Freekbass explains the "funktronica" sound and discusses his work with Headtronics, who recently appeared at Moogfest.
Freekbass arrived at Moogfest in October with a different Headtronics trio than usual, which is just part of the footprint for the band. He’s a protégé of legendary funk bassist/singer/songwriter Bootsy Collins, and in Asheville, Freekbass was hanging out with another legend, the “Wizard of Woo” Bernie Worrell of P-Funk. DJ Spooky was enlisted to take the place of DJ Logic but this seemed perfect, since he’s the one who appeared in the Moog documentary along with Worrell. Every show is start to finish improv, all crazy funk with bass, electronic beats and keyboards--no matter who is playing the show.
Are you enjoying Moogfest? Is there anyone you want to see?
Oh yeah, definitely. I want to actually see [DJ] Spooky’s own set. I’m also excited to see Dan Funk who is a Los Angeles DJ kind of musician and I love really where he’s coming from, his whole headspace and what he’s doing. So we’re just trying to squeeze in as much on this Halloween as we can, you know?
Tell me about your Funktronic sound.
Well we came up with that word. There’s obviously the electronica music scene, which is huge, and then there’s the jam band scene. So it’s combining that--a lot of people have been using "jamtronica" for a little bit. But we’re coming from the organic side, from a funk sensibility which is kind of where my roots are obviously. Bernie’s roots, that needs not to be said, and then you mix the electronic in with it too. We started playing a few shows and a little catchphrase started catching on--"funktronica--and I thought that’s a pretty cool word. It seems to really match what we were doing.
Headtronics has only been out touring since April of 2010 so we’re a fairly new band. It’s a side project for everybody. DJ Logic and I were playing a festival together and he had me come up on a set and jam with him. Stephen Molitz, who’s the keyboard player, was there too so he played and we just ended up jamming all the time. We thought, "Let’s go on the road with this". It’s always a logistical nightmare because all three of us have our own booking agents, managers, and stuff, so getting one week where everybody’s scheduled isn't easy. That’s kind of how Moogfest happened. Steve Molitz couldn’t do it because he’s out with his band called Particle so I know Bernie because of Bootsy, so I was like, "Hey, Bernie could you come and do this?" Logic had worked with Bootsy too, so then we had Headtronics with the Logic/Freekbass/Bernie version. When they called about Moogfest, we’re like, “This is great!” You know, of course, Bernie had to be involved with it being about Moog. So I called up and said “Hey Logic, guess what?” And he’s like, “Ah man, I’m out in San Francisco playing a jazz festival out there”. I’m like “Agh!” So long story short, we found out Spooky was here and his beats are sort of in the same sensibility as Logic’s are--it was the perfect storm.
The band as you said is a side project and it’s also set up to have special guests, which is part of the jam sensibility with the funk thrown in. Talk about that structure--does it give you more freedom?
I love it. All Headtronics shows are one hundred per cent improvised. Everybody’s always like, “Come see our show, it will be different tonight!” And with us it’s for real. Then--not to sound cornball--but in a way it’s almost like the audience dictates what you do and how you move. Is a song going to be three minutes or is it going to be twenty? We could play one song for the whole hour set tonight, or we could play three ten-minute songs or whatever. That’s what’s kind of exciting about it. With my own band, I jump around and get a little crazy onstage but with this band I’m a little more centered. But I’ll tell you, I’m worn out after a Headtronics show. In a good way though, because you’re always having to almost think one step ahead the whole time. I love it, because it’s very challenging. I can also start bringing a lot of those sensibilities to in my own band and other projects--it keeps all that fresh as well. It’s just a great thing.
We started Headtronics to do a show here and a show there. Now we’re starting to do shows more and more regularly, and it’s getting more exciting because the band’s getting bigger. With all these different players we have coming in, it’s almost like the Rhythm Devils where it’s Mickey Hart’s project with Bill Kreutzmann from the Dead and then they have a cast of characters that change. It’s a different dynamic each time you go see the band live. And by default Headtronics is essentially me, DJ Logic, and Steve Molitz; that’s the crux of the band. But we can do different variations of it--as long as it keeps in that funktronica sensibility.
Do you see a CD or a recording on the road?
For sure, definitely. Like I said, the show’s all improvised but when you play with the same players you remember that one little idea you had, so certain ideas start creeping into every show. So we’re starting to kind of get certain songs that are kind of quote-unquote songs. In the studio, the one thing Logic and I are talking about is when we do record a CD, we want to try to duplicate what we do on stage. Whether doing an actual live CD, which we haven’t really decided on, or if we do it in the studio, it should sound the same where Logic will start a beat and I’ll do my bass line and Steve or Bernie or whoever’s doing keyboards will add their craziness on top. It needs to really capture that.
Have you always played the bass and how did you pick it up?
Well, I started off as a drummer. So I was a drummer for a long time; it’s kind of my approach even to the bass. Then I moved over to guitar until I saw a bass player and I thought how it’s the best of both worlds! It’s like a drum you can play notes with! I started playing drums when I was about ten or eleven and then picked up bass around fourteen. I still play a lot of drums and guitar, plus a little bit of keyboards and stuff. But bass is definitely my instrument--I mean with a name like Freekbass, it’s got to be bass. It would be kind of silly if I played guitar, now wouldn’t it?
Tell me about your signature bass–how did that come about?
The bass itself is what it is called a “one two three up.” The neck is a one and if you can see, it goes into a two and then a three pointing straight up. We actually used to use that symbol, not as a bass necessarily, but on our posters when we first kind of started playing shows. We were playing a show down in Mississippi; I think it was there, where we met this guitar [maker] Luther. He’d done guitar for a couple of guys in Train and did one of Yoakum’s guitars and he was at a show where we were hanging out after the show talking about the symbol we used on our posters. He said how we should make that symbol into a bass. I told him that would look pretty wicked, could you do it? I’ve got three CDs out and for each CD I’ve got a bass “one two three”. So the one on my stage I’m playing tonight is my second one, that’s actually on Junkyard Waltz.
And what about the custom amp?
Yeah, I have an endorsement with this company called Kustom and they were doing this line called Groove Bass Amp. When they launched the amp, they got in touch with me and asked me if I wanted to be an endorser for it, be the crazy cat that would be the guy to help sell it or whatever. I use a ton of effects and sometimes I’m playing higher stuff, sometimes I’m playing lower traditional bass stuff. Not to sound too music techie, but the nice thing about the rig is that it’s got a ton of low end and you also get a lot of definition. It seems in a lot of amps I’ve played in the past, you had to sacrifice one or the other. You could get an amp with a nice warm sound on the bottom but as soon as the rest of the band came in, you kind of lost all your definition. Or the opposite would happen, where you’d have all this nice definition but it would be all “clackity clackity”. The really nice thing I liked when they got in touch with me was it was an honest thing. It has so many EQ options you know, graphic EQ and parametric EQ. It’s got a ton of power--I think the amp is like 1300 watts. Now I don’t use that much power, but a lot of times with the bass it’s not so much that you have that much power so that you can turn it up loud; it’s more about being able to push air. And that’s the thing--so the amp can really handle that. So it worked out great and it’s still being produced.
You’ve been a big part of the Cinci music scene for years and recognized as such. For someone who’s never been there--what’s the scene like and is there anyone we should know about?
First off, the scene itself is weird because it’s a very conservative city. Cincinnati is very, very conservative and segregated, too, in a lot of ways. Now you get inside the city center and it's obviously real hip but anywhere in the suburbs is very conservative. But every generation has some kind of funk thing that comes out of there. King records started there in the '60s. James Brown recorded all his hits there--every big James Brown record was recorded in Cincinnati at King Records. They just put a plaque up and they’re working on turning the studio into a museum. So that’s how Bootsy got discovered because he was playing in the studio when James was there when he fired his band or something. James was like “Hey, come over here!” And then the next thing you know Bootsy was jamming. It was that kind of story. So you had James Brown in the '60s and early '70s, then Bootsy in the late '70s/early '80s.
There’s a twin city called Dayton, which is 40 minutes up the road, and there’s that group called the Ohio Players. Babyface is a big R&B producer and he was in a band called the Deele which was out of Cincinnati. There’s also a label called La Face Records which is home to Pink and TLC--they’re now out of Atlanta. Actually, Bootsy is the one who gave Babyface his nickname too. So it didn’t matter if you were out of the suburbs or the inner city, there was so much rhythmic music there. Ironically there’s a huge bluegrass scene too. Cincinnati is on the border of Northern Kentucky so it’s kind of a Minneapolis/St Paul kind of scenario. My theory is even though you might think that funk and bluegrass are so different, think about how rhythmic the two music styles are. You’ve got this rural area of Kentucky right next to urban Cincinnati, so you’ve got this hodgepodge of rhythm and sounds. Now in terms of current bands coming out of the area, in the '90s there was a band called the Afghan Whigs who were a pretty big group in the whole Seattle Sub Pop scene. And there’s a new band called Heartless Bastards with a gal named Erica who has an amazing voice. She actually moved to Austin recently but they grew out of Cincinnati music scene.
Did you grow up there?
Yeah, and that’s actually how I met Bootsy. One of his singers was a guy named Mudbone. Mudbone had his own group called Sly Fox and they had a big hit called “Let's Go All The Way”. In the mid to late '90s he was trying to put the band back together again and he was doing demo stuff. I was playing in some bands around Cincinnati at the time, and he had me do some demo stuff with him. He said there was a label out of Japan called P-Vine Records. P-Vine Records was doing this Jimi Hendrix tribute record where they had all these funk and soul artists do songs about Jimi Hendrix. Mudbone was doing a song with Bootsy producing and engineering it, so he said, "Why don’t you come out to Bootsy’s?" and of course I was like “Whaaa!” And that’s how we met and we really hit it off, so we started writing songs together. Originally when the whole Freekbass thing started, it was going to be more of a studio project. I thought, "Well, this material sounds pretty cool, so it would be cool to go do some shows". And a couple shows led to a couple more ,and the next thing I know I’m on the road with an agent. That’s kind of the very, very abridged story.
Is there an AKA, can we know what your real name is?
I think my mom even slips every once in a while and calls me Freekbass. My real name is Chris Sherman--my Clark Kent alias, I guess.


“Mad Men”? Whatever. On Sunday night, the 2015 Billboard Awards made for priority viewing for pop music fans.
The ceremony in Las Vegas (hosted by Chrissy Teigen and Ludacris) included performances from Iggy Azalea and Britney Spears, Kanye West, Fall Out Boy, Mariah Carey and many more.
But not all the stars delivered on their promise.
The star-studded video to “Bad Blood” was impressive enough. But it deflected attention from the fact that the Kendrick Lamar remix cranks up the bombast levels on what is otherwise a weak spot from the “1989” album. Clearly, Taylor’s commitment to change is ongoing.
The sexification of Nick Jonas continues and this time, he donned his best rock star threads to deliver a slick, electro version of his smash “Jealous.” It was part Daft Punk, part the Killers, but not much Jonas Brothers — and that’s just the ratio he wants.
Thirty years on, and “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” can still get a room singing along like few other ‘80s pop songs.
The Irishman’s signature track “Take Me to Church” is almost two years old and yet, it hasn’t lost an ounce of its drama and beauty. One of those rare songs that seems overkill-proof.
It might not bring paying customers to Jay Z’s music streaming service in droves, but props to whoever picked out Coldcut’s “Seven Minutes of Madness” remix of Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full” to soundtrack Tidal’s commercial. A rarely heard religious text in the history of hip-hop remixes.
The one-time glam-rockers looked like a bunch of dudes touring the Midwestern sports bar circuit, singer David Lee Roth was playing the full creepy uncle routine, and “Panama” sounded like a croaky, wheezy rock ‘n’ roll relic. The minor victory is that they were, at least, able to stop bitching at each other just long enough to get through the performance.
There is no kind of choreography, no combination of day-glo colors, and no amount of roller-skating backup dancers that can cover up the fact that “Pretty Girls” is a really terrible song.
Oh, Mariah. Dear, dear Mariah. Our one and only Mariah. What happened to you?
Yeezy delivered his usual fire (this time, literally) for fierce versions of “All Day/Black Skinhead,” but ABC’s censors dipped the sound so that most of it was inaudible, thus completely ruining the segment. They obviously didn’t ask Kanye nicely enough to adhere to FCC regulations on profanity.


By cevans on October 11, 2010.
To get to the National Radio Telescope Observatory, you have to be committed.
Well, first, you have to be in New Mexico -- about an hour's drive south of Albuquerque, in the plains of San Augustin, to be precise, a Pleistocene lakebed bordered by the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert and dotted with arid shrubs. Despite being some 6,970 feet above sea level, it feels like the basement of the world, wide and flat and under the massive Southwestern sky. Driving to the Observatory, the home of the famous "Very Large Array" of radio telescopes, is an exercise in patience. The repetitive landscape unfolds past the car windows at 80 miles an hour (the speed limit is 65, a Dadaist joke that no one seems to adhere to); with every rise you crest, you half-expect the fantastic vista to suddenly reveal itself, a sea of telescopes casting shadows on the parched Earth. For an hour, it doesn't.
The scale of the desert plays with your sense of perspective as you pull up into parking lot abutting the visitor's center, a shoddy-looking building flanked by porta-potties. The dishes, which looked reasonable from the highway four miles away, seem actually preposterous from up close. They are huge. Blanched white, they all point in exactly the same direction: up.* Each dish is only a part of the larger system, and their synchronized operation is part of both their visual appeal and their usefulness to scientists. Whether scrunched together or arranged widely across the basin -- an effect not unlike a camera focusing and unfocusing -- together they can peer into the distant cosmos.
A hot desert wind blows everything not bolted down away. The displays in the Very Large Array's little on-site museum seem to be five years, maybe a decade, behind the times: one panel excitedly compares the storage capacity of the control center's magnetic tape to "a floppy disc on your PC." Outside of the visitor's center, a wind-and-sand-ravaged sign warns of poisonous snakes. This is the Wild West of astronomy.
Leaflets and poster boards at the VLA visitor's center repeatedly emphasize that these telescopes are not exclusively used for SETI research. "We don't look for little green men," the literature sneers. Still, telescope time has been lent out for SETI efforts occasionally -- most notably to double-check the "WOW!" signal in the mid-1990s. Thanks to the new Allen Telescope Array in Northern California, however, SETI won't need to poke around New Mexico for telescope access much longer: they'll have a large-scale telescope fully at their disposal (the SETI project there, once completed, will be able "see" transmissions from 1,000 light years away).
The Very Large Array self-guided walking tour is a half-mile loop peppered with chatty placards and bugs the size of oranges. At one stop, two white "whisper dishes" display the focusing properties of a parabolic dish, a classic kid's science trick. Further along, you can peek at the visiting scientists' quarters -- double-wides, basically -- and inspect the railway tracks by which the telescopes, with a special lifting locomotive, are picked up and moved to their various configurations, allowing "aperture synthesis interferometry with a maximum baseline of 22.3 miles." Everything else, including almost all of the antennae, is off limits, whichis fine -- it looks fantastic from a distance anyway.
*At least when I was there. Signs below the pedestrian-accessible 'scope indicated that the dishes might suddenly swivel all at once to follow some astronomical object, like rubber-necking spectators at Wimbledon. I was not privy to such a sight.
This is excellent, thank you. I just love radio astronomy and wish I could understand the complex math that is necessary. That is needed to understand the books properly about the subject. I would love to visit the VLA. I was wondering if you can stay there, like they allow people to do at Parkes in Australia.
In the 5th paragraph you said that SETI won't have to poke around Arizona for telescope access anymore... did you mean New Mexico?
WHOOPS. An egregious typo. Fixing it right away. Thank you, Mr. Arizona!
Is There Life on Maaaars?
My New Book: High Frontiers!


Second Democratic Senator Comes Out Against Iran Deal. How Close Is This Thing?
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey gives a speech announcing he will not support President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal at Seton Hall University on Aug. 18, 2015, in South Orange, New Jersey.
Menendez, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and longtime proponent of sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program who has clashed with the Obama administration on this issue in the past, said that the agreement as negotiated “failed to achieve the one thing it set out to achieve—it failed to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state at a time of its choosing.” Menendez said his “overarching concern is that it requires no dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and only mothballs that infrastructure for 10 years” and recommits Iran to agreements, such as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, that it has violated in the past.
The hawkish senator is now publicly opposed to the White House’s two signature foreign policy moves of the past year: the Iran deal and the normalizing of diplomatic relations with Cuba, a move the Cuban-American Menendez says “stinks.” He joins New York’s Chuck Schumer as well as the entire Republican caucus in opposing the Iran deal. A vote for a motion disapproving of the agreement, which Obama has said he will veto, is likely in September. The next big question mark is Menendez’s New Jersey counterpart Cory Booker, who is still undecided and is being heavily lobbied by both the White House and the pro-Israel groups that donated more to his campaign than any other Democrat in the last election cycle.
Even with heavy lobbying on both sides, Obama’s veto of the agreement is still likely to stand. About 30 of the 34 senators needed to uphold a presidential veto are already on board, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she is optimistic she can keep most of her caucus together despite some notable defections. The fact that the veto is likely to stand may actually make it easier for Iran hawks like Menendez and Schumer to oppose the White House.
Nevertheless, there’s already some speculation about how the White House could proceed if Obama’s veto were overridden. The AP’s Deb Riechmann noted Monday that though he would undoubtedly face heavy criticism, Obama could still lift most of the sanctions imposed on Iran through executive order, and Europe and the U.N. could lift others. Still, some of the toughest sanctions, including measures orchestrated in large part by Menendez, were imposed by Congress, and Iran could interpret a decision not to lift these as the U.S. violating its commitments under the agreement, something hardliners, including the country’s supreme leader, have warned of. This would probably make Iran less likely to comply with the terms of the deal. The warning from Washington’s hawks that Iran can’t be trusted to halt its nuclear program could turn out to be self-fulfilling.
Update, 5:15 p.m. Following Menendez’s announcement, Rhode Island senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse announced their support for the deal.


Jon Voight stars in the 1974 film "Conrack."
My two older sons and I saw the movie "Conrack" soon after its release in 1974. Based on Pat Conroy's memoir, "The Water is Wide," the movie portrayed the challenges of a young, white schoolteacher, played by Jon Voight, who volunteered in 1969 to teach in a two-room, all-black school on "Yamacraw Island," the fictional name given Daufuskie Island, now highly developed with golf courses, a residential club, vacation homes and docks for private yachts.
By chance, I saw the movie recently on a cable channel and found it as moving and provocative now as it was then. This viewing prompted me to read Conroy's memoir. Sadly, the movie is not available in a DVD format compatible with U.S. players.
In "The Water in Wide," Conroy, fired with reformist zeal, gave up his job as a high school teacher in Beaufort, S.C., to move to Yamacraw Island, inhabited predominately by impoverished African-American families, many of whom spoke a distinctive Gullah dialect. A once-prosperous oyster industry had collapsed several years earlier after a chemical plant polluted the beds, leaving the residents in a subsistence economy.
Conroy's class included children of middle-school age. Several students could not read; a few could not count to 10. The school system dictated strict adherence to a curriculum devoted to drilling "basics" into brains of students. The school's principal repeatedly chided students on their lack of learning and liberally used a leather belt to enforce discipline. The district superintendent was committed to the status quo, which meant keeping the students in their place. The twosome tried to block every innovation utilized by Conroy.
Seeing the futility of the standard curriculum, Conroy used other means to capture his students' attention. Finding a movie projector, he showed movies to stimulate discussion. A phonograph and tape recorder found in a dusty closet provided opportunities for music and creative narratives composed by students. Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, supplemented by Conroy's introduction that the opening chords represented "death knocking on your door," was a student favorite. Useless, outdated textbooks remained unopened in desks as Conroy developed other pathways to thinking in a deeply superstitious culture.
Most of the students had never left the island, which had neither bridge nor ferry service. The water and marshland assured the physical and cultural isolation of the residents. Conroy arranged an overnight trip to Beaufort so his students could for the first time celebrate Halloween with costumes and trick-or-trick forays into predominantly white neighborhoods.
In the spring, Conroy took his class to Washington, D.C., traipsing to the Smithsonian National Gallery, Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument and the National Zoo, which was the biggest hit for the students. After the spring term, he took a smaller group of students to a retreat on the mainland, where he taught the boys how to swim; he could never overcome the girls' fear of water. Before each excursion, Conroy had to overcome qualms of parents and objections of the principal and superintendent.
When the superintendent fired him for insubordination and other trumped-up charges at the end of the school year, Conroy appealed to the school board, which rejected the action.
At the beginning of his second year on the island, Conroy was again dismissed. Parents and students staged a boycott. The superintendent threatened jail and fines for protesters. Conroy urged an end to the protest and retired to the mainland to write his memoir. Other memorable books followed in his distinguished career. He died earlier this year.
Would a Pat Conroy be tolerated in failing schools today?
Children of all races and ethnicities can be as isolated today in urban housing projects, impoverished neighborhoods and collapsing towns as the children of Yamacraw Island in the 1960s. Poverty and inadequate education create invisible barriers for children to participate in the opportunities enjoyed by so many in thriving communities. In a two-tiered, public education system, poorer schools lack books for their libraries, internet access and adequate counseling for the complex problems of students. A child's postal ZIP code should not determine his opportunities in life.
Poor rates for graduation and readiness for post-high school education suggest that standard curricula should be rethought. A single approach to instruction may not fit every school. The challenge is to find a formula that will reach every child and set him or her on a pathway to lifelong learning.
Read "The Water is Wide." It presents a challenge for all us.
Contact Clif Cleaveland at ccleaveland@timesfree press.com.


Clare Balding walks near Hay-on-Wye with a group of women who met while horse-trekking in Mongolia.
Today on Ramblings, Clare Balding walks with a group of women who met while on a horse-trekking trip in Outer Mongolia. Firm friendships were formed on that adventure, and since then the group has met many times. For the past five years they've been walking Offa's Dyke bit-by-bit, and they've now reached the section that runs close to Hay on Wye, which is where Ramblings is based this week.
The theme for this series of Ramblings is 'water ways'. This week and next, we explore two different sections of the River Wye.
Walking can give you time to think or an opportunity to explore.
Listen to a selection of favourite walks from Ramblings.


Luke Shaw may want to stay away from Twitter for a while after he was bodied by a Manchester United fan after England’s World Cup quarter-final victory.
Gareth Southgate’s men secured their place in the semi-finals of the tournament after an uncharacteristically comfortable 2-0 win over Sweden in Samara on Saturday afternoon.
Harry Maguire and Dele Alli were England’s goalscorers and Jordan Pickford produced the performance of his life as Sweden threatened to work their way back into the match in the second-half.
Pickford was criticised by some for his display against Belgium in Group G but has bounced back in style and was England’s hero in a tense penalty shootout victory over Colombia in the last 16.
Following the Three Lions’ defeat of Sweden, Shaw tried to get involved as ‘#ThingsPickfordCouldSave’ went viral on Twitter.
‘What a lad! Internet, do your thing please: #ThingsPickfordCouldSave,’ the United left-back tweeted.
Little bit of fun, right? WRONG.
Your career at Manchester United.
Southgate praised Pickford for his ‘critical’ saves and distribution following England’s victory.
Asked about the goalkeeper’s performance, Southgate replied: ‘Critical saves at crucial times because a goal at that stage and you’ve got the ball raining in your box for the last 20 minutes.


We all know the real reason why all of us go to ice hockey games — we wanna see the fights. And if we’re super lucky, we won’t even spill our beer when we leap into the air, fist pumping for the home team. Fortunately for us, the Stingrays offer more than just the usual ice hockey fun, because these guys are actually good. This past month, the Stingrays earned the title of second-longest winning streak in North American professional hockey. Woo! The cool thing about ice hockey is that it can be played year-round, which is imperative in Charleston’s climate. And with the convenience of ice-skating rinks (check out Carolina Ice Palace in North Charleston), you can practice pushing a puck around on your own, and, well, work on the whole skating thing, too.


San Martin is one of only 175 Guggenheim Fellows this year. In all, a diverse group of scholars, artists and scientists were chosen from 3,000 applicants. The average award is about $36,000. The awards were announced April 6.
“I intend to create vocal works that set texts from Occitania, a language region that encompassed sections of today’s France, Monaco and Italy. I’m interested in the 'Trobairitz,' French female troubadours active in 12th and 13th century,” she said. “My plans at the beginning of a project are often quite different from where I end up so you’ll have to wait until 2018 to see how it turns out.
“I may go abroad to work on the pieces depending on where the materials I need for research are located,” she said. She will defer the fellowship until the 2017 – 2018 academic year to coincide with a year-long teaching sabbatical.
San Martin has been commissioned by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Washington Square Contemporary Chamber Players, the Pacific Rim Festival, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, eighth blackbird and others. She has composed for a wide range of instrumentation - from pieces for solo violin and solo piano to two marimbas and chamber orchestra to gayageum (Korean zither) and string quartet.
Recent awards include a Fromm Music Foundation commission, a Jebediah Foundation commission and American Academy of Arts and Letters and League of Composers-ISCM award.


Former Los Angeles City Councilman Arthur K. Snyder, a famously colorful figure who spent nearly two decades in office while contending with an array of personal, legal and political troubles, died Wednesday in Huntington Beach at the age of 79.
Snyder died in his sleep, according to Emerson Duque, a family friend. A cause of death has not yet been determined.
In recent years, Snyder had shifted away from the political world and became the proprietor of a Huntington Beach tiki lounge, Don the Beachcomber.
Snyder was born Nov. 10, 1932, in Los Angeles. He attended Los Angeles City College, Pepperdine University and USC. He tried without success to win a seat in the state Assembly in 1958 and got a job soon afterward as chief deputy to Councilman John C. Holland. After Holland retired from office, Snyder ran for the seat himself, winning in 1967. He was reelected four times.
...Continue reading "Don the Beachcomber propieter dies at 79"
This story was reported by Times Staff Writers Kate Linthcum and David Zahniser.


This building was originally a Saloon - nicely maintained over the years. Lower level was used as a professional office. Large kitchen could use updating or use antiques to add more charm. Small room on first floor was used as a bedroom. This property can be sold with 67 East Main or separately with the extra lot. Chain link fence encloses both properties and a garage and shed.


Says Alison Lundergan Grimes "supports Obamacare, which cuts $700 billion from seniors’ Medicare."
By Lauren Carroll on Thursday, July 10th, 2014 at 4:14 p.m.
One of Republicans’ favorite Affordable Care Act talking points is back in fashion.
Back in 2012, we checked the claim that the health care law cuts $700 billion from Medicare more times than we can count. (For a sample, look here, here and here.) It’s popped up again in this year’s Senate race in Kentucky.
Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes recently accused incumbent Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of supporting a $6,000 per year increase in Medicare costs for beneficiaries -- another once-popular claim resurfacing. We’ve rated that False.
The McConnell campaign swiftly retaliated with an ad of its own the next day.
"The truth? Grimes supports Obamacare, which cuts $700 billion from seniors’ Medicare. That’s how Obama and Grimes will pay for Obamacare," the ad says.
For old times’ sake, we decided to look into the claim once again.
The Affordable Care Act is projected to reduce federal spending on Medicare by about $716 billion between 2013 and 2022, but it does not literally cut funding from the program or reduce its overall budget.
In fact, spending will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. The Affordable Care Act just slows its growth, instituting a number of changes to try to bring down future health care costs in the program.
The spending reductions fall largely on insurance companies and hospitals, not seniors. The law made significant reductions to Medicare Advantage, a subset of Medicare plans run by private insurers. The program, started under President George W. Bush, has cost more than expected -- and more than traditional Medicare.
Hospitals will also be paid less if they have too many readmissions, or if they fail to meet other new benchmarks for patient care.
Also, the $716 billion in reductions is not really being used to "pay for" the law, as McConnell said. At the time the health care law was being finalized, Democrats said it was important to them that the new law not add to federal budget deficits. So the reductions in Medicare spending were counted against the health care law’s new spending over a period of about 10 years.
Some of the new spending is within the Medicare program, such as increasing coverage for prescription drugs and offering preventive care with no out-of-pocket costs.
Does Grimes support the Affordable Care Act?
When the law was enacted in 2010, Grimes was working as an attorney in Lexington, Ky., and played no role in the Affordable Care Act debate. But she hasn’t been able to avoid questions about her stance on the law this election cycle.
Since the start of her campaign, Grimes has said she is troubled by certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act. She has also said the solution is to improve on the law, rather than to throw it out completely. She’s spoken positively of 640,000 Kentuckians who were previously uninsured and will now be able to get insurance.
It’s a bit harder to pin down her position on the Medicare spending reductions specifically.
At the 2013 Kentucky State Fair, a reporter from the Louisville television station WHAS 11 asked Grimes if she agreed with Republicans that the Affordable Care Act would hurt senior citizens.
"I’m troubled with certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act," she said. "But we're here at the State Fair, and if there's three reasons why Kentuckians, especially our seniors, need access to affordable health care coverage, you just have to look over to the right where you see the donut burger, the chili cheese steak and the covered French fries."
An ad out of the McConnell campaign said, "Grimes supports Obamacare, which cuts $700 billion from seniors’ Medicare."
Grimes has been cautiously supportive of the Affordable Care Act, and she certainly does not oppose it as strongly as McConnell does. The law is projected to reduce spending on Medicare by about $700 billion over 10 years, but those reductions in spending are more of a slowed growth rate rather than a budget cut.
Published: Thursday, July 10th, 2014 at 4:14 p.m.


Virgin Group mogul Sir Richard Branson will speak to a room of 800 people on Friday at the Fairmont Winnipeg during a sold-out luncheon.
Presented by 103.1 Virgin Radio and the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, Branson is known for his sporting achievements, notably the record-breaking Atlantic crossing in Virgin Atlantic Challenger II in 1986, and the first crossing by hot-air balloon of the Atlantic (1987) and Pacific (1991). His net worth in 2009 was $2.5 billion, according to Forbes.
Branson’s address will begin at 12:45 p.m.


Column: Several governments are destroying their own bank notes. Here’s why.
Nov. 8, 2016 was a big day. Millions of citizens were stunned, literally unable to believe what had just transpired. Economists issued dire warnings, suggesting a negative shock to future growth. Many took to the streets in protest. Within a week, election commission officials started raising concerns over potential fraud. And over the next few weeks, dozens died. It will be a long time before the events of Nov. 8 are forgotten. Separately and completely unrelated, on the other side of the planet and on the very same day that spurred these events, America elected a new president.
And in a fast-growing economy with a large informal sector in which it’s estimated that around 90 percent of transactions take place using cash, trashing most of the cash in circulation was not unlike throwing sand into the gears of a machine running at full speed.
Given that the unexpected announcement came amid news reports that the U.S. election might affect the subcontinent’s relationship with America, Indians were caught completely off guard. In fact, many were stunned. And in a fast-growing economy with a large informal sector in which it’s estimated that around 90 percent of transactions take place using cash, trashing most of the cash in circulation was not unlike throwing sand into the gears of a machine running at full speed. Furthermore, because hundreds of millions of Indians lack formal bank accounts, the impact was felt most by the poorest. The gender impact was also uneven, given that 80 percent of women in India are unbanked, according to the UN.
Long lines at banks and ATMs quickly became commonplace, generating what the BBC reported as widespread chaos. One laborer noted, “it was like someone had picked my pocket” as vendors refused to accept his currency. It’s estimated that at least 70 people have died as a result of the demonetization. Overworked bank officials, as well as those denied medical services because of inappropriate currency denominations, are among the dead. “Day of Rage” protests erupted across the country, and as they did, the terms of the demonetization changed on an almost daily basis, leading to even greater confusion and uncertainty.
As a result, economic activity in India is plunging. According to the Wall Street Journal, home sales are stagnant, political discussion about the scheme has brought the Indian parliament to a standstill, and tourists are paralyzed by the inability to use the Indian currency in their possession. The cash crunch is also rippling through supply chains, leading manufacturers to cut jobs, lower production and reduce demand for raw materials. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has suggested India will suffer a drop in GDP of around 2 percent as a result of Modi’s “monumental mismanagement” of the demonetization effort.
So what was Modi thinking? He noted his primary objective was “to break the grip of corruption and black money.” Modi further stated, “black money and corruption are the biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty.” Indians hoarding bills would be forced to deposit or exchange them, allowing tax authorities to delve deeper into the sources of such funds. More tax revenues might lead to greater social spending and government support.
Indians hoarding bills would be forced to deposit or exchange them, allowing tax authorities to delve deeper into the sources of such funds. More tax revenues might lead to greater social spending and government support.
To prevent fraud during the exchange process, the government imposed limits on the amount of currency that could be swapped by any individual. To keep track of the limits, banks began to mark the left index finger of those who had exchanged old notes for new ones with permanent ink. But because this is the same method used to prevent election fraud, the Election Commission noted the marks might disenfranchise voters in ongoing local elections.
Another related goal of the effort, Modi noted, was to nudge the country towards “the realization of our dream of a cashless society.” According to research commissioned by MasterCard, India has one of the highest cash-to-GDP ratios in the world at around 12 percent, meaningfully above China (9.5 percent), the United States (7.5 percent), Mexico (5.3 percent), Brazil (3.9 percent), and South Africa (3.7 percent), but well below that of Japan (20.7 percent). Heading towards a cashless society would increase India’s effectiveness in monitoring tax compliance, tracking terrorist financing and of course spotting financial crime and corruption.
Critics suggest that such efforts are ineffective at truly stopping large-scale corruption however. Arun Kumar, author of the “The Black Economy in India,” estimates that only 1 to 2 percent of illicit wealth is stored in cash. Most, he notes, is stored in gold, in property or in Swiss bank accounts. Further, Kumar notes that demonetization does not address the mechanisms or flow of dirty money — it only attempts to address the stock of prior gains from corruption. To truly target corruption, many believe essential policies include institutional reforms strengthening the rule of law, better law enforcement and public awareness campaigns.
Nevertheless, arguments from academics to trash cash keep building. “The Curse of Cash,” a recent book by Kenneth Rogoff, supports the claim that a large portion of high-denomination paper currency is used to enable tax evasion, finance terrorist operations and support underground economies in illegal drugs and human trafficking. (Rogoff wants to phase out the U.S. $100 bill.) A paper by Peter Sands, a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, also recommended eliminating high-denomination notes to deter these activities. And Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, has called for a global agreement to stop issuing notes worth more than $50 or $100.
We should of course insist on improved compliance and enforcement of a strong rule of law. But we should not dismiss trashing cash as a potentially useful tool to nudge better behavior.
To understand how these decisions might impact those transporting large sums of money in cash, consider the weight of U.S. $10 million in various currency denominations. A criminal carrying such a sum in U.S. $20 bills would need to lug 500 kg (more than 1,000 pounds!) of paper notes. In U.S. $100 bills, the weight would drop by 80 percent to 100 kg, about the weight of a large man. If using 500-euro notes, a criminal would only have to carry slightly over 20 kg. And using the Swiss 1,000-franc notes could reduce the burden to a mere 11 kg.
In a highly dynamic and uncertain global economy, there will always be nefarious actors trying to operate in the shadows. One way of targeting illicit activities is to increase the frictional costs of such doings by eliminating high-denomination notes. And although such efforts admittedly focus on symptoms more than the root causes of corruption, there is little downside in pursuing such an approach. We should of course insist on improved compliance and enforcement of a strong rule of law. But we should not dismiss trashing cash as a potentially useful tool to nudge better behavior.


Posted on March 31, 2014. Brought to you by yellowpages.
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Friends of a local family hope the community will turn out strong to support a 4-year-old Highland Township girl who recently underwent emergency surgery to remove a tumor growing inside her head.
A fundraiser, including food, silent auction, raffle and entertainment, takes place 6-9 p.m. Friday at the Comeback Inn. The business also plans to donate 15 percent of sales all day — from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. — to help Leah Vincenzetti’s family pay for medical bills, insurance deductibles and lost employment hours.
The event was organized by parents of children in Leah’s class at Little Saints Preschool in Hartland.
Sarah and Rick Vincenzetti first noticed something wasn’t right with Leah – youngest in a brood that also includes Henry, 15, Maddie, 13, and Tucker, 11 – last autumn when she took a fall and ended up with a concussion.
As the headaches increased, the family sought a neurologist – it was no easy task finding one not already booked through March, Sarah said – and began keeping a diary of Leah’s headaches.
All the while, Sarah kept thinking about her sister, who, many years ago, died from a brain tumor at the age of 3.
Then, on the Thursday before Super Bowl Sunday, Leah began walking as if disoriented. Her headaches were getting worse, and she was falling asleep at odd times.
Sarah called the neurologist, who told her to get Leah to the hospital right away. But at Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, she said, the doctors didn’t immediately see the oncoming emergency and hesitated to order an MRI, suggesting Sarah and Rick instead take Leah home and return Monday, as previously scheduled.
“We told them, ‘We know something’s wrong,’” Sarah said.
The last doctor among many who saw Leah that day agreed and ordered an immediate MRI. The news wasn’t good.
Leah went into emergency surgery the following day for a long 13 hours.
Through it all, it was Sarah’s faith that not only kept her going, but made her confident Leah’s outcome would be positive; during the whole ordeal, she sent text messages to everyone she could think of to ask for prayers for Leah.
Although Leah is not completely out of the woods – doctors want to do another MRI and a spinal tap in a few weeks, after which they’ll determine whether radiation and chemo are needed – the 4-year-old is “doing amazing,” her mom said, as is eager to get back to preschool to see her friends.
Students and staff from Modern Messages Dance Company in Highland Township, who have already lent support by helping the family with means and other incidentals, will also be on hand Friday to perform during the fundraiser.
The Comeback Inn is located at 1451 S. Milford Road in Highland Township. For more information, contact event coordinator Abby Moore at 810-252-1339.


HERE: Astrohotographer Gerald Rhemann captured this image of Comet 46P/Wirtanen on Dec. 4, 2018 from Farm Tivoli, Namibia.
On Dec. 3, 2018, astrophotographer Gerald Rhemann captured another view of Comet 46P/Wirtanen using the same telescope and camera with the addition of an ASA DDM85 mount and at an exposure time of 16x5 minutes, with a result of this seemingly animated view of the comet zooming across the cosmos.
In Payson, Arizona, astrophotographer Chris Schur captured this 60-minute exposure of the incoming Comet 46P/Wirtanen on Dec. 3, 2018, using a 10" f/3.9 Orion Astrograph and a ST10 xme CCD camera.
A Comet as Bright as Venus!
On Dec. 5, 2018, astrophotographer John Hattenbach snapped this image of Comet 46P/Wirtanen from La Palma, Spain. At the time, the comet was shining at magnitude 4.7. Hattenbach captured this image using a 70mm f/6 ED refractor at an ISO of 6400 and an exposure of 180 seconds.
From southern Alberta, photographer Alan Dyer photographed Comet 6P/Wirtanen (lower right) on Dec. 10, 2018 using his Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR camera with a 35mm lens at f/3.2 and an ISO of 1000.
Comet 46P/Wirtanen is surrounded by star trails in this image by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project. He remotely captured this view on Dec. 10, 2018 using the Virtual Telescope Project's Elena 17" robotic telescope.
Astrophotographer Chris Schur captured this view of Comet 46P/Wirtanen on Nov. 29, 2018, from Payson, Arizona. At the time, the comet was shining at magnitude 5.5 (just barely visible to the naked eye) in the Fornax constellation. To capture this image, Schur used a Meade 622 Cometracker Astrograph with a Canon XTi camera on a Meade LDX5 GEM equatorial mount, along with a Baader MPCC coma corrector to snap this photo of Comet 46P.
Using a rotational gradient filter, astrophysicist Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project created this image of Comet 46P/Wirtanen to bring out the details in the comet's coma. The image combines six 180-second exposures captured using the Elena robotic unit of the Virtual Telescope Project in Ceccano, Italy. Masi remotely snapped the images on Dec. 10, 2018, then added a 20 degree rotational gradient to draw out the jet-like features.
On Dec. 6, 2018, astrophotographer Alan Dyer captured the unique green glow of Comet 46P/Wirtanen at magnitude 4.7, shown in the top right corner of this image. To the left is the winter constellation of Orion the Hunter. Dyer captured this view with a Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR camera and a 35mm lens set at f/2.8. The image is a combination of three 1-minute exposures.
Using Starry Night software, photographer Alan Dyer superimposed the expected path of Comet 46P/Wirtanen over an image of the comet he took on Dec. 8, 2018.
A telescopic view of Comet 46P/Wirtanen taken on Dec. 6, 2018 reveals the comet's faint tail. Astrophotographer Alan Dyer captured this image of Comet 46P from Alberta, Canada using a Canon EOS 6D Mark II DSLR camera on an A&M 105mm apo refracting telescope.


Concerns that the dollar's days are numbered lack merit.
It was always a ridiculous contention, and it seems even less reasonable now. Not even a year ago, consensus thinking saw China’s yuan on the verge of replacing the dollar as the world’s premier reserve currency. Now the flood of funds out of China, and the yuan’s declining value, have stifled all such talk and even such thinking. No doubt circumstances will continue along current lines for a while to come. Still, today’s negative attitudes are setting the stage for a rebirth of pro-yuan speculation, perhaps pretty soon. It will be wrong again.
When the pro-yuan thinking was at its height last spring, it looked as though the currency had support from all quarters. China’s economy seemed to be doing reasonably well, though growing at a much slower pace than previously. Beijing was also making headlines with its efforts to give the yuan a more prominent international role. To argue the other side of the question, that the dollar was not quite so vulnerable, took a disciplined analysis of the fundamentals, historic and economic, as well as recognition that not all policy in Beijing supported the effort to substitute the yuan for the dollar. The National Interest offered just such an analysis.
The pro-yuan enthusiasm, nonetheless, dominated most decision making. Foreign companies, confident China was unstoppable and that the yuan’s value would continue to rise, invested heavily in the country. For the same reasons, foreigners bought Chinese stocks and bonds, while Chinese firms borrowed in dollars and other foreign currencies with the expectation that their appreciating yuan earnings would enable them to service this debt easily. All these huge capital inflows created an exaggerated feeling of prosperity in the Chinese economy and drove up the prices of Chinese stocks and other financial assets, a development that redoubled the supportive inflows.
But because the extremes of enthusiasm were without fundamental foundation, the situation became increasingly fragile. Two small changes were enough to bring it down. First, the pace of Chinese growth slowed. It was at base a matter of no great concern, a natural response to a more mature phase of development, as articles in the National Interest explained. But even though China’s growth continued strong by the standards of just about any other economy on earth, so much was riding on continued impressive Chinese gains that even this modest and predictable adjustment unnerved business people and investors alike. Second, it became apparent that the financial liberalization necessary to make the yuan an international currency would have an immediate adverse effect, as Chinese investors, who previously could not get their assets out of the country, looked to the liberalizing trend as a way to buy overseas and thereby diversify their holdings. This eagerness to leave was less a lack of confidence in China than simply a prudent way to minimize the risk of having everything in one place and one currency. But it nonetheless fostered uneasy feelings.
So what should have been a minor adjustment turned the overheated environment into a rout. Money flowed out of stocks and other financial assets. According to Chinese government statistics, foreign investors in Chinese stocks and bonds sold the equivalent of some $17 billion during the third quarter, the most recent period for which complete data are available. It was a radical shift indeed from the $16 billion in purchases they made during the second quarter. The Shanghai Exchange has, as a result, declined almost 50 percent from its peaks last June. So, too, the direct foreign investments into Chinese businesses slowed markedly. While new direct investment flows registered only the equivalent of $39 billion during the third quarter of 2015, down a bit less than half from the $71 billion recorded in the second quarter, foreign firms already in China pulled the equivalent of some $32 billion out of the country. More recent, if more tentative, data suggests that both these patterns have continued so that, for all of 2015, net capital outflows appear to have verged on $1 trillion.
With so much money flowing abroad, it is little wonder that the yuan has come under considerable downward pressure. China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), tried at first to support the yuan’s price, buying actively with its ample hoard of foreign exchange reserves. For a while it succeeded, but between August and September it allowed the yuan to depreciate 3.7 percent against the dollar; it depreciated another 1.5 percent by year’s end and another 1.0 percent or more so far this year, for a total depreciation of about 6.5 percent—a big move for the yuan. This decline in the currency’s value no doubt contributed to the intensification of the outflows during the latter months of 2015 and into this year.
For the time being, this negative pattern will likely persist. But just as the past enthusiasms planted the seeds of today’s problems, so too are today’s ugly sentiments planting the seeds of another, more positive change. By delaying some of the planned financial liberalizations, Beijing has begun to relieve some fear of that source of capital flight. At the same time, the yuan’s depreciation has begun to make the pricing of Chinese products more attractive to global markets. Returning an export edge that once seemed gone forever may delay some of the fundamental adjustments Beijing had planned for the economy, but it will also prompt marginally faster growth.
In time, these unfolding changes will make investors regain a measure of confidence and rethink their present negative consensus, though likely not as dramatically as they reversed their once positive consensus of last spring. China will have weathered a crisis that many feared would destroy it, allowing people again to see the positive prospects for what is, after all, a large economy with considerable development potential. If in that more sober context Beijing returns to its planned liberalizations, as is likely, any diversification by Chinese investors will look a lot less frightening than it did in the face of the earlier enthusiasms. Given sufficient time, this new, more positive mood will renew speculation that the yuan can replace the dollar as the world’s premier currency. Then, the National Interest will have to update its earlier fundamental currency analysis.
Mr. Ezrati is a contributing editor at the National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and recently retired as Lord, Abbett & Co.’s senior economist and market strategist. His most recent book, Thirty Tomorrows, describing how the world can cope with the challenges of aging demographics, was recently released by Thomas Dunne Books of Saint Martin’s Press.


Published July 30, 2018 at 11:45 p.m.
Updated August 9, 2018 at 1:12 p.m.
Photo by Emily Matthews | Ken Goldstein stands outside V2 Wine Bar and Trattoria in downtown Youngstown. He visited the area Monday. Goldstein's documentary "Song of Bethlehem," produced by PBS, will be available soon.
Ken Goldstein, from a farm town outside Chicago, was just 18 when he first got a glimpse of the death of industry.
Touring with his heavy-metal band through upstate New York, he and his friends rolled into a town outside Buffalo, N.Y., just as thousands were losing their jobs at a nearby Bethlehem Steel facility.
Depressed by the collective pain of the individuals he met in the town, Goldstein penned a 30-minute dirge lamenting the death of American industry and the pain of loss of income and stability.
Today, 31 years later, the song – albeit a retooled and much shorter version – is an anthem celebrating the spirit of rebirth and collective action in the face of adversity.
Goldstein, now 49, is a singer touring with the band THE LA HUSTLE and formerly performing under the stage name Jack Dempsey, a documentary filmmaker and a journalist.
The original “The Song of Bethlehem” traced the story of the decline of Bethlehem Steel Corp. in Bethlehem, Pa., from the 1970s through its closure in 1995. The new song celebrates the spirit of the city’s residents as they worked to revitalize after the loss of their signature industry.
Goldstein said yes and worked the song into a 41⁄2-minute version of the song with an emphasis on hope and rejuvenation.
The city of Bethlehem developed the site of the former steel mill into the Bethlehem Works commercial and community space. The mills still stand, but they are now home to an arts and cultural center, a casino and shopping and educational outlets.
The story of the “The Song of Bethlehem” and the people it was written and re-written to honor is the focus of a PBS 39 documentary Goldstein directed. The documentary, called “The Song of Bethlehem,” is available on the website www.thesongofbethlehem.com in late August or early fall.
The film was produced by Goldstein, ArtsQuest and Musikfest.
As in Youngstown with Youngstown Sheet & Tube, the closure of Bethlehem Steel – which employed 284,000 people at its peak – was not just a loss of jobs, but a loss of a foundational piece of the city’s culture.
Goldstein has already directed one documentary with its roots in Youngstown, “Playground After Midnight,” focused on the life of jazz associate Richard “Prophet” Jennings. He was in town briefly on Monday, and wants to return to Youngstown in the future to produce a documentary on the city and its own fight for revitalization.
September 12, 2007 10:30 p.m.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Setting up a “no-fly” zone over Libya would require an attack to cripple its air defenses, the defense secretary said on Wednesday, as the United States intensified pressure on Muammar Gaddafi to step down.
“Let’s just call a spade a spade. A no-fly zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses ... and then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a congressional hearing.
The United States is moving several amphibious assault ships to the Mediterranean as the United States and other nations seek to force a defiant Gaddafi to end his 41-year rule in the face of an uprising by fragmented groups of rebels.
Western nations have also been considering a no-fly zone.
While the Obama administration says all options are on the table, Washington may be reluctant to initiate military action as it grapples with the financial and human costs of two long, bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Pictured, Albuquerque , New Mexico, Wells Fargo executive, Jennifer Riordan- who died on a Southwest Airlines flight.
What led to a Southwest Airlines flight twin engine blowing out, causing the death of Jennifer Riordan a New Mexico Wells Fargo banking executive?
Jennifer Riordan a Wells Fargo bank executive from New Mexico has been identified as the female passenger who died whilst on a Southwest Airlines flight Tuesday after an engine exploded midair, causing shrapnel to shatter a passenger window.
At the time, the Albuquerque mother of two had been sitting along the left window aisle when one of the twin engines of the Boeing 737 burst as the plane traveled at an altitude of 30,000 feet shortly after take off from NYC‘s LaGuardia Airport.
Fellow passengers scrambled to keep Riordan from being literally sucked out of the plane as she was held down for 12 minutes until the plane landed at nearby Philadelphia.
Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 had just departed en route to Dallas when the plane’s left engine suddenly burst around 11:30 a.m according to social media posts from shell shocked passengers.
The plane was able to make a ‘safe’ emergency plane landing at Philadelphia International Airport while only running on one engine.
The incident led to seven passengers injured amongst 149 passengers and crew onboard. Despite Riordan being immediately transported to a Philadelphia hospital the banking executive later died from her injuries cbsnews reported.
Social media posts told of passengers breathing through oxygen masks that dropped from the ceiling and saying their prayers and bracing for impact. Others meanwhile had paid the eight dollars to access internet access where they proceeded to say goodbye to loved ones.
Following Tuesday’s mishap, National Transportation Safety Board chairman Robert Sumwalt said the onboard fatality was the first passenger fatality in a U.S. airline accident since 2009.
Jennifer Riordan Southwest Airlines death. Image via Facebook.
The victim has been identified as Jennifer Riordan, a New Mexico mother and business executive.
Jennifer Riordan Southwest Airlines victim: What caused the blowout?
Kob reported Riordan, a vice president at Wells Fargo being married to a top executive in former Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry’s administration. Her husband, Michael, served as the city’s chief operating officer.
Noted Riordan’s LinkedIn profile, ‘I manage Wells Fargo employee volunteer service to non-profits in New Mexico by nearly 1,700 employees in addition to representing the company on various boards in the community’.
At the time of Riordan’s tragic death, the banking executive had been in New York City on a business trip and was returning home to be with her husband and their two children reported the Albuquerque Journal.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the crew reported damage to one of the engines, the fuselage and at least one window. The NTSB sent a team of investigators to Philadelphia. Sumwalt said the engine will be taken apart and examined to understand what caused the failure.
At a Dallas press conference, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said that there were no problems with the plane or its engine when it was inspected Sunday.
CFM said it sent experts to help NTSB investigators. In a statement, it said the CFM56-7B has had ‘an outstanding safety and reliability record’ since its debut in 1997, powering more than 6,700 aircraft worldwide.


From Iraq with love, a great jam with a surprising ingredient.
Nawal Nasrallah, a food historian and author, writes about Iraqui cuisine in a warm, rich style that beautifully highlights each recipe’s historical and cultural background. Her newly revised cookbook, Delights From The Garden Of Eden, is about to be released in a new edition, and I can’t wait to read it (and cook from it).
I liked Nasralla’s surprising watermelon rind jam especially because the recipe ensures that there’s no food waste. Even more than that, it’s an old-fashioned, slow-food recipe that promises to taste simply delicious.
You will be surprised how beautiful and tasty this jam will turn out to be. Its origin cannot be any humbler: watermelon rind, usually discarded after the juicy ruby melon pulp is sliced off. In other parts of the world this rind ends up being pickled, but in Iraq we transform it into a charming chunky jam, usually served with geymer (slabs of clotted cream) or butter for breakfast.
Cut rind into strips, about 1 inch wide and 2 inches long. Cover in cold water and bring to a quick boil.
Reduce heat, and simmer slowly until translucent, about 30 minutes. Drain, and reserve 3 cups of liquid.
In a heavy pot, completely dissolve sugar in reserved liquid.
Add honey, lemon peel or ginger, and cardamom. Bring to a boil, skimming as needed.
Add the drained watermelon rind, and boil gently over medium heat, for 30 minutes.
Remove from heat, cover, and set aside, overnight.
Boil pot again over medium heat until syrup thickens, about 30 minutes.
Add lemon juice in the last 5 minutes. Test for doneness by putting a drop of syrup on a dry cold dish, and tilt it. If the drop does not go flat, and keeps its domed shape, it is done.
Let the jam cool off completely. If wished, put the jam in a strainer to get rid of extra syrup.
Store it in the refrigerator and use as needed. It will stay good for a long time.


Big things are coming this season to ABC’s fairytale drama Once Upon a Time as former Lost star Jorge Garcia rumbles into Storybrooke as The Giant, of Jack and the Beanstalk fame.
Not much is known about Garcia’s big new role or who he'll end up allying himself with, but the Lost alum will most likely appear in a multi-episode story arc.
Garcia is perhaps best known for his fan-favorite role as Hugo "Hurley" Reyes on ABC’s hit mystery drama Lost. Garcia will reunite with fellow Losties Emilie de Ravin (Belle) - who has been promoted to a series regular this season - Alan Dale (King George and chief prosecutor Albert Spencer), and Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who wrote all the Hurley-centric episodes of Lost.
Things are going to change in the little town where time stood still due to the Evil Queen Regina’s (Lana Parrilla) wicked curse. In another Lost-esque nod, a wave of thick purple smoke surged through Storybrooke in the season 1 finale when Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) finally fulfilled her destiny by shattering Regina’s evil curse, restoring the resident’s former fairytale identities and setting the the ball rolling for magic to enter our world.
The Giant is not the only huge character rolling in for season 2. As previously announced, Irish actor Colin O’Donoghue (The Rite) has snagged the villainous role of Captain Hook. Meanwhile, former True Blood star Michael Raymond-James will be playing a "mysterious new character" that many fans have speculated to be Baelfire, Rumpelstiltskin’s long-lost son who fell into a portal from the fairytale world (and presumably to our reality).
If Captain Hook and The Giant weren’t enough, this season will be pulling out all the story book stops by adding a bunch of new characters including Mulan (Jamie Chung), Lancelot (Sinqua Walls), Sleeping Beauty (Sarah Bolger) Prince Phillip (Julian Morris) along with the confirmed Aladdin, Jafar and Ariel, whose casting is currently unknown.
The season 2 premiere, titled ‘Broken,’ will pick up right where the season 1 finale left off - minutes after magic has been released into our world.
Meghan Ory (Red Riding Hood/Ruby) has been promoted to a series regular.
The author of the "Once Upon a Time" book and how it came into Mary Margaret Blanchard's possession will be revealed.
We will see more of Cora, the Evil Queen's mother (Barbara Hershey) and her connection to both Regina and Rumplestiltskin.
The identity of Henry's father will be revealed.
Jack and the Beanstalk will be featured.
Maleficent (Kristin Bauer van Straten) is expected to return.
Baelfire's (Dylan Schmid) fate will be revealed.
Jefferson/Mad Hatter (Sebastian Stan) will pop up again.
The producers have hinted we may get to see Oz.
Pinocchio/August Booth's (Eion Bailey) fate will be revealed.
Well, if all that tasty new info doesn’t get you thoroughly amped for the upcoming season 2 of Once Upon a Time, then you may be suffering the effects of a curse and should avoid questionable looking fruit.
Catch the Season 2 premiere of Once Upon a Time Sunday September 30th @8pm on ABC.


Home / Search Results for: "National reconnaissance office"
Search Results for: "National reconnaissance office"
The chief information officer for the Department of Defense partnered with the Defense Information System Agency to conduct an analysis to determine which applications should continue operations for fourth estate organizations, Federal News Network reported Monday.
Jim Garrettson, founder and CEO of Executive Mosaic, presented Jill Singer, vice president of national security at AT&T’s global public sector solutions unit, with her fourth Wash100 Award on Thursday. Executive Mosaic recognizes Singer for improving AT&T’s position in artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning. We are honored to present the most coveted award in government contracting to Jill Singer of AT&T.
La’Naia Jones, deputy chief information officer at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, has said the intelligence community has implemented a new strategy for the second iteration of the IC Information Technology Enterprise program to facilitate use of artificial intelligence, reduce duplication and adjust to agency requirements, MeriTalk reported Tuesday.


The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets seek to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did not achieve. They seek to realize the human rights of all and to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. They are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.


Zizic isn't in the starting lineup for Friday's game against Miami, Shandel Richardson of The Athletic reports.
Zizic was cleared to return from a concussion, but Larry Nance and Kevin Love will start in the frontcourt. Zizic had made five straight starts prior to suffering a concussion.


The designer on traveling back to her former home, Paris, including its best bistros, shops, neighborhoods, and delicacies.
For the fashion designer, Paris’s culture, cuisine, and couture are what she craves on time off—so much so, she used to live there full-time. Her tips on Paris’s best caviar, macarons, shops, and neighborhoods.
To get away from it all, I go . . .
Anywhere . . . could be my bedroom, L.A., Paris, or Asia.
My (least) favorite way to travel there is . . . Unfortunately, for farther distances, I have to fly. Which I hate!
My favorite travel pastimes are . . .
My iPad . . . and a cocktail!
My ideal travel companions are . . .
My family and friends, or my staff, who are like family.
__My favorite place to stay is . . .
__Paris is always an issue. For years I kept an apartment in the 16th [Arrondissement], near the Bois, with a view of the Tour Eiffel. Now I am hotel-bound—either the George V or the Plaza Athénée. Roll out of bed and voilà, shopping!
When I’m in the mood for room service, my favorite order is . . . Spaghetti Bolognese and a vodka. What a luxury!
Upon arrival, I most look forward to . . . It’s mostly about gallery hopping, shopping, eating, and dining until I drop.
My favorite spots to indulge in a delicious Parisian meal are . . . I always have a Montblanc at Ladurée (the one on Saint-Germain-des-Prés) and caviar at Caviar Kaspia or La Maison du Caviar. For a true French bistro, I go to Voltaire.
To stay in shape, my on-the-go fitness regime is . . . I shop! Trying on clothes burns a lot of calories.
My suitcase must absolutely contain . . . Two BlackBerrys, multiple BlackBerry chargers, leggings (always), and a sleep mask.
My favorite best-kept secret about Paris is . . . My personal history: Paris is like my second home and I love my friends, the experiences I’ve had there, and the beauty of the place.
When I’m in the mood for some retail therapy, I must visit . . . Balenciaga, Givenchy, Rick Owens, L’Eclaireur, Montaigne Market, and Hermès always. And Joseph’s on Avenue Montaigne.
When I’m in the mood to paint the town red . . . I go to the Ritz.
Upon departing, I am most happy to leave behind . . . My worries.
Footer credit: From top: from Getty images, courtesy of the Plaza Athénée, courtesy of Ladurée. (2).


WASHINGTON � The CIA inspector general in 2004 found there was no conclusive proof that waterboarding or other harsh interrogation techniques helped the Bush administration thwart any �specific imminent attacks,� according to recently declassified Department of Justice memos.
The risks and effectiveness of waterboarding and other �enhanced� techniques are at the center of an increasingly heated debate over how thoroughly to investigate the CIA�s secret detention and interrogation programs.
�It is difficult to quantify with confidence and precision the effectiveness of the program,� Steven Bradbury, then the justice department�s principal deputy assistant attorney general, wrote in a May 30, 2005, memo to CIA General Counsel John Rizzo, one of four released last week by the Obama administration.
�As the IG Report notes, it is difficult to determine conclusively whether interrogations provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks. And because the CIA has used enhanced techniques sparingly, �there is limited data on which to assess their individual effectiveness,� � Bradbury wrote, quoting the IG report.
Nevertheless, Bradbury concluded in his May 2005 memos that the program had been effective, although the still-secret reports by Inspector General John Helgerson had been disseminated a full year earlier.
Helgerson also concluded that waterboarding was riskier than officials claimed and reported that the CIA�s Office of Medical Services thought the risk to the health of some prisoners outweighed any potential intelligence benefit, according to the memos.
The IG report is among several indications that the Bush administration�s use of abusive interrogation methods was less productive than some former administration officials have claimed.
Even some of those in the military who developed the techniques warned that the information they produced was �less reliable� than that gained by traditional psychological measures, and that using them would produce an �intolerable public and political backlash when discovered,� according to a Senate Armed Services Committee report released on Tuesday.
President George W. Bush said at a September 2006 news conference that one plot, to attack a Los Angeles office tower, was �derailed� in early 2002 � before the interrogation measures were approved, contrary to claims that waterboarding revealed it.
Last December, FBI Director Robert Mueller told Vanity Fair magazine that he didn�t believe that intelligence gleaned from abusive interrogation techniques had disrupted any attacks on America.
The New York Times first reported Helgerson�s inspector general�s report in November 2005, but details of its contents have remained secret. A version of the report that the CIA turned over to the ACLU in May 2008 in response to a lawsuit consisted primarily of heavy black lines and notations of sections that had been redacted.


The motto of North Sea Clothing is "Whatever the Weather," and while they're not referring to the current ninety some-odd degrees, they do mean that the "Expedition" sweater will withstand anything winter can throw at it. The official sweater of the British Navy from WW II, the wool used in its yarns are not washed prior to spinning. With the natural lanolin left in the wool, the sweater is essentially waterproof and able to keep out the most bitter wind. The shawl's styling is just as relevant today as it was seventy years ago and — with the assertion by North Sea that this product will last pretty much forever — it will be for years to come.


On this episode of Cook This! with Shereen, Shereen shows how to make a refreshing Jalapeno Margarita to keep cool in this summer weather.
Margaritas and Mexican food go together like, well, peanut butter and jelly.
And thanks to Shereen Pavlides' recipe, there is a way to bring all the heat and spice of South-of-the-Border cuisine to your favorite icy cold cocktail.
Jalapeño Margaritas feature slices of the pungent peppers stirred into the the drink mixture right before serving.
The resulting beverage is perfect for drinking with nachos, tostados or fatijas, or for sipping on the porch while watching the summertime world go by. Either way, don't forget the salted rim!
I’ve found marinating the margarita mixture with jalapeño slices makes this cocktail unenjoyably spicy, whereas, stirring in a few slices right before serving gives this cocktail a delightful, beautiful flavoring of jalapeño with a mild zip. And don’t forget the salt. Just a pinch creates a whole new level of flavor.
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a 2-quart sauce-pot over high heat. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Boil the sugar water until syrupy, 10-12 minutes. Remove to cool. Can refrigerate tightly covered for up to 1 week.
In a small pitcher, add tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and simple syrup. Stir well until combined.
Fill 2 rocks glasses with ice. Pour margarita mixture among both glasses. Add 2-3 jalapeño slices, 1 teaspoon cilantro and a pinch of salt per glass and stir.


BEIJING (Reuters) - A powerful blast at a prefabricated house in northwestern China on Monday killed at least 14 people and injured 147, state news agency Xinhua said.
The explosion occurred in the early afternoon in the town of Xinmin in Shaanxi province, damaging dozens of buildings including the local hospital, Xinhua said.
An initial police investigation indicated that the blast was caused by illegally stored explosives, Xinhua said, adding that authorities had detained the owner of the building and were searching for the tenant.
Eleven of the injured were in intensive care.
Pictures carried by state media showed rescuers digging through the rubble of low rise buildings, though searches for the incident on Chinese social media were blocked on Tuesday.
China has a bad safety record, with previous blasts blamed on poorly stored chemicals or industrial explosives which are easy to get hold of due to their use in China’s booming coal mining sector.
A series of powerful explosions last year at a chemicals warehouse in the northern city of Tianjin killed 165.
There have also been cases of people deliberately setting off blasts to settle local grievances such as land disputes.


LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Starpowa, a leading provider in healthcare and vitamins, today announced the launch of its newly designed website at www.starpowa.com. The completely revamped website features a streamlined and simplified design, improved functionality and enriched content areas to help customers looking for enriched hair, nails and skin.
"We are excited to debut our brand new company website to our customers, clients, partners, media and visitors who are looking to understand how Starpowa works and the benefits it offers customers," said Sean Phillips head of digital marketing. "This website redesign is truly another way we at Starpowa are committed to creating the best experience for our customers and website visitors as possible."
Starpowa's new website will be regularly updated with news on new company products, accomplishments and events as well as industry developments and news.
Visitors are encouraged to explore the new website and check out the different ways in which Starpowa products can help customers look and feel great.
For further information on Starpowa, visit Starpowa.com or alternatively, email hello@starpowa.com.


ONTARIO - A litter of six puppies have made their temporary home at the Humane Society of Richland County.
They will be up for adoption on Dec. 23, just in time for Christmas.
Humane agent Missy Houghton said the owner surrendered the lab/shepherd mix puppies because he could not care for them. And they are a happy, healthy group of busy four-legged friends.
"They are a stress-reliever," said Houghton, who posted photographs of the puppies on her Facebook page.
The puppies, five males and a female, are between three and four months old, Houghton said. People cannot interact with them yet because they just had their shots and are being kept separate from the other dogs.
While cats and kittens, and pups, dogs and other animals are wonderful additions to any family, Houghton said pets are looking for forever homes. If people are considering getting a pet for Christmas, it's meant to be a long-term commitment.
She said people can buy a gift certificate for another person, allowing them to come in and pick out a pet, but the office doesn't want someone to buy a dog for someone else as a gift.
"Usually families are getting a pet for themselves and we don't have a problem with that," she said.
Richland County Dog Shelter Warden Dave Jordan said the dog shelter currently has 31 large and medium breed dogs and eight small breeds at the North Home Road facility.
"The numbers are down. Quite often we have 70 dogs," Jordan said. "We've had a lot of adoptions lately and Christmas might have something to do with that."
He said the actual person adopting the dog from the dog shelter has to fill out the paperwork.
"We would not encourage adopting a dog for someone else unless it's a person in your house," he said. "We want it to be a successful adoption, and have people make sure all the animals in their house get along."
When adopting a dog, Jordan said take your time, have patience and be sure you can afford to have the dog spayed or neutered as unexpected incidents occur requiring veterinarian care.
"It takes time, patience and responsibility," Jordan said.
"We want to make sure the next home for our dogs is their permanent home," he added.
Jordan said he also wanted to stress to current or potential pet owners that short-haired dogs should not be out in the weather this time of year.
The humane society currently offers a foster for the holidays program, which continues through the first week of January, allowing a person to take an animal home on a trial basis.
"If they decide they want to adopt the pet, they receive a reduced cost on the adoption price," she said.
The humane society, 3025 Park Avenue West, is open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. and Thursdays from noon to 7 p.m.
For hours of operation for the Richland County Dog Shelter, call 419-7745892.


A workshop followed by a public conversation helped scientists find new ways to talk about their scientific research to audiences they do not often communicate with. Religion and spirituality can be agents for scientific learning.
How do you communicate science to people who hold different worldviews? While there is no single answer, one crucial element can make the difference between hearing and listening: connection.
Most Americans are supportive of science and also identify as religious or spiritual, but scientists can be uncertain about how to foster dialogue with people who hold worldviews different than their own. At two events hosted by Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth) and the Office of Science Outreach on Jan. 25, participants gained insight into how to make scientific connections in new ways.
The events – a workshop for Stanford researchers followed by a public discussion – were sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society with a mission of advancing science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.
Alexandra Bausch, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth system science with professor Anne Dekas, echoed the importance of stepping outside academia. As her next step following the workshop, she committed to updating her blog about finding beauty in everyday science.
We scientists feel so sure of ourselves because we have data to back it up…it’s very hard for us to listen.
Workshop facilitator Rob O’Malley, a DoSER senior program associate and primate behavioral ecologist, noted the importance of speaking with empathy, respect, cultural awareness and humility. He encouraged participants to find common ground and reminded them that debates don’t often change minds.
Attendees at the evening public lecture in Encina Hall heard ideas about how religion and spirituality can be agents for scientific learning. Nalini Nadkarni, a professor of biology at the University of Utah, and Willis Jenkins, a professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia, discussed their outreach in a conversation moderated by Stephan Graham, the Chester Naramore Dean of Stanford Earth and a professor of geological sciences.
“Place science within the context of what might be considered holy or important to religious communities,” advised Nadkarni, referencing how different religions celebrate trees and other aspects of the natural world through rituals.
Jenkins discussed how creative experiences with science – such as meditating on nature sounds and creating music based on natural phenomena – can foster connection on a deep level.
“Integrating this spiritual openness is not rivalrous to scientific endeavor – in fact, it might even add to it,” he said.
Through illustrative stories about their work in academia and with local communities, they opened an honest exchange of ideas.
“We scientists feel so sure of ourselves because we have data to back it up…it’s very hard for us to listen,” Nadkarni said.
She emphasized the importance of engaging in conversations whenever possible, such as asking if the person next to you on a flight wants to hear about your research. It’s important to approach the topics with which people are already engaged, she said. For example, what kind of wood is used in baseball bats – and are those species endangered?


Will one of these be our new flag?
The Government's panel deciding what could be the country's next flag says it had to cast off many very good designs, to whittle down 10,293 submissions to just 40.
Koru, the silver fern, and the southern cross feature heavily, along with the use of black, red, blue, green and white.
Some of them are developments of the existing flag, while others are radical departures.
From this list of 40, just four will be chosen to put to the vote at a referendum.
The Flag Consideration Panel's chairman, John Burrows, said cutting the list down from thousands to just 40 was not an easy task.
He said the flag should be "unmistakably New Zealand", showing that it is a special and individual country.
"You'll see some themes, certain symbols kept recurring both in the designs and when we talked to people.
"The silver fern, I think, some people see as the symbol by which we're best known throughout the world, the koru is there as well.
"But we've also got some other more abstract ones which also tell a story, and the story tends to be where we've come from - that we are moving forward, and the place we come from," he said.
Anyone upset that their design has not made the final 40 has no way to appeal the panel's decision.
"The 40 that we have is final and we won't be adding to that.
"But you can understand that with such a huge number of designs, a very large number, of course, will be disappointed... some very good flags have missed out too," Professor Burrows said.
The panel used tikanga, art and design experts to provide confidential feedback as they narrowed the list down.
But Haami Piripi of Te Rarawa, who is among a group of Maori who started action at the Waitangi Tribunal to try to halt the flag referendums, said the chosen designs mean little to Maori.
"I don't think it could be argued in any of those flags that the Maori element has been highlighted or specified within the flag to represent this particular indigenous group of people.
"They're all fairly nice looking flags, but I don't think that for any of them you'd be able to say it's a Maori design," Mr Piripi said.
Sven Baker submitted about 200 designs and five of them have made it to the top 40, which he said left him incredibly surprised.
"I have no personal ambition being the author of the flag at all, I'm just fascinated by the process and believe it's the right thing to be doing for the country.
"I'd just like to see a new bold expression of our national identity on the world stage," he said.
Mr Baker is a professional designer. It is people like him that philanthropist Gareth Morgan was targetting when he launched his own design competition.
The winner of that competition, has in turn made it through to the final 40 chosen flags.
Mr Morgan is not convinced by other designs the panel has chosen.
"There's about three abstract designs out of the 40... giving it to the public, all you're going to do is get a cut-and-paste of the sort of symbols that we all associate with New Zealand," he said.
Mr Morgan said he found it interesting that the panel has "very heavily" sided with these sorts of designs.
"Of course the public are going to go with what they're familiar with; the southern cross, the silver fern and the koru irrespective of what the actual meaning of the flag is.
"So it's quite a conflict I think - these are sort of almost a set of corporate logos," Mr Morgan said.
The Returned and Services Association said it was maintaining its stance that there should be no change to the New Zealand flag, and that there is no need for "expensive and unnecessary" referendums.
"There will always be some very nice flags, some very nice designs and I'd never take that away from the people that have put a lot of work into those designs.
"However our argument has always been that we have a national flag and that's the one we believe we should maintain," RSA national president BJ Clark said.
Mr Clark said he has not seen public opinion that is "anywhere near" supporting a change of flag, and the RSA will start working on specific strategies to try to keep the New Zealand flag as it is.
The chosen designs will now undergo "further robust checks and verification" which will include probes around intellectual property aspects.
Four final flags will be announced by mid September, which will then be ranked by eligible voters in a first referendum later this year.


E-Sports Attract Big Money, Big Crowds And Former NBA Athletes As Owners : All Tech Considered E-sports competitors might be wielding swords and magic during their games, but these players are just as much athletes as those in the NFL and NBA. And that's according to the former pros themselves.
Thousands will watch the action as two teams duel with their fantasy characters and large swords during the League of Legends World Championship Finals in Los Angeles this weekend. Viewers will watch on large screens like they did during Paris Game Week.
Thousands will pack into the Staples Center in Los Angeles this weekend for a championship final event. It's not an uncommon scene for the center as it's home to the Los Angeles Lakers, but this weekend it's not the Lakers who are taking center court.
Crouched behind their computer screens the players will be competing in the 2016 League of Legends World Championship Finals. There's no action to watch on the court during these events, because all the action is shown on gigantic screens as the two teams go against one another.
Just like the Lakers, these teams of five players each are professional, and, as it turns out, some are owned by former pro athletes, including Rick Fox, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal. And the setup of their teams mirror the ones they used to play for.
"We hire coaches. We have GMs. We have social media people. We have marketers in our organization. We have players that make six figures and above," Fox says.
Fox is a former LA Laker and three-time NBA champion. He owns a League of Legends franchise called Echo Fox, that he paid about $1 million for nearly a year ago.
Former Los Angeles Laker Rick Fox purchased a League of Legends team, which he named Echo Fox, last year. Fox says e-sports athletes have just as much ability as traditional pros, like NBA stars.
Fox started out playing League of Legends with his son and then they went to the World Championship Semifinals in Madison Square Garden in New York — and that was it. He was hooked.
"Being in an arena like Madison Square Garden, where I played for so many years previously, really ignited my passion for — not only being a fan of e-sports and an avid player myself, but also now becoming a team owner," Fox says.
While his love for the game led him to be an owner, there's also good business in e-sports.
"On opening night of NFL Weekend the No. 1 searched ticket on StubHub was not an NFL game, but the World Championship of League of Legends this weekend at the Staples Center," Fox says. "Tickets sold out in 10 to 12 minutes."
League of Legends is the top grossing video game in the world. Last year it earned $1.6 billion. In the World Championship Finals athletes are competing for the top prize of $1 million.
Fox says that although these athletes compete using their computers, they are just as much athletes as he ever was and put in hard work.
"The reason they're professional and masters at what they do is they make it easy and you think that you, as an average person can do it, right?" Fox says. "When you actually step into their shoes, you realize oh no, this has taken five, six, seven years of their lives to master."