m unable to shoot off the mundane lock of an unopenable door, I’m not really bothered; I stopped trying to act reasonably within the game.)
Options can further be modified by a player chosen tone or posture, a technique dating back at least as far as 1986’s Starflight.
Responses need not be simple “Ask about A, get answer B.” You can model a character’s emotional responses to you, track what they’ve learned, and use that to influence their responses.
I’m feeling lazy, so I’ll trot out the usual example, Galatea. http://pr-if.org/play/galatea/ . Facade is, to be charitable, less successful, but it is a fascinating experiment in how a player could additionally interact. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fa%C3%A7ade_(video_game) Both offer a lot of freedom of input, and attempt more complex simulation of the mindsets of the characters.
For more, this post by Emily Short isn’t a bad introduction; she’s written a lot more since, but it’s not a bad summary many options. https://emshort.blog/how-to-play/writing-if/my-articles/conversation/
Come now, that’s just arguing semantics. Perhaps an IF game can have not a handful, but a few dozen options? The best text parsers still don’t feel intuitive or natural. You are still limited to the relatively small number of options the writer thought of. And that’s IF. Imagine making a game, with graphics and voice acting and similar conversations. That’s just going back to my original argument – you need an actual AI or the player will feel very limited. But giving a player free movement on a 3d plain, free aiming and shooting and primitive, yet satisfying interaction with the virtual world via the act of shooting? That’s easy. So, as I said, violence in games is technically easy. Drama and human interaction – incredibly hard.
Ironic.
The underlying problem is that there’s many smaller sub-components in a physical conflict which can be simulated very close to reality, but most of the things we’d expect in a conversation aren’t easy to simulate. For a gun-fight in a game, sound effects and visual effects can be recorded to photo-realistic levels fairly easily; Bullet-drop, or even the effects of wind can be simulated very close to reality; The protagonist getting out of breath, injured, or stunned can be simulated to varying degrees.[1] On the other hand, there’s not really anything to a conversation, except those things which are hard to simulate. Tone of voice, intent, innuendo, jokes, sarcasm, despair, etc – those all basically need to be done by hand. The best you can get for a simulation / procedural conversation, is a MadLibs-style fill-in-the-blanks thing, which ends up being cartoonish or uncanny.
[1] See stamina bars, health bars (or even the damage system of a Mechwarrior game, or Deus Ex), and the stun grenades in Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds.
Again, I kinda think we are talking about the wrong sort of simulation. It’s not like realistic violence is actually the name of the game in the … er… gaming industry. We are talking about fantasy and sci-fi shooters, hack and slashes, platformers, whatever. The thing is, videogame violence is a bunch of kinetic objects hitting each other. Easy to make, easy to learn, and easy to make satisfying to the player. Kinesthetically pleasing as all hell, since we are using Campsterspeak.
Realistic violence is still definitely a part of these games; It’s just not as completely simulated as, for example, the flight simulation of a flight simulator. Blood spatter, gun feel, sound effects, visual effects and models[1] – those are all being simulated fairly realistically. The sort of violence that’s common in games, is farther along the sliding scale towards real-world violence, than say for example, the violence in a Super Mario, Zelda, Diablo, etc.
[1] Some games(or sims?) also have bullet-drop, wind effects, screaming civilians, prison (if you kill a bystander), etc.
Realistically? Not sure about that. Cinematically, more like. Hollywood is the model for gunfight realism in games, not real life. Combat sims, yeah, they strive for realism, but they are also a very niche genre. But most shooters? Guns don’t send people flying, gun operation is almost often wrong, etc., etc. Gameplay and style always trump realism in those things, I think.
This is an interesting back and forth. The question that sticks out in the back of my mind is, if games are so good at simulating realistic violence, then why is game violence awesome and fun, when real life violence is brutal and horrifying? There’s a major disparity there.
I think part of it comes down to feedback, part of it comes down to consequence, and part of it comes down to stakes.
By feedback I mean blood, gore, sfx, vfx – the simulation of the effects of violence in the immediate term. This is the stuff that developers render in higher fidelity with every passing generation. Abstractly a 16 bit portrayal of violence may be less shocking than today’s realistic bullet wounds and arterial spray – or not, if you’re playing Hotline Miami – but the mind seems quick to desensitise to this stuff at any level. Maybe once we’re running games directly in our brains, getting to smell exposed intestines and feel the blood seeping into our socks, we’ll finally be experiencing fictive violence at a level the mind can’t desensitise itself to.
By consequence I mean games simulating the wider consequences of violence beyond the gunfight. Putting aside my distaste for SOTL’s ‘fuck you for playing me’ attitude, there were a lot of things about the game I liked, both in terms of broad themes and individual sequences. I have no problem with a game in which you don’t get to be the hero by divine right, or which has a message about how the desire to intervene with the best intentions can carry unintended and disastrous consequences, especially when it comes to the projection of force and the application of violence.
SOTL is interesting because it questions the sometimes strange cart-and-horse relationship between videogame violence and videogame stories that require player violence to resolve.
There are plenty of games that explore the potentially negative consequences of player violence, but you often have to travel out of the AAA action game sphere to find them. Shiny’s Sacrifice tells a tale about an exiled wizard who flees to a new world as a sort of cosmic refugee. Though he carries a warning of impending peril, to the rulers of the world his value lies chiefly in his capacity to further their own agendas through violence. So he has a choice in terms of who which ruler(s) he serves, but in any case he’ll be put to violent work, and the consequences of those choices are visible and pronounced. It’s a great game and I recommend it to everyone (Tim Curry provides voice work!).
There’s a semi-obscure SRPG called Yggdra Union which has a story about a mercenary band on the run. Their very presence as a private warband leads to their inability to shift the context of successive encounters in the places they flee from one of violence, often with tragic consequences. I think the Banner Saga trades in similar themes though I’ve never played it.
Lastly, I mentioned stakes. The worst thing a player can lose through videogame violence is progress, be it thirty seconds’ worth or an entire playthrough’s. In the real world of course violence has much higher stakes for its participants. Maybe we could get closer to bridging the gap by some mechanism that caused the player physical pain or loss? Somehow I doubt it would catch on.
We all know how conversations work and will notice and care when they don’t work right. Very few of us know what a warzone is like in enough depth to even notice the differences, and many of the most noticeable differences are (as noted in MrBTongue’s video) designed specifically to make the combat more enjoyable.
A shame that you couldn’t find the article anymore. This sounds very intriguing, and I would have liked to read the original.
My wife happily kept a link to the article. Why So Few Violent Games?
Alan, dude, you DO know this is a joke article? It’s not arquing anything, it’s making fun of the industry by describing an alternate reality. Or have you been making a little joke of your own all that time? I feel genuinely confused by now, honestly.
That was the point of Alan’s original post.That violent games are just a default of our world because thats what we chose early in the day.But if that original choice was different,the convention of today could very well be the opposite.
That’s…not a very compelling argument, especially when it’s based on a half-hearted joke post. Because, once again, games mostly aren’t about realistic simulation. Never have been. They are about satisfying interaction. And that’s moving objects, kinetics, contact. And that easily translates into virtual violence. Space Invaders is much easier to do than even Galatea, which is modern and still needs to be extremely low-tech to even begin to work.
Dude, try reading posts, or articles, before you respond.
You make yourself a fool, elsewise.
That something is a joke, that it mocks some target, does not mean it has no message or goal.
Goal? Yes. Compelling, well-put arguments? No. Again, that’s a very simple technological thing we are discussing. Not a lot of room for interpretation.
etheric42 says:
Thank you for posting this. I actually was about to post something similar. It’s like video games have fallen into the same trap that classic tabletop RPGs fell into. Video games actually are not very good about simulating violence, but the abstraction that they use is one we are more willing to accept. Games with melee combat are rarely if ever about simulating physics objects executing real tactical choices and are usually more about waving damage beams in close proximity to hitboxes. Hit points are terrible abstractions of harm, but are basically the only thing we use (even in games with location based damage, each location generally has hit points).
Why are we more willing to accept it? Is happenstance? We happened to have more violent wargames which beget tabletop RPGs which beget video games so we are used to the abstraction? Is it because of how alien violence is to most of us? We experience other forms of conflict and interaction regularly in real life so we can/could see the flaws of the abstract version more easily? Is it because violence is exotic? We don’t generally “get” to experience it so we are more forgiving of the opportunities to experience it in games?
Are the same reasons listed above why porn / sex games are popular / have any popularity at all compared to their production qualities and marketing?
Why is it my classic tabletop RPG can have rich systems for my strength and dexterity stats, but shallow/limited systems for my intelligence and charisma stats?
The indie RPG revolution is helping on the tabletop RPG side. More games have verbal combat like Burning Wheel, social economies like Monsterhearts or dramatic economies like Hillfolk. Where does that lead computer games? Well it will probably be a few years/decades for them to see fruit outside of their niche like other tabletop games, but it would likely show by games including abstractions of other kinds of conflict/interaction that people start accepting first in niche games and then in their own genre, and then being adopted into mass-market games (like progression systems/leveling was over the past decade).
What might some of these abstracted systems look like? Maybe like the negotiation-as-valid-combat-move present in Renowned Explorers? Maybe in the iconography of communication present in The Sims? Maybe in the focus of outcome over detail present in Reigns (not a great choice because of its text focus, can anyone think of a better example?)? Wasn’t there a turn-based-tactics game in the style of Final Fantasy Tactics a few years back about campaigning for an election?
If you were to make a graphical (but low-graphics is okay) game with the focus of creating systems for non-violent gameplay (and not in the puzzle-like graphic novel/adventure game, but in the same way combat is a system in modern games), how would you build it? Wouldn’t it be cool to have a starship command game that was about actually commanding your crew and dealing with relationships, fostering trust, etc. instead of that being abstracted away to the point where you are basically playing AS the ship? Then you could co-opt people’s expectations for violence by making that an event that occurs based on your management of relationships?
Also, does anyone know if Shamus has played Subnautica yet? I would buy him a copy if he needs one. There’s a sci-fi game of limited violence.
You claim that our abstractions of violence are shallow and easily accepted. I believe however, that our abstractions and simulations span a variety of realism. Hit-points and stun-points are shallow; Individual damage areas, like a MechWarrior game or Deus Ex are less so. The visual graphics of most guns, and explosions are photoreaslistic. The sound effects and blood spatter in most games are fictional, but only insofar as they are the caricature-esque hyper-realism of our fantasies. The guns are more bassy because powerful munitions are more bassy. The blood in games is what would happen if every shot was the one-in-a-million. Melee combat similarly isn’t simply an abstraction, but the best abstraction we have, given our limited inputs, and the assumption that you are a well-trained fighter who hits what they aim at.
You’ve listed some very good examples of non-violence being experimented with in games, both video and non-video. I hope that experimentation continues, and agree that the industries have spent most of their budget on violence simulation. Saying that the violence was easily built, and easily accepted however, is ignoring the huge efforts that have gone into it thus far.
Sorry if I let on that the position of violence in games was easily won. I never intended to claim that they are shallow and I am sorry if I came across like that. The only thing I said were shallow were D&D’s (particularly classic D&D’s) Int/Cha systems (and by comparison their physical systems have more depth). I said they weren’t GOOD at simulating violence, but that’s kind of a wishy-washy phrasing and I’ll try better: they aren’t ACCURATE at simulating violence. I think they are GOOD games, but there is a lot of realism lacking from “realistic” games.
Individual damage areas like Mechwarrior (derived from a tabletop wargame) is still a simplified abstracted system compared to modeling each circuit board, wire, and armor plate, the force and obliqueness of impact required to penetrate each of which and the way the damage propagates through the system. In real vehicular combat, armor is usually a threshold that has to be met by a certain quantity of force determined by mass, velocity and angle. It also can be pretty binary. Penetrate or deflect with certain rare conditions causing metal fatigue or possible overpenetration. Ships can be killed or just mission-killed. But in games we would usually simplify that to flat damage reduction… and then usually scrap the flat damage reduction because of how “whiffy” or binary it is in exchange for percentage damage reduction with a curve (like the armor system from Skyrim or League of Legends) or a bonus HP system. I could talk about how those other items you mentioned are gamified abstractions of real violence, but I don’t want to come across like I’m nitpicking your argument. I think we both agree that these are the result of decades of R&D and will continue to progress past where they are now.
I also didn’t intend to claim that they were easily accepted. I am sorry if I came across like that. I asked why we are more willing to accept it in our current world.
By saying happenstance I was trying to say centuries of wargames followed by years of classic RPGs gave early physical conflict systems a head start and a language to draw from. Whereas there aren’t as many classic tabletop/parlor games about people having conversations (which then ties to my other point about the alienness/rarity of violence… those wargames were often developed to train military officers in the months/years between battles, and we didn’t need to gamify systems to train people for conversation/barter/diplomacy… we just let them practice it on actual people).
That certainly isn’t easy, it’s the result of a long time of cultural development in game design.
Below I kind of hint at that it may take console generations to develop engines capable of satisfying an visceral social conflict. They can borrow a bit from the existing physical engines, but it would take awhile before the body of work you stand on isn’t actively working against you by making physical conflict so much easier to model/accept by your audience. I hope a lot more development and experiments occur in this field. If I were designing a game today I would probably make that commanding a starship game or that prom king/queen game, but I’m not (I’m working on a tabletop project about corporate power structures in a sci-fi setting, but I already have an audience for that for instant gratification). In the meantime I’m going to go back to stabbing cannibals in The Forest and having a blast. (I guess survival sims are a relatively new genre that are not necessarily about physical conflict that are developing their own mechanics and shorthand?)
I think this actually touches on one of the problems of conversation simulations versus violence; how do you properly validate multiple approaches while still having a fail state?
In combat simulations, it’s you versus them, and all the available options assume that; hit them with a shotgun, grenade, or sledgehammer, the relationship is the same. In porn, it’s a fantasy where everyone wants to bone you and all the options assume that. The choices don’t change the dynamic of the relationship.
But for something based around making friends and whatnot, creating the dynamic is the goal, so you have to have both “make friend” and “make enemy” options, which means some options need to fail. Which options succeed and which ones fail, and how do you telegraph that to the player?
Plus players have personalities; making a player’s instinctual conversation path fail is going to reflect on the player in a way that making pistols underpowered doesn’t.
Combat has multiple approaches and possible outcomes. You end up with more/less health, ammo, time left on the clock, allies alive. These are even smaller defined limits of what is really true in a violent encounter or military engagement. Things like regenerating health and two-weapon/ever-plentiful ammo make things even more single-outcome.
If every option in a combat simulator helps you achieve the goal of killing enemies and not dying yourself (to varying levels of success), and every option in a sex game involves ASCII porn and not getting caught (to varying levels of success), then a game about manipulation gives you options to help you achieve the goal of getting the target to obey your commands/be your friend/vote for you and not having them take action against you/be your enemy/vote for your opponent (to varying levels of success. The options we have for physical conflict we have spent a long time teaching people how to use and when to use, and we just have not had the same level of cultural education for social conflict. You could say the physical combat is easy to understand because it models the real world, but considering all the games that make assault rifles effective at ranges you should really be using a carbine or CQW in, or that swordplay is a lot different than stringing together heavy and light attacks, I don’t think that’s true. Then there are missteps like the original Halo where pistols are super-powerful weapons and people used to the FPS tradition of pistols being throwaway starter weapons would overlook some of the most potent weapons in the game.
Exactly what these tools are are the thing that we haven’t really developed yet (at least they are not as widely adopted as the combat heavy attack/light attack paradigm, or shotgun/machine gun paradigm). In Burning Wheel they adopt some familiar mechanics of combat (hit points, attacks, blocks) and flavor it to interact in the manner of an argument. In Hillfolk you trade things you can afford to give away in order to gain the power to take the things you want. In Monsterhearts you have a suite of actions that make people take choose between taking negative modifiers and letting you have power over them. A system like Burning Wheel could be used in some kind action-legal game where you had to win over the jury by skillful trial charisma. A system like Monsterhearts would make a great high-school action-sim. Moves like “put down” or “front” could be bound to keys/controller, and you need to employ them properly to move up the school social ladder without also going too far and getting suspended/detention.
And remember, you are playing a character, not yourself. Nobody (very few people) complain about stealth kills not working in games which are not about stealth. In a action game about becoming prom king/queen, why would anyone (other than those few people) expect patiently listening to someone’s fears and empathizing be a valid move they could make? Now in an RPG about becoming prom king/queen, sure you have people who put points in empathizing versus people who put points in Prada (but even in RPGs, you get games that have fire and ice magic but no lightning).
One of the hard parts to work out is positioning. In combat you need to make sure you are close enough for your sword to hit, but not theirs, or seeing enough of their body to shoot, but not exposing too much of your own for too long, etc. Where is the positioning in social interaction? There’s body language and proximity to the person you are communicating with, as well as the social circle you are communicating with at the time. In the prom game a lot of it would be in crowd scenes (parties, transitions between classes, the mall?) where you have to move from circle to circle quickly to spread your influence in addition to your body language/proximity within the circle.
I think a lot of people when looking at conversation/social conflict games think every single word needs to be modeled, but every parry of the blade / every drop of blood isn’t modeled in physical combat and social conflict games should work at getting to their Rogue or Zelda before they try to get to their Dark Souls.
Friday Feb 9, 2018 at 1:54 am
Are we okay limiting the scope of socializing games to people-as-resources settings about scheming to achieve an outside goal?
Monday Feb 12, 2018 at 12:54 am
About as okay as limiting violence games as aggressive uses of violence to destroy others. I mean, there may have been some kind of cop game where you are supposed to subdue your targets instead of kill them, or some kind of game about being a bodyguard and not a bodyguard hellbent on revenge after his ward was killed… but they are kind of rare.
I mean, these games are about conflict and resources/opposing forces are easier to model with our current cultural tech.
Please note that in Monsterhearts after you level up (Season 2 and beyond) you get advanced moves like “reach out with empathy” (not actually the name of a move, I can’t remember their exact names off the top of my head) which are positive without strings attached moves.
If you’ve got some suggestions about how to model games where the conflict comes from the social end where the actors have intrinsic value as human/pixel beings without spending a lot of energy explicitly scripting each one, I want to hear. The best I could think of was dating games. Maybe some virtual town with a procedural relationship network that you interact with without any top-down end state? Something Dwarf Fortressy or Simsy?
What about a game where you land on an alien planet and can’t understand any of their language (and they are so alien they don’t fit the rules of human language) and you have to learn to fit into their society through observation?
Maybe an RPG where your relationship with your companions actually had rules and gameplay mechanics. You could beat the game without establishing a relationship (not in a Dragon Age/Mass Effect way) everyone, but the game becomes a richer experience if you do engage in those mechanics with the characters you like? Even that though is carried by it’s core RPG gameplay, that just becomes the icing on the cake… but maybe it’s a start?
If someone had figured this out already, these games would probably already exist.
Crusader Kings isn’t centered on violent conflict? It’s mostly assassinations and wars for territory (plus a bit of bribery, political marriage and child-rearing).
THIS IS WHY WE CANNOT HAVE NICE THINGS!
Sorry, I sometimes get unreasonably agitated when it comes to bugs.
Its not a bug,its a feature.
the position of “the game is hostile to the player” is an unreasonable reading of things.
Not unreasonable,but not correct either.Yes,the game introduces you as a character in the game,but as a SPECIAL GUEST,as in not directly involved.Which is further supported by not putting you in the first person.
So when the game starts chiding the protagonist for “wanting to be a hero”
The game does not do that.It presents you a situation similar to a situation youd be put in one of the other spunkgargleweewees,but it shows you how horrible the situation is.Then it asks you “do you feel like a hero”.Its not the “Ha!You wanted to be a hero.Do you feel like one,asshole?” line,but rather “Other games would lie to you how this would make you into a hero.Do you feel like one when you see it properly?”.
But I’m betting lots of people who enjoy these games have the introspection to recognize them for what they are and realize the real world doesn’t work this way.
Which is precisely one of the things that the game tells you.”But this isnt real,so why should you care?”
Campster’s explanation is kind of depressing because it’s harder to see a solution.
Thats assuming that there is a problem in the first place.
Weeell, I’d say there is. At least when it comes to variety and themes we can cover in games. For example, I think I loved Pyre as much as I did partly because it was one of the few non-violent games I’ve played in a while. It was still very kinetic and it had conflict, even physical conflict to a degree, but it allowed for a lack of fail states for one and a unique situation where your rivals weren’t enemies and you could all have a conversation and an ongoing relationship after any given bout. You could win without killing, lose without dying and, more importantly, eventually you could achieve a desired result by throwing a game. All because no one had to die or even get hurt or tranqed at any point. That’s pretty great and we need more of that, but it’s oh so tricky to make in the current environment.
The fact that only pyre appealed to you does not mean there werent plenty of other non violent games out there.Theres the one mentioned here recently,getting over it.Then there is opus magnum,slime rancher,oxygen not included,factorio,doki doki literature club,stardew valley,the witness,the regular bunch of annual sportsball games,….
Also,violence is a pretty broad spectrum,in that it covers street fighter as well as heartstone,two radically different and varied genres.So there is variety,plenty of it.
Sure, it’s not like I’m saying that Pyre is the only non-violent game out there. But they are rare, no? Especially in certain genres. Perhaps I should have specified that Pyre was one of the few non-violent games I’ve encountered outside of puzzles and visual novels. I mean, Pyre is very much an action-RPG since you do action and RPG stuff, as well as a visual novel. Which is rare.
If you want something kinetic with a story and characters, 9 times out of ten, I think, it will be violent. I’m not against violence in games, god forbid. There are a lot os simulators and sports games and puzzles for those who don’t want violence. But non-violent RPGs? Non-violent action? We could stand to have more of that, I’d say.
Another reason we get a lot of “why are videogame so violent?” discussion…
Maybe this question gets asked a lot(?) because critics are obliged to review AAA stuff, and in the AAA realm, violence is pretty common.
Maybe that’s because violence sells, but maybe it’s because you don’t NEED a huge budget to make non-violent games. It’s just not a good fit for a huge studio to make a thoughtful, talky, mood-based exploration game. And number-crunchy simulationist / strategy games are popular, but they’re not always a great for for a controller, which means they stay on the PC.
Non-violent games are plentiful, but they’re often relegated to the indie market for practical and economic reasons. And then critics obliged to cover big tentpole stuff find themselves spending lots of time shootin’ dudes and wishing they could do something else. And major review sites have to cover those games because that’s what gets the clicks.
I have no idea what the numbers are like, but it might be true that non-violent* games are more popular than violent games, but they’re more diffuse. 10 people play Call of Shootman. But then 20 other people play a dozen other games not focused on violence. Shootman is the most popular, but most PEOPLE go for non-violent games. (I’m not saying this is true. I’m just saying it’s possible.)
* For the purposes of this discussion, I’m talking about up-close direct violent. Which means strategy stuff like Civilization would be “non-violent”, even though lots of killing is involved.
In any case, critics end up spending a lot of time shootin’ dudes and then writing think-pieces bemoaning the state of the industry, when the real problem is that the others games EXIST, they just don’t get the clicks that pay the bills.
It’s a really complicated web of interactions between publishers, developers, journalists, and players. The whole thing makes me really glad I run my own site and get to review whatever I damn well please. I know a lot of journos would kill for a gig like that.
Having said all that, I wrote this comment after alt-tabbing away from GTA V where I went on a wild fifteen-minute five-star rampage across the city, so maybe I’m not in the best mental state to be pondering violence in games.
I might have gotten sidetracked. I was talking more about bringing non-violent games into traditionaly violent genres. Like RPGs, action, etc. Which is a separate issue, of course.
I believe that Shamus’ argument still holds here. The “action” and “RPG” labels are the ones most common for AAA games. That will inflate the numbers on the side of violence, since that’s what AAA studios tend to make. (Or at least what we perceive as common; For the sake of argument, I’m assuming this true, since I have no way to get stats on this.)
Also noteworthy, is a list of recent (last two years) non-violent RPG / action games in my finished list in Steam:
– 2064: Read Only Memories
– Amnesia: The Dark Descent
– Costume Quest
– Serena
– Shovel Knight
– SOMA
– The Way
Out of that list, they’re outnumbered about 2:1, but I don’t think that’s a large enough margin to say that these genres are entirely filled with violence.
Shovel Knight IS violent. It’s cartoony, sure, but you spend your time killing things. SOMA and Amnesia is about death and pain and violence,which, I admit, is a different thing, but still worth mentioning. Pyre is neither, which is why I maintain that this game is worth pointing out specifically. But yeah, I concede that there’s quite a lot of non-violent games. Still not enough, though, in my opinion.
I think you’re correct, Shamus. But I’d go a step farther and point out that the most common and popular “violent” games are first and foremost *action* games. They combine lowest-common-denominator appeal, with a high degree of quality, and quite often a strong multiplayer component. These types of games are good value for a very wide audience.
On the other hand, even really good story-driven games or rpg’s or whatever will tend to appeal to only a smaller portion of that audience. There are other audiences, sure, but its sort of why Game of Thrones became so popular. It’s got something for a very broad audience, so it could be talked about by anyone and everyone.
I’m not sure Stardew Valley really fits there, seeing how “Combat” is one of the (just) five skills in the game and there are in-game rewards for slaughtering hundreds of monsters. It’s like how I was surprised it won the “Can’t we all just get along” Steam award last year. Don’t get me wrong, I picked it up over Christmas and have fallen hard for it in a way I haven’t done for a game in a long time, I’m just saying it’s definitely got its share of violence in it.
Dev Null says:
At the risk of “me-tooing” your entire post, this right here is what science fiction has always done best. You can talk about politics or war or sexuality or whatever your audience might find taboo, and by removing it from reality and setting the question as being about “aliens” or “future people” or whatever, you can discuss the issue without all the baggage. I’m not really sure why this doesn’t seem to work as well in fantasy settings, but my gut feeling is that it simply gets tried less often.
I don’t know why Sci-fi is more popular than fantasy either (if that is, in fact the case), but it might be a temporary fad.
It really, really isn’t. At least, GoT is way more popular than any sci-fi show. And I’d say that Destiny 2 (the second best-selling game after Call of Duty in 2017) isn’t really sci-fi, it’s science-fantasy at best.
Oh good! Crisis averted.
I kinda meant in the context of video games though.
Well, here is Forbes’ list.
Destiny 2^
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild**
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017^
Super Mario Odyssey**
Mario Kart 8**
We got science-fantasy in Destiny 2, we got plain fantasy in Zelda. We have Star Wars which is also science-fantasy, but for the sake of this argument is just Star Wars. No hardcore sci-fi. I dunno. Maybe Destiny 2 counts as sci-fi, but I don’t think so. It’s mostly space magic galore.
Not entirely my point. What I meant to say (and mostly failed to articulate) was that both science fiction and fantasy could be used for fun escapism, or for the sort of “what if” speculative fiction that lets you ask serious questions about the world by removing the emotional baggage and placing them in a more neutral setting (or, more usually, some mixture of the two.) But for whatever reason, sci-fi seems to be the tool that gets reached for when the author is trying to do more of the latter than the former. I can’t think of any reason why you couldn’t just as easily ask serious questions in a fantasy, but it doesn’t seem to happen nearly as often
I get you. May be a historical thing. Sci-fi was largely born as a way to examine various social issues, starting with H. G. Wells. Modern fantasy was different. Historically, it started with books for children and grew from there. It’s not like fantasy can’t be relevant and tackle socio-political issues, it very much can. But it doesn’t really have to. Sci-fi, meanwhile, is by default a study of the possible implications of a given society’s current path, so it’s inherently more political. Doesn’t mean you can’t have meaningless fluff wrapped in sci-fi trappings or some very smart fantasy. But as a broad generalization, yeah, Sci-fi tends to be more “serious”.
Kultra says:
I dont know how I feel about CK2 being refered as not “Conflict Driven” at its best is a map paiting simulator with a lot of fiddly mechanics that keep you entertained, at its worst its a “How many families/religions/cultures can I wipe off the map?” simulator.
Dont take me wrong its a super fun game, but a large part of it is the conflict :3
That’s true, but I think what Shamus may be getting at is that the violence in CK2 is presented rather abstractly. You don’t press a button to make your hi-def avatar stab some other character right in his hi-def guts. Instead, you give marching orders to little army men who march across the map and sometimes make clanging metal noises when they run into another group of little army men.
I dunno man. The gut-wrenching bone crunches and screams as you torture or kill or assassinate a person at the very least sound very… violent. And the textboxes detailing how your character got maimed (and, with the Reaper’s Due, specifically had his eye poked out) get to quite gruesome levels.
I’d say that the abstraction of violence in CK2 is offset by the sheer brutality of the audial feedback you DO get.
I guess I don’t consider little two-second audio clips “gut wrenching”. The point is that the violence in CK2 is typically implied rather than lavishly depicted.
Meriador says:
I think it’s also a matter of how direct your control of the violence is. You, the player, rarely directly do anything violent. Killing someone isn’t a matter of using the attack button to hit the guy you want dead. You plot, and maybe spread some money around to get the plot going, and eventually the person dies in a scripted event.
I think I would agree that Crusader Kings isn’t a “violent” game, in the traditional sense. There are definitely violent things happening, but it is ultimately a game about political intrigue and leadership, both of which have implied or abstract violence involved. Violence isn’t what you do — its what your underlings do, I suppose. Though I think that comes down to a semantic argument about what a “violent” game is.
Am I the only person who sees Red Vs Blue and immediately thinks of the Rooster Teeth series? Despite living in the USA my entire life, I’ve never seen blue as a political color. Red, yup, but more in the China communist red sort of way. Huh, wonder why…
There’s a rework of Euripides Bacchae here in Atlanta where they’re making the conflict connect with today in a non Democrat Vs Republican kinda way. The original conflict of the play, man vs god, is still there, but they’re focusing a lot more on those who follow Bacchus and what blindly following means and what do you do when you’re following something/someone who’s turned from love and joy to vengeance.
Granted, that’s a bit more complicated than first-person shooters seem to want to do, but there’s a lot of interesting things you could do in that area.
I also thought the Red vs. Blue link would involve Rooster Teeth.
I’d suggest that several FPS’s want to be complex; they just might not do it very well, or they might do it in culturally worn-out ways.
It’s entirely possible. I like world exploration, and dislike first-person combat, so I haven’t played an FPS since Half-Life (but that’s where I learned about mods so that was great) unless you want to count Oblivion or Skyrim or Fallout, and I don’t think we do.
You could do an interesting FPS where your superiors orders get more and more, say, outside of mission scope, or start breaking Geneva Protocols, but you have no way to verify them (the orders or that your superiors haven’t been ousted in a coup or something). Sorta like what the Line did, but giving the player far more room to dig their own grave OR NOT. You could try to stay in the middle ground by various tactics, follow your orders blindly, or ignore them completely. Someone above mentioned trying to shoot the napalm so it didn’t hit the civilians and that’d be a great example of a middle ground route. It might not be immediately screamingly obvious, but it’s there, and you can take it. You could even have random rewards (like you obey questionable orders in this one mission, you get a gear drop, but in the next one if you save civilians by going grey side you get some extra food or a nifty shortcut).
Spec Ops itself has a third option event in the shoot or be stoned scene.
It illustrates one of the difficulties with third options in video games. Trying the “correct” option is, in some ways, intuitive and clever. In a tabletop RPG setting, I have a hard time imagining that none of the players would try it. However, someone playing the game on the computer could easily think of the “solution” but not try it because they figure it won’t register. Maybe they just don’t trust the game enough to allow for those possibilities, so the option never occurs to them. One can say, “That’s the point; FPS’s train us to only see violent options.” To which I’ll point out: there is explicitly no choice in the bombing scene. I don’t begrudge that, necessarily, but the point of the stoning scene is weakened because of the constraint elsewhere. And some constraint is inevitable in a programmed video game. How much can we trust any one game to give us choices? How long should we spend in a game trying things out, in the hopes that the devs provided a path for it?
Many games that aren’t FPS’s have dealt with this very well, and I am often quite pleased with the active response the game makes to me. Certainly FPS’s could learn something from other genres. It’s just…the essential issue will remain. The more we trust the game to respond to our choice, the more choice the game can offer, but the more we will be disappointed by unrecognized choices.
Khazidhea says:
Yup, same here. Was mildly excited as I didn’t recall Shamus previously writing about Red vs Blue (and thought it was odd that he used the word ditch instead of gulch, or box canyon), but then was disappointed when clicked on the link as saw that it was just (American) politics.
In Canada, the main colors for politics are Red, Blue, Orange, and…Purple? Or maybe Green. I forget which ones are the more local/province-level ones.
If all shooters were grimdark “Apocalypse Now” styled explorations of no-win scenarios and we suddenly got a one-off game where you get to play as a righteous hero in a conflict that has clear sides and an unambiguous bad guy then I’d probably celebrate its novelty as well. “Finally! A game that understands we’re here to have fun!”
This is precisely how marvel superhero movies became so popular.
Canthros says:
It’s also what made the original “Star Wars” popular.
Unfortunately, it may also be what might hurt the Marvel movies if they don’t diversify more.
They used to be fresh because they’re different. Now they’re the standard others can appear fresh against. Wonder Woman for example worked best when it was just sincere, something Marvel at times has trouble with, leaving DC to feel fresh and different at that moment.
default_ex says:
I too would love to see more Sci-Fi with actual world building instead lame poorly thought out psuedo-science nonsense to explain yet another zombie incarnation. It’s astounding to me that still so many so called Sci-Fi stories are hardly recognizable as such and what few actually do try to be Sci-Fi just throw actual science out the window. There is so much bizarre and unbelievable concepts uncovered about the world through science that makes these magic as science stories look so damn lame in comparison. A good chunk of it isn’t even particularly hard to simulate and would make for some fun core game play mechanics.
I have played a lot of Minecraft adventure/puzzle maps which explore some of the quirks of theoretical concepts. Rarely are they boring, often they are confusing but the kind of confusing that keeps you coming back and leads toward an understanding eventually. The Code III used non-euclidean geometry to a great extent. The map when unwound is essentially one large room with several smaller halls and rooms surrounding it but with that spatial mapping it took some engaging trial and error to determine “if I go down this hall, what side of the map will I be on and in what orientation”. Another that I’m not remembering focused on the concept of observation. Right off the bat your stuck in a room with the only way to get out being to look away and back through a wall because it’s only solid when your looking at it. Yet another had colors, I believe it was called Prismatic where each color had an effect on each room and you had to mix and match colors to get the desired effects to pass through each room. Yet another exploited a handful of rules in quantum mechanics which you could very well make the map unsolvable just by looking at the wrong things in the wrong order or interacting with them in the wrong ways. It was bizarre, frustrating and a lot of fun figuring that stuff out.
I would love to see Sci-Fi that incorporates these elements. All easy enough to simulate at a game play mechanic level of detail but provide some very real challenge that shooting just can’t do. Of course some more good space operas would be nice, we really haven’t had enough of those in any form and they seem to be picking up as a popular thing lately. I’ve taken a shot a simulating time travel, to the effect of making the player manipulate causal chains of events toward a specific outcome but doing so at a large enough scale for it to become more than a gimmick (ala Braid) is incredibly taxing on modern hardware.
We could definitely do to have more games explore the concepts like you described. Antichamber was one recent(ish) game which did a few of them, but very few games try to explore a world, where the laws of physics differ from our normal world.
Heh, I remember playing Antichamber a long while back, so when I looked up its release date, I was prepared to be shocked how long it has been already, like happened with so many other games. Turns out it came out in 2013, so not even 5 years. Phew!
I’ve taken a shot a simulating time travel, to the effect of making the player manipulate causal chains of events toward a specific outcome but doing so at a large enough scale for it to become more than a gimmick (ala Braid) is incredibly taxing […]
I’d love to see someone try to remake Achron. That game had a lot of gameplay related issues (terrible pathfinding, for one; lack of balance for other; terrible campaign; being boring and not fun in general), but the main time-travel gimmick was really well done. But it wasn’t taxing on modern hardware, oh no – instead, I felt unable to keep up with it mentally. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really wrap my head around how to abuse the time-travel in that game. I failed to keep my head in a state of mind of examining a range of time at once.
Did the Alliance actually bring peace to the Jondar homeworld or was that just an excuse to exploit their natural supply of quantum crystals? And even if they were there to take the crystals, wasn’t that kind of justified considering the external threat proposed by the Khildar Dominion?
I actually think Skyrim did this pretty well: for all of the faults of the writing of that game, the central conflict between the Stormcloaks and the Empire is an interesting conflict that doesn’t easily map to modern partisan politics.
Neither do the politics of The Witcher. Huh. Pro tip for developers: just base your fictional conflicts on historical conflicts. No one who is into partisan politics is educated enough to actually notice.
Sorry. I just couldn’t resist.
All DMs out there, you can do the same with maps. If you need a city, go to historical Ludz or Moscow or something, none of your players will notice and you’ll save a week of coming up with street names.
As a muskovite myself I’m tempted to argue that the capital of the world’s largest country isn’t quite as obscure as Poland’s third biggest city, but, in all honesty, you are probably right.
I wanted European cities(because most DMs aren’t going to have the cultural background needed to smoothly adapt a middle-eastern or asian city) of very different sizes that the average american hasn’t visited.
Also, Ludz is fun to say.
That it is! And Moscow would make a decent fantasy city. Or, rather, steampunk. I believe I once played a Scotland Yard board game clone that used a map of 19th century Moscow, and it was a whole lot of fun.
Pro-tip: ^ this ^
Thank you for making this post, Shamus, as YouTube has apparently decided I am NOT, in fact, subscribed to Mr. BTongue despite the fact that it says right under his video that I AM.
I even unsubscribed and resubscribed and it still thinks I’m not.
On Android, Youtube always makes me click subscribe twice. Once to subscribe and again to get notified about all the videos (as opposed to just the ones Google thinks are important enough to notify me about I guess). Maybe something similar is occurring here?
Nope. The channel is completely absent from my master list of subscriptions.
One point that I wanted to make ever since I saw that video was that… um, the Iliad was composed centuries before phalanxes existed. Combat in Mycenaean Greece was much more individualistic and individual warriors stood out more. The idea that the Iliad presented heroic individual warriors as a contrast to the highly regimented and conformist style of combat experienced by its composers is, um, not correct.
MrBTongue’s claim is not that phalanxes were contemporaneous to the actual composition of the Iliad, but rather that they were contemporaneous to the height of the Iliad’s popularity, i.e. people loved hearing about Mycenaean combat more after it stopped being an actual thing that happened to them.
Sudanna says:
Sometimes, making an uncomfortable political point directly relevant to the real world is exactly the intention. Abstract situational ethics + guilt-free murder ain’t everything.
Wait, you mean you’re supposed to actually feel guilt about murder? Is murder…wrong? But then…all these hookers I buried in my backyard…oh god.
You mean call girls.
Or did I misspell “hookahs”? No one will ever know. Mwa-ha-ha! Ahem. Now to go hide that bloody shovel. And the knives.
They’re sinkers now.
Sartharina says:
…. I really, really wish I could have been a game designer. (Curse my middle-through-high-school arrogance, and then mental decay) – I have so many game ideas.Some of them being not-quite violent.
After playing Stellaris for a bit, I’d love to see a small-focus sci-fi exploration game, set on the temperate moon of a gas giant orbiting a blue star, inhabited by a vaguely feline species torn between the clannish, tribal past yet on the cusp of interplanetary exploration and travel.
Write your game ideas down. Start a blog or something. Worse than not implementing them would be if they were lost.
Seconding Paul’s suggestion. Never too late to start, writing is good practice and there’s a good few (or a few good?) tools available now for amateur game designers. Plus you may be able to avoid the murkier depths of coding if you can find someone willing to be your code-monkey. Personally, I’ve chosen to dip my toe with Twine (and am teaching myself Javascript as a result, but that is decidedly not essential to use Twine). No idea how it’ll pan out, but I think I’d be more annoyed at not trying at all than at trying and failing. :) (Feel you on the mental decay, though – I have pernicious anaemia and learned last week that I also have a side-order of autoimmune hypothyroidism to go with – neither does anything much for one’s mental agility.)
Kestrellius says:
Hm. I mean, I don’t know your circumstances, but what makes you think you can’t be? I mean…probably wouldn’t be easy, but unless you’re in your late eighties or have a terminal disease, I would guess that you have enough time to make it happen, with a little luck.
And I’d certainly like to play that game.
I’m almost 30, anti-social, and don’t have a AAA-studio to create the world with the graphical fidelity to actually sell it. 2D or shoddy 3-D wouldn’t be able to sell a game largely built on a sense of exotic wonder.
And on non-violence fronts (Not sci-fi) I have other ideas as well:
1. A sandbox crime game set in Renaissance Spain, where you play as a playful thief, con-artist, and general lovable rogue. There are guns, but they’re notoriously inaccurate, only capable of hitting people in the butt, and normally instead hitting whatever sets of the most ridiculous Rube-Goldberg chain reaction. Swords lead to extended duels, but are otherwise non-lethal (And may lose to frying pans and rolling pins). Think the tone of the openings to Aladdin and Road to El-Dorado. Multiplayer available for additional slapstick mayhem. Can’t kill guards/citizens, but you can exhaust or humilate them into giving up for a while.
2. A platformer/exploration game set in a sprawling forest/jungle. Similar to a walking simulator+collectathon, but with an emphasis on the ‘joy of movement’, with a co-op element. Light, playful narrative about two feline friends exploring the place and seeking out hidden treasures/knickknacks. Starts out with simply climbing a few trees and finding tunnels, and eventually has catching rides on massive bugs, barreling through thickets, crossing chasms, and soaring through canopies.No falling damage, but getting back up to where you fell from can end up being an emergent adventure in itself.
Huh, your duel system in the Spain one reminds me of Gothic and Risen, where most duels with NPCs would end in knockdown either for the enemy or the player. The winner then proceeds to rob the poor unconscious sod. Works really well, actually.
These days you dont need an aaa studio to make a decent looking game.You just need artistic talent,or to find someone with artistic talent willing to work with you.Also,anyone can learn to code in unity,you just need will and time.Alternatively,you could also find someone who already knows unity and is willing to work with you.
So the only hurdles you face are of temporal nature.Do you have enough free time to invest?Or do you have enough money to pay someone else to invest their free time.
Authors have had a lot of success creating a sense of exotic wonder with just text. Just because you “don’t have a AAA-studio” doesn’t mean that your ideas will be served by obscurity.
I’ll see you on the anti-social and and raise you (by about 10 years) on the age. :)
Sometimes it can be worth “road-testing” elements of an idea before deciding on the fate of a larger concept – it’s useful practise and it can make you refine a concept down to its absolute minimum, from which you can grow it in the direction you choose. I dug this article out because it’s something I’m trying to learn too, perhaps you might find it useful as well? Emily Short has a mad amount of free advice for people looking to create interactive fiction, and much of it has struck me as useful general advice too.
Roger Hågensen says:
Speaking of Sci-Fi and BioWare:
Everyone in the Initiative is an IDIOT: Mass Effect Andromeda Narrative Analysis (Part 1)
Everyone in the Initiative is BORING: Mass Effect Andromeda Narrative Analysis (Part 2)
This guy’s got a lot of valid points regarding Mass Effect Andromeda.
I still think people are unfair towards Andromeda. These guys are supposed to be wackjobs, I think. This is very much intended to be a privately funded project led by an Elon Musk-like dreamer. You know, the guy who also sold propane torches as flamethrowers and just sent a sportscar to space. Of course it’s a shitshow. The game seems to be conscious of that. Andromeda really, really deserved the benefit of the doubt, of which it got none.
Um,while Musk is eccentric,he is certainly not dumb.If the game was populated by mordin wannabes,then you could say that these are just whackjobs:crazy,but competent.Instead,the game is populated by tims:stupid,but incompetent.
Well, a bunch of the smarter ones died, didn’t they? The whole thing is presented as a fool’s errand that appealed primarily to people who for some reasons didn’t fit in the galaxy and wanted to flee. That’s dreamers, misfits and screw-ups mostly. This isn’t like a voyage to America in the early days of colonization. This is a one way trip with very unclear possibilities. So yeah, these people are idiots, but that’s the idea.
Not really a good point in favor of andromeda.I mean yeah,making a story about stupid people can work,but you then have to do something about it,like in idiocracy or in forest gump.Having them be stupid without it ever being addressed by the story most likely means that the their stupidity is unintentional.
Gotta agree with Mr. Diablo here. If they went with the stupid angle they screwed up majorly because they either intentionally made the player character stupid or they forgot to let the player character go:
“How the hell did you guys manage to survive all these months without me? What do you eat? Where do you sleep?”
So, some of this is based on my take, and responses to me, and I feel I’m obligated to respond, not to Shamus, but to clarify. I too, love this game. I think it has some great moments, and some hamfisted ones. It’s straddling a borderline, because it does some things great, and some things terribly, in equal measure. The great moments are truly great though.
People seem to mistake my interpretation as being wishing to be the hero. No. I felt the game hammered home it’s message in the final chapter too bluntly in meta text in loading screens. And they could be so much better.
I only got the game because I heard the Apocalypse Now/HoD stuff, and because I slogged through HoD in college, I was curious (I wrote my paper on Cormack McCarthy’s The Road instead, my teacher was right, HoD was too dense for the assignment. When I heard it was an anti-war satire, I definitely wanted in. The overall story structure does this well, but the stretching for a video-game loses the character and plotting to centre the story as well as I’d have liked.
The big moral moments in the game are mostly silly. The big WP scene everyone has heard of, has an instafail if you don’t follow the script. If anything, it’s a parody of bad game design, by emulation. My favourite moment is the mob scene. That actually hurt, and made me consider how the games it satirises work. It actually includes a choice, but the player has been conditioned not to see a choice, not to act as a human, but as a gunbarrel, and anything in your way, as a target.
The way the game punishes you, by assuming you’re an American frat bro moron by the end, who needs to be beaten over the head with it by literal messages from the devs in loading screens, does the game no favors. They can do better, and do, but that’s not what they get praise for, which is a crying shame, and tells at the perspective of those who see the game as the endpoint of shooter criticism. If bombing civilians is the worst thing, the most extreme, extravangant satire of the foreign policy of shooters, or US foreign policy, I’m sorry, but you’re ignoring the real world. That’s as political as I intend to get.
If anything, my problem is the game doesn’t go far enough. It’s edgy for an American audience. For the rest of the world, likely half their political spectrum has been saying this since 2001. People marched the streets of my city shouting this to protest my nation’s involvement in America’s wars. The way a few select scenes deconstruct shooter cliches is far more telling than when the game literally tells you it’s message. Because I saw it on placards a decade earlier.
It’s “The Last Jedi” of meta shooters. It’s simultaneously the best and the worst of the genre, including critique, some great moments, some of the great moments in the genre, but it’s held back by limitations in the execution, and a refusal to go all out.
I was informed that the game was more vital regarding my take, that I clearly felt the need to be a hero. I’ll answer a question with a question. Considering the game, and moreso, considering the world the game is based on: Do you feel good being a westerner, your tax dollars paying for the real life equivalent? It’s the question the game falls short of, to instead criticise just Walker, just your video game actions. How do you feel about your real world actions? Before you justify them, think about how Walker justifies his, and whether you’re really any different.
Before you answer in the condemnatory, know that if I bother to respond, I’ll just copy paste the responses of people who thought I was missing the point. I do genuinely like this game, and I’m sure I’ll replay it sometime this year. But it’s the start, baby steps for meta-shooters who condemn the genre, and I’m disappointed people are fine with stopping there.
I can’t edit this comment because it’s coming up marked as spam (Guessing that’s the editing policy due to the move). But I’d like to place quotations around “It’s Ok-through to-Not me”, and “I can, through to-I am enlightened”
Sorry, I’ve already been misunderstood once here, and not for the first time on this topic, and I’d like to make myself as clear as possible, because people have motivations to oppose things that might undermine themselves and the sense of who they are, and I’d already had my fill of that for, if anything, praising one of the greatest moments in gaming, but criticising a scene of cutscene experiency.
Jabberwok says:
Sunday Feb 25, 2018 at 7:47 pm
I think the perception, which may or may not be true, is that ‘realistic’ games typically reach a wider audience. I wouldn’t be that surprised if shooters set in the modern day, requiring less suspension of disbelief, reach people who probably wouldn’t pay much attention to a sci-fi title. I mean, sports games seem to be eternally the most lucrative, and that’s something you can go do in real life. Then again, Halo was massively popular across the board, though maybe it was just filling a hole in the market. The options for console shooters were pretty slim and clumsy back then.
As for Spec Ops, I think it needed to be modern day and to take a somewhat accusatory tone towards the player in order to accomplish what it set out to do. Strangely enough, as much as I respected what they were trying to do, I got bored of the game about a third of the way in. Mechanically, it was just too close to its source material to do much for me. The ways in which it needed to be like certain other games in order to make a statement are also weaknesses of a sort.
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Shaun Micallef Online!
Latest news and information on Australia's greatest writer/performer/comedian.
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‟Whenever I want to look myself up on the internet, I come to this site. Fast, comprehensive and good deal fewer spelling mistakes than [the other one].” - Shaun Micallef
Category: Mad as Hell
Shaun’s ABC news-based show
Mad As Hell on Social Media
April 25, 2012 April 25, 2012 Stuart Leave a comment
Every day we anticipate Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, which starts Friday 25 May at 8pm. Now, you can get snippets of information on the official Facebook page or Twitter account.
Shaun in Gordon Street..
April 19, 2012 April 19, 2012 Stuart 1 Comment
Quite often actually, as Shaun has produced a number of shows at the ABC Studios in Elsternwick. But in this case, he’ll be on the series final of Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight next Wednesday at 8:30pm on ABC.
We expect there to be some talk about Mad as Hell… yippee!
Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell is coming
April 9, 2012 April 9, 2012 Stuart 2 Comments
Pre-production has began on Mad as Hell, which is Shaun’s anticipated return to his more tradition comedy show format. It will focus on weekly events, similar to Newstopia, and air on the ABC. The show will feature a cast of about six, and the first episode is set to screen on May 25.
Shaun Micallef is Mad as Hell
November 27, 2011 November 27, 2011 Stuart 8 Comments
No, not a statement of fact, but the title of Shaun’s new ABC show, announced for 2012.
The show is described as “a half-hour weekly round-up, branding, inoculation and crutching of all the important news stories”. It’s been a few years since Shaun’s been on the ABC. His show Newstopia, which will draw obvious comparisons, aired on SBS from 2007-8.
“So, what’s this show all about? A good question, if I do say so – and it’s exactly that sort of direct, no-nonsense questioning of even myself that’s going to make this show the must-see event television that’s been virtually killed off by Kyle and Jackie O’s A Night with the Stars.” says Shaun Micallef.
10 episodes will air, with dates still to be advised.
Talkin’ Bout Your Generation will still be returning to Channel 10 in 2012, with 10 episodes to be recorded and aired. Plenty of Micallef for next year!
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Your Position: HomeChina GuideChina City Guide Nyingchi Nyingchi Overview
Nyingchi in brief
With the lowest location in Tibet, Nyingchi Prefecture is known to Chinese as "south regions of the Yangtze River in Tibet" and "the Switzerland in Tibet" with dainty idyllic scenery, and known to the world with the deepest canyon in the world- the amazing Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon. Embraced by the Himalayas and the Nyainqentanglha Range which resemble two huge dragons stretching from west to east in parallel and joining the Hengduan Mountains in the east, Nyingchi is located in the southeast of Tibet. Its name, Nyingchi, is an imaginative Tibetan word which means the throne of the sun, just as it is the locality that the sun rises everyday in Tibet area. With a total population of 173 000, Nyingchi administrates 7 counties, borders Yunnan Province and Chamdo Prefecture to the east, Nagqu Prefecture to the north, Lhasa and Lhoka to the west and India and Burma to the south. In the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo River, it has a sharply-changed terrain and a large discrepancy in elevation with an average altitude of 3100 meters but the lowest altitude of only 900 meters, which contributed to a moist climate and pleasing landscape.
History of Nyingchi- a mythic location with mysterious ethnic groups
Called Kongpo in ancient time, Nyingchi Prefecture is dated back to 5000 years ago with discovered human remains and graves belonging to the Neolithic age. On the base of the archaeological studies, human beings had a slash and burn agriculture as well as the fishery by the river at that time. Concerning to the recorded history of Nyingchi, it is in the inscriptions on precipices located nearby the Yongzhongzeng Village. Though caved 1200 years ago, these scripts are still distinct describing the legend about the first head of the Yanaon Tribe, who had moved from Bowo and commenced his leading career of the Yanaon tribe on the holy mountain of Kongpo. From the 13th century, Nyingchi was in the sphere of influence of the Karma Kargyu, Tibetan Buddhism. It was the habitation of Monpa people and Lhoba People; it reserves rich traditions of their characteristic habits and customs. The old tales, unsophisticated folkways, clan’s totemism and religious myths integrate and add primitive and mysterious shades to these ancient ethnic groups.
Nyingchi Nowadays- a rare pure land attracting more and more adventurers
Nyingchi is one of the rarest pure lands in the world that seldom interrupted by humans until in recent years, and also a holy land attracting scientists and adventurers though it has a poor transportation especially the section to Medog, which is known as the hardest part that still unopened to traffic. However, enjoying the title Natural Museum and Natural Green Gene Pool, here offers well-preserved primitive landscape with lofty plateau cypress, Himalaya fir, flora living fossil-tree fern, and over hundred of species of azalea; it has the highest river in the world, the Yarlung Zangbo River and the deepest canyon in the world, the Yarlung Zangbo Great Canyon with more than 20 ancient ethnic tribes living around, the vertical landform with the largest difference of level which contributed to extraordinary lavish vegetation and wildlife resources; crowned as "the father of iceberg", the peak of Namcha Barwa, which has a altitude of 7782 meters, serves as a perfect health resort with numerous hot springs at the mountain foot; and in addition, the Medog, where the lotus blooms, is the holiest land to Tibetan Buddhists providing surprising beauties.
Nyingchi Travel Guide
China tours to Nyingchi
Nyingchi Attractions
Nyingchi Photos
Nyingchi Cuisine
Nyingchi Transportation
Nyingchi Weather
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CARTOON COMPANION
by E.O. Costello
A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H / I / J / K / L / M / N / O / P / Q / R / S / T / U / V / W / X / Y / Z
Character who appeared in only one cartoon: The Eager Beaver (Jones, 1946). Beck and Friedwald speculate that Jones might have been attempting to create a new recurring character. This theory is buttressed by the fact that the studio took the step of copyrighting the character before the release of the cartoon (No. G 45347, May 28, 1945), which it ordinarily did only for recurring characters.
EDDIE GANDER
Caricature of Eddie Cantor in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937).
Rather odd character with a Joe Penner-like voice, created by Tex Avery. Generally regarded as the predecessor to Elmer Fudd. This ancestry is evidenced by the fact that in A Feud There Was (Avery, 1938) Egghead rides a scooter whose sign identifies him as “Elmer Fudd, Peacemaker”. In his book, Schneider reproduces model sheets bearing marks from when Avery, Clampett and an unidentified gag man worked on making Egghead more appealing, transferring certain elements of the existing character, including the derby and high collar, to Fudd. These characteristics were used in what is arguably the first true Fudd cartoon, 1940’s Elmer’s Candid Camera (Jones). Based on recent research by Hames Ware, published in Animato! #32, the voice for Egghead is now credited to vocal specialist Dave Weber.
Egghead’s character was rather bizarre -- perhaps a little too much so. Witness the hat-and-head-tipping bit in Cinderella Meets Fella (Avery, 1938). Egghead would often be seen drifting in and out of a cartoon, dispensing commentary as in Believe It or Else (Avery, 1939), or just acting goofy as in Hamateur Night (Avery, 1939), in which he bursts in at various times singing “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” -- to the eventual delight of a theatre full of Eggheads.
The Egghead filmography follows. Except where noted otherwise, all films were directed by Avery.
Egghead Rides Again (1937)
Little Red Walking Hood (1937)
Daffy Duck and Egghead (1938)
Cinderella Meets Fella (1938)
A-Lad-In-Bagdad (Howard/Dalton, 1938)
The Isle of Pingo-Pongo (1938)
A Feud There Was (1938)
Johnny Smith and Pokerhuntas (1938)
Count Me Out (Hardaway/Dalton, 1938)
Hamateur Night (1939)
A Day at the Zoo (1939)
Believe It Or Else (1939)
As noted in the entry for Acme, Egghead has the privilege of being the first Warner Brothers character to utilize the services and products of the now-legendary Acme firm.
EGGHEAD JR.
No relation to the character of the previous entry. This was the silent, poker-faced little chick who appears in a handful of Robert McKimson’s Foghorn Leghorn shorts. His unusual tastes in reading material include books such as Splitting the Fourth Dimension. Deliberately or not, he manages repeatedly to make a complete idiot out of Foghorn Leghorn, who is usually attempting to teach the boy some simple game or trick that he improves on in amazing ways.
Filmography follows. All directed by McKimson.
Little Boy Boo (1954)
Feather Dusted (1955)
Crockett-Doodle-Doo (1960)
Stylish master of the jazz piano and, like his contemporaries Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, a figure of reverence among millions of jazz fans around the world. He can be seen as one of the modern angels in Clean Pastures (Freleng, 1937). He is also referred to in Knight-Mare Hare (Jones, 1955) and Napoleon Bunny-part (Freleng, 1956) along with other jazz greats like Count Basie and Earl Hines.
ELMER J. FUDD
The arch-patsy of Bugs Bunny in dozens of cartoons. Usually, though not always, he appears in the role of hunter versus prey. Two of Chuck Jones’ finest cartoons, The Rabbit of Seville (1950) and What’s Opera, Doc? (1957) play on this relationship with outstanding results. Incidentally, the middle initial is used in only one cartoon. It is in the famous sequence from Hare Brush (Freleng, 1955) in which the shrink gets Bugs to repeat the phrase “I am Elmer J. Fudd, miwwionaiwe; I own a mansion and a yacht” endlessly.
Fudd evolved from Egghead, a character created by Tex Avery, who was used on a number of late 1930s cartoons. The evolution is clear, based on the facts that
Egghead appeared as a hunter in one film: Daffy Duck and Egghead (Avery, 1938);
Egghead was identified by name as “Elmer Fudd” in A Feud There Was (Avery, 1938); and
Egghead was identified as Elmer on at least one lobby card for The Isle of Pingo-Pongo (Avery, 1938), as shown in the first volume of Chuck Jones’ autobiography.
By the time of Elmer’s Candid Camera (Jones, 1940), Egghead had been redesigned, though he keeps the bulbous nose, stiff collar, and derby used in Little Red Walking Hood (Avery, 1937). A model sheet from Little Red Walking Hood (Schneider, p. 165) shows check marks next to the features placed there by Avery and Clampett during the redesigning process. Significantly, it was in Candid Camera that Arthur Q. Bryan first provided the distinctive voice of Elmer.
The author considers Elmer’s Candid Camera to be the character’s debut, as it is the first cartoon to feature Elmer in a readily recognisable form. Adamson suggests that A Wild Hare (Avery, 1940) is the cartoon in which Elmer is truly born and fully fleshed out. I would contend that while the drawing and animation in A Wild Hare is undoubtedly better, the only significant change to the character himself is that in Wild Hare Elmer is given hunting clothes and a rifle, instead of a camera, with which to hunt Bugs. Other than the new props, the changes made to Elmer in Wild Hare are primarily stylistic in nature; his character remains exactly the same as in Candid Camera.
Fudd’s appearance underwent some more tinkering in 1941 and 1942, with Wabbit Twouble (Clampett, 1941), the special War Bonds promotion known as Any Bonds Today? (Clampett, 1942), The Wabbit Who Came to Supper (Freleng, 1942), and The Wacky Wabbit (Clampett, 1942). In these cartoons, Elmer is stockier and rather pear-shaped, perhaps modeled on Arthur Q. Bryan himself. Fudd permanently reverted to his more familiar appearance in Fresh Hare (Freleng, 1942).
Friz Freleng described Fudd as being less a true villain than a pitiful character, stating that there was no special credit due to someone who could outsmart him. This is part of the reason Freleng developed Yosemite Sam as a foil for Bugs. Be that as it may, Fudd’s “simpy charm” enabled the character to adapt over the years, and continue to be used with great effectiveness, particularly as the hero (?) in What’s Opera, Doc? (Jones, 1957), the waiter in Slick Hare (Freleng, 1947), and as the hunter in the so called “Hunter’s Trilogy” of 1951-1953. Clampett used Fudd in a sharp spoof of Deems Taylor (and apparently Emmett Kelly) in the Fantasia spoof A Corny Concerto (1943). On occasion, Fudd was even able to turn the tables on Bugs and get the better of him, as in The Hare-Brained Hypnotist (Freleng, 1942), or Hare Brush (Freleng, 1955).
Foolish chicken easily duped by slick Romeo types in three cartoons of Friz Freleng: Let It Be Me (1936), Boulevardier from the Bronx (1936), and A Star is Hatched (1938). She initially spurns, but later returns to a hayseed boyfriend. There is also an Emilyesque chicken who is pursued by Daffy in The Stupid Cupid (Tashlin, 1944).
The thought has occurred to the author that Emily could be the mother of Miss Prissy, the lovesick chicken so enamored of Foghorn Leghorn. There is a family resemblance, no? Certainly, there is a shared element of man hungriness.
ERNIE BEAR
Caricature in The Woods Are Full of Cuckoos (Tashlin, 1937) of Ernie Hare.
Still-extant magazine which was best known in the 1940s for publishing “cheesecake” drawings of sexy dames, especially by the artist Vargas. The little brat Percy/Butch in Brother Brat (Tashlin, 1944) is reading “Esquire Junior”, which features infant versions of Vargas dames. Bugs utilizes the drawings in Esquire to drive Elmer wild in The Unruly Hare (Tashlin, 1945), and keeps himself occupied as a castaway reading Esquire and singing “Trade Winds” in Gorilla My Dreams (McKimson, 1948).
Back to “D” Forward to “F”
This page was originally maintained by Stephen Worth. Thanks to John K. for funding its production. Preserved by Kip Williams and restored in 2014 by Harry McCracken.
The Warner Brothers Cartoon Companion is Copyright © 1996-1998 E. O. Costello. All rights reserved.
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Gas analyser helps reveal NITRABAR success
Posted: Tuesday 20th October 2009
A portable FTIR multiparameter gas analyser from Quantitech is helping researchers at the University of Strathclyde to prove the efficacy of a novel technique ('NITRABAR' - an EC LIFE Environment Project) that helps remove nitrate pollution from groundwater.
The NITRABAR system uses permeable reactive barrier technology and consists of a trench containing a mixture of natural materials, which converts Nitrates to harmless Nitrogen gas � see www.nitrabar.eu
The University's Prof. Robert M. Kalin has employed the gas analyser (Gasmet DX 4030) to perform a complete analysis of gaseous emissions from a trial in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. He says, "The DX 4030 has been of great value to the project because of its ability to measure almost any gas, which means that we have been able to track the denitrification process and measure the presence of other important gases such as methane and carbon dioxide."
The NITRABAR project has been underway since December 2005 and has successfully demonstrated an ability to reduce nitrate concentrations by over 90%.
Email quant@quantitech.co.uk
New web site: www.quantitech.co.uk
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Vitacress and Salmon & Trout Conservation Join Forces on Water Quality
Posted: Friday 18th August 2017
Salmon & Trout Conservation (S&TC) and Vitacress have joined forces to help reduce phosphate outputs from the watercress industry.
In-river phosphate and invertebrate sampling commissioned by S&TC on the River Itchen, a Special Area of Conservation, has indicated the river is suffering from excess phosphates and fine sediment, from a variety of sources, which has resulted in the river being a shadow of its former self, despite its protected status.
Seizing on the opportunity presented by Vitacress' plan to bring its Pinglestone Farm on the Itchen back to full commercial production in 2018, S&TC, together with Portsmouth University, will continuously monitor phosphate output throughout the process and work with Vitacress to develop effective farming and water management methods to resolve any issues uncovered by the monitoring.
Paul Knight, S&TC CEO said, "We believe continuous monitoring of phosphate levels in industry discharges is the only way to fully capture seasonal peaks and better understand the impacts these discharges are having on the river. We applaud Vitacress for working with us to go beyond the EA's current monthly spot checks - to properly monitor the impact of the watercress industry on the river environment. We will work together to ensure this data drives improvements in the rivers ecology, while ensuring watercress is a truly environmentally sustainable product."
Chris Hall, MD of Vitacress Salads said, "We're delighted to be working together with S&TC and the University of Portsmouth as part of our ongoing commitment to sustainable farming. The learnings from Pinglestone will be applied across all Vitacress' watercress farms, and shared with the industry to develop best practice in watercress farming. This fits with Vitacress' values and our commitment to deliver fresh, tasty, healthy and nutritious watercress whilst protecting the environments in which we farm."
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WS Chronicle
Busta’s Person of the Week: The amazing Donna Montgomery
U.S. Court of Appeals denies Ronnie Long’s appeal
Economically, what should we look for in 2020?
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FCSO looking to adopt offender monitoring system
Local entrepreneur turns dreams into reality
Michael Gaither
by Tevin Stinson
Over a decade ago local entrepreneur Michael Gaither set out on a journey to owning and operating his own barbershop. After opening several small shops in various locations across the city, in 2017 The Magic Touch Barbershop opened in its permanent home in the Southeast Plaza Shopping Center.
“My first shop was on Stratford Road off Morning Street. Then I went to Patterson Avenue, then Thomasville Road, then Sprague Street, and then over here,” Gaither laughed. “So I’ve had a few spots where I had one or two chairs, but I wanted to take it to another level.”
And that’s exactly what he did.
Since opening the shop in the Southeast Plaza Shopping Center, Gaither has also opened The Magic Touch Beauty Salon and The Magic Touch Nail Salon & Spa, both next door to the barbershop. Gaither has also opened The Magic Touch Barbershop 2 in North Wilkesboro.
During a recent interview with The Chronicle, Gaither said although it was a long journey to get where he is today, he kept his faith and everything just started to come together.
“I just kept my trust in the Lord and let him guide me. I came over here with $1,000 and got two buildings,” Gaither said.
Gaither, who is a graduate of Glenn High School, said his dream of becoming a business owner started at an early age after watching his parents. He said for years he watched his parents operate J&J Executive Shop and he knew he wanted to follow in their footsteps.
“After watching them and working a few jobs, that bug just kind of got on me,” Gaither continued. “I just wanted to be free and not take orders from anybody and be my own man.”
Gaither said the goal for the investment in the Southeast Plaza Shopping Center was to create a one-stop shop for the people in the community. He said after opening the barbershop and salon, he realized that there weren’t many black-owned nail salons in the area and he wanted to change that.
“I wanted to make this a one-stop shop. I’m just trying to give people the things they’re going to always need. That’s why I opened the shop in Wilkesboro too, because there weren’t any black barbershops,” he continued. “I’m giving the people what they need and at the same time I’m helping people get jobs.”
Just like any good entrepreneur, Gaither is always thinking of ways to improve. He said he’s been thinking about opening a tattoo parlor and getting into real estate.
When asked how it feels to know that all his hard work is finally paying off, Gaither said God deserves all the glory.
“I feel good, but I try to stay humble. I don’t want any glory, for it’s all because of him. I just had a vision and it’s not finished yet,” Gaither said.
The Magic Touch Barber Shop is located at 3073 Waughtown St. inside the Southeast Plaza Shopping Center. The Magic Touch Nail Salon & Spa is currently looking to hire certified nail technicians. For more information, stop by the shop or call 336-245-8674.
Tevin Stinson
Commentary: Will N.C. bill on poverty overtake effort in W-S?
State NAACP leader honored for fighting for all
Lewisville town clerk gets state honor
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Looking to 2020 — Put your vote to WORK! Looking to 2020 -- Put your vote to WORK!...
Busta’s Person of the Week: The amazing Donna Montgomery Busta's Person of the Week: The amazing Donna Montgomery...
FCSO looking to adopt offender monitoring system The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) is looking to acquire new technology that would cut jail cost and allow offenders with minor offenses the opportunity to be productive citizens and continue a somewhat normal way of life....
U.S. Court of Appeals denies Ronnie Long’s appeal After waiting patiently for nearly a year to hear back from the United States Court of Appeals, last week Ronnie Long, a N.C. man who has spent 43 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, finally got a verdict, but it wasn’t the one he wanted....
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Rabbit Tv Plus Channel List
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Analysis of benzodiazepine withdrawal program managed by primary care nurses in Spain
Cristina Lopez-Peig1,6,
Xavier Mundet2,3,
Bartomeu Casabella1,
Jose Luis del Val2,
David Lacasta4 &
Eduard Diogene3,5
Benzodiazepine (BZD), the long-term treatment of which is harmful for cognitive function, is widely prescribed by General Practitioners in Spain. Based on studies performed in other countries we designed a nurse-led BZD withdrawal program adapted to Spanish Primary Care working conditions.
A pseudo-experimental (before-after) study took place in two Primary Care Centres in Barcelona. From a sample of 1150 patients, 79 were identified. They were over 44 years old and had been daily users of BZD for a period exceeding six months. Out of the target group 51 patients agreed to participate. BZD dosage was reduced every 2-4 weeks by 25% of the initial dose with the optional support of Hydroxyzine or Valerian. The rating measurements were: reduction of BZD prescription, demographic variables, the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) to measure quality of life, the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Sleep Scale, and the Goldberg Depression and Anxiety Scale.
By the end of the six-month intervention, 80.4% of the patients had discontinued BZD and 64% maintained abstinence at one year. An improvement in all parameters of the Goldberg scale (p <0.05) and in the mental component of SF-12 at 3.3 points (p = 0.024), as well as in most components of the MOS scale, was observed in the group that had discontinued BZD. No significant differences in these scales before and after the intervention were observed in the group that had not discontinued.
At one year approximately 2/3 of the patients had ceased taking BZD. They showed an overall improvement in depression and anxiety scales, and in the mental component of the quality of life scale. There was no apparent reduction in the sleep quality indicators in most of the analysed components. Nurses in a Primary Care setting can successfully implement a BZD withdrawal program.
Long-term treatment with Benzodiazepine (BZD) is harmful at varying cognitive levels[1]. Even though there is a clear association between the use of BZD by the elderly and an increased risk of falls, fractures, and road traffic accidents BZD is still widely prescribed by General Practitioners in Spain[2–4]. In fact, BZD is taken by up to 10% of the population in most developed countries[5].
Time constraints and a general lack of motivation in dealing with mental health issues on the part of General Practitioners have contributed significantly to the elevated and inappropriate use of BZD in Primary Care[6]. Our study attempted to address this issue by giving nursing professionals (as opposed to General Practitioners) the leading role in managing BZD withdrawal programmes. Our final objective was to achieve a nurse-led success rate for the programme equivalent to that obtained by General Practitioners.
Due to the fact that the number of studies carried out in Spain focusing on BZD withdrawal is very limited, our guidelines were based on strategies employed by General Practitioners in other countries. After reviewing the literature on BZD withdrawal programs, and using the study by Curran et al. in the United Kingdom as a main reference[7], we designed a programme to be managed by nursing professionals in Spanish Primary Care. Our aim was to demonstrate that (a) those patients who volunteered to participate would cease BZD consumption after six months, and that abstinence would be maintained for at least a further six months (twelve months in total), and (b) reduction of BZD was not harmful for the patient.
This is a before-after pseudo experimental study conducted in two large Primary Care Centres based in Barcelona (Spain). It was approved by the local Institut Català de la Salut-Barcelona ethics committee.
Five qualified Primary Care nurses with varying levels of clinical experience agreed to participate. They were given training with respect to BZD usage and withdrawal programs in two 2-hour seminars which covered the following main topics: “Normal Sleep Physiology”, “Sleep Hygiene and Insomnia”, “Benzodiazepine History”, and “Models and Therapies for Withdrawal Programs”. The nurses were trained in assessing patients’ needs for pharmacological support so they could choose, at their clinical discretion, to give either a prescription of Hydroxyzine (25 mg per day) or advice on using over-the-counter Valerian products which have good tolerance, low risk, and reduced cost. Finally, they were provided with a thorough explanation of our protocol.
We identified patients of both sexes, over 44 years of age, who had used BZD daily for a period of more than 6 months. Participation was voluntary and written informed consent was obtained. Exclusion criteria were: epilepsy, cognitive impairment or dementia, hearing loss, severe visual defects, palliative care, and severe psychiatric illness. In addition, patients whose General Practitioner considered that their BZD withdrawal would be not be clinically appropriate were excluded.
Protocol and baseline measures
In a similar manner to Curran et al. we assessed several functions, including quality of life and sleep. We additionally employed The Goldberg Scale for Depression and Anxiety to better understand BZD usage. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were informed by their doctor about the study and the benefits of ceasing BZD. If they agreed to participate they were asked to complete a socio-demographic data collection questionnaire. Their responses were then evaluated by nurses who conducted a semi-structured interview assessing their attitudes and beliefs about BZD and sleep. In addition to gathering administrative data from the questionnaire, the nurses described the risks and benefits of long term BZD consumption, side effects, and possible dependence. They also briefly explained the programme and the implications of participating in the study. Three self-administered questionnaires were given to patients to be completed at home: The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) to measure quality of life[8, 9], the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) sleep scale[10], and the Goldberg Depression and Anxiety scale[11]. Finally, a date was fixed to commence the withdrawal program. The general outline of the intervention program and each visit is summarized in Table 1.
Table 1 Intervention and data collection
Patients were evaluated by nurses every four weeks for the first 12 weeks. An assessment with the Goldberg Depression and Anxiety Scale, the quality of life scale (SF-12), and MOS sleep scale was performed at the initial visit, and at 12 and 24 weeks.
With regard to medication cessation, the baseline was the same in all cases. Patients could choose to continue taking either the same BZD or the equivalent dose of Diazepam which was then reduced by 25% every 2-4 weeks. If, according to the nurse’s assessment, pharmacological support with Hydroxyzine (25 mg per day) or Valerian was needed, the doctor would then be consulted. The doctor’s supervisory role was to review the nurse’s clinical decision, check the medication plan, and issue a prescription, if appropriate. The nurses also had the opportunity to provide feedback to the doctor. Information was extracted from patients’ notes, surveys, and questionnaires. The primary endpoint (no consumption of BZD after six and twelve months) variable was obtained verbally from the patient and confirmed by prescription data.
Study outcome measures
The following variables were collected: socio demographic, toxic habits, antidepressant consumption, co-morbidity, use of BZD, and data from the assessment scales: the Goldberg Depression and Anxiety Scale, The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12), and The Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) sleep scale.
A data paired sample was calculated. Taking as a reference the results from various studies, a minimum BZD cessation of 20% was considered clinically relevant. Therefore, 40 patients (alpha error of 0.05 and beta error of 0.2) were required to give a statistically significant result. Mean with SDs and proportions were calculated for all variables. The Chi-square test was used to compare categorical data, and an unpaired Student t test was used to compare continuous variables. A two-tailed value of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Cohen’s d measured the effect size and compared it across the different variables.
1150 patients were attended by their Primary Care doctors over an inclusion period of 3 months. From the 79 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 51 agreed to participate in the study (36 females and 15 males) (Figure 1). The mean age was 70.4 years (95% CI: 66.4 to 73.9 years). Socio-demographic characteristics are presented in Table 2.
Flow chart describing the progression of participants during the study.
Table 2 Patients’ features
Regarding long term consumption, 22 patients (43.1%) had been taking BZD for over 6 years, 21 patients (41.2%) between 1 and 6 years, and 8 patients (15.7%) for less than 1 year.
25 patients (50%) began treatment with BZD due to insomnia, with an average consumption period of 5.12 years; 9 patients (18%) were taking BZD due to anxiety, with an average consumption period of 10.67 years, and 5 patients (10%) were depressed, with an average consumption period of 4.15 years. 11 patients (22%) were labelled as “other diagnoses” such us bereavement. divorce, and somatization.
46 patients remembered why BZD had been originally prescribed, with an average consumption period of 7.11 years. In contrast, 5 patients could not recall the reason for their original prescription, with an average consumption period of 4 years.
Among the patients who agreed to participate in the study 40 (78.4%) were taking short-acting BZD, 8 (15.7%) were using long acting BZD, and 3 (5.9%) took other non-barbiturate hypnotics known as Z-drugs. The BZD most consumed in our study was 1 mg of Lorazepam (58%), equivalent to 10.4 of Diazepam (Figure 2).
Types of BZD consumed by patients.
The amount of information conveyed by the physician to the patient, when the prescription was first issued, was nil in the case of 31 patients, minimal for 13 patients, and only partial for the remaining 7 patients.
By the end of the intervention program, 80.4% of the patients had stopped their BZD intake and 64.7% maintained abstinence for one year.
In the analysis of the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) at baseline the mental component (45.96) consistently achieved a higher score than the physical one (39.60). Both results showed scores below the population mean (50).
Within the group of patients who ceased BZD, comparative analysis of the SF-12 before the intervention and at 24 weeks showed an improvement of 3.3 points (p = 0.02) in the mental component (Table 3). The same comparative analysis of its physical component was made, but no statistically significant differences were observed. Within the group of non-compliance there were no statistically significant improvements in any of the physical or mental components.
Table 3 Comparison of quality of life (SF-12), Goldberg, and MOS scales
From analysis of the scales (Table 3) it can be seen that in the MOS sleep scale, those patients taking BZD chronically obtained, at the beginning, a higher score in all parameters of sleep analysis than the population mean. The average hours of sleep was 6.10 (SD 1.46), and 16 patients slept an adequate number of hours (7-8 hours). Within the compliant group results from the same scale showed no difference in most of the components throughout the intervention. Two exceptions were deterioration in snoring perception and an increase in breathing difficulty. Within the non-compliance group there were no statistically significant differences.
Analysis of the Goldberg Depression and Anxiety Scale at the beginning of the program showed an average score compatible with depression but not anxiety (breakpoints are ≥ 4 for the anxiety scale and ≥ 2 for depression). The unsuccessful group showed a lower mean in the depression component at baseline, but without statistically significant differences between the beginning and the end of the study. The same group also showed a higher mean in the anxiety score although still below the anxiety threshold.
The study was designed to show that a BZD withdrawal program, with nursing professionals as the key element, can be applicable within the Spanish Primary Care setting. The following points were considered in developing our program: a) In agreement with many authors, patients should not be forced to cease their treatment[12]; b) The use of complementary medicines as co-adjuvant therapy. Numerous trials have been carried out using complementary medicines to control withdrawal symptoms while the patients are on BZD[13–15]. These trials have highlighted the successful use of Hydroxyzine[16] due to its good tolerance, low risk, and reduced cost; c) Tapered dose. Other studies have also focused on a progressive cessation of BZD[17, 18], which reveal a cost-effective alternative for BZD withdrawal; d) Pharmacological support. Although cognitive behavioural therapy is an effective adjuvant therapy in BZD withdrawal programs[19, 20] its implementation in daily practice can have significant cost and time implications. Several clinical trials have, therefore, focused instead on providing psychological support to patients during their withdrawal period, based on identifying the reason prescriptions were initiated and maintained, and patients’ information on dependence and withdrawal symptoms[21, 22]; and e) The use of Valerian for improving sleep. Whilst Valerian has a subjective improvement on sleep quality it does not reflect an improvement in sleep onset latency[23].
After the level of commitment required to successfully complete the first stage of this programme (i.e. to attend at least six appointments with the nurse and to complete multiple assessment questionnaires) had been explained, 28 of the selected patients did not wish to participate. Most of these patients gave as their reason for refusal the fact of being in active employment and, therefore, limited in terms of time. It should also be noted that the study excluded young patients, which additionally reduced our patient sample. As a result, our sample group consisted predominantly of elderly and retired patients (particularly female pensioners with a low socio-economic level) with concomitant chronic diseases.
Their socio-demographic features matched those of patients defined as being at risk of chronic BZD use[24, 25].
Our sample size was large enough to show the beneficial effect of a BZD cessation programme and highlight the difference between the patients’ condition before and after the intervention programme. We recognize, however, that size was the main limitation of the study, and we were unable to obtain statistically significant differences between patients who successfully completed the cessation programme and those who did not. The latter comparison was not, however, a key objective although we consider it could become a useful starting point for further studies.
It should be pointed out that almost 20% of the patients consumed antidepressants, mostly from the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) group. This highlights non-compliance with national guidelines based on previous studies[26] which advise limiting the use of BZD to the onset of SSRI treatment. More than twenty years ago it was reported that the benefit of BZD was significantly reduced after fifteen days of use[27]. Yet, as our results confirm, BZD continues to be prescribed without due consideration for this benefit/time restriction.
A comparison revealed that the average daily dose of BZD in the United Kingdom (equivalent to 5 mg of Diazepam)[7] was lower than that in our study in Spain (equivalent to 10 mg of Diazepam). Nevertheless, the percentage of cessation at six months was the same in both countries. Results achieved in withdrawal programmes in both countries were not, therefore, influenced by the initial BZD dosage. In our study, patients taking a higher initial dose of BZD presented more sleeping problems in the baseline test than those taking lower doses; once, however, they had all completed the program, those who had initially consumed more BZD did not score higher on the sleeping problem scale. This finding helped to confirm that the consumption of a higher dose of BZD does not improve sleep quality[7, 28]. It is noteworthy, that 10% of the patients who were taking BZD (with its concomitant side effects)[2, 29] in excess of four years were unaware of the reason for its indication.
When analysing the SF-12 results before the initial intervention and at 24 weeks, we saw an improvement in the mental component but not in the physical one among the cessation group. These results are similar to those expected as consumption of BZD should not influence physical fitness.
In the analysis of the Goldberg scale, the cessation group showed a statistically significant gradual decrease in both the anxiety and depression components. These results are positive when compared with the study by Curran et al.[7] which, whilst using a different parametric scale (the Geriatric Depression Scale), reported neither an improvement nor a deterioration of these symptoms for the cessation group.
The results of the sleep scale could be interpreted as being due to a heightened awareness of other underlying chronic diseases. In fact, a quarter of the patients had Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and they should not have been taking BZD as a chronic treatment. Discontinuing BZD prevents severe symptoms being masked, and thus permits early action on potential complications. A 64.7% success rate (percentage of BZD cessation cases maintained for one year) shows that, after specific training, nurses in a Primary Care setting can implement a program with the objective of achieving the cessation of BZD intake in volunteer patients, with similar results to studies conducted by other professionals such as physicians or psychologists[7, 30, 31]. Nevertheless, it must be conceded that our outcome could be partly attributed to an inaccurate diagnosis of insomnia, mistaking this, and the patient’s addiction due to tolerance[32], for physiological sleep disturbances related to age, which are easy to treat through advice and sleep hygiene. Our results may provide another overview[33] of the initial and medium term results of this withdrawal program and represent a starting point for further studies on effectiveness.
Our withdrawal program, conducted by nurses, was successful in that a period of one year. 2/3 of the patients in our sample ceased taking BZD. These results are similar to studies conducted by other professionals such as physicians or psychologists. Our work confirms the fact that nurses in a Primary Care setting can successfully implement a BZD withdrawal program.
BZD:
SF-12:
Short-Form Health Survey
MOS:
Medical Outcomes Study
SSRI:
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor
MAOI:
Mono Amin Oxidase Inhibitors
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O'Connor K, Belanger L, Marchand A, Dupuis G, Elie R, Boyer R: Psychological distress and adaptational problems associated with discontinuation of benzodiazepines. Addict Behav. 1999, 24: 537-541. 10.1016/S0306-4603(98)00107-5.
O'Connor KP, Marchand A, Belanger L, Mainguy N, Landry P, Savard P, Turcotte J, Dupuis G, Harel F, Lachance L: Psychological distress and adaptational problems associated with benzodiazepine withdrawal and outcome: a replication. Addict Behav. 2004, 29: 583-593. 10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.01.001.
Fourrier A, Letenneur L, Dartiajes JF, Moore N, Begaud B: Benzodiazepine use in an elderly community-dwelling population. Characteristics of users and factors associated with subsequent use. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2001, 57: 419-425. 10.1007/s002280100326.
Lader M, Tylee A, Donoghue J: Withdrawing benzodiazepines in primary care. CNS Drugs. 2009, 23 (1): 19-34. 10.2165/0023210-200923010-00002.
De Las C, Sanz E, De La Fuente J: Benzodiazepines: More behavioral addiction than dependence. Psychopharmacology. 2003, 167: 297-303.
Leipzig RM, Cumming RG, Tinetti ME: Drugs and fall in older people: a systematic review and meta-analysis: I. Psychotropic drugs. Journal of American Geriatric. Society. 1999, 47: 30-39.
Oude Vosahar RC, Couvee JE, Van Balkom A, Mulder P, Zitman FG: Strategies for discontinuing long term benzodiazepine use. Br J Psych. 2006, 189: 213-220. 10.1192/bjp.189.3.213.
Taylor DJ, Schmidt-Nowara W, Jessop CA, Ahearn J: Sleep restriction therapy and hypnotic withdrawal versus sleep hygiene education in hypnotic using patients with insomnia. J Clin Sleep Med. 2010, 6 (2): 169-175.
Higgitt A, Fonagy P, Lader M: The natural history of tolerance to the benzodiazepines. Psychol Med Monogr Suppl. 1988, 13: 1-55.
Vicens C, Fiol F: Abordaje de la deshabituación de benzodiacepinas en atención primaria. Inf Ter Sist Nac Salud. 2008, 32: 52-57.
We wish to thank the nursing team working at Raval Sud and Maragall Primary Care Centers for their contributions to patient recruitment and data collection. Special thanks to Lola Garcia. We are also extremely grateful to the team at Woodberry Practice and Dr. Olatz Heredia for all their time and support.
Primary Care Center Raval Sud. Institut Català de la Salut, 08001, Barcelona, Spain
Cristina Lopez-Peig
& Bartomeu Casabella
Unitat de Suport de la Recerca Barcelona Ciutat - IDIAP Jordi Gol, redIAPP Institut Català de la Salut, Sardenya 375, 08025, Barcelona, Spain
Xavier Mundet
& Jose Luis del Val
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Spain
& Eduard Diogene
Primary Care Center La Salut. Institut Català de la Salut, 08914, Badalona, Spain
David Lacasta
Institut Català de Farmacologia, Barcelona, Spain
Eduard Diogene
Woodberry Practice. Winchmore Hill. Enfield. NHS trust, London, UK
Search for Cristina Lopez-Peig in:
Search for Xavier Mundet in:
Search for Bartomeu Casabella in:
Search for Jose Luis del Val in:
Search for David Lacasta in:
Search for Eduard Diogene in:
Correspondence to Xavier Mundet.
The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
CL: Principal investigator, protocol design, seminar speaker, interpretation of the data, writing of the manuscript. XM: Study management, protocol design, data interpretation, writing of the manuscript. BC: Study management, protocol design, patient recruitment. JLV: Statistical analyses, data interpretation, writing of the manuscript. DL: Patient recruitment. ED: Study management, protocol design, data interpretation. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Lopez-Peig, C., Mundet, X., Casabella, B. et al. Analysis of benzodiazepine withdrawal program managed by primary care nurses in Spain. BMC Res Notes 5, 684 (2012) doi:10.1186/1756-0500-5-684
Received: 19 March 2012
Habituation drug therapy
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Read Little Fires Everywhere Online
Authors: Celeste Ng
BOOK: Little Fires Everywhere
ALSO BY CELESTE NG
Everything I Never Told
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
Copyright © 2017 by Celeste Ng
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
ISBN 9780735224292 (hardcover)
ISBN 9780735224308 (eBook)
ISBN 9780525522560 (international edition)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
To those out on their own paths, setting little
EPIGRAPH
Whether you buy a homesite in the School Section, broad acres in the Shaker Country Estates, or one of the houses offered by this company in a choice of neighborhoods, your purchase includes facilities for golf, riding, tennis, boating; it includes unexcelled schools; and it includes protection forever against depreciation and unwelcome change.
âAdvertisement, The Van Sweringen Company, Creators and Developers of Shaker Village
Actually, though, all things considered, people from Shaker Heights are basically pretty much like people everywhere else in America. They may have three or four cars instead of one or two, and they may have two television sets instead of one, and when a Shaker Heights girl gets married she may have a reception for eight hundred, with the Meyer Davis band flown in from New York, instead of a wedding reception for a hundred with a local band, but these are all differences of degree rather than fundamental differences. “We're friendly people and we have a wonderful time!” said a woman at the Shaker Heights Country Club recently, and she was right, for the inhabitants of Utopia do, in fact, appear to lead a rather happy life.
â“The Good Life in Shaker Heights,”
Cosmopolitan,
veryone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down. All spring the gossip had been about little Mirabelle McCulloughâor, depending which side you were on, May Ling Chowâand now, at last, there was something new and sensational to discuss. A little after noon on that Saturday in May, the shoppers pushing their grocery carts in Heinen's heard the fire engines wail to life and careen away, toward the duck pond. By a quarter after twelve there were four of them parked in a haphazard red line along Parkland Drive, where all six bedrooms of the Richardson house were ablaze, and everyone within a half mile could see the smoke rising over the trees like a dense black thundercloud. Later people would say that the signs had been there all along: that Izzy was a little lunatic, that there had always been something
about the Richardson family, that as soon as they heard the sirens that morning they
something terrible had happened. By then, of course, Izzy would be long gone, leaving no one to defend her, and people couldâand didâsay whatever they liked. At the moment the fire trucks arrived, though, and for quite a while afterward, no one knew what was happening. Neighbors clustered as close to the
makeshift barrierâa police cruiser, parked crosswise a few hundred yards awayâas they could and watched the firefighters unreel their hoses with the grim faces of men who recognized a hopeless cause. Across the street, the geese at the pond ducked their heads underwater for weeds, wholly unruffled by the commotion.
Mrs. Richardson stood on the tree lawn, clutching the neck of her pale blue robe closed. Although it was already afternoon, she had still been asleep when the smoke detectors had sounded. She had gone to bed late, and had slept in on purpose, telling herself she deserved it after a rather difficult day. The night before, she had watched from an upstairs window as a car had finally pulled up in front of the house. The driveway was long and circular, a deep horseshoe arc bending from the curb to the front door and backâso the street was a good hundred feet away, too far for her to see clearly, and even in May, at eight o'clock it was almost dark, besides. But she had recognized the small tan Volkswagen of her tenant, Mia, its headlights shining. The passenger door opened and a slender figure emerged, leaving the door ajar: Mia's teenage daughter, Pearl. The dome light lit the inside of the car like a shadow box, but the car was packed with bags nearly to the ceiling and Mrs. Richardson could only just make out the faint silhouette of Mia's head, the messy topknot perched at the crown of her head. Pearl bent over the mailbox, and Mrs. Richardson imagined the faint squeak as the mailbox door opened, then shut. Then Pearl hopped back into the car and closed the door. The brake lights flared red, then winked out, and the car puttered off into the growing night. With a sense of relief, Mrs. Richardson had gone down to the mailbox and found a set of keys on a plain ring, with no note. She had planned to go over in the morning and check the rental house on Winslow Road, even though she already knew that they would be gone.
It was because of this that she had allowed herself to sleep in, and now
it was half past twelve and she was standing on the tree lawn in her robe and a pair of her son Trip's tennis shoes, watching their house burn to the ground. When she had awoken to the shrill scream of the smoke detector, she ran from room to room looking for him, for Lexie, for Moody. It struck her that she had not looked for Izzy, as if she had known already that Izzy was to blame. Every bedroom was empty except for the smell of gasoline and a small crackling fire set directly in the middle of each bed, as if a demented Girl Scout had been camping there. By the time she checked the living room, the family room, the rec room, and the kitchen, the smoke had begun to spread, and she ran outside at last to hear the sirens, alerted by their home security system, already approaching. Out in the driveway, she saw that Trip's Jeep was gone, as was Lexie's Explorer, and Moody's bike, and, of course, her husband's sedan. He usually went into the office to play catch-up on Saturday mornings. Someone would have to call him at work. She remembered then that Lexie, thank god, had stayed over at Serena Wong's house last night. She wondered where Izzy had gotten to. She wondered where her sons were, and how she would find them to tell them what had happened.
By the time the fire was put out the house had not, despite Mrs. Richardson's fears, quite burned to the ground. The windows were all gone but the brick shell of the house remained, damp and blackened and steaming, and most of the roof, the dark slate shingles gleaming like fish scales from their recent soaking. The Richardsons would not be allowed inside for another few days, until the fire department's engineers had tested each of the beams still standing, but even from the tree lawnâthe closest the yellow
tape would allow them to comeâthey could see there was little inside to be saved.
“Jesus Christ,” Lexie said. She was perched on the roof of her car, which was now parked across the street, on the grass bordering the duck pond. She and Serena had still been asleep, curled up back-to-back in Serena's queen size, when Dr. Wong shook her shoulder just after one, whispering, “Lexie. Lexie, honey. Wake up. Your mom just called.” They had stayed up past two
A.M.,
talkingâas they had been all springâabout little Mirabelle McCullough, arguing about whether the judge had decided right or wrong, about whether her new parents should've gotten custody or if she should've been given back to her own mother. “Her name isn't even really Mirabelle McCullough, for god's sake,” Serena had said at last, and they'd lapsed into sullen, troubled silence until they both fell asleep.
Now Lexie watched the smoke billow from her bedroom window, the front one that looked over the lawn, and thought of everything inside that was gone. Every T-shirt in her dresser, every pair of jeans in her closet. All the notes Serena had written her since the sixth grade, still folded in paper footballs, which she'd kept in a shoebox under her bed; the bed itself, the very sheets and comforter charred to a crisp. The rose corsage her boyfriend, Brian, had given her at homecoming, hung to dry on her vanity, the petals darkened from ruby to dried-blood red. Now it was nothing but ashes. In the change of clothes she had brought to Serena's, Lexie realized suddenly, she was better off than the rest of her family: in the backseat she had a duffel bag, a pair of jeans, a toothbrush. Pajamas. She glanced at her brothers, at her mother, still in her bathrobe on their tree lawn, and thought,
They have literally nothing but the clothes on their backs.
was one of Lexie's favorite words, which she deployed even when the situation was anything but literal. In this case, for once, it was more or less true.
Trip, from his spot beside her, absentmindedly ran one hand through
his hair. The sun was high overhead now and the sweat made his curls stand up rather rakishly. He had been playing basketball at the community center when he heard fire trucks wailing, but had thought nothing of it. (This morning he had been particularly preoccupied, but in truth he likely would not have noticed anyway.) Then, at one, when everyone got hungry and decided to call it a game, he had driven home. True to form, even with the windows down he had not noticed the huge cloud of smoke wafting toward him, and he only began to realize something was wrong when he found his street blocked off by a police car. After ten minutes of explaining, he had finally been allowed to park his Jeep across from the house, where Lexie and Moody were already waiting. The three of them sat on the car's roof in order, as they had in all the family portraits that had once hung in the stairwell and were now reduced to ash. Lexie, Trip, Moody: senior, junior, sophomore. Beside them they felt the hole that Izzy, the freshman, the black sheep, the wild card, had left behindâthough they were still certain, all of them, that this hole would be temporary.
“What was she thinking?” Moody muttered, and Lexie said, “Even
knows she's gone too far this time, that's why she ran off. When she comes back, Mom is going to murder her.”
“Where are we going to stay?” Trip asked. A moment of silence unreeled as they contemplated their situation.
“We'll get a hotel room or something,” said Lexie finally. “I think that's what Josh Trammell's family did.” Everyone knew this story: how a few years ago Josh Trammell, a sophomore, had fallen asleep with a candle lit and burned his parents' house down. The long-standing rumor at the high school was that it wasn't a candle, it was a joint, but the house had been so thoroughly gutted there was no way to tell, and Josh had stuck to his candle story. Everyone still thought of him as
that dumbass jock who
burned the house down
, even though that had been ages ago, and Josh had recently graduated from Ohio State with honors. Now, of course, Josh Trammell's fire would no longer be the most famous fire in Shaker Heights.
“One hotel room? For all of us?”
“Whatever. Two rooms. Or we'll stay at the Embassy Suites. I don't know.” Lexie tapped her fingers against her knee. She wanted a cigarette, but after what had just happenedâand in full view of her mother and ten firemenâshe didn't dare light one. “Mom and Dad will figure it out. And the insurance will pay for it.” Although she had only a vague sense of how insurance worked, this seemed plausible. In any case, this was a problem for the adults, not for them.
The last of the firemen were emerging from the house, pulling the masks from their faces. Most of the smoke had gone, but a mugginess still hung everywhere, like the air in the bathroom after a long, hot shower. The roof of the car was getting hot, and Trip stretched his legs down the windshield, poking the wipers with the toe of his flip-flop. Then he started to laugh.
“What's so funny?” Lexie said.
“Just picturing Izzy running around striking matches everywhere.” He snorted. “The nutcase.”
Moody drummed a finger on the roof rack. “Why is everybody so sure she did it?”
“Come on.” Trip jumped down off the car. “It's
Izzy.
And we're all here. Mom's here. Dad's on his way. Who's missing?”
“So Izzy's not here. She's the only one who could be responsible?”
Responsible?
” put in Lexie. “Izzy?”
“Dad was at work,” Trip said. “Lexie was at Serena's. I was over at Sussex playing ball. You?”
Moody hesitated. “I biked over to the library.”
“There. You see?” To Trip, the answer was obvious. “The only ones here were Izzy and Mom. And Mom was asleep.”
“Maybe the wiring in the house shorted. Or maybe someone left the stove on.”
“The firemen said there were little fires everywhere,” Lexie said. “Multiple points of origin. Possible use of accelerant. Not an accident.”
“We all know she's always been mental.” Trip leaned back against the car door.
“You're all always picking on her,” Moody said. “Maybe that's why she acts
Across the street, the fire trucks began to reel in their hoses. The three remaining Richardson children watched the firemen set down their axes and peel away their smoky yellow coats.
“Someone should go over and stay with Mom,” Lexie said, but no one moved.
After a minute, Trip said, “When Mom and Dad find Iz, they are going to lock her up in a psych ward for the rest of her life.”
No one thought about the recent departure of Mia and Pearl from the house on Winslow Road. Mrs. Richardson, watching the fire chief meticulously taking notes on his clipboard, had completely forgotten about her former tenants. She had not yet mentioned it to her husband or her children; Moody had discovered their absence only earlier that morning, and was still unsure what to make of it. Far down Parkland Drive the small blue dot of their father's BMW began to approach.
“What makes you so sure they'll find her?” Moody asked.
Crazy in Love by Luanne Rice
The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Vicki's Work of Heart by Rosie Dean
She Wakes by Jack Ketchum
The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn
Dispatch from the Future by Leigh Stein
School's Out...Forever! by Kate McMullan
Sleep, Pale Sister by Joanne Harris
The Legend of Bass Reeves by Gary Paulsen
01 - Murder at Ashgrove House by Margaret Addison
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Tech Data uses cookies to improve the use and personalization of your browsing experience on its website. All information collected on this site is considered confidential data. By continuing your visit to this site, you agree to the installation and use of cookies.
Identity with Windows Server 2016
Networking with Windows Server 2016
Advanced Automated Administration with Windows PowerShell
Fundamentals of a Windows Server Infrastructure
Active Directory Services with Windows Server
Administering the Web Server (IIS) Role of Windows Server
Troubleshooting Windows Server 2016 Core Technologies
Three-MOC Pack Aligned to MCSA: Cloud Platform & Infrastructure/Windows Server 2016 - 70-740, 70-741, 70-742 (null)
Three-MOC Pack Aligned to MCSA: Cloud Platform & Infrastructure/Windows Server 2012 - 70-410, 70-411, 70-412
Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell
Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012
Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure
Implementing a Desktop Infrastructure
Implementing Desktop Application Environments
Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012
Upgrading Your Skills to Windows Server 2016 MCSA
Securing Windows Server 2016
Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell (90 Day) - On Demand
Advanced Automated Administration with Windows PowerShell (90 Day) - On Demand
Fundamentals of a Windows Server Infrastructure (90 Day) - On Demand
Active Directory Services with Windows Server (90 Day) - On Demand
Administering the Web Server (IIS) Role of Windows Server (90 Day) - On Demand
Troubleshooting Windows Server 2016 Core Technologies (90 Day) On Demand
Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 (90 Day) - On Demand
Administering Windows Server 2012 (90 Day) - On Demand
Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services (90 Day) - On Demand
Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure (90 Day) - On Demand
Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012 (90 Day)- On Demand
Installation, Storage, and Compute with Windows Server 2016 (90 Day) - On Demand
Networking with Windows Server 2016 (90 Day) - On Demand
Identity with Windows Server 2016 (90 Day) - On Demand
Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA: Windows Server 2016 (90 Day) - On Demand
Securing Windows Server 2016 (90 Day) - On Demand
Windows Server 2016 First Look Clinic (90 Day) - On Demand
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20411D: Administering Windows Server 2012 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20412D: Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20417D: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20410D: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 10969B: Active Directory Services with Windows Server (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 10972B: Administering the Web Server (IIS) Role of Windows Server (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 10967A: Fundamentals of a Windows Server Infrastructure (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20741B: Networking with Windows Server 2016 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20742B: Identity with Windows Server 2016 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20413C: Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 10961C: Automating Administration with Windows PowerShell (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 10962C: Advanced Automated Administration with Windows PowerShell (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20740C: Installation, Storage, and Compute with Windows Server 2016 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20743C: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA: Windows Server 2016 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 20744C: Securing Windows Server 2016 (90 Day)
MOC On-Demand Packaged Set 10991A: Troubleshooting Windows Server 2016 Core Technologies (90 Day)
Networking Fundamentals: Training for MTA Exam 98-366
Security Fundamentals: Training for MTA Exam 98-367
Microsoft Security Workshop: Enterprise Security Fundamentals
Microsoft Security Workshop: Managing Identity
Microsoft Security Workshop: Planning for a Secure Enterprise - Improving Detection
Microsoft Security Workshop: Implementing Windows 10 Security Features
Microsoft Security Workshop: Implementing PowerShell Security Best Practices
Croatia Locations
Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 (90 Day) - On Demand (OD20410D)
Get hands-on instruction and practice installing and configuring Windows Server 2012, including Windows Server 2012 R2, in this Microsoft Official On Demand Course. This course is part one in a series of three courses that provides the skills and knowledge necessary to implement a core Windows Server 2012 infrastructure in an existing enterprise environment.
The three courses collectively cover implementing, managing, maintaining and provisioning services and infrastructure in a Windows Server 2012 environment. Although there is some cross-over of skills and tasks across these courses, this course focuses on the initial implementation and configuration of core services, such as Networking, Storage, Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), Group Policy, File and Print Services, and Hyper-V.
This course maps directly to and is the preferred choice for hands-on preparation for the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) Exam 410: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012, which is the first of three exams required for the MCSA: Windows Server 2012 credential.
Labs in this course are based on Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1.
This course is intended for information technology (IT) professionals who have some knowledge and experience working with Windows operating systems and who want to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to install and perform the initial configuration of a Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 server in an existing Windows server environment. Typically, candidates who are interested in attending this course include:
Windows Server administrators who are relatively new to Windows Server administration and related technologies who are looking to learn more about Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.
IT professionals who are experienced in other non-Microsoft technologies, who meet the course prerequisites and are looking to cross-train on Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.
IT professionals who are looking to take the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) 410: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 exam.
IT professionals who want to take the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) exams in DataCenter, Desktop Infrastructure, Messaging, Collaboration and Communications will also be interested in taking this course as they prepare for the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) exams. These are a prerequisite for their individual specialties
Install and configure Windows Server 2012.
Describe AD DS.
Manage Active Directory objects.
Automate Active Directory administration.
Implement IPv4.
Implement Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP).
Implement Domain Name System (DNS).
Implement local storage.
Implement file and print services.
Implement Group Policy.
Secure Windows servers by using Group Policy Objects (GPOs).
Implement server virtualization by using Hyper-V.
Module 1: Deploying and Managing Windows Server 2012
This module introduces students to the editions of Windows Server 2012 and the new Windows Server 2012 management tools. It also covers how to install Windows Server 2012, how to perform post-deployment tasks, and how to perform basic administrative tasks.
Windows Server 2012 Overview
Installing Windows Server 2012
Post-Installation Configuration of Windows Server 2012
Overview of Windows Server 2012 Management
Introduction to Windows PowerShell
Module 2: Introduction to Active Directory Domain Services
This module covers the structure of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) and its various components, such as forest, domain, and organizational units (OUs). It also gives an overview of domain controllers, in addition to choices that are available with Windows Server 2012 for installing AD DS on a server.
Overview of AD DS
Overview of Domain Controllers
Installing a Domain Controller
Module 3: Managing Active Directory Domain Services Objects
This module describes how to manage user accounts and computer accounts, including how to manage various consumer devices that employees use. The module also covers how to manage an enterprise network by managing groups, and how to delegate administrative tasks to designated users or groups.
Managing Computer Accounts
Delegating Administration
Module 4: Automating Active Directory Domain Services Administration
This module describes how to use command‑line tools and Windows PowerShell to automate AD DS administration. It discusses various command-line tools and Windows PowerShell commands, and then describes how to use these tools and commands to modify objects individually and in bulk operations.
Using Command-line Tools for AD DS Administration
Using Windows PowerShell for AD DS Administration
Performing Bulk Operations with Windows PowerShell
Module 5: Implementing IPv4
This module discusses using IPv4, which is the network protocol used on the Internet and on local area networks. In this module, students learn how to implement an IPv4 addressing scheme and how to troubleshoot network communication. This module also covers how to determine and troubleshoot network-related problems.
Overview of TCP/IP
Understanding IPv4 Addressing
Subnetting and Supernetting
Configuring and Troubleshooting IPv4
Module 6: Implementing Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
This module covers supporting and troubleshooting a Windows Server–based network infrastructure by deploying, configuring, and troubleshooting the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server role.
Overview of the DHCP Server Role
Configuring DHCP Scopes
Managing a DHCP Database
Securing and Monitoring DHCP
Module 7: Implementing DNS
This module describes name resolution for Windows operating system clients and Windows Server servers. It also covers installing and configuring a DNS Server service and its components.
Name Resolution for Windows Clients and Servers
Installing a DNS Server
Managing DNS Zones
This module discusses the features and benefits of IPv6, how IPv6 affects IPv4 networks, and how to integrate IPv6 into IPv4 networks by using various transition technologies.
Overview of IPv6
IPv6 Addressing
Coexistence with IPv4
IPv6 Transition Technologies
Module 9: Implementing Local Storage
This module introduces several different storage technologies. It discusses how to implement the storage solutions in Windows Server 2012, and how to use the new Storage Spaces feature, which enables you to combine disks into pools that you can configure for automatic management.
Overview of Storage
Managing Disks and Volumes
Implementing Storage Spaces
Module 10: Implementing File and Print Services
This module discusses how to provide file and print resources with Windows Server 2012. It describes how to secure files and folders, how to protect previous versions of files and folders by using shadow copies, and how to give workers remote access to corporate files by implementing the new Work Folders role service. It also describes new network printing features that help manage the network printing environment.
Securing Files and Folders
Protecting Shared Files and Folders by Using Shadow Copies
Configuring Work Folders
Configuring Network Printing
Module 11: Implementing Group PolicyThis module provides an overview of Group Policy and provides details about how to implement Group Policy.
Overview of Group Policy
Group Policy Processing
Implementing a Central Store for Administrative Templates
Module 12: Securing Windows Servers Using Group Policy Objects
This module describes Windows Server 2012 operating system security. It covers how to identify security threats, plan your strategy to mitigate security threats, and secure your Windows Server 2012 infrastructure.
Security Overview for Windows Operating Systems
Configuring Security Settings
Restricting Software
Configuring Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
Module 13: Implementing Server Virtualization with Hyper-V
This module describes virtualization technologies available on Windows, specifically focusing on the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2. It covers the components of the Hyper-V role, configuring and deploying the role, in addition to and how to configure and manage key components of a Hyper-V implementation, such as Storage and Networking.
Overview of Virtualization Technologies
Implementing Hyper-V
Managing Virtual Machine Storage
Managing Virtual Networks
Ivica Brnadic
academy.hr@techdata.com
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Enroll All Eligible
Close The Coverage Gap
Strong Safety Net
2017 YEAR END
The REACH Foundation’s assets totaled $138.7 million at year-end 2017, with an investment return of 15.7 percent for the foundation’s portfolio in 2017, marking a noticeable improvement over the 2016 returns. The foundation strives to be a reliable source of funding for its nonprofit partners. Therefore, REACH committed $4.4 million in grant awards with an additional $300,000 in direct contribution toward strategic policy and program-related objectives in the 2017 fiscal year.
The foundation has long adhered to an investment approach that calls for a broadly diversified portfolio with allocation to a variety of asset classes that enable the organization to manage risk and be positioned to achieve strong net returns. Even with these 2017 community investments, the foundation’s total annual asset level increased by $12.9 million over the prior year’s investment results.
Grants & Expenses
In 2017, 72 percent of the foundation’s total expenses were invested directly in outcome areas, grants and policy efforts. Over the length of the foundation’s grant making history, more than 75 percent of total expenses represent investments made in the community through these funding categories. The remainder of expenditures reflect indirect investment in the mission via staff time and related operating expenses. The 2017 Expenses chart presented shows direct and indirect mission-related investment in relation to other general administrative spending.
2017 EXPENSES
GRANTS & OPERATING EXPENSES
PROGRAM EXPENSE BREAKDOWN
REACH awarded 140 grants in 2017, with more than 80% of awards tied to our three outcome investment areas.
VIEW FULL GRANTS LIST
REACH’s balanced investment management has enabled the foundation to maintain assets ahead of the endowed amount of $117.2 million.
Years Ended December 31, 2017 & 2016
ACTIVITIES & CHANGES IN NET ASSETS
The financial statements in this publication are unaudited. Our full audited financial statements and auditor’s opinion prepared by BKD, LLP, will be available on the foundation’s website upon completion.
Chair & CEO Message
Community Health Council of Wyandotte County
Grants List
Alliance For a Healthy Kansas
Immigrant & Refugee Health
Lafayette County Trauma Sensitive Schools
Jewish Vocational Service
6700 Antioch Road, Suite 200
Merriam, KS 66204
View our full website at
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At The Still Point
. . .searching for the dance
Panic! At The Grocery Store
A Scene: Those Who Fight
Zoe or Bios?
The ritual is the key
The other shoe and other cliche’s
yeahocd on A Scene: Those Who Fight
Tom on Why I Run
2thestillpoint in writing December 21, 2018 751 Words
“Your horse was shot?” Ruby said. She couldn’t believe that the young, confident girl sitting across from her had been through something so traumatic.
“Yes.” Annabelle sighed. “ I was riding and some people were illegally hunting on our land. I felt my horse jerk with the impact before I even heard the shot. She stumbled and went down, landing on my leg. It broke in two places.”
“Oh my god! What about your horse?” At Ruby’s exclamation, Hindsight got up from where she was lying at on the floor and whined.
Annabelle grimaced. “She probably should have been put down, but my parents were worried that I couldn’t handle that. She underwent surgery and rehabilitation. But she healed.”
Ruby placed ran her hand along the fur of Hindsight’s back. “And you?”
Annabelle spoke softly, choosing her words carefully. “After my horse was shot, every time I heard a loud noise or a bang, I would jump out of my skin.” She paused, looking down. “Sometimes I even peed my pants I was so scared.” Hindsight got up and walked over, putting her nose in Annabelle’s lap. Annabelle gave the barest twitch of a smile and lifted her hand to the soft fur on Hindsight’s head. “But I didn’t want to be scared anymore.” She looked up at Ruby, her eyes dark and fierce. “I hated that feeling.” She gestured with her hands out on either side, “it was like I made that feeling and my dad’s death one and the same, and I wanted to fight it “ she slammed her two hands together. “Does that make sense?”
Ruby nodded. “It does when you say it that way. Our minds make connections. We need something to focus on.”
“Yes, exactly,” Annabelle said, the pupils of her eyes like pinpricks. “I wasn’t just angry, I wanted to fight it. So I bought a bunch of firecrackers and set them off in my back yard. One by one, until I wasn’t jumping at the sound anymore.” Her throat moved as she swallowed. “And then I made my mom take me to the shooting range. I stood there and watched. Even with the sound mufflers on my ears, each shot jolted every molecule of my body. I wet myself again, but I made it through three shots before I ran out.” She peeked up at me, and I kept my face impassive. “But I made my mom take me back, again and again until I wasn’t afraid anymore.”
Ruby felt her throat choke up with pride for this young woman. This girl who was better at facing real, serious fears than she was at facing her imagined ones. “You are a strong woman,” she said.
Annabelle shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t feel like one.”
“My shrink said that’s just how I’m made. I need something to fight, even when it is fear,” Annabelle said, her voice tired. “ I fight and I fight to win. I am afraid of something having power over me. Isn’t that ironic?”
Ruby breathed out through her nose. A defeated, pitiful sound. “I wish I could do that.”
Annabelle looked up, her gaze direct. “You can, you just have to find your anger. You are a nice person — a good person. That’s not a bad thing, but it makes it hard for you to find your anger when you need to fight for yourself. Look at the way that you have fought for your dogs, for Hindsight.”
Hindsight lifted her head from Annabelle’s lap and Ruby read agreement in her body language.
Annabelle continued, “even the things that you have done for me — fought to do for me. Most people would see them as ordinary things, but I know that you had to fight to do them. Why can’t you fight like that for yourself?”
Ruby felt her eyes welling up. This young girl saw her saw clearly — more clearly than she saw herself — and still managed to make her feel worthy, like she wasn’t a warped, from-the-land-of-broken-toys reject of a human being. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice choking on the words. Hindsight moved swiftly to press her nose into the crook of Ruby’s arm.
“Yes you do,” Annabelle said softly, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees. “What you need to do is face it, and then you can fight it. “
ficiton
One thought on “A Scene: Those Who Fight”
yeahocd says:
Hey… I’ve added your blog here to yeahocd.com here: https://yeahocd.com/top-ocd-blogs If you wish to link back that would be great. Keep trying to think good thoughts. But if you can’t… write! 🙂
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President Obama’s Accomplishments continued from here:
President Barack Obama pauses after signing H.R. 3765 – “Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011,” in the Oval Office, Dec. 23, 2011.
President Obama: Extending Payroll Tax Cut Is a “Boost We Need Right Now”
President Obama today signed into law a two month extension of the payroll tax cut, which means that 160 million American workers will not see their paychecks shrink starting Jan 1, 2012. The President thanked Congress for ending the stalemate and urged them to keep working to reach an agreement that extends this tax cut as well as unemployment insurance through all of 2012, saying it is the right thing to do for American families and for the economy, and called it “a boost that we very much need right now.”
BREAKING: Obama Signs Defense Authorization Bill
The National Journal reports:
President Obama signed on Saturday the defense authorization bill, formally ending weeks of heated debate in Congress and intense lobbying by the administration to strip controversial provisions requiring the transfer of some terror suspects to military custody.
“I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists,” Obama said in a statement accompanying his signature.
The AP has more from the signing statement: “My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.”
President Barack Obama prepares to sign legislation in the Oval Office, Jan. 3, 2012. Staff Secretary Rajesh De is pictured at left.
Signed on January 03, 2012
Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011
Sergeant Angel Mendez Post Office, Staten Island, New York
Insured Depository Institution Failures
Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012
Risk-Based Security Screening for Members of The Armed Forces Act
M.D. Anderson Plaza, Jackson, Tennessee
Redacting in Judges Financial Disclosure Reports
Belarus Democracy Reauthorization Act of 2011
Sergeant Matthew J. Fenton Post Office, Little Ferry, New Jersey
Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2012
SOAR Technical Corrections Act
Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012
Gabrielle Giffords’ anti-drug legislation signed into law.
Washington (CNN) — Gabrielle Giffords’ final piece of legislation is now law.
President Barack Obama signed the bill in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday with the former Arizona congresswoman and her husband, Mark Kelly, looking on.
The the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012 closes a loophole that treated the use of ultralight aircraft to help with drug smuggling different from the use of other aircraft. Now, their use can bring a long jail sentence and stiff fines.
H.R. 658 – FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012
H.R. 588 – Redesignate the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge as the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge
Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012
Providing the Quileute Indian Tribe Tsunami and Flood Protection
Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011
Application of Countervailing Duty Provisions to Nonmarket Economy Countries
St. Croix River Crossing Project Authorization Act
James M. Fitzgerald United States Courthouse, Anchorage, Alaska
Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012
HALE Scouts Ac
United States Marshals Service 225th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act
Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012
UPI.com
WASHINGTON, April 4 (UPI) — U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law Wednesday legislation that bans insider trading by Congress.
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 prohibits members of Congress, executive branch employees, federal judges and judicial employees from using “non-public information derived from their official positions for personal profit,” the White House said.
The new law also requires that financial forms of certain federal employees be made available to the public electronically.
Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act
Highlighting President Obama’s accomplishments during his first three years in office:
Tomball Veterans Post Office
Private First Class Alejandro R. Ruiz Post Office Building
Corporal Steven Blaine Riccione Post Office
Sergeant Jason W. Vaughn Post Office
Specialist Peter J. Navarro Post Office Building
John J. Cook Post Office
Specialist Micheal E. Phillips Post Office
Army Specialist Matthew Troy Morris Post Office Building
Lance Corporal Matthew P. Pathenos Post Office Building
Lance Corporal Drew W. Weaver Post Office Building
William T. Trant Post Office Building
GSA Land Conveyance to Tracy, California
Brian A. Terry Memorial Act
Post-Deployment/Mobilization Respite Absence Program Modification
Temporary Bankruptcy Judgeships Extension Act of 2012
Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Act of 2012
National Flood Insurance Program Extension
Trooper Joshua D. Miller Post Office Building, Pittston, Pennsylvania
Master Sergeant Daniel L. Fedder Post Office, Pine City, Minnesota
Private Isaac T. Cortes Post Office, Bronx, New York
Border Tunnel Prevention Act of 2012
Sequoia and King Canyon National Parks Backcountry Access Act
Cook County, Minnesota Reversionary Interest Release
John F. Kennedy Center Reauthorization Act
E-2 Nonimmigrant Visas for Israeli Nationals
Contract Awards for Large Air Tankers
Conveyance of NOAA Property to the City of Pascagoula, Mississippi
Salmon Lake Land Selection Resolution Act
Technical Correction in Public Law 112-108
Whitefish Point Light Station
Conveyance of certain parcels of land to the town of Alta, Utah
East Bench Irrigation District Water Contract Extension Act
The Temporary Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act
Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act
Church Plan Investment Clarification Act
Promoting Development of Southwest Waterfront, Washington DC
Former Charleston Naval Base Land Exchange Act of 2012
District of Columbia Special Election Reform Act
July 23rd 2012
Veteran Skills to Jobs Act
Raoul Wallenberg Centennial Celebration Act
Insular Areas Act of 2011
United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012
Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Home Ownership Act of 2012 or the (HEARTH Act of 2012)
August 3rd 2012
National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act
Pilot’s Bill of Rights
Reverend Abe Brown Post Office Building
Warren Lindley Post Office
This afternoon, President Obama signed legislation that takes two important steps to help fulfill our nation’s obligations to our veterans and their families.
First, the new law offers extended care to a group of servicemembers who were based at Camp Lejeune with their families during a period when contaminated water caused major medical issues for a number of individuals.
Among those standing with the President at today’s bill signing were Jerry Ensminger, a Marine Corps veteran who has been an advocate for affected families, and Mike Partain, who was born at Camp Lejuene and later developed male breast cancer. The bill the President signed was named after Janey Ensminger, the Master Sargeant’s daughter who passed away from leukemia at age nine.
Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012
Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012
Haqqani Network Terrorist Designation Act of 2012
Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011
La Pine Land Conveyance Act
Wallowa Forest Service Compound Conveyance Act
National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center Commemorative Coin Surcharges
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe Blood Quantum Requirement
Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Human Rights Act of 2012
Sergeant Richard Franklin Abshire Post Office Building
SPC Nicholas Scott Hartge Post Office
First Sergeant Landres Cheeks Post Office Building
AGOA/Burma/Technical corrections to CAFTA
Battery Recharging Stations for POVs in parking areas under the jurisdiction of the Senate
Ambassador James R. Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz North Korea Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2012
TSA Compliance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
Battery Recharging Stations for POVs in parking areas under the jurisdiction of the House
To prevent harm to the national security or endangering the military officers and civilian employees to whom internet publication of certain information applies
The District of Columbia achieved a small victory in the fight for equal representation on Thursday as President Obama signed a law allowing a statue of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass to be displayed in the Capitol.
Congress passed the bill last week allowing the District of Columbia its first statue in the Capitol. In addition to living, breathing representation in the form of two senators and a number of representatives, each state is allotted two statues to represent it in the halls of Congress.
The Caucus blogs New York Times
Statue of Frederick Douglass from the District of Columbia to Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center
H.R. 4158 – To confirm full ownership rights for certain United States astronauts to artifacts from the astronauts’ space missions
Obama signs bill giving Apollo astronauts ownership of space artifacts
The Hill.com blogs
President Obama on Tuesday signed into law legislation that gives Apollo-era astronauts full ownership of artifacts they kept from the missions they flew.
The bill was approved by the House last week by voice vote, and approved by unanimous consent by the Senate early Saturday morning.
The legislation was introduced by House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Ralph Hall (R-Texas) in response to attempts by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to claim ownership of some artifacts from Apollo mission, such as mission logs, flight manuals and other mementos. NASA’s attempt to recapture some of these artifacts was exposing Apollo astronauts to liability, and was complicating efforts by some astronauts to sell or donate some of these articles.
September28th 2012
Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013
Extension of the EB-5 Regional Center Program, the E-Verify Program, the Special Immigrant Nonminister Religious Worker Program, and the Conrad State 30 J-1 Visa Waiver Program
A bill to change the effective date for the internet publication of certain information to prevent harm to the national security or endangering the military officers and civilian employees to whom the publication requirement applies and for other purposes
Federal Insectidice, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
President Obama signs one of 17 bills he was given to add his signature to on AF1 while in flight to Cleveland, Oct. 5
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe Judgment Fund Distribution Act of 2012
Alto Lee Adams, Sr., United States Courthouse, Fort Pierce, Florida
Lions Clubs International Century of Service Commemorative Coin Act
Lowell National Historical Park Land Exchange Act of 2012
Billfish Conservation Act of 2012
Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse, Buffalo, New York
Divisional Realignment Act of 2012
To confirm full ownership rights for certain United States astronauts to artifacts from the astronauts’ space missions
Strengthening and Focusing Enforcement to Deter Organized Stealing and Enhance Safety Act of 2012 or the SAFE DOSES Act
Robert Boochever United States Courthouse, Juneau, Alaska
Reporting Efficiency Improvement Act
Remedies for Dilution Provisions in the Trademark Act
VA Major Construction Authorization and Expiring Authorities Extension Act of 2012
U.S. support for assistance provided by international financial institutions for Burma
FDA User Fee Corrections Act of 2012
Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012
Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest Establishment Act
Military Commercial Driver’s License Act of 2012
New York City Natural Gas Supply Enhancement Act
Veterans’ Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2012
Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012
European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011
Mark Twain Commemorative Coin Act
Extension of the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, And Fraud Enforcement With Enforcers beyond Borders Act of 2006
Taking Essential Steps for Testing Act of 2012
Consolidate certain CBO reporting requirements
Jaime Zapata Border Enforcement Security Task Force Act
Further STOCK Act Extension
Child Protection Act of 2012
US President Barack Obama signs H.R. 6156, the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, on December 14, 2012 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC (AFP Photo / Mandel Ngan)
The Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012
March of Dimes Commemorative Coin Act of 2012
American Energy Manufacturing Technical Corrections Act
Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012
To allow the Pascua Yaqui Tribe to determine the requirements for membership in that tribe
To amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act with respect to information provided to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
To amend the Electronic Fund Transfer Act to limit the fee disclosure requirement for an automatic teller machine to the screen of that machine
No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012
DHS Audit Requirement Target Act of 2012 or the DART Act
Bridgeport Indian Colony Land Trust, Health, and Economic Development Act of 2012
D.C. Courts and Public Defender Service Act of 2011
GAO Mandates Revision Act of 2012
Barona Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Clarification Act of 2012
Organic Act of the Virgin Islands Revision
Clarifying Naturalization Requirements for Afghan and Iraqi Translators
An Act for the relief of Sopuruchi Chukwueke
Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012
21st Century Language Act of 2012
Theft of Trade Secrets Clarification Act of 2012
Lake Pontchartrain Basin Restoration Program Reauthorization
Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012
James F. Battin United States Courthouse
Public Interest Declassification Board Reauthorization Act of 2012
Army First Sergeant David McNerney Post Office Building
Nicky ‘Nick’ Daniel Bacon Post Office
Brigadier General Nathaniel Woodhull Post Office Building
Lance Cpl. Anthony A. DiLisio Clinton-Macomb Carrier Annex
Corporal Kyle Schneider Post Office Building
Sergeant Leslie H. Sabo, Jr. Post Office Building
Date for Counting 2012 Electoral Votes in Congress
American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013
Pres Obama signs Sandy flood aid bill today upon his return to the White House
H.R. 41 – Temporary Increase to National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing Authority
City of Salem, Massachusetts, as the Birthplace of the National Guard of the United States
Medicare IVIG Access and Strengthening Medicare and Repaying Taxpayers Act of 2012
To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 600 Florida Avenue in Cocoa, Florida, as the `Harry T. and Harriette Moore Post Office’
Lake Thunderbird Efficient Use Act of 2012
Pinnacles National Park Act
Sidney “Sid” Sanders McMath Post Office Building
Private First Class Victor A. Dew Post Office
Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012
Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act
Mt. Manitou Park and Incline Railway Company Right of Way
Cecil E. Bolt Post Office
To repeal an obsolete provision in title 49, United States Code, requiring motor vehicle insurance cost reporting
Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012
Former President’s Protection Act of 2012
President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill granting lifetime Secret Service protection
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-10/politics/36273120_1_obama-signs-bill-secret-service-protection-children-of-former-presidents
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed into law a bill granting lifetime Secret Service protection to former presidents and their wives.
The measure Obama signed Thursday applies to presidents elected after Jan. 1, 1997, specifically Obama and former President George W. Bush. It reverses a 1994 law that ended Secret Service protection 10 years after a president leaves office. Under that law, the Homeland Security secretary could extend such protection on a temporary basis.
A sponsor of the bill, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, says increased terrorist threats and the greater mobility and youth of former presidents made the change necessary.
The new law also authorizes Secret Service protection for the children of former presidents until they turn 16.
Video Privacy Protection Act Amendments Act of 2012
Mt. Andrea Lawrence Designation Act of 2011
Dignified Burial and Other Veterans’ Benefits Improvement Act of 2012
Animal Welfare Act Amendments
Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents Appointment
To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6239 Savannah Highway in Ravenel, South Carolina, as the ‘Representative Curtis B. Inabinett, Sr. Post Office’
Lieutenant Kenneth M. Ballard Memorial Post Office
Postal Inspector Terry Asbury Post Office Building
Maniilaq Association, Kotzebue, Alaska Conveyance
North Korean Child Welfare Act of 2012
Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012
Drywall Safety Act of 2012
Federal Tax Levies Against TSP Accounts
Glacier National Park Right-of-Way Permits for Natural Gas Pipelines
Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act of 2012
Endangered Fish Recovery Programs Extension Act of 2012
Clothe a Homeless Hero Act
World War I Centennial Commission Act
Space Exploration Sustainability Act
To correct and improve certain provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and title 35, United States Code
Protect Our Kids Act of 2012
Granting the consent of Congress to the State and Province Emergency Management Assistance Memorandum of Understanding
Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012
Uninterrupted Scholars Act
Captain Rhett W. Schiller Post Office
Lieutenant Ryan Patrick Jones Post Office Designation Act
Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973 Technical Correction
No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013
The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013
Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013
STOCK Act Modifications
District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Vacancy Act
The Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013
National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin
Congressional Gold Medal: Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley
The Congressional Gold Medal has been posthumously awarded to four girls killed in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. President Obama signed the legislation Friday, as (from left) Birmingham Mayor William Bell, Dr. Sharon Malone Holder, Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Terri Sewell, and relatives of Denise McNair and Carole Robertson look on. Photo: Pool/Getty Images
S. 982 – Freedom to Fish Act
Stolen Valor Act of 2013
Animal Drug and Animal Generic Drug User Fee Reauthorization Act of 2013
An Act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include vaccines against seasonal influenza within the definition of taxable vaccines.
An Act to grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the First Special Service Force, in recognition of its superior service during World War II.
An Act to designate the new Interstate Route 70 bridge over the Mississippi River connecting St. Louis, Missouri, and southwestern Illinois as the “Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge”.
South Utah Valley Electric Conveyance Act
Bonneville Unit Clean Hydropower Facilitation Act
Vietnam Veterans Donor Acknowledgment Act of 2013
An Act to rename section 219(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA.
An Act to designate the headquarters building of the Coast Guard on the campus located at 2701 Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue Southeast in the District of Columbia as the “Douglas A. Munro Coast Guard Headquarters Building”
Reverse Mortgage Stabilization Act of 2013
Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013
An Act to designate the air route traffic control center located in Nashua, New Hampshire, as the “Patricia Clark Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center”
An Act to amend title 49, United States Code, to modify requirements relating to the availability of pipeline safety regulatory documents, and for other purposes.
Helping Heroes Fly Act
FOR VETS Act of 2013
Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act
Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013
Powell Shooting Range Land Conveyance Act
Denali National Park Improvement Act
An Act to amend Public Law 93-435 with respect to the Northern Mariana Islands, providing parity with Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
Natchez Trace Parkway Land Conveyance Act of 2013
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act
E. Clay Shaw, Jr. Missing Children’s Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2013
Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2013
Pay Our Military Act
President Obama signs military pay act, ensuring troop pay during shutdown
Helium Stewardship Act of 2013
Organization of American States Revitalization and Reform Act of 2013
An Act to extend the period during which Iraqis who were employed by the United States Government in Iraq may be granted special immigrant status and to temporarily increase the fee or surcharge for processing machine-readable nonimmigrant visas
Congressional Award Program Reauthorization Act of 2013
Joint Resolution making continuing appropriations for death gratuities and related survivor benefits for survivors of deceased military service members of the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes.
An Act to ensure that any new or revised requirement providing for the screening, testing, or treatment of individuals operating commercial motor vehicles for sleep disorders is adopted pursuant to a rulemaking proceeding
The “Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014,” which provides fiscal year 2014 appropriations for projects and activities of the Federal Government through Wednesday, January 15, 2014.
H.R. 3190 – United States Parole Commission Extension Act of 2013
This morning, President Obama, Vice President Biden and senior Administration officials met with faith leaders in the Oval Office to discuss the importance of taking action to pass commonsense immigration reform. The faith leaders from across the country.
H.R. 2094 -School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act
Obama Signs Bill to Increase EpiPen Availability in Schools
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/11/13/obama-signs-bill-to-increase-epipen-availability-in-schools/
President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday aimed at increasing the availability of epinephrine in schools, saying the law will help people like his daughter, Malia, who suffers from a peanut allergy.
The medicine can help prevent adverse reactions and death in children with severe food allergies.
The law, which took two years to move through Congress, comes after two students — one in Illinois and one in Virginia — died after ingesting peanuts and suffering an anaphylactic reaction while at school. The law provides an incentive to states to boost the stockpile of epinephrine at schools.
“This is something that will save children’s lives,” Mr. Obama said at a ceremony to sign the bill, adding that “some people may know that Malia actually has a peanut allergy.” Mr. Obama said making sure so-called EpiPens are available in case of emergency in schools “is something that every parent can understand.”
An Act to name the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Bay Pines, Florida, as the “C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center”
HIV Organ Policy Equity Act
Streamlining Claims Processing for Federal Contractor Employees Act
Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers who deliver Infants Early Reauthorization Act or the “PREEMIE Reauthorization Act”
Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013
Drug Quality and Security Act
PEPFAR Stewardship and Oversight Act of 2013
An Act to extend the Undetectable Firearms Act of 1988 for 10 years
Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act
An Act to amend title 28, United States Code, to modify the composition of the southern judicial district of Mississippi to improve judicial efficiency, and for other purposes
An Act to extend the authority of the Supreme Court Police to protect court officials away from the Supreme Court grounds
Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification Act of 2013
An Act to designate the United States courthouse and Federal building located at 118 South Mill Street, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, as the “Edward J. Devitt United States Courthouse and Federal Building”; and
VA Expiring Authorities Extension Act of 2013
Act to designate the United States courthouse located at 101 East Pecan Street in Sherman, Texas, as the “Paul Brown United States Courthouse”;
Community Fire Safety Act of 2013
Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013
An Act to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to clarify the rules regarding the determination of the compensation of the Chief Financial Officer of the District of Columbia; and
Native American Veterans’ Memorial Amendments Act of 2013;
An Act to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to modify the Pilot Project offices of the Federal Permit Streamlining Pilot Project;
Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Land Transfer Act;
An Act to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to extend through 2018 the authority of the Federal Election Commission to impose civil money penalties on the basis of a schedule of penalties established and published by the Commission…
Accuracy for Adoptees Act
An Act to redesignate the Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical Test Range.
Poison Center Network Act
An Act to authorize the Peace Corps Commemorative Foundation to establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its environs, and for other purposes.
Agricultural Act of 2014
Support for United States-Republic of Korea Civil Nuclear Cooperation Act
OPM IG Act
Temporary Debt Limit Extension Act;
An Act to ensure that the reduced annual cost-of-living adjustment to the retired pay of members and former members of the Armed Forces under the age of 62 required by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 will not apply to members or former members w
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/02/obama-signs-farm-bill-into-law/#.U-UKKVWBHIU
Feb 21st 2014
S.J. Res. 29 – Joint Resolution providing for the appointment of Risa Lavizzo-Mourey as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
S.J. Res. 28 – Joint Resolution providing for the appointment of John Fahey as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
My Brother’s Keeper: A New White House Initiative to Empower Boys and Young Men of Color
National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2013
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Conservation and Recreation Act
The “Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014”
An Act to allow the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in the State of Minnesota to lease or transfer certain land.
The “Home Heating Emergency Assistance Through Transportation Act of 2014” or the “HHEATT Act of 2014”
Joint Resolution providing for the reappointment of John W. McCarter as a citizen regent of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.
Philippines Charitable Giving Assistance Act
Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014
Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act
An Act United States international programming to Ukraine and neighboring regions
Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014
Green Mountain Lookout Heritage Protection Act
An Act to deny admission to the United States to any representative to the United Nations who has been found to have been engaged in espionage activities or a terrorist activity against the United States and poses a threat to United States.
Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2013
An Act to amend the National Law Enforcement Museum Act to extend the termination date.
An Act to amend the Act entitled “An Act to regulate the height of buildings in the District of Columbia” to clarify the rules of the District of Columbia regarding human occupancy of penthouses above the top story of the building.
Kilah Davenport Child Protection Act of 2013
An Act to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the `Doolittle Tokyo Raiders’, for outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States in conducting the bombings of Tokyo
American Fighter Aces Congressional Gold Medal Act
An Act to authorize the conveyance of two small parcels of land within the boundaries of the Coconino National Forest containing private improvements.
An Act to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol
An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 103 Center Street West in Eatonville, Washington, as the “National Park Ranger Margaret Anderson Post Office”
An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 5323 Highway N in Cottleville, Missouri as the “Lance Corporal Phillip Vinnedge Post Office”
Sandia Pueblo Settlement Technical Amendment Act
Gold Medal Technical Corrections Act of 2014
North Texas Invasive Species Barrier Act of 2014
Monuments Men Recognition Act of 2014
An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 232 Southwest Johnson Avenue in Burleson, Texas, as the “Sergeant William Moody Post Office Building”
An Act to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Shimon Peres
An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14 Main Street in Brockport, New York, as the “Staff Sergeant Nicholas J. Reid Post Office Building”
An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 123 South 9th Street in De Pere, Wisconsin, as the “Corporal Justin D. Ross Post Office Building
An Act to amend the Clean Air Act to remove the requirement for dealer certification of new light-duty motor vehicles
An Act to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers
Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014
Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act
World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2013
Reliable Home Heating Act
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2014
An Act to take certain Federal lands located in El Dorado County, California, into trust for the benefit of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, and for other purposes.
July 22nd 2014
Three Kids Mine Remediation and Reclamation Act
An Act to amend certain definitions contained in the Provo River Project Transfer Act for purposes of clarifying certain property descriptions, and for other purposes.
An Act to designate the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense joint outpatient clinic to be constructed in Marina, California, as the “Major General William H. Gourley VA-DOD Outpatient Clinic”.
Black Hills Cemetery Act
Distinguished Flying Cross National Memorial Act
Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act
Pascua Yaqui Tribe Trust Land Act
Idaho Wilderness Water Resources Protection Act
North Cascades National Park Service Complex Fish Stocking Act
An Act to designate the Department of Veterans Affairs Vet Center in Prescott, Arizona, as the “Dr. Cameron McKinley Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Center”.
Lake Hill Administrative Site Affordable Housing Act
Huna Tlingit Traditional Gull Egg Use Act
An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 369 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the “Judge Shirley A. Tolentino Post Office Building”.
An Act to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 162 Northeast Avenue in Tallmadge, Ohio, as the “Lance Corporal Daniel Nathan Deyarmin, Jr., Post Office Building”.
President Barack Obama signs the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces executive order on July 31, 2014, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/08/obama_executive_order_on_mandatory_arbitration_huge_news_for_workers_rights.html
Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act
Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act of 2014
Joint Resolution making an emergency supplemental appropriation for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014, to provide funding to Israel for the Iron Dome defense system to counter short-range rocket threats.
Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014
7 Responses to PBO ACMP Page 2
Thank you for all the work you did on updating our POTUS’ accomplishments, SG2!
YVW!
shenonymous says:
These achievements need to be advertised up the wazoo! All over the place and regularaly so the public does not forget does not forget to vote and does not forget to vote for Obama and Democrats in other political elections.
Check out more of President Obama’s Accomplishments here:
President Obama’s Accomplishments are adding up 3 Chics had to go to page 2.
BAM!!! Our President has been TCB!
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The risk of breast cancer increases as women grow older. Men are also susceptible to breast cancer, so all adults should be proactive. Although incidences of breast cancer are lower in East Asia than in other regions, the rate of breast cancer incidence in…...
2018 Gordon Research Conference on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
The Asian Fund for Cancer Research (AFCR) is pleased to be an official Contributor for the 2018 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on nasopharyngeal carcinoma being held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) from June 24th to 29th. The event promises to gather 200 of not only…...
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Join AFCR on Feb 4 for 2018 World Cancer Day!
“We can. I can.” —— 2018 World Cancer Day Dear AFCR supporters: Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, responsible for 8.8 million deaths per year. However, we know that more than one third of these deaths are preventable, and if detected early enough, many cancers are curable. We must…...
2017 Give to Cure Cancer Year-End Appeal
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AFCR Founder and CEO to co-organize and speak at SNOChina 2018
The Society for Neuro-Oncology of China has invited Dr. Sujuan Ba, the founder and chief executive officer of the Asian Fund for Cancer Research (AFCR), to give a lecture at its annual meeting, SNOChina 2018, to be held in Changsha, Hunan on March 16-17, 2018. The Society will present the…...
Call for Nominations for 2017 Scholar Awards
The USCACA and AFCR are pleased to invite nominations for the USCACA & AFCR 2017 Scholar Awards. The Awards will recognize four to five junior Chinese investigators on the basis of significant contributions in translational or clinical cancer research. Candidacy is open to all Chinese researchers who were trained in…...
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Paddy Lynch
On Sale Here! Best of Irish Comics – Courageous Mayhem
May 10, 2013 May 20, 2013 Andrew 2 Comments
Courageous Mayhem is a boy’s own adventure style compendium, a veritable who’s who of the Irish comics scene and I’m pleased to host the first website to offer this marvelous comic for sale.
PRINT VERSION (P&P INCLUDED) 8 EURO / £6.75 UK
DIGITAL DOWNLOAD 3 EURO / £2.53 UK
BUY EXPANDED DELUXE EDITION AND SEE PREVIEW AT BLURB.COM
My new strip ‘Underwater Billiards’ sits in the eighty-four pages alongside the critically acclaimed Paddy Lynch (Big Jim), Alan Nolan (And The Blood Flowed Green), Phil Barrett (Where’s Larry?) and Patrick Brown (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). There are the adept mystics of comicking like John Robbins (The Well Below), designer Archie Templar (The Pants Of), and editor/publisher Gar Shanley, author of Fugger, one of Ireland’s best comedy blogs.
Like any good adventure comic, Courageous has true facts and wild fantasies above and below the waves, in the streets and the fields. There’s bicycles, bombs, biplanes and bikes and The Bible. You can see the full-listing of contents at the Irish Comics Wikia page.
Order now though, your country is depending on you!
NB: AFTER PURCHASING DIGITAL YOU WILL BE REDIRECTED TO A PAGE WITH A SINGLE LINK WERE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE PDF. GOOD LUCK!
Paddy Lynch – Countdown to Dublin Zine Fair (1)
August 10, 2012 January 23, 2013 Andrew Leave a comment
In the run up to the two-day event taking place at The SupaFast Building near Capel Street starting Saturday, I decided to have a chat with a man well known on both the comics and zine scene, the interesting Paddy Lynch.
Page 11, Issue 1 of Lynch’s Last Bus
Patrick, hope you’re well! It’s an exciting time to be you so it seems. Big Jim, (your book about the infamous trade unionist leader), Stray Lines (a cutting edge anthology with the Hughes brothers, the Judge brothers and the Barrett man) How would you introduce yourself and your work to someone at the Dublin Zine Fair who has never heard of you before? Y’know. If I’m sitting on the other side of the room.
Paddy:
Hi Andrew. I’m very well thank you -very excited about those two projects that you mentioned. It’s been a good while since I’ve released anything substantial so I’m very much looking forward to getting these books in front of peoples eyes.
Generally I would introduce myself as Paddy Lynch, and if I’m asked to describe my work I would usually say it’s ‘observational slice of life fiction’ or perhaps ‘kitchen-sink tragicomic character studies without the tragedy, or comedy’. Is that too evasive? I guess I’m quite interested in how people reveal the flaws and weaknesses that unite us all through their actions, despite whatever outward impression they may give off. That’s a theme that seems to keep coming up again and again in my work.
You’ve done quite a few of these fairs now. How would you define your relationship with the punters?
Andy, you should know better than to ask me to define anything. I don’t think I’ve ever had a fight with a punter, so I imagine our relationship is pretty solid. That hardest thing I find about this is battling preconceptions of what ‘comics’ are, but I find people at zine fairs are usually quite open-minded and very receptive to the type of work I produce. I often do better at these events than I do at the more traditional comic convention.
Last Bus by Paddy Lynch
StrayLines, A Comic Book Anthology from Paddy Lynch on Vimeo.
This weekend, what are you looking forward to most?
Meeting punters, chatting to them and other zine/comic makers and the general inspirational boost you get from this. Hopefully seeing new work from people such as Elida Maiques, Colm Wood, Phil Barrett, Deridre deBarra.
Anything you’re dreading? You’re not allergic to nuts are you?
The inevitable question – “so what new material do you have?” Unfortunately I have no new books ready (Stray Lines is set to launch in late September, and Big Jim will be out in early 2013). But it will be a good chance for people to pick up the various mini comics that I don’t sell online.
LARKIN !‘Big Jim’, written by Rory McConville and published through O’Brien Press.
And finally – any message for the people out there reading this thinking, I’d love to be able to be adored for my version of Bat-Man / recipe for anti-government brownies, and wondering how to get there?
Don’t wait on someone else’s approval to do it. Making and self-publishing a zine/comic/whatever is an incredibly rewarding and empowering thing to experience.
Thanks for the chat Andy- see you on Saturday!
My fingers are covered with printer ink and my bag has four things in it. Plenty of room for comics and zines then.
You can find out more about Paddy’s work at his website, http://www.patrickl.net/ including updates from the Big Jim project. (Which respectfully, ICN ran an exclusive on in February) You can learn more about Stray Lines via the website or go direct to http://www.fundit.ie/project/stray-lines-a-comic-book-anthology
The Zine Fair is managed by Sarah Bracken. Click through the image below to go to her website.
The questions in this interview were built from models supplied by London’s bounciest superhero, David Baillie.
Interview with Gar Shanley About New Book ‘Romantic Mayhem’
April 10, 2012 January 22, 2013 Andrew Leave a comment
With the release of a new anthology of Irish comics along the theme of romance, I pulled up a candlelight and soup for a date with editor and publisher, Gar “Uncle Fugger” Shanley.
Andy Luke: You’ve assembled sixteen Irish artists to pull together 52 pages of love comics. From my view, it seems they’re drawing on the heritage of the genre. Is this fair, and was the subject matter a nod to the musicality or populist appeal of the theme, perhaps lesser tapped among today’s zombie market?
Gar Shanley: The genre of the romance comic seems deader than a zombie which I think is a pity because they were popular and, had they survived, they would have played a part in keeping comics from being as purely associated with sci-fi as they are today. Romance comics might have advanced and matured (as sci-fi comics have done …um …maybe) and who knows what could have come of it. What really interested me about these comics was the way they pandered to the (supposed) concerns of young girls. Such sensitive stories, often involving a heroine who worries about how she is perceived by others or what some boy thinks of her. It’s very different to the gung ho of boy’s fare of the time. Interestingly, there is a notable difference between U.S. romance comics and British ones from the late 50s to 60s and early 70s. The British heroines are often quite confident and, despite their better judgement, have fallen for some hapless twit who needs sorting out. I recommend Valentine Picture Library for anyone interested. Some of the stories found there are actually very funny in a ‘laughing with’ as opposed to a ‘laughing at’ way.
Anyway, I thought the genre would be a good jumping off point for an anthology but contributors were free to take things in any direction no matter how tangential. Most stuck to the familiar conventions though. The collection is eclectic but coherent. Everyone gave it their best.
Collectively, we are known as National Tragedy. That’s the imprint name dreamt up by Hilary and Ian over coffee. We might do another anthology or two or fifty or none. We’ll see. If we do the theme/jumping off point will change each time.
AL: It’s a more-ish, representing collection of Irish comics artists; trusted names known by ICN readers. Elida Maiques was one I didn’t know and her weblog has some very pretty pictures giving a fashion item element to the package. Knowing Phil Barrett and Deirdre deBarra are in there, I think this would appeal well to readers of Solipstic Pop or Phonogram. How surprised were you (knowing the artists), by what they added to the dreams in your head? What were the group’s influences?
Elida Maiques
GS: With my own collaborations and Tommie’s great cover I wanted to stick to a recognisable send up of the genre’s conventions and provide a few pegs from which to hang the overall collection. I thought that way the others would veer off in all sorts of directions – although I did not prompt anyone to do so. However, everyone had a good look at the Digital Comics Museum and Cover Browser and we all ended up coming from roughly the same place, which surprised me. Contributors brought their own thing to their tales though – John gave things a modern realist twist and Cathal added a large dose of Douglas Sirk. Mindpuss brought the very bizarre body horror (he’s an odd un and no mistake) and Elida did a Fellini on it. (I don’t really see her work as “fashion item” myself. I think it’s very surreal, imaginative and just plain good. You should try and pick up her own mini-comics at Independence Day). Deirdre and Paddy took the look of the original fare and stuck authentically and perfectly to it, not overselling the gag element. Archie brilliantly combines the old romance style with the old EC style – proper narrative art storytelling from him too. Luke F. is probably the guy who thematically ran furthest with the ball, as in right off the pitch and down the road. I like his two pages a lot. He’s unique. Hilary and Ian provide a splash of vibrant spacious ker-powness/lushness amongst the denser content. Al and Davy bring an old school IPC touch which really adds to the eclecticism and Philip did a great job illustrating and very cleverly designing John’s text story. Last but not least, for me the biggest laugh comes in a promo for cigarette filters courtesy of National Tragedy ad man Papa Hotel.
AL: If I’m at http://romanticmayhem.wordpress.com/the launch party at 18 Candem Street Lower in Dublin on Saturday April 14th from around 7pm I can get a copy. Or at the http://independentsdaydublin.blogspot.co.uk/ Independents’ Day Zine Fair on Sunday April 22nd. Or http://2dfestival.com/ 2d in June. How else may I get hold of the book? There a few different editions?
GS: There’s no online shop yet but contributor Paddy Brown (you should see his on the nail take of the 60s/70s Brit girl’s comic in RM) will be selling it in Belfast and we’ll get it in as many comic shops as possible. The first run is 300 only and also there is Archie’s excellent deluxe Blurb format. The regular edition is a cheap and cheerful affair. Nothing fancy production value wise. I’m thinking of future editions that will be a bit more fancy pants but a few quid dearer. Part of the reason I proposed this anthology was that I heard of a means by which we could get something involving a lot of colour put together for half the usual price. It’s an experiment of sorts.
AL: How much of the style of your weblog Fugtheworld has worked it’s way into the scripts, and can we expect to see the beloved Uncle Fugger blog in book form some time? It would sit very nice next to a Charlie Brooker collection.
GS: There’s a bit of Fugger in my four RM collaborations but I was trying to keep to the more conventional side of my creative self. That doesn’t mean I was compromising, I was just working that way because it suited the project and I love the results (I’m very fuckin lucky to work with artists like Deirdre, Paddy and Archie). I am likely to do anything on the blog. http://Fugtheworld.blogspot.com Fugtheworld.blogspot.com was actually originally a comic called Fugger but there wasn’t that much of a response to it in comparison to the others I’ve done. The blog has a regular following, nothing massive. I’m thinking of putting something together for regular readers of the blog to send off for. I was recently inspired by a small exhibition of the work of Howard Finster. I’d like to do some comics in that style and also rope in some old friends of mine who used draw amazing comics many many moons ago. We’ve discussed it. I think the next comic I do (anthologies aside) will be Fugger. Not sure if I’ll collect the blog together as a book soon. It’s there if you want it for free. Fugger in print would be original and mainly illustrated material.
Thanks Gar. To see a preview of Romantic Mayhem, check out the http://romanticmayhem.wordpress.com accompanying weblog.
Comicking: Small Faire
December 9, 2009 January 8, 2013 Andrew Leave a comment
This was my first column for the now defunct Alltern8.com, dated December 9th 2009
Pete Gravett stood facing the map of the British Isles on photo glass, ten by twenty wide in his study suite. Electron Orange lights illuminated the cities of London, Birmingham, Bristol and Palookaville. Technology to be proud of, live internet feeds delivering realtime updates to his 4D comics arts events calendar. He’d noticed the constellation change these last months, spread out to smaller areas in Exeter, in Telford, Leicester, Richmond and Inverness. This had been going on before that, he thought, accelerating since the Sean Olilamden’s stint at Camden market. The celebrity endorsements and music videos made the Camden set a YouTube sensation and their handmade comics led to them being mobbed by teenagers in a manner reserved for Jagger and Lennon. That populist wave continued with Jimi Gherkin, a folk singer, who would recruit an entire picturebook festival as his onstage accompaniment.
“Point of Sales Mode. Increase parameters to Maximum View”, requested Gravett.
“POS View is in Beta Mode. Buffering…”
The lights flickered briefly. From those representing monthly marts, SciFi, Fantasy and RPG Cons, a manifestation outward, multiplying in number. Recognisably mapping out the number of speciality stores, bookstores, libraries, then all over the NASA hardware display, a swarming. A church basement here, a pub there. His palm hovered over the screen for details on new locations. A workers’ co-operative, a market stall in a northern industrial town, car boot sale and a village fete. The whole country was filled with lights. As it began to map out the PubCons, the machine threatened to overheat.
“Shazam”, he uttered. “Its like some crazy Socialist revolution.”
The internet makes available once again the populist comics form for a mass readership. Through access to news and reviews we can determine ordering printed matter. Or find a bookstore or a comics festival within travelling distance. In recent years, the prices for self-publishing cartoonists selling their wares at these venues accelerated well above the £30 mark. The following Table Prices Controversy led to a split between cartoonists among a class income lines, resulting in an official boycott and numerous unofficial non-participation acts. Some self-publishers saw that one of the solutions was small fairs. In 2008, the collective London Underground Comics sold small press comics at Camden Lock Market almost every Saturday of the year. In 2009, Jimi Gherkin’s Alternative Press held a week long fair, three one-day events and ‘twinned’ with eleven or more other events within the community. Unsubstantiated reports have reached me that Gez Kelly of Golden Orbit, distributor at some of the monthly marts of four-colour boxed backing board comics, has begun to specialise in independent products. Add this to the news that a wing of Forbidden Planet International is running a trial small press section in its Birmingham store and access to original new British comics is increasingly fitter.
As a cartoonist and promoter of the form this gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. In the last fortnight, I presented at two small fairs and saw a lovely selection of comics from independent producers.
When I left Ireland in 2005, there was a ragtag of sporadic comics publications and an occassional event, little to call it a ‘scene’. By the time I returned, it was more public, more pro-active. Last weekend, I accompanied Paddy Brown, author of partwork mythology, The Ulster Cycle, from Belfast to Dublin. We were attending the second yearly Independents Day in The Co-Operative Food Building in the Newmarket area.
Publicity-shy cartoonist and ex-reviewer John Robbins briefly made his second festival appearance in a decade and help us set up our stall. I met lots of active small pressers whose names I didnt know, which I’m inclined to think is a good thing. Differing from the cosplayers of traditional Comicon standard, the venue was populated by sexy anarcho socialist feminist zinesters with dreads and piercings and tarots and woolens. Behind my swearing robot comix collections was a Vegan cake stall and next to us, the sale of Palestinian hand crafted items by the Irish Solidarity Group. Not a Stormtrooper in sight! This gave me happy memories of Camden, dealing comics to a varied crowd who hadn’t necessarrilly come in search of them. I was selling around ten comics an hour and my voice became hoarse.
Some local self-publishers I met included Gar Shanley, Luke Fallon, and Deirdre De Barra whose ‘Found’ deserves special mention: a beautiful silent comic about isolation, connection and ascension which delivers love straight to the reader. I also picked up the American “Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf: A sex education comic book” which has a responsible and friendly attitude and an illustration style rooted in zines. Long-running Irish punk zinesters Loserdom were there, and they’d managed to get Jimi Gherkin’s Zine Collective stock on their table. Convention afficionado Cliodhna Lyons even appeared for fifteen minutes to pass on some stock, having flown from attendance at the Leeds Thought Bubble comics event the same day.
With a few copies exchanged at days end, Paddy and I packed up and drove out to Belfast for Phase 2 of our plan.
The Black Box is a pub and nightclub on Hill Street in Belfast, which once a month opens its doors to a market. Exhibiting is free, though donations are expected. Organisers Helen and Ryan Darragh state,
“we have limited space. So we really have to work it out on the day. We try to do our best by each stall holder.”
Paddy and I laid out our comics and those given to us in Dublin, such as the works of Edition Book Arts, a collective made up of Paddy Lynch, Katie Blackwood and Phil Barrett. We attracted a crowd who were delighted to learn there were so many Irish cartoonists producing their own wares.
A cornucopia of wares presented browsers with varied choices. One exhibitor had Playmobil and Star Wars figures dangling from key rings. Local poet Christine Morrow manned a table were bus route images had become badges and Happy Mondays gig posters showed up on sustainable carry bags and mugs. The Handmade Brigade sold tea-towels with stitched in obscenities, which in their own way were quite amusing. Across from us a vinyl record seller told me he enjoyed the welcome opportunity, his usual sales route through Ebay having begun to dry up. Next to him Dale Mawhinney, a local painter who adapted some of his poems into comics. Across, an Anarchist collective who had Spain Rodriguez’s graphic novel, Che, proudly displayed under Karl Marx’s Capital. About ten of the twenty tables sold a few comics. None were quite so concentrated on the form as ours or the traditional collectors stall manned by Scott, Ron and Karen from The Sunnyside Comics Podcast.
During the day Davy Francis stopped for a chat. Davy worked on Oink! And his round and squiggly humour strips such as Cowpat County were an inspiration to me growing up. We were also joined by Danny Pongo, my co-writer over the last month on humour piece, Santa: The White Paper. As it was my birthday, Paddy and Danny took me for drinks after we’d packed up and we admired the unveiling of a new mural-in-progress nearby of celebrity caricatures.
As I write this, my email box dances with chatter about the next Black Box Comics Market, an accompanying website and a mini-comic collection to give out free to interested parties. In addition to the market on the first Sunday of the month, theres an additional date on January 17th there withBlack Books, as part of the Out To Lunch Arts Festival in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. In England, Jimi Gherkin has already confirmed the similar 2010 Alternative Press Fair for February 13th from noon to midnight at the St. Aloysius social club, Phoenix Road, London.
Theres a thing about the buzz of so many different people at these small fairs that gets my enthusiasm rising. It happens in a way I don’t get at comics conventions were the public have paid an entry fee and are surrounded by four-colour noise. I like the variety of zines
and baked cakes and comics just fitting in with other stuff, rather than isolated to a hall of their own. Where theres nothing special about comics, theres everything special about comics.
Further comics events throughout the year can be found at Paul Gravett’s always excellent Events list.
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ABSORPTION RATE Back to top
The ratio of the number of properties in an area that have been sold against the number available. Used to show the volatility of a market.
ABSTRACTION METHOD Back to top
This method of estimating the value of property uses similar properties available in the same market to extract the value of a parcel of land.
ACCELERATION CLAUSE Back to top
A provision in a mortgage that gives the lender the right to demand immediate payment of the outstanding loan balance under certain circumstances. Usually when the borrower defaults on the loan.
ACCESSORY BUILDING Back to top
A building separate from the main structure on a property. Often used for a specific purpose, such as a workshop, storage shed or garage.
ACCRETION Back to top
The natural growth of a piece of land resulting from forces of nature.
ACRE Back to top
43,560 square feet. A measurement of area.
ACTUAL AGE Back to top
The amount of time that has passed since a building or other structure was built. See also: EFFECTIVE AGE
ADJUSTMENT DATE Back to top
The date the interest rate changes on an adjustable rate mortgage.
AD VAL OREM TAX Back to top
Taxes assessed based on the value of the land and improvements.
ADDENDUM Back to top
A supplement to any document that contains additional information pertinent to the subject. Appraisers use an addendum to further explain items for which there was inadequate space on the standard appraisal form.
ADJUSTABLE-RATE MORTGAGE (ARM) Back to top
A type of mortgage where the interest rate varies based on a particular index, normally the prime lending rate.
ADJUSTED BASIS Back to top
The value of an asset (property or otherwise) that includes the original price plus the value of any improvement, and less any applicable depreciation.
ADJUSTED SALES PRICE Back to top
An estimate of a property's sales price, after adjustments have been made to account for differences between it and another comparable property.
AESTHETIC VALUE Back to top
The additional value a property enjoys based on subjective criteria such as look or appeal.
AFFIRMATION Back to top
A declaration that a certain set of facts are truthful.
AFFORDABILITY ANALYSIS Back to top
A calculation used to determine an individual's likelihood of being able to meet the obligations of a mortgage for a particular property. Takes into account the down payment, closing costs and on-going mortgage payments.
AGENT Back to top
A person who has been appointed to act on behalf of another for a particular transaction.
AMENITY Back to top
Any feature of a property that increases its value or desirability. These might include natural amenities such as location or proximity to mountains, or man-made amenities like swimming pools, parks or other recreation.
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF APPRAISERS Back to top
An organization of appraisal professionals and others interested in the appraisal profession.
AMORTIZATION Back to top
The repayment of a loan through regular periodic payment.
AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE Back to top
The breakdown of individual payments throughout the life of an amortized loan, showing both principal contribution and debt service (interest) fees.
AMORTIZATION TERM Back to top
The length of time over which an amortized loan is repaid. Mortgages are commonly amortized over 15 or 30 years.
ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE (APR) Back to top
The rate of annual interest charged on a loan.
ANNUITY Back to top
A sum of money paid at regular intervals, often annually.
APPLICATION Back to top
A form used to apply for a mortgage loan that details a potential borrowers income, debt, savings and other information used to determine credit worthiness.
APPRAISAL Back to top
A ''defensible'' and carefully documented opinion of value. Most commonly derived using recent sales of comparable properties by a licensed, professional appraiser.
APPRAISAL FOUNDATION Back to top
A not-for-profit educational organization established by the appraisal profession in the United States in 1987. It is dedicated to the advancement of professional valuation and responsible for establishing, improving, and promoting the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).
APPRAISAL INSTITUTE Back to top
A world-wide organization dedicated to real estate appraisal education, publication and advocacy.
APPRAISAL PRINCIPLES Back to top
The basic building blocks of the property valuation process, including property inspection, market analysis and basic economics.
APPRAISAL REPORT Back to top
The end result of the appraisal process, usually consists of one major, standardized form such as the Uniform Residential Appraisal Report form 1004, as well as all supporting documentation and additional detail information. The purpose of the report is to convey the estimated value of the subject property and support that estimate with corroborating information.
APPRAISAL STANDARDS BOARD (ASB) Back to top
An independent board of the APPRAISAL FOUNDATION, which writes, amends, and interprets USPAP. The ASB is composed of up to seven appraisers appointed by the Foundation's Board of Trustees. The ASB holds public meetings throughout the year to interpret and amend USPAP.
APPRAISED VALUE Back to top
The estimated fair market value of a property as developed by a licensed, certified appraiser following accepted appraisal principals.
APPRAISER Back to top
An educated, certified professional with extensive knowledge of real estate markets, values and practices. The appraiser is often the only independent voice in any real estate transaction with no vested interest in the ultimate value or sales price of the property.
APPRECIATION Back to top
The natural rise in property value due to market forces.
ARMS LENGTH TRANSACTION Back to top
Any transaction in which the two parties are unconnected and have no overt common interests. Such a transaction most often reflects the true market value of a property.
ASSESSED VALUE Back to top
The value of a property according to jurisdictional tax assessment.
ASSESSMENT Back to top
The function of assigning a value to a property for the purpose of levying taxes.
ASSESSMENT RATIO Back to top
The comparative relationship of a property's assessed value to its market value.
ASSESSOR Back to top
The jurisdictional official who performs the assessment and assigns the value of a property.
ASSET Back to top
Any item of value which a person owns.
ASSIGNMENT Back to top
Transfer of ownership of a mortgage usually when the loan is sold to another company.
ASSUMABLE MORTGAGE Back to top
A mortgage that can be taken over by the buyer when a home is sold.
ASSUMPTION Back to top
When a buyer takes over, or assumes the sellers mortgage.
ATTACHED HOUSING Back to top
Any number of houses or other dwellings which are physically attached to one another, but are occupied by a number of different people. The individual houses may or may not be owned by separate people as well.
BALLOON MORTGAGE Back to top
A mortgage loan in which the monthly payments are not large enough to repay the loan by the end of the term. So at the end of the term, the remaining balance comes due in a single large payment.
BALLOON PAYMENT Back to top
The final large payment at the end of a balloon mortgage term.
BANKRUPTCY Back to top
When a person or business is unable to pay their debts and seeks protection of the state against creditors. Bankruptcies remain on credit records for up to ten years and can prevent a person from being able to get a loan.
BILL OF SALE Back to top
A physical receipt indicating the sale of property.
BIWEEKLY MORTGAGE Back to top
A mortgage where you make half payments every two weeks, rather than one payment per month. This results in making the equivalent of 13 monthly payments per year, rather than 12, significantly reducing the time it takes to pay off a thirty year mortgage.
BLIGHTED AREA Back to top
Any region of a city or town that has fallen into disrepair or otherwise has become undesirable.
BONA FIDE Back to top
Any genuine offer, made without intent to defraud or deceive.
BRIDGE FINANCING Back to top
An interim loan made to facilitate the purchase of a new home before the buyer's current residence sells and its equity is available to fund the new purchase.
BROKER Back to top
An individual who facilitates the purchase of property by bringing together a buyer and a seller.
BUFFER ZONE Back to top
A segment of land between two disparate municipal zones which acts as a shield to keep one zone from encroaching upon the other. Often used to separate residential districts from commercial areas.
BUILDING CODE Back to top
Regulations that ensure the safety and material compliance of new construction within a municipality. Building codes are localized to ensure they are adequate to meet the risk of common hazards.
BUILDING LINE OR SETBACK Back to top
The statutory distance between buildings and the property line, imposed by municipalities, home associations, or other agreements.
BUILT-INS Back to top
Specific items of personal property which are installed in a real estate improvement such that they become part of the building. Built-in microwave ovens and dishwashers are common examples.
BUNGALOW Back to top
A one-story, home-style dating from the early twentieth century. Often characterized by a low-pitched roof.
BUY DOWN Back to top
Extra money paid in a lump sum to reduce the interest rate of a fixed rate mortgage for a period of time. The extra money may be paid by the borrower, in order to have a lower payment at the beginning of the mortgage. Or paid by the seller, or lender, as incentive to buy the property or take on the mortgage.
CALL OPTION Back to top
A clause in a mortgage which allows the lender to demand payment of the outstanding balance at a specific time.
CAP Back to top
Associated with Adjustable Rate Mortgages. A limit on how high monthly payments or how much interest rates may change within a certain time period or the life of the mortgage.
CAPE COD COLONIAL Back to top
A single-story house style made popular in New England. Often characterized by a steep roof with gables.
CAPITAL Back to top
Accumulated goods and money which is most often used to generate additional income.
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE Back to top
An outlay of funds designed to improve the income-producing capabilities of an asset or to extend its economic life.
CASH-OUT REFINANCE Back to top
Refinancing a mortgage at a higher amount than the current balance in order to transform a portion of the equity into cash.
CAVEAT EMPTOR Back to top
Literally translated: ''Let the buyer beware.'' A common business tenet whereby the buyer is responsible for verifying any and all claims by the seller of property.
CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT Back to top
A document showing that the bearer has a certain amount of money, at a particular amount interest, on deposit with a financial institution.
CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT INDEX Back to top
An index based on the interest rate of six month CDs. Used to set interest rates on some Adjustable Rate Mortgages.
CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY Back to top
A document issued by the Veterans Administration that certifies eligibility for a VA loan.
CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY Back to top
Issued by an appropriate jurisdictional entity, this document certifies that a building complies with all building codes and is safe for use or habitation.
CERTIFICATE OF REASONABLE VALUE (CRV) Back to top
Usually based on an independent appraisal, a CRV for a particular property establishes the maximum amount which can be secured by a VA mortgage.
CERTIFICATE OF TITLE Back to top
A document designating the legal owner of a parcel of real estate. Usually provided by a title or abstract company.
CERTIFIED GENERAL APPRAISER Back to top
Generally, any professional who has met the local or state requirements, and passed the appropriate certification exam, and is capable of appraising any type of property.
CERTIFIED RESIDENTIAL APPRAISER Back to top
A sub-classification of appraiser who is only licensed to appraise residential property, usually up to four units.
CHAIN OF TITLE Back to top
The complete history of ownership of a piece of property.
CHATTEL Back to top
Any personal property which is not attached to or an integral part of a property. Chattel is not commonly taken into consideration when appraising the value of real property.
CLEAR TITLE Back to top
Ownership of property that is not encumbered by any counter-claim or lien.
CLOSING Back to top
A torturous process designed to induce cramping in a home buyer's hands by requiring signature on countless pieces of documentation that nobody has ever read. Or, the process whereby the sale of a property is consummated with the buyer completing all applicable documentation, including signing the mortgage obligation and paying all appropriate costs associated with the sale (CLOSING COSTS).
CLOSING COSTS Back to top
All appropriate costs generated by the sale of property which the parties must pay to complete the transaction. Costs may include appraisal fees, origination fees, title insurance, taxes and any points negotiated in the deal.
CLOSING STATEMENT Back to top
The document detailing the final financial arrangement between a buyer and seller and the costs paid by each.
COLLATERAL Back to top
An asset which is placed at risk to secure the repayment of a loan.
CO-BORROWER Back to top
A second person sharing obligation on the loan and title on the property.
COLLECTION Back to top
The process a lender takes to pursue a borrower who is delinquent on his payments in order to bring the mortgage current again. Includes documentation that may be used in foreclosure.
CO-MAKER Back to top
A second party who signs a loan, along with the borrower, and becomes liable for the debt should the borrower default.
COMMON LAW Back to top
As opposed to statute law. Laws that have been established by custom, usage and courts over many years.
COMMISSION Back to top
A percentage of the sales price or a fixed fee negotiated by an agent to compensate for the effort expended to sell or purchase property.
COMMON AREA ASSESSMENTS Back to top
Fees which are charged to the tenets or owners of properties to cover the costs of maintaining areas shared with other tenets or owners. Commonly found in condominium, PUD or office spaces.
COMMON AREAS Back to top
Any areas, such as entryways, foyers, pools, recreational facilities or the like, which are shared by the tenets or owners of property near by. Commonly found in condominium, PUD or office spaces.
COMMUNITY PROPERTY Back to top
In many jurisdictions, any property which has been acquired by a married couple. The ownership of the property is considered equal unless stipulated otherwise by both parties.
COMPARABLES Back to top
An abbreviated term used by appraisers to describe properties which are similar in size, condition, location and amenities to a subject property who's value is being determined. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) establish clear guidelines for determining a comparable property.
COMPOUND INTEREST Back to top
Interest paid on the principal amount, as well as any accumulated interest.
CONCESSIONS Back to top
Additional value granted by a buyer or seller to entice another party to complete a deal.
CONDEMNATION Back to top
The official process by which a property is deemed to be uninhabitable or unusable due to internal damage or other external conditions.
CONDOMINIUM Back to top
A development where individual units are owned, but common areas and amenities are shared equally by all owners.
CONDOMINIUM CONVERSION Back to top
Commonly, the conversion of a rental property such as an apartment complex into a CONDOMINIUM-style complex where each unit is owned rather than leased.
CONSTRUCTION LOAN Back to top
A loan made to a builder or home owner that finances the initial construction of a property, but is replaced by a traditional mortgage one the property is completed.
CONTIGUOUS Back to top
Connected to or touching along an unbroken boundary
CONTINGENCY Back to top
Something that must occur before something else happens. Often used in real estate sales when a buyer must sell a current home before purchasing a new one. Or, when a buyer makes an offer the requires a complete home inspection before it becomes official.
CONTRACT Back to top
A legally binding agreement, oral or written, between two parties.
CONVENTIONAL MORTGAGE Back to top
A traditional, real estate financing mechanism that is not backed by any government or other agency (FHA, VA, etc.).
CONVERTIBLE ARM Back to top
A mortgage that begins as and adjustable, that allows the borrower to convert the loan to a fixed rate within a specific timeframe.
COOPERATIVE (CO-OP) Back to top
A form of ownership where each resident of a multiunit property owns a share in a cooperative corporation that owns the building. With each resident having rights to a specific unit within the building.
CORPORATE RELOCATION Back to top
A situation where a person's employer pays all or some of the expenses associated with moving from one location to another, usually over a substantial distance. Relocation expenses often include the amounts, such as brokerage fees, incurred in the selling and buying of the employee's primary residence.
COST OF FUNDS INDEX (COFI) Back to top
An index of financial institutions costs used to set interest rates for some Adjustable Rate Mortgages.
COVENANT Back to top
A stipulation in any mortgage that, if not met, can be cause for the lender to foreclose.
CREDIT Back to top
A loan of money for the purchase of property, real or personal. Credit is either secured by an asset, such as a home, or unsecured.
CREDIT HISTORY Back to top
A record of debt payments, past and present. Used by mortgage lenders in determining credit worthiness of individuals.
CREDITOR Back to top
A person to whom money is owed.
CREDIT REPORT Back to top
A detailed report of an individuals credit, employment and residence history prepared by a credit bureau. Used by lenders to determine credit worthiness of individuals.
CREDIT REPOSITORY Back to top
Large companies that gather and store financial and credit information about individuals who apply for credit.
CUL-DE-SAC Back to top
A dead-end street. One with only one entrance/exit.
DATE OF APPRAISAL Back to top
The specific point in time as of which an appraiser designates the value of a home. Often stipulated as the date of inspection.
DEBT Back to top
An obligation to repay some amount owed. This may or may not be monetary.
DEBT EQUITY RATIO Back to top
The ratio of the amount a mortgagor still owes on a property to the amount of equity they have in the home. Equity is calculated at the fair-market value of the home, less any outstanding mortgage debt.
DEED Back to top
A document indicating the ownership of a property.
DEED-IN-LIEU (OF FORECLOSURE) Back to top
A document given by a borrower to a lender, transferring title of the property. Often used to avoid credit-damaging foreclosure procedures.
DEED OF TRUST Back to top
A document which transfers title in a property to a trustee, who's obligations and powers are stipulated. Often used in mortgage transactions.
DEED OF RECONVEYANCE Back to top
A document which transfers ownership of a property from a Trustee back to a borrower who has fulfilled the obligations of a mortgage.
DEED OF RELEASE Back to top
A document which dismisses a lien or other claim on a property.
DEED OF SURRENDER Back to top
A document used to surrender any claim a person has to a property.
DEFAULT Back to top
The condition in which a borrower has failed to meet the obligations of a loan or mortgage.
DELINQUENCY Back to top
The state in which a borrow has failed to meet payment obligations on time.
DEPOSIT Back to top
Cash given along with an offer to purchase property, Also called EARNEST MONEY.
DEPRECIATION Back to top
The natural decline in property value due to market forces or depletion of resources.
DETACHED SINGLE-FAMILY HOME Back to top
A single building improvement intended to serve as a home for one family.
DISCOUNT POINTS Back to top
Points paid in addition to the loan origination fee to get a lower interest rate. One point is equal to one percent of the loan amount.
DISTRESSED PROPERTY Back to top
A mortgaged property which has been foreclosed on.
DUE-ON-SALE PROVISION Back to top
A clause in a mortgage giving the lender the right to demand payment of the full balance when the borrower sells the property.
DUPLEX Back to top
A single-building improvement which is divided and provides two units which serve as homes to two families.
DWELLING Back to top
A house or other building which serves as a home.
DOWN PAYMENT Back to top
An amount paid in cash for a property, with the intent to mortgage the remaining amount due.
EARNEST MONEY DEPOSIT Back to top
A cash deposit made to a home seller to secure an offer to buy the property. This amount is often forfeited if the buyer decides to withdraw his offer.
EASEMENT Back to top
The right of a non-owner of property to exert control over a portion or all of the property. For example, power companies often own an easement over residential properties for access to their power lines.
ECONOMIC DEPRECIATION Back to top
The decline in property value caused by external forces, such as neighborhood blight or adverse development.
ECONOMIC LIFE Back to top
The amount of time which any income-producing property is able to provide benefits to its owner.
EFFECTIVE AGE Back to top
The subjective, estimated age of a property based on its condition, rather than the actual time since it was built. Excessive wear and tear can cause a property's effective age to be greater than its actual age.
EMINENT DOMAIN Back to top
The legal process whereby a government can take ownership of a piece of property in order to convert it to public use. Often, the property owner is paid fair-market value for the property.
ENCROACHMENT Back to top
A building or other improvement on one property which invades another property or restricts its usage.
ENCUMBRANCE Back to top
A claim against a property. Examples are mortgages, liens and easements.
EQUAL CREDIT OPPORTUNITY ACT (ECOA) Back to top
U.S. federal law requiring that lenders afford people equal chance of getting credit without discrimination based on race, religion, age, sex etc
EQUITY Back to top
The difference between the fair market value of a property and that amount an owner owes on any mortgages or loans secured by the property.
EQUITY BUILDUP Back to top
The natural increase in the amount of equity an owner has in a property, accumulated through market appreciation and debt repayment.
ERRORS AND OMISSIONS INSURANCE Back to top
An insurance policy taken out by appraisers to cover their liability for any mistakes made during the appraisal process.
ESCROW Back to top
An amount retained by a third party in a trust to meet a future obligation. Often used in the payment of annual taxes or insurance for real property.
ESCROW ACCOUNT Back to top
An account setup by a mortgage servicing company to hold funds with which to pay expenses such as homeowners insurance and property taxes. An extra amount is paid with regular principal and interest payments that goes into the escrow account each month.
ESCROW ANALYSIS Back to top
An analysis performed by the lender usually once each year to see that the amount of money going into the escrow account each month is correct for the forecasted expenses.
ESCROW DISBURSEMENTS Back to top
The payout of funds from an escrow account to pay property expenses such as taxes and insurance.
ESTATE Back to top
The total of all property and assets owned by an individual.
EXAMINATION OF TITLE Back to top
The report on the title of a property from the public records or an abstract of the title.
EXCLUSIVE LISTING Back to top
An agreement between the owner of a property and a real estate agent giving the agent exclusive right to sell the property.
EXECUTOR Back to top
The person named in a will to administer the estate.
FACADE Back to top
The front exposure of any building. Often used to describe an artificial or false front which is not consistent with the construction of the rest of the building.
FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT Back to top
A federal law regulating the way credit agencies disclose consumer credit reports and the remedies available to consumers for disputing and correcting mistakes on their credit history.
FAIR MARKET VALUE Back to top
The price at which two unrelated parties, under no duress, are willing to transact business.
FANNIE MAE Back to top
A private, shareholder-owned company that works to make sure mortgage money is available for people to purchase homes. Created by Congress in 1938, Fannie Mae is the nation's largest source of financing for home mortgages.
FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (FDIC) Back to top
The U.S. Government agency created in 1933 which maintains the stability of and public confidence in the nation's financial system by insuring deposits and promoting safe and sound banking practices.
FEDERAL HOUSING ADMINISTRATION (FHA) Back to top
A sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development created in the 1930's to facilitate the purchase of homes by low-income, first-time home buyers. It currently provides federally-subsidized mortgage insurance for private lenders.
FEE APPRAISER Back to top
A certified, professional appraiser who estimates the fair market value of property and receives a set fee in exchange.
FEE SIMPLE Back to top
A complete, unencumbered ownership right in a piece of property.
FEE SIMPLE ESTATE Back to top
A form or ownership, or holding title to real estate. It is the most complete form of title, having an unconditional and unlimited interest of perpetual duration.
FHA MORTGAGE Back to top
A mortgage that is insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
FINAL VALUE ESTIMATE Back to top
The estimated value of a piece of property resulting from an appraisal following the USPAP guidelines.
FIRST MORTGAGE Back to top
The primary loan or mortgage secured by a piece of property.
FIXED-RATE MORTGAGE (FRM) Back to top
A mortgage which has a fixed rate of interest over the life of the loan.
FIXTURE Back to top
Any piece of personal property which becomes permanently affixed to a piece of real property.
FLOOD INSURANCE Back to top
Supplemental insurance which covers a home owner for any loss due to water damage from a flood. Often required by lenders for homes located in FEMA-designated flood zones.
FLOOR PLAN Back to top
The representation of a building which shows the basic outline of the structure, as well as detailed information about the positioning of rooms, hallways, doors, stairs and other features. Often includes detailed information about other fixtures and amenities.
FORECLOSURE Back to top
The process whereby a lender can claim the property used by a borrower to secure a mortgage and sell the property to meet the obligations of the loan.
FORFEITURE Back to top
The loss of property or money due to the failure to meet the obligations of a mortgage or loan secured by that property.
FRONTAGE Back to top
The segment of a property that runs along a point of access, such as a street or water front.
FUNCTIONAL OBSOLESCENCE Back to top
A decrease in the value of property due to a feature or lack thereof which renders the property undesirable. Functional obsolescence can also occur when the surrounding area changes, rendering the property unusable for its originally intended purpose.
GABLE ROOF Back to top
A steeply angled, triangular roof.
GAMBREL ROOF Back to top
A ''barn-like'' roof, where the upper portion of the roof is less-steeply angled than the lower part.
GENERAL LIEN Back to top
A broad-based claim against several properties owned by a defaulting party.
GEORGIAN Back to top
A classic, English-style hose characterized by simple rectangular shape and multiple stories.
GINNIE MAE Back to top
A wholly owned corporation created in 1968 within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to serve low-to moderate-income homebuyers.
GOVERNMENT MORTGAGE Back to top
Any mortgage insured by a government agency, such as the FHA or VA.
GRADE Back to top
The slope of land around a building.
GRANTEE Back to top
Any person who is given ownership of a piece of property.
GRANTOR Back to top
Any person who gives away ownership of a piece of property.
GROSS AREA Back to top
The sum total of all floor space, including areas such as stairways and closet space. Often measured based on external wall lengths.
HALF-SECTION Back to top
HAZARD INSURANCE Back to top
Insurance covering damage to a property caused by hazards such as fire, wind and accident.
HEIGHT ZONING Back to top
A municipal restriction on the maximum height of any building or other structure.
HIDDEN AMENITIES Back to top
Assets of a property which contribute to its value, but are not readily apparent. Examples might include upgraded or premium building materials.
HIGHEST AND BEST USE Back to top
The most profitable and likely use of a property. Selected from reasonably probable and legal alternative uses, which are found to be physically possible, appropriately supported and financially feasible to result in the highest possible land value.
HOME EQUITY CONVERSION MORTGAGE (HECM) Back to top
Also known as a reverse annuity mortgage. It allows home owners (usually older) to convert equity in the home into cash. Normally paid by the lender in monthly payments. HECMs typically dont have to be repaid until the borrower is no longer occupying the home.
HOME EQUITY LINE OF CREDIT Back to top
A type of mortgage loan that allows the borrower to draw cash against the equity in his home.
HOME INSPECTION Back to top
A complete examination of a building to determine its structural integrity and uncover any defects in materials or workmanship which may adversely affect the property or decrease its value.
HOMEOWNER'S ASSOCIATION Back to top
An organization of home owners in a particular neighborhood or development formed to facilitate the maintenance of common areas and to enforce any building restrictions or covenants.
HOMEOWNER'S INSURANCE Back to top
A policy which covers a home owner for any loss of property due to accident, intrusion or hazard.
HOMEOWNERS WARRANTY Back to top
An insurance policy covering the repair of systems and appliances within the home for the coverage period.
HUD MEDIAN INCOME Back to top
Median family income for a particular county or metropolitan statistical area (MSA), as estimated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
HUD-1 STATEMENT Back to top
A standardized, itemized list, published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), of all anticipated CLOSING COSTS connected with a particular property purchase.
IMPROVED LAND Back to top
Any parcel of land which has been changed from its natural state through the creation of roads, buildings or other structures.
IMPROVEMENTS Back to top
Any item added to vacant land with the intent of increasing its value or usability.
IMPROVEMENT RATIO Back to top
The comparative value of a improved piece of land to its natural, unaltered state.
INCOME APPROACH Back to top
The process of estimating the value of property by considering the present value of a stream of income generated by the property.
INCOME PROPERTY Back to top
A piece of property whose highest and best use is the generation of income through rents or other sources.
INDEPENDENT APPRAISAL Back to top
An estimation of value created by a professional, certified appraiser with no vested interest in the value of the property.
INSPECTION Back to top
The examination of a piece of property, its buildings or other amenities.
INSURABLE TITLE Back to top
The title to property which has been sufficiently reviewed by a title insurance company, such that they are willing to insure it as free and clear.
INTEREST RATE Back to top
A percentage of a loan or mortgage value that is paid to the lender as compensation for loaning funds.
INVESTMENT PROPERTY Back to top
Any piece of property that is expected to generate a financial return. This may come as the result of periodic rents or through appreciation of the property value over time.
JOINT TENANCY Back to top
A situation where two or more parties own a piece of property together. Each of the owners has an equal share, and may not dispose of or alter that share without the consent of the other owners.
JUDGMENT Back to top
An official court decision. If the judgment requires payment from one party to another, the court may put a lien against the payees property as collateral.
JUDICIAL FORECLOSURE Back to top
A type of foreclosure conducted as a civil suit in a court of law.
JUMBO LOAN Back to top
A mortgage loan for an amount greater than the limits set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Often called non-conforming loans.
LATE CHARGE Back to top
An extra charge, or penalty added to a regular mortgage payment when the payment is made late by an amount of time specified in the original loan document.
LATENT DEFECTS Back to top
Any defect in a piece of property which is not readily apparent, but which has an impact of the value. Structural damage or termite infestation would be examples of latent defects.
LEASE Back to top
A contract between a property owner and a tenant specifying the payment amount, terms and conditions, as well as the length of time the contract will be in force.
LEASEHOLD ESTATE Back to top
A type of property ''ownership'' where the buyer actually has a long-term lease on the property.
LEASE OPTION Back to top
A lease agreement that gives the tenant an option to buy the property. Usually, a portion of the regular monthly rent payment will be applied towards the down payment.
LEGAL DESCRIPTION Back to top
The description of a piece of property, identifying its specific location in terms established by the municipality or other jurisdiction in which the property resides. Often related in specific distances from a known landmark or intersection.
LENDER Back to top
The person or entity who loans funds to a buyer. In return, the lender will receive periodic payments, including principal and interest amounts.
LIABILITIES Back to top
A persons outstanding debt obligations.
LIABILITY INSURANCE Back to top
Insurance that covers against potential lawsuit brought against a property owner for alleged negligence resulting in damage to another party.
LIEN Back to top
Any claim against a piece of property resulting from a debt or other obligation.
LIFE CAP Back to top
A limit on how far the interest rate can move for an Adjustable Rate Mortgage.
LIKE-KIND PROPERTY Back to top
Any property which is substantially similar to another property.
LINE OF CREDIT Back to top
An extension of credit for a certain amount for a specific amount of time. To be used by the borrower at his discretion.
LIQUID ASSET Back to top
Any asset which can be quickly converted into cash at little or no cost, or cash itself.
LOAN Back to top
Money borrowed, to be repaid with interest, according to the specific terms and conditions of the loan.
LOAN OFFICER Back to top
A person that sells loans, representing the lender to the borrower, and the borrower to the lender.
LOAN ORIGINATION Back to top
How a lender refers to the process of writing new loans.
LOAN SERVICING Back to top
The processing of payments, mailing of monthly statements, management and disbursement of escrow funds etc Typically carried out by the company you make payments to.
LOAN-TO-VALUE RATIO (LTV) Back to top
The comparison of the amount owed on a mortgaged property to its fair market value.
LOCK-IN Back to top
An agreement between a lender and a borrower, guaranteeing an interest rate for a loan if the loan is closed within a certain amount of time.
LOCK-IN PERIOD Back to top
The amount of time the lender has guaranteed an interest rate to a borrower.
MANUFACTURED HOUSING Back to top
Once known as ''mobile homes,'' manufactured housing is any building which has been constructed off site, then moved onto a piece of real property.
MARGIN Back to top
The difference between the interest rate and the index on an adjustable rate mortgage.
MARGINAL LAND Back to top
Land whose value has been diminished due to some internal defect or external condition. In most cases, the cost to correct the flaw or condition is as much or more than the expected return from the property.
MASTER ASSOCIATION Back to top
An umbrella organization that is made up of multiple, smaller home owner's associations. Often found in very large developments or condominium projects.
MATURITY Back to top
The date on which the principal balance of a financial instrument becomes due and payable.
MERGED CREDIT REPORT Back to top
A credit report derived from data obtained from multiple credit agencies.
METES AND BOUNDS Back to top
A traditional way of describing property, generally expressed in terms of distance from a known landmark or intersection, and then following the boundaries of the property back to its origin.
METROPOLITAN AREA Back to top
The accumulated land in and around a city or other municipality which falls under the political and economic influence of that entity.
MINERAL RIGHTS Back to top
The legal right to exploit and enjoy the benefits of any minerals located below the surface of a parcel of land.
MISREPRESENTATION Back to top
A statement by one party in a transaction that is incorrect or misleading. Most misrepresentations are deemed to be intentional and thus may constitute fraud. Others, however, some are rendered through simple mistakes, oversights or negligence.
MORTGAGE Back to top
A financial arrangement wherein an individual borrows money to purchase real property and secures the loan with the property as collateral.
MORTGAGE BANKER Back to top
A financial institution that provides primary and secondary mortgages to home buyers.
MORTGAGE BROKER Back to top
A person or organization that serves as a middleman to facilitate the mortgage process. Brokers often represent multiple mortgage bankers and offer the most appropriate deal to each buyer.
MORTGAGEE Back to top
The entity that lends money in a real estate transaction.
MORTGAGE INSURANCE Back to top
A policy that fulfills that obligations of a mortgage when the policy holder defaults or is no longer able to make payments.
MORTGAGE INSURANCE PREMIUM (MIP) Back to top
An fee that is often included in mortgage payments that pays for mortgage insurance coverage.
MORTGAGE LIFE INSURANCE Back to top
A policy that fulfills the obligations of a mortgage when the policy holder dies.
MORTGAGOR Back to top
The entity that borrows money in a real estate transaction.
MULTI-FAMILY PROPERTIES Back to top
Any collection of buildings that are designed and built to support the habitation of more than four families.
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF REAL ESTATE APPRAISERS Back to top
An organization founded in 1956 which promotes standards of professionalism in its members.
NATURAL VACANCY RATE Back to top
The percentage of vacant properties in a given area that is the result of natural turnover and market forces.
NEGATIVE AMORTIZATION Back to top
When the balance of a loan increases instead of decreases. Usually due to a borrower making a minimum payment on an Adjustable Rate Mortgage during a period when the rate fluctuates to a high enough point that the minimum payment does not cover all of the interest.
NEIGHBORHOOD LIFE-CYCLE Back to top
The evolution of neighborhood use and demographics over time. Economic fluctuations, municipal zoning changes and population shifts can effect the life cycle.
NEIGHBORHOOD Back to top
A subsection of a municipality that has been designated by a developer, economic forces or physical formations.
NET LEASABLE AREA Back to top
The space in a development, outside of the common areas, that can be rented to tenants.
NEW ENGLAND COLONIAL Back to top
An architectural style dating from early American history typified by a two-story building with clapboard siding.
NO-COST LOAN Back to top
Many lenders offer loans that you can obtain at "no cost." You should inquire whether this means there are no "lender" costs associated with the loan, or if it also covers the other costs you would normally have in a purchase or refinance transactions, such as title insurance, escrow fees, settlement fees, appraisal, recording fees, notary fees, and others. These are fees and costs which may be associated with buying a home or obtaining a loan, but not charged directly by the lender. Keep in mind that, like a "no-point" loan, the interest rate will be higher than if you obtain a loan that has costs associated with it.
NO-POINT LOAN Back to top
A loan with no points. The interest rate on such a loan will be higher than a loan with points paid. Also sometimes refers to a refinance loan where closing costs are included in the loan.
NON-CONFORMING USE Back to top
The use of land for purposes contrary to the applicable municipal zoning specifications. Often occurs when zoning changes after a property is in use.
NONLIQUID ASSET Back to top
Any asset which can not be quickly converted into cash at little or no cost.
NOTE Back to top
A legal document that obligates a borrower to repay a mortgage loan at a stated interest rate during a specified period of time.
NOTE RATE Back to top
The interest rate stated on a mortgage note.
NOTICE OF DEFAULT Back to top
Formal written notice from a lender to a borrower that default has occurred.
OBSOLESCENCE Back to top
The process of an assets value diminishing due to the development of more desirable alternatives or because of the degradation of its capabilities.
OCCUPANCY Back to top
A physical presence within and control of a property.
OCCUPANCY RATE Back to top
The percentage of properties in a given area that are occupied.
OFF-SITE IMPROVEMENTS Back to top
Buildings, structures or other amenities which are not located on a piece of property, but are necessary to maximize the use of the property or in some way contribute to the value of the property.
OFF-STREET PARKING Back to top
Designated parking spaces associated with a particular building or other structure which are not located on public streets.
ON-SITE IMPROVEMENTS Back to top
Buildings, structures or other amenities that are erected on a piece of property and contribute to its value.
OPEN SPACE Back to top
Any land which has not had any significant buildings or structures erected on it. Most often used to describe desirable neighborhood features like parks.
ORIGINAL EQUITY Back to top
The amount of cash a home buyer initially invests in the home.
ORIGINAL PRINCIPAL BALANCE Back to top
The total amount of principal owed on a mortgage loan at the time of closing.
ORIGINATION FEE Back to top
Refers to the total number of points paid by a borrower at closing.
OWNER FINANCING Back to top
A transaction where the property owner provides all or part of the financing.
OWNER OCCUPIED Back to top
The state of property wherein the owner occupies at least some portion of the property.
PARTIAL INTEREST Back to top
A shared ownership in a piece of property. May be divided among two or more parties.
PARTIAL PAYMENT Back to top
A payment of less than the regular monthly amount. Usually, a lender will not accept partial payments.
PERIODIC PAYMENT CAP Back to top
The limit on how much regular monthly payments on an Adjustable Rate Mortgage can change during one adjustment period.
PERIODIC RATE CAP Back to top
The limit on how much the interest rate on an Adjustable Rate Mortgage can change during any one adjustment period.
PERSONAL PROPERTY Back to top
Owned items which are not permanently affixed to the land.
PERSONAL RESIDENCE Back to top
The primary domicile of a person or family.
PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (PUD) Back to top
A coordinated, real estate development where common areas are shared and maintained by an owner's association or other entity.
PLAT Back to top
A plan or chart of a piece of land which lays out existing or planned streets, lots or other improvements.
POINT Back to top
A percentage of a mortgage amount (one point = 1 percent).
PRE-APPROVAL Back to top
The process of applying for a mortgage loan and becoming approved for a certain amount at a certain interest rate before a property has been chosen. Pre-approval allows the borrower greater freedom in negotiations with sellers.
PREFABRICATED Back to top
Any building or portion thereof which is manufactured and assembled off site, then erected on a property.
PREPAYMENT Back to top
Payment made that reduces the principal balance of a loan before the due date and before the loan has become fully amortized.
PREPAYMENT PENALTY Back to top
A fee that may be charged to a borrower who pays off a loan before it is due.
PRE-QUALIFICATION Back to top
Less formal that pre-approval, pre-qualification usually means a written statement from a loan officer indicating his or her opinion that the borrower will be able to become approved for a mortgage loan.
PRIME RATE Back to top
The interest rate that banks and other lending institutions charge other banks or preferred customers.
PRINCIPAL Back to top
The amount owed on a mortgage which does not include interest or other fees.
PRINCIPAL BALANCE Back to top
The outstanding balance of principal on a mortgage. Does not included interest due.
PRINCIPAL, INTEREST, TAXES, AND INSURANCE (PITI) Back to top
The most common constituents of a monthly mortgage payment.
PRIVATE MORTGAGE INSURANCE (PMI) Back to top
A form of mortgage insurance provided by private, non-government entities. Normally required when the LOAN TO VALUE RATIO is less that 20%.
PROPERTY Back to top
Any item which is owned or possessed.
PURCHASE AGREEMENT Back to top
A written contract signed by the buyer and seller stating the terms and conditions under which a property will be sold.
QUADRAPLEX Back to top
Any building designed to accommodate four families.
QUALIFYING RATIOS Back to top
Two ratios used in determining credit worthiness for a mortgage loan. One is the ratio of a borrowers monthly housing costs to monthly income. The other is a ratio of all monthly debt to monthly income.
QUITCLAIM DEED Back to top
A legal document which transfers any ownership an individual has in a piece of property. Often used when the amount of ownership is not known or is unclear.
RANCH HOUSE Back to top
An architectural style typified by a single-story, low-roof construction. Popular in the western U.S.
RATE LOCK Back to top
A guarantee from a lender of a specific interest rate for a period of time.
RAW LAND Back to top
Any land which has not been developed.
REAL ESTATE Back to top
A piece of land and any improvements or fixtures located on that land.
REAL ESTATE AGENT Back to top
A licensed professional who facilitates the buying and selling of real estate.
REAL ESTATE SETTLEMENT PROCEDURES ACT (RESPA) Back to top
A federal law requiring lenders to give full disclosure of closing costs to borrowers.
REAL PROPERTY Back to top
Land, improvements and appurtenances, and the interest and benefits thereof.
REALTOR Back to top
A real estate agent or broker who is a member of the National Association of Realtors.
RECORDER Back to top
A local government employee whose role it is to keep records of all real estate transactions within the jurisdiction.
RECORDING Back to top
The filing of a real estate transaction with the appropriate government agent (normally the RECORDER). A real estate transaction is considered final when it is recorded.
REFINANCE TRANSACTION Back to top
A new loan to pay off an existing loan. Typically to gain a lower interest rate or convert equity into cash.
RELOCATION SERVICE Back to top
Any company or agency that assists corporate employees in relocating from one place to another. Services may include hiring and coordinating real estate agents, moving companies, utilizes and the like.
REMAINING BALANCE Back to top
The amount of principal, interest and other costs that has not yet been repaid.
REMAINING TERM Back to top
The amount of time remaining on the original amortization schedule.
REMODEL Back to top
An activity designed to improve the value or desirability of a property through rebuilding, refurbishing, redecorating or adding on to it.
REPAYMENT PLAN Back to top
A plan to repay delinquent payments, agreed upon between a lender and borrower, in an effort to avoid foreclosure.
REPLACEMENT RESERVE FUND Back to top
An account, or fund, setup for the replacement of short life items , such as carpeting, in the common areas of a cooperative property.
RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY Back to top
A piece of property whose highest and best use is the maintenance of a residence.
REVOLVING DEBT Back to top
A type of credit that allows the borrower/customer to make charges against a predetermined line of credit. The customer then pays monthly installments on the amount borrowed, plus interest.
RIGHT OF FIRST REFUSAL Back to top
An agreement giving a person the first opportunity to buy or lease a property before the owner offers it for sale to others.
RURAL Back to top
An area outside of an established urban area or metropolitan district.
SALE PRICE Back to top
The actual price a property sells for, exclusive of any special financing concessions.
SALES COMPARISON APPROACH Back to top
An appraisal practice which estimates the value of a property by comparing it to comparable properties which have sold recently.
SCARCITY Back to top
An economic principal that dictates the price of a good or service through the interaction of supply and demand. When an item is scarce, its price tends to rise, given a constant demand. Real Estate is a classic example of scarcity.
SECOND MORTGAGE Back to top
A loan secured by the equity in a home, when a primary mortgage already exists.
SECONDARY MORTGAGE MARKET Back to top
An economic marketplace where mortgage bankers buy and sell existing mortgages.
SECURED LOAN Back to top
A loan that is backed by collateral. In the case of a mortgage loan, the collateral is the house.
SECURITY Back to top
The property used as collateral for a loan.
SEMIDETACHED HOUSING Back to top
Two residences which share a common wall.
SERVICER Back to top
A financial institution which collects mortgage payments from borrowers and applies the appropriate portions to principal, interest and any escrow accounts.
SERVICING Back to top
SINGLE-FAMILY PROPERTY Back to top
A property designed and built to support the habitation of one family.
SUBDIVISION Back to top
A residential development that is created from a piece of land which has been subdivided into individual lots.
SUBJECT PROPERTY Back to top
A term which indicates a property which is being appraised.
SURVEY Back to top
A specific map of a piece of property which includes the legal boundaries and any improvements or features of the land. Surveys also depict any rights-of-way, encroachments or easements.
SWEAT EQUITY Back to top
The method whereby a home owner develops equity in a property, either during the purchase or throughout its life, by personally constructing improvements rather than paying to have them built.
TAX-EXEMPT PROPERTY Back to top
Any property which is not taxed.
TENANCY Back to top
The right to occupy a building or unit.
TENANCY IN COMMON Back to top
A form of holding title, whereby there are two or more people on title to a property, ownership does not pass on to the others upon the death of one individual.
THIRD PARTY ORIGINATION Back to top
When a lender uses a third party to originate and package loans for sale to the secondary market (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac).
TITLE Back to top
A specific document which serves as proof of ownership.
TITLE COMPANY Back to top
An organization which researches and certifies ownership of real estate before it is bought or sold. Title companies also act at the facilitator ensures all parties are paid during the real estate transaction.
TITLE INSURANCE Back to top
A policy which insures a property owner should a prior claim arise against the property after the purchase has been completed. This also covers a lender should a question of ownership arise.
TITLE SEARCH Back to top
The process whereby the TITLE COMPANY researches a properties title history and ensures that no outstanding claims exist.
TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP Back to top
Any means by which the ownership of a property changes hands.
TRANSFER OF TAX Back to top
Taxes payable when title passes from one owner to another.
TRUSTEE Back to top
A fiduciary who holds or controls property for the benefit of another.
TRUTH IN LENDING Back to top
A federal law requiring full disclosure by lenders to borrowers of all terms, conditions and costs of a mortgage.
TUDOR Back to top
A style of architecture typified by exposed stone, wood and brick construction. Similar in style to English manor homes.
UNDER IMPROVED LAND Back to top
A piece of land which has been improved, but not to the full extent of its potential.
UNENCUMBERED PROPERTY Back to top
Any property which has no outstanding claims or liens against it.
UNIFORM STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL APPRAISAL PRACTICE (USPAP) Back to top
Developed in 1986 by the Ad Hoc Committee on Uniform Standards and copyrighted in 1987 by The Appraisal Foundation, USPAP forms the guidelines followed by every licensed and certified real estate appraiser in the United States. The purpose of these Standards is to establish requirements for professional appraisal practice, which includes appraisal, appraisal review, and appraisal consulting. The intent of these Standards is to promote and maintain a high level of public trust in professional appraisal practice.
USEFUL LIFE Back to top
The span of time over which a property can be used or can provide benefits to its owner.
VACANCY RATE Back to top
The current percentage of vacant properties in a given area, regardless of why they are vacant.
VA MORTGAGE Back to top
A mortgage that is guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
VARIANCE Back to top
An exception to municipal zoning regulations granted for a specific time period to allow for non-conforming use of the land.
VESTED Back to top
Having the right to use a portion of a fund such as an IRA. Typically vesting occurs over time. If you are 100% vested, you have a right to 100% of the fund.
VETERANS AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF (VA) Back to top
The successor to the Veteran's Administration, this government agency is responsible for ensuring the rights and welfare of our nation's veterans and their dependents. Among other duties, the VA insures home loans made to veterans.
WALK-THROUGH INSPECTION Back to top
A process whereby an appraiser examines a property in preparation for estimating its value. Also, the process of inspecting a property for any damage prior to that property being bought or sold.
WARRANTY Back to top
An affidavit given to stipulate the condition of a property. The person giving the warranty assumes liability if the condition turns out to be untrue.
WEAR AND TEAR Back to top
A term used to indicate the normal damage inflicted on a property through every-day use.
ZERO LOT LINE Back to top
A municipal zoning category wherein a building or other fixture may abut the property line.
ZONE Back to top
A specific area within a municipality or other jurisdiction which conforms to certain guidelines regarding the use of property in the zone. Typical zones include single-family, multi-family, industrial, commercial and mixed-use.
Phone: Cell: Fax: E-mail: 0mw3OGuUfLwMTyRXbSn6vaic6zSDY9ITpTFC5ZGnuHI=
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Josh asked in TravelUnited KingdomOther - United Kingdom · 1 decade ago
why do the cities in the uk not have tall buildings like in new york etc?
I mean in the cities there is some quite tall buildings, but there is no buildings in the cities like they have in new york. Why are the buildings so much smaller, compared to places like, new york, sydney etc. London and england a well known and has plenty of money, so why all the low density buildings? it would be nice to go to my local city and see buildings like they have in cities of america. london is quite tall, but its not like other cities. in recent times, in london, they have started designing and creating much taller buildings. i hope they carry on with this. i always think cities with lots of tall buildings, make it look so much nicer.
i know london has sky scrapers. there is one building in london what is 1017ft tall and compared to the empire state building, it is only 200 ft (roughly smaller) which is pretty good going. i may be underestimating the size of buildings over here lo, some cities near me are low dense
Because we value our old buildings AND the London view must be protected. There are also many more rules and regulations and many of these are protected listed buildings (Listed means it cannot be changed without permission and needs to be in keeping with it's current looks)
We do not need 20 towers dominating everything else that is beautiful and lovely about the city skyline, we also have resential areas among the city trading areas as well as parks and tourist attractions and we are much more mixed up than America in terms of lay outs of roads and housing.
I for one pray that London skyline NEVER gets too overcrowded with skyscrapers, there are plenty of decent sized buildings, lovely buildings, interesting buildings and we not need to build more and more towers, higher and higher buildings, just to be ahead of the USA or because you think it *looks* nice.
We have own special mix, just like you do. We need to keep that, not look like every other city in every other country.
Andrew H
Well, I can only comment on Glasgow (my home town). They originally had an ordinance limiting the height of buildings because of fire regulations. The council also argued that very tall buildings would be out of keeping with Glasgow's traditional architecture which only went up to about eight stories or so. It's all a bit odd since they built dozens of 20+ storey eyesores during the 1960s.
Anyway, these rules now appear to have been quietly dropped. The average height of buildings is slowly rising and there are several 30 or 40 storey buildings under design or construction in the city centre.
sky scrapers in places like new York started being built because of a lack of ground space, they wanted offices with lots of floor space but due to the city being so cramped did not have the space for large offices.
instead they just built upwards.
In London for a long, long time, it was the law that NO Building could be built that would block the view of St Paul's, i.e people should be able to see the dome of st Paul's from all over london.
after WW2, English cities did not need to build sky scrapers as thanks to the german air force, there was lots and lots of empty space around, which could be filled with large offices that were only a few floors but had much more floor space on each floor.
It's because there are alot of regulations and we had the great fire of london and the views of st Paul's had to be seen from all over. they still do but we can get around this.
but now after the recession is clear lots of city's will start building upwards again. London's planning 5 very tall buildings (the tallest is under construction) and it should be ready for 2012!
London does have tall skyscrapers in Canary Wharf just to the South of the city. It makes no sense to start building tall skyscrapers in central london as it doesn't have the infrastructure to cope with transporting any more people in - the tube is already way over-packed in the mornings as it is.
Huge business developments are starting to happen just outside London along the Eurostar train route running out of the UK to Paris and Brussels. In fact, it could be quicker for a businessman located 20 miles out of London to catch a high-speed train into Waterloo than someone catching a taxi from North London.. and also of course catching a train to Paris rather than catch a flight.
Also building a large building requires a substantial amount of space within a downtown city area. A lot of your cities are historic and you don't want to just go around plowing down any old building to put up a giant skyscraper.
Freight Logistics Imports
To be honest I think the UK would be a lot ether with skyscraper - I live in Liverpool and there are a couple of tall buildings but no 'skyscrapers'
London is an older city, a lot of the land was already built on leaving less room for skyscrapers.
there are more regulations in terms of height restrictions to preserve historic buildings and the skylines as well as the rights of adjacent buildings to air and daylight - views of St Pauls and the Houses of Parliament (and similar iconic buildings in other cities - like Liverpool's waterfront) etc.
After the war many of the big cities including London had to rebuild their city centres and it was much cheaper to expand outwards than upwards.
Question about British English. If shorts means underwear than which word means shorts?
Is the United Kingdom more conservative or liberal?
Do people from Britain generally have an inferiority complex stemming from Elizabeth I?
Why are people in the UK more rude than other countries like Canada or Australia ?
if immigrants and muslims are creating more crime in the uk, than why is northern England which is mostly white have high crime rates?
why did so many people hate Gerry and Kate Mccann? (Besides the obvious)?
are Eastern European immigrants really undercutting the standard price of wages for British citizens?
What type of jellyfish is this?
Need recommendations for a great UK-based tour company that does King Arthur legend-related tours!?
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Mon Oct 5, 2009 1:21pm EDT
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – As many as 6.2 million Ethiopians need emergency humanitarian assistance due to severe drought, an official from the Oxfam charity said on Monday.
The Ethiopian government puts the number in need at 5.3 million. Pastoralist communities in the country’s southern Borena area have been particularly hard hit by the lack of rain.
“Some 6.2 million Ethiopians hit by two-year recurrent drought are facing starvation and need emergency assistance,” Abera Tola, head of Oxfam America in east Africa, told Reuters.
Oxfam warned last week that severe drought is driving more than 23 million east Africans in seven countries toward severe hunger and destitution.
It said the worst affected nations were Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda, and that the situation was being exacerbated by high food prices and conflict in some areas.
(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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