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The present invention relates to a catalyst comprising a spinel which comprises copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and aluminum (Al), to a method for producing the catalyst comprising a spinel which comprises copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and aluminum (Al), as well as to the use of such a catalyst.
Published German Patent Application No. DE 43 01 470, discloses a CuAl.sub.2 O.sub.4 spinel wherein tin, lead and an oxide, a salt or an elemental form of an element of the second main or subsidiary group of the Periodic Table has been added, and subsequently calcined to form the final spinel. The spinel is used to decompose laughing gas (N.sub.2 O). However, this patent does not teach the use of this spinel as a catalyst for the catalytic oxidation of CO to CO.sub.2 and/or for the catalytic reduction of NO.sub.x, preferably of NO and NO.sub.2, especially at temperatures of several hundred degrees centigrade.
According to the present invention, a spinel is understood to be a material having the general chemical formula A.sub.a B.sub.b O.sub.4, which has, at least microscopically, a crystallographic or crystalline cubic lattice structure with face-centered oxygen ions and with tetrahedral or octahedral gaps. All the A atoms and up to 50% of the B atoms are disposed in the tetrahedral gaps and the remaining B atoms are disposed in the octahedral gaps. The term A atom or B atom refers here only to the crystallographic arrangement. From a material point of view, the A atoms, as well as the B atoms, can be different from one another.
For environmental reasons, the purification of gases, particularly of exhaust gases, which are produced by internal combustion engines for example, especially, by diesel engines and engines operating on a lean mixture, as well as the decrease in the CO content of exhaust gases and the denitrification of these gases, that is, the decomposition of nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x), is a pressing problem.
Published European Patent Application No. EP 042 471 discloses a catalyst which is used for catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) to carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) and contains the metals copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and aluminum (Al) as metal oxides. At least 60% of the copper present is bound to the aluminum oxide as a copper oxide/aluminum oxide spinel. Zinc oxide is disposed in the free spaces of the porous spinel in a proportion by weight of between 1% to 20%.
However, the catalyst disclosed in EP 042 471 is known only for its purifying action with regard to carbon monoxide, which is based on the catalytic oxidation of the carbon monoxide. Whether the catalyst is also suitable for the purification of gases containing NO.sub.x and/or hydrocarbons, as occur in the case of the above-mentioned internal combustion engines and also in incinerator power plants and the like, is not disclosed.
It is an object of the present invention to develop a catalyst that has good resistance to exhaust gases components, and also has a good purifying action, particularly for NO.sub.x. Moreover, it is a further object of the present invention to develop a method for the production of such a catalyst.
Pursuant to the present invention, these and other objects are accomplished with a catalyst wherein at least one element selected from the group consisting of palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, iridium, rhenium, lanthanum, cerium, vanadium, titanium, niobium, molybdenum, tungsten, salts thereof and oxides thereof is added to a copper oxide/zinc oxide/aluminum oxide spinel having the chemical formula EQU Cu.sub.A Zn.sub.B Al.sub.C O.sub.4
wherein A+B+C.ltoreq.3 and A>0, B>0 and C>0.
Furthermore, these and other objects are also accomplished by providing a method for the production of such a catalyst comprising producing a spinel comprising copper, zinc and aluminum from copper oxide, zinc oxide and aluminum oxide, and incorporating in the spinel at least one element selected from the group consisting of palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, iridium, rhenium, lanthanum, cerium, vanadium, titanium, niobium, molybdenum, tungsten, salts thereof and oxides thereof.
As a result of the use of a Cu.sub.A Zn.sub.B Al.sub.C O.sub.4 spinel as a catalyst, wherein A+B+C.ltoreq.3, A>0, B>0, and C>0, wherein at least one of palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, osmium, iridium, rhenium, and/or rare earth, such as lanthanum and cerium, vanadium, titanium, niobium, molybdenum, tungsten and/or salts thereof and/or oxides thereof have been added, the catalyst is largely resistant to exhaust gas components such as H.sub.2 O, NO.sub.x, CO.sub.2 and/or SO.sub.2 ; and the catalyst acts in an oxidizing manner on the hydrocarbons and in a catalytically reducing manner on the NO.sub.x. The reduction of NO.sub.x takes place in an oxygen-containing gas and in the presence of reducing agents, such as hydrocarbons. Preferably, hydrocarbons are present in a sufficient concentration in the exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine. In preferred cases, reduction rates of more than 60% can be achieved at temperatures above 300.degree. C.
According to the present invention, substoichiometric compounds in which Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 functions as a matrix and which have characteristic spinel lines in the X-ray spectrum, are also regarded as spinels. In such substoichiometric compositions, a spinel of the composition AAl.sub.2 O.sub.4 is present in an Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 matrix, so that an A.sub.(1-X) Al.sub.2 O.sub.4 stoichiometry results.
In a preferred embodiment, the catalyst is preferably a copper oxide/zinc oxide/aluminum oxide spinel having the chemical formula EQU Cu.sub.(1-B) Zn.sub.B Al.sub.2 O.sub.4
wherein 0<B<1.
In another preferred embodiment, the catalyst is a copper oxide/zinc oxide/aluminum oxide spinel having the chemical formula Cu.sub.0.5 Zn.sub.0.5 Al.sub.2 O.sub.4.
According to the present invention, the spinel is preferably used as a molded object or a split Villz billet, particularly a honeycomb.
According to the present invention, the spinel preferably comprises between 0.5% and 15% by weight cerium oxide, particularly between 1 and 8% by weight.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | USPTO Backgrounds |
Ann Fagan Ginger
Ann Fagan Ginger (born July 11, 1925) is an American lawyer, teacher, writer, and political activist. She is the founder and the Executive Director Emerita of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute in Berkeley. CA.
Ginger has been a visiting professor of law at Hastings, U. of Santa Clara, Puget Sound Law Schools and San Francisco State. She is the author of 22 books and many articles, and lectures widely. She is an expert in human rights law and peace law under the statutes and treaties of the United States and the United Nations, and has argued and won before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was the Chair of the City of Berkeley Commission on Peace and Justice from 1986-1989 and Vice-Chair from 1989-1999.
Ann Fagan Ginger was the wife of historian and author Ray Ginger (1924 – 1975).
Partial list of books
Bill of Rights Citator 1955-1966 [1967]
Holdings of Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute and ACLU 1920-1966 [1967]
California Criminal Law Practice [vol. I, 1969]
The Relevant Lawyers;: Conversations out of court on their clients, their practice, their politics, their life style [1972]
Human Rights Case Finder, 1953—1969
The Law, the Supreme Court, and the People's Rights [1977]
Jury Selection in Civil and Criminal Trials [1984]
The National Lawyers Guild From Roosevelt through Reagan (ed.)
The Cold War Against Labor [1987]
Carol Weiss King: Human Rights Lawyer (1895-52) [1993] about mentor Carol Weiss King
Nuclear Weapons Are Illegal: The Historic Opinion of the World Court and How It Will Be Enforced [1998] Summary
Human Rights and Peace Law in the U.S. [2003]
Challenging U.S. Human Rights Violations since 9/11 [2005] Table of Contents
Landmark Cases Left Out Of Your Textbooks (ed.) [2006]
The Living Constitution (ed.) [2007]
Undoing The Bush-Cheney Legacy: A Tool Kit for Congress and Activists (ed.) [2008]
The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights Is the Law: A Guide to U.D.H.R. Articles in Treaties Ratified by the U.S. (ed.) [2009]
References
External links
2005 radio interview with Ann Fagan Ginger
Category:American legal scholars
Category:California lawyers
Category:International law scholars
Category:American legal writers
Category:American anti–nuclear weapons activists
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:American human rights activists
Category:Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
Category:1925 births
Category:Living people
Category:American women lawyers
Category:American women non-fiction writers
Category:Women legal scholars | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Ricky Gervais was enjoying a relatively quiet time, promoting his new show, when I met him a few weeks ago at his office in Hampstead. We had a nice chat, he talked about comedy, explained in the abstract that causing offence isn't in and of itself a bad thing, then a few days later managed to offend everyone so violently that he wound up being lectured on morality by the front page of the Sun.
He had tossed out a reference to "mong" on Twitter and, when challenged, defended and aggressively reused it on the basis that the word had evolved from its original meaning and was no longer a term of abuse for disabled people. After he was corrected by Down's syndrome groups and a mother of two disabled children, he backed down. But the scale of the outrage, and his defiance in the face of it, was stoked by a lurking sense that he was in any case overdue for a kicking. "Someone even suggested it was a PR stunt," he said. "Amazing."
His office is a modest suite of rooms one floor above shop level, bare but for a desk, a chair and a rash of Post-it notes on the wall outlining episodes for his forthcoming show, Life's Too Short. When I walk in, Gervais is staring at his computer in a way that comes across as a little nervous. He lives around the corner and can be out of bed and at work in no time, which is why, though a workaholic, he gets up at 9.30am and schedules his first meetings for 11. "I'm a toddler. I need 10 hours' sleep. I'm the opposite of Margaret Thatcher." He issues his trademark laugh, that incredulous, high-pitched cackle, exposing sharp incisors in a newly lean face. "Yeah – I'm a workaholic between the hours of 11 and 3." Except when he's filming, when he starts at the impossibly early hour of 8am. "Why? What are we, farmers?" And he cracks up again.
At 50, there is something about him reminiscent of the student union entertainments officer he once was – that combination of sarcastic and giggly: half nerdy, half threatening. Reception of the new show will almost certainly be coloured by the recent dispute, though he was anticipating criticism anyway. For all his scrupulous irony, Gervais has advanced to a state of defensiveness wherein he can unjokingly say things like, "I embrace the haters." (Why? "Because it means I'm doing something right. The importance of art is to make a connection.")
The new show is similar in format to Extras and The Office, and follows Warwick Davis, "the UK's go-to dwarf", in a fake documentary about his theatrical dwarf-hiring agency. There is a lot of falling down, a lot of height gags – he can't reach the doorbell – which play both on the delusions of the hero and the inadequacy of the people around him and which, Gervais predicts, will no doubt be Taken Wrongly. "People are straight away thinking it's going to be a cruel comedy – why? Why do they assume that? It's their prejudice. People confuse the subject of a joke with the target of a joke."
He takes refuge in the controversy-as-proof-of-insight defence. It's a comedian's job, he has said, to make people think as well as laugh. Of Life's Too Short, he says, "I must admit I was excited by the fact that we owned the -ism." By which he means dwarfism. He looks thoroughly martyred. "Another taboo subject."
Gervais was 40 when the first season of The Office was made, late enough that he has retained the mannerisms of a regular guy. He was happy in his previous existence, enjoyed his job scriptwriting at the radio station Xfm with Stephen Merchant, had nice friends, lived with his long-term partner, the producer turned novelist Jane Fallon, and was more or less content to carry on like that, getting his kicks from being the funniest guy in the pub after work. When The Office got picked up by the BBC, Gervais's lack of desperation – and the fact that it represented a relatively small investment by the corporation – emboldened him to make most of the creative decisions himself. Although he looks back on his 30s and shudders at his complacency, it was never a question of fame at any cost.
He has a lot of celebrities at his disposal these days. Extras called in favours from all those A-listers who went around saying how much they loved The Office, and the same goes for Life's Too Short. In the first two episodes, Johnny Depp pops up to take the piss out of himself, as does Liam Neeson, asking Gervais for advice on how to become a standup comic. The episode with Depp draws on Gervais's infamous roasting of the actor at the Golden Globes and plays like a Hollywood end-of-term review. Did Depp have to be talked into it? No, Gervais says. "I sent him an email and said, 'Sorry about the Golden Globes, how would you like to get your own back?' He replied, 'I care not a jot, sir. I've been a fan of yours for ages. I found it hilarious. I read worse things about myself every day and it would be an honour.'"
Gervais says: "His emails are like poetry. He's made of bohemia, d'you know what I mean?" He grins. "He's such a sweet soul."
It's funnier, though, isn't it, to have a scene with D-listers like Cannon and Ball (or Hale and Pace) trying to get into the Ivy than A-listers sending themselves up. It seems like yet another layer of celebrity vanity; as well as everything else, they want kudos for self-awareness.
"Yes. Of course. That's true. On a meta-level, we know they are never really harmed by this. There's an irony shield. The more they make a fool of themselves, the less they can be like that. At the end of the day, we know they're winning."
But? "But. Sometimes, realism aside, comedically, there's something tantalising about finding the best/worst person for that gag. So when you have a sketch about the worst person ever to tell you they want to do comedy, who is it? It's our John Wayne. It's the man from Schindler's List and Rob Roy. I can't pass up that chance because people might prefer Cannon and Ball. I'm still making entertainment. It can't be democracy."
I know a lot of people who preferred Extras to The Office; it was gentler, less painful to watch. The relationship between the Ricky character and Ashley Jensen was genuinely moving and captured their best friendship in such a way that you came away from the series with a sense of both Gervais's great writing talent and his probable sturdiness as a mate. "Which would you rather have," he says to Jensen on the phone one day, in lieu of hello, "a bionic arm or a bionic leg?" and it said everything you needed to know about their relationship.
Which would he rather have? "Leg, obviously. What can you do with the arm?" He thinks about it for a second and recalibrates: "Problem is, if you launched yourself with a bionic leg, you'd throw your back out. So you'd need a bionic spine, too." He grins. He doesn't buy anything very glitzy with his wealth, but if they ever invent a jetpack, he says, he'd sell his house to get his hands on one.
Gervais is a terrific snob about the right and wrong kind of fame, and about what one does with it. For example, the celebrity cameos on Extras don't just play themselves. They play carefully crafted versions of themselves as conceived by Gervais. "Anyone can get these people in for Comic Relief. But [Extras] is part of their job, this is part of their oeuvre. It's on their IMDb page."
And he gets annoyed when he's lumped in with desperate wannabes. "I do the same red carpet sometimes as Kim Kardashian. But I'm going, 'Watch the thing I made' not, 'Look at my fanny.'" He says, "I never signed a deal with the devil: make me famous and you can go through my bins. Some people do. Sometimes they deserve it."
Not that Gervais hasn't, occasionally, done things just for the cheque. When he was still relatively unknown, he did a couple of voiceovers, for Fairy Liquid and Miniature Heroes – "Most money I'd ever seen" – and when he first got famous, he did a couple of standup gigs for corporate clients. "I didn't want to. I went, ah, it'll be horrible, and then a really weird thing: it was the same amount as my dad's salary. For 40 minutes. And then I felt guilty – who am I to turn this down? And I did it. And then I went, no, fuck that. I don't want to do it." These days he turns down advertising offers. "I'm not on my high horse, I'm not all Bill Hicks about it." But, he says, "I don't want to be famous for being the bloke in the John Smith's advert." Unless it's a favour for a friend, Gervais resents doing anything he hasn't had a hand in creating.
"I don't count it as my oeuvre," he says. "If people said, what's your job, I'd probably say The Office, Extras, The Invention Of Lying, Cemetery Junction, Flanimals, the podcasts, Idiot Abroad and Life's Too Short. Popping up on The Simpsons is great, or popping up on the Golden Globes. But I do the Golden Globes like some people play golf. Win, lose or draw, it doesn't affect me. I'm not beholden to anyone, I don't have to be nice to directors. I don't have to be nice to anyone."
His not-being-nice-to-anyone routine is the thing, in his comedy, that Gervais spends the most time justifying and explaining. If he satirises bigotry by using bigoted language, he can't be held responsible, he says, for idiots who mistake it for the real thing. Given "half the population believes God made the universe 5,000 years ago", what can you do? "Just because someone is offended doesn't mean they're right. Some people are offended by equality. Or mixed marriage. So you're offended? So what? I've got no issues. I'm not trying to offend or annoy or insult. I'm trying to have a laugh."
Still, whether or not through audience stupidity, it remains the case that some of his jokes get a large kickback off the chauvinism they purport to be satirising. The Golden Globes furore mainly focused on his jibe about Scientology, not something even the bravest comedian is usually minded to do – "I did carefully word that. I was really, really careful." In the event, the Scientologists left him alone. It was Kim Cattrall who complained about remarks about Sex And The City 2 along the lines of, "I was sure the Golden Globe For Special Effects would go to the team that airbrushed that poster. We know how old you are, girls. I saw one of you in an episode of Bonanza."
Cattrall accused him of being ageist, although it came off as plain sexism. "No," Gervais says, "it's the opposite. I don't think you lose your sensuality at 50. But why are we pandering to Hollywood that you have to look 25? The target is the opposite of what she thought." But if the effect, on a particular crowd, is to reinforce the original prejudice, the intention of the teller starts to sound a little hollow.
There is a level of success, perhaps, that makes a comedian deaf to the impact of some of his jokes and Gervais, after being called a "moron" by Deborah Orr in this newspaper and attacked by other columnists elsewhere, conceded his casual use of a term still used to ridicule disabled people was wrong. He is at pains to point out that it wasn't the hacks – "the gossip mongers, shit-stirrers and attention seekers who are jumping on the bandwagon" – who changed his opinion, but Nicky Clark, the mother of disabled children who appeared on the BBC to counter Gervais.
Given his reach, his initial defence of the word, which he worked into some ill-advised jokes to wind up his detractors – "Good monging" etc – looked like bullying and was worse than the original insult. "I was only defending it in the sense that I was sure the word had changed. And it has for a whole generation. However, if there is even a tiny chance of it still being used as a word of hate, then that's enough reason for me as a public figure to stop using it," he says now.
He hasn't spoken to Francesca Martinez, the disabled actor who worked with him on Extras and who called him out during the debacle. "I haven't spoken to anyone except Nicky Clark to put the record straight. Don't know if it has or not. If it has, fine. If it hasn't, it's just one more in the huge list of myths and legends."
It's a qualified climb-down, but then belligerence has always been part of Gervais's appeal, his faith in his own opinion a relief from so much focus-grouped spinelessness. It was his mentor Christopher Guest who, when Gervais's two films, Cemetery Junction and The Invention Of Lying, went before focus groups, reassured him he was right to ignore them. There was nothing he could do, however, when, to meet airline standards, Gervais was required ruthlessly to edit the latter for the inflight version. Every sniff of a swearword had to come out, even "gosh". He became so infuriated, he corrupted the whole process. There is a scene in the film, which is set in a world where no one can lie, in which Jennifer Garner opens the door and says to Gervais, her prospective date, "Oh, you're early, I was just masturbating." To which he replies, "That makes me think of your vagina."
"We couldn't have that," says Gervais, "so we went with, 'Hi, you're early. I was just masticating.' And I go, 'That makes me think of your angina.'" He starts rocking with laughter. "Cos I was so angry. This is fucking ridiculous, so we just started taking the piss. Someone watching on the plane will be going, what the fuck is this about?" He's almost crying with laughter. "Oh dear."
The criterion he has for starting any project is: how much fun will this be? It has to come out of play and an adrenaline rush. Parts of his career make him look like a business genius – the podcasts, say, which he, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington gave away for free until, having established a multimillion-strong audience, they started to charge for them. But, he says, they weren't that clever. He did the podcast because it was funny, he missed doing radio and he could fit the recording sessions into his schedule wherever he liked. He was also curious about the new technology. "I thought, I wonder if this can work? What can I do with this? It's a new playground." At the time, when the most popular podcasts were getting around 10,000 downloads, Gervais and co attracted more than a quarter of a million listeners in the first month. To this point, he has given away 320m free downloads and sold around 5m.
That's astonishing, I say, and with a certain Orson Welles gleam Gervais replies, "Yeah, but there are six billion people in the world. Six billion. OK. When you think of a hit show on TV that might get five million – that's nothing." He won't ever admit to ratings-chasing. (This whole business on Twitter comes in the context of Gervais having left the social network a while back because it was "undignified" and rejoining only recently, he says, because "it's fun. I want to see what happens." What happens, mainly, is promotion of his products.) He insists he is not interested in hustling to get the kind of audience figures that, say, Two And A Half Men gets in the US, or My Family used to get in the UK – 10 million a week, way more than The Office or Extras. But, says Gervais, "Why would you want to be in a huge club with no door policy? D'you know what I mean? You want to be in an exclusive club. Most things are shit. Most art, most music, most carpentry is shit. But when you see a beautiful piece of furniture or a wonderful painting, you go, aaah. Oh, I get it. It has nothing in common with that other stuff. You want to be in that gang."
To ask whether success has made him insufferable is a nonsensical question, he says; it would never get to that stage, although tweets such as, "Dear fans Don't give the haters any attention Those people aren't really offended by the things I say – they are offended by my success" aren't overly endearing, even if accurate. The point is, he says, he still has his old friends, his family, his partner, Jane, all good people. "When I first came into it, I was very conscious of reputation. I thought it was everything. And now I think, no, it's not actually. Because reputation is what strangers think you're like. Character is what you're really like. And all my best friends and my family know what my character is."
It's true that the first butt of his jokes is and always has been Gervais himself. He can deliver all the highfalutin theories of comedy he likes, he says, but for most people The Office was about "a little fat bloke doing that dance". Speaking of which, is the weight loss a vain reaction to his fame? No, he says. He was thin in his 20s, when he was running around on the dole. Then, in his 30s, he bulked up – "The eating years." And then, "Christmas before last I thought enough is enough. I woke up after a sausage binge, and I thought I'm going to fucking die here, it's crazy. Nothing to do with vanity. Nothing. I play putzes in the next two films. I don't want to die. But I also don't want to give up anything. So I still eat and drink like a pig, but then work out like Rocky the next day. I'm only living longer to eat more cheese."
He has a lot on his plate at the moment: a movie version of Flanimals, his children's book – "My baby." More films in the pipeline, and the new TV show. He and Jane divide their time between the house in Hampstead and two homes in New York, but apart from that, he says, his life isn't that glamorous. Most evenings "I'm in my pyjamas with a bottle of wine open and the cat on my lap, watching telly. It's as normal as I've ever been."
• Life's Too Short starts on BBC2 on Thursday 10 November. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
The PBE has been updated! As we continue the 8.24 PBE cycle, today's patch includesChoose and Ban VO,chroma assets, and tentative balance changes!Continue reading for more information!
( Warning : PBE Content is tentative and subject to change - what you see below may not reflect what eventually gets pushed to live servers at the end of the cycle! Manage your expectations accordingly.)
Table of Contents
Continued Neeko Testing
Summoner Icons
Poro on Fire Icon, Finisher Icon, Recall Icon
Crafted after playing Nexus Blitz during the 2018 Snowdown event.
Miscellaneous
Our newest championcontinues testing on the PBE, and today's update brings her Choose and Ban quotes: Choose VO : "Neeko is best decision!" Ban VO : "They cannot handle Neeko."Three Nexus Blitz summoner icons are now on the PBE: | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
The Russian 90s began in 1991, when all of a sudden, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. The complete collapse of a system and its ideals created a vacuum that was filled by an avalanche of the new: new things to buy and discover, new music, TV, sexuality and identity. For youth culture, it was a decade for rebels, visionaries and pre-digital innovators: the journey was risky but freedom tasted sweet.
In this project we want to recapture something of the 90s spirit. Influential music critic Artemy Troitsky remembers the drugs, sex and excess of these hazy, chaotic years; we pick out some of the era’s defining trends, from fake Adidas trainers to pagers to Bounty bars; and revisit the outrageous pop hits which used to blow away school discos. Through the lens of Alessandro Albert and Paolo Verzone, we look at what Muscovites were wearing in 2001: just after the 90s, but still infused with their style. We also celebrate OM and Ptyuch, the Russian answers to Dazed & Confused and The Face, featuring the first-ever Russian fashion shoots, crazy layouts and daring editorials. Igor Shulinsky, editor of Ptyuch, recalls the first Moscow nightclubs and the blast of creative energy that was unleashed after decades of oppression, loud and unstoppable.
Sandwiched between the Soviet period and the rise of conservatism in the Noughties, the 90s were a special time, dangerous but fun, ruthless but free. We take a ride back in search of this creative freedom.
Text: Anastasiia Fedorova
Curator of the project: Lesya Myata | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Prop 70’s resounding defeat signals need for bolder climate leadership
Maricela Morales | Guest columnist
We now know the next governor will be either Gavin Newsom or John Cox.
Newsom has promised to be a voice for environmental justice and to protect climate funds that are dedicated to communities of color and low-income Californians. We know Cox is the oil industry’s favorite, but how real is Newsom’s commitment?
Newsom’s absence from our coalition’s gubernatorial debate on environmental justice in Los Angeles earlier this year gave us reason for concern as to whether he will show up and stand up for issues that impact communities of color. Our families need to know: Will our next governor truly follow the lead of our environmental justice champions, or will it mean more of the same deceptive deals with Big Oil, as was the case with Prop 70?
Low-income residents and communities of color across California are not only on the frontlines of climate change — they’re also at the forefront when it comes to sustainable solutions. But despite our progress in transitioning toward clean energy, powerful Sacramento lobbyists want to keep Californians hooked on fossil fuels rather than enabling community-led solutions like accessible and affordable transportation options. Prop 70, which voters soundly just defeated this month, illustrates this ongoing threat.
If passed, Prop 70 would have senselessly tied up proceeds from California's climate program in endless political gridlock by subjecting it to a two-thirds vote starting in 2024. The very same Big Oil companies that pollute our communities also pushed Prop 70 because they knew imposing a supermajority vote would mean a chance to steer these funds away from some of the programs our communities depend on and toward their own priorities.
In Ventura County, for example, funds have backed direct bus service from Oxnard to Camarillo, affordable housing, plug-in cars and zero-emission transit, solar panels, tree planting, and other investments that boost air quality for everyone.
Investments from our state’s climate program have benefited working families across the state — so far, more than 50 percent of the just under $1 billion spent has benefited disadvantaged communities. These funds have made a difference for service industry workers like Dayane Zuniga, who previously had to commute three hours each way just to get to work. She would board a bus in Oxnard, transferring to two other buses before arriving at her job in Camarillo almost three hours later.
When grassroots leaders from the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) met with local officials and testified at public hearings, the Ventura County Transportation Commission said they lacked the funds to create a direct bus line between the two neighboring cities.
Two years later, they found the money: through proceeds from the state’s climate investments program. Due to advocacy by environmental justice activists, a significant share of this funding is allocated each year to help clean the air and create good local green jobs in the most polluted neighborhoods in the state, including much of Oxnard. With these funds, the county launched a direct bus line between Oxnard and Camarillo. Now, both communities enjoy the benefits of less traffic and cleaner air.
Thanks to the leadership of communities of color fighting to defeat Prop 70, this toxic measure is behind us, but the threat remains. For generations, Ventura County’s electricity has come from fossil fuel power plants that have been concentrated in Oxnard. Industrial pollution in Oxnard contributes to families suffering from some of California’s highest asthma rates.
This also means that when faced with a catastrophe like the Thomas Fire, when the fragile transmission lines stretching from Oxnard go down, power goes out throughout our entire region. These real impacts of climate change in our most vulnerable neighborhoods illustrate that while environmental injustice hurts low-income people most intensely, it ultimately harms everyone in our community.
By leading the defeat of Prop 70, working-class communities of color like Oxnard showed California’s next governor must prioritize the state’s most polluted neighborhoods when crafting climate change and clean air policies.
The message we sent to the next governor with this vote is that real climate leadership means implementing bold, homegrown solutions that directly benefit communities on the frontlines of climate change.
Prop 70’s demise also reveals the next governor should not make deals like this with the oil industry again, jeopardizing critical funding that benefits low-income communities. We need real climate leadership, not more of the same.
Maricela Morales is the Executive Director at the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), and the Central Coast Alternate Representative at the California Coastal Commission. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
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It took the rest of the afternoon, a night under the stars, and a few hours the following morning, but the companions eventually reached the bleak and quiet Ganse. Having to move at an incredibly slow pace, often stopping to rest as they hauled their spoils, while being ever vigilant for possible thieves and of course, other bandits, the companions allowed themselves a few smiles when the dingy, nearly abandoned, mining town’s walls, were once again before them.
After a few minutes walk the adventurers came upon a bizarre scene, some mad god’s idea of a settlement! It took a few minutes for their senses to adjust, and finally they realized what they had come upon. The signpost nailed to a particularly tall laurel stump helped as well.
“Come witness the Dragon-Child!! The World’s Biggest Dwarf!! Lady Stick!! The Fire-Eater!! The Four-Legged Girl!! The Pickled Punks!! Hanging Kang!! The Living Ghoul!! Vallace the Whipmaster!! The Poisonous Boy!! The Centaur Princess!!
“Many Other Oddities, Curiosities, Horrors, and Wonders of Distant and Exotic Lands!!”
The sign seemed a bit amateurish, as if it was put up not by the proprietors of the traveling troupe, but by some local in his or her excitement.
The companions gazed upon the chaotic scene before them. Stretching along the normally featureless field surrounding the approach to Ganse, nestled like a noose around the town, was what appeared to be another town, though not a permanent one. Wagons, carts and tents took the place of houses and homes. Everything seemed temporary. From a distance, the caravan trains and jumbled stalls lining the huge meadow looked like fattened, lazing caterpillars to the companions. The whole place in fact seemed pregnant with anticipation.
It was late morning. As the companions made their way among the gypsies and their endless stalls, they noticed that half the folk were only stirring now, shaking off hangovers and worse ailments from the previous night. The other half, the carnies and merchants, seemed to be preparing, rushing around in frenetic states, setting up stalls, wheeling strange cages, readying small arenas for gaming and competition, and otherwise engaging in organizing and arranging everything for the evening’s coming festivities. There was even what looked like a huge, mobile inn, constructed to resemble a sea going vessel on wheels! The Landlubber, the sign read as the companions walked by.
All in all, there seemed to be more people outside the town walls, then the companions ever remembered there being inside the decrepit town.
Talia was unsurprised. She had even met Qil’Vanaros once, when Konos had introduced her to the quarrelsome elf many years ago. In fact, Talia knew this life well. Traveling the Hills of Holubuska, trading goods, and occasionally entertaining the local hill-folk, who were made up of dozens of xenophobic tribes, normally hidden among their beloved forested hills, but crawling out of the woodworks, for the most famous caravan of all, The Endless Dream Journey. Ganse was the last stop on the “western leg” of their annual migration. This was the last and best troupe of the season. Soon, winter would come to Ganse.
The good news, Vee thought as he stared upon the weird convention sprawled out before him, was that he would probably have little trouble unloading some of the companions spoils here. Barter and trade would be alive and well in a place like this!
Vorodon wasn’t sure what to make of this. He was still uncomfortable among all these new “friends”, and now this. Would he be welcome here? The half-ogre pondered, and hoped to find his kin among the town guard.
Tristan looked upon the scene with some disapproval, the familiar grimace surfacing on his face. A den of iniquity, wonton pleasure, perverse entertainment, and no doubt thievery, he thought as he walked.
Moruz was silent. He needed to rest. All the holy healing under the sun and moons, could not take the place of a long deep sleep right now, the Ouzquin Dremorix thought, as he kept one vigilant eye on anyone and everyone approaching the group, or staring at the chests too long. Two particular individuals had stared longer and harder than Moruz would have liked. He made mental note of both, a blonde-bearded dwarf, and an exotic, clean-shaven man, with bright crimson paint decorating his spooky, olive-toned, vulture-like face.
Dujek and Kadarin were quiet for a moment, Kadarin busy calming down Mouse, who seemed anxious and frightened at seeing such a large group of people, while Dujek kept peppering Koschei with telepathic questions but only receiving gibberish and mockery in response from the weird little lizard. Apparently, it had been in a foul mood the past two days.
Eventually the band of bandit-slayers reached the town proper. Many locals and gypsies had stared, wide-eyed, at the chests the group was hauling as they were making their way, somewhat comically, along the thoroughfare. None stopped or hindered them however, though Vee smirked and mentioned that every thief west of Nimz must have heard of the “Company of the Treasured Chests” by now. The gates were open (Aerex liked to think it was especially for him and his posse), and they had finally returned to where it all began for them, nary a week ago.
The first order of business on everyone’s agenda, the one plan they could all agree upon, was that they all needed sleep, lots of it. Their bodies and minds needed rest. It wasn’t long before they found themselves in the grimy, upstairs rooms of the newly refurbished Harpy’s Kettle. The following morning the companions met in the common room, rested and anxious to unload their loot. Kadarin was consulted, and announced to the gathered that he would need pricey gems, one for every item the companions suspected may be magical. Aerex meanwhile, had asked the new barkeep, one Blodrus the Lame, for several large sacks the previous night, and was now sitting in the taproom with two stuffed sacks of bandit heads. By Jantir’s Legions! He would enjoy delivering the heads to the city guards.
Glordren and Jjuldae had struck a strange bond. The two mismatched travelers had meandered along with the Endless Dream Journey caravans west, finding themselves on the outskirts of some misbegotten town called Ganse, where Qil’Vanaros’ carnies and the thronging mob of merchants, traders, and groupies that followed them set up camp once more, outside the city walls. Whatever was following Jjuldae had not yet confronted the druid, and despite the dwarf’s occasional urging, Jjuldae knew that turning the tables on some wild, demonic beast, among the hills and forests that made up its element, hunting the hunter so to speak, would prove imprudent. It was this thought, among others, which allowed Glordren to at least convince the druid to accompany him on a visit to Ganse, though the dwarf could tell that the druid loathed urban sprawls and the “swine-herds” which dwelt inside its walls. At least whatever was following him, Glordren reasoned to Jjuldae, would probably not be so bold as to attempt some sort of murderous attack inside the walls. Glordren was not himself sure of his own reasoning, but had his own motives for traveling to Ganse. It was north of Ganse, only a week’s travel, where the mountains rose up. Hidden among the peaks of the Great Escarpment would be the legendary and fearsome Waterfall of Madness. And somewhere below it, according to his Akhanag-Marato scroll, was marked the ancient dwarven temple-tomb Glordren wished to explore. Ganse would be a good stop. Glordren had heard of the far-off town. It was once a mining metropolis, phosphorus mainly, but all kinds of alloys and oddities came from the honeycombed badlands west of the town. A decade ago, all operations had ceased due to some great calamity and subsequent explosion. The countless mines closed, thousands of folk moved away, and Ganse was now a town in decline.
PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p
Despite the rank odor, Aerex cheerfully whistled down the dusty lanes of Ganse toward the guard quarters with the two sacks over his shoulder. The streets were notedly busier with the gypsy encampment surrounding Ganse, and the reeking sacks of crania turned many heads. The inspector smirked despite himself.
He rounded a corner and stuck his head on the guard office's door. "Oh Captain!" he called happily. "I want you to meet a few friends of mine..."
Jjuldae wandered amongst the tents of the carnival-city, allowing crowds of overawed Ganseigi and askance-looking carnies to fold around him in eddies of humanity, as if he were the black-cloaked prow of a great ship. The druid had always relied upon his natural aura, both of menace and of wonder, to impress those of the settled people- this skill was one of the first taught to men of the brotherhood.
There had been much talk lately of the so-called "Company of the Treasured Chest", who had lugged in huge cases full of wealth through the main gate earlier in the week. Jjuldae, wandering with Glordren (who seemed to delight in the perversions of natural law which settled folk exhibited in this great swine-pit called a festival), had seen this Company for himself, and was impressed, if not by their seeming competence and ability, by the sense of sheer destiny about them, as if they had each been born to a great geasa which led them all by the nose like a sacrificial bull. Perhaps to glory that their successes seemed to suggest. Perhaps to an ignominious death. Who knew what the Old Gods, in their unfathomable ways, had planned for this association of strangers.Though it would be heresy to say so, Jjuldae felt a very strong desire to discover what the Old Gods had ordained.
But where was Glordren?Jjuldae's mind misgave him. Something was wrong here. The dwarf had been nearby or by his side for the past week. Yet upon the druid's awakening, the mountain child had been missing, his things taken with him.Jjuldae thought of the sinister teratoma which he had hunted and which had hunted him. Perhaps the settled people were not so good a charm to keep it away. Perhaps it had invaded the city. Or perhaps not. The druid must examine all possibilities.
Overhearing the “insector’s” intention to visit the Captain of the Guard, Vorodon quietly prepared to tag along. His old comrade Bross had to be around there somewhere, and he could really use a familiar face. Bross owed Vorodon a good turn or two, and Vorodon wasn’t above reminding the old reprobate of the debt owed.
The sleepy town seemed to be full of strange people now, crowds of strangers staring at him, whispering when he passed, as if they thought he couldn’t hear or was too dim to understand. It made it almost impossible to keep up with Aerax’s quick steps. Belligerent fools seemed to deliberately cut the clumsy hulk off, then curse at him when he collided with them. The wound in his side and his maimed leg made everything much worse, as every unexpected move filled him with shooting pain.
By the time he arrived at the Guards’ quarters, he was thoroughly sorry he had ever considered finding his old friend. Aerax was well ahead of him, the behemoth’s leg had tripped him up repeatedly, and someone had lifted the small pouch that held most of his coin.
Talia had been wandering around town, trying to find Loiha, but she hadn't had any luck yet. She stopped by the gate, looking at the gypsy camp. She had never had a very high opinion of the Endless Dream; she'd gotten the impression that they were charatans, resorting to petty trickery with their freak show. Konos's many rants on the subject had merely soldified that opinion. But if you went far enough back, all the gypsy clans were kin. They were still family. Albeit distant and often feuding family. It wasn't impossible that Loiha had decided to join the Dream.
She headed into the midst of the gypsies. The first person who caught her eye, she assumed he was one of the carnies. He seemed sort of... wild. For some reason, Talia was reminded of the old forest that her caravan had stopped near every spring. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Loiha til Tolochis ni Konos. Has she joined this caravan?"
Moruz was tired.For the last few days, every time he had tried to lay his head down to sleep, his fractured nose gave sharp pains, keeping him up and only allowing him a couple hours of slumber each night. The last night was slightly less painful, though, and his face was feeling much better today. The glass shifter allowed himself a glance at his surroundings.He was outside the walls of Ganse and near the outskirts of the temporary town which had been set up. There were several stalls about him, in various stages of construction; one merchant was completely set up and was shouting glory to the splendour of the ceramic and glass figurines he had on display. Moruz had already surveyed the items and decided the glass craftings were mediocre at best, but if this merchant thought his wares were of such high quality, perhaps he would be willing to buy that glass pegasus at a high price.
The glass shifter was seated cross-legged beneath a sickly-looking tree, and was busily working on his Laurel Ouzala; chipping out the splinters and nocks that it had gained during the last few days and coating it with an application of wax. His weapon now only had a dozen or so teeth in it, and Moruz was at a loss as where to obtain more: He was certain that there would be next to no place outside of the deserts that would trade in glass teeth, and there would be nowhere in a hundred miles wherein he could make more.No doubt half of the adventurers-upon-return were roaming the tents and stalls, selling, trading and buying with the treasure they had obtained. As for Moruz, he wasn't one for pricing valuables, so he did not much care to take part in that game. So long as he got some sort of a share of the profits, he was happy.
A short way in front of him, Moruz spied a painted man - the same that had given the group and their chests a deliberate stare as they first re-entered the town - wandering among the tents. A faint smile curled upon the glass shifter's lips - that outsider made himself seem more normal by comparison to the commoners. Before long Talia appeared and said something to that imposing figure. The Ouzquin Dremorix gave them little more than a cursory glance before setting his Ouzala to one side and plucking a silver-handled sickle from his belt; the one found from the large group of gnolls. The warrior had been considering practicing with this for some time; at the very least, it would be useful as a backup in case his Ouzala lost too many teeth.
Kadarin knew too much about what spectacles like the Qil’Vanaros circus were really for. He had used them himself in younger days. With the excitement of the exibits, the games, and the free-flowing ale, it was a cut-purse's dream.
He had wondered at the time why his uncle had brought so many of his dock-workers along when they once went to the circus as a 'family outing'. many years ago. Apparently he was mixing business with pleasure, as his uncle and three of the largest dock-workers went and paid a visit to the head of the carnies. Kadarin did not see what happened next, as he was hustled off to see the grotesque oddities in another tent. When he saw his uncle again, his uncle had bruised knuckles and a bag of coin.
Yes, he knew what carnivals were for...
Later on, once the companions had settled into the inn, Kadarin examined the scroll and potions. With his alchemy training recalled he looked carefully at each bottle. He had requested pen and ink from the innkeeper and began to record his notes as he examined the items..
Vee was frequently in and out of the room at the Harpy, each time moving a small amount of goods, the candelabras on one trip, another vanishing with the masterwork painting. Using his charm and glib tongue he was moving through the 'better' parts of Ganse, if such a thing could be said, to liquidate much of the non-coin loot as possible. He even paid a visit to the miser Skreep to see about exchanging some of the Bandit garnets and possibly some gold pieces to acquire the certain gems required by Kadarin for his magics. He hoped Skreep might have them, and not hold a grudge over the incident a few days ago.
All the while he was keeping his eyes open for the small notches that some theives guilds would cut into posts and buildings to let other thieves know where they were. It was pretty common in a place as large as Nimz, with there being an entire language of notches, some could be warnings, claims of territory, anything that could be written shortly without drawing too much attention. He wanted to find the guild mostly because they might be able to help turn some of the goods he had into coin as well as getting in a bit better with them. Never know what some of those old half retired bosses had tucked away under the floorboards.
Tristan spent an hour within the Chapel of the local Triguian Church, giving thanks to his Lord and Master for the group's survival in the face of perilous odds and asking for his Hand of Protection on the party. After completing his prayers, he headed towards the chapter's small library. He had checked the various books therein, but had already read most of them whilst under the guiding hand of his mentor. However, there was a tome or two that was new to his eye, but he hadn't had the time to read them: On the Nature of Divinity and Conduit of Holy Light. One was quite thick, probably taking a week to read at minimum, but Conduit seemed thin enough for him to read in his spare time.
After consulting with his fellow priest, he returned to his inn room and gathered a few of the religious articles he had taken from the treasure store to trade with the other cleric for the book. Every church occasionally needed new impliments, and the censers he had found were more than worth the cost of the book. Intrigued with the small bits he had read already, he ventured back to the room and began reading.
"Amongst other things, a priest must consider the ramifications of..."
--Aerex and Vorodon entered the barracks, but found the place nearly empty. The guard who let them in, (raising an eyebrow at the Volgottor while recognizing Aerex from his last visit) quickly explained that most of the guards had been deployed outside the walls, to keep the inevitable crime from overwhelming the throngs of “honest folk” who had come out to enjoy the festivities of the carnival. The captain was not around; in fact nearly all of the guards were absent. Luckily for Aerex, the man in charge of bounties was present. Hepple Farax, the captain’s liuetenent, a man with a lame, withered leg, gaped at the heads rolling out of the sacks with unabashed glee and awe.
“Is that—is that Jervoe?” he asked rhetorically, while gingerly picking up the head of the feared bandit leader, and staring at it, as if he was expecting Jervoe to open his eyes at any moment.
While Aerex gloated in praise and answered various questions Farax was peppering him with, Vorodon noticed an attractive, flaxen-haired woman sitting in the antechamber of the barracks and could not help but cast glances repeatedly at the beautiful woman. She was sitting on a chair, back straight, hands at her sides, staring straight ahead, but occasionally cocking her ear at Aerex’s tales.
When all was said and done, Farax doled out gold coins to the investigator in a wooden lockbox, a certificate of proof, and even presented Aerex with a dusty, silver medal of honor on a chain, signifying a service done above and beyond expectations. Though the city-guard certainly didn’t hire Aerex to wipe out Jervoe’s gang, they were nonetheless grateful. After all, when Aerex was long gone, they would take the credit for it anyway. Farax shook Aerex’ hand and bid him return on the morrow, when Captain Koli and the other senior guards would toast him anew! The medal he received now identified him as a permanent “honorary sergeant” of the Gansian Guard.
Vorodon received sad news however, when Farax informed the hulking half-ogre that his “friend”, an equally massive, but kind-hearted city guardsman, was away and feared dead, for he had volunteered to guide a rare, visiting dignitary of the Empire and his retinue north to the Great Escarpment. He was feared dead, because he should have been back weeks ago.
“Wanna take his place?” Farax asked tactlessly, as Aerex and Vorodon turned to go.
On the way out, Vorodon could not help but walk adjacent to the seated, silent woman. He noticed that her eyes were milky and glazed. She was blind! Just as the huge brute was about to pass her, she extended a silken hand, and touched his arm as she rose from her chair.
“Honorable sir”, she addressed Vorodon “Would you see me home? I live not far from here". She lowered her voice and whispered, “I was nearly raped this morning and am loathe to walk alone.”
<<<After some haggling back and forth, and since Ganse’ city guard coffers have only so much gold to offer at any given time, even for the Empire’s enemies brought to justice, Aerex netted 185 gp in all, shortchanged according to his registry by a few dozen coins, but still more gold than he had seen in quite some time>>>
PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p
Dujek and Kadarin rolled up their sleeves and went to 'work'. They soon realized however that examining "items of arcana" was best done in private and absconded to a room upstairs. As Dujek detected for magic, Kadarin began carefully examining the selected items, and recording meticulous notes. Even Koschei got in on the action, telepathically giving advice to the necromancer, as it crawled between and around the various items laid out on the table. The lizard even predicted that soon, Master Dujek’s power would wax! It could sense it, the plumed basilisk claimed.
What most excited Kadarin however, was that once again, with Mouse sipping milk nearby, the young mage was able to cast spells without the aid of his spell book or any of his material components! This revelation alone amazed and confounded Kadarin to no end! How was this possible?
PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p
Bross was missing and they thought he might be dead? The thought ate at the massive warrior’s mind. Worse than that, they said he had volunteered! Bross knew better that that! It was he that had first taught Vorodon that volunteering gets people killed; that they only ask you to volunteer when they don’t want to feel bad that you ended up with a spear through your guts. Worst of all, Bross had volunteered to escort Imperials! What could have possessed him to travel with folk like that? The Imperials that the lumbering warrior had met were invariably pompous fools who treated anyone from out in the provinces like they were simpletons. Their arrogance was sure to lead anyone around them to their death! It made his head hurt, thinking about it.
As Vorodon tried to leave, he felt the gentle touch of the beautiful, ethereal woman. She claimed to need help. He tried to sense whether she was being honest with him, but her blind eyes defied his ability to read them. The beautiful woman needed help, but Vorodon had learned long ago that any beautiful woman was nothing but trouble. There was nothing to be done about it; he’d have to risk it.
“Lady, Vorodon no talk to common good, with can help you! Me bring you for to home all safe! Nobody mess Vorodon around!” It was a shame that she couldn’t see his broad smile, the yellowed, tusk-like fangs he’d inherited from Papa. Then she’d know that he would be a formidable guardian. “Insecter, you es’cortt with?”
And yet, he wasn’t done here. The thought of Bross, lost or killed in the wilderness, haunted him. Volunteering AND Imperials! It was a recipe for disaster, plain and simple. Despite that, Vorodon felt a strange feeling of responsibility touch him, a memory from his time in the Army: Never leave a buddy behind.
Voro paused in the doorway. He had to know more about what happened to Bross. Turning to the crippled lieutenant, Vorodon asked, “The Immerial Dignittery, where were he to go? Why for to go to Greet Cliffs? There nothing AT Cliffs. I like to follow, find friend Bross. Good?”
There were some heroes in town, adventurers without peer, as it was said. With the amount of superlatives Glordren had heard from the comedians besieging the town, he certainly was not going to believe every word he heard, but then, where else to find capable allies? The local inns seemed to be frequented just by big-mouthed fools and jesters, and the townsfolk were not going to leave the relative safety of the city premises.
Strolling around town, he almost bumped into a slender officer in a wide-brimmed hat, followed by his humongous... right hand? The giantkin bore the marks of several grievous wounds. Looked like the humans of this town were like so many others, letting the 'others' handle dangerous situations. Well, Glordren wasn't opposed to a little danger as long as he didn't get actively backstabbed.
"Hello, good officer!" Glordren patted the human on the shoulder. "The town is boiling with talk about a band of valiant heroes, fearless and noble. Would you mind directing me towards them, so I may offer accolade and a honest pat on the shoulder, hear a few tales and discuss a few matters with them?"
Logged
"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"
Aerex turned and looked down to see the bearded cleric. He smiled broadly. "My friend, you're asking just the right man," he said, adjusting his newly acquired silver medal. "I am Investigator Aerex Matare, the... leader of this squadron. I was just taking care of some legal matters in our dealing with Jervoe's Tribe. Fortunately for the public, he and his ilk are gone from this plane of existance, off to whatever hell they belong. I think I can speak for our group in saying we'd be happy to speak with you." He extended his hand. "A pleasure to meet you, sir...?"
The next three days were magical, in more ways then one. Working with a large collection of items his first time using the Identify ritual for real was almost overwhelming. Not for the first time, though, he wondered who devised these rituals. The local fishmonger was dubious at first when Kadarin had asked for 3 live carp. It took some time to convince the merchant that his request was not a joke, and still longer to produce the needed fish.
Kadaring also wondered what the rest of the troop would have thought if they knew that he had to crush those expensive gemstones and then eat the dust (mixed with wine) and swallow the bloody fish live. He felt the da$%mn thing wiggle all the way down.
No matter. The secrets revealed to him by the magic was invaluable.
Valadaar started first with the wand. Knowing from his instructors that wands were often a mages best, and commonly only,friends, his attention was grabbed by this item.
Hmmm. Witchwood with three-toned finish. Small iron band at the more slender end, brass at the base. Whats this? The brass band has a small ring of chaos runes. Hmm, that seems familiar... Best use the ritual to make sure what it does....
The ritual caused the world to dissappear into the background and instead mildly mad images came forth. A large carp appeared, dressed outlandishly in odd satin black clothing. It requested that he comb his Hare. A rabbit appeared briefly then faded. A small cloud appeared over the carp's head - heavy rain and small glass lightning bolts began to rain down upon him. The cloud then changed color into a mass of colored circles and a mass of butterflies erupted from it, and then faded away.
Finally, after more of the mad images, an hourglass appeared, filled with large grains of sand, and only three grains, the size of sugarcubes, remained in the top portion of the glass. "Times up!" and the oddly dressed carp turned over the glass, and the scene faded, revealing Mouse and Dujek looking on.
"The Chaotic Wand of Astrachar", said Kadarin, "And I think it has but 3 uses yet."
What turned out to be an ioun stone had a far less spectacular vision. A swarm of alchemical symbols formed a rotating sphere around a stone bust. The symbol which stood out the greatest was the symbol of Iron, which could signify defence. Towards the end, it was even less subtle - it showed the stone itself rotating about the head of a shadowy figure. The figure was being set upon by white robed assaliants whose blows seemed turned away by some invisable force, the stone flashing with each attack.
"An ioun stone that protects from attack.."
The weapons radiated magic dimly and showed no greater powers then mildly enhanced prowess in battle.
--Vee spent the better part of two days making his way between the shops of Ganse proper, and the stalls of the mobile merchants of the Endless Dream Journey. His charm and the group’s sudden notoriety among the common folk, made his job that much easier. The one thing he didn’t find however, was any sign of an organized thieves guild. There were notches in the woodworks to be sure, one of the several secret tongues of the world’s thieves, but Vee soon realized they were old and long irrelevant. Maybe I will start one, Vee thought only half in jest.
So much gold and silver coin did the rogue acquire from selling all of the various bandit loot, that he had to go find a fellow Adventurer-Upon-Return that second day, in order help him carry it…and watch his flanks of course. He decided to visit the ship-on-wheels, The Landlubber Inn, to see if any members of his band were present. It was late afternoon and the inn would soon be filled.
The very first patron Keykold noticed was a huge, bald man, with a far-fetched, swirling, oiled mustache, threaded with silver rings and dyed purple. He was dressed in crass purple pantaloons and had an exquisite leather whip, coiled and hanging from his bull-neck. Ladies of dubious distinction, heavily made-up and smelling of strong, musky perfume were curled up on each arm of the colorful man. He was rearing his head back, showing his yellowed teeth, the rings in his mustache jingling. The ladies giggled on cue, and sipped their “afternoon’ wine”. Upon seeing Vee in the doorway the bald man spoke.
“Aren’t you a queer looking fellow with that hat!”, he roared in his normal voice, Vee suspected. Vallace the Whipmaster flashed an ear-to-ear grin, the ladies giggled, and for a moment Vallace’s eyes cast downwards, as if he was eyeing something directly under the table.
“Is that a whip me’boy? Did ya come to challenge Vallace or buy him a drink?”
--After a long moment of silence, the strange, olive-skinned man turned to look at Talia and parted his thin lips slightly, as if ready to finally speak, or so Talia assumed. She would not find out for the moment.
“Talia Bladedancer! You are alive and well! No, no, no need to explain, we have all heard by now. Talia the Bandit Slayer! Talia the Vengeful Wraith! Talia the Fearless! Eh? You are a bit of a celebrity among the caravans."
Loiha, hips swinging wildly came charging at Talia, emerging from a nearby crowd, a wide grin on her face.
“You did it, you have avenged us!” she whispered as she drew closer to the Talia and embraced her enthusiastically. “My Krait charm must have helped”, she smiled and winked.
“Meet Fando, my new husband” , Loiha gestured at a slight, nervous, mousy man, who had come up behind her. “Oh and I joined the Endless Dream Journey. A girl has to make ends meet. Let me introduce you to Loiha, Hex-Witch of Asshh’rahum”, she now gestured at herself. “For only ten silver, I can put a hex on whomever you wish”, she winked again.
“And who do we have here?”, she finally looked at the stolid crimson-painted stranger.
Loiha did not seem her normal somber self. Easily explained of course, Talia reasoned. “Konos’ Witch” was deep in her cups.
--Moruz had sold the glass merchant the green-tinted Pegasus easily enough. He even got an interesting lead from the rotund man. Apparently a collection of glass workers dwelled in the north, beyond the great escarpment. This must have been their work, the merchant explained to Moruz.
Later, as Moruz balanced the gnoll sickle and practiced with the curved, silver-handled blade, he noticed two things. The first was that the blade, in the afternoon sun, bore a strange glint. Upon further examination, Moruz realized that there was some silver tempered into the actual blade-steel as well, a strange weapon indeed.
The second thing the glass warrior noticed was that a tall, thin, brown-cloaked man, who by the looks of him was in quite a hurry, was hastening in a focused and purposeful way toward the Harpy’s Kettle. Moruz did not like the man’s aggressive stride.
--After many hours of quiet contemplation, study, and prayer, Tristan came down to the taproom. It was nearly empty. He approached the barkeep to ask him for a bowl of soup, some salt, and a crust of bread, when a tall man with an angular, unpleasant face, spoke to him. A longbow was slung across his chest and back, a thin longsword-in-scabbard hung at his waist.
“I seek a mage. Might ye know of one here, Triguian? A particularly loathsome mage, who doth do truck with the dead. Goes by the name "Doo-Jikk” I seek him. The man spoke in a cold, clipped manner.
At first Tristan quickly thought of Kadarin and Dujek, who were upstairs at the moment pouring over the magical finds of the companions. Somehow Tristan didn’t get the impression this man was looking for a love spell or some wizardly advice. He had the cold, dead stare of a fish.
--Vorodon sighed and accompanied the woman toward her home. The “Insecter” had stopped to talk to a blonde-bearded dwarf as soon as he heard praise thrown his way. Mountain Children and Volgottor never saw eye to eye, the half-ogre thought, and resigned to accompany the lady alone.
After a twenty-minute stroll, they neared a shanty two-story house, somewhere on a lonely, winding Gansian alleyway.
“Thank you. You are a kind soul. Can I offer you some squirrel stew and tea?” the young woman asked the Volgottor.
PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p
Jjuldae stared downward at the woman who had addressed him, but lapsed again into chill silence with the arrival of the husband and wife.When it seemed his turn to speak (the unsettled peoples have, of needs, great respect for the social courtesies and respects offered to others), he offered forth a deep-voiced reply:"I am called Jjuldae of the Crimson Throat, son of Ku'umaez, son of Drujjlae, and lately of the hills which you call Hoboluska. It appears that you," he said, addressing Talia, "have found the one you seek."But I would ask of you: are you not of the company which has so late created such a cricket-song among these settled folk, the company they call the 'Company of the Treasured Chest'?"
"Loiha! I've been looking for you!" In a lower voice, she said, "I've got something for you, I suppose I may as well call it your dowry. Three bolts of silk. There wasn't much left of what they took from us." Then she looked at Loiha's new husband. That was... fast. Still, it could only be for the good, and she was glad Loiha had found a new caravan. She bowed slightly to Fando. "A thousand joys to you both."
She turned to the stranger. "Yes, that is her, thank you. And yes, I suppose I am a member of said company." She made a mental note to smack whoever had come up with that ridiculous name. "Talia Bladedancer til Tolochis." She'd decided to stop using her full title; there was no Caravan ni Konos anymore. The caravan's home region was enough.
There were few things more comforting to Vee than the aroma of a busy taproom. The scent of tobacco smoke, or ale and wine, the distinct smell of people, sometimes the rank smell of a sweaty man ready to loose some coin in a game of dice to the rather peculiar smell of a woman, a strange mixture of perfumes, always sweet and flowery, and underneath a more musky carnal smell. He liked that.
“Is that a whip me’boy? Did ya come to challenge Vallace or buy him a drink?” Vallance bellowed.
"This thing? It is a whip, but I'd rather buy you a drink than face a challenge just yet." He said, "A bottle of fortified red, drop a shot of raw corn spirits into a bottle of wine and it's almost as good as grappa back in Nimz." Judging from his dress and garelous manner, this Vallance seemed a most interesting character, one who warranted getting to know better, at least for the time being.
"So," Vee said, launching into his well honed spiel, "Staring into the muzzle of a flind, like a gnoll but a bit shorter but certainly wider and a thing smarter too, and with him was Red Hatchet, Dwarven berzerker. He threw an axe and almost killed me with it, 'cept that his head is hanging up by the garrison and I've got the axe here on my belt." Vee grinned as the serving girl brought over a bottle of red and a shot of corn spirits, raw enough to bring tears to the eyes.
(OOC - assorted checks to gather information, and definately carousing, since it is one of his skills.)
<<OOC: Aye, Ria's correct, though I was confused at first, too. This is from Muro's post:
Quote
“Is that a whip me’boy? Did ya come to challenge Vallace or buy him a drink?”
--After a long moment of silence, the strange, olive-skinned man turned to look at Talia and parted his thin lips slightly, as if ready to finally speak, or so Talia assumed. She would not find out for the moment.
The 'strange, olive-skinned man' is Jjuldae, and that was a change of scene between those two paragraphs :p>>
Glass workers to the north, hm? If he could get there, Moruz may be able to manufacture a fair amount of barbs for his Ouzala - enough to keep him out of trouble for a while, anyway. North seemed as good a direction to travel as any at the moment; he wondered if any of the others of the 'company of the treasured chest' would be willing to travel north. No matter; there was no rush. Moruz began walking back to the Harpy's Kettle whilst examining the strange silver-laid sickle. Perhaps Vee had sold the goods and had a share of coins for him. Before long, the glass shifter noticed a tall, thin man walking in front of him; the man's forceful pace caught Moruz's attention, and it soon became apparant that the brown-cloaked person was heading for the same establishment as himself. For some reason, Moruz felt slightly unsettled by this man, and he quickened his pace to match him as they walked to the Harpy's kettle.
"Ah, so one of the heroes ye be! Who said it takes tall folk to brew deeds most heroic! This is just golden! Glordren Blarchtmir I be, son of Nromdar. I hail from the abundant halls of Bornurk Nardru, or, more exactly, the High Temple of the Golden Sun, until the scum who took our homes are evicted, forcibly so. Let me shake your paw!"
After pumping the inspector's right, Glordren twirled up his moustache (it sure hung disheartedly just by the sides of his mouth due to the lousy weather) and continued: "I must congratulate you, you sure did precious, from what I heard - Jervoe and his scum were not unknown where I hail from, robbing honest traders. For see, me and my brothers often support merchants with counsel, blessing and protection." Seeing the question written all over the inspector's face, the dwarf patted the sun-ridged book-and-serpent symbol on his shield, and pointed to the one on his mace, explaining in a proud, merry voice: "I serve the Shining Lady, Emrissa the Golden, one who's more precious than all the gems - a patron of honest-dealing people she be, divine if I ever saw one!"
Having explained this, Glordren stared at the weeping skies: "Still, I doubt she will bless us with her golden eye today. Show me the rest of your band too, if you will, somewhere warmer and drier - what do you say, maester Matare?"
Logged
"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"
"Gladly, Sir Blarchtmir," Aerex replied. "I believe a few of them are hanging around the Harpy's Kettle. We had a bit of an adventure there, too, but I'll save the tale for when we're all together." He turned and walked down toward the tavern, trusting that Vorodon was watching after the blind woman.
"So, a cleric then? Another serves in our ranks, a certain Brother Tristan. Priest of Trigu, he is. Another was with us, too," he recalled with a sigh, "but he fell in the fight. Brother Aethelstan, a Senrenite, may his patron keep him." Aerex felt a twinge of guilt having left Aethelstan's body unsettled and in such haste. They would have to return soon to make amends. "Two mages are with us as well, along with a gypsy woman and a foreign warrior - an Ouzquin, he's called. Oh, and there's a thief, though I believe I may be turning him from his ways. And I suppose that Volgotor is with us now, too." He glanced at Glorden and chuckled at himself. "I'm sorry, I'm babbling on. Tell me, what brings you to tiny Ganse?"
PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
The invention relates to a storage case for a holder containing at least one information carrier, the storage case having a receptacle into which the holder can be inserted from the front of the case. A blade spring, of which at least an active portion is situated in the receptacle, urges an inserted holder outward in an ejection direction. A latching arm with a free end portion also carries a latching pin which projects into the receptacle, to engage a latching projection on the holder after insertion of the holder, and to latch the holder inside the storage case, against the ejection force which is exerted on the holder by the blade-spring in a direction opposite to the direction of insertion.
A storage case of the above type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,784. In this known case the receptacle contains both a spring-steel blade spring and a pivotal latching arm which is loaded by a torsion spring in order to enable the holder to be latched in the receptacle and, after pressure has again been exerted in the direction of insertion, to enable the holder to be released and to be slid out in the opposite direction by the blade spring. Because of these operations such a latching and release system is referred to as a "push-push" system. This system is suitable for the rapid insertion, removal and latching of information carriers, such as records, owing to these simple operations. In the known case the "push-push" system is constructed by means of the above-mentioned parts which have to be mounted separately in the case. This construction makes the known case fairly expensive. As a result, the known case is not very suitable as a storage system for storing mass-produced disc records intended for home-entertainment use, for example those of the "compact disc" type. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | USPTO Backgrounds |
Q:
"Not an answer" flag incorrectly declined
I flagged this answer as "not an answer", because it isn't.
I was in two minds whether to flag it, but only because it might be seen as sour grapes on my part (which I don't think is the case). However, it's definitively not an answer, in that it makes no attempt to solve OP's problem, but merely comments (somewhat redundantly IMO, given the comment thread that already existed) on my answer.
Should I flag it again, or just forget about it?
A:
I declined that flag, so let me explain my thinking there. We get a lot of "not an answer" flags, and we generally decline them if we can't see from the answer alone (without the context of the full question and other answers) why this isn't an answer. If something is a technical response, and isn't a follow-on question or "me too" comment, it can be very hard to see why something was flagged.
In this case, I did wonder about the flag and read the whole question. I could see that John looked like he was commenting on the viability of the accepted answer, but he provided some useful information in code within his answer. Not being a domain expert, and knowing that John is a fairly experienced user, I assumed that was familiar with comments and how they work and had left this as an answer for a good reason. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and decided not to unilaterally delete his answer.
Because "not an answer" flags help feed into the review audits, and I could see others being tripped up by this out of context, I declined the flag as well. I hope you can see where I was coming from here and don't take too much offense from the declined flag.
In the future, if you see a trickier case like this, go ahead and use an "other" flag and describe what it is about the answer that causes you to think it should be removed. That makes it much more likely that we'll see what you did and act on it appropriately.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | StackExchange |
James Wiggins
James or Jim Wiggins may refer to:
James Russell Wiggins (1903–2000), US editor and ambassador
Jim Wiggins (actor) (1922–1999), English TV actor | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Diets higher in plant foods and lower in animal foods were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a general population.
We used data from a community‐based cohort of middle‐aged adults (n=12 168) in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study who were followed up from 1987 through 2016. Participants’ diet was classified using 4 diet indexes. In the overall plant‐based diet index and provegetarian diet index, higher intakes of all or selected plant foods received higher scores; in the healthy plant‐based diet index, higher intakes of only the healthy plant foods received higher scores; in the less healthy plant‐based diet index, higher intakes of only the less healthy plant foods received higher scores. In all indexes, higher intakes of animal foods received lower scores. Results from Cox proportional hazards models showed that participants in the highest versus lowest quintile for adherence to overall plant‐based diet index or provegetarian diet had a 16%, 31% to 32%, and 18% to 25% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality, respectively, after adjusting for important confounders (all P <0.05 for trend). Higher adherence to a healthy plant‐based diet index was associated with a 19% and 11% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality, respectively, but not incident cardiovascular disease ( P <0.05 for trend). No associations were observed between the less healthy plant‐based diet index and the outcomes.
Previous studies have documented the cardiometabolic health benefits of plant‐based diets; however, these studies were conducted in selected study populations that had narrow generalizability.
Clinical Perspective What Is New? Plant‐based diets, diets that emphasize higher intakes of plant foods and lower intakes of animal foods, are associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality in a general US adult population.
Healthful plant‐based diets, diets higher in nutrient‐dense plant foods and lower in refined carbohydrates and animal foods, are associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality, but not incident cardiovascular disease. What Are the Clinical Implications? Our results suggest that dietary patterns that are relatively higher in plant foods and relatively lower in animal foods may confer benefits for cardiovascular health.
Future research examining whether the quality of plant foods (healthful versus less healthful) within the framework of an overall plant‐based diet is associated with cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality is warranted.
Introduction
Plant‐based diets are dietary patterns that emphasize higher intakes of plant foods and are low in animal foods. Vegetarian diets, a type of plant‐based diet, with a focus on restriction of different types of animal foods (meat, poultry, or fish), have been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and ischemic heart disease.1, 2, 3 However, prospective cohort studies have shown mixed results on the associations with cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality.4, 5, 6 These previous studies were conducted in selected study populations that were mostly composed of Seventh‐Day Adventists, vegetarians, or health‐conscious individuals; thus, they had relatively narrow generalizability.4, 5, 7, 8, 9
Although prior studies have characterized participants’ diets using a relatively simple classification method based on frequency of animal food consumption,4, 5, 6 there have since been more comprehensive attempts to assess an individual's diet using plant‐based diet indexes.10, 11, 12, 13 These indexes give higher scores for higher consumption of plant foods and lower consumption of animal foods, allowing researchers to examine whether the degree of adherence to an overall plant‐based diet is associated with health outcomes. Studies that used such indexes (ie, an overall plant‐based diet index [PDI] or a provegetarian diet index) found that greater adherence to these diets was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, and all‐cause mortality.10, 11, 12 In addition, some plant‐based indexes separately scored healthful (whole grains, vegetables, and plant proteins) and unhealthful (refined carbohydrates and sugar) plant sources of food. Healthful plant‐based diets, which scored higher intakes of only healthful plant foods higher, were more strongly inversely associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease than the overall plant‐based diets.11, 12 In contrast, greater adherence to less healthful (unhealthful) plant‐based diets, which scored higher intakes of only less healthful plant foods higher, were associated with a higher risk of these conditions.11, 12
Given the limited evidence on plant‐based diets in the general population and recent developments in plant‐based diet scores, the objectives of the present study were as follows: (1) to evaluate whether overall plant‐based diets are associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality in a general US population; and (2) to assess if the association differed by adherence to healthful and less healthful plant‐based diets using 4 a priori defined plant‐based diet scores (overall plant‐based diet, healthy plant‐based diet, less healthy plant‐based diet, and provegetarian diet indexes).
Methods
ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study data are available through the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Biologic Specimen and Data Repository Information Coordinating Center. Interested researchers may also contact the ARIC study Coordinating Center to access data and study materials.
Study Design
We used data from a community‐based cohort of middle‐aged men and women (45–64 years of age at baseline, n=15 792) in the ARIC study. From 1987 to 1989, participants from 4 US communities (Washington County, Maryland; Forsyth County, North Carolina; Minneapolis, MN; and Jackson, MS) were enrolled in the study.14 Follow‐up visits occurred in 1990 to 1992 (visit 2), 1993 to 1995 (visit 3), 1996 to 1998 (visit 4), 2011 to 2013 (visit 5), and 2016 to 2017 (visit 6).14 The Institutional Review Board at each study site approved the study protocol, and participants provided informed consent.
Dietary Assessment
At baseline and visit 3, participants’ usual intake of foods and beverages was assessed by trained interviewers using a modified version of the 66‐item semiquantitative Willett food frequency questionnaire.15 Participants indicated the frequency with which they consumed foods and beverages of a defined serving size in the previous year. Visual guides, such as glasses and measuring cups, were provided for participants to estimate portion size. The reliability of the food frequency questionnaire was assessed in a random sample of ARIC study participants (n=419) from all 4 study sites at visit 2.15 Nutrient and total energy intakes were derived through multiplying consumption of food by nutrient content of each item in the food frequency questionnaire.
Plant‐Based Diet Scores
The ARIC study did not assess whether participants were following a plant‐based diet. We used established plant‐based diet scores (PDI, healthy plant‐based diet index [hPDI], less healthy [unhealthy] plant‐based diet index [uPDI], and provegetarian diet index) to assess participants’ degree of adherence to plant‐based diets on the basis of their reported dietary intake on the food frequency questionnaire. We used these 4 plant‐based diet indexes to provide comprehensive and nuanced characterization of dietary intakes because the indexes differed from each other in scoring of food groups within the indexes. For instance, the PDI was more comprehensive than the provegetarian index in that the PDI assessed dietary intakes of plant foods high in refined carbohydrates (fruit juices, sugar‐sweetened beverages, sweets, and desserts). Consistent with some ethically motivated dietary patterns that are focused on the exclusion of animal sources of food and have less of an emphasis on the quality of plant foods, the provegetarian diet index provides a more simplistic score of the diet in that these refined carbohydrate food groups were not assessed. Further details on differences and construction of the scores have been published previously and are available in Data S1.10, 11, 12, 13, 16
The PDI, hPDI, and uPDI had a possible range from 17 to 85, and the provegetarian diet index had a possible range from 11 to 55. All scores were divided into quintiles for analyses.
Outcome Assessment
Incident cardiovascular disease events and deaths (cardiovascular and all cause) were ascertained through annual telephone calls with participants or proxies, active surveillance of local hospital discharge records and state death records, and linkage to the National Death Index from baseline to December 31, 2016. Incident cardiovascular disease was defined as a composite outcome of coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart failure. Incident coronary heart disease was defined as hospitalized myocardial infarction or fatal coronary heart disease.17 Incident stroke was defined as definite or probable stroke, which was adjudicated.18 Incident heart failure was defined as hospitalization or death, with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD‐9), code 428 or International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD‐10), code I50.19 All‐cause mortality was defined as deaths attributable to any cause, and cardiovascular disease mortality was defined as deaths with ICD‐9 codes 390 to 459 or ICD‐10 codes I00 to I99.
Covariate Assessment
At baseline, participants’ sociodemographic information (age, sex, race/ethnicity, and education), health behaviors (cigarette smoking, frequency and duration of physical activity, alcohol intake, and margarine intake), medication use (lipid‐lowering medication use, antihypertensive medication use, or diabetes mellitus medication use), and health conditions (diagnosis of diseases) were collected by self‐reports.
Trained staff measured participants’ weight and height, which was used to calculate body mass index (BMI; kg/m2). Those whose BMI was ≤25 kg/m2 were classified as normal weight, those whose BMI was from 25 to <30 kg/m2 were classified as overweight, and those whose BMI was ≥30 kg/m2 were classified as obese. An enzymatic method was used to measure total cholesterol concentration.20 A certified technician measured participants’ blood pressure 3 times, and the second and third measurements were averaged. The modified hexokinase/glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase method was used to measure blood glucose concentrations. Baseline kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate) was estimated from serum creatinine measurement using the 2009 Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation.21 We defined hypertension as systolic blood pressure of ≥140 mm Hg, diastolic blood pressure of ≥90 mm Hg, or antihypertensive medication use in the past 2 weeks. We defined diabetes mellitus as fasting glucose concentration of ≥126 mg/dL, nonfasting blood glucose concentration of ≥200 mg/dL, self‐reported physician's diagnosis of diabetes mellitus, or diabetes mellitus medication use in the past 2 weeks.
Statistical Analyses
We calculated dietary intakes from baseline and visit 3 using cumulative averaged diet with respect to each outcome.22 For example, we used dietary intake from only visit 1 if participants developed cardiovascular disease or were censored before visit 3. We averaged the dietary intake from both visits if participants developed cardiovascular disease or were censored after visit 3.
To create the final analytic sample of 12 168, we first excluded participants with implausible total energy intake (<500 or >3500 kcal for women and <700 or >4500 kcal for men, n=383). Then, we excluded those whose race/ethnicity was neither black nor white (n=47), blacks in Minnesota (n=18), and blacks in Maryland (n=23). We also excluded participants with a history of myocardial infarction, heart or arterial surgery, heart failure, stroke, and cancer at baseline because diagnosis of these conditions may change dietary habits (n=2677). Participants without complete information on covariates were excluded from analyses as well (n=476).
Baseline characteristics of the study participants and nutritional characteristics of the diet were examined according to quintiles of plant‐based diet scores (PDI, hPDI, uPDI, and provegetarian diet index) using χ2 tests for categorical variables and ANOVA for continuous variables. Food intakes were expressed as servings per day, macronutrients as a percentage of energy, and fiber and micronutrients as g, mg, or μg per 1000 kcal.
We calculated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs to estimate the association between plant‐based diet scores and incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality. Three nested Cox proportional hazards models were modeled using length of follow‐up time as the time metric. In model 1, total energy intake, age, sex, and race‐center (whites in Washington County, Maryland; blacks in Forsyth County, North Carolina; whites in Forsyth County, North Carolina; whites in Minneapolis, MN; and blacks in Jackson, MS) were adjusted. In model 2, education (a proxy for socioeconomic status), cigarette smoking, physical activity, alcohol intake, and margarine intake were additionally adjusted. In model 3, potential mediating variables, such as total cholesterol, lipid‐lowering medication use, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, baseline kidney function (2 linear spline terms with 1 knot at 90 mL/min per 1.73 m2), and BMI were additionally adjusted. We evaluated the proportionality assumption by examining Schoenfeld residual and log(−log) plots, and we did not find a clear indication that the assumption was violated. The median value within each quintile of plant‐based diet scores was used to test for a linear trend. We considered the main results to be estimates from model 2 (no potential mediating variables). In addition, we used splines to visually depict the relation between plant‐based diet scores as a continuous variable and incident cardiovascular disease. We first used restricted cubic splines with 4 knots at the 5th, 35th, 65th, and 95th percentiles. The shape of the association appeared approximately linear, so we presented the results using 2 linear spline terms with 1 knot at the 12.5th percentile of each plant‐based diet index. As a sensitivity analysis, we considered margarine as part of the plant‐based diet scores instead of a covariate in the fully adjusted models. Margarine intake was positively scored in the PDI, hPDI, and provegetarian diet index and negatively scored in the uPDI, consistent with how vegetable oil was scored in previous studies.10, 11, 12
We conducted 2 additional analyses in model 3: First, we modeled score components of plant‐based diet scores (healthy plant foods [aggregated consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, tea, and coffee], less healthy plant foods [aggregated consumption of fruits juices, refined grain, potatoes, sugar‐sweetened beverages, sweets, and desserts], and animal foods [aggregated consumption of animal fat, dairy, eggs, fish or seafood, meat, and miscellaneous animal foods] from PDI; plant foods [selected] and animal foods from provegetarian diet index) simultaneously instead of the scores. Second, we modeled the individual food groups within PDI and provegetarian diet index simultaneously. Given that associations with red and processed meat differ from poultry with regard to cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality,23 we reclassified the meat category into 2 separate categories: (1) red and processed meat and (2) poultry. Third, we examined whether the observed associations differed by sex (women/men), age (less than the median, greater than or equal to the median), race (white or black), weight status (normal weight, overweight, or obese), and diabetes mellitus status (diabetes mellitus or no diabetes mellitus). All analyses were conducted using Stata, version 13.0, statistical software (StataCorp, College Station, TX).
Results
Baseline Characteristics
The PDI ranged from 28 to 74, the hPDI ranged from 29 to 77, the uPDI ranged from 27 to 76, and the provegetarian diet index ranged from 15 to 54. Those in the highest quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and provegetarian diet index were more likely to be women, white, high school graduates, and physically active and were less likely to be obese, to be current smokers, to have diabetes mellitus, and to have hypertension at baseline compared with those in the lowest quintiles (Tables 1 and 2, Table S1). Conversely, those in the highest quintile of uPDI were more likely to be men, to be younger, to be current smokers, and to drink a higher amount of alcohol and less likely to be high school graduates, obese, and physically active compared with those in the lowest quintile. Those in the highest quintile of uPDI were more likely to have hypertension, but less likely to have diabetes mellitus (P<0.05 for all comparisons) (Table S2).
Table 1. Selected Baseline Characteristics and Nutritional Characteristics by Quintiles of the PDI in the ARIC Study Characteristic PDI (n=12 168) Quintile 1 (n=2717) Quintile 2 (n=2864) Quintile 3 (n=2308) Quintile 4 (n=1992) Quintile 5 (n=2287) Score, median (range) 44 (28–46) 49 (47–50) 52 (51–53) 55 (54–56) 59 (57–74) Women, %a 42.3 55.2 60.0 61.5 60.6 Black, %a 43.2 31.3 24.1 19.2 12.9 Age, ya 53.7 (5.8) 53.7 (5.6) 53.7 (5.7) 54.2 (5.7) 53.9 (5.8) High school graduate, %a 68.3 75.8 78.7 82.6 85.1 BMI category, %a Normal weight (<25 kg/m2) 19.5 21.7 18.9 16.9 22.8 Overweight (25–<30 kg/m2) 22.6 24.4 18.4 17.2 17.3 Obese (≥30 kg/m2) 27.5 24.7 19.4 13.7 14.6 Current smoker, %a 33.8 27.8 23.2 19.2 19.2 Physical activity indexa 2.3 (0.7) 2.4 (0.8) 2.4 (0.8) 2.5 (0.8) 2.6 (0.8) Alcohol, g/wka 68.9 (137.9) 45.2 (95.2) 36.4 (80.7) 32.4 (66.3) 28.6 (59.4) Fasting glucose, mg/dLa 110.3 (42.4) 109.4 (42.7) 107.3 (37.8) 105.4 (32.2) 102.9 (29.1) Diabetes mellitus, %a 11.5 11.4 10.5 9.4 7.0 Hypertension, %a 36.5 32.3 31.2 30.6 27.0 Lipid‐lowering medication, %a 1.2 1.3 2.5 3.4 3.8 eGFR, mL/min per 1.73 m2a 105.2 (16.4) 103.3 (15.8) 102.9 (14.9) 102.1 (13.9) 101.9 (13.2) Food and nutrient intake per day* Healthy plant foodsb 5.4 (2.8) 6.3 (2.9) 7.0 (2.9) 7.7 (2.8) 9.0 (3.0) Less healthy plant foodsb 4.6 (2.3) 4.7 (2.4) 4.9 (2.4) 5.1 (2.4) 6.0 (2.6) Animal foodsb 5.6 (2.3) 4.5 (2.0) 4.0 (1.8) 3.8 (1.7) 3.6 (1.8) Fruit and vegetablesb 2.8 (1.7) 2.8 (1.7) 3.1 (1.7) 3.5 (1.7) 4.1 (1.9) Red and processed meatsb 1.5 (0.8) 1.2 (0.7) 1.0 (0.7) 0.9 (0.6) 0.8 (0.7) Dairyb 1.8 (1.4) 1.6 (1.2) 1.5 (1.1) 1.5 (1.1) 1.5 (1.0) Fish or seafoodb 0.3 (0.3) 0.3 (0.3) 0.3 (0.3) 0.3 (0.3) 0.2 (0.3) Margarineb 1.0 (0.9) 1.0 (0.9) 1.0 (0.9) 1.1 (1.0) 1.1 (0.9) Total energy, kcal 1715 (593) 1569 (555) 1548 (537) 1573 (524) 1698 (521) Total protein, % of energy 18.7 (3.9) 18.5 (3.9) 18.3 (3.7) 17.9 (3.5) 17.0 (3.1) Animal protein, % of energy 15.2 (3.9) 14.4 (3.8) 13.8 (3.6) 13.0 (3.4) 11.6 (3.2) Plant protein, % of energy 3.6 (0.8) 4.2 (0.9) 4.6 (0.9) 4.9 (1.0) 5.3 (1.1) Carbohydrates, % of energy 43.7 (8.0) 47.4 (7.8) 50.0 (7.4) 52.1 (7.2) 54.6 (7.2) Total fat, % of energy 35.4 (5.9) 33.3 (5.7) 32.0 (5.7) 30.7 (5.8) 29.8 (5.6) Saturated fat, % of energy 13.2 (2.7) 12.2 (2.4) 11.5 (2.3) 10.9 (2.3) 10.3 (2.3) MUFA, % of energy 13.9 (2.6) 13.0 (2.6) 12.4 (2.5) 11.9 (2.7) 11.5 (2.6) PUFA, % of energy 4.9 (1.2) 4.9 (1.2) 4.9 (1.2) 4.9 (1.2) 5.0 (1.2) Fiber, g/1000 kcal 8.3 (2.7) 10.1 (3.0) 11.4 (3.3) 12.3 (3.4) 13.4 (3.5) Cholesterol, mg/1000 kcal 194.6 (61.8) 166.4 (49.0) 150.2 (40.6) 135.9 (37.7) 118.4 (33.7) Sodium, mg/1000 kcal 892.7 (175) 912.7 (179) 934.9 (181) 939.6 (175) 952.4 (168) Phosphorous, mg/1000 kcal 663.5 (155) 674.9 (153) 681.0 (146) 682.1 (140) 664.7 (127) Calcium, mg/1000 kcal 404.7 (183) 410.0 (169) 413.2 (154) 418.4 (151) 398.8 (132) Potassium, mg/1000 kcal 1485 (347) 1635 (364) 1717 (371) 1786 (369) 1807 (338) Magnesium, mg/1000 kcal 142.8 (33.6) 156.5 (35.2) 164.0 (35.7) 169.9 (35.8) 174.5 (34.7) Iron, mg/1000 kcal 6.5 (1.7) 7.0 (2.0) 7.3 (2.2) 7.4 (2.1) 7.7 (2.3) Vitamin A, IU/1000 kcal 4917 (3176) 5803 (3616) 6359 (4182) 6674 (4151) 7005 (4050) Vitamin C, mg/1000 kcal 61.5 (35.8) 73.9 (38.4) 82.5 (40.1) 89.6 (41.4) 93.8 (39.3) Folate, μg/1000 kcal 126.2 (42.0) 145.4 (48.2) 157.3 (51.2) 167.9 (53.8) 173.9 (51.0) Vitamin B12, μg/1000 kcal 5.2 (2.4) 4.9 (2.3) 4.7 (2.2) 4.2 (2.0) 3.7 (1.7) Zinc, mg/1000 kcal 6.8 (1.5) 6.8 (1.6) 6.7 (1.5) 6.6 (1.5) 6.4 (1.3)
Table 2. Selected Baseline Characteristics and Nutritional Characteristics by Quintiles of the Provegetarian Diet Index in the ARIC Study Characteristic Provegetarian Diet Index (n=12 168) Quintile 1 (n=2970) Quintile 2 (n=2687) Quintile 3 (n=1911) Quintile 4 (n=2266) Quintile 5 (n=2334) Score, median (range) 27 (15–29) 31 (30–32) 33 (33–34) 36 (35–37) 40 (38–54) Women, %a 46.5 55.7 59.2 59.5 58.4 Black, %a 35.5 31.7 27.9 21.5 16.5 Age, ya 53.4 (5.7) 53.7 (5.7) 53.6 (5.7) 54.0 (5.7) 54.6 (5.8) High school graduate, %a 72.4 76.6 77.2 79.4 83.4 BMI category, %a Normal weight (<25 kg/m2) 21.8 19.8 15.4 20.3 22.7 Overweight (25–<30 kg/m2) 24.3 23.1 16.1 18.3 18.2 Obese (≥30 kg/m2) 28.9 24.2 15.4 16.5 18.9 Current smoker, %a 32.9 27.3 24.0 22.8 16.8 Physical activity indexa 2.3 (0.8) 2.4 (0.8) 2.4 (0.8) 2.5 (0.8) 2.6 (0.8) Alcohol, g/wka 60.3 (123.4) 43.1 (89.3) 39.4 (87.9) 38.9 (91.1) 31.4 (68.5) Fasting glucose, mg/dLa 109.1 (41.1) 109.9 (43.3) 106.8 (36.3) 105.4 (33.0) 104.4 (32.2) Diabetes mellitus, %a 10.4 11.6 10.2 9.8 8.2 Hypertension, %a 34.1 31.4 32.2 31.4 29.4 Lipid‐lowering medication, %a 1.1 1.7 2.3 2.9 3.9 eGFR, mL/min per 1.73 m2a 104.5 (15.9) 103.7 (15.5) 103.3 (15.3) 102.5 (14.3) 101.6 (13.6) Food and nutrient intake per day* Healthy plant foodsb 5.5 (2.7) 6.3 (2.8) 6.9 (2.8) 7.5 (2.9) 9.0 (3.1) Less healthy plant foodsb 4.7 (2.3) 4.8 (2.4) 4.9 (2.4) 5.2 (2.5) 5.6 (2.6) Animal foodsb 5.2 (2.3) 4.4 (2.0) 4.2 (1.9) 4.0 (1.8) 3.7 (1.8) Fruit and vegetablesb 2.1 (1.4) 2.7 (1.6) 3.1 (1.6) 3.6 (1.7) 4.5 (2.0) Red and processed meatb 1.4 (0.8) 1.2 (0.8) 1.0 (0.7) 1.0 (0.7) 0.9 (0.7) Dairyb 1.8 (1.3) 1.6 (1.2) 1.6 (1.2) 1.5 (1.1) 1.5 (1.0) Fish or seafoodb 0.3 (0.3) 0.3 (0.3) 0.3 (0.3) 0.3 (0.3) 0.2 (0.3) Margarineb 1.0 (0.9) 1.0 (0.9) 1.0 (0.9) 1.1 (0.9) 1.2 (1.0) Total energy intake, kcal 1618 (585) 1567 (561) 1574 (551) 1619 (527) 1739 (514) Protein, % of energy 18.7 (4.0) 18.4 (3.9) 18.2 (3.7) 17.8 (3.6) 17.4 (3.2) Animal protein, % of energy 15.2 (4.0) 14.3 (3.8) 13.7 (3.6) 13.0 (3.5) 11.9 (3.3) Plant protein, % of energy 3.5 (0.8) 4.2 (0.8) 4.5 (0.9) 4.8 (0.9) 5.5 (1.1) Carbohydrates, % of energy 44.3 (8.1) 47.7 (7.9) 49.7 (7.6) 51.6 (7.5) 54.4 (7.4) Total fat, % of energy 35.2 (5.8) 33.3 (5.7) 32.2 (5.7) 31.0 (5.8) 29.5 (5.8) Saturated fat, % of energy 13.2 (2.6) 12.2 (2.4) 11.6 (2.3) 11.0 (2.3) 10.1 (2.2) MUFA, % of energy 13.8 (2.5) 13.0 (2.6) 12.5 (2.6) 12.0 (2.6) 11.5 (2.7) PUFA, % of energy 4.8 (1.1) 4.9 (1.2) 4.9 (1.2) 5.0 (1.2) 5.1 (1.2) Fiber, g/1000 kcal 8.0 (2.3) 10.0 (2.7) 11.3 (3.0) 12.2 (3.1) 14.1 (3.6) Cholesterol, mg/1000 kcal 191.1 (60.3) 166.3 (48.3) 151.7 (44.9) 137.2 (39.1) 119.8 (35.0) Sodium, mg/1000 kcal 882.8 (169) 908.4 (173) 923.2 (178) 939.4 (174) 981.7 (178) Phosphorous, mg/1000 kcal 672.5 (157) 672.0 (149) 675.0 (144) 671.8 (143) 672.7 (129) Calcium, mg/1000 kcal 414 (182.1) 405.8 (162) 410.0 (158) 409.6 (155) 401.5 (135) Potassium, mg/1000 kcal 1534 (361) 1635 (375) 1708 (380) 1740 (363) 1802 (342) Magnesium, mg/1000 kcal 146.7 (34.3) 156.6 (35.9) 163.2 (36.8) 166.1 (35.2) 174.1 (35.5) Iron, mg/1000 kcal 6.4 (1.7) 7.0 (2.1) 7.2 (2.1) 7.5 (2.2) 7.8 (2.3) Vitamin A, IU/1000 kcal 4677 (2881) 5734 (3573) 6286 (4052) 6741 (4047) 7442 (4383) Vitamin C, mg/1000 kcal 66.1 (37.6) 75.9 (40.3) 81.9 (41.9) 85.7 (40.2) 90.1 (38.9) Folate, μg/1000 kcal 129.2 (43.6) 146.2 (48.7) 157.4 (55.8) 162.3 (49.5) 175.0 (51.3) Vitamin B12, μg/1000 kcal 5.1 (2.4) 5.0 (2.4) 4.6 (2.2) 4.3 (2.0) 3.8 (1.8) Zinc, mg/1000 kcal 6.8 (1.6) 6.8 (1.6) 6.7 (1.5) 6.5 (1.4) 6.4 (1.3)
Nutritional Characteristics
Participants in the highest quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and provegetarian diet index consumed an average of 4.1 to 4.8 servings of fruit and vegetables per day and 0.8 to 0.9 servings of red and processed meat per day (Tables 1 and 2, Table S1). Those in the highest quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and provegetarian diet had higher intake of carbohydrates and plant protein as a percentage of energy, fiber, and micronutrients, including potassium, magnesium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and folate, and lower intake of saturated fat and cholesterol compared with those in the lower quintiles (P<0.05 for all comparisons). Polyunsaturated fat as a percentage of energy was higher among those in the highest quintiles of PDI and provegetarian diet, but lower among those in the highest quintiles of hPDI and uPDI (P<0.05 for all comparisons).
In contrast, those in the highest quintile of uPDI consumed an average of 2.3 servings of fruit and vegetables per day and 1.2 servings of red and processed meat per day (Table S2). Those in the highest quintile of uPDI consumed higher intake of total energy and carbohydrates as a percentage of energy, but had lower intake of fiber and micronutrients, including calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and folate compared with those in the lowest quintile of uPDI (P<0.05 for all comparisons).
Plant‐Based Diets and Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes and All‐Cause Mortality
During a median follow‐up of 25 years, 4381 incident cardiovascular disease events, 1565 deaths caused by cardiovascular disease, and 5436 deaths attributable to all causes occurred. Incidence rates for cardiovascular disease events, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality were lower at higher quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and provegetarian diet index (Table S3). We did not observe a strong and consistent pattern for incidence rates of the outcomes across quintiles of uPDI. There was a significant lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality across quintiles of PDI, hPDI, and provegetarian diet index only in the minimally adjusted models that accounted for age, sex, race‐center, and total energy intake.
The strongest and most consistent significant associations were observed for PDI and provegetarian diet index, with all 3 outcomes in all 3 models (Figures S1 and S2). After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, race‐center, and education), dietary factors (total energy intake and margarine consumption), and health behaviors (smoking, physical activity, and alcohol consumption), those in the highest versus lowest quintiles of PDI and provegetarian diet index had a 16% and 16% lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, a 32% and 31% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, and a 25% and 18% lower risk of all‐cause mortality, respectively (Table 3). These associations remained significant and similar in magnitude after adjusting for potential mediating factors (total cholesterol, lipid‐lowering medication use, estimated glomerular filtration rate, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and BMI) (Table S4). In the continuous analysis, there was an approximately linear inverse relationship between PDI (Figure 1) and provegetarian diet index (Figure 2) scores and risk of incident cardiovascular disease.
Table 3. Hazard Ratios and 95% CIs for Incident Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiovascular Disease Mortality, and All‐Cause Mortality, According to Quintiles of Plant‐Based Diet Indexes Variable Quintile Hazard Ratios (95% CIs) Incident Cardiovascular Disease Cardiovascular Disease Mortality All‐Cause Mortality No. of events … 4381 1565 5436 PDI 1 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 2 0.98 (0.89–1.08) 0.85 (0.74–0.99) 0.89 (0.82–0.96) 3 0.96 (0.88–1.04) 0.81 (0.71–0.93) 0.83 (0.77–0.89) 4 0.86 (0.78–0.96) 0.74 (0.63–0.87) 0.82 (0.75–0.89) 5 0.84 (0.75–0.92) 0.68 (0.58–0.80) 0.75 (0.69–0.82) P value for trend <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 hPDI 1 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 2 1.01 (0.93–1.11) 0.97 (0.84–1.12) 0.99 (0.92–1.08) 3 0.99 (0.91–1.09) 0.95 (0.82–1.11) 0.97 (0.89–1.05) 4 1.01 (0.91–1.11) 0.83 (0.70–0.99) 0.92 (0.84–1.01) 5 0.91 (0.82–1.01) 0.81 (0.68–0.97) 0.89 (0.81–0.98) P value for trend 0.11 0.01 0.01 uPDI 1 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 2 0.93 (0.85–1.02) 0.95 (0.83–1.10) 1.01 (0.94–1.10) 3 0.99 (0.91–1.09) 0.91 (0.78–1.05) 0.94 (0.87–1.02) 4 1.02 (0.94–1.12) 0.82 (0.71–0.96) 0.95 (0.88–1.03) 5 0.94 (0.85–1.04) 0.93 (0.80–1.08) 0.94 (0.87–1.03) P value for trend 0.98 0.13 0.10 Provegetarian diet index 1 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 1 (Reference) 2 0.94 (0.87–1.03) 0.90 (0.79–1.03) 0.92 (0.85–0.99) 3 0.85 (0.77–0.94) 0.78 (0.67–0.91) 0.89 (0.82–0.97) 4 0.90 (0.82–0.99) 0.83 (0.72–0.96) 0.84 (0.78–0.91) 5 0.84 (0.76–0.93) 0.69 (0.59–0.81) 0.82 (0.76–0.89) P value for trend <0.001 <0.001 <0.001
Figure 1. Adjusted hazard ratios and 95% CIs for incident cardiovascular disease, according to the continuous overall plant‐based diet index (PDI). The histogram shows the distribution of scores for the PDI in gray. The solid lines represent the adjusted hazard ratios for incident cardiovascular disease, modeled using 2 linear spline terms with 1 knot at the 12.5th percentile of PDI (score, 44), which was used as the reference point. The dashed lines represent the 95% CIs. Hazard ratios were adjusted for age, sex, race‐center, total energy intake, education, smoking status, physical activity, alcohol consumption, margarine consumption, baseline total cholesterol, lipid medication use, baseline kidney function, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and baseline body mass index.
Figure 2. Adjusted hazard ratios and 95% CIs for incident cardiovascular disease, according to the continuous provegetarian diet score. The histogram shows the distribution of scores for the provegetarian diet index in gray. The solid lines represent the adjusted hazard ratios for incident cardiovascular disease, modeled using 2 linear spline terms with 1 knot at the 12.5th percentile of the provegetarian diet index (score, 27), which was used as the reference point. The dashed lines represent the 95% CIs. The hazard ratios were adjusted for age, sex, race‐center, total energy intake, education, smoking status, physical activity, alcohol consumption, margarine consumption, baseline total cholesterol, lipid medication use, baseline kidney function, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and baseline body mass index.
For hPDI, after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, dietary factors, and health behaviors in model 2, those in the highest versus lowest quintile had a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68–0.97; P=0.01 for trend) and an 11% lower risk of all‐cause mortality (HR, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.81–0.98; P=0.01 for trend) (Table 3). After accounting for potential mediating factors in model 3, there was still a significant inverse trend for cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality across quintiles of hPDI (P=0.03 for trend for both) (Table S4). However, we found no significant association between hPDI and incident cardiovascular disease in model 2 (Table 3) or model 3 (Table S4).
No significant associations were observed between uPDI and the outcomes in model 1 (Table S3), model 2 (Table 3), or model 3 (Table S4) (all P>0.05 for trend). Similar results were observed when we used hPDI and uPDI as continuous variables (Figures S3 and S4).
When margarine was included as part of the scores, the association between provegetarian diet and incident cardiovascular disease was attenuated (HR quintile 5 versus quintile 1 , 0.89; 95% CI, 0.81–1.00; P=0.01 for trend). The results were similar to those from the main analysis for all other indexes.
Analyses on Score Components and Individual Food Groups
When we modeled score components of PDI (quintiles of healthy plant food, less healthy plant food, and animal food) simultaneously instead of the overall score in model 3, those in the highest quintile of animal food consumption had a higher risk of incident cardiovascular disease (HR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.04–1.27; P<0.001 for trend), cardiovascular disease mortality (HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.10–1.54; P<0.001 for trend), and all‐cause mortality (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.02–1.23; P=0.001 for trend) compared with those in the lowest quintile, whereas no significant association was observed for healthy plant food or less healthy plant food consumption (Table S5). When components of the provegetarian diet index (quintiles of selected plant foods and animal foods) were modeled, similar associations with animal foods were observed for all 3 outcomes (all P<0.01 for trend). A higher intake of selected plant food in the provegetarian diet index was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality (P=0.009 for trend) and all‐cause mortality (P<0.001 for trend), but the association between selected plant food in the provegetarian diet index and cardiovascular disease was not statistically significant (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.86–1.05; P=0.05 for trend).
When we modeled all food groups in the PDI simultaneously, higher intakes of whole grains were consistently associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality, whereas higher intakes of eggs and red and processed meat were associated with a higher risk of all 3 outcomes (Table S6). Higher intake of potatoes, which were classified as less healthy plant foods for hPDI and uPDI, was inversely associated with incident cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality. There was no significant association for dairy or for fish and seafood with all 3 outcomes. Similar associations between individual food components of the provegetarian diet index (specifically, eggs, red and processed meat, potatoes, dairy, and fish or seafood) were observed.
Subgroup Analyses
For incident cardiovascular disease, we found evidence of statistical interaction by diabetes mellitus status with hPDI (P=0.01 for interaction) and provegetarian diet (P=0.03 for interaction) (Figure S5). The associations for hPDI and provegetarian diet with risk of incident cardiovascular disease were stronger among those with diabetes mellitus relative to those without diabetes mellitus, although hPDI was not significantly associated with cardiovascular disease in either subgroup. No statistical evidence of interaction was observed by sex, age, race, or weight status with incident cardiovascular disease. There was also no statistical interaction by sex, age, race, weight status, or diabetes mellitus status with cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality for all indexes (P>0.05 for interaction for all tests).
Discussion
In this community‐based cohort of US adults without cardiovascular disease at baseline, we found that higher adherence to an overall plant‐based diet or a provegetarian diet, diets that are higher in plant foods and lower in animal foods, was associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality. Healthy plant‐based diets, which are higher in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, tea, and coffee and lower in animal foods, were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality.
Our study is one of the few studies that used data from a general population. Prospective studies of Seventh‐Day Adventists in the United States and Canada found that vegetarians had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality compared with nonvegetarians.4 The EPIC (European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition)‐Oxford study of vegetarians, vegans, and health‐conscious individuals reported that the risk of incident ischemic heart disease and deaths caused by circulatory disease was lower in vegetarians than nonvegetarians.5, 24 However, these findings were not replicated in population‐based studies in Australia and the United States.6, 13 Notably, a prior study that used data from a nationally representative sample administered a brief questionnaire that assessed the frequency with which participants consumed specific types of animal food (red meat, processed meat, poultry, or fish or seafood) to characterize participants’ dietary intakes.6 Such dietary measurement may not have adequately represented dietary patterns on the basis of abundance of plant foods relative to animal foods. The plant‐based diet indexes we used in this study captured a wider spectrum of intake of plant foods and animal foods, leveraging the available dietary data, and allowed us to move away from defining plant‐based diets strictly based on exclusion of animal foods.
Our results on overall plant‐based diets and cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality are consistent with previous studies that used the PDI and provegetarian diet index. In a study of Spanish adults who were at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease, higher adherence to a provegetarian diet index was associated with a 53% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and a 34% lower risk of all‐cause mortality.10 In a study of nurses and health professionals in the United States, higher adherence to PDI was associated with a 8% lower risk of coronary heart disease.12 In our study, higher scores in PDI and provegetarian diet index were associated with a 16% to 24% lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality, and higher intakes of animal products were associated with an elevated risk of all of 3 outcomes. Results from our study suggest that progressively increasing the intake of plant foods by reducing the intake of animal foods is associated with benefits on cardiovascular health and mortality risk.
Our results on higher intakes of animal foods and higher risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality are in line with many observational studies that reported that higher intakes of animal foods, particularly red and processed meat, are associated with an elevated risk of these outcomes.4, 5, 25, 26 Our results are also consistent with previous studies of vegetarian diets that characterized participants’ diets on the basis of the degree of animal food consumption.24 In our sample, those in the highest quintiles of PDI and provegetarian diet index had higher intakes of fruits and vegetables, fiber, polyunsaturated fats, and many micronutrients and lower intakes of red and processed meat and saturated fat. All these characteristics can contribute to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering blood pressure and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, reducing inflammation, and improving glycemic control.27, 28, 29
However, our results diverged from a prior study that found a lower risk of coronary heart disease with an hPDI and an elevated risk with a uPDI. It is surprising that no association was observed for hPDI and cardiovascular disease in our study, given that higher intakes of foods that have been associated with a lower risk with coronary heart disease were scored higher (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and plant proteins) in hPDI. When we modeled individual food groups within the plant‐based diet indexes simultaneously, we found that foods that were considered less healthy (ie, potatoes) were inversely associated with incident cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality. It is possible that assigning reverse scores to these foods attenuated the associations with the overall hPDI and incident cardiovascular disease. Specifically, potatoes in relation to chronic disease outcomes have shown mixed results, with recent systematic reviews concluding no association with total potato consumption and cardiovascular risk factors (obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus), cardiovascular events, and all‐cause mortality.30, 31 In the NHS (Nurses’ Health Study) and HPFS (Health Professionals Follow‐Up Study), higher total potato consumption was associated with a higher risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus.32, 33 However, in 2 Spanish cohorts, no significant association between potato consumption and hypertension was observed.34 Given these conflicting findings, future studies may consider assigning reverse scores for fried potatoes but not all potatoes.
Unlike the NHS and HPFS, which found a higher risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease with less healthy plant‐based diet scores, we found no significant associations for uPDI and incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality.11, 12 In our previous study, which used data from a nationally representative sample, we did not find associations between the uPDI and cardiovascular disease mortality and all‐cause mortality.13 It is possible that no true association exists between less healthy plant‐based diets and cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality. The lack of an association between less healthy plant‐based diets and outcomes in the present study may be caused by the scoring of potatoes as a less healthy food given that we observed dietary intake of potatoes to be inversely associated with outcomes. Further research in other study populations is warranted on the health implications of diets high in refined carbohydrates and sugar and low in fruits, vegetables, and animal foods.
We found that the magnitude of association for the overall diet was stronger than the associations for the individual food components within the overall dietary pattern. These results underscore the importance of comprehensively characterizing an individual's diet, rather than assessing the intake of a single food group or nutrient. Our approach accounts for potential synergistic and interactive effects of foods and nutrients on disease risk and is in line with how plant‐based diets are conceptualized (ie, higher intake of plant foods and lower intake of animal foods).13, 35, 36, 37
When we modeled individual food groups, there was no association between dairy or fish or seafood and all 3 outcomes. Previous studies have shown that plant‐rich diets that incorporated low‐fat dairy products (eg, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet) or fish (eg, the Mediterranean‐style diet) were associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease.38, 39, 40, 41 In future studies, it may be worth exploring whether inclusion of dairy or fish in a plant‐based diet is associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases.
We add to the existing literature on plant‐based diets and chronic diseases by using a well‐characterized community‐based cohort with repeated dietary assessments and long‐term follow‐up. Several limitations should be accounted for when interpreting the study results. First, dietary intakes were self‐reported, which is subject to measurement error. However, the food frequency questionnaire was administered by trained interviewers, and the food frequency questionnaire has shown to have high reproducibility.15 Second, we used a sample‐based scoring method to assess the degree of adherence to plant‐based diets. Those in the highest quintiles of all the plant‐based diet scores had higher intakes of plant foods and lower intakes of animal foods. However, we are unable to infer if there is an absolute level of plant food or animal food intake that is associated with health outcomes. Third, dietary intakes were measured several decades ago in the ARIC study; thus, this study may not reflect the modern food supply. Studies with more recent data on plant‐based diets and cardiovascular disease are warranted. Last, the possibility of residual confounding remains because of unmeasured or incorrectly measured variables.
In conclusion, diets consisting of predominantly plant foods and that are lower in animal foods were associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all‐cause mortality in a general population. Dietary patterns that are relatively higher in plant foods and relatively lower in animal foods may confer benefits for cardiovascular health. Considering the adverse outcomes associated with refined carbohydrate consumption,42, 43 future research should continue to explore if the quality of plant foods (either healthy plant foods or less healthy plant foods) within the framework of plant‐based diets is associated with cardiovascular disease and all‐cause mortality in a general population.
Author Contributions
Dr Kim wrote the manuscript and analyzed the data; Drs Kim and Rebholz designed the study; Drs Caulfield, Garcia‐Larsen, Steffen, and Coresh contributed important intellectual content during drafting or revising the manuscript. Dr Rebholz was involved in all aspects of the study from analyses to writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Sources of Funding
The ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities) study was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services (HHSN268201700001I, HHSN268201700002I, HHSN268201700003I, HHSN268201700004I, and HHSN268201700005I). Dr Kim was supported by the Department of International Health Tuition Scholarships, Bacon Chow Endowed Award, Harry D. Kruse Fellowship, and Harry J. Prebluda Fellowship from the Program in Human Nutrition in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr Rebholz was supported by a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K01 DK107782) and a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R21 HL143089). The funding agencies had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, drafting of the manuscript, and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Disclosures
None.
Footnotes | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
The allegations against Mr. Domingo, which were reported by The Associated Press, were made by eight singers and a dancer, all but one of whom spoke anonymously, who said that he had used his immense power in the opera world to try to pressure them into sexual relationships. Some described repeated, harassing phone calls; several said that they believed their careers had been harmed when they rebuffed him.
In a statement, Mr. Domingo called the allegations “as presented, inaccurate,” but called it “painful to hear that I may have upset anyone or made them feel uncomfortable — no matter how long ago and despite my best intentions.” He said that he believed that “all of my interactions and relationships were always welcomed and consensual,” and added that “the rules and standards by which we are — and should be — measured against today are very different than they were in the past.”
The Domingo case is reviving some of the most difficult questions of the #MeToo era: how to investigate allegations of wrongdoing, particularly those from unnamed accusers; when to cut ties with the accused and when to defer judgment; and what punishments, if any, are called for. Mr. Domingo’s stardom — as one of the Three Tenors, along with Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras, he sang on the best-selling classical recordings of all time — only heightens the stakes.
Like their counterparts in Hollywood, politics, journalism and other fields, some of the classical music titans accused of sexual misconduct have effectively disappeared from the world stage, while others have gone on to second acts. The conductor James Levine has not performed in public since he was fired by the Metropolitan Opera last year after it found evidence of sexually abusive and harassing conduct; he settled a breach-of-contract and defamation lawsuit against the company this month. But within months of the conductor Daniele Gatti’s firing by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam last year amid allegations of sexual harassment, he was appointed music director of the Rome Opera.
Now Mr. Domingo’s fate will hinge on several factors.
Most critical will be the outcome of an investigation by the Los Angeles Opera, which Mr. Domingo was instrumental in founding in 1986. Since 2003 he has been its general director, making him the public face of the company and its top administrator, although with his travel schedule, many of the day-to-day responsibilities of running it fall to Christopher Koelsch, its president and chief executive. Several of the accusations against Mr. Domingo concern encounters in Los Angeles, including as he began assuming power there.
The Met and several leading European companies said they would await the results of that inquiry before taking any actions of their own. But Mr. Domingo’s future will also be determined by a more intangible question: whether the good will he has built up with audiences over the decades will neutralize the damaging accusations against him. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Talmannen: Riksdagen får rösta om Löfven
Av: Anette Holmqvist , Olof Svensson
Publicerad: 23 november 2018 kl. 09.47
Uppdaterad: 27 november 2018 kl. 10.09
Riksdagen ska rösta om Stefan Löfven som statsminister – ännu en gång.
Enligt talmannen har Annie Lööfs sonderingar lett till förändringar i situationen – och nationen börjar nu bli otålig.
– Det är tydligt att medborgarna upplever att processen måste föras till ett slut. Sverige behöver en ny regering och jag kommer göra allt för att driva på processen, säger Andreas Norlén.
Under torsdagen stod det klart att även Annie Lööf (C) blev tvungen att kasta in handduken i sonderingarna för en ny regering.
Sedan dess har talmannen hållit en ny samtalsomgång med partiledarna, dock på telefon.
Enligt källor till Aftonbladet har Annie Lööfs sonderingar öppnat upp spelplanen samtidigt som källor också menar att Liberalernas Jan Björklund har närmat sig S.
”Liknar sonderingsuppdrag”
Under fredagen meddelade Andreas Norlén att riksdagen ska få rösta om Stefan Löfven (S) som statsminister, men att Löfven innan dess får lite tid på sig att söka stöd för en regering.
– En sådan här avisering liknar ett sonderingsuppdrag med skillnaden att den här processen kommer avslutas med en statsministeromröstning. För mig är det viktigt att markera att det kommer ske en omröstning i kammaren om Stefan Löfven, säger talmannen.
Löfven redo att röstas om
Stefan Löfven har tidigare sagt att han inte vill gå till omröstning som statsminister förrän några förändringar skett, i förhållande till när riksdagen röstade bort honom i september.
Enligt Norlén har dock Lööfs sonderingar förflyttat processen, precis som Aftonbladets källor talat om, och därmed är Löfven nu med på att låta sig röstas om.
– Jag talade med Stefan Löfven i telefon i går, precis som med andra partiledare, och vi konstaterade att det skett förändringar efter Annie Lööfs sonderingar, säger Norlén.
Vad är det för förändringar i situationen?
– Annie Lööf gav besked att hon sonderat vissa regeringsalternativ och kommit fram till att de inte längre är aktuella. Det gör ju att olika partier måste förhålla sig till de beskeden och det nya läget. Det kan möjlighet leda till förändrade positioner.
1 av 9 | Foto: Magnus Sandberg
Processen måste föras till ett slut
Norlén övervägde också att utse en ny sonderingsperson, men han upplever att det finns en otålighet hos nationen att komma vidare.
– Det är tydligt att medborgarna upplever att processen måste föras till ett slut. Sverige behöver en ny regering, jag delar den uppfattningen och kommer göra allt för att driva på processen.
Kommer vi ha en ny regering innan jul?
– Det vet inte jag, det får den framtida processen utvisa.
Omröstning
Den tredje december räknar Andreas Norlén med att lägga fram Stefan Löfven som statsminister för omröstning. Ett par dagar senare, troligen den 5 december, kan själva omröstningen ske. Men det kan också ske senare.
– Jag skulle gärna se att en statsministeromröstning äger rum innan budgetomröstningen den 12 december. Om inte det är möjligt på grund av förhandlingar mellan olika partier kan jag leva med det omvända, säger Norlén.
Enligt talmannen har partiledarna önskat att det ska finnas tid för diskussioner och interna processer inom partierna innan omröstningen.
• Vill du ha politiknyheter direkt i ditt flöde? Klicka här och gilla Aftonbladet Samhälle på Facebook!
KOPIERA LÄNK
Publicerad: 23 november 2018 kl. 09.47 | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Masseter muscle thickness and mechanical advantage in relation to vertical craniofacial morphology in children.
To investigate the relationship between vertical craniofacial morphology and masseter muscle thickness and mechanical advantage in children. The sample comprised 72 children (36 F, 36 M), 8.5-9.5 years of age, with various malocclusions and no previous orthodontic treatment. The thickness of the masseter was measured bilaterally by means of ultrasonography, and the recordings were performed both in relaxation and under contraction. Mechanical advantage was measured on the lateral cephalograms as the ratio between the masseter moment and the bite force moment arms. Two linear ratios and three angular measurements were used to describe vertical craniofacial morphology. The mean masseter thickness was greater in the male group (p<0.05) in both relaxed and contracted conditions. There were no significant sex differences for the mechanical advantage or for the measurements of vertical craniofacial morphology. In females, there is a positive association between masseter muscle thickness and its mechanical advantage. Multiple regression analysis showed a positive association between posterior to anterior facial height ratio in both genders and a negative association between masseter thickness and the intermaxillary angle in females. There is a significant association between posterior to anterior facial height and the masseter muscle in children. The importance of the masseter muscle is more evident in the vertical facial morphology of females. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
243 Ind. 134 (1962)
183 N.E.2d 331
STATE EX REL. SHANNON
v.
HENDRICKS CIRCUIT COURT ET AL.
No. 30,216.
Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed June 22, 1962.
*136 Joseph M. Shannon, pro se.
McNutt, Hurt & Blue, of Martinsville, for respondents.
BOBBITT, J.
Relator seeks a writ of prohibition restraining respondents from exercising further jurisdiction in Cause No. 21837 in the Hendricks Circuit Court, wherein Daisy Jo Maxwell (now Daisy Jo Maxwell Stanley) was plaintiff and James D. Maxwell was defendant, in the enforcement of a contempt citation order. We issued a temporary writ.
The factual situation which gives rise to the action here is, briefly, as follows:
Relator herein represented one Daisy Jo Maxwell as her attorney, on a contingent fee basis, in the divorce action of Maxwell v. Maxwell, originally filed in the Morgan Circuit Court. After the happening of certain events which are not here important, the case was venued and retried in Hendricks County, Indiana, as Cause No. 21837 in the Hendricks Circuit Court.
Daisy Jo Maxwell was granted a divorce and relator and Grafton J. Kivett, an attorney of Martinsville, Indiana, who represented the defendant, James D. Maxwell, in the divorce action, were appointed Commissioners for the purpose of selling certain real estate and carrying out the stipulation and agreement pursuant to the property settlement.
The Commissioners' final report was filed on November 3, 1961. On December 7, 1961, an order *137 was entered by Richard J. Groover, Judge of the Hendricks Circuit Court, approving such final report, and discharging relator and his co-commissioner, Kivett, from any further duties and liabilities "in connection with said trust."
Relator received from himself and Kivett, as Commissioners, the total sum of $35,149.33, as the amount recovered in the property settlement for and on behalf of Daisy Jo Maxwell, in the form of two certified checks payable to Daisy Jo Maxwell and relator in the total sum of $34,829.33, and $320 in cash.
Relator not having been paid his fee for services rendered in the divorce action and in connection with the property settlement, retained possession of the certified checks and money which he received.
On or about February 8, 1962, a motion for an order directing relator to pay over to Daisy Jo Maxwell Stanley the moneys received by him in his capacity as her attorney in the divorce action was filed in the Hendricks Circuit Court. On February 8, 1962, an order was entered directing relator, Joseph M. Shannon, to pay over the funds he was then holding to Daisy Jo Maxwell Stanley, or show cause why he should not be punished for contempt of court.
On February 13, 1962, relator filed his reply affidavit in response to such order in which he stated that he was exercising an attorney's lien on said funds until his attorney fees, out-of-pocket expenses and filing fees and miscellaneous costs were paid by Daisy Jo Maxwell Stanley to relator.
On February 17, 1962, respondents entered an order finding relator guilty of contempt of court, and ordering him to pay over to said Daisy Jo Maxwell Stanley said funds and to pay costs incidental to the contempt proceedings.
*138 The petition for writ of prohibition in this court followed.
Respondents assert jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action here upon two grounds: (1) under Acts 1881 (Spec. Sess.), ch. 38, § 843, p. 240, being § 4-3615, Burns' 1946 Replacement, which provides:
"When an attorney, on request, refuses to deliver over money or papers to a person from whom or for whom he has received them in the course of his professional employment, whether in an action or not, he may be required, after reasonable notice, on motion of any party aggrieved, by an order of the court in which an action, if any, was prosecuted (or if no action was prosecuted, then by the order of any court of record) to do so, within a specified time, or show cause why he should not be punished for contempt.";
and (2) that relator did not follow the statutory procedure for exercising an attorney's lien.
Relator asserts that § 4-3615, supra, is not applicable to the factual situation here, and that he is exercising a retaining lien supplied by equity independent of the statute.[1]
If relator is exercising a valid retaining attorney's lien, then he is not refusing "to deliver over money" to a person for whom it was received within the meaning of § 4-3615, supra, and respondents were without authority to cite him for contempt for failure to surrender the money of which he has possession.
The $35,149.33, which he holds, was recovered by the aid of relator and through his efforts as attorney for Daisy Jo Maxwell.
*139 Section 4-3615, supra, "does not attempt to cover the question of liens upon funds secured by the client through the aid of his employed attorney, and by other steps than a judgment." Koons, Administrator, et al. v. Beach (1897), 147 Ind. 137, 140, 45 N.E. 601.
The rule is well established in Indiana that the statutory lien is not the only lien available for the security of an attorney in performing services beneficial to his client, but that equity supplies a lien independent of statute. Justice v. Justice (1888), 115 Ind. 201, 208, 16 N.E. 615; Koons, Administrator, et al. v. Beach, supra (1897), 147 Ind. 137, 139-140, 45 N.E. 601.
An attorney has a right to apply money collected for his client upon the fees due him for making such collection; The Union Mutual Life Insurance Company v. Buchanan (1885), 100 Ind. 63, 79-80; and in the present case relator had a right to retain his fees out of the moneys which he received from the Commissioners as his client's (Daisy Jo Maxwell) share of the property settlement which had been recovered by his aid and through his efforts as her attorney. Puett, et al. v. Beard, et al. (1882), 86 Ind. 172, 174, 44 Am. Rep. 280; Koons, Administrator, et al. v. Beach, supra (1897), 147 Ind. 137, 140, 45 N.E. 601.
"A retaining lien is the right of the attorney to retain possession of a client's documents, money, or other property which comes into the hands of the attorney professionally, until a general balance due him for professional services is paid.";
*140 7 C.J.S., Attorney and Client, § 210, p. 1141; and exists as long as the attorney retains possession of the subject matter. 7 C.J.S., Attorney and Client, § 217, p. 1161.
Lane v. Campbell (1938), 214 Ind. 376, 14 N.E.2d 552, upon which respondents rely to support their claim of jurisdiction, concerned money which had been delivered to appellant-Lane to discharge certain orders against the client. This money did not consist of a fund which Lane had recovered through his aid and efforts, but was the sole property of the client. No question of attorney's lien was involved and the Lane case is clearly distinguishable from the present case. It correctly states the law as applied to the facts of that case, but lends no support to respondents' position here.
Since relator retained a lien for his attorney fees and costs advanced upon the $35,149.33 received from the Commissioners as the amount recovered in the divorce action, both relator and Daisy Jo Maxwell Stanley held an undivided interest in the fund, and it was not "money received in the course of his [relator's] professional employment" for the sole benefit of a client, nor was it money received by relator for the client, Daisy Jo Maxwell Stanley, the title to which rested wholly and exclusively in her.
The statute does not contemplate that an attorney may be cited for contempt of court for failure to pay over to his client moneys upon which he is retaining a lien for his legal services.
The facts as shown by the record here do not bring the present case within the contempt citation provisions of § 4-3615, supra.
The filing of a motion pursuant to § 4-3615, supra, is a special statutory proceeding, and in order to *141 invoke its provisions the jurisdictional facts required by the statute must be shown. State ex rel. Ayer v. Ewing (1952), 231 Ind. 1, 5, 106 N.E.2d 441.
Since the facts shown by the record here are not such as to sustain a citation for contempt under the provisions of the statute, the respondents were without jurisdiction to issue the citation herein, and the alternative writ heretofore issued will, therefore, be made permanent.
Alternative writ heretofore issued is made permanent.
Arterburn, C.J., Jackson and Landis, JJ., concur.
Achor, J., dissents with opinion.
DISSENTING OPINION.
ACHOR, J.
I cannot concur in the majority opinion for three reasons: First, because of relator's failure to comply with Rule 2-35 of this court; second, because, in my opinion, it does not appear from relator's petition that he is in a position where, in equity, he is entitled to the extraordinary relief which he demands and, third, because, in my opinion, relator does not show himself to be free of the contempt with which he is charged.
First: With respect to petitions for writs of mandamus and prohibition, Rule 2-35 provides:
"If the relief sought relates to a proceeding in an inferior court certified copies of all pleadings, orders and entries pertaining to the subject matter should be set out in the petition or made exhibits thereto."
As a defense to the action for contempt, which is the primary proceedings herein, relator asserts that *142 he successfully prosecuted an action for divorce for Daisy Jo Maxwell and that he is retaining the property in controversy as a lien for his fees in that case.
The statute, with respect to the payment of a wife's attorney's fees who secures a divorce for her, is as follows:
"And on decreeing a divorce in favor of the wife, or refusing one on the application of the husband, the court shall, by order to be enforced by attachment, require the husband to pay all reasonable expenses of the wife in the prosecution or defense of the petition including a reasonable sum for the services of the attorney representing such wife...." [Acts 1939, ch. 160, § 1, p. 738 (§ 3-1216, Burns' 1946 Repl.)].
Since, by his own admission, relator's sole claim to fees for which he asserts a lien on the property in controversy grows out of his services in the divorce action, and since the statute expressly provides that the payment of such fees shall be paid by the husband by order of the court and since relator's response does not specifically negate such payment, it seems imperative that the relator, at least, provide this court with a certified copy of the record in the divorce proceedings in order that we may have the record before us on the subject of attorney fees in the divorce proceedings. State ex rel. Wilkerson v. East (1954), 233 Ind. 657, 122 N.E.2d 733; State ex rel. Talkington v. Hoffman (1947), 225 Ind. 475, 76 N.E.2d 252.
Since relator has not provided us with any of the record in such proceedings required by Rule 2-35, it occurs to me that his petition must be denied.
Second: Although proceedings in mandamus and prohibition are statutory, they are equitable in character *143 and persons who call upon this court for the exercise of this extraordinary remedy must present themselves in such a position as is required of all persons who seek equitable relief. State ex rel. American Fletcher etc. v. Lake S.Ct. (1961), 242 Ind. 118, 175 N.E.2d 3; State ex rel. Burton v. City of Princeton (1956), 235 Ind. 467, 134 N.E.2d 692.
For the above stated reason, and for the further reason that an attorney's retaining lien, by which relator here justifies his action, is an equitable remedy, Koons, Administrator, et al. v. Beach (1897), 147 Ind. 137, 45 N.E. 601, the relator, who seeks this extraordinary equitable remedy in mandate and prohibition from this court, should first, by his petition, demonstrate that he himself has done equity. Otherwise, upon equitable principles, this court should leave him where it finds him.
Do the facts before us demonstrate that relator has done equity in this case? As stated in the majority opinion:
"Daisy Jo Maxwell was granted a divorce and relator and Grafton J. Kivett, an attorney of Martinsville, Indiana, who represented the defendant, James D. Maxwell, in the divorce action, were appointed Commissioners for the purpose of selling certain real estate and carrying out the stipulation and agreement pursuant to the property settlement.
...
Relator received from himself and Kivett, as Commissioners, the total sum of $35,149.33, as the amount recovered in the property settlement for and on behalf of Daisy Jo Maxwell in the form of two certified checks payable to Daisy Jo Maxwell and relator in the total sum of $34,829.33, and $320 in cash. [My italics.]
Relator not having been paid his fee for services rendered in the divorce action and in connection *144 with the property settlement, retained possession of the certified checks and money which he received."
The facts above stated clearly show that, although the amounts recovered in property settlement in the divorce action were received by relator in three separate but liquid forms and amounts, relator has retained the total amount as security for his fee. Under these circumstances, even though it be conceded that relator was entitled to retain a sufficient amount of the property recovered to secure payment of the amount claimed to be due him for his services, there is absolutely no justification in the record to sustain appellant's action in retaining all of the proceeds received in the settlement, even to the last $320 which was paid in cash. Relator does not divulge the amount of his claim for services, but we assume, and relator does not contend otherwise, that relator was not claiming all the amount received in the settlement as a fee for his services, and that at least one of the separate amounts received by him for his client should have been paid to her, notwithstanding relator's asserted attorney's lien. Because of these facts, it is my opinion that relator, by his own petition, has demonstrated that he has not done equity in the case and is, therefore, not entitled to the extraordinary equitable relief for which he now appeals to this court.
Three: It was the duty of the respondent court in this case to make such orders as were necessary for the payment of relator's fee as attorney. Likewise, it was the duty of the respondent court to ascertain that the property of the parties in the divorce action was, in fact, paid to them by the officers of the court according to his order. In my opinion, the respondent *145 court, upon being informed that none of said property reportedly paid to the divorced wife, had, in fact, been paid to her, properly permitted this action for contempt to be brought under Acts 1881 (Spec. Sess.), ch. 38, § 843, p. 240 [§ 4-3615, Burns' 1946 Repl.]. Furthermore, it is my opinion that relator's response that he held the money pursuant to an attorney's lien did not excuse his action in retaining all of the property of his client which had been paid to him in severable amounts. In the absence of a contrary assertion, one must assume that it was not necessary for relator to retain all of said amounts to secure payment of his attorney fees. Therefore, in my opinion, relator's return to the citation for contempt did not, upon its face, constitute a defense to the action.
For these reasons, I would deny the writ.
NOTE. Reported in 183 N.E.2d 331.
NOTES
[1] Acts 1949, ch. 52, § 1, p. 155, being § 4-3619, Burns' 1961 Cum. Supp.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | FreeLaw |
A sexually frustrated office worker hit his boss in the night club. The next day he is told he's to be demoted to a different position in the company. He gets so disturbed and thus begins his rape rampage. He rapes a number of hard-to-get ladies in his company. Surprisingly, the ladies are stimulated by his assault and finally help him in getting promoted. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Sometimes
a movie needs only one great scene for me to fall absolutely in love with it.
In Shield
for Murder (1954), it’s when Edmond O’Brien stops
into an Italian restaurantand finds
himself at the bar sitting next to Carolyn Jones. She’s one of those types you
see in the older movies, petite and blonde, but with fingers like claws. She’s
a barfly; she tries to get him to buy her a drink, or at least talk to her. He
has other things on his mind.
Most
guys would love to rub up against Jones in a bar. But O’Brien is involved in
some bad stuff. He’s Barney Nolan, a police detective; he’s killed a
bookmaker’s stooge who happened to be carrying $25,000. Thinking no one was
watching, Nolan took the money. He’s a mix of hardboiled cop who cares for
nothing, and a normal, working-class guy who just wants to settle down in a
house he can call his own.But his reputation
for violence has raised suspicion about him. He’s starting to sweat.
Jones,
meanwhile, keeps working on him. “You aren’t so tough,” she says. She teases
him, saying he doesn’t know how to look the part. She tells him to hold his
cigarette a certain way, and to squint his eyes. In short, she’s telling him to
look more like Humphrey Bogart, the blueprint for toughness in those days.
Nolan plays along; he chuckles. A while later he notices a couple of gunmen who
have been trailing him. They’re working for the bookie, and they’ve got balls
enough to walk right into the restaurant. He walks over to them and, with the
butt of his revolver, smashes them both into bloody heaps. Confronted by real
toughness, Jones can only scream in horror.
O’Brien,
who’d spent time on the New York stage in productions of Shakespeare, was one
of the few actors who could pull off such a scene. He didn’t look particularly
dangerous – he could’ve been a high school football coach, a bus driver, the
owner of a butcher shop – but he was burly and looked like he could do some
damage if riled.
Shield for Murder was based on a novel by William
P. McGivern, a pulp writer whose stories provided the basis for some excellent
crime movies of the period (The Big
Heat,Odds Against Tomorrow).
O’Brien shared the director’s credit alongside Howard Koch. According to press
releases, O’Brien rehearsed the actors, while Koch took over once filming began.
O’Brien said at the time that he hoped to become a full-time director, and that
he’d prefer to be known as “a new director, rather than an old leading man.”
The
screenplay, credited to Richard Alan Simmons and John C. Higgins, is slick
enough that an entire story could’ve been made of the deaf man who witnesses
Nolan kill the bookie’s runner. Another movie could’ve been made of the
character played by John Agar, a younger detective who idolizes Nolan but
suspects he’s done something foul. That none of the film’s moving parts get in
the way of each other is a testament to old-school moviemaking. And the
dialogue? Superb. “You’ve had enough for one day,” Nolan tells one particularly
abrasive cop. “Now go home and beat your wife.” Then there’s the older cop who
grouses, “I’ve gotten old in this office, with a snail’s eye view of man’s
inhumanity.” Good stuff.
And what
of Carolyn Jones as the blond tootsie?She’d been in features for about a year – she’d had roles in The Big Heat and House of Wax -and in the
next few years she’d work for such directors as Billy Wilder and Alfred
Hitchcock. She’s near brilliant here. Some actresses would play the barfly role
for laughs, others would aim for pathos, others would go for sleaze. She hits
all three.
In the
original trailer for the film, which is included in the excellent new DVD
available from Kino Lorber, the ad campaign made it look as if Nolan left his
fiancée for a fling with Jones. That’s not what the movie is about at all, but
publicists probably wanted a clip of Jones in the trailer, just for some
enticement. Why not? All is fair in marketing, especially when a cutie like Jones is
concerned.
Consider,
too, the explosive shootout between Nolan and the gunman played by Claude
Akins. Akins is one of the fellows Nolan clobbered in the restaurant; with his
head bandaged, he tracks Nolan down at a YMCA swimming pool where they open
fire on each other. It’s madness, as swimmers run for cover, hide under
bleachers, or dive into the pool to avoid the rain of gunfire. This shows how
far Nolan has fallen; he doesn’t even care if innocent people get hit.
Contrast
this to the way Nolan slouches around the police station, leaning on filing
cabinets and listening to others talk with a look of thinly disguised disdain.
He’s a veteran cop, he’s seen it all, and he doesn’t break a sweat for
anything.
Then
there’s a surprisingly light scene where Nolan brings his bride to be (Marla
English) to the new tract home he plans to buy. He’s like a big kid as he
proudly shows her all of the fixtures. The life he plans for them, complete
with modern kitchen appliances and a two-car garage, sounds delightful; he’s
invented it in his mind, perhaps to occlude the grotesque reality of his life
as a crooked cop.
Is this
the real Nolan? A gentle, friendly guy who happily tells his girlfriend to kick
her shoes off and take a nap on the new couch? Granted, he uses this moment to
sneak out and bury his stolen money in the backyard, but his glee at showing
off his new home is infectious. For a moment, you almost wish the guy’s dream
of a normal home life could come true.
Everyone
respects Edmund O’Brien as an actor, but is he truly appreciated for all of his
great work? Shield For Murder takes
place during his peak years, shortly after his turns in movies like White Heat,D.O.A., and The Hitch-Hiker,
but before his great comic performance as Marty ‘Fats’ Murdock in The Girl Can’t Help It. The same year he
played Barney Nolan, he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance
in The Barefoot Contessa. By the
1960s he was still working regularly, but was slipping down to sixth or seventh
billing. He’d become one of those reliable types, the kind of actor who could
deliver a solid performance, but wouldn’t steal the spotlight from the bigger
stars. Director Don Siegal claimedO’Brien’s eyesight and memory were troubling him as early as China Venture (1953), when he was not
yet 40. This was perhaps a harbinger of the Alzheimer’s disease that would
ultimately kill him at 69, and might explain why O’Brien contented himself with
smaller parts. His plan to become a director wasn’t to be, either. At his best,
though, O’Brien was a sort of genius.
In Shield For Murder, he’s surrounded by
capable performers, including Jones, Akins, Agar, Richard Deacon, Vito Scotti,
William Schallert, and in the role of the mute, a very touching Ernst
Sternmuller. Yet, it’s O’Brien who owns this one. When he meets his grisly end
outside of his beloved dream home, collapsing from a bullet wound onto the
unplanted lawn, you’d be forgiven if you felt some sympathy for him.
“No
actor who plays himself is a happy person,” O’Brien once said. If so, the man
who could sing ‘Rock Around The Rockpile’ in The Girl Can’t Help It, as well as play the tortured, murderous cop
in Shield For Murder, must have been
happy for a while, indeed.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
The Lovers and the Despot is one of those
documentaries where the subject is far more interesting than the resulting
movie. One would think that the tale of a major political figure who kidnaps an
actress and her director husband to help his country’s
flagging film industry would be riveting and filled with intrigue
and drama. And it is, sort of. But it’s told in such a dreamy manner that one
starts to doze off. It's a gentle, sleeping pill of a documentary. Then again, some stories are so bizarre that they can overcome almost any flaw in execution.
The
movie, written and directed by Ross Adam and Robert Cannan, sifts through a
mountain of material to tell the story of North Korean dictator Kim
Jong-Il, who happened to be a movie lover, and his abduction of Choi Eun-hee, a woman who, for lack of a better comparison,
was the South Korean Meryl Streep. She’d starred in several films for her
husband, Shin Sang-ok, a major figure in the South Korean film business. We see the two at various red carpet
events, and in clips of the movies they made. They were a cool couple, hobnobbing with Marilyn Monroe and looking
incredibly stylish in their dark glasses; they were the epitome of 1950s South Korean
swank. When Choi vanished, Shin followed. He, too, was taken into captivity. The
dictator gave Shin an incredible opportunity: massive resources were his to
make any sort of movie, provided it showed North Korea in a positive light. Not
surprisingly, Shin grew to like the idea. After a couple of escape attempts, he understood that working for Kim Jong-Il wasn’t such a bad gig. Shin and Choi remained in North Korea for eight years, and made eight features.
There
are some artful flourishes in the movie, and we get a fairly complete impression
of the couple in captivity. She’s elegant, an actress who seems to come alive
while working, but otherwise is rather meek and unassuming; he’s got enough
swagger for two, squinting his eyes like Bob Mitchum after taking a drag
off a Marlboro. We learn that Shin was a bit of a bum when it came to finances,
which could explain why he enjoyed working for Kim Jong-Il, and we hear
the dictator’s voice on tape, complaining about the sorry state of his country’s
films. “Why so much crying?” he asks. I especially liked the South Korean
intelligence agent involved in the case. He was tough but light, like an old
weed that had survived several hard winters. He deserved his own television
series.
Shin
and Choi were already done as a married couple by the time they were relocated
to North Korea – he’d had an affair with a lesser known actress that resulted in two
children, which was, apparently, enough for Choi to get the message. “He never
said he loved me,” Choi says at one point. Later, she adds, “He loved me more
than people knew.” The pair was reunited while in
captivity. This turned out to be what they’d needed to rekindle the old flame; they
would stay together until Shin’s death in 2006, 20 years after making their
daring escape from the clutches of Kim Jong-Il.
All
of this should’ve been twice as romantic, and twice as dramatic. I should’ve been weeping
when they were reunited, I should’ve applauded wildly when they made their
getaway, and I should’ve been hating Kim Jong-Il. Instead, Choi plays
everything too quietly, as if she's still worn out by the eight years she spent in North Korea. And Kim Jong-Il, strangely enough, comes off
as the star of the piece. He’s oddly charismatic. Trying to break the ice when
he first meets Choi, he says “Don’t I look like a midget’s turd?”
As
for Shin, aside from his dashing demeanor, we don’t get to know him very well.
We certainly don’t learn much about his films. Clips are used throughout
the documentary, but we can’t gather what sort of filmmaker he’d been in his South
Korean heyday. He seemed to bounce from period pieces where Choi did evocative
fan dances, to movies that looked like Korean versions of spaghetti westerns.
His black and white footage looks lovely, like clips from a Fellini movie, and
I also liked the color footage from a later film – it reminded me of Bunny Yeager’s
“stereo photography” of the ‘50s. Still, I couldn’t tell you shit about Shin as a
director. Not from this documentary, anyway.
What
comes across in the movie is that North Korea is a strange place, emotionally
stunted until it’s time for a military parade or a dictator's funeral. Then, the tone becomes
something akin to the Nuremburg rallies, with enough pomp and glitter
to frighten anyone looking in for the first time. Was this, I wonder, the goal
of the filmmakers? When we see footage of Kim Jong-Il’s 2011 funeral procession, with the loyal
citizens practically apoplectic with emotion - obviously forced - it feels like we’re looking at
another sort of propaganda film, one to make us think North Koreans are simply crazy. What
does the average person know of North Korea? Not much. But, thanks to our media coverage, and constant mention of nuclear missiles, we’re supposed to be
scared of the place. And this documentary, with its use of certain images, appears to be saying it’s OK to be scared.
A
final shot of Kim Jong-un, the tubby son of Kim Jong-Il and the current leader
of North Korea, is meant to be ominous,
like the pics of Adolph Hitler that pop up at the end of World War One
documentaries, a note that something grim is yet to come. Hmm? I’ve heard that North Korea wants to
enter the space race. Maybe they’ll kidnap Buzz Aldrin for some inspiration.
Monday, September 19, 2016
It
wasn’t enough for Laura Albert to write books under the pseudonym “JT LeRoy.”
She had to create an entire charade, enlisting Savannah Knoop, her boyfriend’s
half-sister, to pose in public as JT. That JT was supposed to be male was easy to get
around; Albert had described the JT character as an androgynous little teenage
boy, so Knoop had only to put on dark glasses and a wig and voila: a wispy
little twink of an author, readymade to meet her fans, which included such
literary pundits as Bono and Courtney Love. Not wanting to miss out on the
action, Albert passed herself off as JT’s manager, complete with British
accent. This may be hard to follow - and it gets even more complex - but it all makes sense in Jeff Feuerzeig’s Author: The JT LeRoy Story, a dynamic
documentary about a strange blip in publishing history. It's breathlessly narrated by Albert like a criminal confessing a small
crime; her tone, not surprisingly, is one of ‘What’s all the fuss about?” The
books, she says rightly, are labeled "fiction." Anything else, she says, is
extra. Agreed.
Albert
didn’t need a fake persona to sell books. For readers who prefer their authors
to be on the damaged side, Albert’s own messy life would’ve worked just fine.
She went from being an obese child to a phone-sex operator, which isn’t quite
as exciting as the teen male prostitute that JT LeRoy was supposed to be, but
it’s not bad.
Of
course, Albert makes the story a bit sticky when she insists that JT LeRoy
really existed, deep inside her, like a ghost or something. It’s not a split
personality, she insists, but rather, he came to life in her one day when she
called a suicide hotline and took on a boy's persona in order to talk to
a counselor. Hence, JT was born. (Albert had been doing this sort of thing for
years, but JT was the first of her male alter egos to have literary
aspirations.)
Albert
may come off as slightly creepy when she goes on about JT being real, but she’s
no less creepy than Stephen Beachy, the New
York magazine writer who uncovered the harmless sham as if he'd stumbled upon
the Watergate scandal, or the various rock stars who try to befriend the
teenage hustler turned writer named JT. (Is Tom Waits so bored that he has to
make personal calls to teen writers?)Walter Werzowa’s score, which sounds more than a little like Lou Reed’s ‘Street
Hassle,’ weaves ominously through the story as one gullible celeb after another
becomes smitten with JT, played with growing confidence by Knoop. Halfway
through the movie, when Knoop, as JT, reads in front of a massive audience in
Italy, I found myself nodding appreciatively. When a ruse goes that far, and is
executed with such flair, you have no choice but to tip your hat.
There’s
nothing here that made me want to read the JT LeRoy books – despite the
original flush of publicity where buffoonish critics hailed JT LeRoy as the
torchbearer of Genet and Burroughs, it sounds more like ersatz Southern gothic
to me, with truckers and hookers and wayward children on the streets – and the
fact that so many rock singers liked these books makes me guess Albert piled on the smut and used a
lot of easy words. But I did come away liking Laura Albert. She’s grown into an
attractive middle-aged woman, even if she has that nervous, unbreakable gaze
seen in certain barflies, the ones who seem friendly but may get your wallet.
Feuerzeig
previously directed The Devil and Daniel Johnston,
another documentary where rock stars rallied around an outsider figure.
That film, made in 2006, had more depth and emotion than Author: The JT LeRoy Story. Ultimately, Johnston was a much
more tortured soul, and more of a danger to himself. Albert will simply
cash in her dime’s worth of celebrity and continue to write, though I think
she’d give it all up to hang out with rock stars. Also, despite being fascinating, the movie ends too
quickly. Albert mentions a nasty childhood incident, and then we learn that she
paid a meaty fine for signing a book contract as Leroy; she now writes under
her own name. And that’s it.
Albert is inscrutable, though she talks a blue streak. I sensed a real
vulnerability about her, which could explain why so many were drawn to her when she pretended to be JT on the phone. But
why does it seem that every call she made was recorded on a cassette
tape? Did she know they’d be useful in a future documentary? And where’s JT
LeRoy nowadays? Is he still guiding Laura Albert’s stories, while she’s only signing
them? Who’s driving the ship now?
Monday, September 12, 2016
Full
confession: I’ve never enjoyed improv comedy. There’s something repulsive about
people who are so starved for love that they’ll take suggestions from an
audience and try to create something funny. Part of my disdain stems from a night
many years ago when I was dragged to a Cambridge bar where I endured 90 minutes
of unfunny improvising from a group known as ‘The Kamikazes of Comedy.’ I
vaguely remember the performers as a bunch of pudgy young males, bearded,
probably from the theater department of a local college; I’m sure one of them
was the roommate of one of my friends, which is why I got pulled into this
painfully humorless evening in the first place. Granted, there wasn’t much the
group could do based on the suggestions coming from the customers – when
prodded for a location, the crowd could only shout“public toilet” or “gonorrhea clinic” – but I
assumed a top flight improvisation team would simply launch into a hysterical bit
about gonorrhea. Instead, they flailed around the stage, trying tobowl us over with pep squad energy instead of
wit; by the time they were done, I was done, too.
I
understand that some of our funniest performers come from improv backgrounds,
but I didn’t get a single laugh that night, a night I hadn’t thought about
until seeing Don’t Think Twice, a reasonably amusing movie about a New York
improv group on their last legs. Writer/director Mike Birbiglia has a background in stand-up comedy, and during his time
at Georgetown College, he was part of an improv troupe. I don’t think he was in
the Kamikazes of Comedy, but he seems cut from the same cloth. He’s pudgy and
bearded, anyway.
The
movie focuses on The Commune, a group of New York improv performers who can
hear their comedy clocks ticking. One of them has been plucked from the team to
be part of Weekend Live (a barely disguised version of SNL). The others, having
lost their performance space, do gigs around the city for an ever diminishing audience.
We also see them at their dull day jobs; they deliver sandwiches, hand out
samples in a supermarket, and, of course, teach improv classes. We’re spared
the old line about “Those can’t do, teach,” but the implication is there. At
night, though, they still hit the stage and live out their improvisational
dreams. One of the players even hauls out the famous quote from Del Close (the
Stanislavsky of improvisational theater), about how watching a scene created on
the fly is like watching people assemble a plane while it’s in the air. But for
all of its crowing about the art and nobility of improv, the movie doesn’t
get interesting until seeing one of their own make it to television brings out
the group’s jealousy and bitterness. These comedians are bitter fucks, indeed.
Birbiglia
gives each of the characters some reality to juggle. One’s father is dying.
Another, played by Birbiglia, is nearing 40 and wondering if his comedy prime
is over. The others suffer from a fear of moving forward; one gets her chance
to audition for Weekend Live, and has a sort of meltdown in the lobby. Even the
fellow who makes it onto the TV show has to struggle – his old pals at The
Commune are nudging him to help with their careers, and Weekend Live itself is
a bit of an embalmed institution. “Thank me if I don’t fire you at the end of
the season,” says the stand-in for Lorne Michaels.
Ultimately,
Don’t Think Twice is quite watchable.
Even if the ending is corny, I like how Birbiglia shows in very clear terms
that some people make it in the entertainment business, and some don’t, and it
has to less do with talent than it does with timing and bluster. Where the
movie flopped for me is due to it not being funny. Admittedly, I’m a tough
crowd, but I couldn’t imagine any of these characters getting into
network television, certainly not based on anything they do in the movie. The gamble a
director takes when depicting the world of comedy is that the
material had better be funny. Here, it’s not.
Kate
Miccui, who plays one of The Commune members and should’ve been used more (she plays a tired, unhappy version of
herself, and I wish Birbiglia had allowed her to cut loose), has a good line
about a character she sees on television. The bit, she says, sounds funny but
it’s really not. That’s Don’t Think Twice
in a nutshell. This might explain why two thirds of the audience walked out of
the screening I attended. I stayed with it till the end, but I had to bite my
tongue to keep from shouting, “Gonorrhea clinic!”
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Max Rose is one of those movies
where a bunch of old geezers stop to reminisce about their favorite jazz music,
and before you know it,they’re all
miming to a jazz recording. There should be an immediate moratorium regarding any sort
of musical mime act in movies. It always looks dumb, and I can’t imagine anyone
finds it amusing or funny, even if it gives us a chance to admire the still
impressive mime skills of a near 90-year-old Jerry Lewis as the title
character, a once semi-famous jazz pianist who, apparently, can still mime
some.
Most
of Lewis’ performance is worth watching, even if Max Rose is grossly sentimental. You may not find a better
performance in a worse movie this year, or next year. Max Rose wants so badly to hit our heartstrings with bromides about
aging and death and love, but it trips over its own good intentions. If only
the movie had relaxed a little, as Lewis does in his performance, it might’ve
succeeded. Instead, it wants to hit us over the head and remind us that this is
sad stuff we’re watching, that life is filled with melancholy, and in the end
we all croak, so we’d better start being nice to each other. The movie is like
a big hug from an unpleasant and dull family member.
In
thebeginning, we see Rose and his
family outside a hospital where his wife of 67 years has just died.We see him alone, wandering around their big
old house, struggling with can openers.Then he finds a series of clues that lead him to believe his wife once
had an affair, decades ago, and he begins to crumble at the thought of such a
thing. He drives his son (Kevin Pollak) and granddaughter (KerryBishé)batty with his anger, and when he seems to
be losing touch with reality, they ship him to an assisted living community. He
amuses himself by making potholders and reading Sue Grafton novels, but the
affair claws at him; through a series of unlikely circumstances, he’s able to
meet the man who may have had a fling with his wife. But all ends well.
Writer/director Daniel Noah wouldn’t send us away without making everyone happy.
We’ve
seen this movie before in various forms, and we know it by heart. To Noah’s
credit, he allows Lewis to walk the landscape of the story in his own sweet
time, and as has been his case since the 1940s, Lewis’ timing is flawless. And
though his clown’s face has aged, Lewis can still, with just a slight downturn
of an eye, indicate a world of sorrow.
Lewis
also manages to muscle his way through the flashback scenes, where we see him
with his late wife (Claire Bloom); he even makes those scenes palatable. When she reads to him
from a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, he looks at her with awe, with love; he
conjures up feelings and shows them without saying a word. Actors of greater
renown would fail at this very thing.
The
rest of the cast, unfortunately, appear to be acting in a television sitcom.
An
exception is Dean Stockwell as the man who tried to steal Rose’s wife. He gives
his role hell, but even he’s a cliché; he’s an old Hollywood player, bedridden,
surrounded by awards and mementoes, wearing himself out with epic coughing
jags. A movie where Lewis and Stockwell went toe-to-toe for 90 minutes might’ve
been interesting. Who knows what those two veterans would’ve pulled out?
The
movie, apparently, has been kicking around for a few years; it appeared at Cannes
in 2013 to an indifferent reception, and has been retooled for this 2016 release. Prior
to that, it took Noah some time to finance the project. Lewis signed on early
and stayed with it. Did he deserve better? Perhaps. But no one else has been
willing to use Lewis in recent years, and this, perhaps, gives us one last
glimpse of him.
He
has several moments where he steals the movie and shoves it into his pocket for
a second. My favorite was when he was at the seniors’ home, sitting through an agonizing
Sunday afternoon with his son and granddaughter. Then, as if to break up the monotony, he reveals the
potholders he’s made in a crafts class. “Look what I made,” he says, displaying
them seemingly out of thin air. “They’re shaped like kidneys.” The moment is
loaded: he’s playing the slightly addled grandpa who has given in to his
surroundings, but he’s still Jerry Lewis; the timing, always the timing, is
impeccable.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
I saw Don’t
Breathe at the AMC Loews Boston Common, one of those gigantic 20-screen
movie theater/amusement parks that shows a half hour of coming
attractions.Instead of sitting through
advertisements for all of the upcoming remakes, I wandered around the enormous
lobby and took in the selection of movie posters decorating the corridors.
Eddie Murphy and Johnny Depp were well-represented, and I noticed plenty of
Star Wars stuff, and a cheapo reprint of the original Rocky. To someone born, say, during the Bill Clinton era, I’m sure
these all seem like old, quaint entertainments. I wondered how Don’t Breathe would be thought of in 40
years. After sitting through it, I don’t think it will be thought of at all.
As I
made my way into the cavernous theater I noticed a PSA was on. It was the
movie’s director, Fede Alvarez, thanking the audience for coming. There’s no
better place to see a movie like this, he was saying, than on a big screen in a
room surrounded by strangers. I agreed with him, but I couldn’t remember ever
seeing such an announcement. Granted, the movie business claims to be on wobbly
legs, what with streaming services and various other platforms treating your
local Cineplex to a death by 1,000 cuts, but are things so dire that Alvarez
has to appear onscreen to thank us for coming?
The
audience didn’t seem to need thanks. From what I could tell, they enjoyed this
movie for what it was: a 90-minute thriller with lots of blood and violence,
and enough twists and turns to keep them, if not on the edge of their seats, at
least partly awake. Now and then a female customer would let out a squeal, but
it was a generally polite crowd for a horror movie, not like the madness that
used to go on during a typical 1980s splatter flick.The plot: a trio of teenage burglars break
into the home of a blind man. They think he’s sitting on a big pile of cash. What
they don’t count on is that he’s a war veteran with a bad temper, and even
without eyesight he can track them down in the dark and punish them. He also
has an underground lair worthy of Hannibal Lecter, and is conducting some
unsavory activities down there involving artificial insemination. He’s a hoss,
too, bulging out of his t-shirt like the Toxic Avenger, and absorbing dozens of
blows to the head with various crowbars and hammers, anything the plucky young
intruders can throw at him. He’s Jason Voorhees with glaucoma.
After a
fairly routine first act, with the trio of thieves trying to solve tricky alarm
systems, Alvarez kicks the movie into a frenzy. His directing style is akin to
an angry man who knocks the dinner dishes to the floor. He’s a loud director,
not bothered with finesse, preferring instead to grab any cliché within reach
and throttle it, up to and including: creaking floors, dark rooms, dark
hallways, people stuck in enclosed spaces, people falling through glass, women
held captive, gardening tools through the gut, gunshot wounds to the head,
growling Rottweilers, weird sex stuff, and of course, the menacing blind dude
stalking the underage burglars like the big bad wolf stalking the three little
pigs. Alvarez, who co-wrote the screenplay, gives each character a dollop of backstory –
Roxanne (Jane Levy), for instance, is burgling so she can raise enough money to
escape her horrid family and move to California with her little sister – but
humanizing these characters feels arbitrary, like something learned in film
school.
Ultimately,
the movie is no different than a bunch of others that have come out in the past
20 or 30 years. There are some teens, and a bad guy, and around and ‘round they
go. Alvarez probably thinks he has done something unusual in that we’re
supposed to be cheering for Roxanne to steal from a blind man; the joke is on
him because I was rooting for the villain, played with gusto by Stephen Lang.
I’ve
heard that horror movies are making a comeback. They can be produced cheaply,
and there’s always an audience for them. Look at any streaming movie app, and
you’ll find hundreds of them, most made in recent years. But the truth is that
the horror movie now occupies the spot where the western stood in the 1960s; the TV networks have a ton of horror programming,
while the big studios spend their money on other things. In the meantime, the
studios hope a guy like Alvarez can score while not running up the budget. It’s
a fair strategy. Still, the preshow ‘thank you’ sounded a bit like an apology.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
My favorite description of The
Rolling Stones comes from Tom Wolfe in one of his early Esquire pieces, back before Esquire
was dumbed down for the internet generation. “They’re modeled after The
Beatles,” he wrote, “only more lower class – deformed.” Hundreds have tried,
but few have pegged the Stones with Wolfe’s acid pithiness. Joel Selvin comes
close in Altamont, his comprehensive examination of the disastrous free
concert headlined by the Stones, where a local chapter of the Hells Angels
motorcycle club was hired as security. The event is remembered solely because
the Angels’ interpretation of crowd control was straight out of A Clockwork Orange; one audience member,
a gun-wielding African-American male named Meredith Hunter, bled to death after
learning his lime green suit was no match for an Angel’s blade. Since the show
took place in the final month of 1969, the killing served as a bookend for the
decade, “a stain,” Selvin writes, “that wouldn’t wash out of the fabric of the
music.”
Though
the band comes off as idiot savants who conjure riffs right out of the
Mississippi Delta but are witless about anything else, they’re served well by
Selvin. He puts the blame for the Altamont mess squarely on their bony
shoulders, but not to where they come off as villains, just typically oblivious
rock stars. For those of us who have seen Gimme
Shelter, the grim documentary where Mick Jagger looked as if he thought he
could control the Angels, or at least distract them, with his hyper dance
moves– watch him during ‘Sympathy for
The Devil’; he’s on overdrive, and it’s not because he’s moved by Bill Wyman’s
bass grooves – and took it as gospel, Selvin clears up a few things, namely,
that the show wasn’t some kind of electrified witches’ Sabbath that went awry.
Rather, it was a perfect confluence of forces not evil but inept.
The
collection of maladroit characters is doled out with Dickensian detail – in the
first chapter alone we meet a menacing drug-dealer with a hook hand known as
“Goldfinger” – and in time we meet every low-rent hustler, hanger-on, and
self-made businessman who thought he could turn a derelict speedway on the
outer reaches of San Francisco Bayinto
rock ‘n’ roll manna. As for the Stones, they’d missed out on Woodstock and,
Jagger in particular, felt they’d lost some cachet. What better way to regain
their standing in America than by aligning with the new hip bands of the day,
the Airplane, the Dead, etc.? Jagger, surmises Selvin, thought the Stones could
trump The Beatles, and Woodstock, if they could pull off a big free show for
some California hippies. Why else would he hire a film crew to record the
thing? The Stones wanted a movie chronicle of their American coronation. But
instead of A Hard Day’s Night, they
got the death of Meredith Hunter. How ironic that the Stones, those cheeky
purveyors of all things black, would provide a soundtrack for the fatal knifing
of a black man.
By the
book’s end, Selvin returns to where most of us started, solemnly declaring the Altamont
concert as the hammer that crushed the sixties. He can’t help but be
heavy-handed about it, even suggesting the Stones never again played so
well,an idea I don’t buy. Nor do I go
along with his dismissal of the Angels’ favorite deterrent – the pool cue. I
happen to think the cue is a great weapon – use it as a spear, or a bludgeon,
and if it happens to break over somebody’s head, you still have the short end
to use in close quarters. Selvin, who has covered the pop world for decades,is damn near brilliant during the book’s
first half, recounting the mangy crowd descending on the concert site as “a
malodorous peasant army camping the night before the Battle of Agincourt,” or
the aristocracy’sview of Jagger as “a
social novelty, an exotic beast tame enough to pet.” Even a new stash of
sinsemilla is described with great care, its “fresh, fruity flavor, almost like
tropical lawn clippings.” If only the book’s conclusion, which is as dry as a
court summons, had such flair. I guess the road to damnation is a lot more
interesting than actual damnation.
About Me
I write for various magazines, including the great CINEMA RETRO, and the Film Noir Foundation's official magazine, Noir City. Check them out if you love movies.
I currently serve as the editorial consultant for thefilmdetective.tv, a movie streaming service that does everything from restoring old films to selling a vast collection of DVDs. Download our classic movie app!
Along with movie and arts coverage, I've written about boxing for The Ring, and ESPN.com; I've written true crime stories for the short-lived HUB; and I occasionally publish historical tales in Wild West magazine. I've also written for a bunch of newspapers in the Boston area.
THIS DAZZLING TIME is where you'll find a bit of everything. I appreciate having your attention for a moment or two. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
169 F.3d 973
Debra WALKER, et al., Plaintiffs,Debra Walker; Jeanette Washington; Hazel Williams; ZelmaLang; Renita Brown; Lillie Thompson, Plaintiffs-Appellees,Tracey Smith, Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellee,v.CITY OF MESQUITE, TX, et al., Defendants,Department of Housing & Urban Development, Defendant-Appellee.Highlands of McKamy IV and V Community ImprovementAssociation; Ginger Lee; Preston HighlandsHomeowners' Association, Incorporated;David Beer, Plaintiffs-Appellants,v.The Housing Authority of the City of Dallas, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 97-11083.
United States Court of Appeals,Fifth Circuit.
March 16, 1999.
Michael M. Daniel, Laura Beth Beshara, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiffs-Appellees and Intervenor Plaintiff-Appellee.
Linda Frances Thome, U.S. Department of Justice, Appellate Section, Civil Rights Division, David Kevin Flynn, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Department of Housing & Urban Development.
Robert E. Goodfriend, Michael P. Lynn, Thomas M. Melsheimer, Eric Wolf Pinker, Lynn, Stodghill, Melsheimer & Tillotson, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.
Joseph G. Werner, Melissa Ann Miles, Haynes & Boone, Dallas, TX, for The Housing Authority of the City of Dallas.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Before JONES and SMITH, Circuit Judges, and SHAW*, District Judge.
EDITH H. JONES, Circuit Judge:
1
The Dallas Housing Authority (DHA), the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the City of Dallas were found liable several years ago for unconstitutional racial discrimination and segregation within Dallas's public housing programs. The primary issue on this appeal is the constitutionality of the provision of the district court's most recent remedial order that directs newly constructed units of public housing to be located in "predominantly white" Dallas neighborhoods.
2
Specifically, this is an appeal from a final judgment in two actions that were consolidated for trial. In the first action, two homeowners and their homeowners' associations ("Homeowners") sought declaratory and injunctive relief against DHA's construction of two new public housing projects adjacent to their neighborhoods.1 The Homeowners challenged the remedial order's provisions for new public housing construction and race-conscious site selection alleging that these were not narrowly tailored to remedy the vestiges of past discrimination and segregation. In the second action, the original class plaintiffs, tenants in the public housing programs, sought declaratory relief that the remedial order provisions are constitutional. The district court entered judgment against the Homeowners in the first action and for the class plaintiffs in the second action. The Homeowners appealed. We essentially vacate and remand for further consideration by the district court.
I. BACKGROUND
3
Part of the convoluted history of this case is concisely recounted in Walker v. HUD, 912 F.2d 819, 821-25 (5th Cir.1990) [hereinafter Walker IV ]. We will not repeat that history here, but some important procedural and substantive gaps in this court's prior opinion, which addressed different issues, should be filled in.
4
This case began in 1985 and initially resulted in a consent decree, which was approved by the district court in 1987. See Walker v. HUD, 734 F.Supp. 1231, 1247-72 (N.D.Tex.1989) [hereinafter Walker I ] (reprinting the district court's 1987 consent decree and its "Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law Approving the Proposed Consent Decree"). The consent decree addressed the plaintiff class's2 challenge under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to the purposeful racial discrimination and segregation within DHA's public housing programs. The defendants were DHA and HUD. The City of Dallas was joined as both a defendant to the lawsuit and a party to the consent decree in 1989. See Walker v. HUD, 734 F.Supp. 1289 (N.D.Tex.1989) [hereinafter Walker III ]. The history of public housing in Dallas is a sordid tale of overt and covert racial discrimination and segregation. See generally Walker III, 734 F.Supp. at 1293-1312 (recounting in detail the history of public housing in Dallas). Virtually all non-elderly public housing units3 were constructed in minority areas of Dallas.4 No new public housing units were built between 1955 and 1989 at least in part for fear that they might be located in white areas. Tenant selection and assignment procedures for public housing units were crafted and administered to maintain racially segregated projects. DHA's Section 8 housing programs were operated to discourage blacks from moving into white areas of metropolitan Dallas. See id. Blacks were purposefully segregated for decades into either Section 8 housing in minority areas of Dallas or predominantly black housing projects in minority areas of Dallas.
5
The 1987 consent decree required the demolition of approximately 2,600 units of public housing in DHA's West Dallas project, a public housing development located in a predominantly black area of the city and referred to by this court as "one of Dallas's worst slums."5 Walker IV, 912 F.2d at 821. These units were to be replaced on a one-forone basis with additional public housing units and Section 8 certificates and vouchers. See id. at 822. The decree also required that one hundred newly constructed replacement units be built in a predominantly white area of Dallas, that a nondiscriminatory tenant selection and assignment plan be implemented, and that a Section 8 mobility plan be established to assist black families joining the Section 8 program in finding housing in white areas of Dallas.6
6
DHA repeatedly violated the 1987 consent decree. First, it resisted the construction of the 100 units of new public housing in a predominantly white area. See Walker I, 734 F.Supp. at 1243-45. Site selection for and construction of the 100 units was eventually completed, but only by court order. See id. Second, DHA violated the tenant selection and assignment and mobility provisions of the decree. See id. at 1235-42. DHA failed to establish and fund the required Section 8 mobility program, failed to timely obtain fair market exception rents,7 delayed implementing a nondiscriminatory tenant selection and assignment program, failed to include in Section 8 housing information a full list of all Section 8 units available in non-minority areas, and failed to use all of the Section 8 certificates and vouchers allocated by HUD to DHA. See id.
7
In March 1992, the district court vacated the 1987 consent decree on the grounds that its terms were not implemented and that the vestiges of purposeful segregation persisted. Subsequently, the district court granted the Walker plaintiffs' uncontested motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability. In September 1994, the district court held a trial on the issue of a remedy. The district court entered its remedial order affecting DHA in February 1995 and its remedial order affecting HUD in April 1996.
8
The remedial order affecting DHA requires DHA (1) to demolish at least 2,630 units of its West Dallas project, (2) to develop 2,807 replacement units for the demolished West Dallas units through both new construction and Section 8 vouchers and certificates,8 (3) to develop, either through construction or acquisition, an additional 3,205 new units of public housing in predominantly white areas of metropolitan Dallas in which the poverty rate does not exceed 13%, and (4) to develop all new public housing units in predominantly white areas until there are as many units in predominantly white areas as there are in minority areas.9 A "predominantly white area" is defined as less than 37% Hispanic, black, or other minority. The required 3,205 new units may be satisfied by the use of Section 8 certificates or vouchers, but only after court approval.10 The construction costs for 674 of the 2,807 new replacement units have been previously allocated to DHA by HUD,11 although only 75 of these units are currently under construction or completed.12
9
The Homeowners filed this suit against DHA and HUD to enjoin the construction of two new 40-unit public housing projects on sites adjacent to their neighborhoods.13 The Homeowners allege that the remedy of new construction is not narrowly tailored because it requires that the new units be constructed in predominantly white areas. The Homeowners do not contest either the remedial order's poverty site-selection criterion or HUD's site-selection standards set forth in 24 C.F.R. § 941.202.
10
In response to the Homeowners' action, the Walker plaintiffs sought declaratory relief that the remedial order was constitutional. The Homeowners' request for an injunction and the Walker plaintiffs' declaratory judgment action were tried together in October 1996. The district court denied the Homeowners' injunctive relief and granted the Walker plaintiffs declaratory relief. The district court gave an oral opinion on August 25, 1997, entered final judgment on September 18, 1997, and issued its written opinion on October 6, 1997.14
II. STANDING
11
As an initial matter, DHA and HUD challenge the Homeowners' standing to bring their suit. The burden of establishing standing rests with the party seeking to invoke federal jurisdiction (i.e., the Homeowners). See United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737, 743, 115 S.Ct. 2431, 2435, 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995); Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 2136, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). In a case that has proceeded to final judgment, the factual allegations supporting standing (if controverted) must be supported adequately by the evidence adduced at trial. See Hays, 515 U.S. at 743, 115 S.Ct. at 2435; Lujan, 504 U.S. at 561, 112 S.Ct. at 2137; Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91, 115 n. 31, 99 S.Ct. 1601, 1616 n. 31, 60 L.Ed.2d 66 (1979); see also CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT, ARTHUR R. MILLER & EDWARD H. COOPER, 13A FEDERAL PRACTICE & PROCEDURE § 3531.15, at 105 (2d ed. 1984).15
12
The irreducible constitutional minimum of standing is composed of three elements:
13
First, the plaintiff must have suffered an "injury in fact"--an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized, and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical. Second, there must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of.... Third, it must be likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.
14
Hays, 515 U.S. at 742-43, 115 S.Ct. at 2435 (quoting Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560-61, 112 S.Ct. at 2136) (internal citation and quotations omitted). In applying these constitutional standing requirements, the Court has adopted a prudential principle that bars the adjudication of "generalized grievances" against allegedly illegal government conduct.16 See id. In the equal protection context, this prudential principle means that standing exists only for those persons who are personally denied equal treatment by the challenged discriminatory conduct. See id. (citing Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 755, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 3326, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984)); see also Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 489 n. 26, 102 S.Ct. 752, 768 n. 26, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982) (rejecting the proposition that every citizen has "standing to challenge every affirmative-action program on the basis of a personal right to a government that does not deny equal protection of the laws").
15
DHA and HUD principally contend that the Homeowners lack standing because they allege an injury that is conjectural and a generalized grievance. The essence of the Homeowners' complaint is twofold: (1) they have been purposefully discriminated against because of their race (i.e., they were intentionally singled out because of their race to accommodate two new public housing projects adjacent to their neighborhoods), and (2) this decision has inflicted or threatens to inflict specific injury including decreased property values, increased crime and population density, environmental problems, and diminished aesthetic values of the neighborhood because DHA will fail to operate and maintain the two projects properly. The remedial order's explicit racial classification alone is sufficient to confer standing on these particular homeowners. In Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 104 S.Ct. 3315, 82 L.Ed.2d 556 (1984), the Supreme Court wrote regarding the "stigmatizing injury" caused by racial discrimination that "[t]here can be no doubt that this sort of non-economic injury is one of the most serious consequences of discriminatory government action and is sufficient in some circumstances to support standing." Id. at 755, 104 S.Ct. at 3326. The Court continued, "Our cases make clear, however, that such injury accords a basis for standing only to 'those persons who are personally denied equal treatment' by the challenged discriminatory conduct." Id.; see also City of Richmond v. J.A. Croson, 488 U.S. 469, 493, 109 S.Ct. 706, 721, 102 L.Ed.2d 854 (1989) ("To whatever racial group these citizens belong, their 'personal rights' to be treated with equal dignity and respect are implicated by a rigid rule erecting race as the sole criterion in an aspect of public decisionmaking.").
16
Under the remedial order, DHA selected the homeowners' neighborhood because they are white and they live in an area of Dallas that is at least 63% white. The remedial order also requires that new units not be located in areas where the poverty rate exceeds 13%. Thus, these homeowners' "whiteness" is one of two controlling elements which identified the specific sites adjacent to their neighborhoods for new public housing construction. When a homeowner's neighborhood adjoins a proposed public housing project whose site was determined by a race-conscious standard, he has standing to sue because of the explicit racial classification. Cf. Hays, 515 U.S. at 744-45, 115 S.Ct. at 2436 ("Where a plaintiff resides in a racially gerrymandered district, however, the plaintiff has been denied equal treatment because of the legislature's reliance on racial criteria, and therefore has standing to challenge the legislature's action.").
17
DHA and HUD cite three cases to support their contention that the Homeowners' injury is a generalized grievance lacking the specificity and particularity necessary to confer standing. Each case is easily distinguishable from the case at hand. In Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 504-07, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2208-09, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975), the plaintiffs alleged that an adjacent town's zoning ordinances effectively excluded low and moderate income persons from living in the town, but they could not demonstrate that the ordinances specifically precluded them from living in the adjacent town. In Apache Bend Apartments v. United States, 987 F.2d 1174, 1177 (5th Cir.1993), the plaintiff-taxpayers were not seeking to litigate their own tax liability, but the tax liability of taxpayers who were not before the court. And in Hays, 515 U.S. at 744-45, 115 S.Ct. at 2436, 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995), the plaintiffs were denied standing to challenge a reapportionment plan because they did not live in the district that was the focus of their claim. In contrast to these three cases, the Homeowners live in neighborhoods next door to the proposed new 40-unit housing projects, and the location of these projects was selected specifically because of the homeowners' race.
18
In general, the racial classification of the homeowners is an injury in and of itself. See Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630, 643, 113 S.Ct. 2816, 2824, 125 L.Ed.2d 511 (1993) ("Classifications of citizens solely on the basis of race are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality. They threaten to stigmatize individuals by reason of their membership in a racial group and to incite racial hostility." (internal citations omitted)). But the Homeowners also allege that constructing two new 40-unit public housing projects adjacent to their neighborhoods will cause a decline in their property values and other problems involving crime, traffic and diminished aesthetic values. Relying on the district court's fact finding that the Homeowners have not suffered such an economic injury caused by the new public housing projects, HUD and DHA challenge whether the Homeowners have in fact suffered a decrease in property values. Despite this finding, we cannot conclude, having reviewed the record, that the Homeowners did not put forth adequate evidence at trial to confer standing upon them. The district court did not hold that the Homeowners lack standing, as he was well aware of the potential for neighborhood disruption traceable to improperly managed public housing projects. HUD and DHA cite no cases in which standing has been denied to homeowners who asserted their quality of life and property values would be diminished by a next-door public housing or other HUD project. The caselaw is to the contrary.17
19
In sum, the Homeowners alleged and sufficiently proved facts that were adequate to support standing to sue.18 The injury they assert is not too abstract or conjectural. The line of causation between the alleged unconstitutional conduct and the injury is not attenuated. And the prospect of obtaining relief from the injury as a result of a favorable ruling is not speculative.
III. HOMEOWNERS' EQUAL PROTECTION CLAIM
20
The district court held that the Homeowners failed to allege an equal protection violation. The Homeowners challenge this conclusion.
A. Lack of a Similarly Situated Group
21
The district court, citing Samaad v. City of Dallas, 940 F.2d 925 (5th Cir.1991), found that the Homeowners failed to show an equal protection violation because they did not identify a similarly situated set of black persons who have been treated better. See id. at 941 n. 31 This requirement, however, applies only to equal protection claims involving facially neutral government actions, where it is necessary to establish that the government is distinguishing or classifying persons on the basis of race. See id. at 941. Explicit racial classifications, in contrast, establish unequal treatment by their very nature. See Shaw, 509 U.S. at 642, 113 S.Ct. at 2824 ("Laws that explicitly distinguish between individuals on racial grounds fall within the core of [the Equal Protection Clause's] prohibition."). Because the Homeowners challenge an explicit racial classification within the district court's remedial order, they have properly alleged an equal protection violation.
22
The district court also suggested that the Homeowners failed to demonstrate an equal protection violation because "[t]he impact [of the new construction], if any, on the Homeowners will be considerably less than [the] impact of the existing DHA public housing projects on the property owners in the black neighborhoods with existing projects." The district court's reasoning is incorrect: racial classifications are not acceptable simply because they are perceived to have little impact. Any explicit racial classification, regardless of the burdens or benefits it imposes, is suspect and subject to strict scrutiny. See Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 515 U.S. 200, 227, 115 S.Ct. 2097, 2113, 132 L.Ed.2d 158 (1995) ("[A]ll racial classifications, imposed by whatever federal, state, or local government actor, must be analyzed by a reviewing court under strict scrutiny."); Powers v. Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 410, 111 S.Ct. 1364, 1370, 113 L.Ed.2d 411 (1991) ("It is axiomatic that racial classifications do not become legitimate on the assumption that all persons suffer them in equal degree.").
B. Intent to Discriminate
23
The district court held that the Homeowners failed to prove an equal protection violation because there is no intent to treat whites worse than similarly situated blacks. Once again, the district court is incorrect. An explicit racial classification does not require any inquiry into "intent" in order to allege an equal protection violation. See Shaw, 509 U.S. at 642, 113 S.Ct. at 2824 ("No inquiry into legislative purpose is necessary when the racial classification appears on the face of the statute."). "Express racial classifications are immediately suspect because, '[a]bsent searching judicial inquiry ..., there is simply no way of determining whether classifications are "benign" or "remedial" and what classifications are in fact motivated by illegitimate notions of racial inferiority or simple racial politics.' " Id. at 642-43, 113 S.Ct. at 2824 (quoting Croson, 488 U.S. at 493, 109 S.Ct. at 721).
24
The district court's skepticism of the Homeowners' right to pursue an equal protection claim was unfounded, so we proceed to address the merits of their claim.
IV. NARROW TAILORING
25
The primary issue on appeal is whether the remedial order's requirement that new public housing units be built or acquired in "predominantly white areas" is narrowly tailored to remedy the vestiges of past discrimination and segregation within Dallas's public housing programs. No party suggests on appeal that the racial steering, which for so many years was a part of Dallas's public housing programs, has not been effectively eradicated.19 Rather, the parties' dispute centers on the district court's efforts to rectify the effects of the now-past discriminatory practices of DHA, HUD, and the City of Dallas. In short, is it constitutional in this case to implement a race-conscious site selection criterion for newly built or acquired public housing?
26
Any race-conscious remedial measure receives strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause. See Adarand, 515 U.S. at 227, 115 S.Ct. at 2113; Black Fire Fighters Ass'n v. Dallas, 19 F.3d 992, 995 (5th Cir.1994) [hereinafter BFFA ]. This is true no matter which race is burdened or benefitted by the racial classification in question. See Adarand, 515 U.S. at 224, 115 S.Ct. at 2111 (citing Croson, 488 U.S. at 494, 109 S.Ct. at 722). Strict scrutiny requires that a racial classification be (1) justified by a compelling government interest and (2) narrowly tailored to further that interest. See Adarand, 515 U.S. at 227, 115 S.Ct. at 2113. The Homeowners do not contest that there exists a compelling government interest in this case. Therefore, our inquiry focuses on whether the remedial order is narrowly tailored.
27
In assessing whether a remedy is narrowly tailored, courts are to assess five factors: (1) the necessity for relief, (2) the efficacy of alternative remedies, (3) the flexibility and duration of relief, (4) the relationship of the numerical goals to the relevant market, and (5) the impact of the relief on the rights of third parties. See United States v. Paradise, 480 U.S. 149, 171, 107 S.Ct. 1053, 1066, 94 L.Ed.2d 203 (1987); BFFA, 19 F.3d at 995. Before examining these factors, however, we must address the standard of review.
28
When a district court's race-conscious remedial measure is challenged as not being narrowly tailored, the party defending the remedial measure bears the burden of producing evidence that the remedial measure is constitutional. See Wygant v. Jackson Bd. of Educ., 476 U.S. 267, 277-78, 106 S.Ct. 1842, 1848-49; Aiken v. City of Memphis, 37 F.3d 1155, 1162 (6th Cir.1994); see also Raso v. Lago, 135 F.3d 11, 20 (1st Cir.1998) (Stahl, J., dissenting). The party challenging the remedial measure, of course, bears the ultimate burden of demonstrating that the racial classification is unconstitutional. See id.
29
In general, we review a district court's legal conclusions de novo and its findings of fact for clear error. However, "if the trial court bases its findings upon a mistaken impression of applicable legal principles, the reviewing court is not bound by the clearly erroneous standard." Inwood Labs., Inc. v. Ives Labs., Inc., 456 U.S. 844, 855 n. 15, 102 S.Ct. 2182, 2189 n. 15, 72 L.Ed.2d 606 (1982); see also United States v. Bentley-Smith, 2 F.3d 1368, 1373 (5th Cir.1993).
30
In the case at hand, the district court placed the burden of production, as well as the ultimate burden of proof, on the Homeowners. Because he improperly placed the burden of production, we are not bound by the clearly erroneous standard in reviewing his findings of fact. Nonetheless, although more rigorous review may be in order, we will deferentially examine the district court's findings because this is a complicated case in which the district court has a decade's worth of experience with Dallas's public housing programs.
31
Race-conscious remedies must be narrowly tailored to eliminate the effects of past discrimination as well as bar like discrimination in the future. See Paradise, 480 U.S. at 172-175, 107 S.Ct. at 1067-68; id. at 183, 107 S.Ct. at 1073 (citing Louisiana v. United States, 380 U.S. 145, 154, 85 S.Ct. 817, 822, 13 L.Ed.2d 709 (1965)). "Racial classifications are simply too pernicious to permit any but the most exact connection between justification and classification." Adarand, 515 U.S. at 229, 115 S.Ct. at 2113 (quoting Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448, 537, 100 S.Ct. 2758, 2805, 65 L.Ed.2d 902 (1980) (Stevens, J., dissenting)). This means that a race-conscious remedy must be framed to address the exact effects and harms of the discrimination at issue. See Wygant, 476 U.S. at 280, 106 S.Ct. at 1850.
32
In application, arriving at an exact fit between harm and remedy requires consideration of whether a race-neutral or less restrictive remedy could be used. See Adarand, 515 U.S. at 237-38, 115 S.Ct. at 2118; Wygant, 476 U.S. at 280 n. 6, 106 S.Ct. at 1850 n. 6. This is because a race-conscious remedy should be the remedy of last resort. See Alexander v. Estepp, 95 F.3d 312, 316 (4th Cir.1996) ("[E]xplicit racial preferences, if available at all, must be only a 'last resort' option."). A "race-conscious remedy will not be deemed narrowly tailored until less sweeping alternatives--particularly race neutral ones--have been considered and tried." Williams v. Babbitt, 115 F.3d 657, 666 (9th Cir.1997).20
33
The first two Paradise factors are the necessity for relief and efficacy of alternative remedies. These weigh against race-conscious site selection for two reasons. First, Section 8 housing vouchers have not been given a fair try to prove their potential to desegregate. Second, other criteria than a racial standard will ensure the desegregated construction or acquisition of any new public housing. See infra, text at n. 31.
34
The Homeowners argue that Section 8 alone is capable of remedying the effects of past discrimination in Dallas's public housing programs, and they contend that Section 8 has not been given a fair try. They also point out, and the district court agrees, that Section 8 is more cost-efficient than new construction and is preferred by the majority of public housing program participants. Section 8 is more flexible than fixed public housing because the participants may decide where and in what type facility to reside. As a result, virtually all available Section 8 vouchers have been snapped up in Dallas.
35
Unfortunately, however, numerous programs that would encourage and assist black families to use Section 8 in predominantly white areas had been in effect or fully operational for only a short time before trial on the Homeowners' case. For instance, the record indicates that DHA's mobility program had been operating as originally proposed by the Walker plaintiffs and the district court since only approximately 1994.21 In addition, exceptions to the "fair market rent" caps on Section 8 vouchers and certificates have been slow in coming.22 It also appears that potential Section 8 landlords may now be paid "signing bonuses" for accepting Section 8 tenants. These are but three examples of numerous "helping-hands" that may be employed to promote the success of Section 8 as a desegregation tool.23 While the history and timing of their implementation by DHA and HUD in this case are not perfectly clear, it is evident from the record that they were not programs of long-standing before trial. If Section 8, combined with such assistance programs, is an effective desegregation tool, then Section 8 is superior to a race-conscious remedy in that it allows market forces and personal preferences rather than racial criteria to guide the homemaking decision.
36
The district court found, agreeing with the Walker plaintiffs, DHA, and HUD, that Section 8 needed to be combined with new construction or acquisition in predominantly white areas in order to remedy the effects of past discrimination. Adopting the Walker plaintiffs' proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law in toto, the court concluded that Section 8 alone was an inadequate remedy for several reasons: there are not enough Section 8 units in predominantly white areas; among the available units there is a lack of three and four bedroom units; rents in predominantly white areas are too high to be covered even by Section 8's fair market exception rents; landlords do not want to participate in the Section 8 program; and Section 8 participants become frustrated in looking for housing in predominantly white areas and settle for housing in minority areas. The court also found that rental contract requirements in predominantly white areas contain provisions that are difficult for Section 8 families to meet (e.g., high security deposits, requirement of having held a job for the past year, etc.). We neither accept nor attempt to reject these factual findings. Rather, there is one overarching factual finding by the district court--which is uncontested by all parties--that transcends the parties' objections to Section 8 as a remedial measure.
37
In 1987, when the district court first found DHA in violation of its original consent decree, a negligible number of black families in DHA's Section 8 programs lived in predominantly white areas.24 In contrast, in September 1994, approximately 1,050 Section 8 black families lived in predominantly white areas.25 And in the fall of 1996, there were approximately 1,335 Section 8 black families in predominantly white areas.26 These numbers show that in the two year period between 1994 and 1996, the number of Section 8 black families living in predominantly white areas increased by 285, or 27%. And it was during this same time period that DHA's Section 8 mobility program was getting fully underway. The program currently in place, which the district court has not criticized, essentially became fully operational around 1994. Based on the relative success of DHA in moving blacks into predominantly white areas via its Section 8 program between 1994 and 1996, the Walker plaintiffs, HUD, and DHA have produced insufficient evidence to show that the district court's race-conscious site selection criterion is necessary to remedy the effects of past discrimination. Cf. In re Birmingham Reverse Discrimination Employment Litig., 20 F.3d 1525, 1545-47 (11th Cir.1994);27 see also BFFA, 19 F.3d at 995 ("The broad skip promotion remedy in the decree is difficult to justify when the knowledge to narrow it seems readily available."). Section 8, a race-neutral remedial measure, is increasingly successful at moving black families into white areas, and the record indicates that it could be even more successful with, for example, increased funding for both more vouchers and the mobility program,28 more mobility counselors,29 and higher fair market exception rents.30 When Section 8 has evidenced such promising results, options such as these should be explored and tested before adopting a race-conscious remedy as a last resort.
38
Additionally, it is unnecessary to employ the race-conscious site selection criterion ordered by the court even if new construction or acquisition of public housing occurs. The district court may proceed with new construction as part of his remedial plan, but he may not do so using a race-conscious site selection criterion. Of course, other criteria may be employed to guide site selection for new construction. See United States v. Yonkers Bd. of Educ., 837 F.2d 1181, 1184, 1236-37 (2d Cir.1987) (using a geographical site selection criterion for public housing). The district court has already mandated that all new sites be in areas where the poverty rate does not exceed 13%.31 The district court's concern that if it does not attach a race-conscious site selection criterion to new construction, then the new units will end up in minority areas and, as a consequence, Dallas's public housing projects will almost all remain in minority areas, is unfounded.32
39
In deciding that Section 8 and nonracial site selection criteria should be implemented before a racial standard, we are mindful of the "respect owed a district judge's judgment that specified relief is essential to cure a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment." Paradise, 480 U.S. at 183, 107 S.Ct. at 1073. Nonetheless, a district court's broad equitable powers remain constrained by the boundaries of narrow tailoring.33 The recent success of Section 8 and the availability of viable nonracial, non-discriminatory site selection criteria, combined with the factors discussed in the following paragraphs, demonstrate that the remedial order's race-conscious site selection criterion is not narrowly tailored.
40
First, DHA, HUD, and the City of Dallas are all cooperating defendants. That is to say, DHA, HUD, and the City of Dallas no longer discriminate against black families in DHA's public housing programs, and--by all accounts in the record--all three defendants are active participants in crafting and implementing remedial measures to eliminate the vestiges of past discrimination. In contrast, the Supreme Court approved a race-conscious remedy in Paradise in large part because earlier, less restrictive remedies had proven ineffective since the defendant continually resisted their implementation and stonewalled in developing acceptable procedures for the advancement of black troopers within the Alabama Department of Public Safety. See Paradise, 480 U.S. at 162-65, 107 S.Ct. at 1062-63 (describing the Department's continuing failure to comply with the parties' consent decrees); id. at 170-71, 176-77, 107 S.Ct. at 1066, 1069; see also BFFA, 19 F.3d at 996 (finding a race-conscious remedial measure unnecessary, in part, because the defendant was a willing party to the settlement of the lawsuit). Where, as here, the defendants have begun making race-neutral, good faith, and effective efforts to remedy the wrongs of the past, a race-conscious remedy should only be a last resort.
41
Second, the district court, in his 8/25/97 Oral Opinion, made references to the necessity of a race-conscious site selection criterion because some participants in DHA's public housing programs do not want and should not be forced to use Section 8.34 While some may find it difficult to use Section 8, a race-conscious remedial measure is not justified by certain class members' objections to looking for housing on their own versus their being offered a unit owned and operated by DHA. A race-conscious remedy is justified, after race-neutral remedies have been considered and found wanting, if it is the only effective means by which to remedy the effects of past discrimination. It is by this standard alone that the district court must assess his remedial orders. As applied to the facts of this case, the district court's concern seems particularly irrelevant as only 474 new units in predominantly white areas are currently funded, and those units must be filled by Section 8 families who participate in DHA's Family Self-Sufficiency Program.35 That is, they will be filled by the "cream-of-the-crop" from DHA's waiting lists. Thus, those who in all probability need public housing units the least (because they would be successful Section 8 participants) will be directed to the new units, while those for whom the district court expresses concern will be left with Section 8. DHA's rationale for filling the new units with participants in its self-sufficiency program is commendable, but it throws askew part of the district court's reasoning regarding the remedial need for new construction in addition to Section 8.
42
Third, it remains unclear why there is an absolute remedial necessity to build 474 new units of public housing using a racial classification when (1) 2,033 (or 72%) of the remedial order's 2,807 replacement units will be Section 8 and (2) DHA and HUD may submit a plan to use Section 8 for all of the 3,205 additional units of public housing to be built in predominantly white areas.36 In sum, out of a total of 6,012 units within the remedial order, only 474 (or 8%) must--assuming an acceptable Section 8 plan is submitted for the 3,205 additional units--be new construction in predominantly white areas. If Section 8 can effectively satisfy the district court's remedial goal regarding 5,628 units, it is baffling to assume that it cannot do so for an additional 474 units.
43
DHA, HUD, and the City of Dallas offer two responses to this criticism. First, they argue that 474 units is a tiny proportion of the overall number of units contemplated by the remedial order; the deference due a district court in fashioning a remedial order should protect such a small element of the overall remedial plan. This would be correct if the 474 units were not attached to a racial classification which requires that they be built in predominantly white areas. Racial classifications, even small ones, receive strict scrutiny. Second, they contend that if the 474 units already funded by HUD are not built in white areas, they will either not be built at all or will be built in minority areas which will only further the racial segregation of DHA's public housing projects. As discussed previously, the district court may entertain any number of site selection criteria regarding new public housing units, except for race. No one suggests that the 474 units should not be built, only that requiring that they be built using a race-conscious site selection criterion is not narrowly tailored.
44
The fourth Paradise factor, the relationship of numerical goals to the relevant markets, also cuts against the race-conscious site-selection criterion in the remedial order.37 The district court's remedial goal is to have half of the families in DHA's public housing programs (either public housing units or Section 8) in predominantly white areas of Dallas and half in "minority areas". The justification for this goal is that Dallas's population is approximately half white and half "minority" and, therefore, public housing should be divided accordingly. This goal is overly broad. This suit was brought by black plaintiffs on behalf of a class of black plaintiffs. There is no suggestion that the suit ever expanded to include all minorities or that any liability of the public agencies to other minorities could be found. The court's definition of a "predominantly white" neighborhood, with 63% white population, is also based on the idea that public housing may not be placed in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of Hispanics. There is no evidence in the record to support the court's arbitrary definition of a predominantly white neighborhood. The emphasis should instead be directed toward placing public housing participants in neighborhoods of their choice through a vigorous Section 8 program, non-black neighborhoods, census tracts in which no public housing currently exists, or non-poor neighborhoods.38
45
The fifth Paradise factor is the impact of a racially-conscious site selection criterion on the rights of third parties. Among all the groups affected by Dallas public housing, only these Homeowners have maintained that they would be injured by the racially-based site selection process that occurred here. Despite the court's having purportedly found against them on this issue, the totality of the remedial order is far more ambivalent. The district court ordered stringent criteria for the design and upkeep of the projects and for tenant selection here and in another "predominantly white" neighborhood (the Frankford & Marsh site, see supra, n.12), and he called for the participation of neighboring community members, like these Homeowners, in planning the projects. The court showed considerable sensitivity to the fact that public housing has in the past been disgracefully neglected in Dallas. The resulting remedial order thus cuts both ways with respect to the Homeowners' rights. On one hand, it attempts to placate their fears of deterioration in their neighborhoods. On the other hand, it lends credibility to those fears.
46
Because there are promising, non-racially discriminatory ways to continue desegregating public housing in Dallas, the provision of the court's remedial order calling for the construction or acquisition of units of public housing in "predominantly white" areas is unconstitutional. Under the balance of the Paradise factors, the criterion is not narrowly tailored, and it is premature to utilize such a last-resort measure. We must vacate and remand this portion of the remedial order for further consideration.
47
In so doing, we emphasize several points. First, increased reliance on Section 8 demands that the public agencies implement a vigorous mobility plan that serves the relocation needs and concerns of black families, reaches out to white landlords, affords adequate fair market rent exceptions, and combats illegal private discrimination. Second, this opinion does not deal with the remedial order's nondiscriminatory tenant selection and assignment provisions, which are not challenged by the Homeowners. Third, this opinion does not preclude the construction or acquisition of additional public housing if sites are selected by means of nonracial criteria. But we also recognize that Section 8 is overwhelmingly preferred by public housing families, that it allows market forces and personal preferences to control the homemaking decision, and that it has not proven ineffective at desegregating Dallas's public housing programs when combined with a vigorous mobility program. As applied to the facts of this case, the district court erred in employing a race-conscious remedy before utilizing race-neutral alternatives.
V. CONCLUSION
48
For the foregoing reasons, the district court's remedial order is VACATED to the extent indicated and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings; the declaratory judgment awarded to the Walker plaintiffs is REVERSED; and this court's stay of construction at the sites adjacent to the Homeowners' subdivisions shall be ENFORCED until the district court holds additional hearings and enters a remedial order revised in accordance with the foregoing opinion.
49
Remedial order VACATED and REMANDED; declaratory judgment for Walker plaintiffs REVERSED; stay ENFORCED pending entry of revised remedial order.
*
District Judge of the Western District of Louisiana, sitting by designation
1
The two homeowners' associations are: (1) Highlands of McKamy IV and V Community Improvement Association and (2) Preston Highlands Homeowners' Association, Inc
2
The consent decree defined the plaintiff class as "all black persons presently or who during the pendency of this Decree become either (a) residents of a DHA owned or managed project, or (b) participants in the DHA Section 8 Existing Housing Program." See Walker I, 734 F.Supp. at 1263
The plaintiff class will be referred to throughout this opinion as the "Walker plaintiffs." Deborah Walker is one of the named plaintiffs representing the class.
3
"Public housing units" refer to housing units owned and operated by DHA. In contrast, under DHA's Section 8 certificate and voucher programs, participants rent housing units from private owners, and their rents are subsidized by DHA
4
In 1994, of DHA's approximately 6,400 public housing units, 6,100 were in minority areas and 300 were in predominantly white areas. An additional 75 units are currently under construction or just completed in a predominantly white area (Frankford & Marsh project), and the units at issue in this lawsuit would add another 80 units to predominantly white areas of Dallas
5
The West Dallas project was completed in 1955 and contained 3,500 units. In many ways, it is at the heart of this litigation. It was constructed to solve the "Negro housing problem." See Walker III, 734 F.Supp. at 1295. It is the second largest public housing project in the United States. See id. at 1296 n. 21. As of 1983, one-third of its units were so dilapidated as to be uninhabitable. See id. at 1307. In 1986, rejection rates for available units in the West Dallas project ranged from 58-60%. See id. at 1308. At that time, there were 1,583 vacant units of which 1,300 had been boarded up for more than ten years because of their deteriorated state. See id. The 1987 consent decree was designed to alter this concentration of public housing by requiring the demolition of all but approximately 900 of the West Dallas units, the reconfiguration and rehabilitation of the remaining units, and the creation of new public housing opportunities in predominantly white areas of the city and its suburbs
6
The Section 8 mobility program was designed to educate landlords about the Section 8 program and to assist Section 8 participants in locating Section 8 housing in non-minority areas of Dallas. Specifically, the program was to include landlord recruitment, exceptions to HUD's "fair market value" rent caps on Section 8 vouchers and certificates, Title VIII enforcement actions, and child care and transportation services. The program was also to provide neighborhood specific information on crime rates, job training and employment opportunities, day care, medical facilities, neighborhood shopping, transportation, social services, objective indicators of school quality such as TAAS test results, and "environmental hazards or other conditions inimical to family life."
7
The value of a Section 8 voucher or certificate is capped by HUD at the "fair market rent." This cap, however, can be increased by special application to HUD
8
These 2,807 units have already been funded by HUD. The 2,807 units are made up of 774 new public housing units and 2,033 Section 8 certificates and vouchers. Specifically, the replacement units consist of (i) the 100 units constructed pursuant to court order from the 1987 consent decree, (ii) 1,335 Section 8 certificates and vouchers previously funded by HUD, (iii) 339 new public housing units allocated to DHA in 1990 and 1991 as part of the proposed 2,000 unit West Dallas project, (iv) 335 new public housing units allocated under HOPE VI in 1994 as replacement units for West Dallas, and (v) 698 additional Section 8 vouchers promised by HUD. Therefore, there are 674 new units of public housing currently funded but not under construction. Eighty of these units are specifically at issue in this case
9
The source of this final detail of the district court's remedial order is unclear. The written order itself is confusing. Paragraph A.3 requires that all of the 3,205 new units be built in predominantly white areas
In slight contrast, the district court reiterates throughout his oral and written opinions that all of the 674 new units of public housing (i.e., the ones currently funded by HUD but not under construction) "and any other allocated in the future, must be developed in predominantly white areas until there are approximately as many non-elderly public housing units in those areas as in minority areas." 10/6/97 Written Opinion, at 22. The district court goes on to say, "The race conscious site selection remedy is limited. It applies only until there is a comparable number of public housing units in white and minority areas." Id. at 22-23; see also 8/25/97 Oral Opinion, at 22 ("Again, the 674 units must be placed in white non-minority areas until there are as many public housing units in white areas as in minority areas.").
10
To date, no plan for the use of Section 8 certificates or vouchers has been submitted to the district court. However, HUD states in its brief to this court that it "expects to meet this obligation by providing funding for Section 8 certificates and vouchers for all of the 3,205 units, at a rate of 320 units per year for 10 years. Thus, it is likely that the only public housing units developed under the Remedial Orders will be the 774 units already allocated by HUD and designated as replacement units under paragraph A.1 of the HUD Remedial Order and paragraph A.2 of the DHA Remedial Order."
11
The district court authorized that 200 of the replacement units may be used in the reconfiguration and revitalization of the West Dallas project
12
The 75 units either under construction or completed are at DHA's Frankford & Marsh site
13
One site is at the intersection of McCallum and Meandering Way, and the other site is at the intersection of Hillcrest and Highway 190
14
These opinions will hereinafter be cited respectively as: 8/25/97 Oral Opinion, 9/18/97 Final Judgment, and 10/6/97 Written Opinion
15
"If this were an appeal from a judgment granting the defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of standing, we would be required to accept as true all of the material allegations of the complaint. However, because we are reviewing a final judgment based upon a fully developed record, we must evaluate standing from all materials of record." Pollard v. Cockrell, 578 F.2d 1002, 1006 (5th Cir.1978) (internal citations and quotations omitted)
16
A "generalized grievance" is a harm "shared in substantially equal measure by all or a large class of citizens." Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2205, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). "The prudential principle barring adjudication of 'generalized grievances' is closely related to the constitutional requirement of personal 'injury in fact,' and the policies underlying both are similar." Apache Bend Apartments, Ltd. v. United States, 987 F.2d 1174, 1176 (5th Cir.1993) (en banc)
17
See Alschuler v. HUD, 686 F.2d 472, 476-77 (7th Cir.1982); South East Lake View Neighbors v. HUD, 685 F.2d 1027, 1034-35 (7th Cir.1982); Society Hill Civic Ass'n v. Harris, 632 F.2d 1045, 1054 (3d Cir.1980)
18
As a subsidiary matter, DHA contends that the Homeowners lack standing because their alleged injury would not be redressed by the invalidation of the remedial order's requirement that public housing be built only in "predominantly white areas." In other words, DHA argues that it could have selected the two sites in question even without the race-conscious site selection criterion
DHA applies the wrong legal standard. The test is whether DHA would have selected these two sites absent the race-conscious criterion, not whether it could have selected the sites. See Warth, 422 U.S. at 504, 95 S.Ct. at 2208 (framing the standing question as whether, absent the challenged zoning ordinances that allegedly excluded low-income persons from living in the town of Penfield, there was a substantial probability that the plaintiff would have been able to obtain such housing). There is no evidence in the record that DHA would have chosen the two sites in question absent the race-conscious criterion, and the Walker plaintiffs admit in their brief to this court that "[t]he record is clear that DHA would not have chosen the sites absent the court order."
Additionally, HUD argues that the Homeowners are challenging the wrong part of the remedial order by contesting the 3,205 additional units of public housing that must be built in predominantly white areas. It is quite clear from the record, however, that the Homeowners have properly challenged the two 40-unit projects, which were selected on a race-conscious basis to be built next to their neighborhoods. Obviously, these two projects are part of a larger remedial scheme that is affected by this court's opinion herein.
19
See 8/25/97 Oral Opinion, at 5 ("From the very beginning the primary purpose that DHA had was to prevent blacks from moving into white areas of the city and the suburbs. That is not true of DHA today....")
20
It is true that in Hills v. Gautreaux, the Supreme Court did not disapprove a remedial order which, to end discrimination in public housing, required housing to be built in nonblack neighborhoods of Chicago. See425 U.S. 284, 296, 96 S.Ct. 1538, 1546, 47 L.Ed.2d 792 (1976). But the Court did not consider the propriety of that remedy as opposed to a non-race conscious remedy like a vigorous Section 8 program. The only disputed issue in that case was whether the remedy could extend beyond the city limits of Chicago. Further, Hills predates significant changes that have occurred both in HUD's approach to public housing and in the scrutiny afforded race-conscious remedies. Hills does not mandate either the construction of new public housing or race-conscious site selection. We must review the application of the Paradise factors, which the district court correctly understood to frame the issues here
21
See 10/30/96 Testimony of Ann Lott, Director of DHA's Section 8 Mobility Program (agreeing that most of the efforts to improve DHA's mobility program have been within the preceding two years); 8/7/96 Deposition of Lott (explaining new procedures within DHA's mobility program that were implemented in the prior year, including a marketing campaign for prospective landlords, a landlord newsletter, and private briefings for landlords on the Section 8 program). But see 10/30/96 Testimony of Lori Moon, President & CEO of DHA (stating that DHA's mobility efforts have been in effect since 1989)
22
It is unclear from the record whether HUD has granted DHA a 120% fair market exception rent across-the-board for all Section 8 housing in predominantly white areas. It is also unclear whether DHA could be granted fair market rent exceptions higher than 120%. Evidence in the record shows that a 160% fair market exception rent would significantly increase the availability of Section 8 housing in predominantly white areas. Prior to implementing a race-conscious remedy, it would seem advisable to ensure (1) that rent exceptions above 120% are foreclosed, as they offer the potential to break-down a significant barrier to an even more effective Section 8 program, or (2) that 120% fair market exception rents have been fully implemented and tried, if that is the statutory maximum
23
Another example would be the vigorous enforcement of state and federal laws prohibiting racial discrimination by private Section 8 landlords
24
The Walker plaintiffs state that in 1987 there were 66 Section 8 black families living in predominantly white areas, which amounted to approximately 2.4% of all black families in DHA's Section 8 program
25
According to testimony in the record, this amounted to approximately 21% of all black families in DHA's Section 8 program
26
According to testimony in the record, this amounted to approximately 24-25% of all black families in DHA's Section 8 program
27
In In re Birmingham Reverse Discrimination Employment Litigation, nonblack employees of the Birmingham Fire Rescue Service (BFRS) challenged a 1981 consent decree entered into by the City of Birmingham that required, inter alia, that 50% of all promotions to the rank of BFRS lieutenant would be filled by qualified blacks (i.e., for every two promotions to lieutenant, one must be filled by a black candidate). See id
The 11th Circuit noted that between 1978 and 1981, BFRS significantly increased its total number of black employees from 8 to 42, which represented a shift in the black percentage of BFRS's workforce from 1.89% to 9.3%. See id. This was achieved without the use of a race-conscious remedy. See id. The court stated that "there is strong evidence in the record of this case that the City had implemented effective alternatives to race-based quotas to remedy its prior discriminatory behavior." Id. "While the district court correctly concluded that, when the decree was entered, no black had as yet become a fire lieutenant, we believe that, given the City's progress at the entry-level, alternative measures designed to increase black representation in the fire lieutenant ranks were feasible." Id. The court proceeded to list the non-race-based remedies that the plaintiffs proposed regarding promotion to BFRS lieutenant. See id. at 1546-47. It then concluded, "Considering the efficacy of the alternative remedies, the relief provided in the decree cannot be reconciled with the requirement that a government's use of race must be narrowly tailored." Id. at 1547.
28
See 10/30/96 Testimony of Ann Lott, Director of DHA's Section 8 Mobility Program, at III-43 (stating that DHA is able to use virtually every Section 8 voucher or certificate funded by HUD); see id. at III-65 (stating that DHA could put to use an additional 1,500 Section 8 vouchers)
29
See id. at III-67 (stating that the mobility program could use more counselors)
30
See id. at III-57 (stating that higher fair market exception rents would assist in obtaining more Section 8 housing in predominantly white areas)
31
It is suggested in a brief that this criterion essentially restricts the areas available for new construction to predominantly white areas
32
Moreover, the district court referred throughout his 8/25/97 Oral Opinion and 10/6/97 Written Opinion to the danger of losing the funds already allocated to new construction because they could not be transferred to the Section 8 program. This may be true. Nonetheless, it does not justify the use of a race-conscious site selection criterion
33
See Billish v. City of Chicago, 989 F.2d 890, 893 (7th Cir.1993) (en banc ); Wessmann v. Gittens, 160 F.3d 790, 808 (1st Cir.1998) ("Croson, in particular, leaves no doubt that only solid evidence will justify allowing race-conscious action ..."); id. ("Our dissenting brother's valiant effort to read into Croson a broad discretion for government entities purporting to ameliorate past discrimination strikes us as wishful thinking.")
34
See, e.g., 8/25/97 Oral Opinion, at 28 ("Even if this money [for new public housing construction] could be reprogrammed for Section 8, there would still be a need for the use of public housing in the desegregation plan. Section 8, although the preferred method, is not the only method. Indeed, there are members of this class who made it evident, abundantly clear to this Court, that they did not trust Section 8, they would not use Section 8, and they should not be forced to use Section 8."); id. at p. 33 ("I recognized then, as I do now, that although Section 8 certificates and vouchers may be the preferred method for most people, for many people there are risks in Section 8 that not all class members would want to take. I declined to force those risks upon unwilling class members.")
35
DHA's Family Self-Sufficiency Program is a voluntary program that requires participants to, for instance, be employed or attend school. The participants sign a five-year contract with DHA in which they agree to abide by the program's regulations. In essence, the program is designed to make its participants self-sufficient by providing them with "upward mobility type assistance." 8/7/96 Deposition of Lori Moon, President & CEO of DHA, at 110
36
As noted previously, HUD states in its brief to this court that it intends to fulfill its entire obligation regarding the 3,205 additional units with Section 8 vouchers or certificates
37
The third Paradise factor considers the flexibility and duration of relief. On balance, that factor is neutral in this case
38
According to the Walker plaintiffs' brief, at 11: "There are 113 county census tracts with 63% or greater non-Hispanic white population, 95 of which have a poverty population less than the county average. There are an additional 20 tracts with a non-Hispanic white population between 50% and 63%. Only seven of these tracts have a poverty rate less than the county's. There are an additional 16 tracts with a poverty population below the county average but the non-Hispanic white population is less than 50%."
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | FreeLaw |
Afrika Korps
The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, DAK {{Audio|De-Deutsches_Afrikakorps-pronunciation.ogg|listen}}) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of their African colonies, the formation fought on in Africa, under various appellations, from March 1941 until its surrender in May 1943. The unit's best known commander was Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
Organization
The Afrika Korps formed on 11 January 1941 and one of Hitler's favourite generals, Erwin Rommel, was designated as commander on 11 February. Originally Hans von Funck was to have commanded it, but Hitler loathed von Funck, as he had been a personal staff officer of Werner von Fritsch until von Fritsch was dismissed in 1938.
The German Armed Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW) had decided to send a "blocking force" to Libya to support the Italian army. The Italian army group had been routed by the British Commonwealth Western Desert Force in Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941). The German blocking force, commanded by Rommel, at first consisted of a force based only on Panzer Regiment 5, which was put together from the second regiment of the 3rd Panzer Division. These elements were organized into the 5th Light Division when they arrived in Africa from 10 February – 12 March 1941. In late April and into May, the 5th Light Division was joined by elements of 15th Panzer Division, transferred from Italy. At this time, the Afrika Korps consisted of the two divisions, and was subordinated to the Italian chain of command in Africa.
On 15 August 1941, the German 5th Light Division was redesignated 21st Panzer Division, the higher formation of which was still the Afrika Korps. During the summer of 1941, the OKW increased the presence in Africa and created a new headquarters called Panzer Group Africa. On 15 August, the Panzer Group was activated with Rommel in command, and command of the Afrika Korps was turned over to Ludwig Crüwell. The Panzer Group comprised the Afrika Korps, with some additional German units now in North Africa, plus two corps of Italian units. The Panzer Group was, in turn, redesignated as Panzer Army Africa on 30 January 1942.
After the German defeat in the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Allied landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), the OKW once more upgraded the presence in Africa by adding first the XC Army Corps, under Nehring, in Tunisia on 19 November 1942, then an additional 5th Panzer Army on 8 December, under the command of Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim.
On 23 February 1943, the original Panzer Army Africa, which had since been re-styled as the German-Italian Panzer Army, was now redesignated as the Italian 1st Army and put under the command of Italian general Giovanni Messe. Rommel, meanwhile, was placed in command of a new Army Group Africa, created to control both the Italian 1st Army and the 5th Panzer Army. The remnants of the Afrika Korps and surviving units of the 1st Italian Army retreated into Tunisia. Command of the Army Group was turned over to Arnim in March. On 13 May, the Afrika Korps surrendered, along with all other remaining Axis forces in North Africa.
Most Afrika Korps POWs were transported to the United States and held in Camp Shelby in Mississippi, Camp Hearne in Texas and other POW camps until the end of the war.
Composition and terminology
When Rommel was promoted to the newly formed Panzerarmee Afrika, his command included a number of Italian units, including four infantry divisions. Two Italian armoured divisions, Ariete and Trieste, initially remained under Italian control as the Italian XX Motorized Corps under the command of General Gastone Gambara.
The Afrika Korps was restructured and renamed in August 1941. "Afrikakorps" was the official name of the force for less than six months but the officers and men used it for the duration. The Afrika Korps was the major German component of Panzerarmee Afrika, which was later renamed the Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee and finally renamed Heeresgruppe Afrika (Army Group Africa) during the 27 months of the Desert campaign.
Gallery
Reforming of units
Certain divisions were reformed in Europe after the cessation of fighting in Tunisia:
15th Panzer Division (as 15th Panzergrenadier Division in Sicily, Italy and Western Front)
21st Panzer Division (in France)
Hermann Göring Panzer Division (in Sicily and Italy)
90th Light Division (as 90th Panzergrenadier Division in Italy)
See also
Fliegerführer Afrika
Ramcke Parachute Brigade
Western Desert Campaign
László Almásy
Operation Salaam
References
Sources
Cooper, Matthew (1990). The German Army 1933–1945. Scarborough House. Chelsea, MI, USA. .
Further reading
Afrika
Category:German units in Africa
Category:Military units and formations established in 1941
Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1943 | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Revisiting events surrounding the 1976 swine influenza A (H1N1) outbreak may assist those planning for the rapid identification and characterization of threatening contemporary viruses, like avian influenza A (H5N1) ([@R1]). The severity of the 1918 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic and evidence for a cycle of pandemics aroused concern that the 1918 disaster could recur ([@R2]*,*[@R3]). Following the 1918 pandemic, H1N1 strains circulated until the \"Asian\" influenza A (H2N2) pandemic in 1957 ([@R3]). When in early 1976, cases of influenza in soldiers, mostly recruits, at Fort Dix, New Jersey, were associated with isolation of influenza A (H1N1) serotypes (which in 1976 were labeled Hsw1N1), an intense investigation followed ([@R4]).
Of 19,000 people at Fort Dix in January 1976, ≈32% were recruits (basic trainees) ([@R4]). Recruits reported to Fort Dix for 7 weeks of initial training through the basic training reception center, where they lived and were processed into the Army during an intense 3 days of examinations, administrative procedures, and indoctrination. At the reception center, training unit cohorts were formed. Recruits were grouped into 50-member units (platoons) and organized into companies of 4 platoons each. Units formed by week\'s end moved from the reception center to the basic training quarters. To prevent respiratory illnesses, recruits were isolated in their company areas for 2 weeks and restricted to the military post for 4 weeks ([@R4]). Platoon members had close contact with other platoon members, less contact with other platoons in their company, and even less contact with other companies.
On arrival, recruits received the 1975--1976 influenza vaccine (A/Port Chalmers/1/73 \[H3N2\], A/Scotland/840/74 \[H3N2\], and B/Hong Kong/15/72) ([@R4]). Other soldiers reported directly to advanced training programs of 4 to 12 weeks at Fort Dix immediately after basic training at Fort Dix or elsewhere. These soldiers received influenza vaccinations in basic training. Civilian employees and soldiers\' families were offered vaccine, but only an estimated \<40% accepted ([@R4]).
Training stopped over the Christmas--New Year\'s holidays and resumed on January 5, 1976, with an influx of new trainees. The weather was cold (wind chill factors of 0° to --43°F), and the reception center was crowded ([@R4]). Resumption of training was associated with an explosive febrile respiratory disease outbreak involving new arrivals and others. Throat swabs were collected from a sample of hospitalized soldiers with this syndrome. On January 23, the Fort Dix preventive medicine physician learned of 2 isolations of adenovirus type 21 and suspected an adenovirus outbreak ([@R4]). He notified the county health department and the New Jersey (NJ) Department of Health of the outbreak ([@R4]). On January 28, an NJ Department of Health official consulted with the military physician and suggested that the explosive, widespread outbreak could be influenza ([@R4]). Over the next 2 days, 19 specimens were delivered to the state laboratory and 7 A/Victoria-like viruses and 3 unknown hemagglutinating agents were identified ([@R4]). Specimens were flown to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia, on February 6, where a fourth unknown agent was found ([@R4]).
On February 2, Fort Dix and NJ Department of Health personnel arranged for virologic studies of deaths possibly caused by influenza ([@R4]). Tracheal swabs taken on February 5 from a recruit who died on February 4 yielded a fifth unknown agent on February 9. By February 10, laboratory evidence had confirmed that a novel influenza strain was circulating at Fort Dix and that 2 different influenza strains were causing disease. By February 13, all 5 unknown strains were identified as swine influenza A (Hsw1N1). The possibility of laboratory contamination was evaluated ([@R4]). No known swine influenza A strains were present in the NJ Department of Health Virus Laboratory before the Fort Dix outbreak. Additionally, all unknown Fort Dix viruses were independently isolated from original specimens at CDC and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Washington, DC. Also, 2 patients with novel virus isolates had convalescent-phase, homologous, hemagglutination-inhibition (HAI) antibody titers of 1:40--1:80, consistent with recent infections. The new influenza strain had been independently identified in 3 different laboratories and supporting serologic evidence developed within 15 days after the original specimens were collected ([Table](#T1){ref-type="table"}) ([@R4]).
###### Key events in the swine influenza A (Hsw1N1) outbreak, Fort Dix, NJ
Date (1976) Event
----------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 5 After the holidays, basic training resumed at Fort Dix, NJ; a sudden, dramatic outbreak of acute respiratory disease followed the influx of new recruit trainees ([@R4]).
January 19 Earliest hospitalization of a Fort Dix soldier with acute respiratory disease attributed to swine influenza A (Hsw1N1) (identified retrospectively by serologic tests) ([@R7]*,*[@R14])
January 21 Influenza A/Victoria (H3N2) identified away from Fort Dix in NJ civilians ([@R4])
January 23 Fort Dix received reports of adenovirus type 21 isolations from soldiers ill with respiratory disease and reported the outbreak to the local and state health departments ([@R4])
January 28 A NJ Department of Health official suggested the Fort Dix outbreak may be due to influenza and offered to process specimens for virus isolation ([@R4])
January 29--30 19 specimens sent to NJ Department of Health in 2 shipments ([@R4])
February 2--3 NJ Department of Health identified 4 isolates of H3N2-like viruses and 2 unknown hemagglutinating agents in 8 specimens sent on January 29. Fort Dix and NJ Department of Health arranged for the study of deaths possibly due to influenza. NJ Department of Health identified 3 H3N2-like viruses and a third unknown hemagglutinating agent in 11 specimens sent on January 30 ([@R4]).
February 4 Fort Dix soldier died with acute respiratory disease ([@R4]).
February 5 Tracheal specimens from the soldier who died on February 4 were sent to NJ Department of Health ([@R4]).
February 6 NJ Department of Health sent the Fort Dix specimens to Center for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, GA; CDC identified a fourth unknown hemagglutinating agent in the Fort Dix specimens ([@R4]).
February 9 Specimens from the soldier who died on February 4 yielded a fifth unknown hemagglutinating agent ([@R4]). Last hospitalization of an identified Fort Dix soldier with febrile, acute respiratory disease attributed to swine influenza A (Hsw1N1) (identified retrospectively by serologic tests) ([@R7]*,*[@R14]).
February 10 Laboratory evidence supported 2 influenza type A strains circulating on Fort Dix; 1 was a radically new strain. Prospective surveillance for cases in the areas around Fort Dix was initiated; only cases of H3N2 were found ([@R4]).
February 13 Review of laboratory data and information found that all 5 unknown agents were swine influenza A strains (later named A/New Jersey \[Hsw1N1\]); 3 laboratories independently identified the swine virus from original specimens (serologic data supporting swine influenza A virus infection was later obtained from 2 survivors with A/New Jersey isolates) ([@R4]).
February 14--16 Initial planning meeting between CDC, NJ Department of Health, Fort Dix, and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research personnel was held in Atlanta, GA. Prospective case finding was initiated at Fort Dix; H3N2 was isolated; Hsw1N1 was not isolated ([@R7]). Retrospective case finding was initiated by serologic study of stored serum specimens from Fort Dix soldiers who had been hospitalized for acute respiratory disease; 8 new cases of disease due to Hsw1N1 were identified with hospitalization dates between January 19 and February 9 ([@R7]*,*[@R14]).
February 22--24 Prospective case finding was again conducted at Fort Dix; H3N2 virus was isolated but not Hsw1N1 ([@R7]).
February 27 Thirty-nine new recruits entering Fort Dix February 21--27 gave blood samples after arrival and 5 weeks later; serologic studies were consistent with influenza immunization but not spread of H3N2 virus. None had a titer rise to Hsw1N1 ([@R11]).
March 19 Prospective surveillance identified the last case of influenza in the areas around Fort Dix; only H3N2 viruses were identified outside of Fort Dix ([@R4]).
Swine Influenza A Viruses
=========================
The swine influenza A (Hsw1N1) viruses from Fort Dix soldiers were studied at CDC ([@R5]*,*[@R6]). The novel virus was named A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1). Initially, HAI serologic studies of Fort Dix populations were performed at WRAIR by using inactivated A/Mayo Clinic/103/74 (Hsw1N1) antigen from CDC ([@R7]). The A/Mayo Clinic virus was recovered in 1974 from lung tissue obtained at autopsy from a man with Hodgkin disease who lived on a swine farm ([@R8]). Later, CDC provided WRAIR with A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1) antigen ([@R7]).
Outbreak Investigation Planning
===============================
Outbreak investigation plans were developed quickly, and lines of communication and responsibilities were defined. Since a retrospective investigation required extensive serologic studies, a serology laboratory was established at WRAIR and operated 7 days a week. The HAI antibody test, which measured antibody to the hemagglutinin glycoprotein, was used to identify infections ([@R9]). Variables other than 1976 swine virus infection that might influence HAI titers were identified. Influenza A (H1N1) viruses circulated from 1918 to 1957 ([@R3]). Additionally, earlier military influenza vaccines (1955--1969) and some civilian formulations (1956--1958) contained swine antigens ([@R10]). Most basic training soldiers were in their late teens and early twenties, so few had potential exposure to military vaccines (the earlier military vaccines were available to civilian workers and soldiers\' families) ([@R10]). Other populations were expected to have age-related antibody from infections or vaccines. Development of heterotypic antibody after vaccination or infection with contemporary H3N2 antigens was possible; populations suitable for assessing this were studied. None of the potential HAI test limitations was considered serious.
The NJ Department of Health continued to provide virus isolation services to the military ([@R4]). Army personnel investigated the outbreak on Fort Dix; civilian health departments defined the outbreak beyond Fort Dix. CDC provided reference laboratory support and consultation.
Case Finding at Fort Dix
========================
Case-finding was conducted prospectively and retrospectively ([Table](#T1){ref-type="table"}). Prospectively, throat washings were collected from patients with febrile, acute respiratory disease who were hospitalized or sought treatment at the emergency room February 14--16 (phase I, n = 50) and February 22--24 (phase II, n = 45) ([@R7]). Attempts were made to obtain paired serum specimens from phase I patients. Specimens were obtained from 60 basic training soldiers, 13 other military personnel, and 22 civilians. A/Victoria/75 (H3N2) virus was isolated from 34 (68%) persons during phase I and 21 (47%) in phase II ([@R7]). A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1) was not isolated from any of the 95 patients. One of 34 (3%) persons with an A/Victoria isolate and paired serum samples had a \>4-fold rise in titer to A/Mayo Clinic (Hsw1N1) antigen, with an acute titer of \<1:10 increasing to 1:20 ([@R7]).
Retrospective study was made possible by an ongoing Adenovirus Surveillance Program, which collected weekly throats swabs and paired serum specimens from a sample (≈3%--6%) of basic trainees hospitalized with respiratory disease ([@R7]). Specimens had been sent to Army regional laboratories, and 80% of the paired serum specimens from Fort Dix trainees hospitalized between November 1, 1975, and February 14, 1976, went to Fort Meade, Maryland. Serum specimens not depleted by routine studies were stored. Stored serum specimens from 74 Fort Dix trainees were identified at Fort Meade and forwarded to WRAIR; 39 (53%) of the trainees had been hospitalized after January 1, 1976. These serum samples were initially tested against A/Mayo Clinic antigen. Serum samples with \>4-fold rises in titer were re-tested against A/New Jersey and A/Victoria/3/75 (H3N2) antigens ([@R7]). HAI titers to A/Mayo Clinic and A/New Jersey differed only slightly.
Concerns that influenza A (H3N2) infection or vaccination might stimulate antibody to A/Mayo Clinic were addressed. Four groups were studied to identify persons with \>4-fold heterotypic HAI antibody increases to A/Mayo Clinic. None were found in 39 Fort Dix soldiers who received influenza vaccine in February 1976 (group 1), and none were found among 27 hospitalized soldiers from posts other than Fort Dix who had \>4-fold rises in complement fixation (CF) antibody to influenza A (group 2) ([@R7]). In the third group, \>4-fold rises in antibody titers developed in 3 (8%) of 40 soldiers from Fort Dix and elsewhere who had been hospitalized with an A/Victoria isolate ([@R7]). In the fourth group, a single serum sample was studied from each of 168 randomly selected Fort Dix basic trainees who had received their annual influenza vaccination 3 to 4 weeks earlier ([@R11]). Only 4 (2%) had HAI titers \>1:20 to A/Mayo Clinic ([@R11]). In similar studies by others, in 0%--6% of persons, heterotypic antibody to influenza A/swine developed after infection with A/Victoria (H3N2) or influenza vaccination ([@R12]*,*[@R13]).
Since heterotypic antibody to A/Mayo Clinic seldom occurred, soldiers who were hospitalized for acute respiratory disease and showed a \>4-fold titer rise to influenza A (Hsw1N1) in stored serum specimens from the Adenovirus Surveillance Program were considered to have had A/New Jersey infections. Eight new cases in basic trainees were found. Three (38%) of the 8 solders also had \>4-fold antibody rises to A/Victoria. Therefore, 13 male, enlisted soldiers, aged 17--21 years, were identified as having had respiratory diseases resulting in hospitalization or death and an A/New Jersey (Hsw1N1) isolate or serologic conversion to A/New Jersey (case-patients). Ten had arrived at Fort Dix between January 5 and February 3, 1976. Three arrived between September 9 and December 30, 1975. Dates of onset of illness were known for 12 and were from January 12 to February 8, 1976. Hospital admissions occurred between January 19 and February 9. Autopsy findings for the only patient who died showed severe edema, hemorrhage, and mononuclear infiltrates in the lungs, consistent with viral pneumonia. No preexisting disease or bacterial infection was found. Four (33%) of the 12 surviving patients had radiologic evidence of pneumonia but their clinical syndromes were similar to those described for patients with infections caused by other influenza A strains ([@R7]).
Twelve of the 13 patients were basic trainees; one was an office worker who had an A/New Jersey isolate ([@R7]). The 12 trainees were in 9 different training companies ([@R7]*,*[@R14]). One company had 3 patients, and 1 company had 2 patients. In these 2 companies, all patients came from the same platoon. Nine were interviewed. Except for those in the same unit, the patients were unknown to each other. All denied swine contact for 6 months before admission. No common variables in working or living environments were identified. All had contact with the Fort Dix medical care system, but care took place in 5 clinics and 2 wards. From January 19 to February 9, there were 7 days when none occupied a hospital bed ([@R7]*,*[@R14]).
Transmission and Illness in Units with Case-patients
====================================================
Transmission was assessed by using HAI antibody titers to A/Mayo Clinic (Hsw1N1). Sixteen of 17 contacts of the patient not in basic training, 18--43 years of age, were studied, and 4 (25%) had titers \>1:20 ([@R14]). One of the 9 training companies had a case-patient who completed basic training before the case was identified and was not studied. In another company with a case-patient, 13 soldiers were studied, and all had titers \<1:10, but their platoons were not identified. Seven companies were studied by comparing the platoon with at least 1 case-patient to other platoons in the company. Some members of all 7 platoons with case-patients had titers \>1:20, varying from 7% to 56% (median = 26%). In other platoons from these seven companies, the prevalence of titers \>1:20 ranged from 0% to 40% (median 18%), which indicated that A/New Jersey virus transmission was not limited to 1 platoon in most companies ([@R14]).
Comparable samples of soldiers from the 7 companies with cases discussed above and 7 contemporary companies without cases were evaluated. Prevalences of HAI antibody titers to A/Mayo Clinic \>1:20 in the companies with cases ranged from 0% to 45% (median 18%) ([@R8]). Prevalences in the companies without cases was 0%--10% (median 4%) ([@R14]).
Available records permitted the identification of hospital admissions for acute respiratory disease in 6 of the 9 companies with an A/New Jersey case. From January 19 to February 9, 1976, when the A/New Jersey patients from these companies were admitted, admission rates for acute respiratory disease of \>3.0 per 100 men per week were observed in 4 of the companies. The highest rates occurred during the week ending January 25 and ranged from 1.1 to 6.9 (median 3.4) per 100 men per week ([@R14]).
Extent of Spread and Duration of Outbreak
=========================================
The weekly formation of segregated cohorts of new recruits provided an opportunity to study the extent and duration of virus transmission. A random 9% sample of soldiers beginning basic training from January 5 to March 1 were studied for HAI antibody to A/Mayo Clinic (Hsw1N1) ([@R11]). The prevalence of titers \>1:20 by weekly cohort ranged from 0% to 19%. The 3 highest prevalences, 19%, 12%, and 9%, occurred in cohorts who started training on January 12, 19, and 26, respectively. Prevalences for 6 other cohorts ranged from 0% to 5%, with 0% prevalence in the cohorts that started training on January 5 and March 1 ([@R11]). Eleven of the 12 Fort Dix basic training soldiers identified as A/New Jersey case-patients also began training on January 12, 19, and 26 ([@R11]*,*[@R14]).
From February 21 to February 27, a total of 39 soldiers in the basic training reception center were studied for HAI antibody to A/New Jersey ([Table](#T1){ref-type="table"}) ([@R11]). This same group was studied 5 weeks later. All 39 had HAI antibody titers to A/Mayo Clinic \<1:10 initially and at 5 weeks. The prevalence of HAI antibody titers to A/Mayo Clinic antigen was also determined in advanced training students, civilians who visited the Fort Dix Phlebotomy Clinic, installation maintenance workers, basic training instructors, military medical and veterinary personnel, and soldiers who worked in the reception center. In advanced training students and persons \<25 years of age, the prevalence of titers \>1:20 was 0%--6%, consistent with heterotypic responses. However, titers were higher in persons \>26 years old; most had prevalences in the range of 17% to 44%, but women and men \>51 years of age at the Phlebotomy Clinic had prevalences of 92% (n = 37) and 88% (n = 60), respectively ([@R11]).
The earliest A/New Jersey patient was hospitalized on January 19; the last identified patient was admitted on February 9 ([Table](#T1){ref-type="table"}) ([@R7]). Both were identified by serologic testing. Four of 5 patients with virus isolates were admitted on January 29 and 30. The last A/New Jersey isolate came from the soldier who died on February 4. The patient admitted on January 19 reported that his onset of illness occurred on January 12. Since no evidence was found for A/New Jersey virus at Fort Dix before January 12, the virus was likely introduced on or shortly after resumption of training on January 5. As shown by the clustering of hospital admissions, the A/New Jersey outbreak peaked during late January and tapered off in early February. The absence of any indication of the A/New Jersey virus in the cohort beginning basic training on March 1 and in the reception center group who gave blood samples from February 21 to February 27 and 5 weeks later supports the conclusion that A/New Jersey disappeared in February ([Table](#T1){ref-type="table"}) ([@R11]).
To understand the relationship of the A/Victoria and A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1) outbreaks, serum specimens from the 9% sample of soldiers who began basic training from January 5 to March 1 were also studied for HAI antibody to A/Victoria. The geometric mean titers to A/Victoria \>1:10 for cohorts beginning training on January 5 and January 12 were 1:56 and 1:53, respectively. The geometric mean titers then increased to 1:114 in the cohort that started on February 2, peaked at 1:120 in the cohort that began on February 9, remained high at 1:109 for the February 16 cohort, and then returned to baseline ([@R11]). Thus, the A/New Jersey outbreak likely started in early January and peaked in late January, followed closely by the A/Victoria outbreak.
Even though A/Mayo Clinic titers \>1:20 were seen in Fort Dix populations other than basic trainees, the prevalences in young people were very low, consistent with heterotypic antibody. Higher prevalences in older persons could have been related to earlier influenza A (H1N1) infections or vaccinations with vaccines that contained swine influenza antigens ([@R10]). The high titers to A/Mayo Clinic in these groups could not be related to illness, vaccination, or swine contact ([@R11]). When the serologic data were extrapolated, the total number of A/New Jersey infections in Fort Dix basic trainees was ≈230 when contacts of all 13 case-patients were considered and ≈142 when only virologically confirmed cases were considered true cases ([@R11]*,*[@R15]).
Case Finding beyond Fort Dix
============================
Influenza A/Victoria-like strains had been identified in New Jersey as early as January 21, 1976. By the end of January, the state had investigated reports of high employee and student absenteeism and a hospital outbreak. Patients in all episodes were sampled by using virus isolation and serologic testing. All laboratory reports indicated A/Victoria virus infections ([@R4]).
Starting February 10, arrangements were made to study febrile respiratory disease patients at McGuire Air Force Base (adjoining Fort Dix) and at hospitals, emergency rooms, and physicians\' offices in the Fort Dix vicinity. Medical examiners were told to obtain specimens from possible influenza patients and surveillance was increased statewide. From January 9 to March 19, infection with influenza A/Victoria virus was documented in 301 persons by virus isolation (151 persons), CF or HAI serology (113 persons), or both (37 persons). Cases in New Jersey came from 19 of 21 counties, McGuire Air Force Base, and Lakehurst Naval Training Center. Delaware had 19 cases, including 5 from Dover Air Force Base. From January 31 to March 17, 10 civilian deaths in New Jersey were attributed to influenza. Influenza A/Victoria (H3N2) was isolated from all 10 patients ([@R4]).
The numbers of isolation and serologic specimens tested and the percentages positive for A/Victoria were consistent with an outbreak that began quickly in January and declined in late February to early March. No influenza cases were identified after March 19; influenza A/New Jersey was never isolated outside Fort Dix ([Table](#T1){ref-type="table"}) ([@R4]*,*[@R7]).
Among patients with serologic evidence of influenza, HAI antibody responses to both A/Victoria and A/New Jersey were studied in 134. Six (4%), aged 22 to 71 years, had \>4-fold HAI rises in titer to both viruses ([@R4]). In the absence of any association with swine influenza A virus, the A/New Jersey titers were attributed to A/Victoria infections.
Summary and Speculation
=======================
A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1) was likely introduced into Fort Dix early in 1976, after the holidays ([@R15]). The virus caused disease with radiologic evidence of pneumonia in at least 4 soldiers and 1 death; all of these patients had previously been healthy ([@R7]*,*[@R15]). The virus was transmitted to close contacts in the unique basic training environment, with limited transmission outside the basic training group. A/New Jersey probably circulated for a month and disappeared. The source of the virus, the exact time of its introduction into Fort Dix, and factors limiting its spread and duration are unknown ([@R15]).
The Fort Dix outbreak may have been a zoonotic anomaly caused by introduction of an animal virus into a stressed population in close contact in crowded facilities during a cold winter. However, the impact of A/New Jersey virus on this healthy young population was severe in terms of estimated infections, hospitalizations, and duration of the outbreak.
If the outbreak was more than an anomaly, why did it not extend beyond basic trainees? Several factors merit consideration. Contact between basic trainees and others was limited. Moreover, a swine influenza antigen was included in annual military influenza vaccine formulations from 1955 through 1969 ([@R10]). The high antibody titers to A/Mayo Clinic antigen observed with increasing age in the Phlebotomy Clinic population may reflect earlier influenza A (H1N1) infections or vaccine exposure and some protection ([@R11]). Also, competition between A/New Jersey and A/Victoria viruses must be considered. The A/Victoria virus spread widely and may have limited the impact of A/New Jersey virus with its lesser ability for human transmission.
Could the Fort Dix outbreak have resulted from interaction between swine influenza A and A/Victoria viruses? A/Victoria transmission occurred in New Jersey before A/New Jersey was identified at Fort Dix. Is it possible that A/Victoria virus and an early A/New Jersey virus coinfected a soldier with genetic exchange, resulting in a recombinant virus with enhanced human transmission capability? The rapid disappearance of A/New Jersey prohibited studies of virus interactions. Genetic analyses of A/New Jersey, A/Victoria and contemporary A/swine viruses might elucidate a relationship.
Communication and collaboration existed at the onset of the outbreak and continued throughout the investigation. The points of contact at the NJ Department of Health, Fort Dix, CDC, and WRAIR had been established before the outbreak, so time was not lost identifying organizations and persons who needed to be contacted. Organizational roles were defined early and respected. The development of outbreak investigation plans, collaboration in field and laboratory work, and exchange of information occurred smoothly. An important part of the Army investigation was establishment of points of contact at WRAIR who communicated with military leaders, the NJ Department of Health, CDC, and the press. Military epidemiology and laboratory teams reported to WRAIR points of contact. This system protected these teams from disruptive inquiries.
The burden on the laboratories supporting this investigation was intense, lasting for weeks. In 1976, WRAIR was a research and field epidemiology laboratory that also operated as a public health reference laboratory. The WRAIR commander had the authority to reallocate and mobilize scientists and laboratory resources. Today, WRAIR no longer functions as a public health laboratory. The depth of resources and flexibility that existed at WRAIR in 1976 cannot be found in other military laboratories ([@R16]). Duplicating the 1976 laboratory effort today, in timely fashion, would be difficult.
*Suggested citation for this article*: Gaydos JC, Top FH, Hodder RA, Russell PK. Swine influenza A outbreak, Fort Dix, New Jersey, 1976. Emerg Infect Dis \[serial on the Internet\]. 2006 Jan \[*date cited*\]. <http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1201.050965>
In 1976 all authors were US Army officers assigned to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, DC.
The investigation of the Fort Dix swine influenza A outbreak in 1976 was made possible by the competence, professionalism, and hard work of many persons from the New Jersey Department of Health; Fort Dix, NJ, US Army Medical Department Activity; WRAIR; CDC; and others. We acknowledge all of them, wherever they may be, with gratitude for their outstanding contributions.
Dr Gaydos is director, Public Health Practices, for the US Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System. His research interests include acute respiratory diseases in previously healthy persons and sexually transmitted infections.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Central |
Background {#Sec1}
==========
The nasal septum is located in the medial portion of the nasal cavity and it is on the major part of the nose structure. It is divided into a posterior part by the vomer and perpendicular plate of the ethmoid bone and an anterior part by the quadrangular cartilage \[[@CR1], [@CR2]\].
Nasal septum deviation is the most common anatomic variation in up to 80% of healthy adults \[[@CR3], [@CR4]\]. When we consider healthy nasal respiration the anatomical and morphological characteristics of the bony and cartilaginous parts of the nasal septum play an important role. Nasal septal deviation is also linked to sleep apnea, repetitive sneezing, nosebleeds, sinusitis and difficulty breathing \[[@CR1]\]. Some investigators linked the sense of smell sense with septal deviation.
The nasal septum may affect nasal bone growth and facial morphology. From the initial growth stages, the maxillary bone and nasal structure have significant anatomic connections because of their close embryologic development \[[@CR5]\]. In the growth period, the nasal septum acts as a growth plate that affects surrounding bones and facial skeletal tissues \[[@CR6]\]. Thus, nasal septum deviation affects facial morphologic parameters such as interalveolar distance and maxillary rotation distance, causing compensatory changes in the lateral nasal wall and septal deviation, which are associated with nasal floor and palatal region asymmetries \[[@CR1], [@CR6], [@CR7]\]. The severity of septal deviation also affects the ipsilateral lateral lamina of the cribriform plate width and ipsilateral middle turbinate length \[[@CR8]\].
Some morphological characteristics of the nose such as bone length and thickness may present different forms according to factors correlated with age, gender, climate and race \[[@CR9]--[@CR11]\]. Morphologic features of the nasal bone play an important role in planning successful septoplasty and rhinoplasty surgeries. The chose between open rhinoplasty approach and endonasal approaches are commonly based on morphologic parameters. The information about each parameter during rhinoplasty, allows minimizing postoperative complication such as distortion, tissue edema and hemorrhage \[[@CR12]\]. The effect of nasal septum deviation on nasal morphologic parameters such as thickness and length was not investigated. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between the direction and degree of nasal septum deviation with nasal bone morphology, along with factors such as age and gender.
Methods {#Sec2}
=======
Study population {#Sec3}
----------------
Two hundred fifty patients with a nasal septum deviation who underwent maxillofacial CT between February 2013 and March 2015 were included retrospectively and randomly from archives of Bülent Ecevit University, Faculty of Medicine. Only adults over 18 years of age were included in the study. Patients' medical records were investigated, and patients with a history of rhinoplasty, cranial and facial trauma or bone deformity (e.g. S-shaped septum deviation), and patients with a mass in the nasal cavity were excluded from the study. Two hundred three patients (111 male, 92 female; mean age, 36.23 years; age range, 18--79 years) were included. Our study protocol was conformed according to the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki and this study was approved by ethics committee of Bulent Ecevit University Medical School with approval number 2015-46-09/06.
CT examinations were performed using an Activion 16 CT Scanner (Toshiba Medical Systems, 2008 Japan). The CT parameters were 120 kVp, 100--150 mA, 0.5 mm contiguous axial slice thickness, 512 × 512 matrix size, and field of view (FOV) of 240. The images were obtained in a supine position without rotation, flexion or extension. To solve asymmetry problem arising from patients malposition, the reference lines was used for correction of measurement plane in all patients (Figs. [1a, b](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"} and [4a, b](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Multiplanar reconstructed (MPR) coronal and sagittal images were generated on a personal computer using OsiriX software (http://www.osirix-viewer.com). All measurements were performed by two radiologists with 9 and 7 years of experience in maxillofacial radiology in same software.Fig. 1The reference lines on axial and sagittal MPR images was used for correction of measurement plane (**a**, **b**), the nasal deviation angle was measured on coronal MPR images as the angle between the most deviated point of the septum and the midline (**c**)
Data collection {#Sec4}
---------------
The nasal deviation direction was described by the convexity of the septal curvature. The nasal deviation angle was measured on coronal CT images as the angle between the most deviated point of the septum and the midline (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}). The line from the crista galli to the palatum was defined as midline \[[@CR13]\]. Patients were divided into three groups according to the deviation angle: mild (\<9°), moderate (9--15°), and severe (≥15°) \[[@CR14], [@CR15]\].
Nasal bone morphology was assessed by measuring the lateral and intermediate nasal bone thickness, nasal bone length and internasal angle.
The nasal bone thickness was measured in axial images at the site of the lateral and intermediate osteotomy lines. The lateral osteotomy lines run along nasomaxillary suture and intermediate (or midline) osteotomy lines runs along the internasal sututre. The lateral nasal bone thickness was measured at the nasomaxillary suture. Intermediate nasal bone thickness was measured at the midpoint between the nasomaxillary suture and the rhinion (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}) \[[@CR9]\].Fig. 2Nasal bone thickness measurement. **a** Lateral nasal bone thickness. **b** Intermediate nasal bone thickness measurement
The nasal bone length was measured from frontonasal suture to the endpoint of the nasal bone on the sagittal plane (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}) \[[@CR16]\]. The internasal angle was measured on coronal MPR images at the site of the nasion point (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}) \[[@CR10]\]. All parameters were measured bilaterally except internasal angle.Fig. 3Measurement of the nasal bone length at the right (**a**) and the left side (**b**) Fig. 4The reference lines on axial and sagittal MPR images was used for correction of measurement plane (**a**, **b**), the internasal angle was measured on coronal images after the x and y planes were brought to the nasion point (**c**)
Statistical analysis {#Sec5}
--------------------
Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software for Windows (version 19.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Categorical variables are given as frequencies and percentages, and continuous variables are given as the mean, standard deviation, median, minimum and maximum values. The Shapiro Wilk test was used as a test of normality. The independent sample *t*-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for two- and three parametric group comparisons, and the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests were used for two- and three non-parametric group comparisons. The Student's *t*-test was used in intergroup comparison of parameters with normal distribution. For all statistical comparisons, a p value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results {#Sec6}
=======
There were 107 patients in our study (52.7%) who had nasal septum deviation to the right, and 96 (47.3%) who had deviation to the left. No significant difference was found between deviation direction groups with regard to age, gender or deviation angle (*p* = 0.391, 0.325, 0.407 respectively; Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}).Table 1Relationships between nasal deviation side and age, sex and nasal deviation angleRight\* (*n* = 107)Left\* (*n* = 96)*p* ^\#^Age32 (18--79)34.5 (18--79)0.391Nasal deviation angle13.1 (5.1--29.2)14.05 (4.9--34.1)0.407Sex0.325\*Values are presented as the median (min-max)^\#^ *P* values were calculated using the Mann-Whitney *U* test
There were statistically significant differences between the sexes for all investigated parameters except for the nasal deviation angle (*p* = 0.660) (Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type="table"}).Table 2Relationships between sex, nasal morphology and nasal deviation anglesMale\* (*n* = 111)Female\* (*n* = 92)*p* ^\#^Nasal deviation angles (degree)13.88 (4.9--31.2)14.18 (5.1--34.1)0.660Internasal angles (degree)53.08 (40.2--75.3)50.25 (33.1--65.5)0.020Right LT (mm)1.9 (1.3--2.93)1.8 (1.15--2.66)0.018Left LT (mm)1.9 (1.32--2.89)1.8 (1.23--2.58)0.012Right IT (mm)1.6 (1.06--2.67)1.49 (1.08--1.93)0.002Left IT (mm)1.61 (1.11--2.53)1.47 (1.05--2.13)\<0.001Right NBL (mm)22.9 (14.29--32.62)21.05 (12.58--29.33)\<0.001Left NBL (mm)22.62 (15.15--33.5)20.74 (12.97--28.83)\<0.001*LT* lateral nasal bone thickness, *IT* intermediate nasal bone thickness, *NBL* nasal bone length\*Values are presented as the median (min-max)^\#^ *P* values were calculated using the Mann-Whitney *U* test
Nasal bone deviation angles ranged between 4.9° and 34.1°. Mean deviation angles were 13.6 ± 5.29° for right deviation and 14.44 ± 6.08° for left deviation. The deviation angle indicated that 43 patients had mild deviation (Group 1), 77 patients had moderate deviation (Group 2) and 83 patients had severe nasal septal deviation (Group 3).
The median (min-max) value of the nasal deviation angle, lateral and intermediate bone thicknesses and length of nasal bone on the ipsilateral and contralateral are presented in Table [3](#Tab3){ref-type="table"}. There were statistically significant differences between the ipsilateral and contralateral nasal septal deviation in all morphologic parameters except for the internasal angle (*p* = 0.283).Table 3Relationships between nasal morphology and nasal deviation sideIpsilateral\* (*n* = 107)Contraletral\* (*n* = 96)*p* ^\#^Internasal angle (degree)52.7 (33.1--75.3)51.4 (38.7--72.8)0.283Right LT (mm)1.93 (1.34--2.93)1.76 (1.24--2.65)0.002Left LT (mm)1.96 (1.43--2.79)1.79 (1.23--2.89)\<0.001Right IT (mm)1.62 (1.11--2.68)1.51 (1.06--2.20)0.002Left IT (mm)1.65 (1.18--2.25)1.48 (1.05--2.53)\<0.001Right NBL (mm)22.6 (14.85--32.62)21.41 (12.58--31.07)0.027Left NBL (mm)22.53 (13.29--33.5)21.28 (12.97--29.33)0.025*LT* lateral nasal bone thickness, *IT* intermediate nasal bone thickness, *NBL* nasal bone length\*Values are given as the median (min-max)^\#^ *P* values were calculated using the Mann--Whitney *U* test
There were no significant differences in the internasal angle, nasal bone length and lateral and intermediate bone thicknesses between nasal septal deviation angle groups (Table [4](#Tab4){ref-type="table"}).Table 4Relationships between nasal morphology and nasal deviation angle groupsGroup I\* (0°--9°)Group II\* (9°--15°)Group III\* (≥15°)*p* ^\#^Internasal angle (degree)52.8 (33.1--75.3)51.1 (40.2--69.7)52.4 (38.4--69)0.662Right LT (mm)1.82 (1.43--2.93)1.8 (1.24--2.59)1.9 (1.25--2.86)0.265Left LT (mm)1.84 (1.32--2.89)1.86 (1.23--2.54)1.89 (1.27--2.71)0.650Right IT (mm)1.51 (1.07--2.68)1.55 (1.06--2.32)1.57 (1.06--2.31)0.442Left IT (mm)1.5 (1.14--2.53)1.61 (1.15--2.42)1.57 (1.05--2.21)0.151Right NBL (mm)22.09 (13.95--32.62)22.35 (15.8--31.1)21.87 (12.5--30.34)0.821Left NBL (mm)21.62 (12.97--29.25)22.42 (13.7--33.5)24.54 (13.3--30.7)0.519*LT* lateral nasal bone thickness, *IT* intermediate nasal bone thickness, *NBL* nasal bone length\*Values are given as the median (min-max)^\#^ *P* values were calculated using the Mann-Whitney *U* test
When we investigated the relationships between age and bone morphology, only internasal angle was increased with aging (*p* = 0.002).
Discussion {#Sec7}
==========
Nasal septum deviation can disturb nasal physiology, and it can be combined with conchal hypertrophy or other anatomical variations. Nasal septum deviation can narrow the middle meatus by pushing the concha laterally. Besides nasal obstruction, nasal septum deviation exerts pressure on neighboring structures. This, in turn, disturbs drainage pathways, affects mucosal ciliary function through contact, and leads to obstruction and secondary nasal infection in all sinuses by disturbing normal mucus drainage. These mucosal abnormalities were most frequently noted in the maxillary sinus region \[[@CR14]\]. The anatomical integrity and functional capability of the septum may allow the operation of two sides of the nose, where each of them have separate vascular support and innervation. The operation of two separate airways, rather than a single unified airway, provides some advantages for conditioning the air and respiratory defense.
Our study shows that in patients with nasal septum deviation, the ipsilateral nasal bone length and bone thicknesses were greater than that on the contralateral side. It is thought that nasal septum deviation affects nasal bone development because this close relationship originates from embryologic stages of development \[[@CR5]\]. Studies have suggested that there is a significant facial growth delay on the concave side of the deviated nose \[[@CR17]\]. Our data support this finding that nasal bone thickness was smaller on the contralateral side of a deviation. Significant relationships could not be obtained between the size of the septal area and the degree of septal deviation \[[@CR18]\], on the other hand in previous research the association between nasal bone and septal deviation has not been studied. In this study, the nasal length and nasal bone thickness were affected by the side of the septal deviation, but this was not related to the degree of septal deviation.
Currently, nasal osteotomies are performed with mechanical force and thus, they lead to large amounts of trauma to the nasal mucosa, which may contribute to extended post-operative ecchymosis. Fragmented fracture of the nasal bones may also lead to a negative cosmetic outcome \[[@CR19], [@CR20]\]. We believe that complications can be reduced by choosing the thinnest side of the nasal bone during an osteotomy, based on nasal septal deviation. Also identification of, and intervention in, the long side of the nasal bone according to the nasal septum deviation may lead to better and proper healing of nasal asymmetry.
Some studies focused on the effect of the degree of nasal septum deviation on the surrounding structures. Kapusuz Gencer et al. reported that severe nasal septum deviation influences maxillary sinus volume \[[@CR14]\]. Poorey et al. demonstrated that there was no significant relationship between nasal septum deviation angle and sinusitis in mild to severe degree septum deviation \[[@CR7]\]. Nomura et al. did not find a significant correlation between nasal bone overlap and degree of nasal septum deviation \[[@CR18]\]. Similarly, in our study, there was no significant difference in nasal bone morphology parameters between a mild and severe degree of septal deviation.
The nasal bone length and bone thicknesses measured in our study were significantly greater on either side in male patients. Our results support the differences in nasal bone morphology between the sexes, as reported in previous studies. In a study by Yüzbaşıoğlu et al. using three-dimensional reconstructed images to assess the morphology of the nasal bone and the piriform aperture, nasal bone length on both sides and on the center line was significantly greater in males than in female patients \[[@CR10]\]. In a study by Karadağ et al. on the Anatolian population, no significant difference was found between the sexes in nasal bone thickness, although nasal bone length was found to be greater in males \[[@CR16]\]. In a study of nasal bone morphology in Koreans, Hwang et al. reported a statistically significant difference between the sexes in terms of nasal bone height \[[@CR11]\].
Aging causes bone resorption especially in the middle third of the face. This is manifested by enlargement of the superomedial and inferolateral orbital aperture width \[[@CR12]\]. Our results are consistent with this data, which indicates enlargement of the internasal angle with aging. This is linked with bone resorption and also with weakened, and loss of, nasal bone support \[[@CR21]\]. Our findings emphasize that the bony elements of the midface change to a great extend with aging and that the bony aging process is primarily that of contraction and deterioration and not of expansion. This outcome may help surgeon to understand changes in facial skeleton with aging, and in facial rejuvenation surgery soft tissue augmentation may be a better approach compared with bony augmentation, because the platform underneath the bony implant may deteriorate over time \[[@CR21]\].
Conclusion {#Sec8}
==========
Our study shows that nasal septum deviation may be a factor affecting nasal bone morphology. We evaluated the deviated side, and found that nasal bone length and thickness on the deviated side were significantly greater than on the contralateral side. However, when an evaluation was made according to septum deviation angles, there was no morphological difference between the groups. Our study also shows that sex influences the nasal morphologic parameters, but aging was limited effect on the morphologic data.
This study was presented in ECR 2016 as a electronic poster submission.
Funding {#FPar1}
=======
This study was not funded by any institution.
Availability of data and materials {#FPar2}
==================================
The datasets during and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Authors' contributions {#FPar3}
======================
IS: Study concept and design also drafting of the manuscript, IIO: Acquisition of data, MD: Analysis and interpretation of data, MCB: Statistical analysis, AT: Drafting of the manuscript and critical revision, OT: Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content . All authors read and approve the final manuscript.
Competing interests {#FPar4}
===================
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Consent for publication {#FPar5}
=======================
Not applicable.
Ethics approval and consent to participate {#FPar6}
==========================================
This study was approved by ethics committee of Bulent Ecevit University with approval number 2015-46-09/06.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Central |
Bull Children Furniture by Ander Lizaso
Spanish designer Ander Lizaso has created a cute children’s furniture called Bull. Designed for children between 3 and 6 years old, the furniture offers more than one use. The backrest of the tiny chair is shaped like a giant spinning wheel and together with the hollow space underside the furniture it becomes a trolley or wagon when turned upside down. The prototype of the furniture is made of Baltic birch plywood. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
I’m very excited to announce the launch of Circuit Breaker, a new gadget blog from The Verge.
I’m even more excited to announce that Paul Miller has returned to The Verge to help us launch Circuit Breaker. Paul is one of our founders, and he’s going to help bring the best of classic gadget blogging into a new era — the first age of gadget blogging was defined by the mobile revolution, and we think a similar revolution is about to happen in new categories like drones, VR, and the Internet of Things. If you loved the heyday of gadget blogs, you’re going to love Circuit Breaker. And if you’re new to tech but love The Verge, you’re in for a hell of a ride.
You should bookmark theverge.com/circuitbreaker immediately, and go and like Circuit Breaker on Facebook even faster. How fast is light? How fast is thought? Go faster than that.
Paul Miller has returned to The Verge
But wait, you might be asking — doesn’t The Verge already cover tech and gadgets? Let’s answer that question, and several others. And let’s start at the start, shall we?
What is Circuit Breaker?
Circuit Breaker is the new gadget blog from your friends at The Verge. It’s there to obsessively cover new gadgets, ways to use those gadgets, and generally be the best gadget blog in the world.
How do I follow Circuit Breaker across the many platforms of the internet?
Here's how to follow us:
Wait — doesn’t The Verge already cover tech and gadgets?
Yes! And that won’t stop or change — we’ll still have reviews, features, videos, and big stories about technology and the ways it intersects with science, entertainment, and transportation on The Verge. But we wanted to put a little more focus on gadgets themselves, because it turns out gadgets are getting really interesting lately. So we’re launching Circuit Breaker as a dedicated blog for gadget news.
Why do you think gadgets are getting so interesting again? Didn’t smartphones just eat everything?
Gadgets have been pretty boring for a few years now — the most interesting gadget of all time was the smartphone, and the most interesting question about the smartphone was how many other kinds of gadgets it could subsume on its way to dominance. Music players? Gone. Point and shoot cameras? Dead. GPS navigation systems? All but extinct. The entire taxi infrastructure of major cities? Sure, let’s see what happens when we stick that on a phone.
But it turns out that all the energy and investment that went into the smartphone supply chain can be reused in other places as well. High-powered CPUs and GPUs that sip battery life are commodities now. Ultra-high-res OLED and LCD panels are everywhere. Wireless chips are faster and drain less power than ever before. Mobile broadband is pervasive, even if it’s still not cheap enough.
All the investment that went into smartphones can be reused in other places
And tons and tons of people have smartphones in their pockets — which means tons of people are carrying around little supercomputers that can run apps to control an entirely new generation of gadgets in an entirely new set of ways.
Drones use powerful processors, cameras, and sensors to essentially fly themselves — in fact, the latest generation of DJI’s popular Phantom can actually just fly itself. The most popular VR headset in the world is just a piece of cardboard that holds your smartphone in front of your eyes, while both the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive use high-end displays that would have been unspeakably expensive just a few years ago. An entire universe of smarthome gadgets uses tiny wireless chips to talk to cloud services — and while virtually none of them come with Windows or Mac apps, almost all of them rely on iOS and Android apps for control.
Hell, even laptops are going through a minor revolution as they hybridize with tablets more every year.
If the defining trend of the smartphone revolution was convergence, then I think the defining trend of the next few years is divergence — gadgets outside the phone getting smarter and smarter as they get remixed with powerful new components that are newly cheap and abundant.
But aren’t most of these things kinda dumb, or years out? No one needs a Wi-Fi wine bottle, do they?
No one needs a Wi-Fi wine bottle, no. Good god, no.
A lot of these new gadgets are going to be bad, but some will be awesome
But that’s the fun, and the reason we’re starting Circuit Breaker. A lot of these new gadgets are going to be bad! A lot of them are going to have a sliver of genius, but be held back by the limits of current technology. And a lot of them are going to be awesome. Circuit Breaker is a place to track all this new stuff, figure out all the trends, and understand where the industry is going before it gets there. It’s not about buying advice or reviews — it’s about watching the future get invented in real time.
So what happens to The Verge?
The Verge continues to kick ass, of course. Our four sections — technology, entertainment, science, and transportation — are bigger and better than ever, and nothing makes me happier than watching them cross over and tell stories about technology and culture constantly changing in front of our eyes. We just premiered the first ever live YouTube 360 music video. We have some of the best Tesla and Uber coverage in the business. We interviewed the astronauts on board the International Space Station. Our TLDR internet culture blog continues to get weirder and weirder every day, and I love it.
It’s all still going to be there — Circuit Breaker just lets us add more gadgets to the mix.
This sounds awesome. How can I follow Circuit Breaker?
Like I said, bookmark theverge.com/circuitbreaker, and make sure to like Circuit Breaker on Facebook. We’re going to be doing a lot of fun videos on Facebook, from live unboxings to Q&As to simple hands-on demos, and you don’t want to miss a thing.
Make sure you like circuit breaker on Facebook
Do you have a boring, insidery riff on how The Verge launching a gadget blog represents the tech media completing a full circle in just over a decade?
I do. I do have that riff.
See, the first-ever gadget blog was Gizmodo, which launched in 2004 because Peter Rojas and Nick Denton thought the most interesting part of Wired was the gadget news at the front of the magazine. Rojas left Gizmodo to start Engadget, hired a bunch of people (including me!) and then many of us left Engadget to start The Verge, which in the past five years has grown to be a diverse, vibrant media brand that now rivals Wired in size and scope. And now we’re starting a gadget blog all over again, except this time we’re smart enough to just do it ourselves.
Is that important?
No, not at all. It’s just kinda fun! The most important thing is that you like Circuit Breaker on Facebook, bookmark theverge.com/circuitbreaker, and get ready to experience the fun of gadget blogging all over again. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Fast Food in Hawaii- Are You Planning to Indulge?
I think at one time or another, fast food has played some sort of role for everyone. Whether it’s what you were raised on as a kid, what you had to eat when you were on a budget, or what you currently still indulge with, fast food is undoubtedly a part of American culture. Which is why you will find fast food restaurants not only throughout the nation, but throughout the entire globe as well. Many travelers think that if they visit the Caribbean, Mexico, or even Hawaii, that they won’t spot the familiar golden “M” arches against the red background, the purple bell, or freckle faced Wendy. Fast food is everywhere though, so it’s up to you to choose whether or not you want to eat it while you’re on vacation.
We posed the question, “Do you plan on eating at fast food restaurants when you come to Hawaii? Be honest 🙂 Customer just asked which ones we have” on our Facebook page and received over fifty comments from fans. Many folks said they looked forward to the local style fast food, such as lunch trucks, plate lunches, and uniquely local spots like Zippy’s, Puka Dogs, and Rainbow Drive Inn. What I find interesting is that many people are open to eating the familiar fast food from places like Jack in the Box and McDonald’s, but not from the Hawaiian style fast food places. If you’re vacationing to Hawaii and you plan to eat fast food, you might as well experience the Hawaiian style stuff instead of the fast food you can get anywhere- do as the locals do and kaukau!
The most popular fast food restaurant that was mentioned on the facebook conversation thread was Jack in the Box. I’m not surprised. I’ve noticed that people have some strange sort of allegiance to Jack in the Box, and many times it’s for their extremely cheap tacos. The second most mentioned place was McDonald’s, but what I found interesting is how the Hawaiian McDonald’s serve items with local flavors. Like the taro and haupia pies. Now that’s a great way to entice tourists to eat fast food! Make it Hawaiian!
One fan made the comment, “If you eat fast food at home, likely you’ll eat it anywhere … especially if you’ve got kids.” Very true statement. Just because you’re traveling or on vacation, doesn’t mean you’ll stray from your normal habits. In fact, if you’re accustomed to eating fast food at home, chances are you’ll eat it more than normal when traveling because it’s within your comfort zones and is what’s recognizable. Often times people don’t want to step outside of what’s familiar when traveling because of certain worries or concerns, also for budgeting reasons too. And everyone knows that when you’re traveling with kids, one meal for the whole family can end up being in the triple digits.
I think the best way to approach the situation is to stay open to trying foods that are different and part of the culture you’re currently in. If you were traveling to India, rotis would be a good fast food style meal. Gyros from Greece, pho from Vietnam, fried chicken from the south; there are different fast foods for different locations. And another thing, fast food doesn’t have to mean McDonald’s or Taco Bell. In Hawaii, it can be a delicious plate lunch from the local fish market, coconut shrimp from the Kahuku shrimp trucks, quick sushi rolls from the local grocery store, a healthy pita wrap from Pupukea Grill lunch truck, or a fresh bakery item from Leonard’s.
Remain open minded when traveling anywhere, because you’re only cutting yourself short by not trying the variety of flavors from around the world. And we may be biased when we say this, but Hawaii just may have some of the best dishes you’ll ever have the pleasure of sampling!
Getting Stuck in the Middle
Our other monologue topic today is the role that some tend to take on when planning a vacation. It’s common for one person to be the planner, therefore making the decisions on where to eat, the daytime activities, itinerary, and ultimately, keeping everyone happy. Often times this person gets put in the middle of arguments when others don’t agree on the decision, and it makes for a stressful situation for this “planner” person. With this job being as exhaustive at it is, it’s hard for the planner to make time for themselves and actually enjoy their vacation. It seems their happiness is forfeited for the happiness of others, and that’s simply not a good way to go about vacationing.
This is exactly why booking through a local travel company (ahem Hawaii Aloha Travel) is such a good idea. We completely eliminate the weight on the planner’s shoulders, allowing that person to relax and enjoy their trip to Hawaii. And, by planning in advance, we can compromise on various activities that everyone will like. Whether you’re planning a family vacation with wide age variations, a bachelorette or birthday party with different vacationing preferences, or a business trip with certain expectations, Hawaii Aloha Travel will be sure to cover everything.
If you find yourself falling into the role as “planner” while on your Hawaii vacation, do yourself a favor and give a Hawaii Aloha agent a call. We can help with the details and make sure every member of your travel party is happy. Just remember, you can’t always please everyone but with Hawaii Aloha Travel, you can get pretty darn close.
Local Biz Shout outs!
Honua Kai, Maui from James Neely
Duke’s Restaurant at the Outrigger in Waikiki (and their hula pie) from Carol Schovanec Silverstein
The Hawaiians who are trying to keep their traditions and culture alive by educating their youth from James Neely
Since 2006 Bruce Fisher has been publishing the Hawaii Vacation Blog and the Hawaii Vacation Connection Podcast which, create daily content about Hawaii Travel and Tourism. This Blog is the only online resource providing Hawaii-based information aimed at travelers seven days per week. Postings reflect the Hawaiian Islands, their culture and their lifestyle as accurately and thoroughly as possible.
5 COMMENTS
HAWAII VACATIONS is the first thing I go to when I log into Facebook…this native NYer is instantly transported to the islands! At Hawaii-Aloha.com I find out everything about Hawaii that only locals know. Bruce, you and your company are invaluable, so a big “shout out” goes to YOU for all you do for us all! Mahalo!
It’s funny – I don’t eat typical fast food at home (except for In’n’Out – a big part of me is California to the core!) but I almost always hit McD’s when I’m traveling far from home. They’ve done a remarkable job of incorporating local flavors and specialties into their menus, and that’s something I can’t get at home. Maybe I’d go more often if I could! | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute of Cancer Research 1997 recommendations: applicability to digestive tract cancer in Japan.
This paper reviewed analytic epidemiological studies of the major Japanese digestive tract cancers, i.e. esophageal, stomach, colon and rectal. The applicability of the recommendations for prevention of these cancers by the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute of Cancer Research (W&A) to Japan is considered. Papers were searched by the MEDLINE for the period 1966 through 1997. Among them, 43 relevant papers including data from Japan were reviewed. Results for 11 lifestyle-related factors were considered. Cigarette smoking was a strong and consistent, thus, convincing, risk factor for esophageal cancer, and a possible risk factor for stomach and colorectal cancer. Excessive consumption of alcohol was a convincing risk factor for esophageal cancer, and a possible risk factor for stomach and colorectal cancer. Excessive salt intake was a risk factor supported by some strong evidence but inconsistent; therefore, it is a probable risk factor for stomach cancer and a possible risk factor for colorectal cancer. Low physical activity was a probable risk factor for colorectal cancer. On the other hand, sufficient intake of vegetables, including green-yellow vegetables, and fruits was regarded as a possible protective factor for these cancers. These observations were mostly consistent with those reported by W&A; therefore the recommendations by W&A for prevention of these cancers may be considered applicable to the current Japanese population. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
Article One of the Constitution of Georgia (U.S. State)
Article One of the Georgia State Constitution describes the Georgia Bill of Rights, a set of forty paragraphs which enumerate the Rights of Persons, the Origin and Structure of Government and other General Provisions. The Georgia Bill of Rights was written by Thomas R.R. Cobb under the title Declaration of Fundamental Principals, as part of the Georgia Constitution of 1861 when the State of Georgia seceded from the United States of America and joined the Confederate States of America.
The first Section, the Rights of Persons, lists twenty-eight paragraphs of individual rights. Many of these rights are similar to the rights listed in the United States Bill of Rights. Yet, there are differences. For instance, the Georgia Bill of Rights lists among its freedoms the Freedom of Conscience, which is the "natural and inalienable right to worship God, each according to the dictates of that person's own conscience" without interference and adds the right to religious opinion along with freedom of religion.
Section II describes the "origin and foundation of government" as well as the "object of government". The second Section goes on to include paragraphs on the separation of powers and the superiority of civil authority over military authority. Also, this section explicitly describes the separation of church and state.
Finally, Section III, General Provisions, deals with Eminent Domain, private ways and Tidewater titles.
Section I: Rights of Persons
Paragraph I. Life, liberty, and property. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property except by due process of law.
Paragraph II. Protection to person and property; equal protection. Protection to person and property is the paramount duty of government and shall be impartial and complete. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.
Paragraph III. Freedom of conscience. Each person has the natural and inalienable right to worship God, each according to the dictates of that person's own conscience; and no human authority should, in any case, control or interfere with such right of conscience.
Paragraph IV. Religious opinions; freedom of religion. No inhabitant of this state shall be molested in person or property or be prohibited from holding any public office or trust on account of religious opinions; but the right of freedom of religion shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state.
Paragraph V. Freedom of speech and of the press guaranteed. No law shall be passed to curtail or restrain the freedom of speech or of the press. Every person may speak, write, and publish sentiments on all subjects but shall be responsible for the abuse of that liberty.
Paragraph VI. Libel. In all civil or criminal actions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence; and, if it shall appear to the trier of fact that the matter charged as libelous is true, the party shall be discharged.
Paragraph VII. Citizens, protection of. All citizens of the United States, resident in this state, are hereby declared citizens of this state; and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to enact such laws as will protect them in the full enjoyment of the rights, privileges, and immunities due to such citizenship.
Paragraph VIII. Arms, right to keep and bear. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, but the General Assembly shall have power to prescribe the manner in which arms may be borne.
Paragraph IX. Right to assemble and petition. The people have the right to assemble peaceably for their common good and to apply by petition or remonstrance to those vested with the powers of government for redress of grievances.
Paragraph X. Bill of attainder; ex post facto laws; and retroactive laws. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, retroactive law, or laws impairing the obligation of contract or making irrevocable grant of special privileges or immunities shall be passed.
Paragraph XI. Right to trial by jury; number of jurors; selection and compensation of jurors. (a) The right to trial by jury shall remain inviolate, except that the court shall render judgment without the verdict of a jury in all civil cases where no issuable defense is filed and where a jury is not demanded in writing by either party. In criminal cases, the defendant shall have a public and speedy trial by an impartial jury; and the jury shall be the judges of the law and the facts.
(b) A trial jury shall consist of 12 persons; but the General Assembly may prescribe any number, not less than six, to constitute a trial jury in courts of limited jurisdiction and in superior courts in misdemeanor cases.
(c) The General Assembly shall provide by law for the selection and compensation of persons to serve as grand jurors and trial jurors.
Paragraph XII. Right to the courts. No person shall be deprived of the right to prosecute or defend, either in person or by an attorney, that person's own cause in any of the courts of this state.
Paragraph XIII. Searches, seizures, and warrants. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue except upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation particularly describing the place or places to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
Paragraph XIV. Benefit of counsel; accusation; list of witnesses; compulsory process. Every person charged with an offense against the laws of this state shall have the privilege and benefit of counsel; shall be furnished with a copy of the accusation or indictment and, on demand, with a list of the witnesses on whose testimony such charge is founded; shall have compulsory process to obtain the testimony of that person's own witnesses; and shall be confronted with the witnesses testifying against such person.
Paragraph XV. Habeas corpus. The writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.
Paragraph XVI. Self-incrimination. No person shall be compelled to give testimony tending in any manner to be self-incriminating.
Paragraph XVII. Bail; fines; punishment; arrest, abuse of prisoners. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted; nor shall any person be abused in being arrested, while under arrest, or in prison.
Paragraph XVIII. Jeopardy of life or liberty more than once forbidden. No person shall be put in jeopardy of life or liberty more than once for the same offense except when a new trial has been granted after conviction or in case of mistrial.
Paragraph XIX. Treason. Treason against the State of Georgia shall consist of insurrection against the state, adhering to the state's enemies, or giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason except on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act or confession in open court.
Paragraph XX. Conviction, effect of. No conviction shall work corruption of blood or forfeiture of estate.
Paragraph XXI. Banishment and whipping as punishment for crime. Neither banishment beyond the limits of the state nor whipping shall be allowed as a punishment for crime.
Paragraph XXII. Involuntary servitude. There shall be no involuntary servitude within the State of Georgia except as a punishment for crime after legal conviction thereof or for contempt of court.
Paragraph XXIII. Imprisonment for debt. There shall be no imprisonment for debt.
Paragraph XXIV. Costs. No person shall be compelled to pay costs in any criminal case except after conviction on final trial.
Paragraph XXV. Status of the citizen. The social status of a citizen shall never be the subject of legislation.
Paragraph XXVI. Exemptions from levy and sale. The General Assembly shall protect by law from levy and sale by virtue of any process under the laws of this state a portion of the property of each person in an amount of not less than $1,600.00 and shall have authority to define to whom any such additional exemptions shall be allowed; to specify the amount of such exemptions; to provide for the manner of exempting such property and for the sale, alienation, and encumbrance thereof; and to provide for the waiver of said exemptions by the debtor.
Paragraph XXVII. Spouse's separate property. The separate property of each spouse shall remain the separate property of that spouse except as otherwise provided by law.
Paragraph XXVIII. Fishing and hunting. The tradition of fishing and hunting and the taking of fish and wildlife shall be preserved for the people and shall be managed by law and regulation for the public good.
Paragraph XXIX. Enumeration of rights not denial of others. The enumeration of rights herein contained as a part of this Constitution shall not be construed to deny to the people any inherent rights which they may have hitherto enjoyed.
Section II: Origin and Structure of Government
Paragraph I. Origin and foundation of government. All government, of right, originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole. Public officers are the trustees and servants of the people and are at all times amenable to them.
Paragraph II. Object of government. The people of this state have the inherent right of regulating their internal government. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people; and at all times they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it.Paragraph III. Separation of legislative, judicial, and executive powers. The legislative, judicial, and executive powers shall forever remain separate and distinct; and no person discharging the duties of one shall at the same time exercise the functions of either of the others except as herein provided.Paragraph IV. Contempts. The power of the courts to punish for contempt shall be limited by legislative acts.Paragraph V. What acts void. Legislative acts in violation of this Constitution or the Constitution of the United States are void, and the judiciary shall so declare them.Paragraph VI. Superiority of civil authority. The civil authority shall be superior to the military.Paragraph VII. Separation of church and state. No money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, cult, or religious denomination or of any sectarian institution.Paragraph VIII. Lotteries and nonprofit bingo games. (a) Except as herein specifically provided in this Paragraph VIII, all lotteries, and the sale of lottery tickets, and all forms of pari-mutuel betting and casino gambling are hereby prohibited; and this prohibition shall be enforced by penal laws.
(b) The General Assembly may by law provide that the operation of a nonprofit bingo game shall not be a lottery and shall be legal in this state. The General Assembly may by law define a nonprofit bingo game and provide for the regulation of nonprofit bingo games.
(c) The General Assembly may by law provide for the operation and regulation of a lottery or lotteries by or on behalf of the state and for any matters relating to the purposes or provisions of this subparagraph. Proceeds derived from the lottery or lotteries operated by or on behalf of the state shall be used to pay the operating expenses of the lottery or lotteries, including all prizes, without any appropriation required by law, and for educational programs and purposes as hereinafter provided. Lottery proceeds shall not be subject to Article VII, Section III, Paragraph II; Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI(a); or Article III, Section IX, Paragraph IV(c), except that the net proceeds after payment of such operating expenses shall be subject to Article VII, Section III, Paragraph II. Net proceeds after payment of such operating expenses shall be separately accounted for and shall be specifically identified by the Governor in his annual budget presented to the General Assembly as a separate budget category entitled "Lottery Proceeds" and the Governor shall make specific recommendations as to educational programs and educational purposes to which said net proceeds shall be appropriated. In the General Appropriations Act adopted by the General Assembly, the General Assembly shall appropriate all net proceeds of the lottery or lotteries by such separate budget category to educational programs and educational purposes as specified by the General Assembly.
(c) The General Assembly may by law provide for the operation and regulation of a lottery or lotteries by or on behalf of the state and for any matters relating to the purposes or provisions of this subparagraph. Proceeds derived from the lottery or lotteries operated by or on behalf of the state shall be used to pay the operating expenses of the lottery or lotteries, including all prizes, without any appropriation required by law, and for educational programs and purposes as hereinafter provided. Lottery proceeds shall not be subject to Article VII, Section III, Paragraph II; Article III, Section IX, Paragraph VI(a); or Article III, Section IX, Paragraph IV(c), except that the net proceeds after payment of such operating expenses shall be subject to Article VII, Section III, Paragraph II. Net proceeds after payment of such operating expenses shall be separately accounted for and shall be specifically identified by the Governor in his annual budget presented to the General Assembly as a separate budget category entitled 'Lottery Proceeds' and the Governor shall make specific recommendations as to educational programs and educational purposes to which said net proceeds shall be appropriated. In the General Appropriations Act adopted by the General Assembly, the General Assembly shall appropriate all net proceeds of the lottery or lotteries by such separate budget category to educational programs and educational purposes. Such net proceeds shall be used to support improvements and enhancements for educational programs and purposes and such net proceeds shall be used to supplement, not supplant, non-lottery educational resources for educational programs and purposes. The educational programs and educational purposes for which proceeds may be so appropriated shall include only the following:
(1) Tuition grants, scholarships, or loans to citizens of this state to enable such citizens to attend colleges and universities located within this state, regardless of whether such colleges or universities are operated by the board of regents, or to attend institutions operated under the authority of the Department of Technical and Adult Education;
(2) Voluntary pre-kindergarten;
(3) One or more educational shortfall reserves in a total amount of not less than 10 percent of the net proceeds of the lottery for the preceding fiscal year; (4) Costs of providing to teachers at accredited public institutions who teach levels K-12, personnel at public postsecondary technical institutes under the authority of the Department of Technical and Adult Education, and professors and instructors within the University System of Georgia the necessary training in the use and application of computers and advanced electronic instructional technology to implement interactive learning environments in the classroom and to access the state-wide distance learning network; and (5) Capital outlay projects for educational facilities; provided, however, that no funds shall be appropriated for the items listed in paragraphs (4) and (5) of this subsection until all persons eligible for and applying for assistance as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection have received such assistance, all approved pre-kindergarten programs provided for in paragraph (2) of this subsection have been fully funded, and the education shortfall reserve or reserves provided for in paragraph (3) of this subsection have been fully funded.(d) On and after January 1, 1995, the holding of raffles by nonprofit organizations shall be lawful and shall not be prohibited by any law enacted prior to January 1, 1994. Laws enacted on or after January 1, 1994, however, may restrict, regulate, or prohibit the operation of such raffles.Paragraph IX. Sovereign immunity and waiver thereof; claims against the state and its departments, agencies, officers, and employees. (a) The General Assembly may waive the state's sovereign immunity from suit by enacting a State Tort Claims Act, in which the General Assembly may provide by law for procedures for the making, handling, and disposition of actions or claims against the state and its departments, agencies, officers, and employees, upon such terms and subject to such conditions and limitations as the General Assembly may provide.(b) The General Assembly may also provide by law for the processing and disposition of claims against the state which do not exceed such maximum amount as provided therein.(c) The state's defense of sovereign immunity is hereby waived as to any action ex contractu for the breach of any written contract now existing or hereafter entered into by the state or its departments and agencies.(d) Except as specifically provided by the General Assembly in a State Tort Claims Act, all officers and employees of the state or its departments and agencies may be subject to suit and may be liable for injuries and damages caused by the negligent performance of, or negligent failure to perform, their ministerial functions and may be liable for injuries and damages if they act with actual malice or with actual intent to cause injury in the performance of their official functions. Except as provided in this subparagraph, officers and employees of the state or its departments and agencies shall not be subject to suit or liability, and no judgment shall be entered against them, for the performance or nonperformance of their official functions. The provisions of this subparagraph shall not be waived.(e) Except as specifically provided in this Paragraph, sovereign immunity extends to the state and all of its departments and agencies. The sovereign immunity of the state and its departments and agencies can only be waived by an Act of the General Assembly which specifically provides that sovereign immunity is thereby waived and the extent of such waiver.(f) No waiver of sovereign immunity under this Paragraph shall be construed as a waiver of any immunity provided to the state or its departments, agencies, officers, or employees by the United States Constitution.Section III: General Provisions
Paragraph I. Eminent domain. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this Paragraph, private property shall not be taken or damaged for public purposes without just and adequate compensation being first paid.
(b) When private property is taken or damaged by the state or the counties or municipalities of the state for public road or street purposes, or for public transportation purposes, or for any other public purposes as determined by the General Assembly, just and adequate compensation therefor need not be paid until the same has been finally fixed and determined as provided by law; but such just and adequate compensation shall then be paid in preference to all other obligations except bonded indebtedness.
(c) The General Assembly may by law require the condemnor to make prepayment against adequate compensation as a condition precedent to the exercise of the right of eminent domain and provide for the disbursement of the same to the end that the rights and equities of the property owner, lien holders, and the state and its subdivisions may be protected.
(d) The General Assembly may provide by law for the payment by the condemnor of reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred by the condemnee in determining just and adequate compensation.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of the Constitution, the General Assembly may provide by law for relocation assistance and payments to persons displaced through the exercise of the power of eminent domain or because of public projects or programs; and the powers of taxation may be exercised and public funds expended in furtherance thereof.Paragraph II. Private ways. In case of necessity, private ways may be granted upon just and adequate compensation being first paid by the applicant.Paragraph III. Tidewater titles confirmed.' The Act of the General Assembly approved December 16, 1902, which extends the title of ownership of lands abutting on tidal water to low water mark, is hereby ratified and confirmed.Section IV: Marriage
Paragraph I. Recognition of marriage. (a) This state shall recognize as marriage only
the union of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in
this state.
(b) No union between persons of the same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled
to the benefits of marriage. This state shall not give effect to any public act, record, or
judicial proceeding of any other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship between persons
of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other state or jurisdiction.
The courts of this state shall have no jurisdiction to grant a divorce or separate
maintenance with respect to any such relationship or otherwise to consider or rule on any
of the parties´ respective rights arising as a result of or in connection with such relationship.
Section IV has since been overturned by the Federal Court Ruling, Obergefell v. Hodges''.
Background
The Georgia Bill of Rights was ratified, along with the Georgia Constitution of 1861, soon after the State of Georgia seceded from the Union on 18 January 1861. Prior to the creation of the Bill of Rights, Georgia's previous four Constitutions protected only a relative few civil liberties. With the end of the American Civil War in 1865 the abolition of slavery was added to the Bill of Rights in Section I, the Rights of Persons. Also added to that Section, in 1877, was a prohibition against whipping of criminals and banishment of criminals.
References
See also
Bill of rights
United States Bill of Rights
Category:Georgia (U.S. state) law
Category:Constitution of Georgia (U.S. state) | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
The role of immigration status in heavy drinking among Asian Americans.
We examined the role of Asian Americans' immigration status in their heavy drinking, using a national sample of 3,574 Asian American adults during 2008 to 2011 when surveyed by the National Health Interview Survey. Our results, with relevant social structural factors controlled, show that U.S.-born Asian Americans exhibited the highest heavy-drinking levels, followed by long-time-resident Asian immigrants, then recent-resident Asian immigrants (our three main subsamples). The higher heavy-drinking levels characterizing U.S.-born Asians who were male and younger, as compared to immigrant Asians who were male and younger, helped explain differential heavy-drinking levels across subsamples. The study's limitations are noted. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
1968 Covenant House
In 1968, two Catholic priests, Bruce Ritter and James Fitzgibbon, resigned from comfortable professional college work and moved into a tenement building in New York City’s East Village to establish a ministry for helping runaway teenagers and other troubled youths. They called their home Covenant House, and their effectiveness in providing a mix of counseling and practical shelter, food, and safety services to vulnerable youngsters drew many clients and volunteers. The organization was incorporated in 1972 and set out to acquire additional properties, first in midtown New York, and then across the country. The group developed a specialty in rescuing sexually exploited teenagers, and added to its homelessness services drug counseling, physical and mental-health programs, foster-care transitions, and other assistance.
Originally, much of the group’s funding came from contracts with New York City agencies, but disagreements with city officials over how facilities should be run led Covenant House to decide most of its funding should come from private donations instead of government. Catholic philanthropists like Peter Grace and Bill Simon became loyal donors. Simon started volunteering in the group’s homes, often with his children, starting in the 1970s. When grown, his children later became important donors and volunteers at Covenant House chapters.
In 1990, charismatic founder Bruce Ritter became embroiled in a sexual scandal and resigned. Donations collapsed and the organization was in peril. Aggressive intervention by the board of directors, with help from Cardinal O’Connor, resulted in a thorough investigation and airing of all findings, changes in staff and internal governance, and a stern new director in the person of Sister Mary Rose McGeady. The organization stabilized, and donations recovered. Today Covenant House shelters and otherwise serves 62,000 youths per year, in 21 locations, relying on $100 million of annual contributions. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Description:
Alexandra Russian sophisticated escort located in the centre of London! She offers Girlfriend experience, party, Domination, Fetish fantasies, and Tantric massage. Alexandra is a professional massage therapist and cares deeply about her clients! It’s an excellent way to distress you after a long day at the office. Alexandra is fun-loving, confident and elegant companion. She has fetish for silky lingerie, shimmer stockings, suspenders, and high heels shoes. Alexandra has a bright personality and plenty of sex appeal which will stimulate your mind and senses! She is naturally busty 36D-25-38 brunette, size 12 figure and 5’7” tall. Alexandra is available for in-calls bookings in Chelsea & 24/7 Hotels visits and travel appointments on request. Call in advance to book an appointment with Alexandra. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
In the GPS era, it’s been estimated that only 1 in 3 Young People Can Read a Road Map. Make that a topographical map and you can be certain the percentage would be much much lower. No such problem for competitors in the annual Australian Geography Competition, where the map reading skills and geographical knowledge of Australia’s best and brightest High School students are tested in a challenging multiple-choice test.
KWizCom, a developer of SharePoint Forms & Workflows, as well as numerous other powerful SharePoint web parts, add-ons and apps for Office 365 (SharePoint Online), has unveiled a new add-on for SharePoint users, the Signature Pad Column.
Digital transformation is a top priority at many enterprises as they attempt to convert more workflows to fully electronic processes. In the case of document handling and processing, many companies have implemented digital imaging solutions to convert their paper documents (mail, forms, archives, etc.) into digital documents. But that’s just one step on the path toward digital transformation.
When asked about the biggest barriers to digital transformation in 2019, nearly one-third of organizations surveyed (30 percent) cited insufficient budget and 22 percent cited the inability to experiment quickly. 'Legacy systems' still present the single biggest barrier at 41 percent of those surveyed. Lack of change management capabilities and relevant skills are also seen as major hurdles in 2019.
PSIcapture 7.2 has now been released, extending the ability to migrate beyond conventional content management systems into primary line of business applications via new migrations for Microsoft Dynamics GP, Box and Intuit Quickbooks Desktop. These join the long list of PSIcapture migrations that are provided free with all license levels.
Robotic Processing Automation (RPA) is one of the latest emerging technologies in the Business Process Automation (BPA) landscape and currently has a lot of hype surrounding it. While some are heralding it as the future of BPA, out in the marketplace there is still a lot of uncertainty around what exactly it is. Businesses are unclear about how it could be used in their processes and about whether RPA is a useful solution or just another industry buzzword.
Document management doesn’t have to feel like a slapdash, haphazard process. But often due to the sheer volume of work the average employee is tasked with, it’s easier to find a rhythm in the chaos vs. taking the time to step back and implement a better system. And that can certainly include the impulse to slap a pdf alongside every line item as a way to feel like you’re in control, covering all the bases in case of an internal audit or compliance check. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
The invention relates to a method for operating a spark-ignition, direct-injection internal combustion engine based in particular on the 4-stroke principle. The invention also relates to a method for the cold-running operation of a spark-ignition, direct-injection internal combustion engine which operates in particular on the 4-stroke principle.
In motor vehicles, in particular in passenger vehicles, use is widely made of spark-ignition internal combustion engines which are also referred to as Otto engines. Internal combustion engines of said type are increasingly provided with injectors, by which fuel is directly injected into the cylinders of the internal combustion engine. With fresh air which is sucked into the cylinders, a fuel/air mixture is generated which is ignited at a predefinable ignition time by means of a spark plug in order to initiate a combustion.
In conventional operating methods of internal combustion engines of said type, a distinction is made between two main operating modes. At high loads, the engine is operated in the so-called homogeneous mode, in which the entire fuel mass is injected during the intake stroke of the engine and is distributed uniformly in the combustion chamber until the ignition time. The same fuel/air ratio prevails in the entire combustion chamber, which fuel/air ratio should, for reasons of exhaust-gas purification, be at least approximately stoichiometric.
At low loads, direct-injection Otto engines can be operated in the so-called stratified mode. In a direct-injection Otto engine with a jet-controlled combustion process, the entire fuel mass is injected immediately before the ignition time in order to generate a defined injection jet in the region of the spark plug. At higher loads, however, the particle emissions in the stratified mode increase drastically, since the fresh mixture in the region of the spark plug becomes very rich, although the fuel/air ratio averaged over the entire cylinder volume remains considerably lean. The so-called soot limit, that is to say the load at which the particle emissions of the engine become unacceptably high, creates a limitation, in the direction of high loads, of the load range which is possible in the stratified mode in the direct-injection Otto engine.
Since, in the stratified mode, the engine is operated with a very high excess of air, very low exhaust-gas temperatures can be generated at low loads. This leads to problems in the usual exhaust-gas purification methods with oxidation or 3-way catalytic converters, since the catalytic converter temperature can fall below the limit temperature of the catalytic converter, also referred to as the light-off temperature, below which the catalytic converter is no longer effective. The catalytic converter is in this case no longer capable of oxidizing carbon monoxide or unburned hydrocarbons to form carbon dioxide. This makes it necessary for measures to be taken to heat the catalytic converter, for example by switching to the homogeneous mode. However, this results in a considerable increase in consumption, and the loss of a part of the fuel saving potential of the direct-injection Otto engine.
In addition, in order to save fuel and in order to reduce pollutant emissions, an operating mode of the internal combustion engine with a high excess of air or with a high content of inert gas is sought. The latter is for example obtained by means of exhaust-gas retention or exhaust-gas recirculation into the cylinder interior space. In this way, the engine can be operated with higher charge masses or higher intake pipe pressures, which leads to a reduction in throttling losses in the homogeneous mode and therefore to a reduction in fuel consumption. By means of a high inert gas content in the combustion chamber, the combustion chamber temperature can be reduced and therefore the formation of nitrogen oxides during the combustion can be reduced. The range in which the engine can be operated with high inert gas contents is however limited by the running smoothness, which decreases drastically in the conventional homogeneous mode with increasing inert gas proportion.
A further problem in conventional operating methods of an Otto engine lies in the cold start and the subsequent cold-running phase. Direct-injection Otto engines are operated in the homogeneous mode in particular at low temperatures below freezing. Since the combustion chamber walls are still very cold after the cold start, large quantities of the fuel which is injected in the intake stroke accumulate on the combustion chamber walls and on the piston head. Said fuel which is not encompassed by the combustion leads to large quantities of unburned hydrocarbons and particle emissions.
A coordinated, operating-point-dependent switch between the previously known homogeneous and stratified injection methods leads, in the switchover phase, to further efficiency losses or to an increase in pollutant emissions.
It is the object of the invention to provide a method for operating a spark-ignition, direct-injection internal combustion engine with reduced fuel consumption and reduced pollutant emissions over a widened range.
It is a further object of the invention to provide for the cold-running operation of a spark-ignition internal combustion engine in which, in connection with good running smoothness and low emissions values, fast heating of the exhaust-gas catalytic converter is achieved. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | USPTO Backgrounds |
Lyrics
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The heavens are not too high, His praise may thither fly,
The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King!
The church with psalms must shout, no door can keep them out;
But, above all, the heart must bear the longest part.
Let all the world in every corner sing, my God and King! | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
A news-based journal on the Boston restaurant scene. The owner of this blog is also the founder of Boston's Hidden Restaurants, a website that focuses on local dining spots.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Arc Is Replacing An Tua Nua
Last week, we reported that an Irish pub in the Fenway section of Boston closed after being in business for more than 15 years. Now we have learned that the owners of the place are going to reopen it with a new name, but little else in the way of changes.
Universal Hub is reporting that the folks behind the now-shuttered An Tua Nua on Beacon Street will open Arc in its place, with bar attorney Karen Simao telling the Boston Licensing Board that the new name (which is defined as a part of the circumference of a circle) and logo are designed to attract the "math, science and engineering students" who now live in the neighborhood. UH says that the food/drink menu at Arc will remain mostly the same, and that workers from An Tua Nua will continue to work at the new spot.
[June 25 update: Eater Boston states (via the spot's Facebook page) that Arc plans to open this Thursday (June 27), with its official name possibly being "Arc Nightclub & Lounge."]
[June 27 update: An update from Eater Boston says that Arc has had to push back its opening because of "unforeseen circumstances." As soon as we hear about a new opening date, we will post another update here.] | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Match Records is Lit
Are you in the dark about Match Records?
Did you even know MTSU had an operating record label run by students on campus?
…Or that Match Records is one of the only student-run record labels in the country?
Well, it’s time to get out of the dark… the match has been lit.
Every semester Match Records is scouting campus looking for fresh talent and signing the best artists on MTSU’s campus
… but they don’t stop there.
Match Records has multiple functions and is led by an executive team that runs each branch with their selected teams. This includes marketing, management, creative development, and live entertainment. The executive team is led by President Leo Sete, who oversees all functions and leads the label with advisor Stacy Merida.
Below is a short video clip of Leo Sete/Stacy Merida, explaining what the branches do and how they interconnect.
Match Records has a keen eye for not only finding talent, but also the resources to help build that artist up the way a big label would. It creates a business framework for students involved to learn the industry, while producing and preparing student artists for the industry post college.
Did I mention that MTSU’s RIM (Recording Industry major) department, including Match Records, is the only university recognized and accredited by the Grammy Foundation?
Just this past year, MTSU faculty and students working with Match Records traveled to Los Angeles, California, to be apart of MTSU’s official induction into the Grammy Museum! Check out this article below to preview the amazing trip!
Behind the scenes and under the spotlight, Match Records stays on fire.
Every semester, Match Records opens up the floor for artists to compete against each other in a Beat Battle, a competition held on campus that is judged by a panel of professionals in the industry.
Beat Battle for 2017 will be on March 30th, in the LRC room 221, so make sure you come check it out and stick around for the after party too!
Aside from Beat Battle, Match Records hosts multiple events each semester, not just on campus, but locally too.
Later this semester, Match will be hosting a showcase for their artists at the Music City Hall of Fame on April 29th in Nashville.
A few of these artists will be …
Jordyn Stoddard
Natalie Madigan
Brittney Spencer
… As well as guest appearances from other artists too! Admission to the showcase is free for students and admission to tour the Music City Hall of Fame is discounted for students as well. It will be an incredible night that you won’t want to miss.
I know, as a student it can be difficult to keep up with everything happening on campus and sort through all the events you want to attend. By plugging into Match Records on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, staying up to date on the latest music on campus will be effortless and exciting.
Match Records is an incredible organization that involves and promotes learning and development of students and artists on every level. Nothing can bring people together like music can… music is a connection, so whether you are here to learn or just to listen, you’ll walk away with something far greater than you can imagine.
So to all MTSU students out there, don’t stay in the dark any longer. Let’s light the match together.
Instagram
Middle Tennessee State University, in its educational programs and activities involving students and employees, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, disability, age (as applicable), status as a covered veteran or genetic information. [Nondiscrimination Policy] European Union (EU) citizens, please note that MTSU will collect personally identifying information and other data about you and may share that data with other agencies as required. [Terms] | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
20 Everyday Objects Linked To Terrifying Events
There are plenty of stories throughout time that are said to be related to cursed objects or completely haunted. These horrifying objects are pretty general, including children’s toys. Misfortune, financial and health woes are all pretty common when it comes to these particular stories. Here are twenty tales that will make you rethink your next purchase. Of course, the chances of finding something paranormal are pretty slim, though it could happen, too. Be wary of what you’re buying in a thrift store — sometimes things aren’t what they seem.
Haunted Chairs at Belcourt Castle
Numerous hauntings have been reported at Belcourt Castle throughout time, but the chairs are some of the worst, apparently. Visitors claim they feel cold and uncomfortable when sitting the chairs, and some have even been thrown from them before.
Haunted Wedding Dress
This dress once belonged to Anne Baker, who never used it once her father removed her soon-to-be husband from the picture. Some people have claimed to see the dress move on its own, especially when the full moon is present.
The Myrtles Plantation Mirror
The Myrtles Plantation is considered one of the most haunted residences throughout the US. This mirror probably plays a large part in that. The family who owned it were poisoned to death, and the souls are said to be encased within the mirror itself.
The Dybbuk Box
Dybbuk, in Jewish folklore, is an evil spirit. A Holocaust survivor is said to have summoned a demon using a homemade Ouija board, but trapped it in a wine cabinet instead. One owner suffered a stroke and died, another developed a rare skin disease. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Background {#Sec1}
==========
Sex-determination mechanisms in mammals and birds are highly conserved. The *Sry* gene, which arose by gene duplication 170 million years ago (Mya), determines male sex in most mammals \[[@CR1]\]. Analysis of human and mouse mutants has identified many additional genes involved in sexual differentiation, including *Dmrt1*, *Foxl2*, *Rspo1*, *Sox9*, and *Wnt4* \[[@CR2], [@CR3]\]. Some of these same genes have been implicated as sex determiners in other tetrapods. Most birds share a ZW system of sex determination that arose 130 Mya, which is mediated at least in part by expression of *Dmrt1* \[[@CR4]\]. A duplicated and truncated *Dmrt1* gene on the female-specific W chromosome, *Dmw*, is required for female sex determination in *Xenopus laevis* \[[@CR5], [@CR6]\]. The fact that many of the same genes are involved in sex differentiation in these distantly related species suggests that the gene regulatory network underlying sex determination and sexual differentiation might be fundamentally similar among all tetrapods.
In contrast, teleost fishes are remarkably diverse in their sex chromosome systems \[[@CR7]--[@CR9]\]. Seven master sex-determining genes have been identified in teleosts, namely *dmy*/*dmrt1b*^*Y*^ in *Oryzias latipes* and *Oryzias curvinotus* \[[@CR10], [@CR11]\], *gsdf*^*Y*^ in *Oryzias luzonensis* \[[@CR12]\], *sox3* in *Oryzias dancena* \[[@CR13]\], *amhy* in *Odontesthes hatcheri* \[[@CR14]\] and *Oreochromis niloticus* \[[@CR15]\], *amhrII* in *Takifugu rubripes* \[[@CR16]\], *gdf6Y* in *Nothobranchius furzeri* \[[@CR17]\] and *sd*^Y^ in *Oncorhynchus mykiss* and several other salmonids \[[@CR18], [@CR19]\]. Moreover, sex chromosomes and sex determining genes of the same species were found to be diverse. For example, a tandem duplicate of *Amh* with a missense SNP on LG23 may contribute to male sex determination in some strains \[[@CR15], [@CR20]\], while main sex determining region of other strains has been found on LG1 \[[@CR21]\]. The diversity of sex determining genes suggest there are at least some differences between mammals and teleosts in the structure of the gene network controlling sex determination. Indeed, *Gsdf* is found only in teleosts, and the teleost genomes lack *Fgf9,* suggesting that the specific function, regulation, and interconnection of the sex network has changed during the evolution of teleosts. Nevertheless, most of the genes *Foxl2*, *Dmrt1*, and pathways such as *Rspo1/Wnt/*TGF-β which are important in mammalian sex determination, still play key roles in teleost sex determination \[[@CR22]\].
Research in *Drosophila* and *Caenorhabditis* identified linear pathways of gene interaction leading to sex determination. These pathways are thought to have evolved largely by addition of upstream master controllers, although the pathways may also be vulnerable to takeover at intermediate steps \[[@CR23], [@CR24]\]. In contrast, vertebrate pathways have been characterized as balanced networks, in which changes in any of a number of genes can shift the fate of the undifferentiated gonad \[[@CR25], [@CR26]\]. The developmental pathways following the initiation of sex determination in fishes may consist of a conserved cascade of genes regulated by sex steroid hormones \[[@CR27]\]. Data from natural and induced sex reversal after primary sex determination in various fishes also suggest that sex is not a stepwise, hierarchical trait, but instead a consensus of interconnected gene networks that also incorporate environmental factors \[[@CR28]--[@CR30]\].
There are two general approaches to characterize the gene network underlying sex determination and differentiation in a particular evolutionary lineage. The first is to genetically map and identify the top-level sex determiner in each of several species. This is essentially a 'natural mutant screen' in which evolution has identified various genes affecting the underlying regulatory network. This approach has been particularly successful in medaka \[[@CR10]\] and tilapia \[[@CR15]\]. The second approach is systems biology. Sex-related genes frequently exhibit sexually dimorphic patterns of expression in the developing gonad both before and after overt differentiation of the testis or ovary. If we collect transcriptome data from male and female gonads at various developmental stages, we can use statistical methods to infer the regulatory network from the correlations of gene expression across samples. These two approaches are not mutually exclusive. Gonadal transcriptomic data with different top-level sex determiners might be combined to understand their shared gene regulatory network. Together, these approaches have identified several genes in the pathway of sex determination and sexual differentiation, but our understanding of it is far from complete. Gene co-expression analysis, uses the correlation (or related measures) of gene expression profiles across multiple samples to identify common patterns of regulation \[[@CR31]\]. The most widely used method is Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) \[[@CR32]\]. This method discovers groups of genes with similar patterns of gene expression, called modules. Regulatory networks and candidate genes associated with gonad differentiation have been identified using WGCNA in turbot and catfish \[[@CR33], [@CR34]\].
Tilapia is the world's second most farmed fish, and an important source of animal protein around the world. Male tilapias grow faster than females, so the tilapia industry prefers to grow all-male populations. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of sex determination and differentiation will facilitate the production of mono-sex progeny for commercial production. The objectives of this study were to explore the molecular mechanism of tilapia sex determination and differentiation and to identify new genes involved in this process. Our approach was to collect a set of gonadal transcriptomes from genetic females and males, and sex-reversed individuals, through the course of gonad development from 5 to 180 days after hatch (dah). WGCNA was used to identify gene co-expression modules that are differentiated between ovary and testis during gonad development. Network neighbors of some canonical genes involved in vertebrate sex differentiation, including *Cyp19a1a*, *Foxl2*, *Dmrt1*, *Gsdf*, *3beta-Hsd*, *Cyp11b2*, and *Amh* were identified. Our ultimate goal was to identify putative regulatory links that might be tested by CRISPR modifications.
Methods {#Sec2}
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Fish materials and ethics statement {#Sec3}
-----------------------------------
The founder strain of the Nile tilapia, firstly introduced from Egypt in Africa, was obtained from Prof. Nagahama (Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, Okazaki, Japan). Nile tilapia were maintained and reared in re-circulating aerated freshwater tanks at 26 °C prior to use. The monosex genetic female (XX) and male (XY) tilapia were obtained as described previously \[[@CR20]\]. All fish experiments were conducted in accordance with the regulations of the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the Committee of Laboratory Animal Experimentation at Southwest University.
Gonadal histology, RNA extraction and Illumina library preparation {#Sec4}
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All fishes were euthanized using an overdose of MS222 and stored in 70% EtOH. Special care was taken to minimize suffering of fish. Gonads were dissected at 5, 20, 30, 40, 90, and 180 dah, fixed in Bouin's solution for 24 h at room temperature, dehydrated, and embedded in paraffin. All tissue blocks were sectioned at 5 μm and stained with hematoxylin and eosin.
A total of 300, 200, 150, and 120 gonads for each sex were pooled at 5, 20, 30, and 40 dah, respectively. Total RNA was extracted from gonads of XX and XY fishes using the Trizol Reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) according to the manufacturer's instruction, and purified with DNaseI (RNase-free 5 U/uL) to eliminate genomic DNA contamination. All the tilapia gonadal samples used in sequencing were again genetically sexed using a marker tightly linked to the AMH polymorphism on LG23 \[[@CR15]\]. Both agarose gel electrophoresis and a Nanodrop spectrophotometer were used to assess the integrity and concentration of RNA. Poly-T Oligo-attached magnetic beads were used to isolate poly(A) mRNA from total RNA. The first and second strand cDNA were synthesized form the fragmented poly(A) mRNA according to the Illumina sample preparation guide. Sequencing was performed on the HiSeq system. The reads have been deposited in NCBI's Sequence Read Archive (SRA) database with accession number SUB3254083. Gonadal transcriptomes of normal development at 90 and 180 dah were downloaded from SRA database \[[@CR35]\]. Gonadal transcriptomes of 45 dat (days after treatment) and 90 dat were from Fadrozole-treated XX fishes started at 90 dah \[[@CR28]\]. These 90 dah-old XX fish were fed with a diet sprayed with 95% ethanol containing Fadrozole (Sigma) at a concentration of 200 μg/g diet for 45 (45 dat) and 90 days (90 dat).
Gonadal transcriptomes {#Sec5}
----------------------
After trimming adapters and low quality sequence with Trimmomatic \[[@CR36]\], the clean reads were aligned to a tilapia reference genome assembly \[[@CR37]\] using Tophat \[[@CR38]\], allowing up to 2 base mismatches per read. NCBI RefSeq annotations were used to guide the Cufflinks assembly. Cuffdiff and Cuffnorm \[[@CR39]\] were used to determine gene expression. A threshold of FPKM \> 1 in at least one sample was used to filter the extremely low expression gene. Clustering of samples by global gene expression data (transformed to log~2~FPKM) was constructed using the heatmap function of Gplot in R. A false discovery rate (FDR) \< 0.05 and two-fold difference in expression between XX and XY gonads at the same stage were used as thresholds to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs).
Gene co-expression network analysis {#Sec6}
-----------------------------------
To further understand the relationships between genes, a network analysis based on gene-to-gene correlations was performed using WGCNA, an R package \[[@CR32]\]. The automatic one-step network construction and module detection method was used, which include a signed topological overlap matrix (TOM), a softPower of 18, a minimal module size of 30, and a branch merge cut height of 0.19. The module eigengene (the first principal component of a given module) was calculated and used to test the association of modules with "Genotype", "Phenotype", "Developmental stages", and "key genes (*Cyp19a1a*, *Foxl2*, *Dmrt1*, *Gsdf*, *3beta-Hsd*, *Cyp11b2*, and *Amh*)" of 16 samples. A value of 0 was assigned to sex reversal samples, a value of 1 to female samples and a value of − 1 to male samples. Gene significance (GS, the correlation between gene expression and traits), total network connectivity, and module membership (also known as eigengene-based intramodular connectivity), were calculated for all modules. The most relevant connections with key genes (*Cyp19a1a*, *Foxl2*, *Dmrt1*, *Gsdf*, *3beta-Hsd*, *Cyp11b2*, and *Amh*), using a high threshold power and differential expression in at least 4 stages, were kept as the candidate genes.
Data validation by in situ hybridization (ISH) {#Sec7}
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To validate which population of cells in the developing gonads express particular genes, we performed ISH on ovaries and testes from adult tilapia (180 dah) as described previously \[[@CR40]\]. Gonads were dissected and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4, 4% PFA) at 4 °C overnight. After fixation, the tissues were embedded in paraffin and cross sections were cut at 5 μm. Digoxigenin (DIG)-labeled sense and antisense RNA probes were transcribed in vitro from linearized pGEM-T easy plasmids containing-*Borealin*, *Gtsf1*, *Zar1*, *C15orf65* or *Rbp2* cDNA using a RNA labeling kit (Roche).
Results and discussion {#Sec8}
======================
Timeline of gonad development {#Sec9}
-----------------------------
Histological staining can be used to observe morphological differentiation during the development of tilapia gonads \[[@CR41]\]. In this study, we focused on samples beginning at the earliest stage gonads can be dissected (5 dah) through to sexual maturation (180 dah). Histological observations were made of the XX and XY gonads at 5, 20, 30, 40, 90, and 180 dah. Sex determination occurs during the earliest stages of development, when the fate of bi-potential gonadal primordium is directed toward becoming a testis or an ovary. Typically, there is no overt morphological differentiation during the period of sex determination. Between 5 and 20 dah, no morphological differences could be observed in the germ cells of XX and XY gonads (Fig. [1a](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}, [b](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}, [c](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}, and [d](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}). Only a handful of genes show transcriptional differences between male and female gonads at 5 dah. During the period from 5 to 20 dah, the primordial gonad loses its intersexuality and the phenotypic sex is fixed as in other gonochoristic fish \[[@CR42]\]. Sexual differentiation begins between 30 and 40 dah, as demonstrated by the initiation of meiosis with appearance of the oocytes. At this stage, the germ cells in the testis have not initiated meiosis (Fig. [1e](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}, [f](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}, [g](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}, and [h](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}). At 90 dah, spermatogenesis began in testis, while an ovarian cavity was observed in the females (Fig. [1i](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"} and [j](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}). At 180 dah, females develop a mature ovary; in its swollen anterior end, large previtellogenic oocytes are present in a lamellar structure. At the same time, males develop a mature testis characterized by the appearance of germ cell meiosis and numerous spermatozoa in the efferent duct (Fig. [1k](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"} and [l](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}).Fig. 1Histological analysis of characteristic gonadal stages in tilapia ovary (XX) and testsis (XY). Panels indicate gonads sampled from fish at different days after hatch (dah) as follows: **a** and **b** at 5 dah, **c** and **d** at 20 dah, **e** and **f** at 30 dah, **g** and **h** at 40 dah, **i** and **j** at 90 dah, and **k** and **l** at 180 dah. OG, oogonia; SG, spermatogonia; OC, oocytes; CV, ovarian cavity; ST, spermatids; SC, spermatocytes
Gonadal transcriptome sequencing of tilapia gonad {#Sec10}
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To generate a comprehensive profile of the tilapia gonadal transcriptome during sex determination and differentiation, we sampled XX and XY gonads at 5, 20, 30, 40, 90, and 180 dah. Transcriptomes were sequenced to a depth of \~ 90 million reads after trimming, and 78% of these were mapped to the tilapia genome assembly. Of these, 90% reads were mapped to annotated regions and 96.4% of the mapped reads were placed uniquely, indicating the good quality of reads. Overall, 28,586 transcripts were expressed in gonads during at least one of the developmental stages. A threshold FPKM \> 1 in at least one sample was used to define genes as robustly expressed \[[@CR43], [@CR44]\]. In total, 19,188 genes were retained for subsequent analysis. At later stages of development (40 dah, 90 dah, and 180 dah), thousands of genes were differentially expressed between XX and XY gonads. These genes are enriched for functional annotations related to transcription factor binding and nuclear hormone receptor binding.
Global gene expression diverges at 30 dah {#Sec11}
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The gene expression patterns of gonads at 5 (with two replicates), 20, 30, 40, 90, and 180 dah, as well as that of 45 and 90 dat, were hierarchically clustered in a heatmap using the Pearson correlation coefficient as distance measure (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}). Two different groups were clearly identified. One consisted of fishes at earlier stages (Branch I: 5, 20, 30, and 40 dah), and the other consisted fishes at later developmental stages (Branch II: 90, 180 dah). In Branch I, XX and XY gonads are clustered together at both 5 and 20 dah. The first molecular signs of sex differentiation were observed at 5 dah, characterized by increased expression of *Dmrt1* in the testis, and increased expression of *Cyp19a1a* in the ovary, as reported in previous studies \[[@CR35], [@CR42]\]. These genes are an indication of some of the earliest steps in the female and male cascade during gonadal sex determination in tilapia. However, most other genes showed no obvious differences between males and females at 20 dah. Global gene expression of male and female gonads started to differentiate at 30 dah, the period when morphological differentiation of the gonads is first observed. Gonadal samples at later stages consistently clustered into two groups corresponding to the XX and XY genotypes. Gene expression of 45 dat sample grouped with that of XX gonads at 90 and 180 dah, while gene expression of 90 dat sample clustered with that of XY gonads at 90 and 180 dah.Fig. 2Global gene expression profiles in XX and XY gonads from 5 to 180 dah. Two different groups were clearly identified. One consisted of samples at earlier stages (Branch I: 5, 20, 30, and 40 dah), and the other consisted samples at later developmental stages (Branch II: 90, 180 dah). Intersex_45 dat XX and Intersex_90 dat were gonadal samples of 90dah XX fish treated with Fadrozole for 45 and 90 days, respectively \[[@CR29]\]. F, female; M, male
Network analysis and association of sex candidate genes with modules {#Sec12}
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Regulatory networks can be organized into modules of highly interconnected genes, which are implicated in the same biological processes or associated with particular cellular states. Gene co-expression analysis is based on the similarity of gene expression profiles across multiple samples or conditions. In general, adding more datasets obtained from different samples increases the predictive power of this method \[[@CR45]\]. In the present study, we performed a network analysis based on 16 samples using WGCNA, which partitions a gene set into modules defined as branches of the co-expressed gene cluster tree. Our analysis resulted in 23 modules (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}) with sizes ranging from 37 to 7720 genes. For purposes of discussion, each of these modules is assigned a color. Unassigned genes might belong to smaller expression pathways because of the chosen minimal module size of 30 genes. Next, we used ANOVA to test for associations between the WGCNA modules and genotype, phenotype, developmental stages (dah), and the expression of key genes in vertebrate sexual development. Investigation of the relationships between the module eigengenes and traits uncovered correlation coefficients that varied widely from -0.57 to 0.54 with genotype and from − 0.86 to 0.81 with developmental stage. The black and brown modules were significantly associated with the developmental stage, and grouped more than 72% of the genes included in the analysis. This result reflected the dramatic changes in gene expression associated with gonadal morphogenesis. Most of the genes already known to be involved in sex differentiation were assigned to these two large modules, including *Cyp19a1a*, *AmhrII*, *Sox9b*, *Fst*, *Sox3*, *Gata5*, and *Lim1*. Several genes in the hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway, including *Shh*, *Ihh*, and *Ptch2,* were also placed in brown and black modules.Fig. 3Gene expression modules constructed by the WGCNA. **a** the clustering dendrogram of genes expressed in the XX and XY gonads is shown. WGCNA identifies gene modules using the cutreeDynamic function, which detects clusters in a dendrogram depending on their shape \[[@CR32]\]. Original modules of very similar coexpression are merged. Color name-based module labels are generated automatically by WGCNA and are shown along with the number of genes belonging to each module. **b** Association between modules and traits (such as Genotype, Phenotype, Developmental stages, and Key genes) is depicted. Rows correspond to module eigengenes (shown on the left with the colored boxes), columns to a trait (indicated below each column). Each cell contains the *P* value of the trait-module association. Large positive values indicate a strong correlation, while large negative values indicate a strong negative association
Genes within a module are frequently known to be functionally related. For instance, *Piwil1* and *Sox30* from the midnight module are both involved in mRNA binding and regulation of translation \[[@CR46], [@CR47]\]. Similarly, another study has provided evidence to suggest that *Piwil1* was expressed with a proposed regulatory role in striped bass \[[@CR48]\]. The tan module included genes involved in epigenetic regulation throughout gonad development, including histones and methyltransferase. Some homologs, such as *Ara* and *Arb*, *Sox9a* and *Sox9b* are in the same module. However, other homologous genes, *Cyp19a1a* and *Cyp19a1b*, *Sox8a* and *Sox8b* were placed in different modules, suggesting a functional difference of these duplicate genes. The modules steelblue and darkturquoise were associated with canonical genes reported to be important in testis development, including *Amh*, *Cyp11b2*, *Dmrt1*, *Gsdf*, and *3beta-Hsd*. Other genes in these modules, such as *Tex2*, *Er2*, *Fgfr1*, *Ar*, and *Cyp2k1*, were known to be key regulators of testis differentiation. Genes in the pink module were also preferentially expressed in males, especially at the later stages (90 and 180 dah), suggesting their crucial roles in spermatogenesis. For example, null *Klhl10* mice causes haploinsufficiency with meiotic arrest, absence of mature spermatozoa in semen and male infertility \[[@CR49]\]. *Spata6* was essential for the connecting piece formation and tight head--tail conjunction during spermiogenesis in human \[[@CR50]\]. The pink module also includes *Tdrd6* and *Hira*, which are involved in transcription regulation via modification of histones \[[@CR51], [@CR52]\]. Most of the genes in the smallest module sienna3, including gene *Hsp11* and *Svep1,* were overexpressed in the ovaries and significantly associated with *Foxl2*.
Apoptosis associated with the masculinization of the female gonad {#Sec13}
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The effects of Fadrozole (aromatase inhibitor) on gene expression during sex differentiation have been investigated in several teleost species, including zebrafish \[[@CR53]\], rainbowfish \[[@CR54]\], tilapia \[[@CR28]\], and pejerrey \[[@CR55]\]. Regardless of the underlying differences in sex determining mechanism, a shared characteristic of these species is that apoptosis of somatic cells in the gonads plays a key role during testicular differentiation. Degeneration of oocytes, together with the suppression of female pathway genes and activation of male pathway genes, was observed during Fadrozole-induced sex reversal of tilapia \[[@CR28]\]. In the present study, module white had the most significant correlation with the trait of phenotype (*r* = − 0.5). Genes in this module were enriched in functional annotations relevant to PPAR signaling pathwayand oxidoreductase activity. The expression of apoptosis-involved genes precedes the development of testicular structures and degeneration of oocytes in fadrozole-treated fish. These apoptosis-related processes likely play a role in the transdifferentiation of the gonads during sex reversal, as already known from other fishes \[[@CR56], [@CR57]\].
Candidate genes involved in tilapia sex differentiation {#Sec14}
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The top-level genes controlling sex determination vary among vertebrate species, but the downstream genes that control sexual differentiation appear to be relatively conserved \[[@CR30]\]. To identify other candidate genes that might be involved in tilapia sex determination and differentiation, we identified sex-biased genes that also showed strong correlations to key genes (*Cyp19a1a*, *Foxl2*, *Dmrt1*, *Gsdf*, *Amh*, and *3beta-Hsd*) already known to be involved in these processes in other vertebrates (Additional file [1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}). A hierarchically-clustered heatmap of known sexual development genes and candidate genes showing sexually dimorphic expression in at least 4 developmental stages was constructed additionally to display the expression of these genes (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Interestingly, this subset of genes produced a different clustering result compared with that observed in the overall gene cluster. The gene expression patterns of XX gonads at 20, 30, 40, 90, and 180 dah were hierarchically clustered, while gene expression of XY gonads at these stages grouped together. Namely, these genes displayed obviously different sex-specific gene expression profiles as early as 20 dah. However, similar clustering pattern of Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"} was found while we constructed heatmap using all the genes in Additional file [1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}, indicating most genes in this list were involved in tilapia sexual differentiation at later stages. Until now, no example of a sex determining gene is still highly expressed in adult fish. For example, the expression of the sex determiner *Amhy* in Nile tilapia was detected at 5 dah, increased at 20 dah and peaked at approximately 40 dah, and decreased at 90 and 180 dah \[[@CR15]\]. Thus, further study of sex determiners expression covering the development from embryo to adults is needed to explore the gene regulatory network during early sex determination.Fig. 4Heatmap analysis of key genes involved in tilapia sex determination and differentiation. Each row represents a gene listed on the right. Each column stands for a gonadal sample specified in Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}. The expression of genes is color coded from low (green) to high (red). Full gene names are shown in Additional file [1](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}
Knockout of *Foxl2* and *Cyp19a1a* resulted in 100% complete female to male sex reversal \[[@CR58]\], while disruption of *AmhRII* and *Gsdf* resulted in male to female sex reversal with normal ovaries in tilapia \[[@CR15], [@CR59]\]. Besides these previously reported sex-determining genes, some new candidates genes identified in present study possibly play an important role in tilapia sex determination and sexual differentiation. For example, mutations of *Gtsf1* in *Drosophila* caused de-repression of transposons and loss of ovary follicle layers, resulting in female infertility \[[@CR60]\]. *Zar1* displayed ovary-specific expression in mice \[[@CR61]\], and it was up-regulated at XX tilapia gonad. Notably, proteomic analysis of striped bass ovary indicated that *Zar1* was also predominantly detected in early secondary and vitellogenic growth ovary (equivalent to phase I and phase II oocytes in tilapia) and protein expression dramatically decreased during post-vitellogenesis \[[@CR52]\]. A recent study indicated that mutation of *Zar1* in zebrafish resulted in early oocyte apoptosis and fully penetrant male development, while the EE2-treated *Zar1* homozygous mutants were recovered as females \[[@CR62]\].
Other genes were not sexually dimorphically expressed at 5 and 20 dah, but highly expressed at later stages. These genes, including *Pacap*, *Hsp70*, *Lgr6*, *Mphosph6*, *Svep1*, and *Tbxas1*, might act late in gonad differentiation. *Pacap*, also known as *Adcyap1*, is involved in gonadotropin synthesis and release, either alone or in cooperation with GnRH \[[@CR63], [@CR64]\]. The coexpression of *Pacap*, with *Cyp11b2*, *Tbxas1*, *Amh*, *Abcb11*, and *Lgr6* in tilapia testis, indicated its critical role in tilapia endocrine systems. *Hsp70* is associated with gonad development and egg quality in different species \[[@CR64]--[@CR68]\]. In the tilapia gonad, *Hsp70* was highly expressed in testis during gonad differentiation, and co-expressed with *Sox9a*, *Gata4*, and *Lhx6*. Consistently, a previous study indicated that *HSP70* was an interacting partner for SOX9 \[[@CR67]\]. Thus, *Hsp70* is a good candidate for future studies at investigating sex-related regulatory network in tilapia and possibly other fish. The higher expression of *Lgr6* in tilapia testis*,* together with *Lgr4* and *Lgr5*, might encode orphan 7-transmembrane receptors and mediate Wnt/β-catenin and Wnt/PCP signaling in tilapia gonad differentiation, as indicated in mammals \[[@CR69]--[@CR71]\]. *Mphosph6* play a critical role in M-phase characteristics of growing oocytes in mouse \[[@CR72]\]. In this study, *Mphosph6* was highly expressed in tilapia ovaries from 90 to 180 dah, indicating its its role in tilapia oocyte maturation. A previous study showed that both estradiol and TNFα regulated *Svep1* expression \[[@CR73]\], but its function in sexual differentiation has not been reported yet. *Tbxas1*, also called *Cyp5*, was highly expressed in mouse testis and essential for testis development \[[@CR74]\].
Finally, 17 uncharacterized transcripts were found to be differentially expressed in XX and XY gonads at various time points. Interestingly, 9 of these transcripts were identified as ncRNAs (LOC100696883, LOC102076355, LOC102077364, LOC102077676, LOC102078352, LOC102079282, LOC102080335, LOC102081303, LOC102082652). The presence of these ncRNAs may have significant consequences on tilapia sex determination as ncRNA (MHM) regulation of DMRT1 plays a pivotal role in *Gallus gallus* sex determination \[[@CR75]\]. However, their functions and roles during tilapia sexual development need to be further investigated. This again confirmed that sex determination in vertebrates was far from being a linear pathway built from the bottom up; instead different pathways and multilayered feedback loops worked together in a non-hierarchical network to produce a male or female phenotype \[[@CR76]\]. Both in vitro techniques (reporter assays) and in vivo (gene knockout) will be useful to evaluate such interactions and provide greater insight into the functional relationships between genes in this putative network.
Validation of candidate genes by ISH {#Sec15}
------------------------------------
The gonad is a mixture of different cell types. We used ISH to determine the cell types in which several of these new candidate genes, including *Borealin*, *Gtsf1* and *ZarI*, were expressed (Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}). By ISH, *Borealin* was highly expressed in the phase I and II oocytes of the ovary. *Borealin* was moderately expressed in the phase III oocytes, but was not expressed in the phase IV oocytes. No *Borealin* expression was found in the testis. *Gtsf1* was weakly expressed in the oogonia and phase I oocytes, highly expressed in the phase II oocytes, and moderately expressed in the phase III oocytes of the ovary, while no *Gtsf1* expression were detected in the testis. *ZarI*, located on LG23, was highly expressed in the phase I and II oocytes, and weakly expressed in the phase III oocytes in the ovary, and moderately expressed in the spermatocytes in the testis. *Cdn15* and *Rpl* were expressed in XX and XY gonads at later stages, indicating their possible roles in late gonad development (Additional file [2](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}: Figure S1). *Cdn15* was highly expressed in primary spermatocytes and secondary spermatocytes, as well as in the oocytes. *Rpl* was expressed in spermatogonia and efferent duct, and in the phase II oocytes of the ovary. In contrast, no signal was detected in either testis or ovary using the *Borealin*, *Gtsf1*, *ZarI*, *Cdn15* and *Rpl* sense probes. The fact that these novel genes recapitulate the expression patterns of the key sex genes used to identify relevant gene expression modules provides evidence for the biological relevance of these gene modules.Fig. 5Cellular localization of *Borealin*, *Gtsf1* and *ZarI* in tilapia testis and ovary by ISH. *Borealin* was weakly expressed in the oogonia, highly expressed in the phase I and II oocytes of the ovary, but was not expressed in the phase III and IV oocytes (**a**), while no *Borealin* expression was found in the testis (**d**). *Gtsf1* was weakly expressed in the oogonia and phase I oocytes, highly expressed in the phase II oocytes, and moderately expressed in the phase II oocytes of the ovary (**b**), while no *Gtsf1* expression were detected in the testis (**e**). *ZarI* was highly expressed in the phase I and II oocytes, and weakly expressed in the phase III oocytes in the ovary (**c**), and moderately expressed in the spermatocytes in the testis (**f**). OG, oogonia; OC, oocytes; I-IV, phase I to phase IV oocytes; SG, spermatogonia; SC, spermatocytes; Arrowheads indicate the positive signal
Conclusions {#Sec16}
===========
In this study, we chose gonadal transcriptome data of XX and XY fish at 20, 30, 40, 90 and 180 dah, as well as 45 and 90 dat, to investigate the specific events that trigger sex determination and differentiation. We found that transcriptomic profiles of female and male gonads at 5 and 20 dah exhibited high similarities. Gene co-expression analysis constructed interactive networks of highly correlated genes that modulated sexual differentiation in XX and XY gonads. The global gene expression profiles during gonad development will provide early insights into the potential processes and pathways involved in sexual differentiation. We propose the present candidate genes as a starting point for future mathematical modeling and integration of more genes regarding the regulatory network of sex determination and sexual differentiation. The network can be upgraded later in several aspects, for example, incorporating additional nodes and interactions (i.e. details of TFBS), as well as modeling different cell lineages of the gonad such as the Leydig or theca cells. A functional analysis of the identified candidate genes is required to help elucidate their potential significance in gonadal sex determination and differentiation process.
Additional files
================
{#Sec17}
Additional file 1:Candidate genes involved in tilapia sex determination and differentiation. (XLSX 65 kb) Additional file 2:**Figure S1.** Cellular localization of *C15orf65* and *Rbp2* in tilapia testis and ovary by ISH. *C15orf65* was highly expressed in primary spermatocytes and secondary spermatocytes (A), as well as in the oocytes (B). *Rbp2* was expressed in spermatogonia and efferent duct (C), and in the phase II oocytes of the ovary (D). PSC, primary spermatocytes; SSC, secondary spermatocytes; OC, oocytes; I-IV, phase I to phase IV oocytes; SG, spermatogonia; ED, efferent duct; Arrowheads indicate the positive signal. (TIF 40771 kb)
**Electronic supplementary material**
The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-4756-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
We are grateful to Dr. Beide Fu (Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan) and Dr. Yifei Shi (University of Maryland, USA) for data analysis.
Funding {#FPar1}
=======
This work was supported by grants 31502147, 31630082, and 31572609 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China; grant 20130182130003 from the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China; grant cstc2013kjrc-tdjs80003 and cstc2014jcyjA80001 from the Natural Science Foundation Project of Chongqing, Chongqing Science and Technology Commission, grant XDJK2018B025, XDJK2017B007, and XDJK2016A003 from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Ministry of Education of China).
Availability of data and materials {#FPar2}
==================================
The datasets generated during the current study are publicly available at NCBI -- SRA (<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra>) accession: SUB3254083.
This study was designed by DSW, TDK, and WJT and organized by DSW. JLC, JW and LNS managed the experimental fish. JLC, DJT and JY carried out the experiments of RNA extractions and gene expression analysis. WJT and MAC carried out the bioinformatics analyses. WJT, DSW, and TDK wrote the manuscript and all authors critiqued the manuscript for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Ethics approval and consent to participate {#FPar3}
==========================================
All fish experiments were conducted in accordance with the regulations of the Guide for Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the Committee of Laboratory Animal Experimentation at Southwest University.
Competing interests {#FPar4}
===================
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Publisher's Note {#FPar5}
================
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Central |
There are known pipette filling devices which by the creation of vacuum suck liquid from a bottle or any other source into a pipette. Such a device is described for instance in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,866,340 and 3,039,500 in the name of Moshe Goldberg. While these devices have found acclaim in the community of users such as laboratory workers, medical test taking personnel and the like it has been found that certain parts of the device frequently need cleaning, being clogged or stopped by sediments. It has also been found that the personnel in question is either reluctant to or unable to attend to the cleaning and the rule has been that the device as a whole is discarded. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | USPTO Backgrounds |
Friday, August 11, 2017
The true gift of poetry as an art form is its deft use of
air. Of space. Of pauses and gaps into which the reader can pour him- or
herself.
Blue takes these
strengths of poetry and puts them to maximum use. With its glossy pages, blue
and black ink, illustrations, and numerous typefaces, Blue looks like and reads with the speed of a children’s picture
book, but don’t mistake the design for simplicity—Blue invites and rewards multiple readings, each with its own
approach.
For instance, the first time I read the book, I took it in
as a single poem, telling only one story. The second time, I used a panel with
a quote by e.e. cummings as a dividing line between two acts—one that takes as
its central character love of a human and the second love of God.
The third time I focused on each passage as delineated by
its typeface. This third approach is like reading a book of Asian poetry or
koans. Each passage is its own rich moment, an invitation to meditate upon its
many meanings.
Although St. Jo and Grefalda are the co-authors (with St. Jo
contributing the abundant and engaging illustrations), there is no delineation
as to which passages were written by which poet. This adds to the overall
mystery and allure of Blue. In truth,
there are not just two voices, but many.
For the purpose of this review, I am going to say that the
book is divided into two stories, Man and God. But this is my own
interpretation—they are not labeled as such, nor does the e.e. cummings quote
absolutely guarantee a division. In Man, the authors engage the trope of the
world traveler, using Phileas Fogg and Passepartout in allusion, illustration,
and in the latter’s case, by name. They also play on “Eyes of Blue,” which
calls to mind the classic “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue.” The authors’ use of
“lose you to a song” in blue ink appears to reinforce this notion. The Man
seems to be off in search of something, which the author(s) hope(s) will either
bring him back, or that they will travel the world together “in Denim Blue.”
The e.e. cumming’s poem signals a switch to God: “I thank
you God for most this amazing day … and a blue dream of sky…”
There is a subtle shift in tone (though the blue is still
blue, as it were) in the section I call God. There are italicized passages that
sound biblical, looming large and philosophical. Passages like: “You are/ Beloved,/He said./Perfect/As you
are, He said.” While the author replies, “Sleep/Overtakes/Me,/I said./Rest/Frightens me,/I said.”
God does not give up, until the author says, after continued
resistance, “So as/You will it, God”
And in the final pages we come back to song (“damn you
song”) and I wondered as I read and meditated, is it the same song from the
start? But it is not: “i whistle out of tune/some nonsense i composed/with you
in my heart” [note the small i, only appearing on the final page].
Read Blue as you
choose. Perhaps the suggestions in this review will spark a path, but it’s best
to ponder its images, meditate on its typefaces, and choose your own way through
the blue. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Thomas Bulkowski’s successful investment activities allowed him to retire at age 36. He is an internationally known author and trader with 30+ years of stock market experience and widely regarded as a leading expert on chart patterns. He may be reached at
Support this site! Clicking the links (below) takes you to
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This is a story about a kid moving to a new school system and finding that the prettiest girl in school is bullied. What does he do about it? He gets beaten up, of course...
Written: November 2011, revised February 2012
Estimated reading time: 20 minutes
I Had A Secret
Mary Duck was the prettiest pretty girl in school, and her locker was next to mine. Love at first sight. Again. Just one problem: Butch Shackleford, but I had a secret.
Butch started harassing Mary well before I arrived at the school district midway through my junior year. I just didn't want to get sucked into another love war.
Not like last time. Innocent people like me get bloodied and have to change schools. I learned my lesson.
"What do you say, Duck?" Butch pressed his hand on her shoulder and tried to take possession of something he didn't own. "Want to paddle down to the lake? Duck and paddle.
Get it?"
She stared first at his fingers then at him. "Move them or lose them." She squirmed under the increasing pressure of his grip and then tried to bite his fingers. She missed.
"Feisty! I like that in my women."
"Leave me alone."
"After Saturday's game, we can grab some brews, head over to Lover's Lane and -"
"With you?" She slammed the locker door and spun around. She raised up on her toes, and then looked him in the eye. "Never. Let me spell it out for you. N-E-V-E-R!"
She poked his chest.
Then she yelped and brushed something off her sweater. "Can't you keep your fleas to yourself?"
"I love cats. We have thirty of them."
"Then wear a flea collar." She shoved him away.
Butch scratched his head, and I wondered about the fleas. Maybe it was something else. Cooties?
"What are you looking at, Pinhead?"
Part of me wanted to give him the finger, and the other part wanted to survive another day. I turned and buried my head in the locker like an ostrich with a smile.
No way was I getting involved in this war.
She turned to me and her hand touched my shoulder to get my attention. "He's not toilet trained."
Our eyes met in a greeting that made my heart flutter. My nostrils flared with the taste of her perfume, my face felt the heat from a thousand suns, and I smiled because she was blushing, too. I felt sick. Love sick, and knew that she felt the same way.
She was the first to recover. "Unless he flunks again, this is his last year." She showed me crossed fingers. "Is he still there?"
I nodded.
"Hug me."
"What?"
She placed her hands on either side of my face, puckered up, and kissed me.
I swung my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. It felt like hugging a pillow with sexy curves.
A girl once taught me not to reach her tonsils, so I let my tongue flit in an out of her mouth, twice, in shallow dips.
Her lips smiled.
She had a surprise for me, too, and slid her leg between mine, rubbing up and down. This was getting interesting.
An hour seemed to pass before we released each other.
Wow. I mean, WOW. Sensational.
She backed away, slowly, one hand covering her mouth as if to say I've never been kissed like that before.
Me, too.
She backed into someone walking down the hall, but that didn't break our connection. We just maintained eye contact and tried to understand what we felt not as two individuals, but as one couple.
Then she did something that reminded me of two lovers parting at the airport, where one turns to catch a last glimpse of the other. Mary flicked her wrist at hip level, a small wave, but an intimate gesture that told me all I needed to know. I winked and smiled from ear to ear.
Another student rammed her and shifted her gaze to Butch. She spun around and patted her butt in a kiss-my-ass gesture, and then walked off.
Butch stood with clenched teeth and two bowling balls that were fists. The vein throbbing on his forehead looked primed to explode if his temper didn't ignite it first.
He moved to stand beside me. "You're dead."
"What did I do?"
He pushed me into the locker like a Doberman marking his territory and trotted off.
This can't be good, I thought and watched him run after Mary.
Seconds later, he stuck out his foot.
She went down, hard. Her books splattered the floor like a spit wad hitting a window, and her blouse licked tiles covered by a thousand footprints.
He kicked one of her books farther down the hallway. "Still learning how to waddle, Duck?" He cackled and held up one finger to scratch his back, but those who saw it knew what it meant. He continued down the hall.
No one stopped to help her.
No one.
By the time I reached her, she had risen to her knees and brushed off the dirt. Her pleated skirt formed a circle around her like an island surrounded by students that hated her.
"Are you all right?" I bent down to corral her books and looked at her. The front of her cheerleader's uniform wasn't as white as it used to be. I looked at her puppy-dog eyes, so big and brown that they skewered my heart with sadness.
"I tried everything to get him to stop bothering me." Tears gathered, ready to overflow their banks. One did. Others followed. She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders heaved up and down.
I wanted to return a smile to those eyes, so I abandoned my shyness, pulled her up, and let her tears melt into my sweater. At that moment, I realized that Mary Duck was more than a girl with a locker next to mine, more than a saucy cheerleader, and more than the bullied woman of my dreams.
She was my friend.
"I was trying to make him jealous," she said. "I want you to know that."
"I know, but wouldn't that make him angry?"
She was quiet for a moment and then nodded. "I tried everything else. Know any hit men?" She looked at me with watery eyes.
"No," but her guess was close. I had a secret.
"You sure can kiss."
I puffed out my chest in a display of manly bravado. "I eat right, get plenty of exercise, and every night I practice with my pillow. They want me for the Olympics."
Her smile returned. She hugged me and rested her head on my shoulder. In a quiet voice, she whispered, "Thank you." Then she licked my neck, bit down, and started sucking.
Before I knew what was happening, she had already branded me with a hickey.
"Butch is going to come after you," she said.
"I know. But I can take care of myself. I'm not worried." I'm terrified.
"Good, because you belong to me." She looked into my eyes. "My protector." She hugged me tighter and sighed.
My protector: those two words were the same ones that got me kicked out of the last school. How did this happen without me seeing it coming? Love isn't just blind; it's dumb, too.
Then I thought of Butch.
Students flowed around us as if we were radioactive, some giving us a wide berth and others pretending that we didn't exist. I couldn't understand why until I saw one of Butch's friends race up the hall. He spoke a few words to Butch and then jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
Both turned.
They didn't look at Mary.
They looked at me.
Uh-oh.
# # #
A week later, I looked down the hall and my pace slowed. Needles stabbed my back, and the hair stood upon my arms. My nerves tingled as if on high alert. I wiped the sweat from my brow with a hand that twitched. This is playing out just like last time, I thought. Get ready.
Was I that afraid of Butch, or was it just the idea of confrontation that made me want to hide under the covers like a five year old? Post traumatic stress disorder,
I thought. I had the adult version as a going away present from the last school.
Butch stood outside the lunchroom entrance.
I mumbled some obscenity, and my stomach growled. Despite wanting a long life, I pressed on more to prove that I had the courage to continue than to satisfy my hunger.
I can do this. I'm not afraid to die. I'm not afraid to die.
Then I thought of Mary. Sweet Mary. My dream girl. Was I willing to protect her, to die for her?
Doubts crept into my brain. Am I being played?
When I turned to go in, Butch's arm shot across the doorway so fast that I jerked back and rammed into the guy behind me. Butch's fist missed my nose by inches.
He drew close enough that I could smell garlic breath and body odor. "Mary said she loves me. Stay away from her."
He dropped his arm and disappeared.
# # #
I stood there, too stunned to move. Then I got angry. At Mary. I felt betrayed and as needed as a used tissue. But what about the kiss and the hip wave? I was confused.
The guy behind me nudged my shoulder. I was holding up the lunch line, and decided to sort it out later.
Today was Tuesday, soup day. I prefer tomato, so I grabbed a bowl and headed to my usual table out in no-man's land, the table that even computer dweebs shunned, but where exiles new to the school sat. I staked out a corner and felt like a leper.
With a spoonful midway to my mouth, I saw Mary scanning the room, searching, holding her tray. She was dressed in one of those provocative miniskirt numbers, the ones that turn even women's heads. Fetching.
Her eyes met mine, and she smiled. The soup balancing on my spoon became a cliff diver and splashed back into the bowl, squirting red dots onto my shirt. I felt like an idiot. The student body had every right to exile me to the newbie table.
"Can I join you?"
I swallowed what little remained on my spoon, giving me time to think. How can I be angry at a girl with dimples on her cheeks and lashes that made her eyes sparkle? And that kiss. Wow.
"I can leave -"
"No!" I said and stood up, bumping my tray and spilling the soup. "Please." I pointed to the chair in front of her. Instead, she rounded the table and sat beside me, letting her body rub against mine as she sat.
My heart skipped a beat. My armpits grew moist. My smile told the world that I was too happy to survive.
"Look." She pointed. "We both like tomato."
I used my pile of emergency napkins to blot the soup forming a lake on my tray, but my mind cranked away, thinking that something wasn't right. Cheerleaders only date jocks, not shy guys like me. And what did Butch say? Mary loved him. I thought about that for a moment, and then it all fit. She admitted that she wanted to make him jealous. Why? Because she loved him, maybe on the surface or maybe deeper than the earth's core, but she loved him.
My smile disappeared.
Mary sat watching me. "Are you mad at me?"
"No."
"You're mad at me. Why?"
I concentrated on counting the crackers swimming in my soup.
"Tell me." She squeezed my thigh.
My knee slammed into the underside of the table, right into a fresh wad of gum. "Ooouuuccchhh!" I said and my eyes watered. I massaged my kneecap and wondered if I might need a new one.
She giggled, but continued looking at me, waiting for an answer.
I blushed under the stare of those deep brown eyes that I longed to explore.
"Why are you mad at me? Tell me. Don't make me hurt you."
She smiled. I melted. "Because Butch said that you said that you loved him."
"What?"
"Butch said you loved him."
She laughed. "Why didn't you say so?" She tilted her head down, and peered up at me through strands of brown in a way that was too sexy for Playboy. "He tells everyone that."
I didn't buy it.
"Look at me," she said.
I watched a cracker drown and thought it was lucky.
She reached over and touched my chin. "Look at me."
I reluctantly met her eyes.
"I've had my eye on you from day one. How long has it been? Two weeks, three since you arrived?"
I shrugged, but it had been three weeks, two days and 47, no, 48 minutes since I first saw her.
"Every girl falls in love with the new kid in school, but," she reached over and cupped my hand, "but this is different. Didn't you feel it when we kissed?"
I nodded. My tongue was still numb from the electricity that passed between us.
"I asked one of the seven dweebs to break into your records to check your grades. You're ranked near the top of the class, but you don't brag about it. And you're cute, too." She pinched my cheek.
I smiled.
"Intelligence is sexy. But there's something else. It's here." She touched my chest. "You're not only a nice guy, but you have a heart, too. I love that."
Aw, shucks.
"And you're my protector."
Oh, shit.
"Besides, what girl could love a guy with fleas?"
"Oops," boomed a voice behind us, a voice I recognized, a voice I feared. Butch pushed my shoulders forward and then spilled soup over me, but made it look like an accident. He dropped the bowl and ran from the cafeteria before any of the teachers knew there was a problem.
I looked at Mary, saw how I felt mirrored on her face, and then glanced down. A flea was surfing on a cracker in my soup. Yuck. "Excuse me." I stood up.
Silence filled the cafeteria. Fellow students looked; some moved their chairs for a better view. Then one person chuckled and another and soon, the entire room exploded with laughter.
Now I understood how Mary Duck felt hearing quacking sounds behind her, how she felt mopping tile with her clothes. Each day was another opportunity for Butch to humiliate the prettiest girl in school.
"Welcome to my world," she said and grabbed my hand.
She towed me to the gym, to the boy's locker room, and waited outside while I showered. I loved her for that.
She held my hand and talked to me, combed her fingers through my hair, and kissed me, seven times. Wow. That's a personal best, maybe a world record. Her words restored my confidence, and her touch ignited a desire to protect her. She helped prepare me for what was to come.
I told her what happened at the last school, about the broken bones, the stitches, and how it turned me into a jellyfish, a wuss, a PTSD coward too afraid to sleep with the lights off.
"You, too?" She smiled and flashed perfectly aligned teeth with the exception of the front two. They had a gap like David Letterman's, only hers was cute. I hadn't noticed that before, and longed to spend the rest of my life learning about the rest of her.
She told me her story, how everyone hated her because she was smart and pretty, how it had taken an extra year before they inducted her into the Honor Society. The harassment got worse when she became a cheerleader, but she was determined to succeed.
Then she averted her eyes and said in a quiet voice, "Guys like Butch were worse."
That's when she clammed up. That's when tears formed. That's when we hugged. And then we shared everything.
She became more than my friend.
She made me feel as if I had a chance against Butch, a football jock taller, wider, and heavier than I was. With fleas.
But I had a secret.
# # #
On Friday, Butch clamped his fist around my neck, yanked me inside the bathroom, and used the rubber wedge that once held the door open to pin it shut.
This was it. Time to stop the humiliation. Time to prove how much I loved Mary. Time to die.
He scratched his head.
"Fleas?"
He punched my nose, twice, one hard jab to get the blood flowing, and the second to do serious damage. I should have expected it. I should have protected myself. What happened to my secret weapon, the one I always carry with me?
My head snapped back, and I stumbled toward the sink.
The surgeon who repaired my nose the last time warned me that a hard hit might shove splinters into my brain. I felt dizzy, turned, and leaned against the sink for support. My eyes watered. My vision blurred. Blood streamed down my chin and drew circles on the white porcelain below. A blinding headache pushed aside my need to throw up.
Butch kicked the back of my knees, but I was going to collapse anyway. I tumbled over backward, head bouncing off the tile, reminding me of the concussion that put me in the hospital once already.
"Get up."
He kicked my left kidney.
"Get up."
Another kick. Another kidney. Pointed shoes: He knew right where to aim.
"Get up."
He reached down and stood me up.
I blinked away tears and squinted, eyes tried to focus, tried to merge two shapes into one. Instead of seeing Butch, I saw Mary - crying - with Butch's hands where they had no place to be. She told me about that, about what the guys did to her.
I got angry. I learned in karate class to change anger into agility and pain into energy.
Five minutes later, I walked out of the bathroom, a red paper towel held under my nose.
Butch was carried out.
The End
If you liked this story, please vote for it by clicking
Thanks!
-- Thomas Bulkowski
See Also
Green Soap. Reading time: 1 minute. This story is about getting a kid to wash his hands.
Red Truck. Reading time: 1 minute. This story is about what happens to a kid's toy truck.
Soul Ambulance. Reading time: 5 minutes. This is a Christmas story about something that happens at the airport.
Twenty at a Time. Reading time: 5 minutes. A CEO steals money and has to repay it in an unusual way. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
1.0 Introduction {#Section1.0}
================
Ruminating animals feed on plant biomass for their complete nutrition. However, they do not secrete any cellulolytic or hemicellulolytic enzymes to breakdown the plant cell wall polysaccharides [@B1], [@B2]. Thus, ruminating animals are solely dependent on the rumen microbiota to enzymatically breakdown and ferment plant biomass for food and energy. Ruminating animals have a four-chambered stomach containing the following sections: (a) reticulum, (b) rumen, (c) omasum and (d) abomasum [@B1]-[@B3]. The reticulum and rumen are together considered as stomach of the ruminating animals and most part of the digestion occurs in the stomach [@B1]-[@B3]. The reticulum also called as blind pouch is the largest and first compartment of the ruminating animals\' gut. The reticulum can hold up to 2.5 gallons of digested or undigested feed. It acts as a sieve when ruminating animals consumes indigestible materials like metal, plastic, etc. The honeycomb structure of the stomach wall stops their movement further into the digestive tract. The most significant feature of ruminating animals is their ability to regurgitate the feed, and this function happens to the feed which enters the reticulum [@B1]-[@B4].
The rumen is a hollow muscular organ of the gut, which grows large anatomically with the changing diet of a calf from milk to grass. Also, the microbial diversity of the rumen grows with the changing diets of a developing calf. In a fully grown ruminating animal, the rumen occupies the complete left section of the gut chamber [@B5], [@B6]. It is solely a fermentation chamber and it can contain up to 40-60 gallons of undigested food. Studies have proposed that a table spoon of ruminal fluid can contain 150 billion microorganisms including various species of bacteria, fungi, protozoa [@B3], [@B6], [@B7]. The rumen is well-suited for maintaining the growth of bacteria because it is an oxygen free environment with a pH between 5.8 to 6.4 and a temperature ranging between 100^o^F (37^o^C) to 108^o^F (42^o^C). A normal diet including portion of grains and forages should exhibit the above-mentioned pH range, which supports the growth of several bacterial strains in the rumen microbiota [@B5], [@B6], [@B8].
The omasum, also called many plies due to its multi-layered muscular tissue, holds up to 4 gallons of the digesta [@B9]. This chamber removes the excess water from the digesta and reduces its particles size before it enters the abomasum [@B10]-[@B12]. The abomasum is the fourth and final true glandular compartment of the gut and it is considered as the true stomach of the ruminating animals\' gut as it secretes several digesting enzymes [@B5], [@B6], [@B13], [@B14]. It can contain up to 5 gallons of feed material, but the digesta remains for a lesser period in the abomasum when compared to that of rumen. The presence of food in the abomasum stimulates the production of hydrochloric acid and this converts pepsinogen to pepsin, which converts proteins to shorter peptides and aminoacids for the digestion and absorption into the small intestine [@B13], [@B15]. The pH of the stomach is maintained between 2 to 4 because of the secretion of strong acids. The digested food and released nutrients pass from the abomasum to the small intestine and, as a result, the pH rises at a slow rate. This physiological rise in pH has its implications on the pancreas and intestinal mucosa as the enzymes released by it are only active at neutral or slight alkaline pH (Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}) [@B1], [@B5], [@B6], [@B11], [@B16].
The bile salts produced in the liver helps maintaining the alkaline pH of the small intestine [@B17], [@B18]. These bile salts separate the fat globules and provide the lipase enzymes more surface area to act on. The bile and pancreatic secretions maintain the neutral pH of the gastric juice, providing the optimum conditions for enzymes to hydrolyze starch, proteins and lipids. The small intestine is the major absorption site for the nutrients obtained from the metabolism [@B19]. When ruminants are fed with high forage diets, most of the starch and soluble sugars are fermented by the microbial community of the rumen. However, when ruminants are fed with higher amounts of grain diets, about 50 percent of the dietary starch escape from the rumen to the lower gastrointestinal tract where it is digested. Thus, substantial amounts of glucose and other monosaccharides are absorbed by the small intestine [@B19], [@B20]. The proteins absorbed by the small intestine are derived from three sources, which can be classified as (a) dietary proteins (escaped from the microbial fermentation in the rumen), (b) microbial proteins present in the cells and (c) endogenous proteins (sloughed cells and secretions of abomasum and intestine). These proteins are further digested to small peptides and aminoacids by the pancreatic and intestinal proteases, which are absorbed by the small intestine as well [@B21]. The lipids reaching the small intestine are majorly esterified fatty acids and phospholipids. Pancreatic lipases readily hydrolyze the esterified fatty acids produced by microbes and triglycerides escaped from the ruminal microorganisms. Thus, the released free fatty acids are easily absorbed by the mucosal cells of the small intestine [@B5], [@B16], [@B17], [@B19] (Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}).
The feed that escapes from the above-mentioned digestion process enters the large intestine, where water, minerals, nitrogen and volatile fatty acids are absorbed [@B16]. The major functions of the large intestine include (a) balancing electrolytes, (b) perform microbial fermentation and (c) provide a temporary storage of excreta. Any undigested feed obtained from the gastrointestinal tract will be passed out in the feces. Usually the fecal matter contains undigested feed, metabolic nitrogen, undigested fat and some microorganisms [@B5].
1.1 Rumination {#Section1.1}
==============
Rumination significantly supports the process of digestion. The processes involved during rumination are (a) the regurgitation of food and (b) the rechewing, re-salivation and re-swallowing of the ingested food material [@B8], [@B10], [@B22]. The rumination process reduces the particle size of the ingested food, which significantly enhances microbial fermentation and aids in easy passage by the stomach compartments. Rechewing or ruminating strongly induces the process of salivation. A mature ruminant produces 47.5 gallons of saliva per day if it chews the feed for 6 to 8 hours [@B1], [@B23]-[@B25]. Thus, secretion of saliva is directly proportional to the amount of time a cow spends in chewing or ruminating the bolus or cud. The saliva of ruminating animals highly comprises of sodium (126 mEq/L), phosphate (26 mEq/L), bicarbonate (126 mEq/L) and lesser amounts of potassium (6 mEq/L) and chloride (7 mEq/L) ions which act as buffering agents in the digestive system [@B1], [@B24], [@B26]. It aids in the maintenance of the neutral environment by neutralizing the acids released during fermentation. The type of feed ingested also plays a crucial role in the stimulation of salivation. Dried feeds such as hay and grass stimulate higher rates of salivation and other feeds such as silage, fresh grass and pelleted materials result in lesser stimulation of saliva. It was also reported that rate of saliva production is significantly reduced if the ruminants are not fed with adequate amounts of effective fiber and high moisture containing feeds [@B8], [@B10], [@B22].
1.2 Functional Physiology of Rumen {#Section1.2}
==================================
The rumen is a muscular organ which performs the mixing and churning of the digesta [@B1]. The rumen constantly stirs the digesta to enhance the accessibility of coarser feed particles during the process of regurgitation and bolus chewing, thus reducing the particle size of feed and enhancing its fermentation [@B27]. Smaller feed particles digested by the rumen are collected at the bottom and eventually pass out of the rumen along with the microbial strains to aid digestion in the lower gastrointestinal tract [@B5], [@B28]. The composition of the ruminal contents is completely dependent on the type of food materials that are ingested. Generally, ruminants consume different types of food. Thus, contents of the rumen are not uniform among ruminants. Since the rumen is a fermentation chamber, gases such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, methane and carbon dioxide are produced during microbial fermentation [@B1]. The descending order of gases released in the rumen are carbon dioxide (65.5%), methane (26.8%), nitrogen (7.0%), oxygen (0.5%) and hydrogen (0.2%) [@B1], [@B29]. The released gases get accumulated in the upper part of the rumen with higher percentages of carbon dioxide and methane.
The composition of these gases is again dependent on the ecology and fermentation rates of the rumen; usually, the proportion of carbon dioxide is 2-3 times higher than that of methane [@B7], [@B28]. However, a large proportion of carbon dioxide is in turn reduced to methane. On average, about 132 to 264 gallons of these gases are produced by the process of fermentation, which are belched frequently by the ruminants to avoid bloating [@B5]. Rumen mucosal linings consists of ruminal papillae (organs for absorption) and their size and distribution are directly related to the type of food material they ingest. The diet of ruminating animals varies significantly from high forage diet to a high grain diet. Changes in diet must be implemented gradually to permit the adaptation of papillae to changes in nutrition, which may take approximately 2 to 3 weeks [@B30]. The ruminal papillae are also related to the production acids from the fermentation of feeds. Thus, the size, number and distribution of the ruminal papillae depends on the diet and acids released during fermentation [@B31].
1.3 Microbiology of Rumen {#Section1.3}
=========================
Ruminating animals are very rich in microorganisms. Studies have reported that a milliliter of rumen contains approximately 10^5^ to 10^6^ protozoans and about 10^10^ to 10^11^ of bacterial inhabitants [@B1]-[@B3], [@B7]. The protozoans inhabiting ruminal fluids can be majorly divided into two ciliate groups: (a) holotrichs and (b) entodinimorphs [@B32]. The bacterial population present in ruminal fluids are classified into cocci, rods and spirilla based on their size and shape [@B16], [@B25]. The ruminal bacteria can also be classified based on their substrate fermenting abilities into eight different groups that are able to consume cellulose, hemicelluloses, starch, simple sugars, pectin, proteins, lipids and intermediate acids. The ruminal bacteria are also majorly known for their ability to produce methane [@B1], [@B32], [@B33]. Most of the ruminal bacteria are capable of degrading and fermenting multiple substrates. Compared to other ruminal microorganisms, methane producing bacteria are the most important and special bacteria that regulate the process of fermentation and its products in the rumen [@B34]. Methanogens aid in removing hydrogen gas by forming methane and reducing carbon dioxide, thus maintaining the lower concentrations of hydrogen in the rumen and supporting the growth and development of several other bacterial strains [@B33], [@B35].
Apart from bacteria, protozoa are highly observed in the ruminal fluid when the ruminants are fed with higher digestibility feed [@B33], [@B35]. Thus, different diets of the ruminants encourage the growth of different protozoan populations. Diets richer in starch and soluble sugars promote higher growth rates of different protozoan populations. Protozoans are important in neutralizing the rumen environment by stabilizing the end products of fermentation [@B36]. Recent studies have reported on the occurrence of anaerobic fungi in the ruminal fluids of ruminants. Especially, the fungal divisions Chytridiomycota and Neocallimastigomycota were found to contain anaerobic fungi which are also majorly observed in the rumens of the ruminating animals [@B36], [@B37]. Studies have reported that anaerobic fungi contribute up to 8% of the microbial mass in the rumen. The anaerobic fungi were proposed to play a significant role in degradation of plant biomass containing cellulose and xylans. However, further studies are still needed to demonstrate the role of anaerobic fungi in the rumen metabolism [@B36], [@B38]-[@B40].
Physiologically, the rumen comprises three connecting environments, one liquid (free living microorganisms in the rumen liquid breakdown and feed on carbohydrates and protein) and another solid (microorganisms attached to the ingested food particles and to the rumen epithelium or protozoa) [@B1], [@B5]. Liquid and solid phase microorganisms constitute up to 70% of the rumen microbiota and up to 5% of microorganisms associated with the rumen epithelium [@B41]. To maintain their population, it is important for the bacteria to have a reproduction time shorter than the turnover of the rumen digesta. However, bacteria with slower reproduction rates tend to attach to the particulate matter and start degrading it, without being flushed out of the body in the liquid stream [@B1], [@B33]. Majorly, two factors strongly influence the bacterial population in the rumen: (a) the type of food material they ingest and (b) the rumen pH [@B3], [@B22]. It is highly important to consider the reproduction rates of microorganisms when shifting the diet of ruminants, as changing diet also requires a change in shift of microbial population in the rumen. Microbial shift of the rumen is a time taking process and it requires several days. For instance, when ruminants are fed with simple carbohydrates (easily fermentable), such feeding habit encourages the growth of bacteria with lactate utilizing and producing abilities; hence, acid-sensitive lactate utilizing bacteria are gradually replaced by acid-tolerant lactate utilizing bacteria [@B25], [@B29], [@B33], [@B42].
It is highly necessary to maintain ideal pH conditions for sustaining the microbiota of the rumen. Majorly, bacteria can be classified on the basis of their activity in the rumen as fiber digestors (active at pH 6.2 to 6.8) and starch digestors (active at pH 5.2 to 6.0) [@B16]. Studies have also reported that the population of cellulolytic and methanogenic bacteria drops if the rumen pH drops below 6.0 and few species of protozoa were also found to drop if the rumen pH is under 5.5. Several studies have reported on the major bacterial strains involved in the metabolism of plant biomass components in ruminating animals (Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}).
2.0 Metadata Analysis (or) Systematic Review Based Methods {#Section2.0}
==========================================================
The metadata analysis and systematic review are two statistical approaches for re-analyzing the data by combining the information from various datasets and identifying the common effect behind the effect size or treatment effect respectively. Metadata analysis (or) systematic review is mainly used for understanding and identifying the reason responsible for the variations in the effect size between one study to another study respectively. The valuable information reported in previous literature, and the resourceful supplementary information are major sources for the systematic reviews and metadata analysis approaches. There are various advantages of metadata analysis approaches such as: a) It plays a significantly role in designing and executing new studies, b) metadata analysis helps in identifying the questions which are already reported, and it can help the studies to focus on the answered questions of the research. In our present study, we have conducted an extensive systematic review reporting all the previously reported literature related to the "rumen" and "rumen microbiota", which can be further used by the data scientists and researchers to identify the microorganisms supporting the metabolism of lignocellulosic plant biomass in cattle.
2.1 Literature Related to Rumen {#Section2.1}
===============================
Understanding the structural and functional physiology of the rumen and its diverse microbiota are subject of study since several years. Understanding the characteristic features of rumen has various potential benefits such as (a) increase the rate of breakdown of ingested feed, (b) increase the rate of absorption of nutrients and minerals by ruminants and (c) diversify the countless commercial applications of rumen microbiota in the food, pharmaceutical, textile, biofuel and bioremediation industries. The NCBI database is an online public repository for biological and life science data. The NCBI database resides and classifies the data among 37 NCBI databases (Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). The search with the term "Rumen" has resulted in the data distributed among the 27 databases respectively, with zero records from the NCBI Genetics database.
Several research communities around the world have contributed significantly to the current knowledge on the structural and functional physiology of the rumen. We have retrieved and reported the total number of 821,870 recorded datasets on "rumen" till date, classified among different NCBI databases. The 821,870 articles of NCBI can be classified under sections of literature-25,701, genome-4,97,446, genes-60,950, proteins-2,37,722 and chemicals-51 of the reported articles among these databases respectively. Till date in NCBI literature section there are 25,701 reported articles which includes 124 books, 15,449 Pubmed articles, 10,038 Pubmed central articles, 3 Pubmed health, 1 medical subject headings, 1 online mendelian inheritance in man and 35 national library of medicine articles respectively (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}A).
2.2 Metagenomic, Genomic, Proteomic Studies on Rumen and Its Microbiota {#Section2.2}
=======================================================================
In the past, numerous studies were conducted to understand the microbial diversity of the rumen and its fermenting abilities by employing conventional isolation techniques and biochemical characterization methods [@B32], [@B43]-[@B46]. These microorganisms were characterized majorly by their fiber digestion and protein assimilation abilities [@B32]. Using these targeted screening approaches, several rumen microorganisms were reported in the past, including bacterial, fungal and protozoan species [@B44], [@B47]. Over time, the conventional standard phylogenetic analysis based on 16s RNA [@B47]-[@B50] and 18s RNA [@B50]-[@B52] functional gene classification methods were applied. However, these techniques are very limited, and they only provide the functional relatedness of the targeted species to the already defined and studied phenotypes. Development of advanced molecular techniques especially high throughput sequencing has replaced these conventional methods with the whole genome and metagenome sequencing methods [@B53]-[@B63]. Recent developments in the field of genome sequencing revealed important facts about living organisms and the molecular mechanisms underlying the cellular processes [@B64]-[@B66]. In the last few years, whole genome sequences of several commercially important bacterial and fungal species have been revealed. In 2013, the first whole genome sequence of rumen bacteria *Wolinella succinogens* was revealed and after that several other rumen bacterial and fungal genomes have been released [@B67].
More recently, several studies have been conducted to understand and reveal the complete genomic sequences of various rumen microorganisms. Simultaneously, public data repositories such as DOE-Joint Genome Institute (<https://jgi.doe.gov/>) [@B68], [@B69] and Hungate 1000 (aimed to sequence 1000 rumen microbial strains including rumen bacteria, methanogenic bacteria, fungi, archaea and ciliate protozoans - <http://www.rmgnetwork.org/hungate1000.html>) were made available [@B70]. The Hungate research project has 410 whole genome sequences of microorganisms present in the rumen of cattle. This project involves 60 laboratories from 14 research organizations situated across 9 countries. The collection of whole genome sequence information of these 410 rumen microorganisms can be retrieved from the DOE-Joint genome institute portal <https://genome.jgi.doe.gov/portal/HungateCollection/HungateCollection.info.html> [@B70].
Currently, the NCBI-Assembly harbors 889 whole genome sequences or clone-based assembly sequences of rumen microorganisms and rumen metagenome, respectively. We have retrieved all the summary data from the NCBI-Assembly and separated the data based on the organism, submitter and assembly level. Out of these, 859 are bacterial genomes and 29 are archaeal genomes. Based on the assembly level these sequenced genomes can be separated into 591 scaffold level and 298 contig level. Most number of genomes were submitted by the Roslin Institute (886 genomes), 2 genomes came from the University of Vienna and 1 genome from the DOE-Joint Genome Institute (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}B). The 859 sequenced rumen bacterial genomes can be majorly separated into 439 firmicutes, 323 CFB (Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides) group bacteria, 17 high GC gram positive and 14 actinobacteria (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}C). Among the 889 sequenced rumen microorganisms only 9 bacterial strains are cultured and 879 were uncultured strains. Interestingly, among the 879 uncultured strains, 434 were firmicutes (276 *Clostridiales*, 74 *Lachnospiraceae*, 28 *Erysipelotrichaceae*, 15 *Selenomonadales*, and 10 *Ruminococcus*) and 323 were CFB group bacteria (135 *Prevotellaceae*, 121 *Bacteroidales* and 67 *Prevotella*).
Recent next generation sequencing methods especially large-scale metagenome sequencing techniques has enabled the identification of microbial communities inhabiting the complex environments such as rumen (Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}C, Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). However, the metagenome sequencing techniques skips various traditional identification methods such as isolation, culturing and characterization of microorganisms. Thus, majority of the bacterial strains reported from the NCBI database are reported as uncultured strains respectively.
Earlier studies have reported that rumen bacteria predominantly include gram negative cellulolytic bacteria such as Fibrobacter succinogenes, Ruminococcus flavifaciens, Megasphaera elsdenii, Selenomonas ruminantium, Veillonella parvula, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens Lactobacillus ruminis respectively. According to Jewell, K. A, et al (2015), rumen microbiota of cow\'s rumen majorly composed of Bacteroidetes- 49.42%, Firmicutes-39.32%, Proteobacteria-5.67%, and Tenericutes-2.17% respectively [@B71]. This study has also reported that the abundant genera of cow\'s rumen includes Prevotella (40.15%), Butyrivibrio (2.38%), Ruminococcus (2.35%), Coprococcus (2.29%), and Succiniclasticum (2.28%) genera respectively [@B71].
The NCBI search with the term "Rumen" has resulted in a total of 1,026 records were listed under the NCBI BioProjects section, out of which 641 records are mono-isolates, 53 records are multi-species, 42 are multi-isolates, 274 are environmental samples and 14 are other reports. Based on the type of project, these data can be further classified into 232 nucleotide, 49 protein, 222 assembly, 764 SRA (sequence read archive) and 29 gene expression omnibus datasets (GEO). Among the 641 mono-isolate cultures, the following genuses were highly observed: *Butyrivibrio, Lachnospiraceae, Streptococcus, Prevotella, Clostridium, Ruminococcus, Pseudobutyrivibrio, Olsenella, Selenomonas, Bifidobacterium, Eubacterium, Ruminococcaceae, Bacteroides, Methanobrevibacter, Lactobacillus* and*Enterococcus* (Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). The systematic review of the NCBI Genomes databases reported in this study adds up to the present days knowledge on rumen microbial communities.
The genome database of the NCBI harbors 21 genomes of the following bacteria: Treponema saccharophilum, Selenomonas ruminantium, Slackia heliotrinireducens, Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus, Wolinella succinogenes, Fibrobacter succinogenes, Lachnospiraceae bacterium, Desulfotomaculum ruminis, Ruminococcus champanellensis, Ruminococcus bromii, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, Oxalobacter formigenes, Holdemanella biformis, Lactobacillus ruminis, Eubacterium saphenum, Eubacterium rectale, Prevotella ruminicola, Sagittula stellata, Actinobacillus succinogenes, Eubacterium eligens and Ruminococcus albus (Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"}). The genome survey sequences (GSS) are similar to the expression sequence tags (EST) but GSS nucleotide sequences are of genomic origin, whereas EST nucleotide sequences are of mRNA origin. As of today, there are 204 rumen nucleotide sequences of GSS origin, out of which 81 (GSS: HHX01H12) are sequences from rumen metagenome from uncultured organisms, 50 sequences belong to Orpinomyces sp. OUS1, 64 sequences belong to bovine rumen metagenome, 3 sequences belong to Gastrothylax crumenifer and 6 sequences belong to Paramphistomum cervi.
The nucleotide database harbors a total of 468616 nucleotide sequences which can be majorly classified based on their source as gut metagenome (201684), uncultured bacterium (169318), uncultured rumen bacterium (18860), uncultured archaeon (16876), *Clostridium beijerinckii* (6121), uncultured prokaryote (6090), *Ruminococcus flavefaciens* (2582), uncultured rumen protozoa (1975), *Acinetobacter baumannii* (1929), uncultured organism (1418), uncultured methanogenic archaeon (1316), uncultured *Prevotella s*p. (1207), *Pseudomonas aeruginosa* (1180), uncultured rumen archaeon (1175), uncultured fungus (1067), *Pseudochrobactrum sp. AO18b* (1015), uncultured *Methanobacteriaceae archaeon* (962), *Bacillus nealsonii* (817), *Lactococcus lactis* (811), *Synergistes jonesii* (709) and all other taxa (31504), respectively. The sequence read archive (SRA) database currently contains 16,645 records which can be majorly classified into bovine gut metagenome (6558), gut metagenome (3901), stomach metagenome (1300), *Bos taurus* (1267), bovine metagenome (754), *Ovis aries* (331), metagenome (249), sheep gut metagenome (202), environmental samples (182), *Bubalus bubalis* (151), anaerobic digester metagenome (134), metagenomes (13419), uncultured prokaryote (90), feces metagenome (70), rumen bacterium 1/9293-11A (66), *Bos indicus* (58), firmicutes (405), fermentation metagenome (51), *Capra hircus* (43), synthetic metagenome (38) and all other taxa (1070), respectively.
The expressed sequence tags (EST) database holds a collection of short single-read transcripts from GenBank. These transcript sequences deliver the means for determining the gene expression, for finding the possible genetic variations and for annotating gene products. As of today there are 36,535 EST records in the NCBI EST database which can be classified as *Bos taurus* (32027), *Entodinium caudatum* (1061), *Polyplastron multivesiculatum* (624*), Epidinium ecaudatum* (594), *Dasytricha ruminantium* (587), *Isotricha prostoma* (542), *Eudiplodinium maggii* (542), *Isotricha* sp. BBF-2003 (276), *Metadinium medium* (151), *Isotricha intestinalis* (82), *Entodinium simplex* (27), *Diploplastron affine* (10), uncultured microorganism (6), *Homo sapiens* (4), *Oryzias latipes* (1) and *Leucoraja erinacea* (1), respectively.
The NCBI Gene database harbors and integrates a wide range of information about the gene sequences of a wide range of species. Currently, there are 17,937 records about the gene sequences of various rumen microorganisms, which can majorly be classified into *Methanosarcina barkeri* CM1 (3764), *Methanobacterium formicicum* (2420), *Methanobrevibacter millerae* (2318), *Methanobrevibacter* sp. YE315 (2146), *Methanogenic archaeon* ISO4-H5 (1868), *Methanobrevibacter olleyae* (1868), *Methanobrevibacter sp*. AbM4 (1737), *Thermoplasmatales archaeon* BRNA1 (1526), *Calicophoron microbothrioides* (36), *Bos taurus* (15), *Streptomyces atroolivaceus* (6), *Escherichia coli* (4), *Streptomyces scabiei* 87.22 (4), *Streptomyces rimosus subsp. rimosus* (4), *Streptomyces canus* (4), *Streptomyces leeuwenhoekii* (4), *Streptomyces olivochromogenes* (4), *Ovis aries* (3), *Colletotrichum orchidophilum* (3), *Sphingobium yanoikuyae* ATCC 51230 (3) and all other taxa (200), respectively.
The gene expression omnibus (GEO) is a public repository of functional genomics data. The GEO repository contains both microarray and gene sequence (RNA-Sequencing) datasets. Present day GEO database contains 34 gene expression datasets and a total of 529 gene expression data samples and 64 gene expression profiles (Table [4](#T4){ref-type="table"}). The term "rumen" is enriched with 15 conserved domain sites upon our search in the NCBI database. There is a total of 3,814 records in NCBI identical protein database groups, whose annotated protein sequences are available in GenBank, RefSeq, SwissProt and Protein data bank. This allows researchers to rapidly obtain information about the protein of interest. A total of 233,827 protein sequences are publicly available in the NCBI-Protein database, which can be majorly classified as bacterial origin (203479), RefSeq (4414) and related structures (22525). NCBI-SPARCLE is a database which functionally characterizes and labels the protein sequences based on their unique conserved domains. NCBI-SPARCLE presently contains 29 records related to the rumen. There are 45 protein structures related to the rumen and ruminal microorganisms till date in the NCBI-protein database (Table [5](#T5){ref-type="table"}).
2.3 NCBI Chemicals Database {#Section2.3}
===========================
The NCBI Chemical database is a public repository for harboring the chemical information and molecular pathways. It provides a direct links to the relevant records such as proteins, genes and other participating compounds in other NCBI databases. The NCBI chemical database can be majorly classified into three domains: (a) chemical assays, (b) biological assays and (c) molecular pathways. We have searched for the publicly available resources that are related to the rumen. A total of 51 resources were available out of which 13 were listed under BioSystems (it provides information about molecular pathways and links to the proteins, genes and chemicals), 15 were listed under PubChem BioAssay (it includes bioactivity screening studies) and 23 were listed under PubChem Substance (it harbors information about chemical substances) (Table [6](#T6){ref-type="table"}).
2.4 Application of Metadata Analysis Work-frame {#Section2.4}
===============================================
The metadata analysis is statistical data analysis approach which involves systematic analysis of data generated from multiple studies [@B72], [@B73]. The metadata analysis approach can significantly reveal about the regular involvement of highly active genes or proteins involved in a molecular mechanism. Presence of genomic and proteomic data based on rumen allows data scientists and bioinformaticians to extensively analyze the metadata of various rumen microorganisms. The genome sequencing studies reveal enormous genetic information. Comparative analysis of annotated genome can primarily reveal significant information about the evolutionary loss of genes, broad involvement of these genes (or) proteins in various molecular mechanisms. Biological annotations such as especially InterPro, GO (Gene Ontology), KOG (Eukaryotic orthologous groups), COG (Prokaryotic orthologous groups), CAZy (Carbohydrate active enzymes), SM (Secondary metabolites), KEGG (Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes) and MEROPS (peptide database) helps to compare the genomic data. Metadata analysis of anaerobic fungal genomes belonging to *Neocallimastigomycota* division (*Anaeromyces robustus, Neocallimatix californiae, Orpinomyces sp, Piromyces finnis, Piromyces sp E2*) has revealed about extensive loss of genes involved metabolism of ligninolytic genes [@B74]. It was also reported that these anaerobic fungi encode for arsenal of enzymes which are involved in breakdown and conversion of plant cell wall carbohydrates. This metadata analysis study also reported that these anaerobic fungi possess highest number of carbohydrate active enzymes compared to any other fungal species [@B74]. Similarly, metadata analysis study of different wood-decaying fungi (white-rot, brown-rot and soft-rot fungi) has reported about the genes and proteins underlying various molecular mechanisms employed during metabolism of plant biomass components [@B75]. This study has also extensively reported and compared the total cellulolytic, hemicellulolytic, pectinolytic and ligninolytic abilities of white, brown and soft rot fungi [@B75] (Figure [6](#F6){ref-type="fig"}).
The high-throughput gene expression studies (e.g. microarray, RNA-Seq) of microorganisms reveals highly significant molecular information on gene regulation. Analyzing the common gene expression patterns in microorganisms will play a crucial role in deciphering biological pathways and molecular mechanisms, dominant genes/proteins with greater importance. A best way to study the common gene expression pattern would be to perform a gene-expression metadata analysis. The publicly available gene expression datasets can be retrieved from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) and Array Express repositories by performing a simple search over all the database queries. Once retrieved these datasets can be analyzed using different methods and software packages summarized below (Table [7](#T7){ref-type="table"}). Recent studies on metadata analysis of *Phanerochaete chrysosporium* and *Postia placenta* gene expression datasets have revealed the common differentially expressed gene patterns involved in lignocellulose metabolism. These studies have also reported the tentative molecular networks employed by these fungi during plant biomass degradation [@B76]-[@B79]. We have pictorially represented the tentative metadata analysis workflow implemented in previous studies, for analyzing and understanding the genomic and proteomic datasets (Figure [7](#F7){ref-type="fig"}).
2.5 Potential Applications {#Section2.5}
==========================
Rumen microbiota exhibit several potential applications in the dairy, feedstock, winery and brewery, pulp and paper, biofuel, biorefinery, textiles-detergent, food and pharmaceutical industries. Rumen microbiota can be potentially used in preparation of industrially important enzyme mixtures such as cellulases, xylanases, pectinases, amylases, lipases and proteases, which are widely used in various industrial processes [@B80], [@B81]. Recent studies have proved the importance of rumen microorganisms in the breakdown and conversion of lignocellulosic components (cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectin, lignin) to commercially important products such as bioethanol and other platform chemicals including hydrogen, butanol, iso-butanol, methane and other energy yielding products [@B82]. Enhancing the rate of digestion and metabolism of the feedstock by cattle is one of the major challenges in the dairy and feedstock industries. Several studies were continuously being conducted with rumen microorganisms and the enzymes secreted by these for pretreating the feedstock to enhance its digestion rate by ruminating animals [@B83]. Simultaneously, studies were also being conducted to develop genetically modified microorganisms (especially bacteria) to improve the process of digestion and enhance the rumen function [@B84]. Thus, understanding the microbial diversity of rumen will significantly benefit various industrial processes.
3.0 Conclusions {#Section3.0}
===============
All the above studies and reports strongly endorses that ruminating animals are solely dependent on their microbiota for their daily metabolism. Recent studies based on gut microbiomes of several ruminating animals, termite, mice and human have significantly enhanced the current knowledge about gut residing microorganisms. The JGI-MycoCosm and Hungate 1000 microbial genome sequencing projects revealed whole genome sequences of about 1087 fungal genomes and 501 rumen microorganisms. Although studies have reported that one milliliter of ruminal fluid contains approximately 10^5^ to 10^6^ protozoans and about 10^10^ to 10^11^ of bacterial inhabitants, there is still a long way in understanding the rumen microbiome and their role in physiology of ruminating animals. In this article we have extensively discussed the recent advancements in understanding the role of rumen microbiota in the degradation and metabolism of plant biomass. We have studied and listed all the genomic and proteomic studies based on rumen and ruminal microbiota. Further studies about the ruminal microbiota may benefit various industrial sectors significantly, including biofuel, biorefining, pretreatment of cattle feedstocks and several other processes. Our article can be used as a primer for understanding and focusing towards developing efficient recombinant microbial strains with higher plant biomass degrading abilities.
This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Funding (RGPIN-2017-05366) to Wensheng Qin and Mitacs Globalink Research Scholarship award to Ayyappa Kumar Sista Kameshwar.
Authors\' contributions
=======================
AKSK has summarized the published data and drafted the manuscript. WQ and LPR contributed in revisiting and reviewing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
DOE
: Department of Energy
JGI
: Joint Genome Institute
GO
: Gene Ontology
KOG
: Eukaryotic orthologous groups
COG
: Prokaryotic orthologous groups
CAZy
: Carbohydrate active enzymes
SM
: Secondary metabolites
KEGG
: Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes.
![Pictorial representation of rumen and the process of digestion and absorption of the food material in ruminating animals \[Note: The boxes are colored to represent the food passage from mouth to the rumen\].](jgenv07p0031g001){#F1}
![Breakdown products obtained from the process of fermentation by rumen microbiota. \[Note: The uncolored boxes are the macromolecules and the blue colored boxes represent the products of metabolism\].](jgenv07p0031g002){#F2}
{#F3}
{ref-type="fig"}A was gradient colored based for each section separately\].](jgenv07p0031g004){#F4}
![The project data details of rumen microorganisms and the highly occurring genus in the rumen isolates. \[Note: The color gradient used for the images A and B were generated using Microsoft Excel with red color represents lowest count, green color represents highest count and yellow color represents for intermediate count\].](jgenv07p0031g005){#F5}
{#F6}
{#F7}
######
The NCBI public repository and its major classification of NCBI databases.
NCBI Literature Bookshelf, MeSH, NLM Catalog, PubMed and PubMed Central
----------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NCBI Genes Gene, GEO Database, GEO Profiles, HomoloGene, PopSet UniGene
NCBI Genetics ClinVar, dbGap, dbSNP, dbVar, GTR, MedGen, OMIM
NCBI Genomes Assembly, BioCollections, BioProject, BioSample, Genome, Nucleotide, Probe, SRA, Taxonomy
NCBI Proteins Conserved Domains, Identical Protein Groups, Proteins, Protein Clusters, Sparcle, Structure
NCBI Chemicals Biosystems, PubChem BioAssay, PubChem Compound, PubChem Substance
######
List of the cultured and uncultured NCBI assembled genomes of the rumen isolated microorganisms retrieved from NCBI Assembly Database.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NCBI Assembled genomes of Microorganisms retrieved from Rumen
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Acidaminococcus fermentans, Bacillus licheniformis, Kandleria vitulina, Megasphaera sp. DJF_B143, Streptococcus equinus*\
Uncultured Firmicutes:*Acidaminococcus sp., Clostridia bacterium, Clostridiales bacterium, Dialister sp., Erysipelotrichaceae bacterium, Eubacterium sp., Firmicutes bacterium, Lachnospiraceae bacterium, Negativicutes bacterium, Ruminococcus sp., Selenomonadales bacterium, Sharpea sp., Streptococcus sp., Veillonellaceae bacterium*
Uncultured actinobacteria: *Olsenella species*
Uncultured α-Proteobacteria: *Rhodospirillaceae bacterium*
Uncultured Bacteria: *Brachyspira sp., Elusimicrobia bacterium, Elusimicrobium sp., Fibrobacter sp., Lentisphaerae bacterium*
Uncultured β-Proteobacteria: *Sutterella sp.*
Uncultured CFB group bacteria: *Bacteroidales bacterium, Prevotella species, Prevotellaceae bacterium*
Uncultured γ-Proteobacteria: *Desulfovibrio species*
Uncultured ε-Proteobacteria*: Campylobacter species*
*Methanomassiliicoccales archaeon M1 and M2 strain*\
Uncultured Euryarchaeotes: *Candidatus Methanomethylophilus species, Methanobrevibacter species, Methanosphaera species*
Uncultured δ-Proteobacteria: *Acinetobacter species, gamma proteobacterium, Succinatimonas species,*
*Bifidobacterium merycicum*, Uncultured high GC gram+: *Actinobacterium species, Bifidobacterium species*
Mycoplasmas: *Mycoplasmataceae bacterium*
Planctomycetes: *Planctomycete species*
Spirochetes: *Spirochaetaceae bacterium, Treponema species*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
######
Lists the details of ruminal bacteria with whole genome sequences, available from the genome database of NCBI.
Name Subgroup Length (Mb) Protein GC%
-------------------------------- ------------------ ------------- --------- ---------
*Treponema saccharophilum* Spirochaetia 3.4539 2837 53.2%
*Selenomonas ruminantium* Firmicutes 3.1123 2805 50.1%
*Slackia heliotrinireducens* Actinobacteria 3.1650 2721 60.2%
*Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus* Firmicutes 4.0483 3504 40.149%
*Wolinella succinogenes* δ/ε subdivision 2.1103 2040 48.5%
*Fibrobacter succinogenes* Fibrobacteres 3.8428 3077 48.05%
*Lachnospiraceae bacterium* Firmicutes 2.9589 2446 54.3%
*Desulfotomaculum ruminis* Firmicutes 3.9690 3753 47.2%
*Ruminococcus champanellensis* Firmicutes 2.5424 2059 53.35%
*Ruminococcus bromii* Firmicutes 2.2760 2121 41%
*Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens* Firmicutes 4.6654 3764 39.7%
*Oxalobacter formigenes* β-proteobacteria 2.4528 2204 49.06%
*Holdemanella biformis* Firmicutes 2.5177 2261 34.4%
*Lactobacillus ruminis* Firmicutes 2.0249 1846 43.4%
*Eubacterium saphenum* Firmicutes 1.0849 919 40.6%
*Eubacterium rectale* Firmicutes 3.3450 2973 41.5%
*Prevotella ruminicola* Bacteroidetes 3.5894 2908 47.7%
*Sagittula stellata* α-proteobacteria 5.2628 4816 65%
*Actinobacillus succinogenes* γ-proteobacteria 2.3170 2104 44.9%
*Eubacterium eligens* Firmicutes 2.8313 2613 37.56%
*Ruminococcus albus* Firmicutes 3.8452 3661 44.5%
######
Lists the details of gene expression datasets that was retrieved from the NCBI-GEO database using the term "rumen".
GEO-ID Organisms Method Platform Samples
----------- ---------------------------------- ------------------------------- -------------------------------------- ---------
GSE89874 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 45
GSE81847 *Ovis aries* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 62
GSE107550 *Fibro-chip* Microarray (Rumen microbiota) Custom Agilent gene expression array 14
GSE89162 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 38
GSE78197 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 18
GSE99066 *Capra hircus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2500 9
GSE76346 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 10
GSE86323 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 8
GSE93907 *Fibrobacter succinogenes* RNA-Sequencing Illumina MiSeq 10
GSE76501 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 20
GSE80173 *Bacteria* Microarray (CAZy-chip) Custom Agilent gene expression array 94
GSE52193 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiScanSQ 63
GSE87391 *Bos taurus* Microarray Affymetrix Bovine genome array 10
GSE83813 *Bos taurus* Microarray Agilent Bovine custom array 7
GSE82272 *Bos taurus* Microarray Agilent Bovine custom array 8
GSE74329 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 71
GSE74379 *Bacteroides xylanosolvens* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 24
GSE68791 *Ovis aries* RNA-Sequencing Illumina MiSeq 2
GSE71153 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina Genome Analyzer II 16
GSE63550 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina HiSeq 2000 4
GSE62624 *Bovine gut metagenome* Microarray CUST Rumen Bacto-array 12
GSE50448 *Ovis aries* Microarray Custom Agilent gene expression array 8
GSE39206 *Bacteria* SARST libraries SARST libraries 9
GSE35212 *Bos taurus* Microarray Affymetrix Bovine genome array 14
GSE21492 *Synthetic construct* Microarray NimbleGen Custom array 3
GSE16747 *Escherichia coli* Microarray EDL933 Spotted PCR array 7
GSE19802 *Bos taurus* Microarray Custom Bovine array 10
GSE21544 *Bos taurus* RNA-Sequencing Illumina Genome Analyzer 95
GSE18716 *Methanobrevibacter ruminantium* Microarray Custom microarray 1
GSE18382 *Bos taurus* Microarray Custom Bovine microarray 18
GSE17849 *Bos taurus* Microarray Affymetrix Bovine Genome array 12
GSE15916 *Ruminococcus flavefaciens* Microarray Custom microarray 4
GSE3029 *Bos taurus* Microarray Custom microarray 39
GSE1842 *Bacteria* SARST libraries SARST libraries 1
######
List of the details of characterized proteins with corresponding structural details and source organism, available from the NCBI genome database.
PDB MMDB Structural details Organism
------ -------- ----------------------------- -------------------------------------
5K9H 143569 Glycoside Hydrolase 29 *Rumen bacterium*
4DEV 107545 Acetyl Xylan Esterase *Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus B316*
3U37 107485 Acetyl Xylan Esterase *Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus B316*
5WH8 160168 Cellulase *Paraporphyromonas polyenzymogenes*
5U22 151772 Glycoside Hydrolase 39 *Neocallimastix frontalis*
5G0R 149432 Methyl-coenzyme-M-Reductase *Methanothermobacter marburgensis*
2WTN 79382 Feruloyl esterase *Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus*
2WTM 79381 Feruloyl esterase *Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus*
5K6O 143776 Glycoside Hydrolase 3 *Rumen metagenome*
5K6N 143775 Glycoside Hydrolase 3 *Rumen metagenome*
5K6M 143774 Glycoside Hydrolase 3 *Rumen metagenome*
5K6L 143773 Glycoside Hydrolase 3 *Rumen metagenome*
4NOV 123603 Glycoside Hydrolase 43 *Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus B316*
4KCB 117247 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4KCA 117246 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Bos taurus*
5LXV 144187 Scaffoldin C Cohesin *Ruminococcus flavefaciens*
5D9P 133948 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Prevotella bryantii*
5D9O 133947 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Prevotella bryantii*
5D9N 133946 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Prevotella bryantii*
5D9M 133945 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Prevotella bryantii*
4YHG 130962 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Bacteroidetes bacterium AC2a*
4YHE 129494 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Bacteroidetes bacterium AC2a*
4W8B 127728 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4W8A 127727 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4W89 127726 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4W88 127725 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4W87 127724 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4W86 127723 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4W85 127722 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4W84 127721 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Uncultured bacterium*
4KC8 117245 Glycoside Hydrolase 43 *Thermotoga petrophila RKU-1*
4KC7 117244 Glycoside Hydrolase 43 *Thermotoga petrophila RKU-1*
4N2O 116090 Cohesin *Ruminococcus flavefaciens*
4IU3 109437 Cohesin *Ruminococcus flavefaciens*
4IU2 109436 Cohesin *Ruminococcus flavefaciens*
4EYZ 108431 Cellulosomal protein *Ruminococcus flavefaciens*
4AEM 106860 Carbohydrate binding module *Eubacterium cellulosolvens*
4AEK 106648 Carbohydrate binding module *Eubacterium cellulosolvens*
4AFD 106169 Carbohydrate binding module *Eubacterium cellulosolvens*
4BA6 105916 Carbohydrate binding module *Eubacterium cellulosolvens*
4AFM 105889 Carbohydrate binding module *Eubacterium cellulosolvens*
3VDH 96587 Glycoside Hydrolase 5 *Prevotella bryantii*
2AGK 39565 His6 protein *Saccharomyces cerevisiae*
5UHX 156474 Cellulase *Uncultured bacterium*
2VG9 61544 Glycoside Hydrolase 11 *Neocallimastix frontalis*
######
List of the publicly available resources in NCBI Chemicals databases that are related to the term "rumen".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NCBI-BioSystems
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9 Conserved Biosystems: L-isoleucine biosynthesis V, Pyruvate fermentation to acetate VII, Oxalate degradation II, Phytol degradation, Coenzyme M biosynthesis I, Pyruvate fermentation to butanoate, L-isoleucine biosynthesis IV, Sulfur reduction I and Fatty acid alpha-oxidation II
4 Organism Specific Biosystems: Phytol degradation, Pyruvate fermentation to acetate VII, Isoleucine biosynthesis IV and Fatty acid alpha-oxidation
PubChem BioAssay
Insecticidal activity: *Myzus persicae*, *Frankliniella occidentalis*, *Bemisia argentifolii*, *Plutella xylostella*\
Anti-feeding activity: *Frankliniella occidentalis*\
Multicidal activity: *Tetranychus urticae*\
Fungicidal activity: *Botryotinia fuckeliana*, *Podosphaera fuligineam*\
2-In vitro rumen propionic acid test procedure\
Antibacterial activity: *Streptococcus equi* 02I001, *Streptococcus zooepidemicus* 02H001, *Staphylococcus aureus* 01A005, *Clostridium perfringens* 10A002
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
######
List of softwares (or) R-packages used for the metadata analysis of gene expression datasets. (Note: All the words written in bold are the names of the softwares (or) packages).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name Software type Operating system Programming language
---------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- --------------------------
MEM NA Web user interface C++, JavaScript, Perl
Onto-Compare, PhenoGen, ExAtlas\ NA Web user interface NA
MiMiR, INMEX
ImaGEO, ShinyMDE\ NA Web user interface R
jNMFMA
Bloader Package (or) Module Unix/Linux, Mac OS, Windows Graphical user interface
MAAMD Package (or) Module Mac OS, Windows NA
Package (or) Module\ mixOmics, MetaOmics, CoGAPS, MetaQC, metaAnalyzeAll, metafor\
Unix/Linux, Mac OS, Windows, R metaMA, OrderedList, metahdep, YuGene, metaArray, RankAggreg,\
MergeMaid, MAMA, NMF, GeneMeta, MetaDE, MetaSparseKmeans,\
categoryCompare, IQRray
A-MADMAN Package (or) Module Unix/Linux, Mac OS, Windows R, Python
MetaKTSP Toolkit/Suite Unix/Linux, Mac OS, Windows R
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[^1]: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Central |
first off,if your trying to address me do it with proper grammer thank you. and secondly i know more about hentai then you because my brother works at one of the offices where they make hentai
thirdly-DONT EVER ADDRESS ME IN THAT MATTER AGAIN OR I WONT BE AS CIVIL.
Jul 17, 2006, 10:30 AM
Heartless_mage
Re: henti - yes or no
oooooooooooooooooooo, she told you
Jul 17, 2006, 10:30 AM
TaurusDemon23
Re: henti - yes or no
Damn straight! Can't get a decent lay..........So there's hentai!
Jul 17, 2006, 10:31 AM
princesslady
Re: henti - yes or no
tarus your in this too!!! omg!! your silly
Jul 17, 2006, 10:33 AM
toast_master
Re: henti - yes or no
she told me wat? sat she stupid cuz she is
an dont mock me cuz of my grammer i was born six weeks premaritel so ime a bit mad so ur alemost bad as racism
Jul 17, 2006, 10:37 AM
princesslady
Re: henti - yes or no
You Know What!!!! That Dont Mean Anything!! Dont Use That For An Excuse. Im Very Intelligent Thank You And I Was Born 2 1/2 Months Early And Im Fine!! No One Is Mocking You Either And You Need A Dictionary Instead Of Your Damn Computer. I Told You Not To Address Me Like That And I Was Trying To Help Your Thread Not Get Closed!!
Dont Ever Talk To Me Or Call Me Stupid!! Because Im Not. And You Nned To Read A F****** Dictionary Everyonce In A While Rather Than Jack Off To Hentai! | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Hodgson Mill Bread Mix Wholesome Potato, 16 Oz (Pack of 6)
Share:
Bread machine or oven baked. Yeast packet included. With real dehydrated potatoes! Make it special. Cholesterol free. Bake at home. All natural. Fat free. Premium quality. Since 1882. Non GMO Project: Verified. nongmoproject.org. Have a grain day! You are about to embark on a culinary adventure that will connect you to a tradition thousands of years old. It's common to all lands and all people, and bread is still regarded the world over, as an essential food. Now more than ever, in these times of mass-produced bread, home-baked bread symbolizes the bounty of the earth, the life of the household, and the pleasures of food shared. Congratulations on your choice to make it special - to bake at home. Bake bread the time honored, traditional way. Bread gained by labour has a fine taste. - Italian proverb. Our Guarantee: Hodgson Mill, Inc. is dedicated to satisfying consumer demand for fine quality, healthy food products. If for any reason you are not satisfied with this product, we'll make it right. Simply send the complete bottom of this box and your purchase price to: Hodgson Mill, Inc. 1100 Stevens Avenue Effingham, IL 62401 - (800) 525.0177. www.HodgsonMill.com. Visit our website or call us for our free catalog & recipes! Look for the entire line of Hodgson Mill naturally wholesome and healthful food products in the flour, corn meal, cereal, pasta and baking mix sections of your supermarket. Produced in a peanut/tree nut free facility. Carton made with 100% recycled paperboard. This package sold by weight, not by volume. Contents may have settled during shipping.
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We'd love to hear from you regarding your online store order. Call us at (815) 552-6018 or (815) 552-6039 and we'll be happy to answer any questions or comments you have. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Dec 30
For New Year's this year I'm heading off to Chicago with Tracey and Co. to see Hum play with the Flaming Lips at the Metro. It should be quite an interesting evening, especially considering I've never even been to Chicago before and last year I spent most of the night sleeping, only to awake ten minutes before midnight.
Dec 29
Insert excuses about work, lack of good links, and the fact I'm visiting mostly the same old sites when I actually do surf at all.
Dec 13
Here's some more solo Malkmus songs recorded live from his recent performance at the BBC.
I totally forgot about this mostly due to the fact that it's so bitterly cold out but the Geminids meteor shower is peaking with one more good time to view them being tomorrow morning.
Dec 12
The solo Malkmus release is floating around now and here's a track to listen to called "Discretion Grove"(Down now. Too bad.) which is apparently going to be the first single released next month anyway. Get the rest of the tracks yourself.
"Sound-emitting toy. A monkey-in-box toy that, upon shaking, shouted, 'Let me out of here! Help! Let me out of here!' Addressed in big letters to LITTLE JOHNNIE. Sound toy was equipped with a new battery. Delivery at doorstep, 6 days."
Hah. I can just imagine that item being fun for the postal workers as it passed through their system.
Too funny. A former writer for Letterman supposedly infiltrated a New York internet startup for 16 days, posing as an employee transferred from a satellite office in Chicago.
"
Racked with boredom and 'always a hair's breadth away from masturbation,' Rothman finally resorts to inviting his friends to join him in the office, where they pretend to hold meetings in a glassed-in conference room (which actually turns out to be somebody's office).
" | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Other titles in this series
_Football's Strangest Moments_
_Golf's Strangest Rounds_
_Rugby's Strangest Matches_
## CONTENTS
1857 A Great Single-Wicket Game
1878 Cricket on Ice
1887 Smokers Against Non-Smokers
1887 Getting Themselves Out
1887 A Team of '50 or More Farmers'
1902 Reaching Eady Heights
1904 Cricket on Deck
1907 A Record Low
1907 Authors Against Actors
1907 When Women Met Men at Trent Bridge
1908 A First Fixture With Yorkshire
1911 Alletson's Innings
1919 Heygate's Last Stand
1922 15 All Out and Then ...
1925 Chapman's Captain's Innings
1926 World Record Score
1932 The Defiant Game
1935 'Smashing Cricket at Cardiff Arms Park'
1935 A Plague of Flying Ants
1936 Two Against Eleven
1939 The Longest Test
1939 'Is Hunt's Feat a World Record?'
1947 Last Man 163
1950 Laking Against the Rest
1951 Slow Progress
1952 Floodlights at Highbury
1952 Sutcliffe's Masterly Innings
1955 Politicians Against the Stage
1959 Half a Thousand ... Nearly
1959 A Burnley Bonanza
1960 The First Tied Test
1963 Late Arrivals for the Ball
1964 Nothing to Lose
1967 Nine in Nine Balls
1969 The Emerald Green Wicket
1971 Hitting at Dusk
1972 Pocock's Dramatic Last Two Overs
1975 Caught on a Snow-Affected Wicket
1975 'G Davis is Innocent'
1979 The Ten-Minute Game
1981 Underhand Bowling
1981 Following-On at Headingley
1983 The Lowest Total of Modern Times
1984 The Revival of the Family Game
1984 The Bramble Bank Game
1986 A Tight Finish
1988 Sixty From One Over
1991 NatWest Bowl-Out
1992 World Cup Farce
1994 More Records for Lara
1998 Abandoned After 62 Balls
2001 The End Of The Run
2001 Burglary Stops Play
2006 Caught for Nought
2006 The First Forfeited Test
2008 Vatican City Away
## A GREAT SINGLE-WICKET GAME
## LEEDS, OCTOBER 1857
Single-wicket games were exceptionally popular in the 19th century, when transport systems were undeveloped and getting twenty-two players in one place was not easy. Also, they offered ample opportunities for betting on specific individuals. It was cricket's answer to boxing.
Like boxing, however, not all the matches went the distance. A two-innings match in Tasmania, between Babington and Newbury in October 1896, lasted only four balls, a wicket falling on each ball. Other single-wicket games were totally one-sided. In 1820, Budd (70 and 30) beat Brande (0 and 0) after tactically knocking down his own wicket in each innings so as to prevent the possibility of too much stiffness when bowling. The big-publicity match in May 1838, played at Town Mailing between Alfred Mynn and James Dearman for a purse of 100 guineas, attracted 5,000 spectators, who were largely disappointed by the spectacle if not the betting. Mynn scored 34 and 89, Dearman managed 0 and very few. Double-wicket or treble-wicket competitions, that is, two or three a side, were generally reckoned to be more entertaining. One of the most unusual double-wicket games was played near Rickmansford in May 1827, when a man and his thoroughbred sheepdog beat two Middlesex gentlemen.
There were no complaints about the excitement generated by the match at Kirkstall, Leeds, in October 1857, when John Grange of Dacre Banks played against James Sadler of Leeds. Each player was allowed one fielder. Grange chose William Swain, the Richmond professional, who coached him before the event. Sadler chose George Atkinson, but Joseph Appleyard had to deputize for the latter when the game went into a second and third day.
The game started at 11.45 on Tuesday 15 October. Grange, batting first, lasted two and a half hours. In that time he faced 159 balls, made 80 hits, scored 17 runs off the bat and collected 10 more for wides. The dearth of runs was caused by the rules of the day, which compelled a batsman to cover a distance of 40 yards to complete a run. Grange was out when Atkinson caught him at mid-off.
When Sadler went in, Swain fielded like two men. On one occasion he ran flat out in an attempt to catch a skier, avoiding a spectator on the way before lunging desperately at the ball, and tearing off a nail from his little finger in the process of not quite making the catch.
As news of the game spread around the district, hundreds left work at Kirkstall Forge and made their way to the Victoria Ground, Woodhouse Moor, where, with blackened faces, they stood watching with interest and money at stake. 'This match (it was stated) caused more excitement in Leeds and its neighbourhood than any other contest for the last twenty years,' documented MCC Cricket Scores and Biographies. Sadler amassed 24 runs off 93 balls, and was three behind on first innings. The stakes were £50 per side.
The game resumed the next morning, and Sadler began with underhand daisy-cutters, soon switching to overarm. Rain stopped play when Grange reached 21, and play was held over until the third day.
On the Saturday, the weather fine, Grange took his score to 24, made off 96 balls, setting Sadler 28 to win. On the 14th ball a huge shout for leg-before-wicket went up, and tension ran high. The appeal was turned down. On the 18th ball, Sadler hit the ball high and far. The ball hung in the air for a long time. Grange's coach and fielder, William Swain, tore after the ball once again, running a long, long way – 40 yards according to Bell's Life – before catching it with his left hand and landing with his back resting against the fence. He had won the game for his student.
### GRANGE
John Grangec Atkinson b Sadler | 17 | c and b Sadler | 22
---|---|---|---
Wides | 10 | |
2
|
27 | |
24
### SADLER
James Sadler b Grange | 20 | c Swain b Grange | 3
---|---|---|---
Wides | 4 | |
110
|
124 | |
113
## CRICKET ON ICE
## CAMBRIDGE, DECEMBER 1878
The fields of the Fens were full of water, and the water froze. People took to skating and races were organized across the smooth fields.
But there was one other sport which generated interest during the cold winter of 1878–9, a sport which automatically comes to mind when looking out of frosty windows on to a field of perfect ice in the midst of a harsh winter. Yes, it was, of course, cricket.
The Cambridge University term had ended, so Charles Pigg challenged a team from the town to a game on an ideal icy field at Grantchester Meadows, scene of Chaucer's 'Reeve's Tale' and close to the residence (in different eras) of Rupert Brooke and Jeffrey Archer. The Town-Gown game was played over three days on a wicket which didn't show the slightest sign of wearing badly. No fast bowling was allowed. The umpires were severe on anything other than lobs.
The Town batted first and the scoring was heavy. Robert Carpenter opened the innings and helped himself to the first 50 of the match. Charles Pigg, the Gown captain, gave his team two overs each in order to assess what they could do. He eventually settled on Lilley and Boucher as his mainstream lob attack. Boucher, writing to _The Times_ 50 years later, recalled a moment when he lobbed up a full toss to Dan Hayward as the crack batsman was going strong. Hayward, imagining how the ball would look in the next county, swung heartily and overbalanced on the ice. The ball bowled him, and the 12-man Town team were all out for 328.
The Gown batted and were 61 for one at close of play on the second day. Fielders chased and slid across the ice in exhilarating fashion as they tried to keep down the Gown score. Three of the first five batsmen raced to fifties, and the two Piggs put together a solid fifth-wicket stand. Time ran out when the Gown team needed another 55 runs for victory with seven wickets standing. The game was an honourable draw.
Cricket on ice has occasionally been revived since, but conditions abroad are often more favourable than in Britain. Cricket in a frozen fjord would really be something, although it would need specially qualified umpires to test the thickness of the ice.
### CAMBRIDGE TOWN
R. Carpenter c Scott b Boucher | 89
---|---
W. Thurston run out | 37
F. Pryor c Scott b Boucher | 13
J. Warrington b Lilley | 1
G. Hoppett b Lilley | 3
J. Fordham b Wawn | 42
H. Mason c Wawn by Lilley | 9
W. Newman run out | 65
A. Fromant lbw b Lilley | 19
W. Richardson b Lilley | 0
D. Hayward b Boucher | 41
J. Cain not out | 9
|
328
### CAMBRIDGE GOWN
von E. Scott run out | 88
---|---
Lilley b Newman | 6
W. Deedes b Newman | 56
A. D. Wawn c and b Carpenter | 7
H. Pigg not out | 69
C. Pigg not out | 34
Extras | 14
274–4
## SMOKERS AGAINST NON-SMOKERS
## MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, MARCH 1887
The 1886–7 England touring party divided neatly into smokers and non-smokers. Rather than end the tour with a game against a Combined Australia team, who would be without key players from New South Wales, it was decided to repeat the final game of 1884, between Smokers and Non-Smokers, supplementing the touring players with local Victorians. In 1884, the Non-Smokers had won by nine wickets, the scorecard revealing that W.G. Grace, E.M. Grace and Charlie Bannerman were all non-smokers, whereas Spofforth, Lord Harris and Charlie Thornton all dabbled in the weed.
This time, at the East Melbourne ground, the outcome was a record-breaking game which was also an early example of sponsorship. Four companies put up prizes. Saqui offered 500 cigars for the highest batting score on the Smokers' team. Jacobs, Hart & Co. offered 500 cigars for the best bowling on the Smokers' team. Kronheimer and Co. offered 250 cigars for the highest aggregate batting score among the Smokers and another 250 for the highest individual score in the match. White & Co. put up 200 cigars and a trophy for the best bowling in the Non-Smokers' team. You might say that the game had a lot of ashes at stake.
Harry Boyle, captaining the Smokers, lost the toss. He led on to the field a collection of Australian and English players who were all smoking cigars. They stubbed them out before the game started.
The Smokers were reckoned to have the better bowling team, and there were no better than George Lohmann and Johnny Briggs, but the wicket was so good that all bowling became mediocre as the Non-Smokers piled up the runs. Halfway through the afternoon, Briggs, the Smokers' chief workhorse, is reported as saying 'I believe one ball in my last over nearly broke a quarter of an inch.' Bruce hit his way to 131 out of 191, scoring the only six of the innings, Bates scored four, and Shrewsbury and Gunn settled into their mammoth third-wicket stand. The day ended with the Non-Smokers on 422 for two. Amazingly, there were no extras.
The next day, Shrewsbury (236) and Gunn (150) took their stand to 310 before the third wicket fell at 514 – a good start. There was a chance of not only exceeding the record first-class score for an innings but also the highest in any match, believed to be Orleans' 920 against Rickling Green in August 1882, and this against some of the best bowling in the world. With the help of good knocks from the later-order Australians, the score reached 792 for eight by the close of the second day, the halfway stage of the game. The innings was closed, however, early the next morning, at 803 for nine, made from 1,209 balls, the first score of over 800 in first-class cricket. The score might have been higher had it not been for Bates suffering from a heavy cold, Barlow limping with an injured foot and Billy Barnes, a very capable batsman who averaged 23.38 in his Test career and was third in the averages in this tour, being unable to bat with an injured hand. Two days in the field had tired the Smokers, who were described in one report as 'puffed out'.
Yet, at the end of the third day, when the Smokers were 302 for three, the match was destined for a draw. Even when the Smokers collapsed on the final morning – the last seven wickets made only 54 runs – there was little hope of a tangible result, and attendance at the game, which had been around 500 on the first day, was down to about 100. The major interest centred on the prizes. Shrewsbury and Palmer won the batting prizes, Briggs and Bates those for bowling, but there was one other trophy which caused a surprising incident at the end of the match.
The last ball was bowled to William Scotton, the Nottinghamshire left-handed stone-waller who had been so miffed at the start of the first Smokers' innings, when told he would bat low in the order, that he stormed out of the ground to calm down. Scotton played the last ball of the match gently towards point and ran after it immediately to salvage it as a keepsake. Sherwin, the Non-Smokers' wicket-keeper, also a Notts player, raced him. Scotton won and picked up the ball. But, as umpire Wood had not called 'over', someone appealed. Umpire Phillips gave Scotton out, 'handled the ball'. Not that Scotton really minded. He had the match-ball as a souvenir, and if all worked out well, perhaps Briggs or Palmer would offer him a cigar from their winnings.
## GETTING THEMSELVES OUT
## NOTTINGHAM, MAY AND JUNE 1887
Nottinghamshire, the 1886 County Champions, played host to the much-improved Surrey team, which had its eye on the 1887 Championship. In fact this game went some distance towards helping Surrey win the title.
On the first day only 163 runs were scored on a slow wicket. Surrey, shaken by the unknown fast bowler Mee, slumped to 27 for six and then partially recovered to reach 115. Nottinghamshire were 48 for two at the close of play, seemingly in control.
The second day belonged to Surrey. Bowley and Lohmann bowled them to a first-innings lead of 26 runs, and Bobby Abel batted over three and a half hours in an anchor role. Surrey ended the day on 157 for three.
Wisden described the last day as 'a curious and most interesting day's cricket'. Rain delayed the start, then caused a 15-minute interruption, before Surrey settled in to bat well ... too well, because the team looked like batting through to the close and the game appeared a certain draw. A big stand by the two Reads took the score to 264 before the fourth and fifth wickets fell within two balls, Maurice Read bowled for 28, W.W. Read caught at long slip for 92. It was then that John Shuter, the Surrey captain, activated his contentious tactic.
It was not for another two years that the option of declarations was introduced, so it was up to Nottinghamshire to bowl out Surrey, until Shuter devised his alternative plan. Why couldn't Surrey get themselves out?
Shuter set a captain's example, leading from the front. After swashbuckling 10 runs very quickly he deliberately swatted his own wicket as Mee sent down the ball. The crowd thought it very funny, but they didn't see the cunning behind his plan.
The other Surrey batsmen hardly concealed their intentions – hit and get out. Jones made a couple and clouted his own stumps, Wood and Beaumont strolled down the track and gave wicket-keeper Mordecai Sherwin, the Nottinghamshire captain, plenty of time to stump them, and Lohmann knocked up a friendly catch. The last seven wickets fell for 25 runs. But this meant that Surrey now had time to bowl out Nottinghamshire.
After a delay for rain, George Lohmann was among the wickets again. With 45 minutes to play, Nottinghamshire were 133 for seven but Sherwin and Gunn looked to have their batting under control. Lohmann broke through 25 minutes before the close with the valuable wicket of William Gunn, who had made 72. Sherwin and Shaclock soon followed. The game was over at 17 minutes past six. Surrey had won because of sacrificing their wickets, a tactic which created much controversy.
## A TEAM OF '50 OR MORE FARMERS'
## YATTON, NEAR BRISTOL, OCTOBER 1887
It is a rare game that has as many as 23 ducks in one innings, but here we have an example. The game was billed as Yatton against '50 or more farmers' and there is little indication of how many farmers turned up to play the regular cricketers. The scorecard shows that 41 batted, and the Yatton bowling figures must have been impressive. The wickets were shared between eight bowlers, Radcliffe taking eleven, Chamberlayne and Gage five each, Blew and Shiner four apiece, Atherton three, Winter two and Clapp one. Five batsmen were run out, and there was an amazing dearth of catches, unless the scorecard fails to record the full details of the innings.
It is unlikely that all the 40-plus farmers fielded during the Yatton innings. That would have been some field for a radio commentator to describe. Yatton, a team including some renowned local cricketers, batted to make 75 for six (including two men retired) so we can assume the game was a draw.
The scorecard is reproduced from Cricket (27 October 1887), which also includes a brief background to the game: 'Mr Tankerville Chamberlayne, of Cranbury Park, Manchester, and of yachting renown, who has for many years done so much by purse and presence to uphold and support cricket, both in Hampshire and Somerset, was again to the fore on Friday October 14, at his pretty seat at Yatton, near Bristol, catering for his many hundred guests with unbounded liberality. This was the third successive year of the festivities. The day was very cold, but this did not deter the many hundreds of both gentlemen and ladies attending and witnessing the novel sight, and partaking of the good things provided. Nearly 300 sat down to luncheon, the self-esteemed host presiding, supported by the well-known amateur cricketer, Mr O.G. Radcliffe, Rev. 0. Puckridge, Frank Wills, J.H. Fowler ... About 500 partook of tea and indulged in the dancing until a late hour.'
This is just one example of a game of unbalanced teams, some of which were responsible for what now appear as astonishing bowling figures. Perhaps the most sensational was Johnny Briggs's 15 for four (match figures of 27 for 23) against 22 of the Cape Mounted Riflemen at Williams Town, South Africa, in 1888–9. As late as 1923 MCC beat 15 of Northern Orange Free State by an innings and 35 runs.
The many early matches where numbers were unbalanced include an All England XI's victory by an innings against 33 of Norfolk on Swaffham Racecourse in 1797 and Lord Winterton's XI against 37 Labourers at Shillinglee Park in 1843, the Lord's team winning by five wickets. Three years later, Lord Winterton's XI took on 56 Labourers and this game was drawn.
## REACHING EADY HEIGHTS
## HOBART, AUSTRALIA, MARCH AND APRIL, 1902
The game between Break o' Day and Wellington, arranged to decide the Tasmanian championship, was a one-innings match which took place on four Saturdays – 8 March, 15 March, 22 March and 5 April. The committee decided that the result wouldn't be valid until each team had completed at least one innings. That led to a bizarre final Saturday, when the Wellington team (including three substitutes) turned up to allow Break o' Day to complete their innings with the result predetermined. However, that final Saturday permitted an astonishing record which still stands.
Wellington's Kenny Burn won the toss and opened his team's batting. Good wicket, good weather, and good batting from Burn, but, at the other end, wickets fell fairly regularly. By stumps on the first Saturday, Wellington were 218 for six. Burn had reached his century, while Eady, making his first impact on the game, had five wickets.
The third Saturday took the game into the realms of fantasy. Wellington had by now completed their innings, Burn performing heroically, and Break o' Day finally overhauled the Wellington total of 277 before assaulting the record books. Burn was absent with illness on this particular Saturday, so he didn't see Abbott join Eady with the score on 312 for six. Abbott was out before scoring a run, but the umpire, unable to see Abbott's stroke, gave him the benefit of the doubt. By the end of the day, Eady and Abbott had added 340 runs, Abbott completing a century and Eady taking his score to 419, in the process beating an Australian record, Worral's 417 in a game between Carlton and University.
In the circumstances it was very sporting for Wellington to come back for a fourth day a fortnight later. Charles John Eady, a man of 6 ft 3 in and 15 stone, overcame the individual scores by MacLaren (424 for Lancashire) and Stoddart (485 for Hampstead), taking the record to 566, an innings which contained 13 fives, 67 fours and 33 threes. He batted eight hours and gave six chances (two very difficult) and the Hobart Mercury summarized his innings as follows: 'His style of batting was varied, clean, and good, while he severely punished the loose bowling, a fair quantity of which was sent down to him.'
There were many who thought Eady, who had played two Test matches in England in 1896, would have been on the boat to England with the Australian touring party but for the prejudice shown against Tasmania. Presumably the Wellington players would have been happy had he been on a boat to anywhere. In helping Break o' Day win the championship Eady had compensated for losing the toss by taking seven wickets and scoring a mere 566. I doubt if anyone can name another one-innings match where the two captains scored 727 runs between them.
### WELLINGTON
K. Burn c Gill b Eady | 161
---|---
M. MacLeod b Eady | 0
O. Douglas b Eady | 19
N. Dodds b Eady | 11
S. Ward c Butler b Maxwell | 23
L. MacLeod b Eady | 29
B. Burgess b Eady | 7
D. McDowall c Lucas b Chancellor | 6
A. Seagor b Eady | 4
J. Donoghue c Byfield b Maxwell | 0
A. Hayton not out | 8
Extras | 9
|
277
Bowling: Eady 46–21–87–7, Chancellor 29–3–83–1, Maxwell 16–2–56–2, Hale 8–1–29–0, Butler 7–1–13–0.
### BREAK O'DAY
C.J. Eady st Burgess b MacLeod (L) | 566
---|---
W. Gill c and b MacLeod (L) | 10
E. Lucas b Burn | 38
H. Hale c Dodds b Donoghue | 17
F.Pocock b Donoghue | 0
E. Maxwell c Donoghue b Macleod (L) | 8
F. Chancellor c Burgess b Dodds | 0
W. Abbott c MacLeod (L) b Hayton | 143
N. Douglas c Douglas (O) b Macleod (L) | 49
J. Bayfield not out | 4
C.W. Butler b Hayton | 1
Extras | 75
|
911
Bowling: Dodds 39–7–144–1, Donoghue 16–4–86–2, MacLeod (L) 27–1–218–4, Hayton 40–3–136–2, McDowall 4–0–38–0, Ward 9–0–50–0, Douglas (O) 17–1–101–0. MacLeod (M) 5–0–39–0, Burn 8–2–25–1.
## CRICKET ON DECK
## THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA, JUNE 1904
There is a story about a seasick ship's passenger who endures a stormy crossing and is received at the other end by someone who asks a stupid question: 'Did you find plenty to do on the voyage?'
'Yes,' he replies, testing the intelligence of the questioner. 'In the evenings we played snooker below deck, and during the daytime we played baseball and cricket on the deck.'
The point of this story is that the idea of playing these sports on a rocking and rolling ship is beyond comprehension for the connoisseurs, but, with cricket, where there is a will there has to be a way ... and usually a strange game is the result.
Take the crew of the HMS Irresistible. They invented an evening game to play at sea or in harbour. The first problem, of course, is the possibility of the ball going overboard. This was solved by hanging the seine net around the deck, suspended from the wire running along the edge of the awning. Portable wickets were then pitched on deck and creases marked with chalk. So as not to encourage big hitting with the risk of the ball clearing the top of the net, the game took on a 'tip and run' identity. Should someone put the ball in the sea, the rule was that the whole team would be given out. Not a case of six and out but nought and all out.
Playing with home-made bats and balls, or, rather, made-at-sea bats and balls, the teams were usually seven or eight a side. The fielding team were allowed to bowl from the most convenient end, which put pressure on the batsmen to complete their run before the next ball. They had to run at least one for each ball. If either batsman was run-out on the first run, then the striker was always the batsman out. He was held responsible for guaranteeing a run off each ball. Run-outs on subsequent runs would follow normal practice. The best shot, risky but rewarding, was to chip the ball down a hatchway as it wasn't easy to find and runs were there for the taking. Predictably, it was a tiring game. Teams would knock up perhaps 50 runs in only 15 minutes' batting. It was good exercise.
## A RECORD LOW
## GLOUCESTER, JUNE 1907
If Northamptonshire were still novices to the County Championship, which they joined in 1905, it showed in this game against Gloucestershire when they were bowled out for a baseball score by the home county. It happened on an astonishing second day's cricket which retains its place in the record books today.
This was the first meeting between Gloucestershire and Northants, set up by a falling-out of Gloucestershire and Lancashire. Northants were missing Vials, but Gloucestershire had two new men in Parker and Mackenzie.
Gilbert Jessop won the toss, Gloucestershire batted, and both teams sent for weather forecasts. The second break for rain, when Gloucestershire were 20 for four, ended play for the day. Northants had started well, although Jessop was the not-out batsman.
The second day was one of the most sensational ever – 33 wickets for 180 runs in 260 minutes. It was a particularly unforgettable day for Gloucestershire's slow left-arm bowler George Dennett, who was unplayable. In the course of that day Dennett took 15 wickets (out of 17) for 21 runs and scored a pair. Oddly enough, considering the Northamptonshire totals, Dennett's was the only pair of the game.
Gloucestershire took their overnight score to 60 before the innings finished after only 95 minutes' batting, Jessop contributing 22 of the runs. Northamptonshire soon reached a respectable total of 10 for one. Crosse, the captain, was caught at the wicket when the total was six, but Pool took a single and then steered Jessop to leg for three. What happened next was unbelievable. Never has first-class cricket had such a dramatic collapse.
Pool was out (10 for two), Buswell scored a run and Cox was out (11 for three). Driffield was bowled first ball (11 for four) but Thompson prevented the hat-trick. Even so, Dennett picked up his third wicket in four balls when Thompson was bowled (11 for five). In his next over Dennett was on another hat-trick, having trapped both Hawtin and East (11 for seven). Beasley turned him for a single, but Buswell fell next ball to give Dennett three in four for the second time in the innings (12 for eight).
Dennett had thus taken the first eight wickets. This wasn't entirely unusual – he had taken 10 for 40 against Essex the previous season – and on a drying wicket the spinner showed why he was the main left-arm rival of Kent's Colin Blythe. In fact it is astonishing that he never played for England. On this occasion his chance of 10 wickets was spoiled by Jessop, who bowled Beasley and had Wells caught at extra-cover in the same over. Northamptonshire were all out for no more than a dozen runs, emulating the 'achievement' of Oxford University in 1877. Unlike Oxford, Northants had had 11 batsmen rather than only 10. Morally, this was a new record low.
Dennett and Jessop had bowled 57 balls in 40 minutes. Jessop must have achieved some sort of record by bowling through an innings and conceding only three runs, and Dennett took his eight wickets for three runs in his last 25 balls. The following is the best estimate of the two bowlers' performances, adapted slightly from that produced in the Northamptonshire Chronicle to take account of the clear evidence that Dennett twice took three wickets in four balls:
Dennett: .21.1./.1..1W/....1./W1..../WW.W../..WW1W/
Jessop:....../....../.....3/....../....../W.W
When Gloucestershire batted again, they had plenty of trouble with the pitch too. Mackenzie and Jessop formed the backbone of the score of 88, and Northants were set 137 to win, a daunting prospect for a team scoring 12 in its first innings, rendered more so when they made a worse start, Crosse going without scoring.
Hawtin, a notorious stone-waller, was sent in early in a bid to avert the danger. He lasted an hour, and provided Dennett with the first victim of a deserved hat-trick, Beasley and Buswell being the others. Beasley's was the ninth Northants duck of the game, yet, amazingly, none of them put together a pair of ducks, although Driffield and Buswell were still in with a chance and East was dropped off the first ball he received, which would have meant four in four for Dennett. At 6 o'clock, when play ended for the day at Gloucester, Northants were 40 for seven, needing another 97 to win. George Thompson, the one batsman who could turn a game, was still there after taking 30 minutes to score his first run.
At close of play, Jessop offered Crosse the chance to continue. Crosse declined politely. You never know in Britain, it could rain all the next day. Indeed it did. At 4.30 on the third day, the game was given up as a draw.
### GLOUCESTERSHIRE
H. Wrathall b Thompson | 4 | b Thompson | 7
---|---|---|---
Mr E. Barnett lbw b Thompson | 3 | b East | 0
J.H. Board b Thompson | 3 | lbw b Thompson | 5
Mr M.G. Salter c Buswell b East | 3 | c and b East | 3
M G.L. Jessop b East | 22 | c Hawtin b East | 24
Mr R.T.H. Mackenzie b East | 0 | c King b East | 21
T. Langdon b East | 4 | lbw b Thompson | 4
J.H. Huggins c Crosse b East | 8 | c Buswell b East | 3
E. Spry lbw b Thompson | 6 | b East | 4
Parker not out | 2 | not out | 8
G. Dennett c Pool b Thompson | 0 | b East | 0
Extras | 5 | |
9
|
60 | |
88
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Thompson 16.5–7–29–5, East 16–5–26–5.
_Second Innings_ ; Thompson 15–2–43–3, East 14.2–4–36–7.
### NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Mr E.M. Crosse c Board b Dennett | 4 | c and b Dennett | 0
---|---|---|---
M. Cox lbw b Dennett | 2 | c Barnett b Dennett | 12
Mr C.J.T. Pool c Spry b Dennett | 4 | st Board b Dennett | 9
W.A. Buswell st Board b Dennett | 1 | c Langdon b Dennett | 0
Mr L.T. Driffield b Dennett | 0 | |
G.J. Thompson b Dennett | 0 | not out | 5
Mr R.W.R. Hawtin lbw b Dennett | 0 | lbw b Dennett | 8
W. East st Board b Dennett | 0 | lbw b Dennett | 2
Mr R.N. Beasley b Jessop | 1 | b Dennett | 0
Mr S. King not out | 0 | not out | 1
W. Wells c Parker b Jessop | 0 | |
Extras | 0 | |
3
|
2 | |
40–
Bowling: First Innings; Dennett 6–1–9–8, Jessop 5.3–4–3–2.
Second Innings; Dennett 15–8–12–7, Jessop 10–3–20–0, Parker 5–2–5–0
## AUTHORS AGAINST ACTORS
## LORD'S, AUGUST 1907
The annual fixture between a team of Authors and a team of Actors owed much to the enthusiasm of the two captains, Major Philip Trevor, the cricket correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, and C. Aubrey Smith, a cricket-fanatic actor who had played first-class cricket for Sussex and led the first touring team to South Africa. Aubrey Smith, who earned the sobriquet 'Round the Corner' Smith from his meandering run-up to the wicket while bowling, later initiated Hollywood CC, but was just one of many actors who grew up on the game and did their best to play. It is rumoured that one theatre company, when advertising for a Shakespearean actor, indicated they would give preference to a slow left-arm bowler. On another occasion, a team of 11 Hamlets challenged a team of 11 Macbeths at Manchester.
For three successive years in the late 1900s, rain affected play in the Authors-Actors game. In 1908, rain permitted only an hour's play, and the Actors, for once, were in trouble, at 25 for three. The previous year's game, our concern here, was played to a finish even though it rained for two hours. In fact the loss of time provoked some sensational batting.
The Authors batted first, but half of the experienced opening pair failed. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who had played a few games for the MCC but was better known for his Sherlock Holmes stories, was out for four. Major Guggisberg, whose books on the military included Modern Warfare under the pseudonym of 'Ubique', made a good 50, but the innings collapsed to the bowling of Aubrey Smith. The young men in their twenties, like A.A. Milne, then assistant editor of Punch, and P.G. Wodehouse, who already had books to his credit, failed to stem the tide. It was left to Major Trevor, then in his mid-forties, to bolster the bottom order and bring round the score from 150 for eight, helped by last-man E.W. Hornung, a cousin of Conan Doyle and the creator of Raffles, a fictional cricketer.
The Actors, set 194 to win, did not start their innings until 4.40 when Doyle and Guggisberg opened the bowling. Apart from a dropped catch off Doyle, when O'Connor was 30, the two opening batsmen looked in no trouble, especially Basil Foster, one of the famous cricketing Worcestershire Foster brothers. When Wood came on to bowl, he was hit for 36 from his two overs. He gave way to Wodehouse, who broke the partnership by bowling O'Connor.
The Actors reached 150 in less than an hour. After Foster had completed his century, he was caught off a skier, well taken by A.A. Milne, who was undoubtedly the best fielder on the Authors' team. After passing the Authors' total with three wickets down, the Actors batted on, eventually making 253 for four in 95 minutes off only 26 overs. The game had to finish reasonably early as most of the Actors had to be on stage that evening.
### AUTHORS
Sir A. Conan Doyle c and b Egerton | 4
---|---
Major F.G. Guggisberg lbw b Smith | 56
Mr Arthur Anderson b Foster | 22
Mr C.C. Headlam b Smith | 29
Mr A.H. Wood b Smith | 0
Mr E.B. Noel c Pearce b Smith | 17
Mr A.A. Milne st Knox b Smith | 5
Major Philip Trevor b Smith | 25
Mr P.G. Wodehouse b Wilde | 1
Mr P. Graves c and b Smith | 19
Mr E. W. Hornung not out | 7
Extras | 8
|
193
Fall of wickets: 4, 41, 105, 105, 122, 130, 139, 144, 172, 193.
### ACTORS
Mr V. O'Connor b Wodehouse | 51
---|---
Mr B.S. Foster c Milne b Wodehouse | 100
Mr H.E. Pearse c Anderson b Doyle | 39
Mr Oscar Asche run out | 0
Mr H. Wilde not out | 48
Mr C. Aubrey Smith not out | 15
Mr D. Ferguson
|
Mr A.S. Homewood
|
Mr B Egerton
|
Mr P.F. Knox
|
Mr Henry Ainley
|
|
253–4
Fall of wickets: 129, 164, 168, 204.
## WHEN WOMEN MET MEN AT TRENT BRIDGE
## NOTTINGHAM, SEPTEMBER 1907
At the end of a season which saw Nottinghamshire crowned as County Champions, it is intriguing to note that the game described by the Nottingham Evening Post as 'one of the most interesting cricket matches witnessed on the Trent Bridge Ground this season' did not involve the county team. It was a charity game between Notts Crimea & Indian Mutiny Veterans and Nottinghamshire Ladies. There were about 1,500 witnesses.
The umpires were the Sheriff of Nottingham, Councillor Ball, and Mr A.O. Jones, captain of the Nottinghamshire champions. The Veterans won the toss and invited the ladies to bat. The ladies, incidentally, included one man, Councillor Swain, an organizer of the game, which was played for the benefit of poor children in the city. The proceeds of the match went towards a holiday home at Skegness.
Bearing in mind the dates of the Crimean War, which began in 1853, and the Indian Mutiny, which started four years later, it is understandable that the Veterans of these actions did not show too much élan in the field in 1907. Corner and Cox bowled underarm, and Alice Watts and Miss Pawlett made runs easily, in a manner which was technically correct. Miss Hickling and Councillor Swain put together a good partnership, but when both woman and man had reached their twenties they were out, Miss Hickling caught at mid-on, Councillor Swain deliberately hitting all round a ball from Cox. The consensus was that the Ladies' 106, made in an hour and a half, would take some matching.
The Ladies' team, with the exception of Councillor Swain, took to the field wearing long white skirts, white shirts and green ties. The Veterans batted more slowly than the Ladies, wary of taking a single unless there was an easy two or three. Trooper Holland, a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade, sent in to seal up one end, used his own bat, which was as wide as the wicket. A wicked spinning ball from Miss Hickling still did for him, and the Ladies took a commanding position, except for the resistance of the Veterans' one 'ringer', Mr Whitby, who, earlier in the day, had caught out his wife (in the context of a cricket match, that is).
Games between men and women are abundant throughout cricket history, and various rule-changes have been incorporated for such occasions. Men have batted and bowled with their unorthodox hand, or bowled underarm. Women have been allowed to catch the ball in their skirts, men have been penalized three runs for fielding the ball with their stronger hand. Men have batted with broomsticks, women have broomsticked with bats. Men have dressed in women's clothing and vice versa. But, in recent years, international women cricketers have shown themselves capable of taking on good club cricketers on equal terms.
## A FIRST FIXTURE WITH YORKSHIRE
## NORTHAMPTON, MAY 1908
'Northamptonshire, it is safe to declare, will long remember the first visit they received from Yorkshire,' wrote the Athletic News, but in case they have forgotten, here is a reminder.
After the glee at obtaining the fixture, and the optimism before the contest, there was let-down for the Midlands county, who were without three key players, Pool, Driffield and East. In addition, it turned out that George Thompson and Vials were both below fitness, although Vials could later claim the dubious honour of scoring Northamptonshire's only boundary in two completed innings.
Yorkshire batted first on a wicket that wasn't wonderful. Batting became easier during a day beautified by a faultless innings from Denton. In hitting the season's first century, Denton scored nine fours and batted a little more than three hours. In one over by George Thompson, who was already handicapped by lumbago, Denton hit three fours and two twos from successive deliveries. By the end of the day, Yorkshire were 333 for eight.
The next day it rained. Play resumed at 2.30 and the game was finished by 5.50. After Yorkshire had batted on, adding a further 23 runs before Kaye's declaration, Northamptonshire were dismissed twice within 135 minutes. Thompson was unable to bat in either innings, his colleagues not giving him much time to recover from his back problem.
There were some astonishing statistics from the two innings. George Hirst took 12 for 19 and Schofield Haigh six for 19 as Northamptonshire scored 42 for the loss of 18 wickets. It was a powerful display of left- and right-arm bowling. Only one dismissal required the help of other players, Vials being caught by Myers in the second innings. Even more astounding was the fact that seven Northants batsmen were out in exactly the same manner in both innings. In the second innings every batsman came within five of his first-innings score. It was consistency at its worst.
That second Northants innings started cautiously. Kingston and Cox scored three in the first 25 minutes before Kingston was out. Cox stayed a further 20 minutes for his two runs. It turned out to be the third highest score as Northants went down by an innings and 312 runs. One reporter, delving into the record books, came up with two interesting precedents from the Nottinghamshire season of 1800 – the totals of Leicester (15 and 8) and Sheffield (24 and 22) in games played at Leicester and Mansfield respectively. In first-class cricket, however, Northamptonshire created a new record, not surpassed (if that is the correct word) until Border's performance in South Africa in 1959.
About three weeks after the emphatic defeat by Yorkshire, Northamptonshire took on Lancashire and won a thrilling encounter by one wicket, the last pair, Wells and Hardy, forming an unbeaten stand of 23 to win the game.
### YORKSHIRE
W. Rhodes b Hawtin (R) | 40
---|---
J.W. Rothey by Hawtin (R) | 27
D. Denton b Wells (R) | 110
W.H. Wilkinson c Thompson (A.R.) b Hawtin (R) | 36
G.H. Hirst c Thompson (A.R.) b Hawtin (R) | 44
W.E. Bates b Cox | 12
Mr H.S. Kaye c Hawtin (A) b Hawtin (R) | 15
S. Haigh b Falconer | 13
H. Myers not out | 14
J.T. Newstead not out | 19
Extras | 26
|
356–8(declared)
Bowling: Thompson (G.J.) 26–6–77–0, Wells 31–10–86–1, Hawtin (R.) 25–3–78–5, Falconer 21–4–62–1, Cox 18–5–27–1.
### NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
Mr W.H. Kingston b Hirst | 8 | b Hirst | 3
---|---|---|---
M. Cox b Hirst | 0 | b Hirst | 2
Mr A.P.R. Hawtin lbw b Hirst | 2 | lbw b Hirst | 0
Mr G.A.T. Vials b Haigh | 0 | c Myers b Hirst | 5
Mr R.W.R. Hawtin b Hirst | 1 | lbw b Hirst | 2
Mr A.R. Thompson b Haigh | 1 | b Haigh | 1
Mr T.E. Manning b Hirst | 0 | lbw b Haigh | 2
W.A. Buswell b Haigh | 4 | b Haigh | 0
W. Wells not out | 5 | not out | 0
R. Falconer b Hirst | 2 | b Hirst | 0
G.J. Thompson absent | 0 | absent | 0
Extras | 4 | |
0
|
27 | |
15
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Hirst 8.5–4–12–6, Haigh 8–1–11–3.
_Second Innings;_ Hirst 11.2–8–7–6, Haigh 11–6–8–3.
## ALLETSON'S INNINGS
## HOVE, MAY 1911
One might expect the possibility of a hard-hitting sensation from an Ian Botham or a Kapil Dev, but not a Nottinghamshire nonentity at number nine. What made Ted Alletson's innings so phenomenally strange was that he had been in and out – more often out – of the Nottinghamshire team during his five years as a professional.
When Alletson went out to bat, in Nottinghamshire's second innings at Hove, his team were nine runs ahead with only three wickets left. There were 50 minutes before lunch on the third day. Sussex could reasonably expect that the game would soon be over. In the first innings the last three Notts batsmen had contributed 13 runs, and Alletson's share had been seven.
The son of a wheelwright on the Duke of Portland's estate in the Nottinghamshire Dukeries, Ted Alletson was a strapping 27-year-old six-footer. He had played local cricket for Welbeck and then had one season as a professional in the Huddersfield Alliance before joining Nottinghamshire in 1906. He was more a bowler than a batsman, and his opportunity in the game at Sussex came mainly because Wass, the front-line Notts bowler, was injured. Alletson himself was nursing a sprained wrist and was barely passed fit.
At 185 for seven, therefore, on a grey Hove day, Alletson went out to join Lee. Alletson kept the Notts innings going until lunch, when the score was 260 for nine. He had made 47 in 50 minutes, hitting five fours, two threes, four twos and 13 singles. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but a useful innings for his team. There were a couple of strokes of good fortune – a skier not going to hand at 25, and a difficult slip catch being put down at 42 – and Alletson was free to come out after lunch and deliver the most extraordinary display of sustained hitting ever seen in cricket. He was not a technically good batsman, but he could drive harder than anyone, using his powerful physique and the leverage of his 6 ft 6 in arm span.
John Arlott, in his delightful monograph Alletson's Innings, reconstructs (with the help of Roy Webber) the best estimates of what happened in the 40-minute period after lunch. Leach had four balls left of his interrupted wicket-taking over. Riley, the number eleven bat, survived them without scoring.
The next 65 balls brought 152 runs. Then a wicket fell, and Nottinghamshire were all out.
Edwin Boaler Alletson faced 51 balls after lunch, according to the Arlott-Webber interpretations of patchwork evidence remaining from the scorebooks. He scored 142 runs and was caught on the boundary by Smith, who was allegedly over the boundary ropes. By then Alletson was almost glad to be out, perhaps sensing that Nottinghamshire, 236 ahead, had a chance of victory.
The 51 balls brought Alletson eight sixes, 18 fours, two threes, six twos and four singles. He failed to score off 12 balls and was caught from the 51st with his score on 189. The full details of those post-lunch balls are as follows: 0 4 4 1 2 4 2 0 1 6 0 4 2 4 6 4 0 6 3 4 4 0 2 1 4 6 0 4 3 4 6 6 0 4 4 4 6 0 0 0 0 4 4 2 2 6 1 4 4 0 W.
Perhaps the most incredible spell came in the middle of the 40-minute period after lunch. In the course of five overs, three by Killick and two by Leach, Nottinghamshire picked up 100 runs, 97 to Alletson and three to Riley. One over from Killick, which included two no-balls, went for 34 runs – 4, 6, 6, 0, 4, 4, 4, 6 – a record for an over until Gary Sobers went to work on Malcolm Nash.
Sussex were left to make 237 in three and a quarter hours. They finished 24 short with two wickets to fall.
Ted Alletson stayed with Nottinghamshire for just three more years. When his career ended he had made 3,217 runs at an average of 18.59. His 189 at Hove was his only century, although he hit Wilfed Rhodes for three consecutive sixes at Dewsbury in 1913 and there were other occasions when his powerful driving had fielders cowering for cover. During World War One he served in the Royal Garrison Artillery and later he worked at Manton Colliery.
### NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
Mr A.O. Jones b Cox | 57 | b Leach | 0
---|---|---|---
J. Iremonger c and b Relf (A.E.) | 0 | c Tudor b Killick | 83
G. Gunn st Butt b Cox | 90 | st Butt b Relf (R) | 66
J. Hardstaff b Cox | 8 | c Butt b Relf (A.E.) | 7
J. Gunn c Relf (R) b Killick | 33 | b Relf (R) | 19
W. Payton c Heygate b Killick | 20 | lbw Relf (A.E.) | 0
W. Whysall b Killick | 1 | c Butt b Relf (A.E.) | 3
G.M. Lee c and b Killick | 10 | c Cox b Leach | 26
E. Alletson c Killick b Relf (A.E.) | 7 | c Smith b Cox | 189
T. Oates not out | 3 | b Leach | 1
W. Riley c Smith b Killick | 3 | not out | 10
Extras | 6 | |
8
|
238 | |
412
Bowling: _First Innings; Relf (A.E.) 19–5–40–2, Leach 11–2–53–0, Vincett 4–0–31–0, Re_ lf (R) 11–0–36–0, Cox 25–4–58–3, Killick 10.2–4–14–5.
_Second Innings_ ; Relf (A.E.) 33–13–92–3, Leach 19–2–91–3, Vincett 3–1–25–0, Relf (R.) 19–6–39–2, Cox 9.4–2–27–1, Killick 20–2–130–1.
### SUSSEX
R. Relf b Jones | 42 | c Oates b Jones | 71
---|---|---|---
J. Vine b Jones | 77 | c Payton b Riley | 54
Mr R.B. Heygate c Lee b Iremonger | 32 | b Gunn (J.) | 13
G. Cox b Riley | 37 | st Oates b Riley | 5
A.E. Relf c and b Jones | 4 | c Oates b Riley | 0
Mr C.L. Tudor c Oates b Riley | 23 | b Gunn (J.) | 4
E.H. Killick c Hardstaff b Lee | 81 | c Lee b Riley | 21
G. Leach b Lee | 52 | b Gunn (J.) | 31
Mr C.L.A. Smith not out | 33 | not out | 12
J.H. Vincent c Iremonger b Lee | 9 | not out | 1
H.R. Butt b Riley | 13 | |
Extras | 11 | |
1
|
414 | |
213–8
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Iremonger 34–7–97–1, Riley 29.4–3–102–3, Gunn (J.) 29–2–87–0, Jones 22–2–69–3, Alletson 1–0–3–0, Lee 14–1–45–3.
_Second Innings_ ; Iremonger 14–2–34–0, Riley 33–9–82–4, Gunn (J.) 25–9–41–3, Jones 5–1–24–1, Lee 4–0–31–0.
## HEYGATE'S LAST STAND
## TAUNTON, MAY 1919
The 1919 Somerset–Sussex match was as equal as a game could be. Somerset batted first, in front of their own crowd, and reached 243 with the help of a good innings by Dudley Rippon, one of the Rippon twins, some hard hitting by Hope, the Bath rugby captain, and a few hefty lunges by Bridges, including one that put a ball into the river. Somerset were hindered by George Cox's left-arm slow bowling and three good catches by Miller, the new Sussex wicket-keeper.
Cox also performed well in the Sussex batting. His unbeaten 24 helped Maurice Tate (69) bring the total to within one of Somerset's. But the most significant contribution, or lack of contribution, came from Mr H.J. Heygate, who batted at 11 for Sussex and was bowled by White without scoring. Mr Heygate, crippled by rheumatism, was unable to field during the Somerset second innings. The significance of this came later.
Somerset batted with more difficulty the second time around. Cox, turning the ball sharply, was again among the wickets – he finished with match figures of nine for 77– and Somerset managed only 103, Bridges top-scoring with 14.
Sussex were favourites when they went in chasing 105 to win, and opening bat Herbert Wilson stayed as solid as a rock. At the other end, wickets tumbled to miraculous fielding. Braund made two excellent slip catches, and Bridges dismissed Bourdillon with an incredible low catch. In no time Sussex were 48 for six, wanting another 57 to win.
Roberts (28) stayed with Wilson long enough to swing the game Sussex's way. The score crept to 102, within three of victory. Somerset looked defeated when Dudley Rippon came on to bowl, but, after conceding a single, he bowled Roberts and picked up Stannard's wicket immediately: 103 for eight. Another single from Wilson, now 42 not out, brought the scores level. Then Miller, batting lower down the order, was caught one-handed by Bridges. One wicket to fall, and still one to win.
Inside the pavilion, the 34-year-old Mr Heygate was still suffering from rheumatism. He was asked if he would like to bat. Heygate, dressed in his everyday clothes, agreed, even if he had to crawl to the wicket. It was a rush to get him ready.
Out on the pitch, the Sussex fielders, recognizing that Heygate had not fielded, presumed he would not be batting. Four minutes went by, then a Sussex player appealed under Law 45, which allowed batsmen only two minutes to reach the wicket.
Heygate came out of the pavilion, still wearing ordinary clothes, to discover that he was already out. The umpires had delighted the home crowd by pulling up the stumps. Some people were uncertain about the result – a rigid interpretation of Law 45 implied that Sussex could lose the match – but the game was declared a tie, the first since Surrey and Kent in 1905. Heygate's dismissal was an ignominious end to his first-class career, this being the last of six matches he played for Sussex. It provoked much discussion. 'An extraordinary and in some respects very regrettable incident,' said Wisden, but the MCC committee upheld the umpire's decision.
Some weeks later the same umpire stood in another Somerset game, so several players padded up and ran out to meet a dismissed batsman 20 yards from the pavilion gate.
### SOMERSET
Mr A.E.S. Rippon c Miller b Stannard | 26 | b Cox | 8
---|---|---|---
Mr A.D.E. Rippon c Miller b Vincett | 60 | b Cox | 8
Mr J.C. W. McBryan lbw b Cox | 18 | b Cox | 0
E. Robson b Cox | 14 | b Roberts | 11
L. Braund b Roberts | 3 | b Roberts | 11
Mr J.D. Harcombe c H. Wilson b Cox | 0 | run out | 5
Mr P.P. Hope c Tate b Vincett | 48 | c Stannard b Vincett | 6
J.F. Bridges c Miller b Vincett | 34 | st Miller b Vincett | 14
Capt. Amer b Cox | 14 | c Cox b Tate | 13
Mr J.C. White b Cox | 12 | not out | 11
H. Chidgey not out | 1 | c Vincett b Cox | 10
Extras | 13 | |
6
|
243 | |
103
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Roberts 17–4–51–1, Vincett 31–4–69–3, Stannard 8–0–27–1, Tate 12–3–32–0, Cox 15.4–4–51–5,
_Second Innings_ ; Roberts 16–1–40–2, Vincett 9–0–20–2, Tate 6–1–11–1, Cox 18.4–6–26–4.
### SUSSEX
Mr H.L. Wilson b Bridges | 56 | not out | 42
---|---|---|---
Mr A.K. Wilson c Braund b Bridges | 4 | c Braund b Robson | 4
Mr T.E. Bourdillon b Bridges | 21 | c Bridges b Robson | 7
Mr A.C. Somerset b Robson | 33 | c Braund b Robson | 0
Mr R.A.T. Miller b Bridges | 2 | c Bridges b White | 0
Mr J.H. Vincett b Bridges | 14 | b Bridges | 6
H.E. Roberts b Robson | 5 | b D. Rippon | 28
M.W. Tate c Braund b Robson | 69 | c Chidgey b Bridges | 11
G. Stannard b D. Rippon | 3 | c McBryan b D. Rippon | 0
G. Cox not out | 24 | b Bridges | 0
Mr H.J. Heygate b White | 0 | not allowed to bat | 0
Extras | 11 | |
6
|
242 | |
104
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; White 18.4–1–76–1, Robson 15–3–49–3, Bridges 22–4–84–5, D. Rippon 9–2–22–1.
_Second Innings_ ; White 33–0–14–1, Robson 14–2–51–3, Bridges 12–2–32–3, D. Rippon 2–1–1–2.
## 15 ALL OUT AND THEN ...
## BIRMINGHAM, JUNE 1922
Hampshire won the toss and put Warwickshire in. Thanks to a steady innings from Santall (84), who broke a tile on the pavilion roof with a six, and some lusty blows from Calthorpe (70), whose three sixes included one over the pavilion into a field, the home county reached 223 all out. Hampshire's opening bowlers, Jack Newman and Alec Kennedy, were typically united, the former penetrative and slightly erratic, the latter persistently accurate. Warwickshire's disappointments came in the middle of their batting. Reverend E.F. Waddy was out without scoring, and the younger Quaife also went for a duck. As it happened they were good role models for the Hampshire innings later that same day.
Hampshire lasted 53 balls and 40 minutes. The slow over rate was no fault of Warwickshire's Howell and Calthorpe. There was a lot of walking about – on and off the field. Kennedy went to the third ball of Calthorpe's first over and Hampshire were soon nought for three. Mead managed a single, and Lionel Tennyson, the Hampshire captain, streaked a four through the slips before being caught. Brown was immediately bowled, and Hampshire were five for five. Mead batted steadily and took his own score to five. With the total on nine, Newman was caught in the slips, a run later Shirley went the same way and McIntyre was leg before wicket. Ten for eight. Hampshire were in grave danger of recording the lowest score of all first-class cricket which was – and still is – 12.
They were saved by four byes which, after Mead had notched another single, took the score to 15. The last two wickets then fell, leaving Mead unbeaten on six – quite an astonishing achievement considering he had lost eight partners. Eight of the team were out without scoring. Had it not been for four byes and a lucky four through the slips, Hampshire would have made only seven.
There was nothing sensational about the wicket. It was purely an accident of cricket. Hampshire batted badly, and the innings accumulated failure. They followed on, and at the close of play on the first day were 98 for three, which showed that runs could be made, although not enough.
When Mead was out early the next day (127 for four) Hampshire needed another 81 to avoid an innings defeat. Just before lunch they were 177 for six, still 31 behind. The five remaining batsmen had scored one run between them in the first innings. They evoked memories of Tennyson's comments about the late-order batting early in the season.
Observers early that Thursday afternoon, recognizing that less than half the allotted time had been used, were quite pleased when Hampshire started to make a bit of a fight. Brown and Shirley put on 85 for the seventh wicket, and Brown and McIntyre cobbled together a further 13 for the eighth. At 274 for eight, however, 66 ahead, Hampshire seemed to be showing token resistance.
The ninth-wicket stand brought together George Brown, a notable left-handed battling batsman, and wicket-keeper Walter Livsey, Tennyson's valet, who had chalked up a pair against Sussex in the first match of the season. The stand was worth 177 runs. Brown hit 18 fours in his 172, and at the end of the day Hampshire were 475 for nine, 267 ahead. Brown's century was reminiscent of his fighting effort against Essex in 1913, when his unbeaten 140 saved Hampshire from the unenviable position of 119 behind with four second-innings wickets left. In his career, Brown was to score over 25,000 runs. Livsey, however, was moving towards unknown territory, although he had shared a last-wicket stand of 192 with Bowell the previous season.
Hampshire batted for a further 40 minutes in the morning, and Livsey was able to complete his century. Boyes (29) helped him add 70 for the last wicket.
When Warwickshire batted again they needed 314 runs to win, and there was ample time to make the runs. Bates went quickly, and in came Santall, top score in the first innings. He was bowled for nought. Suddenly the game was alive, and Hampshire had control.
Wickets continued to fall – Reverend Waddy completed his 'pair' – but Quaife, senior, kept one end intact. When last-man Howell came to the wicket, Warwickshire still needed more than 150 to win. Quaife looked solid at one end, Howell picked up a few runs and was then dropped by wicket-keeper Livsey. A few more runs, and Howell was dropped at slip. Surely the course of the game could not change again? No, Newman picked up Howell's wicket, and Quaife was left unbeaten after resisting for 100 minutes.
Hampshire, 15 all out in their first innings, had not only made a fight of the match, they had won convincingly by 155 runs. 'The victory taken as a whole,' said Wisden, 'must surely be without precedent in first-class cricket.'
It wasn't even the end of Hampshire's strange matches that season. Jack Newman made the news in August when he lost his temper over an umpiring decision and kicked down the stumps. Lord Tennyson ordered him off the field and, at the end of the day, sat down to help Newman compile a letter to the Nottinghamshire captain and president: 'I humbly apologize for my action on the field of play at Trent Bridge and herewith I tender my deep regret,' wrote Newman.
### WARWICKSHIRE
L.A. Bates c Shirley b Newman | 3 | c Mead b Kennedy | 1
---|---|---|---
E.J. Smith c Mead b Newman | 24 | c Shirley b Kennedy | 41
Mr F.R. Santall c McIntyre b Boyes | 84 | b Newman | 0
W.G. Quaife b Newman | 1 | not out | 40
Hon F.S.G. Calthorpe c Boyes b Kennedy | 70 | b Newman | 30
Rev. E.F. Waddy c Mead b Boyes | 0 | b Newman | 0
Mr B.W. Quaife b Boyes | 0 | c and b Kennedy | 7
J. Fox b Kennedy | 4 | b Kennedy | 0
J. Smart b Newman | 20 | b Newman | 3
C. Smart c Mead b Boyes | 14 | c and b Boyes | 15
H. Howell not out | 1 | c Kennedy b Newman | 11
Extras | 2 | |
10
|
223 | |
158
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Kennedy 24–7–74–2, Newman 12.3–0–70–4, Boyes 16–5–56–4, Shirley 3–0–21–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Kennedy 26–12–47–4, Newman 26.3–12–53–5, Boyes 11–4–34–1, Brown 5–0–14–0.
### HAMPSHIRE
A. Bowell b Howell | 0 | c Howell b W.G. Quaif | 45
---|---|---|---
A. Kennedy c Smith b Calthorpe | 0 | b Calthorpe | 7
Mr H.L.V. Day b Calthorpe | 0 | c Bates b W.G. Quaife | 15
C.P. Mead not out | 6 | b Howell | 24
Hon. L.N. Tennyson c Calthorpe b Howell | 4 | c C. Smart b Calthorpe | 45
G. Brown b Howell | 0 | b C. Smart | 172
J. Newman c C. Smart b Howell | 0 | c and b W.G. Quaife | 12
Mr W.R. Shirley c J. Smart b Calthorpe | 1 | lbw b Fox | 30
Mr A.S. McIntyre lbw b Calthorpe | 0 | lbw b Howell | 5
W.H. Livsey b Howell | 0 | not out | 110
G.S. Boyes lbw b Howell | 0 | b Howell | 29
Extras | 4 | |
27
|
15 | |
521
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Howell 4.5–2–7–6, Calthorpe 4–3–4–4.
_Second Innings_ ; Howell 63–10–156–3, Calthorpe 33–7–97–2, W.G. Quaife 49–8–154–3, Fox 7–0–30–1, J. Smart 13–2–37–0, Santall 5–0–15–0, C. Smart 1–0–5–1.
## CHAPMAN'S CAPTAIN'S INNINGS
## HYTHE, KENT, SEPTEMBER 1925
Shortly after his 25th birthday, Percy Chapman, a Cambridge blue who was in his second season with Kent, recruited a team of workmen from the Hythe Brewery and captained them in a 12-a-side game against the Elham Division of the Kent County Police.
The Police batted first and scored steadily until Chapman, not known for his bowling, came on and demonstrated what a local reporter referred to as 'weird slows'. The Police were eventually all out for 151, the eleven wickets being shared between Moore (five), Chapman (four), Gubbins (one) and one run out.
It was agreed that Mr Chapman's team, the Hythe Brewery XI, would bat through until they were all out. What an amazing innings it was. Chapman, going in at number four, scored 183. The other eleven players mustered only seven between them; of these, six came from the last two.
Chapman, a tall, powerful, left-handed bat, hit seven sixes, one five and 23 fours in his 183. Last out, he was met by his team-mates and carried shoulder-high to the pavilion. The game then turned into a social occasion. Wives and families turned up, and the Police and brewery workmen began to enjoy themselves even more.
Percy Chapman, who had scored 79 and 54 for Hythe the previous week, would make his mark even more the following season, when he became an exceptionally young captain of the England team which regained the Ashes. He captained England 17 times, and altogether played in 26 Test matches, making one hundred and five fifties. Never again, though, would he dominate a game in the way he did against the Elham Division Police, and only occasionally were his 'weird slows' seen in action.
### ELHAM DIVISION, KENT COUNTY POLICE
P.C. Rowe c Dray b Moore | 27
---|---
P.C. Stokes run out | 2
P.C. Goodall b Gubbins | 28
P.C. Green b Moore | 24
Sgt. Burren c Dale b Moore | 22
P.C. Holman c and b Chapman | 4
Sgt. Waters st Middleton b Chapman | 0
P.C. Sheepwash b Moore | 10
Sgt. Marsh not out | 9
P.C. Green b Moore | 6
P.C. Avery b Chapman | 11
P.C. Pay c and b Chapman | 4
Extras | 4
|
151
### MR CHAPMAN'S TEAM (HYTHE BREWERY)
R. Down lbw b Holman | 0
---|---
C. Tugwell b Holman | 0
B. Middleton b Holman | 0
A.P.F. Chapman c Green b Burren | 183
J. Davidson c March b Holman | 0
W. Gubbins b Holman | 0
C. Dray b Holman | 0
A. Moore run out | 0
S. Dale run out | 1
F. Wright run out | 0
H. Wood c and b Green | 2
H. Rose not out | 4
Extras | 11
|
201
England captain Percy Chapman (right) walks to the crease with his batting partner Jack Hobbs to resume their innings after lunch during the First Test Match against Australia at Trent Bridge, Nottingham in the 1930 Ashes series. England won this Test by 93 runs, but lost the next Test at Lord's and eventually lost the series 2–1, with two matches drawn.
Australia's victory in the Second Test was perhaps aided in part by the fact that not long after completing his first and only Test century in the second innings, with England chasing Australia's 729, Chapman swallowed a bluebottle. Play was held up for several minutes and he was dismissed for 121 soon afterwards.
## WORLD RECORD SCORE
## MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, DECEMBER 1926
King stepped out to Arthur Mailey and was beaten in the flight. Wicket-keeper Ratcliffe took the ball, gloved the stumps, scattered the bails untidily and appealed. The umpire's finger was triggered. Victoria had slumped from 594 for one to 657 for five.
'The rot's set in,' a local joker said to his mate.
In fact almost half a thousand runs were still to come, and Mailey's useful figures of three for 40 in that morning session, on the second day of the Victoria innings against New South Wales, were to become dominated by what went on elsewhere in the innings. Mailey recorded the most expensive figures of all time (four for 362).
The big score was dominated by Bill Ponsford, the 26-year-old from North Carlton who was having a prolific season (551 runs in four innings before that game). Going in first with Bill Woodfull, facing a New South Wales total of 221, Ponsford outscored his partner before lunch (Ponsford 75, Woodfull 50) and then scored at double Woodfull's pace after the interval. Woodfull was happy to give Ponsford all the strike he wanted.
At that time Ponsford already held the world record individual score in first-class cricket (429 against Tasmania) and by the end of his first day's batting, when he was 334 not out, he had his sights on Clem Hill's Sheffield Shield record of 365 not out for South Australia. 'We'll meet again in the morning,' he is alleged to have told the fielders.
On the second morning Ponsford batted less assuredly. He lost his partner, 'Stork' Hendry, another centurion, after a Victorian record second-wicket stand of 219, then played a ball from Morgan on to his toe, from where it bounced into the stumps. Ponsford was out for 352, made in 363 minutes with 36 boundaries, an innings almost without blemish although he was caught off a no-ball early on and there was a possible stumping chance at 265. Love and King quickly fell to the Ratcliffe-Mailey partnership to complete 'the rot'.
Jack Ryder and Albert Hartkopf pulled Victoria through with a stand of 177 for the sixth wicket, another Victoria record. Ryder stayed to register the third Victoria record stand of the innings – 128 with Ellis for the eighth wicket – and when he was out for 295, made in only 243 minutes with six sixes and 33 fours, he had made his runs out of 449 and Victoria were 1,043 for eight. Ryder had also seen Victoria through the nervous 990s and into four figures. In the last over he faced, Ryder hit Andrews for four, six, four and six, but was caught at mid-on off the fifth ball. Morton was run out three runs later.
The next record in sight was Victoria's own – 1,059 in an innings against Tasmania in Melbourne in 1923. With Blackie content to stay there, Ellis went for the runs. A three by Ellis brought the new record, and the last-wicket pair went on to add 61 in a partnership that could best be understated as 'a nuisance' to the tired New South Wales bowlers. Hogg's fielding kept the score down to 1,107, made in ten and a half hours.
New South Wales needed 886 runs to avoid an innings defeat. They held out until just after four o'clock on the fourth day. The 18-year-old Jackson made the top New South Wales score in the match – a mere 59 not out. New South Wales lost by an innings and 656 runs.
In his autobiography Ten for 66 and All That, Arthur Mailey tells of how he and his New South Wales colleagues vowed to measure Bill Ponsford's bat after the game because it had seemed so wide to the bowlers. 'You've been looking at it for a couple of days,' Ponsford replied with a smirk. 'You should know its width.'
In England the whinging Poms recognized the new record and immediately reckoned that the bowling must have been abysmal, although Mailey had been good enough to take six for 138 against England at The Oval the previous summer and, in 1921 against Gloucestershire, had taken his legendary 10 for 66 in an innings. The other English criticism was that it must have been pretty tiresome for the crowd, seeing nothing but runs and more runs.
The 1,107 total still stands as a record for first-class cricket. The odd thing is that New South Wales reaped their revenge a month later, beating Victoria by an innings.
### NEW SOUTH WALES
Phillips c Blackie b Liddicutt | 52 | lbw b Hartkopf | 36
---|---|---|---
Morgan c Love b Liddicutt | 13 | c King b Liddicutt | 26
Andrews st Ellis b Hartkopf | 42 | b Liddicutt | 0
Kippax b Liddicutt | 36 | b Hartkopf | 26
Radcliffe c Ryder b Liddicutt | 2 | c Morton b Hartkopf | 44
Jackson c Ellis b Blackie | 4 | not out | 59
Hogg not out | 40 | c Hendry b Liddicutt | 13
Mailey b Ryder | 20 | c Morton b Hartkopf | 3
Campbell lbw b Blackie | 0 | c Ryder b Hartkopf | 8
McNamee b Ryder | 8 | b Liddicutt | 7
McGuirk b Ryder | 0 | b Hartkopf | 0
Extras | 4 | |
8
|
221 | |
230
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Morton 15–4–43–0, Liddicutt 21–7–50–4, Ryder 9–1–32–3, Blackie 16–3–34–2, Hendry 2–2–1–0, Hartkopf 17–1–57–1.
_Second Innings_ ; Morton 11–0–42–0, Liddicutt 19–2–66–4, Blackie 5–1–16–0, Hartkopf 16.3–0–98–6.
### VICTORIA
Woodfull c Ratcliffe b Andrews | 133
---|---
Ponsford b Morgan | 352
Hendry c Morgan b Mailey | 100
Ryder c Kippax b Andrews | 295
Love st Ratcliffe b Mailey | 6
King st Ratcliffe b Mailey | 7
Hartkopf c McGuirk b Mailey | 61
Liddicutt b McGuirk | 36
Ellis run out | 63
Morton run out | 0
Blackie not out | 27
Extras | 27
1,107
Bowling: McNamee 24–2–124–0, McGuirk 26–1–130–1, Mailey 64–0–362–4, Campbell 11–0–89–0, Phillips 11.7–0–64–0, Morgan 26–0–137–1, Andrews 21–2–148–2, Kippax 7–0–26–0.
## THE DEFIANT GAME
## SOUTHWICK, SUSSEX, APRIL 1932
For 200 years they had been playing cricket on Southwick Village Green, which had been bought for £25 by the local council in 1902. The Green had even produced a county cricketer, Cleverly of Sussex, who had started his career with Southwick.
In 1932 the council banned adult cricket from the Green, believing the game to be a danger to people and property. There was uproar in the village. Rarely have local politics been so closely monitored by villagers.
The council sanctioned only one game for the 1932 season – for children under 14 – but in the middle of April the village cricket team organized its first protest game, which was conveniently ignored by the council. A bigger event was planned for 30 April, one that the local council could not ignore. It was a 12-a-side game – between adults.
The cricket club and Ratepayers' Association conducted their own referendum and obtained 900 signatures – 750 in favour of the adult cricket and 150 against. The council chose not to reverse its original decision. The protesters were outraged, claiming that while there was an element of danger in cricket it had been exaggerated.
'We are defying the council because the council defy you,' said Mr W. H. Griffin, when he spoke to the crowd before the game on 30 April. The two teams took to the Green, one led by Bert Gillam, the other by W. G. Denyer.
The greenkeeper produced the official prohibition notice and took the names of all the players: 'Bowler's name, please. Fielders' names, please.' It was agreed that the addresses would also be supplied. The game was played.
In the first week of June the council decided to prosecute a select few of the defiant cricketers. They singled out five players – Gillam, Denyer, Rountree, Knowles and Mais, the last a local novelist who had been active in writing protest letters. They faced a possible penalty of a five-pound fine.
The debate raged on, although one game that sneaked through, late in June, was a comic costume game staged for charity. 'All Indeer' played the Ladies, and the participants dressed appropriately. The winner of the fancy-dress competition was the spit image of Gandhi, while 'W. G. Grace', perambulating the boundary, was probably the best fancydressed spectator. The game was played with a tennis ball, in accordance with the council's demands.
The next year the cricketers were back in harness, and village cricket was once more seen on the Village Green.
## 'SMASHING CRICKET AT CARDIFF ARMS PARK'
## CARDIFF, JUNE 1935
114 for nine in their second innings, needing another 145 to save the innings defeat. Not good for Glamorgan. But help was on the way, described by the South Wales Echo and Evening Express as 'like a story from a boy's three-penny thriller'.
From the time that Wade and Rowan embarked on their huge stand of 256 on the first day of their touring match at Cardiff, the South Africans appeared totally in control of the Glamorgan team. Despite Emrys Davies carrying his bat through the first Glamorgan innings, South Africa, with a first-innings lead of 259, were able to enforce the follow-on. At 10 for four in their second innings, at the end of the second day, Glamorgan were in a position of no hope.
Their situation grew worse on the final morning – 10 for five, 26 for six and 46 for seven. It was then that Cyril Smart started to attack the bowling. Nothing to lose, everything to gain.
With Mercer, Smart put on 68 runs in 35 minutes, reaching his 50 with a sweep to the pavilion rails that brought the first cheers of the morning. But Mercer was out, and Glover went first ball. Langton was on a hat-trick, and the only man left was a 26-year-old amateur playing his first match. Donald Wynn Hughes had failed with the bat in the first innings, and had had little success with his right-arm fast-medium bowling. The only interest centred on whether he could prevent Langton's hat-trick before the end came.
In fact Hughes hit Langton for four, then six. He smashed Tomlinson for 11 in one over, and, in no time at all, was 24 not out. When Vincent replaced Tomlinson, Hughes hit him for six too.
Tomlinson returned at the other end, but Smart cover-drove him for four, on-drove him for six, square-cut him for four and late-cut him for three. Smart, soon in the nervous 90s, hit Vincent for a six and then confidently took a single to leave Hughes to face the bowling. The debutant, a local schoolteacher, survived the over, allowing Smart to reach his 100 with a cut for four from Tomlinson in the next over.
'It was wonderful cricket,' wrote the South Wales Echo and Evening Express, 'and men and boys stood on their seats waving their hats and shouting frantically.' Smart's next big hit sent the ball over the tennis courts and through a window of the Grand Hotel in Westgate Street. Hughes reached his 50 with two more sixes off Vincent and the century partnership came up in only 45 minutes.
The South Africans took the new ball with no real effect. By lunch the stand was worth 131 runs in an hour, and Glamorgan were only 14 behind. During the lunch interval, a collection for Smart's 100 raised slightly more than £9.
Shortly after lunch, it rained, and the game was abandoned as a draw. The astonishing last-wicket stand by Smart and Hughes had saved the game but there was no telling where it might have ended, even though Hughes's later batting form – 202 runs in 24 completed innings – was unimpressive.
### SOUTH AFRICA
H F. Wade c and b Davies (D) | 139
---|---
B. Mitchell c Dyson b Davies (E) | 16
E.A. Rowan c Brierley b Mercer | 153
A.D. Nourse c Dyson b Lavis | 12
H.B. Cameron run out | 11
E.L. Dalton b Mercer | 5
K.G. Viljoen b Davies (E) | 17
C.L. Vincent b Mercer | 0
A.B. Langton c Mercer b Hughes | 23
D. Tomlinson c Brierley b Glover | 8
A.J. Bell not out | 5
Extras | 12
|
401
Bowling: Mercer 27–5–82–3, Hughes 26–5–73–1, Davies (E) 48–7–90–1, Glover 26.5–3–79–1, Lavis 10–2–23–1, Smart 5–0–31–0, Davies (D) 6–1–11–1.
### GLAMORGAN
A.H. Dyson c Mitchell b Langton | 18 | b Langton | 1
---|---|---|---
E. Davies not out | 75 | b Langton | 0
D. Davies b Tomlinson | 5 | run out | 3
Mr M.J. Turnbull lbw b Langton | 1 | b Bell | 0
R. Duckfield lbw (N) b Tomlinson | 4 | b Bell | 0
C. Smart c and b Tomlinson | 2 | not out | 114
G. Lavis c Nourse b Tomlinson | 8 | b Langton | 6
T.L. Brierley c Wade b Tomlinson | 9 | c Rowan b Langton | 3
J. Mercer c Viljoen b Vincent | 12 | c Nourse b Langton | 34
Mr E.R.K. Glover b Vincent | 2 | b Langton | 0
Mr W. Hughes c Bell b Vincent | 2 | not out | 70
Extras | 4 | |
14
|
142 | |
245–9
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Bell 5–0–15–0, Langton 18–8–26–2, Tomlinson 24–4–72–5, Vincent 13.2–3–25–3.
_Second Innings_ ; Bell 11–21–41–2, Langton 22–5–66–6, Tomlinson 9–0–69–0, Vincent 7–1–36–0, Mitchell 4–0–19–0.
## A PLAGUE OF FLYING ANTS
## OUTWOOD, AUGUST 1935
After the leatherjacket crisis at Lord's had settled down, a local cricket game at Outwood, against Redhill 'A', was disturbed for half an hour in an unusual manner. More troublesome insects were the cause, this time a plague of flying ants.
It was the hottest day of the year, a year that had brought more gnats and mosquitoes than usual. The frustration was too much. The players recognized that they had at least nine available weapons to defend themselves against the ants. They picked up the stumps and the batsmen started playing strokes without any concern for where the ball was. Cover-drives, hooks, pulls, sweeps, it was delightful to watch, not a ball was bowled. Half an hour of swashbuckling phantom batting and stump-waving managed to disperse the ants. The game continued, and Outwood had just enough time to bowl out Redhill.
There are, of course, many other occasions when cricketers have been disturbed by live matter. Some of these have affected County games, like the swallows which briefly halted the game between Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire in 1875 and the seagull hovering over the wickets at Clifton when Gloucestershire played Lancashire in 1885. Players took shies at the bird with the ball.
Swarms of midges have stopped a few local games in their time, including one at Hebden Bridge in 1913, but some of the most dangerous stoppages are those caused by bees. These include Lancashire against Nottinghamshire at Old Trafford in 1887, Surrey against Lancashire in the same year and Oxford University against Worcestershire in June 1962, when players hid in the dressing-room until a beekeeper was summoned. In 1981, a cricket match in Bangalore was abandoned after thousands of bees, disturbed by children throwing stones, swarmed across the field and took revenge. Six players and an umpire needed hospital treatment. In July 1985, a NatWest Bank Cup game between Hertfordshire and Worcestershire was disturbed by a swarm of bees.
Sometimes wild life just gets in the way. Henry Tubb, a Free Forester and Oxford University cricketer, once played a shot which looked to be sending the ball out of the ground until it struck a swift and bounced back into a fielder's hands. Keith Stackpole once stunned a seagull in an Australia-England Test match. In another Test match, in the 1930s, a sparrow was struck by a fielder's throw. The crowd shouted for the poor bird to be put out of its misery, so a spectator ran on to do just that. He stooped down to pick up the bird and relieve its pain ... and the bird flew off, to roars of laughter from the crowd.
## TWO AGAINST ELEVEN
## WITTERSHAM, ISLE OF OXNEY, SEPTEMBER 1936
This strange game, two men against an eleven from the Isle of Oxney on the Kent-Sussex border, had its origins in a bet made in the early 1830s, more than 100 years earlier. The landlord of Wittersham's Norton's Inn had been so disgusted with the boastings of the local village side that he wagered he could find two cricketers to beat the lot of them. The crafty publican turned up with two Kent professionals, Edward Wenman and Richard Mills, who beat the eleven from the Isle of Oxney by 66 runs in a two-innings match.
In 1936 someone had the idea of repeating the game. Different players, of course, but two professionals against a team of local lads. A two-innings game was planned, whereby the professionals would be 'all out' as soon as they lost a wicket, but they were given the concession of being able to change their bowling at will.
The two-man professional team consisted of Bert Wensley of Sussex and Bill Ashdown of Kent. The Isle of Oxney team, captained by coal-merchant S.J. Pridham, were mainly local workmen – three gardeners, two carpenters, one hop-dryer, two farmers, a bricklayer and a motor mechanic.
The publicity for the game was excellent. It was advertised in all the pubs, and the idea caught the imagination of people in the region. The BBC decided to broadcast a radio commentary of the game. A big crowd turned out on the day – one source says 2,000 plus, another gives it at 4,000 – and the proceeds went to charity.
The game started at 11.30 and the Isle of Oxney batted first. The two-man team of Wensley and Ashdown rotated between wicket-keeping and bowling. There were no other fielders, which meant there were only two gaps in the field – all the on side, and all the off. Not surprisingly, neither Ashdown nor Wensley managed to bowl a maiden over in the whole innings, which lasted 24.4 overs. When Bill Catt, the bricklayer, and one of the Bromham brothers took the Isle of Oxney score from 39 for one to 102, things looked really bleak for the professionals (and the onlookers who had betted on them), but the two men stuck at their task. Isle of Oxney were dismissed for 153.
Ashdown and Wensley went in knowing that one mistake would end the whole innings. In 36.4 overs they took the total to 186, an excellent first- and last-wicket stand. Wensley was the man out after hitting three sixes and 13 fours in his 96. Ashdown, unbeaten on 83, had hit 14 fours.
Unfortunately the rain came down, and the last two innings were never started. The professionals won on first innings, and had emulated the performance of their counterparts in the early 1830s.
### ISLE OF OXNEY
F.G.H. Pridham st Wensley b Ashdown | 11
---|---
W. Catt b Ashdown | 68
A. Bromham run out | 20
G. Cook b Wensley | 0
C. Gorman b Ashdown | 0
C. Bush c Ashdown b Wensley | 2
A. Bush b Wensley | 14
P. Shanbrooke lbw b Ashdown | 28
F. Jenner b Wensley | 0
F. Burt b Wensley | 0
F. Bromham not out | 5
Extras | 5
|
153
Bowling: Wensley 12.4–0–66–5, Ashdown 12–0–82–4.
### THE PROFESSIONALS
Ashdown not out | 83
---|---
Wensley c Cook b Bush (A.) | 96
Extras | 7
|
186
## THE LONGEST TEST
## DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, MARCH 1939
The final Test of the series between South Africa and England was to be played to a finish as England were one up and the rubber was still at stake. It was destined to be an unusual match from the moment England captain Wally Hammond lost the toss. That in itself was strange. Hammond, after switching from a professional to an amateur, had captained England on eight previous occasions, four against Australia, four against South Africa, and this was the first time he had lost the toss. South African captain Alan Melville surprised him by using a threepenny bit that one of the players, Norman Gordon, had won the previous evening at snooker from Len Hutton. England started the timeless Test in the field on a Friday.
On the first day, van der Byl occupied the crease all day for his century, spending one 45-minute period without scoring, and South Africa moved slowly to 229 for two on a perfect wicket.
On the second day, after only 17 had been added in the first hour and van der Byl's 435-minute marathon ended, Dalton and Nourse quickened the pace, and South Africa ended on 423 for six. The wicket was still perfect.
The next day, a Sunday, was a rest day. It rained anyway.
On the third day of the match, South Africa were all out for 530 and England finished on 35 for one when rain stopped play.
On the fourth day, a dull day, South Africa bowled themselves into a winning position. Paynter and Ames offered the main resistance, but England ended at 268 for seven.
On the fifth day, the England innings ended on 316, over 200 behind. As the Test was timeless, South Africa decided not to enforce the follow-on but make England bat last ... if they could still stand on their feet. The wicket was good enough for another week, as proved by the South African opening stand of 191 between van der Byl and Mitchell. But three wickets fell suddenly just before the close, when South Africa were 193 for three.
On the sixth day, South Africa took their score to 481 with an excellent century from Melville, the first of his four successive centuries against England, the others coming over eight years later. After lunch, Reg Perks made a pretence of crawling back to the field on his hands and knees. After tea, Paul Gibb kept wicket to give Les Ames a break. After one ball of the England innings, Hutton and Gibb successfully appealed against the light. At none for none, England needed 696 to win.
On the seventh day, bespectacled Yorkshireman Paul Gibb batted through for 78 runs. He was the anchor for Hutton (55) and Bill Edrich (107 not out), and England reached 253 for one. Edrich was the big surprise. His previous highest score for England was 29 and he had been dogged by a run of failures. Now Hammond sent him in early and he came off in fine form.
On the eighth day, a Saturday, it rained. There were now signs that the England party could be pressed for time. They were booked on a return boat passage from Cape Town and would need to leave Durban on Tuesday evening to catch the boat. Three MCC touring players, not selected for the Durban Test, had already left for Cape Town.
The next day, a Sunday, was the second rest day of the Test.
On the ninth day of the match, Gibb and Edrich took their stand to 280 before Gibb was out. His innings, which started on Thursday evening and ended on Monday afternoon, lasted nine hours and contained only two fours and a five (four overthrows) in boundaries. Edrich's 219 set up England for a possible winning position. At the close they were 496 for three, needing another 200 to win. The next day, the tenth, would have to be the last, so the party could ensure their passage on the Athlone Castle. There was no other boat for a fortnight if they missed it.
Hammond, 58 not out overnight, played a superb innings in the morning. Paynter stayed until the score was 611, and, when a very tired Newson took the new ball, the 12th of the match, England were 619 for four. After being over 400 behind on the fifth day, with 10 South African wickets still to fall, they were now within range. Then a couple of short stoppages for rain interrupted the concentration of Hammond, who went for 140. At tea, when England needed another 42 with five wickets remaining, it rained. This time it didn't stop.
The South African Board of Control met with the two captains and at 5.45 issued a statement: 'The South African Cricket Association Control Board, in consultation with the captains, agreed that the match should be abandoned, the Board recognizing that the MCC would otherwise not have the requisite number of hours in Cape Town before sailing home.'
After 10 days, and over 43 hours of play, the final Test of the series was a draw, which is probably not easy for an American to understand.
The last timeless Test has left its legacy in the record books. The major records include the highest aggregate number of runs (1,981) for a first-class match (since exceeded, though not in a Test match), Edrich and Gibb's record stand for any wicket against South Africa (still a record for the second wicket), the highest fourth-innings total in a Test, the longest first-class match (beating the nine-day epic in the West Indies in 1930) and Paul Gibb's slowest-ever century (since 'beaten' by Jackie McGlew of South Africa). The total of 16 fifties was a record for Tests, as was Verity's achievement of bowling as many as 766 balls.
### SOUTH AFRICA
P.G. van der Byl b Perks | 125 | c Paynter b Wright | 97
---|---|---|---
A. Melville hit wkt b Wright | 78 | (6) b Farnes | 103
E.A. Rowan lbw b Perks | 33 | (3) c Edrich b Verity | 0
B. Mitchell b Wright | 11 | (2) hit wkt b Verity | 89
A.D. Nourse b Perks | 103 | (4) c Hutton b Farnes | 25
K. Viljoen c Ames b Perks | 0 | (5) b Perks | 74
E.L. Dalton c Ames b Farnes | 57 | c and b Wright | 21
R.E. Grieveson b Perks | 75 | b Farnes | 39
A.B.C. Langton c Paynter b Verity | 27 | c Hammond b Farnes | 6
E.S. Newson c and b Verity | 1 | b Wright | 3
N. Gordon not out | 0 | not out | 7
Extras | 20 | |
17
|
530 | |
481
Bowling: (8-ball overs): _First Innings_ ; Farnes 46–9–108–1, Perks 41–5–100–5, Wright 37–6–142–2, Verity 55.6–14–97–2, Hammond 14–4–34–0, Edrich 9–2–29–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Farnes 22.1–2–74–4, Perks 32–6–99–1, Wright 32–7–146–3, Verity 40–9–87–2, Hammond 9–1–30–0, Edrich 6–1–18–0, Hutton 1–0–10–0.
### ENGLAND
Hutton run out | 38 | b Mitchell | 55
---|---|---|---
P.A. Gibb c Grieveson b Newson | 4 | b Dalton | 120
Paynter lbw b Langton | 62 | (5) c Grieveson b Gordon | 75
W.R. Hammond st Grieveson b Dalton | 24 | (4) st Grieveson b Dalton | 140
Ames c Dalton b Langton | 84 | (6) not out | 17
Edrich c Rowan b Langton | 1 | (3) c Gordon b Langton | 219
B.H. Valentine st Grieveson b Dalton | 26 | not out | 4
Verity b Dalton | 3 | |
Wright c Langton b Dalton | 26 | |
K. Farnes b Newson | 20 | |
Perks not out | 2 | |
Extras | 26 | |
24
|
316 | |
654–5
Bowling: (8-ball over): _First Innings_ ; Newson 25.6–5–58–2, Langton 35–12–71–3, Gordon 37–7–82–0, Mitchell 7–0–20–0, Dalton 13–1–59–4.
_Second Innings_ : Newson 43–4–91–0, Langton 56–12–132–1, Gordon 55.2–1–174–1, Mitchell 37–4–133–1, Dalton 27–3–100–2.
## 'IS HUNT'S FEAT A WORLD RECORD?'
## LINLITHGOW, SCOTLAND, JULY 1939
'Is Hunt's feat a world record?' asked the reporter from Aberdeen's Evening Express after Alma Hunt's astonishing one-man effort in the one-innings game between West Lothian and Aberdeenshire.
Hunt, a Bermudan, bowled throughout the West Lothian innings and finished with the excellent figures of 12.7–6–11–7, this being the year of the experiment with eight-ball overs. These statistics demonstrate both parsimony (only 11 runs off 103 balls) and penetration (only one of the seven wickets was caught). He took his last three wickets in four balls.
Alma Hunt's bowling performance would have been enough to satisfy most mortals, but Hunt's batting was even more amazing. He knocked off the 49 runs needed for victory literally on his own.
It is worth looking at the details of this amazing innings. Dumbreck opened the bowling for West Lothian, and Hunt faced the first five balls without scoring. A four and a single meant that Findlay faced only the last ball of that first over. However, a single by Hunt from the first ball of Benham's opening over gave Findlay seven balls to face. He failed to score. Aberdeenshire were six for none at the end of two eight-ball overs.
Hunt did not score from the next six balls, bowled by Ford, but a single left Findlay the last ball to play. At this stage, therefore, there was nothing particularly odd about the score – seven for none from three overs (Hunt seven, Findlay nought).
In the next over, bowled by Benham, Hunt let rip, pulling and driving powerfully. The over brought 0, 4, 6, 4, 4, 0, 0 and 1, and the Aberdeenshire score moved to 26 (Hunt 26 not out). Any collusion can be discounted by the details of the next over, bowled by Ford. Hunt hit the third ball for four, then took a single from the fourth. This left Findlay on strike, and, though he was trying to get off the mark, the opening bat failed to score from the last four balls of the over. This left Aberdeenshire 31 for none (Hunt 31 not out).
Dumbreck came back into the attack, and Hunt finished the match in six balls, hitting 6, 0, 0, 4, 4, and 4. Aberdeenshire had reached the winning target of 49 without loss. Hunt was 49 not out. He had faced 33 balls compared with Findlay's 13. The innings was over in 25 minutes.
Is Hunt's feat a world record?
### WEST LOTHIAN
F.C. Benham lbw b Hunt | 8
---|---
R.R. Philip c Mellis b Donaldson | 4
J. Dumbreck c Rice b Donaldson | 1
Benham c Robertson b Hunt | 5
A.C. Ford b Hunt | 10
J.H. Matheson c Findlay b Catto | 8
W. Summerville b Hunt | 1
W. MacKay not out | 2
J. Clarke b Hunt | 5
A.J. Benham b Hunt | 0
J. Smart b Hunt | 0
Extras | 4
|
48
### ABERDEENSHIRE
A. Hunt not out | 49
---|---
T.A. Findlay not out | 0
Extras | 0
|
49–0
## LAST MAN 163
## CHESTERFIELD, AUGUST 1947
When Ray Smith was caught by Marsh off Pope, Essex were 199 for nine, still 24 behind Derbyshire's first-innings total of 223. On his walk back to the dressing-room Smith passed his cousin, Peter Smith, an unusual number-eleven batsman if ever there was one.
The previous season Peter Smith was one of the five Wisden cricketers of the year, in the distinguished company of Laurie Fishlock, Vinoo Mankad, Cyril Washbrook and Alec Bedser, but his special talent lay in bowling leg-breaks, googlies and top-spinners rather than batting. Ipswich-born, Smith had had early pretensions as a batsman and quick bowler, but, when attending a trial with Essex, he bowled leg spinners by chance, just when the county were about to reject him. In his first season he played five games and picked up one wicket – a full toss landed on the top of Jupp's stumps – but one event of that season was recalled almost 20 years later. In his first county match, against Derbyshire, Peter Smith watched the opposition's opening bats, Storer and Bowden, put together a stand of 322. Whether or not he intended to pay back Derbyshire for this some day is a matter for conjecture, but he certainly did so on an August day in 1947.
Peter Smith could bat a bit, and he moved up and down the batting order. In 1936 he hit a century in 80 minutes against Hampshire, and, batting at three, he scored another century against Hampshire just after the war. In this 1947 season, however, his benefit year, Peter Smith's form had been erratic. In the last match, against Worcestershire, batting at ten, he had been bowled by Jackson for nought in both innings. On that form he deserved his place at number eleven against Derbyshire. On his form against Derbyshire, though, he made a mockery of it all.
In 140 minutes, Peter Smith scored 163 runs, surely the most devastating annihilation a number eleven has given first-class bowling. Vigar, the number-five Essex bat, offered support and steadily made his way to his own century. When Smith was finally bowled by Worthington, the two men had put on 218 for the last wicket. Peter Smith offered two hard chances while hitting three sixes and 22 fours in his scintillating innings.
In their second innings, Derbyshire lost eight wickets before they took the lead. Almost as intriguing as Essex's lower-order revival was that of Derbyshire. Cliff Gladwin, batting at ten, scored a 50 and was his county's second highest scorer for the second time in the match. Gothard, at nine, made runs for the second time. And, even more surprising was the 38 not out made by fast-bowler Bill Copson, who went in last for Derbyshire. Copson was a rustic bat who swung the bat hard and was never expected to stay long. In his career he averaged 6.81 in 279 matches. There is a story of him going out to bat against Glamorgan at Swansea and simply plonking the bat down in the block-hole.
'Don't you want a guard, Bill?' the umpire asked.
'No, I had one here last year.'
In Essex's second innings, when they were set 111 to win, Peter Smith was promoted in the order. He made four. But that year he did the 'double' of 100 wickets and 1,000 runs for the first time in his career, and his cousin Ray did the same.
### DERBYSHIRE
A. Townsend b P. Smith | 86 | b R. Smith | 1
---|---|---|---
C.S. Elliott b R. Smith | 2 | run out | 68
T.S. Worthington c P. Smith b Bailey | 0 | b Bailey | 9
D. Smith run out | 10 | b R. Smith | 35
G.H. Pope c Insole b Bailey | 5 | c Dodds b Bailey | 11
A. E. Alderman b Bailey | 20 | c Insole b Bailey | 27
E. Marsh c Crabtree b P. Smith | 24 | c Horsfall b Bailey | 4
A.E. Rhodes c Insole b P. Smith | 4 | c Horsfall b R. Smith | 0
E.J. Gothard not out | 24 | b R. Smith | 40
C. Gladwin c Insole b Bailey | 27 | c Wilcox b Bailey | 52
W.H. Copson b Bailey | 0 | not out | 38
Extras | 21 | |
19
|
223 | |
304
Bowling: _First Innings_ : Bailey 24.2–1–83–5, R. Smith 18–3–50–1, T.P.B. Smith 18–2–59–3, Vigar 2–0–10–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Bailey 30.5–6–92–5, R. Smith 49–14–122–4, T.P.B. Smith 22–6–53–0, Vigar 5–0–18–0.
### ESSEX
T.C. Dodds lbw b Copson | 20 | c Townsend b Copson | 23
---|---|---|---
S.J. Cray b Copson | 11 | b Pope | 9
A.V. Avery c Pope b Copson | 0 | lbw b Pope | 0
H.P. Crabtree lbw b Pope | 2 | c Worthington b Gladwin | 30
F.H. Vigar not out | 114 | not out | 40
R. Horsfall b Pope | 8 | not out | 3
D.R. Wilcox b Gladwin | 9 | |
T.E. Bailey b Worthington | 19 | |
D.J. Insole b Copson | 48 | |
R. Smith c Marsh b Pope | 21 | |
T.P.B. Smith b Worthington | 163 | c Worthington b Copson | 4
Extras | 2 | |
5
|
417 | |
114–5
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Copson 36–8–117–4, Pope 27–8–73–3, Gladwin 13–3–54–1, Worthington 21.5–1–90–2, Rhodes 18–4–44–0, Marsh 11–3–37–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Copson 14–3–36–2, Pope 15–5–39–2, Gladwin 3.1–0–15–1, Rhodes 5–0–19–0.
## LAKING AGAINST THE REST
## BRADFORD, MAY 1950
In northern England, the verb 'to lake' means to play or sport, and Jim Laker certainly lived up to his name. Although he spent his career in the south, he was born in Yorkshire, five miles from the ground at Bradford, the setting for the England-against-the-Rest Test trial on the last day of May 1950. The slight fall of the Bradford ground was even more suited to Laker's off-break bowling on a wicket that was difficult for batsmen.
Norman Yardley, the England captain, won the toss and gave the Rest first innings. It was an astonishing innings. When Jim Laker came on to bowl, early in the game, the Rest were ten for one. Virtually single-handed, Laker bowled them out. The Rest reached their total of 27, made in 110 minutes, only with the help of a spirited innings of five from last-man Les Jackson. Even so, it was, at the time, the record lowest total for a representative game.
Jim Laker ended with the sensational figures of 14–12–2–8. The only runs in 14 overs were two singles, one by Bedser in the fifth over, by when Laker had taken his first three wickets, and one by Trueman in the eleventh, at which point Laker had seven wickets. It was a performance which had reporters searching for similar analyses where wickets had dominated runs. Only Gideon Elliott of Victoria, who took nine for two against Tasmania in 1858, had ever returned an analysis in a first-class innings where wickets dominated runs by more than five. However, Jim Laker later told the story of how one young reporter had asked him if they were his best-ever figures.
Seven of Laker's wickets came in succession. Doggart (caught at forward short-leg) and May (caught at backward short-leg) went in his first over. Carr was caught off a skier at mid-wicket and Kenyon went to a leg-side catch by wicketkeeper Godfrey Evans. Eric Bedser was leg-before and then Spooner and Berry went in the same over. Alec Bedser broke the spell by taking Trueman's wicket.
By the end of the day, the Rest were batting again, 202 behind on first innings. Coincidentally they reached 27 by the end of play. This time there were only two wickets down rather than ten, and only one had been claimed by Jim Laker. The next day Eric Hollies finished off the match, and England won by an innings and 89 runs after less than eight hours' play. The selectors had learned very little. The Test twelve, announced soon after the trial, included all the 'England' team except Robertson and Dewes, plus two from the Rest, Doggart and Berry, and a choice between Compton and Dollery which was dependent on fitness.
### THE REST
Kenyon c Evans b Laker | 7 | lbw b Hollies | 9
---|---|---|---
Sheppard lbw b Bailey | 4 | b Laker | 3
Doggart c Bailey b Laker | 2 | st Evans b Hollies | 12
May c Hutton b Laker | 0 | b Laker | 2
Carr c Bailey b Laker | 0 | st Evans b Hollies | 2
Bedser (E.A.) lbw b Laker | 3 | c Evans b Hollies | 30
Spooner b Laker | 0 | c Yardley b Bedser (A.V.) | 22
Jenkins not out | 0 | c Bedser (A.V.) b Hollies | 3
Berry b Laker | 0 | c Yardley b Bedser (A.V.) | 16
Trueman st Evans b Bedser (A.V.) | 1 | not out | 0
Jackson c and b Laker | 5 | st Evans b Hollies | 1
Extras | 5 | |
13
|
27 | |
113
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Bailey 6–4–3–1, Bedser (A.V.) 9–3–12–1, Laker 14–12–2–8, Hollies 7–5–5–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Bailey 5–2–6–0, Bedser (A.V.) 9–2–22–2, Laker 18–4–44–2, Hollies 22.4–13–28–6.
### ENGLAND
Hutton b Trueman | 85
---|---
Simpson st Spooner b Berry | 26
Edrich lbw b Jenkins | 46
Robertson c Shepherd b Berry | 0
Dewes c Doggart b Berry | 34
Yardley c Trueman b Jenkins | 13
Bailey c Spooner b Berry | 7
Evans run out | 1
Laker not out | 6
Bedser (A.V.) c Jackson b Jenkins | 5
Hollies st Spooner b Berry | 4
Extras | 2
|
229
Bowling: Jackson 12–3–38–0, Bedser (E.A.) 13–0–60–0, Jenkins 10–0–38–3, Berry 32–10–73–5, Trueman 9–3–18–1.
## SLOW PROGRESS
## NOTTINGHAM, JUNE AND JULY 1951
In those days Trent Bridge was a batting paradise, and the Nottingham crowd were quick to barrack any batsman not taking full advantage. Take Charlie Harris, for instance. The Nottinghamshire stalwart, a natural comedian who would hang a 'do not disturb' notice over his stumps or take a torch out of his pocket to signify the light was bad, was once batting on a perfect track at Trent Bridge, and the barrackers were booing angrily. Harris, scoring more slowly than his usual rate of 25 an hour, responded by swinging a ball to leg for four. He walked towards the Trent Bridge Hotel. 'Let me know when I get behind the clock again,' he shouted.
The barrackers had a big day out when Glamorgan visited Trent Bridge at the end of June 1951. What set them off was the attitude of Glamorgan captain Wilf Wooller, who had reasoned, with some sense, that the most a team could expect from Trent Bridge was four points from first innings. Wooller, a man of strong opinions who had captained a Glamorgan team without stars to the 1948 County Championship, was happy to see his batsmen slowly grind through the first day. The crowd were not.
Left-hander Emrys Davies made his 110 in four hours, but Jones and Wooller himself were far slower, scoring only 12 runs from 15 overs on a perfect afternoon, refusing to be tempted by Nottinghamshire's deep-set field. The crowd booed, frustrated in the hot sun, realizing that Nottinghamshire, bottom of the table, would gain nothing if Glamorgan simply occupied the crease. Eventually Nottinghamshire captain Reg Simpson could stand no more of it. He brought himself on to bowl and stood beside umpire Joe Hill, explaining how he was going to bowl. When he bowled his first ball, the crowd audibly gasped, and the press-box came alive. Simpson was bowling underarm lobs. Wooller, of course, played them back watchfully, but Simpson shouted loudly when one hit a pad. The over was worth two runs, no wickets, and plenty of column inches in the newspapers. Strangely, Glamorgan lost four wickets soon after this incident.
A reader of the Nottingham Evening Post, calling himself No-ball, summed up the mood of the crowd in a letter later that week: 'I was shocked at Simpson's falling into the trap of making as big a farce of county cricket as the Glamorgan side, but now I think more about it the visitors certainly asked for it.'
Glamorgan, batting on the next day, crawled to 330 in seven and a half hours, only quickening the rate when Muncer and Haydn Davis added 46 in 55 minutes. It must be remembered that teams regularly scored over 400 on the first day at Trent Bridge in the post-war era, and toss-losers had to rely on a thunderstorm or a declaration to halt a team's progress.
When Nottinghamshire batted they did no better. They lost three quick wickets before Walter Keeton and Freddie Stocks made a stand. Then it was left to Charlie Harris, the man the crowd loved to hate. Harris batted 105 minutes for his 29 runs, and the barracking was at its loudest.
'That's a bat in yer hand, 'arris.'
Harris, never flustered, simply tucked his bat under his arm and simulated machine-gun fire. Wooller, meanwhile, bowling from one end, took a long time placing his field. The crowd booed him too, and Wooller responded by stopping as he ran in to bowl and refusing to continue unless the barracking subsided.
Nottinghamshire, following on, saved the game by lunchtime on the shortened third day, the left-handed Poole making 135 in three and a half hours to restore some normality to the game. Wilf Wooller's final retort was to try all his bowlers – all eleven of them, including wicket-keeper Haydn Davis, who handed over his pads and gloves to Wooller. Davis got a wicket too, the only one of a career of 423 first-class matches. In fact, seven Glamorgan bowlers took wickets, including irregular bowlers like Montgomery (six wickets in his career), Clift (11 wickets) and Parkhouse (two).
It was after this game that Nottinghamshire decided to do something about their wicket at Trent Bridge, while, the next month, Glamorgan became the only county to beat the touring South Africans that year.
## FLOODLIGHTS AT HIGHBURY
## LONDON, AUGUST 1952
In the daytime Middlesex were skittled for 77 by Surrey. In the evening, in aid of Jack Young's benefit, they took a team to Highbury football stadium to play a team of Arsenal footballers – at cricket. The novelty of the game was the use of floodlights, used on occasions in the early days of cricket. A crowd of 8,000 turned up, while millions saw the last part of the action on television.
Instead of sight-screens there were goal-posts, while the centre-circle was partly covered by a black matting wicket. The rectangular shape of Highbury's football pitch necessitated short on and off boundaries, but fair-sized straight boundaries. The Bedser twins acted as umpires, the Compton brothers were the two captains, and the crowd knew they were in for a strange, entertaining evening when the Middlesex team of 13 players, having lost the toss, came out of the tunnel kicking footballs.
Taking advantage of the short boundaries, Arsenal rattled up an all-out score of 189, made in little more than an hour. Colin Grimshaw made 65, Freddie Cox scored 21 and big centre-forward Cliff Holton scored more easily than he usually did at Highbury. Les Compton, playing for Arsenal though he had an option on either team, mixed sports easily when he shoulder-charged Bill Edrich, the Middlesex fielder, in order to ensure a safer single.
The Arsenal innings ended in gloomy conditions. When the floodlights were switched on, the crowd cheered. The tannoy announcer then communicated one of the strangest messages heard at a cricket ground: 'Keep your eye on the ball. When you see it coming, keep low. The batsmen will try to keep it down, but they can't promise.'
To make the spectators' task easier, the ball was white, constantly replaced when the paint chipped off. The cricketers said later that they had no trouble spotting the ball.
Bill Edrich scored 70, but Middlesex collapsed. At 187 for nine, they needed three to win with three wickets to fall, remembering that this was a 13-a-side game. At this critical point, out came Jack Young, the beneficiary, a bowler who would take 137 wickets that season despite a troublesome knee injury. Young came to the wicket wearing a miner's helmet and lamp. Middlesex scored the required runs, and were allowed to bat on until they were all out.
The floodlighting experiment received a good press, but there was little likelihood that it would enjoy the same popularity in cricket as it did in football towards the end of the 1950s. There were various cricketing experiments with luminous stumps in South Africa and lighting for schoolboys in Australia, but it was not until the late 1970s that the idea of floodlit cricket games was resurrected.
### ARSENAL
189 all out
### MIDDLESEX
237 all out
## SUTCLIFFE'S MASTERLY INNINGS
## CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND, DECEMBER 1952
'In batting, much will depend on Bert Sutcliffe, who has been showing delightful form in club matches.'
That was how the Christchurch Star-Sun summarized Otago's chances against Canterbury in the first Plunket Shield match of the 1952–3 season. Canterbury were holders of the Shield, so Otago had an uphill task ... unless Sutcliffe came off.
It was 12.34 on the second day when Sutcliffe and Watt opened the first and only Otago innings of the game. Canterbury, 233 for five overnight (Leggat 104 not out), had taken their score to 309 before the fall of the last wicket. News that Sutcliffe was batting brought in more spectators. The brilliant 29-year-old left-hander already had a stream of big scores in his career – 208 for North Island v South Island (1947–8), 243 for New Zealand against Essex (1949), 275 for Otago against Auckland (1950–1) and 355 for Otago v Auckland (1949–50).
Canterbury could have had Sutcliffe out before he had scored. The two opening batsmen sprinted an extremely risky single and Smith shied at the stumps. Had the ball hit, Sutcliffe was out. Instead it went for four overthrows.
Hayes picked up two wickets, Watt and Haig, but had to leave the field with a stomach-muscle injury before Otago had reached 100. Sutcliffe settled in to demonstrate his driving, pulling and hooking, stealing singles to keep the bowling whenever he could. He was utterly in charge. He dominated the bowlers and dominated his partners. He added 42 for the third wicket and Flaws scored four of them. He added 115 for the fourth wicket and Watson contributed a dozen. The fifth wicket raised 55 and Mills scored 12. At the close of the second day, Otago were 284 for five, and Sutcliffe, 215 not out, had given just one chance, very hard and very low to slip when on 189. It wasn't much to keep the fielders interested.
On the third day, Sutcliffe, unshaken by his not-out lunchtime score of 299, broke his own New Zealand individual scoring record and established a new record which still stands. His 385 was the record first-class score for a left-handed batsman.
With Gilbertson (29), Sutcliffe added 182 for the seventh wicket. By the time he was out, he had scored 385 out of the 471 that had come from the bat, 385 out of his team's 500. It was an astonishing innings that supporters of both provinces thoroughly enjoyed, recognizing the quality of the play. He gave one more difficult 'hot chance' on that final day of the innings.
The statistics of the innings, which lasted less than eight hours, emphasized Sutcliffe's consistently fast run-getting pace: 50 in 72 minutes, 100 in 128 minutes, 200 in 247 minutes, 250 in 316 minutes, 300 in 379 minutes, 350 in 428 minutes and 385 in 460 minutes. He scored 46 fours and three sixes, and one over from Poore cost 30 runs.
The demoralized Canterbury team slumped heavily in the second innings, ending the day on 91 for nine with the injured Hayes as one of the not-out batsmen. Otago needed eight minutes of the fourth day to seal the game, winning by an innings and 93 runs. In two innings, Canterbury had scored 382 runs from the bat, three fewer than Bert Sutcliffe had managed on his own.
### CANTERBURY
Leggat c Moir b Overton | 110 | c Mills b Stanley | 14
---|---|---|---
Emery b Stanley | 0 | c Haig b Overton | 14
Harris c Mills b Overton | 18 | c Mills b Overton | 0
Chapple c Gilbertson b Smith | 79 | c Sutcliffe b Smith | 2
Poore c Watson b Moir | 5 | (6) c Flaws b Stanley | 8
Smith b Moir | 0 | (5) c Flaws b Overton | 11
MacGibbon c Flaws b Overton | 28 | c Flaws b Smith | 5
Britton b Smith | 11 | b Moir | 10
Burtt b Moir | 29 | c Haig b Stanley | 8
Hayes b Sutcliffe | 19 | c Haig b Watson | 5
McNicholl not out | 0 | not out | 6
Extras | 10 | |
15
|
309 | |
98
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Overton 27–6–73–3, Stanley 18–5–54–1, Smith 25–9–41–2, Moir 27–2–97–3, Sutcliffe 7.3–1–34–1.
_Second Innings_ ; Overton 14–8–25–3, Stanley 14–9–22–3, Smith 11–5–21–2, Moir 2–1–4–1, Sutcliffe 2–0–5–0, Watson 1.1–0–6–1.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 4, 29, 175, 192, 192, 247, 258, 260, 307, 309. Second Innings; 16, 26, 29, 44, 60, 65, 67, 87, 87, 98.
### OTAGO
Sutcliffe b Poore | 385
---|---
Watt c Smith b Hayes | 19
Haig lbw b Hayes | 0
Flaws b Burtt | 4
Watson c Smith b Burtt | 12
Mills lbw b McNicholl | 12
Smith lbw b McNicholl | 8
Gilbertson c Leggat b Burtt | 29
Moir b Poore | 0
Stanley not out | 2
Overton st Britton b Poore | 0
Extras | 29
|
500
Bowling: Hayes 9–2–20–2, McNicholl 16–2–92–2, Chapple 28–6–81–0, MacGibbon 20–1–76–0, Burtt 43–10–88–3, Harris 9–2–37–0, Poore 13.5–7–48–3, Emery 4–0–29–0.
Fall of Wickets: 61, 61, 103, 218, 273, 300, 482, 483, 500, 500.
## POLITICIANS AGAINST THE STAGE
## EAST GRINSTEAD, SEPTEMBER 1955
Can you imagine the present government putting together a team of cricketers which includes the Foreign Secretary, the Home Secretary, the Lord Chancellor, the Employment Minister and an assortment of other Members of Parliament? Well, it happened in 1955, and surprisingly there was no place for Sir Alec Douglas-Home, who had once been a useful cricketer.
The team of Politicians included Harold Macmillan (Foreign Secretary) and Viscount Kilmuir (Lord Chancellor), both of whom hadn't played for 30 years. (Viscount Kilmuir cheated somewhat by using practice nets a few times before the game.) Sir Walter Monckton (Minister of Labour) had played as recently as nine years before, but Major Lloyd George (Home Secretary) was another whose cricket kit was difficult to find and even more difficult to fit into.
The Stage XI, captained by John Mills, included regular Lord's Taverner cricketers like Leo Genn, John Slater, Richard Attenborough and Mills himself, but Douglas Fairbanks and David Niven were late cry-offs. Each team was strengthened by the inclusion of county cricketers – Gerald Cogger (Sussex) and Hubert Doggart (Sussex) for the Politicians, Denis Compton, Reg Routledge and John Warr (all Middlesex) for the Stage team – and there were two strange rules. One rule was that a batsman reaching 50 would compulsorily retire. The other was that any bowler capturing a player's wicket before he had scored would be fined a guinea.
The Politicians' captain Earl De La Warr (Postmaster-General) won the toss and decided that his team would bat. Lord Hawke, nephew of the famous cricketing namesake, opened the innings with Lieutenant-Colonel Bromley-Davenport, the MP for Knutsford, Cheshire. Lord Hawke made a single before being bowled by Denis Compton's second ball. Bromley-Davenport (29) and Lloyd George (three fours in his 23) put together a substantial partnership, during which there occurred an accident. Leo Genn bowled a friendly full toss, and Bromley-Davenport hit it towards Dickie Attenborough in the deep. Attenborough ran 20 yards and misjudged the flight of the ball, which hit him on the forehead. He collapsed unconscious, blood poured out, and he was taken on a stretcher to the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, where he stayed for two days before being discharged. The game continued in his absence.
After Hubert Doggart's quick 50, two Cabinet Minsters, Harold Macmillan and Sir Walter Monckton, found themselves batting together. The stand was broken during an especially strange over from Richard Hearne, well known to every child in the land as 'Mr Pastry', a man responsible for many a custard-pie war. Mr Pastry bamboozled Harold Macmillan; the future British Prime Minister played back so far that he hit his own wicket. Sir Walter Monckton was even more baffled by a ball from Rex Harrison which bounced four times and bowled him. Some good batting from the late-order peers took the total to 178 for eight, made in 100 minutes.
At the fall of the first Stage wicket, Dickie Hearne came out to bat dressed like an American football player, padded out with chest and elbow protectors. He hit two fours before being bowled.
Then came the big shock of the afternoon. Denis Compton, whom many of the crowd had come to see bat, was bowled second ball by Gerald Cogger. As Compton had yet to score, Cogger was fined a guinea. He wasn't displeased.
The absence of the hospitalized Dickie Attenborough meant the Stage XI might have to bat a man short, but they had a better idea. A make-up artist got to work on Denis Compton, who created some kind of record by batting twice in the same innings. The tannoy announcer, John Snagge of the BBC, welcomed the number seven batsman as 'Denis Pastry'. Compton did better this time, but the Stage could not match their target, the game ending in a draw.
The beneficiary, incidentally, was the Sackville College Appeal.
### POLITICIANS
Lord Hawke b Compton | 1
---|---
Lt-Col Bromley-Davenport b Warr | 29
Major Lloyd George b Mattingly | 23
Hubert Doggart retired | 53
Sir Walter Monckton b Harrison | 6
Harold Macmillan hit wkt b Hearne | 2
Lord Kilmuir b Compton | 15
Earl De La Warr b Mills | 16
Viscount Gage not out
|
Gerald Cogger did not bat
|
Mr J.B. Goudge did not bat | 10
Extras | 23
|
178–8
### STAGE
Leo Genn st Sub b Lord Hawke | 16
---|---
Edward Underdown c Doggart b Lloyd George | 10
Richard Hearne b Lloyd George | 8
Denis Compton b Cogger | 0
John Mills b Doggart | 6
John Slater retired | 50
'Denis Pastry' b Doggart | 32
Rex Harrison c Sub b Bromley-Davenport | 0
John Mattingly not out | 18
Reg Routledge not out | 14
John Warr did not bat
|
Extras | 8
|
162–8
## HALF A THOUSAND ... NEARLY
## KARACHI, JANUARY 1959
In first-class cricket, individual scores don't come much bigger than that made by 24-year-old Hanif Mohammed for Karachi against Bahawalpur. His innings began after tea on a Thursday and ended with the last ball of the following Sunday. He batted for 10 hours 35 minutes and overhauled Don Bradman's unbeaten 453 for New South Wales against Queensland in 1929–30. Hanif's innings contained 64 fours.
Bahawalpur batted first and were bowled out for 185. By the end of the first day, Hanif Mohammed had reached 25, then, batting all the next day, he took his score to 255, sharing two century partnerships. The first (172 in 155 minutes) was with Waqar Husan for the second wicket, the second (103 in 95 minutes) was for the third wicket with Wazir Mohammed, one of three Mohammed brothers, the third being Mushtaq.
After a rest day on the Saturday, Hanif Mohammed continued to wear down the Bahawalpur bowlers, putting on 259 with Wallis Mathias for the fourth wicket, the runs being made in even time. Hanif's score eventually reached 499 and he was facing the last ball of the day. He set off for a short single and was run out.
People believed that he was out looking for his 500th run, but a later story suggested that he believed his score was 498 and he was trying to farm the bowling for the morning. As it happened, Karachi declared at their overnight total and won by an innings and 479 runs.
This sensational victory was marred by a tragic event in the final of the same competition, against Combined Services, a week later. Abdul Aziz, the 17-year-old Karachi wicketkeeper, was struck on the heart by the fifth ball from Dildar Awan, a slow off-break bowler. Aziz died 15 minutes later on the way to hospital. A wave of gloom came over the match, play was suspended for the day, and the two captains went to Aziz's house as a mark of respect. It was later confirmed that Aziz had a heart complaint.
### BAHAWALPUR
Ijaz Hussain run out | 24 | c Waqar b Mahmood | 32
---|---|---|---
Zulfiqar Ahmed c Aziz b Mahmood | 0 | c Aziz b Mahmood | 8
Mohammed Iqbal b Ikram | 20 | c Aziz b Munaf | 0
Mohammed Ramzan c Wallis b Ikram | 64 | lbw b Munaf | 5
Ghiasuddin b Ikram | 4 | c Wazir b Ikram | 12
Jamil Khalid run out | 12 | b D'Souza | 4
Farrukh Salim c Aziz b Mahmood | 3 | b Ikram | 4
Riaz Mahmood b Mahmood | 4 | lbw b Mushtaq | 10
Asad Bhatti st Aziz b Mushtaq | 21 | b Ikram | 4
Tanvir Hussan not out | 16 | c Aziz b D'Souza | 7
Aziz Ahmed b Ikram | 8 | not out | 5
Extras | 9 | |
17
|
183 | |
108
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Mahmood 18–4–38–3, Ikram 17–3–48–4, Munaf 8–1–23–0, D'Souza 11–2–42–0, Mushtaq 4–0–19–1, Hanif 1–0–6–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Mahmood 10–2–27–2, Ikram 8–2–10–3, Munaf 9–1–29–2, D'Souza 11–3–17–2, Mushtaq 1–0–8–1.
### KARACHI
Hanif Mohammed run out | 499
---|---
Alim-ud-din c Zulfiqar b Aziz | 32
Waqar Hassan c Tanvir b Iqbal | 37
Wazir Mohammed st Tanvir b Jamil | 31
Wallis Mathias run out | 103
Mushtaq Mohammed lbw b Aziz | 21
Abdul Munaf b Iqbal | 18
Abdul Aziz not out | 9
Extras | 22
|
772–7 declared
Bowling: Zulfiqar 34–5–95–0, Ramzan 19–0–83–0, Aziz 50–4–208–2, Riaz 9–0–44–0, Ghias 37–3–139–0, Jamil 23–1–93–1, Iqbal 25–3–81–2, Tanvir 3–0–7–0.
## A BURNLEY BONANZA
## BURNLEY, JUNE 1959
His real name was O'Neill Gordon Smith and he was raised as an orphan in Jamaica. After he had scored a century against the Australian touring team, in 1955, he hit another century on his Test debut for the West Indies, the first of his 26 Tests in four years. When Burnley signed 'Collie' Smith for their Lancashire League team in 1959, they were recruiting a player considered by many to be as good an all-rounder as his close friend Gary Sobers.
'Collie' Smith etched his name into the Lancashire League record books with his performance in the first round of the Worsley Cup, which was played over four evenings early in June. The two teams, Burnley and Lowerhouse, batted on each evening even though it was a one-innings game.
Smith, going in at the fall of the second Burnley wicket, batted on all four evenings. The West End ground was too small to permit sixes, but Smith hit 56 boundaries in his undefeated innings of 306, a record for all Lancashire Leagues. The biggest spell of hitting came on the third evening, when he repeatedly hit the ball into a nearby park. The Burnley last man stayed with him long enough for Smith's treble-century to be achieved. The innings forced the scorers to stick appendices into their scorebooks and made casual park-users take refuge. He was dropped five times, but such was the power of his hitting, staggering for a man of only 5 ft 2 in, that all the chances were difficult, and none came before his first century. His 306 comfortably beat the previous Lancashire League high scores, by men like Albert Rhodes (220 for Haslingden in 1925) and West Indies Test star Everton Weekes, who, playing for Bacup, hit unbeaten scores of 195 in 1949 and 225 in 1958. Such are the vagaries of cricket, however, that 'Collie' Smith's next innings ended quickly, bowled by Nelson's Johnny Wardle for six.
The Burnley total of 523 for nine declared was also a Lancashire League record. Over the same four evenings, Lowerhouse made their way to an all-out total of 147. This meant that Burnley won by 376 runs and one wicket.
'Collie' Smith was 26 at the time of his mammoth innings. Later that summer he was killed in a car crash. Cricket lost a bouncy character who was an exceptionally strong hitter and niggling off-break bowler. Smith made 1,331 Test runs at 31.69 and took 48 wickets at 33.85.
### BURNLEY
E. Entwhistle b Wade | 33
---|---
P. Stansfield st Foster b Salkeld | 24
D.G. Ormerod run out | 34
Smith not out | 306
A. Miller c and b Salkeld | 10
F.P. Kippax c Cheesebrough b Devon (R.) | 20
J. Clare b Salkeld | 55
C. Martindale c and b Lowe | 7
J. Schofield b Salkeld | 5
R. Haworth st Foster b Salkeld | 2
J. Richardson not out | 19
Extras | 8
|
523–9 declared
Bowling: Lowe 22–3–134–1, Bartels 24–2–101–0, Salkeld 17–0–99–5, Wade 17–4–89–1, Cheesebrough 9–0–59–0, Devon (R.) 5–0–33–1.
### LOWERHOUSE
R.A. Devon lbw b Schofield | 7
---|---
R. Foster c Ormerod b Schofield | 4
J.L. Devon lbw b Schofield | 0
M. Mahmood c Richardson b Haworth | 60
B. Smith c and b Smith | 4
K. Tranter lbw b Schofield | 4
Bartels c Richardson b Martindale | 42
A. Lowe b Haworth | 6
A Cheesebrough b Haworth | 2
P. Wade c Kippax b Martindale | 0
J. Salkeld not out | 1
Extras | 17
|
147
Bowling: Haworth 13–5–39–3, Stansfield 3–0–7–0, Schofield 16–4–42–4, Smith 15–2–41–1, Martindale 1–0–1–2.
West Indies cricketer O'Neill Gordon 'Collie' Smith. 'Collie' was Wisden cricketer of the year in 1958 but died a year later in a tragic car crash. He remains a legendary figure and broke numerous Lancashire League records while playing for Burnley.
## THE FIRST TIED TEST
## BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, DECEMBER 1960
After 83 years and 502 Tests, cricket produced equality between two Test teams in a match that had all the qualities of strangeness, particularly in the last hour when the game went out of control and into the realm of fantasy. This was the first match of the 1959-60 Australia-West Indies series, the 16th Test between the two countries.
The last Test played at Brisbane, against England two years previously, had brought only 518 runs in four days. West Indies, batting first, came within sight of that on the first day. Gary Sobers made a sensational century in 125 minutes. When he was finally out, to the day's worst ball, he had made 132 in 174 minutes. Frank Worrell batted almost as long for his 65 and by the end of the day West Indies were 359 for seven.
The next morning Wes Hall made a flamboyant 50, and the Australians replied to a total of 453, reaching 196 for three by the end of play.
The third day was dominated by Norman O'Neill, who had three fortunate escapes between 47 and 54 but went on to make 181. Nightwatchman Les Favell did well, Ken Mackay chewed gum and made a few, and Alan Davidson added 44 runs to his five wickets. Australia took a first-innings lead of 52.
O'Neill's innings swung the game back towards Australia. By the close of the fourth day, West Indies were 259 for nine, only 207 ahead. They were grateful for an innings by Joe Solomon which lasted 222 minutes. Fortunately, for the West Indies (and all cricket fans who relished the game's eventual finish), Wes Hall and Alf Valentine took their last-wicket stand to 31. Most neutrals reckoned that the Australian target, 233 in 312 minutes, was certainly attainable.
Most neutrals, however, reckoned without the poor start to Australia's second innings. After being 28 for two at lunch on the final day, made in 70 minutes, they tumbled to 57 for five. At that point 176 were needed in 200 minutes. In those days runs per hour were what counted. There were no minimum overs to be bowled in the last hour.
Davidson and Mackay put on 35 in an hour. The target at tea, 123 in 120 minutes with four wickets remaining, looked increasingly beyond Australia's reach. That calculation reckoned without a stand between two quick-scoring batsmen – Alan Davidson and Richie Benaud, the Australian captain. They scored at the required rate, and the target came down accordingly – 80 needed in 75 minutes, 60 in 60 minutes, 27 in 30 minutes. When the West Indies took the new ball, Australia still had four wickets in hand. There was time for five eight-ball overs.
Wes Hall's first over, which took nine minutes to bowl and included a no-ball, had plenty of action. Four singles and a four from Davidson, hooked from a bouncer, brought the target down to 19. Benaud was almost caught, and, off another ball, Davidson ran almost to Benaud's end and back, just avoiding a run-out.
Gary Sobers, bowling the next over, conceded a leg-bye, two singles to Benaud, an on-driven four by the Australian captain, a single to Davidson and a no-ball. Ten needed in 15 minutes (24 balls).
Hall's next over brought one single, and Sobers conceded three in the penultimate over. More important was the run-out in that over. Benaud played the ball towards square-leg and Davidson failed to beat Solomon's direct hit. That ended Alan Davidson's sensational participation in the match – five for 135, 44 runs, six for 87 and 80 more runs.
A single by Wally Grout left him facing the first ball of the last over, to be bowled by Wes Hall with Australia needing six to win and three wickets left.
Ball One – hits Grout high on the leg, drops in front of him. Benaud reaches the ball almost before Grout, who scrambles the run.
Ball Two – is Hall's bouncer. Benaud edges his hook and wicket-keeper Alexander makes the catch.
Ball Three – is played for no run by new batsman Meckiff.
Ball Four – goes through to the wicket-keeper. The batsmen run, Hall runs, Grout safely reaches the striker's end, Hall throws at Meckiff's end and fails there too, overthrows being prevented. Four runs needed, four balls left, two wickets to fall.
Ball Five – is hit into the air by Grout. Kanhai is under the ball at mid-wicket. Hall competes for the catch, the ball lands on the ground and Grout and Meckiff run. Three to win.
Ball Six – is hit by Meckiff towards the unattended square-leg boundary. Meckiff smells at least three runs and victory. Conrad Hunte reaches the ball just as the batsmen turn for the winning run. What a throw. Alexander lunges for the stumps and Grout is out. The scores are tied – 737 each.
Ball Seven – is clipped to leg by the last Australian batsman, left-hander Lindsay Kline. The Australians set off, Joe Solomon pounces on the ball and takes aim at the one stump he can see. His 15-yard throw hits. The game is tied.
The two captains, Frank Worrell and Richie Benaud, left the field arm in arm after this incredible finish. But this first Test match had far more than a great finish. It was a magnificent game which set alive a series and rejuvenated cricket. In the fourth Test, for instance, Lindsay Kline and Ken Mackay saved the match for Australia by putting on 66 for the last wicket.
The marvellous thing about a tied cricket match is that everyone contributes. Had groundstaff not taken four minutes to free a sight-screen on the first day, it might not have happened as it did.
### WEST INDIES
C. Hunte c Benaud b Davidson | 24 | c Simpson b Mackay | 39
---|---|---|---
C. Smith c Grout b Davidson | 7 | c O'Neill b Davidson | 6
R. Kanhai c Grout b Davidson | 15 | c Grout b Davidson | 54
G. Sobers c Kline b Meckiff | 132 | b Davidson | 14
F. Worrell c Grout b Davidson | 65 | c Grout b Davidson | 65
J. Solomon hit wkt b Simpson | 65 | lbw b Simpson | 47
P. Lashley c Grout b Kline | 19 | b Davidson | 0
G. Alexander c Davidson b Kline | 60 | b Benaud | 5
S. Ramadhin c Harvey b Davidson | 12 | c Harvey b Simpson | 6
W. Hall st Grout b Kline | 50 | b Davidson | 18
A. Valentine not out | 0 | not out | 7
Extras | 4 | |
23
|
453 | |
284
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Davidson 30–2–135–5, Meckiff 18–0–129–1, Mackay 3–0–15–0, Benaud 24–3–93–0, Simpson 8–0–25–1, Kline 17.6–6–52–3.
_Second Innings_ ; Davidson 24.6–4–87–6, Meckiff 4–1–19–0, Mackay 21–7–52–1, Benaud 31–6–69–1, Simpson 7–2–18–2, Kline 4–0–14–0, O'Neill 1–0–2–0.
23, 42, 65, 239, 243, 283, 347, 366, 452, 453.
_Second Innings_ ; 13, 88, 114, 127, 210, 210, 241, 250, 253, 284.
### AUSTRALIA
C. McDonald c Hunte b Sobers | 57 | b Worrell | 16
---|---|---|---
R. Simpson b Ramadhin | 92 | c Sub b Hall | 0
N. Harvey b Valentine | 15 | c Sobers b Hall | 5
N. O'Neill c Valentine b Hall | 181 | c Alexander b Hall | 26
L. Favell run out | 45 | c Solomon b Hall | 7
K. Mackay b Sobers | 35 | b Ramadhin | 28
A. Davidson c Alexander b Hall | 44 | run out | 80
R. Benaud lbw b Hall | 10 | c Alexander b Hall | 52
W. Grout lbw b Hall | 4 | run out | 2
I. Meckiff run out | 4 | run out | 2
L. Kline not out | 3 | not out | 0
Extras | 15 | |
14
|
505 | |
232
Bowling: First Innings; Hall 29.3–1–140–4, Worrell 30–0–93–0, Sobers 32–0–115–2, Valentine 24–6–82–1, Ramadhin 15–1–60–1, Second Innings; Hall 17.7–3–63–5, Worrell 16–3–41–4, Sobers 8–0–30–0, Valentine 10–4–27–0, Ramadhin 17–3–57–1.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 84, 138, 194, 278, 381, 469, 484, 489, 496, 505. Second Innings; 1, 7, 49, 49, 57, 92, 226, 228, 232, 232.
Australian batsman Norman O'Neill crouches to avoid a fast ball from West Indies bowler Wesley Hall during the second innings of the first test at Brisbane, 19 December 1960. The match resulted in a tie for the first time in Test history.
## LATE ARRIVALS FOB THE BALL
## TUNBRIDGE WELLS, JUNE 1963
Wisden called the events of the Monday morning, the second day of the game between Kent and Middlesex, 'a situation without parallel in the history of first-class cricket'. It is a cautionary tale for all cricketers who have ever travelled to a game.
On the Saturday, Middlesex played themselves into a winning position. The spinners bowled out Kent for 150, then, after losing two quick wickets, they batted to within 29 of the Kent total, seven wickets still standing. The not-out batsmen were White (43) and Hooker (13).
It was a Monday morning, and the traffic was heavy around the London Bridge area. The Middlesex players had stayed in a local Tunbridge Wells hotel for Friday night, but had spent Saturday and Sunday nights in their own beds. The traffic jams reduced them to a crawl, and the chances of the players in some cars arriving in time for the 11.30 start lessened.
Three Middlesex players were punctual. White, one of the not-out batsmen, was ready to continue his innings, Russell (already dismissed) was present, and so was Clark, the Middlesex twelfth man. White changed, put on pads and gloves and waited on the boundary for someone to partner him. The Kent team took the field and waited ... and waited ... and waited.
Where were all the Middlesex players? Perhaps they had met with accidents, or perhaps they had been scared off Tunbridge Wells by the stories of hand-grenade discoveries on the ground the previous year. Most likely, they were stuck in the traffic.
The big conundrum was how the umpires should react. What was the correct decision? Should they award the match to Kent? Could the three Middlesex players present declare in the absence of their captain and borrow eight players to take the field? Should the umpires rule out each batsman in turn if they failed to appear within the stipulated two minutes?
The solution was none of these. The umpires officially closed the Middlesex innings.
This unprecedented decision raised a few more confused questions for the compilers of averages. Was Hooker out or not out? Were the rest of the Middlesex players, excluding White, out? The answer to both these questions was no.
There followed a 10-minute interval before Middlesex took the field. Colin Cowdrey, the Kent captain, generously offered to loan players to Middlesex and allowed Clark, the Middlesex twelfth man, to keep wicket.
Three more Middlesex players arrived, which meant that only five substitutes were borrowed from Kent – Underwood, Catt, Prodger, Brown and Dye. Bennett and Price opened the bowling, and after three overs the whole of the Middlesex team was present and on the field. During that time, Prodger took an excellent catch at second slip to dismiss his team-mate Brian Luckhurst. Later in the innings, Prodger became one of the few players to score a 50 and take a catch in the same county-championship innings.
A swashbuckling innings by Peter Richardson – 95 out of 120 in 100 minutes – took Kent to a match-winning position. Middlesex, set 371 to win in 390 minutes, were 15 for one overnight. It had not been a good day for them.
Rain prevented much play on the Tuesday, and Middlesex escaped with a draw.
### KENT
P.E. Richardson b Hooker | 35 | c Murray b Titmus | 95
---|---|---|---
B.W. Luckhurst c Murray b Hooker | 26 | c Sub (Prodger) b Bennett | 4
D. Nicholls c Parfitt b Titmus | 15 | lbw b Bennett | 16
M.C. Cowdrey c and b Hooker | 8 | c Hooker b Moss | 23
S.E. Leary c Moss b Hooker | 6 | not out | 92
J. Prodger c Hooker b Titmus | 30 | c Drybrough b Hooker | 74
A.W. Catt c Moss b Titmus | 19 | c Hooker b Price | 25
A.L. Dixon c Titmus b Drybrough | 0 | c Moss b Price | 5
D. Underwood not out | 4 | not out | 6
A. Brown b Drybrough | 0 | |
J Dye lbw b Titmus | 1 | |
Extras | 6 | |
1
150 | declared 341–7
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Moss 8–2–12–0, Price 6–1–25–0, Hooker 21–6–57–4, Titmus 29.1–14–39–4, Drybrough 10–4–11–2.
_Second Innings_ ; Bennett 9–1–48–2, Price 11–0–81–2, Moss 22–7–48–1, Titmus 28–6–82–1, Drybrough 19–7–50–0, Hooker 8–0–31–1.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 53, 70, 79, 90, 91, 144, 145, 145, 145, 150. Second Innings; 5, 75, 120, 150, 270, 307, 317.
### MIDDLESEX
W.E. Russell b Dixon | 4 | lbw b Dixon | 4
---|---|---|---
S.E. Russell c Cowdrey b Brown | 3 | c Leary b Dixon | 28
P.H. Parfitt run out | 54 | c Prodger b Brown | 27
R.A. White not out | 43 | not out | 19
R.W. Hooker not out | 13 | not out | 2
Extras | 4
| |
2
|
121–3
| |
82–3
(declared closed by the umpires)
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Brown 16–2–34–1, Dixon 18–7–26–1, Dye 2–0–10–0, Underwood 9–3–33–0, Leary 7–2–14–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Brown 11–3–33–1, Dixon 8–4–15–2, Underwood 3.3–1–21–0, Dye 2–0–11–0.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 5, 9, 106. Second Innings; 5, 51, 73.
## NOTHING TO LOSE
## ELGIN, MAY 1964
In the North of Scotland League game at Elgin, the home team batted first and compiled a reasonable total of 145 for five declared. People thinking it might be a fair contest reckoned without the showing of the Ross County team, who batted a man short.
Elgin had a useful pace attack. Bernard Woolfson, from Beccles near Norwich, had twice played for Suffolk before moving to Scotland, where he worked as a Post Office sales representative. Dave Murray, employed by the Forestry Commission at Elgin, took the other end.
Up strode Woolfson for his first ball. A wicket. In came Woolfson to the new batsman. Bowled him. The number-four Ross County batsman, Oliver, survived the remaining four balls.
Now it was Murray's turn. He bowled a wicket-maiden and at the end of the second over Ross County were nought for three.
With the first ball of his new over Woolfson dismissed the stubborn Oliver. Hannant went to the fourth ball, Taylor to the sixth. Ross County were nought for six at the end of the third over.
Murray needed only one more over to finish the match. He claimed Niven's wicket with his third ball, bowled Northcliffe with his fourth and Frazer with his sixth. The ten-man Ross County team were all out for no runs. They had never really recovered from the bad start of losing two wickets with the first balls, although observers pointed out that they hadn't had much luck. One batsman had hit his own wicket, two others had played on to their stumps. They had no run of the ball ... and no run between the wickets.
Ross County won praise for their sportsmanship. Most of their away games involved travelling between 100 and 200 miles. The home team were glad their opponents had turned up so they could play cricket, let alone beat the long-standing league records for low scoring. In 1896 Kinross had scored one against Auchtermuchty, while Arbroath United had amassed two against Aberdeen in 1868. It would be difficult to beat the Ross County record, although many teams have equalled it.
A writer in the Cricketer (June 1923), believed there were already about 70 instances of scores of nought at this stage of the sport's history, the first being a game at Hampton Green in Norfolk in 1815. 'Some years later an extraordinary game was played in Derbyshire between Kegworth and Diseworth,' the writer continues. 'The latter went in first and made only a single, the hero of the innings being the vicar's groom. An easy victory for Kegworth seemed assured, but, to everyone's amazement, the side collapsed without a run.' There is also mention of a game of dubious authenticity at Chiswick in April 1899, when both teams allegedly scored no runs.
One of the more interesting examples of a team being dismissed for nought was that of Fitzroy in a Victorian Scottish Cricket Association game in 1913. Replying to Williamstown's score of 98, they lost by 98 runs, and Davidson took 10 for none. As with all such innings, the fall of wickets proves very easy to estimate.
### ELGIN
T. Manley b Oliver | 28
---|---
B. Woolfson b Hendry | 0
J. Wright b Nevin | 43
F. Muir lbw b Nevin | 8
J Leithead not out | 36
W. Phimister b Nevin | 6
R. Draggan not out | 12
Extras | 12
145–5 declared
Bowling: Hendry 15–0–53–1, Northcliffe 7–1–20–0, Nevin 11–2–42–3, Oliver 4–1–18–1.
### ROSS COUNTY
B. Kenny c Phimister b Woolfson | 0
---|---
G Shiels c Stewardson b Murray | 0
J Hendry b Woolfson | 0
W. Oliver b Woolfson | 0
J. Niven hit wkt b Murray | 0
R. Hannant lbw b Woolfson | 0
I. Taylor b Woolfson | 0
S. Bull not out | 0
J. Northcliffe b Murray | 0
N. Frazer b Murray | 0
Extras | 0
0
Bowling: Woolfson 2–2–0–5, Murray 2–2–0–4.
## NINE IN NINE BALLS
## BLENHEIM, NEW ZEALAND, DECEMBER 1967
In a two-innings match between Marlborough College 'A' and Bohally Intermediate School, a 14-year-old Marlborough College bowler called Stephen Fleming achieved the phenomenal match figures of 1.1–1–0–9. Fleming bowled nine balls in the match and took a wicket with each ball.
Bohally, batting first, spluttered along to 17 for nine when Fleming first came into the attack. He took a wicket with his first ball to close the innings. The Marlborough College team replied with 45 for nine declared.
Fleming opened the bowling in the Bohally second innings. He bowled one eight-ball over and collected eight wickets, two caught and six bowled. Bohally were nought for eight, but, in the second over, they scrambled two byes and one run off the bat.
Fleming's reward for his scintillating bowling – nine wickets in nine balls – was to be taken off. Presumably, in the less ruthless world of schoolboy cricket, this was to give Bohally a bit more of a chance. In actuality, Graham Holdaway, who had taken a hat-trick in the first innings, took the remaining two Bohally wickets inside five balls. Bohally were all out for three in 21 balls, less than three eight-ball overs.
### **Bohally**
17 and 3 (Fleming 8–0)
### **Marlborough College**
45–9 declared
## THE EMERALD GREEN WICKET
## SION MILLS, LONDONDERRY, JULY 1969
The West Indian tourists, having achieved an honourable draw in an evenly balanced Test match at Lord's, travelled across to Northern Ireland to whip the Irish in a one-day game. It was an exhausting trip, but when Basil Butcher, the West Indies captain in the absence of the injured Sobers, told his opening bats to pad up, later-order players recognized that they had a chance to recover from the journey. It was better for the game that West Indies batted first and the crowd were able to see some runs.
The experienced Carew, on his third tour of England, opened the innings with Camacho, who had made 67 and 45 in the Lord's Test. They were warmly applauded when they walked to the wicket and courteously greeted when they returned. At one for two it was still anybody's game.
Foster was an unproven member of the touring party. The run-out didn't help him establish himself. Three for three.
The situation calling for a captain's innings, Basil Butcher then joined up with the prolific Clive Lloyd, whose excellent form included a scintillating 70 in 100 minutes in the second innings at Lord's. Sure enough, they put together the best stand of the innings so far. The score had been taken to six when they were both out. Six for five.
Clyde Walcott, the West Indies manager, in his prime a superb batsman who had hit 15 Test centuries, was able to lead the recovery. It also offered him an opportunity to study, at the relatively short distance of 22 yards, why John Shepherd and Findlay were both caught for ducks. Walcott totally dominated the scoring while he was at the wicket – all six runs went to him – but all good things come to an end. Yet another catch went to hand. Twelve for eight.
A lot of responsibility rested with Roberts, the tenth West Indian batsman. When he went for nought, Ireland were in a confident position. West Indies were twelve for nine.
On a wet, green wicket, with the ball stopping and lifting, Ireland's steady medium-pacers, O'Riordan and captain Goodwin, had ripped through the West Indian batting in sensational style. This was no substandard touring team, as it included six of the previous day's Test team. Perhaps they were suffering from what Mike Brearley once referred to as 'post-Test letdown', the anti-climactic feeling after five days of adrenalin. Or perhaps the journey to Ireland had exhausted them. Or maybe Ireland were simply the better team on the day.
The West Indian quick bowlers, Shillingford and Blair, more than doubled the West Indies score with their last-wicket stand of 13. Ireland knocked off the runs for the loss of only one wicket to register an amazing victory.
In order to provide some entertainment for the crowd, Ireland batted on, then sportingly declared to give the West Indies a chance to redeem themselves. They did better in the second innings. The second wicket didn't fall until the score had reached two. Goodwin took two more wickets to record match figures of seven for seven. But a 50 by Basil Butcher restored some sense of normality.
West Indies, embarrassed by being caught on the emerald green wicket, agreed to play a two-day game while they were in Ireland. The home country, with scores of 126 and 165 for nine, held out for a draw after facing a West Indies score of 288 for five declared. The touring team's next game, in Glamorgan, saw Butcher and Lloyd stitch together a fifth-wicket partnership of 335.
West Indies, reorganizing after the break-up of the early 1960s team of Worrell, Hall, Griffith, Hunte and Solomon, lost two and drew one of that three-Test series against England. Although the game against Ireland was not first class, it provided a first-class shock and a boost for Irish cricket.
### WEST INDIES
G.S. Comacho c Dineen b Goodwin | 1 | c Dineen b Goodwin | 1
---|---|---|---
M.C. Carew c Hughes b O'Riordan | 0 | c Pigot b Duffy | 25
M.L.C. Foster run out | 2 | c Pigot b Goodwin | 0
B.F. Butcher c Duffy b O'Riordan | 2 | c Waters b Duffy | 50
C.H. Lloyd c Waters b Goodwin | 1 | not out | 0
C.L. Walcott c Anderson b O'Riordan | 6 | not out | 0
J.N. Shepherd c Duffy b Goodwin | 0 | |
T.M. Findlay c Waters b Goodwin | 0 | |
G.C. Shillingford not out | 9 | |
P. Roberts c Colhoun b O'Riordan | 0 | |
P.D. Blair b Goodwin | 3 | |
Extras | 1 | |
2
|
25 | |
78–4
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; O'Riordan 13–8–18–4, Goodwin 12.3–8–6–5.
_Second Innings_ ; O'Riordan 6–1–21–0, Goodwin 2–1–1–2, Hughes 7–4–10–0, Duffy 12–8–12–2, Anderson 7–1–32–0.
Fall of wickets: First Innings; 1, 1, 3, 6, 6, 8, 12, 12, 12, 25.
Second Innings; 1, 2, 73, 78.
### IRELAND
R.H.C. Waters c Findlay b Blair | 2
---|---
D.M. Pigot c Camacho b Shillingford | 37
M. Reith lbw b Shepherd | 10
J. Harrison lbw b Shepherd | 0
I. Anderson c Shepherd b Roberts | 7
P.J. Dineen b Shepherd | 0
A.J. O'Riordan c and b Carew | 35
G.A. Duffy not out | 15
L.F. Hughes c Sub b Carew | 13
Extras | 6
|
125–8 declared
Bowling: Blair 8–4–14–1, Shillingford 7–2–19–1, Shepherd 13–4–20–3, Roberts 16–3–43–1, Carew 3.2–0–23–2.
Fall of wickets: 19, 30, 34, 51, 55, 69, 103, 125.
## HITTING AT DUSK
## MANCHESTER, JULY 1971
On the day that the editors of Oz were convicted of four obscenity charges and the Labour Party's National Executive voted for a policy opposing Britain's entry into the Common Market, a crowd of 23,520 watched a fascinating Gillette Cup semi-final duel between Lancashire and Gloucestershire at Old Trafford. They watched until just before 9 o'clock, the last few overs being played in desperately poor light.
Lancashire, the holders of the Gillette Cup, had a team of players who were committed to the one-day ethic. Gloucestershire perhaps relied more on specific individuals, particularly the all-round skills of Mike Procter. Batting first, Gloucestershire had the expected good innings from Procter, and support from the other batsmen led to a decent total of 229 for six.
More than an hour's play was lost through rain in the period after lunch, but at 7.30, by when the weather had cleared up, the umpires exercised their right to decide that the game should be played to a finish that evening. Naturally, Gloucestershire bowled their overs more and more slowly. On the other hand they were kept in the field for a four-hour stretch with no breaks and were undoubtedly weary towards the end. The light was bad for fielders as well as batsmen.
In the 46th over, the game looked to have gone Gloucestershire's way. The freak dismissal of Farouk Engineer, who slipped and touched his wicket with his foot while driving, meant that Lancashire, at 163 for six, needed 67 to win at almost five an over in poor light. Skipper Jack Bond acted as anchor while Jack Simmons hit as well as he could see, clouting one six over long-on off John Mortimore's off-spin. When Simmons was bowled by Mortimore, at 203, Lancashire needed 27 at much the same pace, about five an over, with the light even worse – street lights were shining through the dusk around Old Trafford – and only three wickets to fall.
A story is told of how David Hughes spent time in a dark dressing-room getting used to the bad light before going out to bat. Hughes was on strike at the start of the 56th over of the match, when Lancashire needed 25 from five overs, and the bowler, John Mortimore, had hitherto conceded 57 from his 10 overs.
The onslaught launched by Hughes in that 56th over will never be erased from Lancashire folklore. Having decided, in consultation with Bond, that he must go after the slow bowler rather than Procter, he hit Mortimore for six, four, two, two, four and six – a total of 24 runs – and the scores were tied. Jack Bond scored the winning single from the fifth ball of Procter's next over, and, with Hughes, sprinted towards the lights of the pavilion to avoid the best of the back-slapping from the invading crowd.
David Hughes was acclaimed Man of the Match, almost solely for his innings in the dusk, and the cheering Lancashire crowd stayed until around 10 o'clock, providing novel, football-like scenes at Old Trafford. Elsewhere, there was some criticism of the fact that a big semi-final match had been settled in such poor conditions, but the partisan Lancashire crowd would not have had it any other way.
## POCOCK'S DRAMATIC LAST TWO OVERS
## EASTBOURNE, AUGUST 1972
Considering only 13 overs were bowled on the first day of this match, Sussex and Surrey did remarkably well to conjure up a game of ebbs and flows that eventually produced an amazing climax and several world records.
On the Saturday, Surrey made 38 without loss from those 13 overs, and when play resumed they batted well, accumulating runs at a good rate. In fact 372 runs came on the Monday, Surrey declaring after reaching 300 and Sussex ending the day on 110 for three.
Two sporting declarations set the game alight on a final day which brought well over 400 runs. Sussex, left with a target of 205 in 135 minutes, looked totally in control when Geoffrey Greenidge and Roger Prideaux put together an excellent partnership for the second wicket. At the end of the 17th of the compulsory last 20 overs, Sussex were 187 for one. It seemed a foregone conclusion that they would make 18 runs from 18 balls, and probably either Greenidge (68 not out) or Prideaux (92 not out) would make the winning hit.
The next over was bowled by Pat Pocock, the Surrey off-break bowler who played 25 Tests for England between 1967 and 1985. His first ball bowled Greenidge, and Sussex were 187 for two. His third ball bowled Michael Buss, and Sussex were 187 for three. Jim Parks took two from the fourth ball of the over, but was caught and bowled from the last. Sussex, at 189 for four, still needed 16 to win from two overs.
Robin Jackman bowled the next over. Prideaux hit the first for four and took a single from the second, then Griffith hit the fifth ball clear of the boundary. At 200 for four, the Sussex target was down to a mere five runs and Prideaux, 97 not out, was on strike.
Prideaux hit the first ball of the last over, bowled by Pocock, into the air. Jackman took the catch – 200 for five. The batsmen had crossed, so Griffith faced Pocock's next ball with the bowler on a hat-trick. The catch went to Lewis, Pocock had his hat-trick and Sussex, 200 for six, still wanted five from four balls with four wickets standing. At this rate of tumbling wickets, Surrey could still win.
Morley charged out to Pocock's third ball, and wicketkeeper Arnold Long stumped him. Pocock had four wickets in four balls, six wickets in nine balls (a world record) and Sussex still wanted those five runs.
Spencer cut the target to four when he took a single from the fourth ball but Tony Buss was bowled by the next Pocock delivery and Sussex were 201 for eight with one ball remaining. Pocock had five wickets in six balls (equalling the world record) and seven in eleven (another world record).
When Pat Pocock bowled the last ball of the match, at Joshi, it meant he had bowled seven consecutive balls at seven different batsmen. Joshi put bat to ball and there were runs. They crossed for one, and tried for two. Joshi was run out. Sussex, 202 for nine, were still three short of victory, and the game was a draw. The fall of five wickets in an over was another world first.
Incredibly, Sussex had lost eight wickets in the last 18 balls while making 15 runs. Pat Pocock bowled his last two overs for the sensational analysis of 2-0-4-7, plus a run-out. It was the most dramatic burst of wicket-taking that first-class cricket has known, made all the more unbelievable by Pocock's analysis before the start of his penultimate over, which read 14-1-63-0.
### SURREY
M.J. Edwards c Joshi b Buss (M.A.) | 81 | c Phillipson b Spencer | 6
---|---|---|---
R.M. Lewis c Greenidge b Buss (M.A.) | 72 | st Parks b Spencer | 28
D.R. Owen-Thomas c Parks b Spencer | 31 | c Griffith b Buss (M.A.) | 32
Younis Admed c Parks b Phillipson | 26 | c Buss (A.) b Joshi | 26
G.R.J. Roope not out | 43 | not out | 21
M.J. Stewart not out | 34 | not out | 1
Intikhab Alam | |
c Spencer b Joshi | 6
Extras | 13 | |
110
declared 300–4 | declared 130–5
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Spencer 22.5–4–56–1, Buss (A.) 17–3–74–0, Phillipson 13–1–37–1, Buss (M.) 15–3–58–2, Joshi 15–5–62–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Spencer 11–0–29–2, Buss (A.) 12–1–35–0, Buss (M.) 5–1–29–1, Joshi 6–0–27–2.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 130, 167, 212, 232. Second Innings; 8, 61, 95, 101, 117.
### SUSSEX
G.A. Greenidge c Long b Butcher | 6 | b Pocock | 68
---|---|---|---
P.J. Graves b Pocock | 35 | c Roope b Jackman | 14
R.M. Prideaux not out | 106 | c Jackman b Pocock | 97
M.A. Buss c Long b Pocock | 8 | b Pocock | 0
J.M. Parks c Roope b Intikhab | 29 | c and b Pocock | 2
J. Spencer lbw b Intikhab | 0 | (8) not out | 1
M.G. Griffith not out | 29 | (6) c Lewis b Pocock | 6
J.D. Morley | |
(7) st Long b Pocock | 0
A. Buss | |
b Pocock | 0
U.C. Joshi | |
run out | 1
Extras | 13 | |
13
declared 226–5 | 202–9
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Jackman 7–1–29–0, Butcher 15–4–33–1, Pocock 24–8–69–2, Intikhab 26.1–6–82–2.
_Second Innings; Jackman 13–1–62–1, Butcher 3–0–13–0, Pocock 16_ –1–67–7, Intikhab 12–2–47–0.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 12, 80, 104, 117, 190. Second Innings; 27, 187, 187, 189, 200, 200, 200, 201, 202.
## CAUGHT ON A SNOW-AFFECTED WICKET
## BUXTON, JUNE 1975
It was a game of three thirds: on the first day Lancashire made runs on a good wicket; the second day was ruled out by snow; and the third day saw Derbyshire lose wickets by the handful. Lancashire won the game by the incredible margin of an innings and 348 runs. 'I've never seen owt like it,' said Harold 'Dickie' Bird, one of the umpires.
It was a good toss to win. Only an early declaration stopped Lancashire reaching 500 on the first day. They were helped by the absence of Derbyshire's key pace bowlers, Mike Hendrick and Alan Ward. Also, Derbyshire's deputy quickies, Keith Stevenson and Mike Glenn, both adjusting badly to the altitude of Buxton, were below par with temperatures of over a hundred. Glenn went to hospital and took no further part in the match.
The Lancashire innings owed much to a superb century by Frank Hayes and even more to a sensational century, made in 130 minutes, by Clive Lloyd. After reaching 100, Lloyd hit out majestically, with seven sixes in his next 50. Lloyd and Simmons put on 171 in 72 minutes against tired bowling. When the declaration came, there was still time for two Derbyshire wickets to fall. The day brought 502 runs in 115 overs. It was the scoring pace of a previous era.
Two days later, on the Monday, there was an inch of overnight snow on the ground at 9 am. The weather forecasters for that day typically hedged their bets: 'sunny periods, scattered showers, sleet or snow on mountains; wind N, fresh or strong,' said one. It was quite understandable that forecasters should underestimate the extent of the bad weather – it was the worst summer's day of snow and sleet since 11 July 1888. There was four inches of snow on the Scottish Highlands, three inches on parts of Cumbria, and the County Championship game at Bradford was abandoned for the day without a ball being bowled. The start was delayed at Colchester.
Buxton had flurries of rain at the normal starting time, then heavy snow. At lunch time play was abandoned for the day. It was staggering that the wicket was fit to play on the following day, the Tuesday, although Derbyshire supporters must have questioned how fit it really was.
A snow-affected wicket proved to be no joke for the Derbyshire batsmen, although the weather was not in any way to blame for Morris's run-out in the first over of the day. Lancashire's Peter Lee was dangerously unplayable, making the ball lift awkwardly. He bowled 50 balls before conceding a run that day. 'Harvey-Walker, mindful of the degree of bounce, handed his false teeth to the umpire when he finally got down Lee's end,' reported Gerald Mortimer in the Derby Evening Telegraph. 'He was soon able to collect them again when he fended off and was comfortably caught by David Lloyd at short square-leg.'
On one of the most vicious pitches of recent history, Lee took four for four in the first hour of the day and Derbyshire, all out for 42, recorded the lowest total of the season. In their second innings, the Derbyshire batsmen experimented with different techniques and, although John Harvey-Walker and Alan Morris coped relatively well, Peter Lever mopped up the match with five wickets in 22 balls. Lancashire climbed into second place in the County Championship table, and Buxton moved into the annals of venues for strange matches.
### LANCASHIRE
B. Wood b Russell | 26
---|---
D. Lloyd c Swarbrook b Russell | 69
F.C. Hayes c Page b Harvey-Walker | 104
C.H. Lloyd not out | 167
A. Kennedy c Sub b Miller | 5
F.H. Engineer c Morris b Russell | 18
J. Simmons not out | 55
Extras | 33
|
477–5 declared
Bowling: Stevenson 14–3–50–0, Glenn 12–3–36–0, Russell 34–10–119–3, Swarbrook 17–1–111–0, Miller 14–0–94–1, Harvey-Walker 9–2–34–1.
Fall of Wickets: 45, 175, 240, 261, 306.
### DERBYSHIRE
A. Hill c Engineer b Lever | 0 | c Lloyd (D) b Lee | 2
---|---|---|---
J.B. Bolus c Engineer b Wood | 11 | c Shuttleworth b Hughes | 14
M.H. Page c Simmons b Lee | 13 | c Engineer b Lee | 15
A. Morris run out | 4 | c Simmons b Lever | 26
A.J. Harvey-Walker c Lloyd (D) b Lee | 7 | c Kennedy b Lever | 26
F.W. Swarbrook not out | 1 | c Engineer b Lever | 0
G. Miller c Lloyd (D) b Hughes | 2 | b Lever | 0
R.W. Taylor c Lloyd (C) b Hughes | 0 | c Lloyd (D) b Lever | 4
P.E. Russell c Kennedy b Lee | 1 | c Hayes b Hughes | 0
K. Stevenson c Engineer b Lee | 0 | not out | 0
M. Glenn absent ill | 0 | absent ill | 0
Extras | 3 | |
0
|
42 | |
87
Bowling: First Innings; Lever 8–1–18–1, Lee 13.2–11–10–4, Wood 2–2–0–1, Hughes 9–5–11–2. Second Innings; Lever 5.2–2–16–5, Lee 17–9–26–2, Hughes 12–5–26–2, Shuttleworth 6–1–16–0, Simmons 4–1–3–0.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 2, 20, 35, 35, 38, 41, 41, 42, 42. Second Innings; 7, 25, 39, 72, 72, 72, 85, 85, 87.
## 'G. DAVIS IS INNOCENT'
## LEEDS, AUGUST 1975
'What does Headingley have in store this time, I wonder?' pondered John Woodcock in The Times on the morning of the third Test between England and Australia. 'Almost always this corresponding match has something unusual about it, whether it is Australia scoring 404 in a day to win, as in 1948, or Underwood running through the Australian batting on a controversial pitch, as in 1972.'
Neither spectators nor cricket correspondents could have foreseen the unusual controversy that struck Headingley on the final day. Nothing remotely like it had happened in living memory.
As a game, this Test was interesting and intriguing, edging further and further towards an England victory until Australia staged an excellent recovery on the fourth day. Australia were one up and held the Ashes, a strong position for a series of only four Tests.
David Steele plodded through the first day – during one 90-minute period his score moved by only 10 runs – and there was some threat from Gary Gilmour's swing. On the second day, Australia slumped to 107 for eight when faced with the two English left-arm spin bowlers, the experienced Derek Underwood and the debutant Phil Edmonds. Edmonds, the 1973 Cambridge University captain, beat Ian Chappell's ungainly swing on the second ball of his second over, trapped Edwards not playing a shot next ball and added the wicket of Greg Chappell, caught at square-leg, in his next over. At tea Edmonds had three for four from 15 balls. At the end of the next session, cut short by rain, he had five for 17 from 12 overs.
Another persevering innings by Steele on the third day – an unbeaten 59 in 210 minutes – provided the anchor for England's overnight lead of 337 and a match-winning position. Shortly before lunch on the fourth day, Australia went in for a second time needing 445 to win, but the ball wasn't turning as much and the wicket was more placid. At the close the game was beautifully poised. Australia needed another 225 with seven wickets remaining.
The storm broke the next morning, at 6.50, when the Headingley groundsman rolled back the covers on the wicket. During the night, unseen by the police patrol, someone had climbed the wall, run on to the pitch and crawled under the covers, pouring oil over the wicket (right on a good length) and digging three-inch holes with kitchen knives and forks. On the outside wall were slogans proclaiming that George Davis was innocent. Until that day, few people were aware that George Davis, a 34-year-old London mini-cab driver, was serving a 17-year jail sentence for his alleged part in a robbery in which a policeman was shot. Within a week the name 'George Davis' was common knowledge.
The campaign to free George Davis had already been in action a year without being able to reopen the case. It was now stepped up: slogans at the Central Criminal Court, sit-down protests, a march to Downing Street, campaigners chained to the Monument and demonstrating on the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, and naked displays at an East London boating lake. The campaign leader, Peter Chappell (no relation to Ian, Greg or Trevor), was given an 18-month jail sentence at Birkenhead in January 1976 for his Leeds and London graffiti prose and for topping up the Headingley pitch with oil. When cricket fans now referred to the Chappells they had to define exactly who they were talking about.
Captains, managers and umpires converged on the Headingley wicket around 9 o'clock on the morning of the final day of the Third Test. The groundsman felt he could repair the holes in the wicket, but oil was a different matter. The only possible way of continuing the game was if the captains, Tony Greig and Ian Chappell, could agree on another strip of wicket of similar wear. Greig was happy to do this. Understandably, Chappell could not comply, and the game was abandoned. Loss of gate receipts and scorecard sales probably amounted to nearly £6,000, but it was unlikely that the game could have been finished anyway. At noon it rained.
Nine months later, after serving two years of his sentence, George Davis was released from jail by the Home Secretary. In July 1978 he was back in jail, sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for an armed raid on a bank the previous September. He pleaded guilty to this offence, which helped reduce his sentence to 11 years on appeal. In January 1987, soon after his release from the bank-raid sentence, he was sent to prison for 18 months for an attempt to rob a mail-train. Again he pleaded guilty.
Groundsmen at Headingley contemplate damage done to the pitch as police stand guard. On the eve of the final day's play in the 1975 Ashes Test, Australia were poised at 220-3, 225 runs short of England's total. Overnight a group of supporters of convicted armed robber George Davis broke into the ground at Headingley, daubed the slogan 'George Davis is Innocent' on a wall, crawled under the covers and vandalised the pitch, digging up the crease and pouring oil onto the wicket. The match was subsequently abandoned.
## THE TEN-MINUTE GAME
## WORCESTER, MAY 1979
The first thing to do, in order to understand this strange match, is to scrutinize the Benson & Hedges Group A Table on the morning of 24 May, the day of the match between Worcestershire and Somerset. Somerset captain Brian Rose and his team-mates certainly did so that Thursday morning. The table looked like this:
Two teams from the group would qualify for the quarterfinal. Should any two teams finish level on points, the tie-breaker was their rate of wicket-taking. The statistics showed that Somerset were certain to qualify unless Worcestershire beat them that day AND Glamorgan beat the Minor Counties (South) in their final game AND both Worcester and Glamorgan significantly improved their wicket-taking rates so that they were superior to Somerset's.
The weather was poor that week. After Worcestershire's John Player Sunday League game had been washed out without a ball bowled, the groundstaff at New Road had been forced to work 12 hours a day in a bid to prepare a wicket while there was more rain. Extra work was caused by an accident with the roller damaging the first strip cut for the Cup game.
No play was possible on Wednesday 23 May, the day scheduled for the Worcestershire-Somerset Benson & Hedges game. The next morning, the weather was still unpredictable, and the start was delayed. Brian Rose was concerned about the weather. He was also concerned about guaranteeing Somerset's place in the quarter final. The 28-year-old left-handed opening bat was a shrewd captain who had seen Somerset to a Gillette Cup Final the previous year. Somerset were on the verge of great success – in 1979 they won the Gillette Cup and the John Player League – and Rose, who had already played five Test matches, was tipped as a possible future England captain.
In this match Brian Rose 'sacrificed all known cricketing principles', to use Wisden's words. With the support of his team-mates, Rose declared after the first over, which produced one no-ball, thereby deliberately putting Somerset in a losing position. Worcestershire scored the required two runs without loss. The ten-minute game (not counting the ten minutes between innings) produced 3 runs from 17 balls.
Rose's decision was made to protect Somerset's wicket-taking rate in case they lost the game and all the other events worked out to their detriment. He recognized it was unusual practice, but he wasn't at fault, it was legal. There was nothing in the rules to prevent him declaring.
The 100 paying spectators were outraged, even when Worcestershire refunded their money. Some had been waiting around for a day and a half to see a game of cricket. Two farmers had travelled from Devon, a round trip of 300 miles. A teacher had brought a party of 15 schoolchildren to reward them for their good work at school, and another man had spent two days of his holiday on the ground. The groundstaff had worked diligently to prepare the pitch for a day's use. The only humour came from those shocked spectators who tried to work out who would receive the gold medal. Vanburn Holder's maiden over was okay, and Glenn Turner's matchwinning two singles made him a strong candidate. In the event it was felt 'improper' to make a gold medal award.
Words like 'disgrace to cricket', 'farce' and 'not the spirit of the game' were bandied about, and the Test & County Cricket board met to hold an inquiry. All the time Rose insisted his action was in accordance with the rules and his first duty was to Somerset. His committee supported him, although individuals made it clear that it wouldn't happen again.
On 1 June the Test & County Cricket Board ruled that Somerset should be expelled from that season's Benson & Hedges competition for not complying with the spirit of cricket. Worcestershire and Glamorgan, whose game with Minor Counties (South) was washed out, qualified for the quarter-final, but Essex won the trophy and the £6,500 prize money. The rules were amended to prevent declarations, and Somerset won two of the next three Benson & Hedges competitions.
### SOMERSET
B.C. Rose not out | 0
---|---
P.W. Denning not out | 0
Extras | 1
|
1–0 (declared)
Bowling: Holder 1–1–0–0
### WORCESTERSHIRE
G.M. Turner not out | 2
---|---
J.A. Ormrod not out | 0
Extras | 0
|
2–0
Bowling: Dredge 1–0–1–0, Jennings 0.4–0–1–0.
The other players 'participating' were P.M. Roebuck, I.V.A. Richards, I.T. Botham, V.J. Marks, D. Breakwell, D.J.S. Taylor and H.R. Moseley (Somerset) and P.A. Neale, E.J.O. Hemsley, Younis Ahmed, D.N. Patel, D.J. Humphries, J.D. Inchmore, N. Gifford and A.P. Pridgeon (Worcestershire).
## UNDERHAND BOWLING
## MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, FEBRUARY 1981
The World Series Final between Australia and New Zealand was the best of five 50-over games. This was the third, and the score stood at one each, New Zealand having won the first by 78 runs and Australia taking the second by seven wickets. This game would be remembered for two unsavoury incidents, the second of which, Greg Chappell's infamous 'underarm bowling' instruction, provoked opinions from virtually everybody interested in cricket.
The first incident, in the 31st over, also involved Greg Chappell, the Australian captain. The Australians were going well, 131 for one, when Chappell, whose score was on 52, pulled Cairns in the air towards mid-wicket. Snedden ran 30 yards full pelt, launched himself forward and caught the ball low down. Unfortunately, the umpires were not watching – they said later that they were studying the creases for run-outs and short runs – and when Chappell would not take Snedden's word that it was a clean catch, the umpires consulted and ruled 'not out'. As Adrian McGregor put it in his biography Greg Chappell, the umpires gave him 'the benefit of their ignorance'. The television replays showed that Snedden's word was pretty good.
When Chappell was caught for a second time, a brilliant piece of fielding by Edgar, he tucked his bat under his arm and walked off without hesitation. His innings of 90, made from 123 balls, together with Graeme Wood's 72, formed the backbone of Australia's total of 235 for four.
New Zealand's consistent openers, John Wright and Bruce Edgar, played solidly and kept their team in contention. At the start of the final over, New Zealand, 221 for six, needed 15 to win but Edgar was stranded at the non-striker's end with a century to his name. The crucial over was bowled by Trevor Chappell, brother of the Australian captain. Richard Hadlee hit the first ball for four but was out to the second. Eleven were needed from four balls. Ian Smith, the wicket-keeper, hit the third for two and the fourth for two. New Zealand wanted seven from two balls. Smith swung at the fifth ball of the over and was bowled by Trevor Chappell.
The number-ten batsman, Brian McKechnie, needed to hit a first-ball six to tie the game and force a replay. What were the chances? Well, McKechnie was an All-Black rugby player, a beefy bowler who might perhaps fluke a six-hit, so Greg Chappell came up with his controversial policy. He instructed his brother to bowl underarm, which was still permitted in Australian one-day games (until the following week) but was outlawed in England's one-day games. Greg Chappell obviously had a lot of confidence in his brother's ability to bowl a block-hole 'yorker' to a non-specialist batsman.
Chappell consulted with umpire Don Weser, and Weser checked with his colleague, Peter Cronin. McKechnie thought they were confirming it was the last ball. Then he was informed of what was about to happen.
Trevor Chappell bowled underarm, and the crowd of 53,000 roared as the ball bounced immediately in front of Chappell and ran along the ground to McKechnie. The New Zealand tail-ender simply blocked the ball and then threw his bat (overarm) in disgust. From the non-striker's end, Edgar raised two fingers. Australia won by six runs but their dressing-room was very quiet after the game.
The action was followed by outrage. New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon called it an act of cowardice appropriate to a team playing in yellow. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser felt Chappell had made a mistake, and the skipper later regretted his decision.
The Australian Cricket Board made a clear statement: 'The Board deplores Greg Chappell's action and has advised him of the Board's strong feelings on this matter and of his responsibilities as Australia's captain to uphold the spirit of the game at all times. We acknowledge that his action was within the laws of the game, but that it was totally contrary to the spirit in which cricket has been, and should be, played.'
A couple of days later, after his innings of 87 had set up Australia's winning 3–1 margin, Greg Chappell was voted Man of the World Series.
### AUSTRALIA
A.R. Border c Parker b Hadlee | 5
---|---
G.M. Woods b McEwan | 72
G.S. Chappell c Edgar b Snedden | 90
M.F. Kent c Edgar b Snedden | 33
R.W. Marsh not out | 18
K.D. Walters not out | 6
Extras | 11
|
235–4 (50 overs)
Bowling: Hadlee 10–0–41–1, Snedden 10–0–52–2, Cairns 10–0–34–0, McKechnie 10–0–54–0, McEwan 7–1–31–1, Howarth 3–0–12–0.
### NEW ZEALAND
J.G. Wright c Kent b G. Chappell | 42
---|---
B.A. Edgar not out | 102
G.P. Howarth c Marsh b G. Chappell | 18
B.L. Cairns b Beard | 12
M.G. Burgess c T. Chappell b G. Chappell | 2
P.E. McEwan c Wood b Beard | 11
J.M. Parker c T. Chappell b Lillee | 24
R.J. Hadlee lbw b T. Chappell | 4
I.D.S. Smith b T. Chappell | 4
B.J. McKechnie not out | 0
Extras | 10
|
229–8 (50 overs)
Bowling: Lillee 10–1–34–1, Walker 10–0–35–0, Beard 10–0–50–2, G. Chappell 10–0–43–3, T. Chappell 10–0–57–2.
## FOLLOWING-ON AT HEADINGLEY
## LEEDS, JULY 1981
England were losing one-nil to Australia, and this was the third of six Test matches in the series. Ian Botham had given way to Mike Brearley as England captain, but, at the end of the third day's play, having followed on 227 runs behind, England were staring defeat in the face, six for one in their second innings. At that point, Ladbroke's were offering 500-1 for an England victory.
On the first two days, England dropped catches, but Botham's six wickets ensured that Australia, progressing slowly, didn't get too far away. It looked far enough, especially when batting proved difficult on Saturday 18 July, the birthdate of W.G. Grace, Gary Sobers and Dennis Lillee, the last a key figure in the bowling out of England for 174.
The second innings was no better. The ball was still dodging about and Australia had ideal bowlers for the conditions in Lillee, Terry Alderman and Geoff Lawson. In sprite of resolute resistance from Geoff Boycott – 46 in 215 minutes – England slumped to 135 for seven, still 92 behind.
The next 35 overs saw England add 216 runs. Ian Botham and Graham Dilley agreed that they saw little point in trying to hang around for a couple of days. 'Let's give it some humpty,' Botham apparently said, in a famous mid-wicket conference. Dilley held his own with Botham, making 56 of their aggressive partnership of 117. This was a bit of a surprise. In the West Indies, the previous winter, Dilley had made 11 runs in seven innings. The Botham-Dilley stand came within eight of Hendren and Larwood's eighth-wicket England partnership against Australia. At the time, Botham and Dilley were just having a bit of fun.
England's number ten, Chris Old, was known to be suspect against fast bowling, but he pluckily kept the momentum going. Botham, now in full swing, using a bat borrowed from Graham Gooch, went from 36 to 100 by means of 14 fours, a six and two singles. When Old was out, for 29, Botham shielded Bob Willis, the last man, to the extent that Willis faced only five balls in the last 20 minutes of play that Monday. Willis made one of the 31 runs that came in that period.
The next morning, the stand ended at 37, with England 129 ahead. It had been a brave resurrection of the game – England players later confessed that they had checked out of their hotel rooms and had to rebook for Monday night – but Australia were still expected to make the 130 for victory. What shifted the mood England's way, however, was the psychological effect of Botham's innings.
An hour's play saw Australia at 56 for one. Seventy minutes later they were 75 for eight. The dramatic change had come from Bob Willis's second spell, bowled with the wind from the Kirkstall Lane end. Recognizing that his England career was on the line, Willis put everything into that spell, and was rewarded with lift and life from the wicket. Chappell, Yallop and Hughes were all caught by close fielders after trying to fend off rising deliveries.
Lilley and Bright frustrated England with an eighth-wicket partnership of 35 in only four overs. Lillee hooked Willis, the ball bobbed up, Gatting ran ten yards from mid-on and dived to hold the catch close to the ground. Bright was bowled by Willis, and England had won an unbelievable victory by 18 runs. It was only the second time in history that a Test had been won by a team following-on. The series was poised at one-one, and Brearley's team would recover enough to win it.
### AUSTRALIA
J. Dyson b Dilley | 102 | (2) c Taylor b Willis | 34
---|---|---|---
G.M. Wood lbw b Botham | 34 | (1) c Taylor b Botham | 10
T.M. Chappell c Taylor b Willey | 27 | c Taylor b Willis | 8
K.J. Hughes c and b Botham | 89 | c Botham b Willis | 0
R.J. Bright b Dilley | 7 | (8) b Willis | 19
G.N. Yallop c Taylor b Botham | 58 | (5) c Gatting b Willis | 0
A.R. Border lbw b Botham | 8 | (6) b Old | 0
R.W. Marsh b Botham | 28 | (7) c Dilley b Willis | 4
G.F. Lawson c Taylor b Botham | 13 | c Taylor b Willis | 1
D.K. Lillee not out | 3 | c Gatting b Willis | 17
T.M. Alderman not out | 0 | not out | 0
Extras | 32 | |
18
|
401–9 declared
| |
111
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Willis 30–8–72–0, Old 43–14–91–0, Dilley 27–4–78–2, Botham 39.2–11–95–6, Willey 13–2–31–1, Boycott 3–2–2–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Botham 7–3–14–1, Dilley 2–0–11–0, Willis 15.1–3–43–8, Old 9–1–21–1, Willey 3–1–4–0.
Fall of Wickets; First Innings; 55, 149, 196, 220, 332, 354, 357, 396, 401. Second Innings; 13, 56, 58, 58, 65, 68, 74, 75, 110, 111.
### ENGLAND
G.A. Gooch lbw b Alderman | 2 | c Alderman b Lillee | 0
---|---|---|---
G. Boycott b Lawson | 12 | lbw b Alderman | 46
J.M. Brearley c Marsh b Alderman | 10 | c Alderman b Lillee | 14
D.I. Gower c Marsh b Lawson | 24 | c Border b Aderman | 9
M.W. Gatting lbw b Lillee | 15 | lbw b Alderman | 1
P. Willey b Lawson | 8 | c Dyson b Lillee | 33
I.T. Botham c Marsh b Lillee | 50 | not out | 149
R.W. Taylor c Marsh b Lillee | 5 | c Bright b Alderman | 1
G.R. Dilley c and b Lillee | 13 | b Alderman | 56
C.M. Old c Border b Alderman | 0 | b Lawson | 29
R.G.D. Willis not out | 1 | c Border b Alderman | 2
Extras | 34 | |
16
|
174 | |
356
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Lillee 18.5–7–49–4, Alderman 19–4–59–3, Lawson 13–3–32–3.
_Second Innings_ ; Lillee 25–6–94–3, Alderman 35.3–6–135–6, Lawson 23–4–96–1, Bright 4–0–15–0.
Fall of Wickets: _First Innings_ ; 12, 40, 42, 84, 87, 112, 148, 166, 167, 174.
_Second Innings_ ; 0, 18, 37, 41, 105, 133, 135, 252, 319, 356.
## THE LOWEST TOTAL OF MODERN TIMES
## CHELMSFORD, MAY 1983
That section of Wisden listing 'lowest totals', including only innings of less than 20 runs, had stayed the same for more than 20 years. There had been no British contribution since Hampshire's infamous 15 at Edgbaston in 1922, although West Indies' 25 in Ireland (in 1969) threatened inclusion and Yorkshire's 23 at Middlesbrough (against Hampshire in 1965) gave a hint that anything could still happen. Yorkshire were the team of the 1960s ... but not during that hour.
In the Essex-Surrey fixture at Chelmsford, time was lost on the first day. On the Monday, a Bank Holiday, Essex worked their way to a total of 287, thanks to a flawless century by Keith Fletcher and support from almost everyone. The Surrey bowlers had to work hard for their wickets.
Surrey had time for 65 minutes' batting. It was a sensational spell. Norbert Philip and Neil Foster bowled 87 balls and took 10 wickets between them. Butcher was caught behind down the leg side. Needham, Knight and Lynch went to ordinary-looking defensive shots. Clinton, top-scoring with six, was caught behind down the leg side and Richards was caught in the gully. Thomas and Payne soon followed and Surrey were eight for eight.
Monkhouse then edged the ball awkwardly through the slips and ran two to take Surrey to double figures. Sylvester Clarke clobbered a four to mid-wicket and 14 was on the board. Then Clarke was yorked, Monkhouse was out, and Surrey had achieved a modern-day record by registering their lowest total in history. It was a phenomenal success for the two Essex bowlers, who swung the ball menacingly and didn't meet much decent batting resistance. Philip's staggering figures of 7.3–4–4–6 speak for themselves, but Essex perhaps derived more satisfaction from the performance of 21-year-old Foster, who had spent the summer of 1982 in a plaster-cast after suffering a spinal stress-fracture. Now he was back to the form that had won him acclaim when, still a schoolboy, he took three good Kent wickets on his debut in 1980.
The next day was, in its own way, relatively strange. Following heavy rain, the start was delayed until 12.30, but Surrey were 20 for two at lunch and still in deep trouble. Then, out of all proportion with what had gone before, Clinton and Knight batted through the remaining three and a half hours and the game petered out into a draw. Essex had seven bonus points, Surrey four. The latter were for bowling.
### ESSEX
G.A. Gooch b Thomas | 1
---|---
B.R. Hardie b Clarke | 16
K.W.R. Fletcher c Lynch b Monkhouse | 110
K.S. McEwan c Lynch b Knight | 45
K.R. Pont b Pocock | 12
N. Philip b Pocock | 8
S. Turner c and b Knight | 20
R.E. East c Lynch c Clarke | 19
D.E. East c Butcher b Pocock | 17
N.A. Foster not out | 19
D.L. Acfield run out | 0
Extras | 20
|
287
Bowling: Clarke 20–3–58–2, Thomas 20–2–78–1, Monkhouse 13–2–49–1, Knight 17–6–33–2, Pocock 19.5–6–49–3.
Fall of Wickets: 1, 27, 113, 156, 179, 222, 238, 252, 276, 287.
### SURREY
A.R. Butcher c East (D.) b Phillip | 2 | c Gooch b Foster | 5
---|---|---|---
G.S. Clinton c East (D.) b Foster | 6 | not out | 61
A. Needham b Foster | 0 | lbw b Philip | 4
R.D.V. Knight lbw b Philip | 0 | not out | 101
M.A. Lynch lbw b Philip | 0 | |
C.J. Richards c Turner b Philip | 0 | |
D.J. Thomas lbw b Foster | 0 | |
I.R. Payne b Philip | 0 | |
G. Monkhouse lbw b Philip | 2 | |
S.T. Clarke b Foster | 4 | |
P. Pocock not out | 0 | |
Extras | 0 | |
14
|
14 | |
185–2
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Philip 7.3–4–4–6, Foster 7–3–10–4.
_Second Innings_ ; Philip 13–2–39–1, Foster 13–2–33–1, Turner 7–3–16–0, Gooch 22–6–45–0, Acfield 17–7–23–0, East (R.) 1–0–5–0. Pont 5–1–10–0.
Fall of Wickets: _First Innings_ ; 2, 5, 6, 8, 8, 8, 8, 14, 14.
_Second Innings_ : 5, 18.
## THE REVIVAL OF THE FAMILY GAME
## HUISH CHAMPFLOWER, SOMERSET, APRIL 1984
From cricket's earliest times, there have been strange games where one or more of the teams is composed of members of a single family. In 1867, for instance, 11 of Lord Lyttelton's family played Bromsgrove Grammar School. The family team won by 10 wickets, or, if you prefer, by 10 Lytteltons.
Alfred Gaston, writing a short piece on cricket curiosities in J.H. Lester's Bat v Ball, gives over 30 examples of family teams in the last century. There are probably far more.
The most famous family team was that of the Robinson family, based around Bakewell House, near Flax Bourton in Somerset, the home of Sidney Robinson, MP. Between 1878 and 1914, the Robinson family played 105 games, winning 53, losing 43 and drawing nine, the highlight of the season being the annual game against the Flax Bourton team. The first one resulted in an exciting one-wicket win for the Robinsons.
The family's games were usually watched by another 50 Robinsons. The early cornerstone of the team was Arthur Robinson, who was captain for 26 years. He was succeeded by Theodore Robinson, who played in all 105 Robinson games up to World War One.
The most bizarre scorecards are those resulting from games between two family teams. Very occasionally the two teams are related by marriage, as was the case with the Grace v Robinson game of 13 August 1891. Annie Robinson, daughter of Alfred Robinson, had married Dr E.M. Grace.
The Graces batted first, and the details of their innings are shown here.
Dr E.M. Grace b Robinson (C.J.) | 81
---|---
Mr W. G. Grace, jun, b Robinson (W) | 36
Mr A.H. Grace, b Robinson (T) | 10
Mr Arthur Grace bw b Robinson (W) | 6
Mr G.H. Grace c Robinson (E) b Robinson (W) | 25
Dr W.G. Grace b Robinson (T) | 12
Dr A. Grace run out | 0
Dr M. Grace b Robinson (T) | 0
Mr Gerald Grace c Robinson (A) b Robinson (W) | 1
Mr E.S.H. Grace not out | 1
Mr Francis Grace c and b Robinson (W) | 0
Extras | 12
184
The two most famous Graces, E.M. and Dr W.G., had opened the innings for Gloucestershire earlier that week, but W.G. was not having a particularly good season. The total of 184 meant that the Robinsons were more than a match for the Graces. At 101 for one, they looked set for an easy victory but a collapse led to them losing by 37 runs. By the end of that 1891 season, the Robinsons had played 44 games over a 13-year period, winning 30 and losing 13. They could call on half a dozen first-class cricketers, such as Cres Robinson of Somerset, who topped the Robinson batting averages. Theodore himself played a few games for Somerset.
To show how long the idea of the family game endured, let's move on to the 1930s, past the peak of the Robinson era. In August 1931, for instance, there was a game played at Knockholt, in Kent, between 11 of the Smithers family and 11 Streatfeilds, members of a well-known Kent cricket family. Like all these events, the scorecard was an oddity itself.
### SMITHERS
P.W. Smithers b Streatfeild (H.G.C.) | 0
---|---
R.L. Smithers st Streatfeild (G.E.S.) b Streatfeild (H.G.C.) | 46
H. Smithers c Streatfeild (G.) b Streatfeild (G.G.C.) | 36
P.W. Smithers b Streatfeild (G.) | 0
J.F. Smithers run out | 4
M. Smithers b Streatfeild (G.G.C.) | 18
D.W. Smithers not out | 62
B.L. Smithers b Streatfeild (G.G.C.) | 1
W. Smithers st Streatfeild (G.E.S.) b Streatfeild (H.G.C.) | 14
L. Smithers c Streatfeild (A.H.O.) b Streatfeild (G.) | 4
A.J.L. Smithers c Streatfeild (H.G.C.) b Streatfeild (G.) | 3
Extras | 11
|
199
### STREATFEILD
H.G.C. Streatfeild b Smithers (R.L) | 4
---|---
J.C. Streatfeild lbw Smithers (W) | 0
A.H.O. Streatfeild st Smithers (D.W.) b Smithers (W.) | 57
G.G.C. Streatfeild b Smithers (R.L) | 88
G.H. Streatfeild st Smithers (D.W.) b Smithers (R.L.) | 4
G.H.M. Streatfeild c Smithers (L.) b Smithers (W.) | 3
H.C. Streatfeild b Smithers (R.L.) | 6
G.E.S. Streatfeild b Smithers (W.) | 2
G. Streatfeild c Smithers (J.F.) b Smithers (P.) | 5
E. Streatfeild c Smithers (R.L.) b Smithers (W.) | 0
J.A. Streatfeild not out | 5
Extras | 18
|
192
Since the 1930s, family games have continued to appear sporadically on fixture lists – the Edrich family team has been able to call on generations of professional cricketers, and the Snowdon family played games in Cornwall in the 1970s – but a more formal revival of the formula has taken place in the 1980s.
In November 1983, a family called Buckingham, five of whom played for Huish Champflower in the West Somerset League, claimed they would be more than a match for any other cricketing family. They could field a team from the father, Stan Buckingham, seven sons and three cousins, most of whom lived in the hills near Exmoor. Eric Coombes of the Somerset County Gazette felt that if the Buckinghams could get another family to play them, then his newspaper might put up a trophy. A fellow from Cutcomb called Matravers said he had enough brothers to make a game of it. The Cup was purchased and on a cold day late in April 1984 the Buckingham family met the Matravers family at Huish Champflower.
The Buckingham-Matravers game is now played alternately at Cutcomb and Huish Champflower. It revives a tradition in an area with a rich history of family games. Says Eric Coombes: 'The next thing would be Buckingham v Buckingham.'
That would be a really strange scorecard. In the meantime, here is the historic scorecard, kindly supplied by Mary Elworthy, from the Buckingham-Matravers game played on Sunday 29 April, 1984, the first game of the series.
### BUCKINGHAM
A. Buckingham ct Matravers (E) b Matravers (C) | 31
---|---
S. Buckingham ct Matravers (F) b Matravers (B) | 84
P. Buckingham lbw Matravers (C) | 2
T. Buckingham ct Matravers (C) b Matravers (P) | 3
B. Buckingham ct Matravers (An) b Matravers (P) | 7
D. Buckingham not out | 31
R. Buckingham ct Matravers (K) b Matravers (B) | 0
J. Buckingham b Matravers (F) | 9
N. Buckingham ct Matravers (D) b Matravers (Ad) | 0
St. Buckingham b Matravers (Ad) | 0
M. Buckingham b Matravers (Ad) | 0
Extras | 9
176
Bowling: Matravers (C) 8–0–40–2, Matravers (F) 10–1–34–1, Matravers (P) 7–1–34–2, Matravers (J) 4–0–30–0, Matravers (B) 2–0–13–2, Matravers (Ad) 3.2–0–16–3.
Fall of Wickets: 59, 65, 85, 99, 146, 146, 171, 172, 172, 176.
### MATRAVERS
B. Matravers lbw b Buckingham (D) | 12
---|---
D. Matravers ct Buckingham (J) b Buckingham (P) | 1
C. Matravers ct Buckingham (P) b Buckingham (S) | 49
J. Matravers ct Buckingham (T) b Buckingham (R) | 43
F. Matravers run out | 11
E. Matravers c Buckingham (A) b Buckingham (D) | 15
P. Matravers lbw b Buckingham (D) | 1
G. Matravers b Buckingham (P) | 3
K. Matravers c Buckingham (R) b Buckingham (D) | 8
An. Matravers b Buckingham (D) | 1
Ad. Matravers not out | 1
Extras | 14
|
159
Bowling: Buckingham (D) 11.3–3–21–5, Buckingham (P) 10–2–26–2, Buckingham (R) 8–0–48–1, Buckingham (S) 7–0–37–1, Buckingham (N) 1–0–9–0, Buckingham (J) 1–0–4–0.
Fall of Wickets: 3, 19, 93, 118, 125, 132, 143, 149, 150, 159.
## THE BRAMBLE BANK GAME
## THE SOLENT, SEPTEMBER 1984
Twice a year, for about an hour on each occasion, a sandbar surfaces in the middle of the Solent, the stretch of water between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The sandbar is Bramble Bank, which generally hides under the water and provides a treacherous navigation hazard for ocean-going vessels. Many have run aground on Bramble Bank.
At the spring equinox and autumn equinox, when the water is at its lowest, Bramble Bank appears, bubbling through, slowly exposing itself, creating an island of about two acres. Those two separate hours, one in March, one in September, are the best times of the year for a cricket game, unless someone would like to devise an underwater game between two teams of divers.
Small-island cricket games have often been played to establish British sovereignty – the Goodwin Sands has a long history of games, and, in February 1988, two boys launched a British claim for a new island of washed-up shingle off the Isle of Wight coast – but they have also been played by lovers of the absurd for a bit of fun.
The Bramble Bank game has a lengthy history, albeit intermittent, dating back to the early part of the century. When yachtsman Uffa Fox organized a game in 1954, he was reviving an idea which had been dormant for 32 years since the previous game. Fox's team, usings oars as bats, scored 29 and beat a team from Parkhurst Prison (mainly officers and their relatives) by seven runs. The winners had a slight advantage as only seven of the Parkhurst team were able to land.
In 1966 an air-cushion craft took the players to the sandbank, and Uffa Fox's team beat Cowes Cricket Club by three runs. The venue will always be a more natural habitat for a sailor than a landlubberly fast bowler. There haven't been too many green wickets at Bramble Bank over the years, but nor have runs been very easy to come by.
After Uffa Fox's 1972 game against Colin Cowdrey's XI, there was a gap of 12 years. Then the Royal Southern Yacht Club (Hamble) challenged the Island Sailing Club (Cowes). The two teams waited around in a flotilla of small boats until the island emerged from the water. They landed and took the field wearing wellingtons and whites. The Island Sailing Club batted first and made 24 all out – good sailors, poor cricketers. The mainland club knocked off the required runs, the winning hit being a six and lost ball.
### **Island Sailing Club**
24
### **Royal Southern Yacht Club**
25 for two.
The Brambles Cricket match in the middle of the Solent. Members of the Island Sailing Club and the Royal Southern Yacht Club play cricket on The Brambles sandbank on August 31, 2008. The sandbank is playable for only an hour or two each year.
## A TIGHT FINISH
## MADRAS, SEPTEMBER 1986
Australia dominated the first four days of the Test against India, the first of the series, but a sporting declaration by Australian captain Allan Border, setting India 348 to win in 87 overs, acted as a catalyst for a spectacular finish.
Over the first two and bit days, Australia accumulated their highest Test score in India – 574 for seven declared. David Boon, 21 fours in 122, provided an excellent example, Dean Jones became the first Australian to score a Test double-century in India, nightwatchman Bright did well, and Border himself chipped in with a century after taking 44 minutes to make his first run.
India, in trouble at 245-7, when they were still 129 short of avoiding the follow-on, were grateful for a sparkling century from their captain, Kapil Dev. The follow-on was avoided, and Australia ended the fourth day on 170 for five.
Border surprised many people by declaring at that overnight score, and even more were questioning his wisdom at lunch (India 94 for one) and at tea (India 193 for two). Only 155 were needed from 30 overs, and eight wickets still to fall. The odds had shifted towards India, and Border was responsible.
Although Kapil Dev fell quickly this time, the target was whittled down. Another 17 with four wickets in hand was well within range. Then Sharma was caught on the boundary, and More and Yadav were dismissed playing attacking shots against Bright, the slow left-armer. Eight balls left, four runs to win, and in came the turban-clad figure of 21-year-old Maninder Singh, the last man, a slow left-arm bowler whose major career batting success had been an innings of six, not out, against Worcestershire.
Bright had two balls of an over to bowl. Maninder Singh kept them out. The truculent Greg Matthews bounced up to bowl his off-breaks, the last over of the match. Ravi Shastri, unbeaten on 45, faced the first three balls. He put one away for two, another for a single. The scores were tied, but Shastri was at the wrong end.
Matthews to Maninder Singh. Bat on ball. No run. Two balls to come. Matthews to Maninder Singh again. Ball on pad. Bat on pad. Noise. The loudest appeal the throaty Aussies could muster. The umpire's finger was raised, and the game was a tie.
### AUSTRALIA
D.C. Boon c Kapil Dev b Sharma | 122 | lbw b Maninder | 49
---|---|---|---
G.R. Marsh c Kapil Dev b Yadav | 22 | b Shastri | 11
D.M. Jones b Yadav | 210 | c Azharuddin b Maninder | 24
R.J. Bright c Shastri b Yadav | 30 | |
A.R. Border c Gavaskar b Shastri | 106 | b Maninder | 27
G.M. Ritchie run out | 13 | c Pandit b Shastri | 28
G.R.J. Matthews c Pandit b Yadav | 44 | not out | 27
S.R. Waugh not out | 12 | not out | 2
Extras | 15 | |
2
declared 574–7 | declared 170–5
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; Kapil Dev 18–5–52–0, Sharma 16–1–70–1, Maninder Singh 39–8–135–0, Yadav 49.5–9–142–4, Shastri 47–8–161–1, Srikkanth 1–0–6–0.
_Second Innings_ ; Kapil Dev 1–0–5–0, Sharma 6–0–19–0, Maninder Singh 19–2–60–3, Yadav 9–0–35–0, Shastri 14–2–50–2
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 48, 206, 282, 460, 481, 544, 574. Second Innings; 21, 81, 94, 125, 155.
### INDIA
S.M. Gavaskar c and b Matthews | 8 | c Jones b Bright | 90
---|---|---|---
K Srikkanth c Ritchie b Matthews | 53 | c Waugh b Matthews | 39
M. Amarnath run out | 1 | c Boon b Matthews | 51
M. Azharuddin c and b Bright | 50 | c Ritchie b Bright | 42
R.J. Shastri c Zoehrer b Matthews | 62 | (7) not out | 48
C.S. Pandit c Waugh b Matthews | 35 | (5) b Matthews | 39
Kapil Dev c Border b Matthews | 119 | (6) c Bright b Matthews | 1
K.S. More c Zoehrer b Waugh | 4 | (9) lbw b Bright | 0
C. Sharma c Zoehrer b Reid | 30 | (8) c McDermott b Bright | 23
N.S. Yadav c Border b Bright | 19 | b Bright | 8
Maninder Singh not out | 0 | lbw b Matthews | 0
Extras | 16 | |
6
|
397 | |
347
Bowling: _First Innings_ ; McDermott 14–2–59–0, Reid 18–4–93–1, Matthews 28.2–3–103–5, Bright 23–3–88–2, Waugh 11–2–44–1.
_Second Innings_ ; McDermott 5–0–27–0, Reid 10–2–48–0, Matthews 39.5–7–146–5, Bright 25–3–94–5, Waugh 4–1–16–0, Border 3–0–12–0.
Fall of Wickets: First Innings; 62, 65, 65, 142, 206, 220, 245, 330, 387, 397. Second Innings; 55, 158, 204, 251, 253, 291, 331, 334, 344, 347.
## SIXTY FROM ONE OVER
## SHERBORNE, DORSET, JULY AND AUGUST, 1988
Eleven overs of the compulsory last 20 remained to be bowled. The two-day Minor Counties game between Dorset and Cheshire looked destined for a dull draw as Geoff Blackburn and Neil Smith had settled into a solid seventh-wicket partnership for Cheshire. Coming together with the score on 49 for six, they had added 43 runs and looked unlikely to be shifted, but Cheshire's target of 201 to win also looked completely out of range.
It was then that the Dorset captain, the Reverend Andrew Wingfield Digby, put his enterprising plan into action.
Wingfield Digby, author of a book called A Loud Appeal, subtitled Playing by God's Rules, scattered his field, including the wicket-keeper. He instructed seam-bowler Graeme Calway to bowl wides. The field was set so that Calway's wides travelled to the boundary without interruption.
Calway bowled 14 wides, each counting four runs. As Calway had already conceded one boundary off the bat, it meant his over cost 60 runs, 56 of them in wides.
Suddenly, both teams were interested in victory. Cheshire needed 53 to win in 10 overs, Dorset needed four wickets. Cheshire took up the challenge and lost by 18 runs with two overs to play. It was Dorset's first victory of the season, but, morale restored, they won the next game, against Berkshire, by two wickets after an exciting finish, Wingfield Digby scoring the winning run and racing jubilantly to the pavilion.
Wingfield Digby's decision to bring Cheshire back into the game met a mixed reception. Most players in the game seemed to support the decision, although it was uncertain whether Cheshire captain Neil O'Brien approved. The Test & County Cricket Board, meeting later, certainly didn't. They felt it wasn't in the spirit of the game.
The Dorset-Cheshire game, incidentally, had a number of other strange features worth mentioning. There was leg-spinner Simon Dyson's five-for-four spell in Dorset's first innings, the extension of play to about 8 o'clock on the rain-affected first day, former England opener Barry Wood's pair for Cheshire, an exciting duel for first-innings points (won for Cheshire by Blackburn's four with the last man at the wicket) and Neil Taylor's uncanny dismissal of the two O'Briens in consecutive balls.
Nothing, however, could compare for strangeness with Calway's over of 60 runs.
### DORSET
Merriman b Dyson | 21 | c Varey b Dyson | 5
---|---|---|---
Calway b O'Brien (N) | 15 | c Varey b Dyson | 0
Morgan lbw b O'Brien (N) | 10 | (6) lbw b Dyson | 0
Rintoul c Tansley b Dyson | 45 | c Smith b Fox | 12
Sawney c Varey b Dyson | 0 | (8) c Blackburn b O'Brien (J) | 13
Wingfield Digby b O'Brien (N) | 23 | (10) st Smith b O'Brien (J) | 3
Lewis lbw b Dyson | 3 | (9) not out | 23
Taylor st Smith b Dyson | 2 | (11) b O'Brien (J) | 0
Stone b Dyson | 1 | (7) c Hitchmough b Blackburn | 38
Stuart not out | 0 | (5) run out | 62
Wagstaffe lbw Dyson | 0 | (3) c and b O'Brien (J) | 34
Extras | 13 | |
12
|
133 | |
202
Bowling: (wicket-takers only) _First Innings_ : Dyson 7–39, O'Brien (N) 3–56;
_Second Innings_ : Dyson 3–56, Fox 1–36, O'Brien (J) 4–56, Blackburn 1–47.
### CHESHIRE
Wood b Stuart | 0 | c Lewis b Taylor | 0
---|---|---|---
Varey c Wagstaffe b Taylor | 28 | lbw b Taylor | 3
Hitchmough c Calway b Stuart | 1 | (5) c Merriman b Sawney | 17
Tansley c Lewis b Stuart | 24 | c Morgan b Wingfield Digby | 0
Crawley lbw b Stuart | 11 | (6) c Rintoul b Taylor | 4
N. O'Brien b Taylor | 29 | (3) lbw b Wingfield Digby | 13
Blackburn not out | 32 | b Taylor | 29
Smith lbw b Wingfield Digby | 0 | c Calway b Taylor | 36
Fox b Stone | 0 | (10) st Lewis b Stone | 10
J. O'Brien lbw b Taylor | 0 | (9) lbw b Taylor | 1
Dyson not out | 0 | not out | 0
Extras | 10
| |
69
|
135–9 declared 182
Bowling: (wicket-takers only) First Innings; Wingfield Digby 1–35, Stuart 4–44, Taylor 3–34, Stone 1–12. Second Innings; Stone 1–16, Taylor 6–38, Sawney 1–14, Wingfield Digby 2–38.
## NATWEST BOWL-OUT
## BISHOP'S STORTFORD, JUNE 1991
Football Cup ties are sometimes decided by penalty shootouts. Tennis sets regularly go the way of tie-breaks. But what can cricket do about abandoned games that need a quick decision?
Administrators have contemplated all kinds of ways of settling knock-out games in minutes rather than hours. Hence the bowl-out, which arrived at senior level one Thursday in June 1991, when two first-round NatWest Trophy ties were decided by five players from each side, each bowling two balls at unguarded stumps.
The principle behind shoot-outs, tie-breaks and bowl-outs is that it is better to decide a match by some activity associated with the game rather than by the random act of tossing a coin (as happened to decide the 1983 Middlesex-Gloucestershire Benson & Hedges Cup match). Of course, people argue cogently that many cricket matches are decided by the toss of a coin anyway: 'On the notorious Worsening Wicket Ground at Crumbling-on-Sea, there was an air of inevitability about the result from the moment Muggins lost the toss on the first morning.'
The other principle behind shoot-outs and tie-breaks is that they are nerve-racking, exciting and therefore compulsively entertaining. Bowl-outs, however, have yet to attract large audiences, and even the players are sometimes too tense to watch what is happening.
The one-day game between Hertfordshire and Derbyshire provided two days of worry. Heavy rain prevented play on the Wednesday and by 2pm on the Thursday play was again abandoned without a ball being bowled. In previous years three days had been set aside for NatWest fixtures. In 1991 the time allotted was reduced to two days in order to accommodate the four-day County Championship games due to start on the Friday.
At Bishop's Stortford everybody thought hard about how a bowl-out might be avoided. Could the game be switched to another nearby ground that was fit for play? Why not play it on a first-class ground where facilities for draining might be better? Or how about a game of cards in the dressing-room to decide which team goes through?
After a number of telephone calls to the Test and County Cricket Board at Lord's, the inevitable arrived – a bowl-out.
The next decision was whether to hold this 'match within a match' indoors or outdoors. A break in the rain offered the opportunity to compete outside. Carefully choosing footwear to cope with the slippery grass and sweaters to accommodate the damp atmosphere, the players took the field. There were no batsmen, and the only fielder used was the wicket-keeper, who took up his usual position. All eyes were on the bowlers and the umpires, Alan Whitehead and Brian Harrison, who watched from normal enough positions – one behind a single stump at the bowler's end, the other at square-leg. There was no need to get the sightscreens correctly positioned, so, at 4.15pm, the bowl-out began and another little divot in NatWest Trophy history was unearthed.
Derbyshire went first. Mortensen failed with his two attempts, as did Warner and Griffith and Base. The fifth and final bowler, Goldsmith, hit the unguarded stumps with his first attempt and missed with his second. Derbyshire had scored one.
Next came Hertfordshire. Needham equalized the scores by hitting the stumps with his first attempt, but missed with his second. Carr missed with both. Merry missed with his first attempt and then knocked back the middle stump with his second. Hertfordshire had won ... with four balls to spare.
A few hours later another NatWest Trophy tie was settled by a bowl-out in the Oval's Ken Barrington Sports Hall. Surrey and Oxfordshire had already had two games abandoned. On the Wednesday, Oxfordshire had won the toss and inserted Surrey, who sped to 142 for 1 before rain halted play in the 33rd over. On the second day, a late start restricted play to a 20-over game. Surrey won the toss, and Oxfordshire, batting first, made 91 for six. Surrey were in some trouble at 39 for three when the next downpour came at 5.35pm. Both sides had 45 minutes of bowl-out practice before the competition began.
Oxfordshire had some experience of bowl-outs. Earlier that month they had lost 3-2 to Staffordshire in a Minor Counties Holt Cup match. This one against Surrey was a real thriller. Oxfordshire's third and fourth bowlers each hit the stumps once for a total of two. When Waqar Younis replied with a direct hit on Surrey's first attempt, it looked ominous for the Minor Counties team, but Surrey struggled from then on. Monte Lynch, Martin Bicknell and James Boiling all failed with two out of two. Up stepped medium-pacer Tony Murphy for two of the most dramatic balls of his career. His first made the score 2-2 and ensured a sudden-death bowl-out at the least. His second also hit the stumps, and Surrey were through.
That evening two NatWest Trophy cricket scores read more like football results:
### **HERTFORDSHIRE**
2 (Needham. Merry),
### **DERBYSHIRE**
1 (Goldsmith).
### **SURREY**
3 (Waqar Younis, Murphy 2),
### **OXFORDSHIRE**
2 (Curtis, Laudat).
## WORLD CUP FARCE
## SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, JUNE 1992
At 9.52pm it rained and the umpires conferred. They considered the conditions unfit for play.
'Do you want to carry on?' they asked the two South African batsmen.
Yes, they did. Brian McMillan and Dave Richardson had scored 10 off the previous five deliveries and South Africa's target was now down to 22 from 13 balls.
'Do you want to carry on?' the umpires asked Graham Gooch, the England captain.
No, he didn't. He knew his team would have to defend the 22-run target with a ball like soap and a wet outfield.
There was also the rule-book to consider.
In fact, in the next few minutes many people considered the rule-book. And, in the days that followed, people around the world voiced their opinions. The World Cup semi-final between England and South Africa was one of the most important matches ever decided by a strange set of rules.
Until those dramatic last 18 minutes, between 9.52pm and the scheduled finish at 10.10pm, it had been an enthralling contest. It began as a 50-over match with South Africa winning the toss and asking England to bat first. Graham Gooch was given out caught behind, when the ball seemed to flick his pad, and Ian Botham played on, giving South Africa two early wickets. It might have been three because Graeme Hick survived a strong appeal for lbw and was caught at slip off a no-ball, all before he had scored. Hick then went on to play one of his best-ever innings for England. Man-of-the-Match adjudicator Ian Chappell later rewarded him for scoring 83 from only 90 balls.
South Africa bowled their overs slowly, almost as though they had deliberately decided to restrict the number of overs at the expense of a fine. Only 45 of the scheduled 50 overs were bowled, and England's later innings was rescued by Dermot Reeve, who ran out to the middle to bat and then thrashed 25 off 14 balls. Reeve's runs included 17 from the final over of the England innings, bowled by Donald.
South Africa, playing in their first major cricket tournament since their return to the world sporting stage, built up their reply sensibly. A spirited innings by Jonty Rhodes – 43 in 38 balls – set up a captivating climax. Then, on the outbreak of heavy rain at 9.52pm, and Gooch's understandable decision to leave the field, the crowd booed the players off the pitch. The England players already realized that the rules would ensure their victory, while the South Africans suspected that they would be denied a chance to continue their onslaught. Although England were still favourites, South Africa could feel confident of getting 22 runs off 13 balls, especially as England's seventh-wicket pair, Chris Lewis and Dermot Reeve, had taken 18 from the last over of the England innings.
Men in clothes of striking colours – England in blue, South Africa in green, the umpires in yellow shirts and white brimmed hats – stood around and pondered the rules. There were two particularly relevant clauses. Clause 4f read as follows: 'If the innings of the team batting second is delayed or interrupted and it is not possible for that team to have the opportunity of batting for the same number of overs as the team batting first, the overs to be bowled shall be reduced at the rate of 14 overs per hour for time lost.'
The rain stopped within minutes. One over was deducted for time lost and a second relevant clause (5.2b) stipulated the change in South Africa's target score: 'If, due to suspension of play, the number of overs in the innings of the team batting second has to be revised, their target score shall be the runs scored by the team batting first from the equivalent number of highest-scoring overs, plus one. In a rain-interrupted match, or a match interrupted by any other cause, it should be noted that the important figure is the target score, which in effect is set by the umpires when they decide on the number of overs able to be bowled to the team batting second.'
England's worst over – a maiden – was now knocked off the target score, leaving South Africa with the same target as before (22 runs) off one less over (seven balls rather than thirteen). This revised target was now announced to the crowd. It wasn't greeted kindly.
However, in the course of all the calculations and debate, more time had passed and a second revision in the number of overs and the target was necessary. Two overs were now deemed to be lost, and South Africa were set an impossible target – 21 off one ball.
The South Africans were obviously angry at first. They had been denied the opportunity to have a go, and, after all, the last over of the England innings had cost 18 runs. However, they conducted themselves sportingly and, after McMillan had scored a single off the one remaining ball and England had won by 19 runs, they shook hands with the England team and set off on a lap of honour. The rules were universally recognized as bad ones but all the competing countries had accepted them. The rules had also helped South Africa to victories in group games.
Graham Gooch was obviously glad that his team were in the World Cup Final, but he would have liked to have won the match in better circumstances. He was aware that coming off at 9.52pm virtually sealed England's victory. At that time he had wondered for a moment whether it was the right thing to do, but he knew that he wasn't responsible for the rules and he also knew that every other captain would probably have done the same as him. Nevertheless, his heart went out to the South Africans.
Others pointed out that the slow South African over rate contributed to their downfall, forcing such a tight finish. In fact the South Africans were fined 20 per cent of their match fees for completing only 45 overs. It was a sad end to such a fine match, especially as there were other possible ways to complete the required 45 overs, such as the use of floodlights or carrying the match over to the next day's reserve day. What stopped them was the statutory 10.10pm curfew.
Pakistan beat New Zealand in the other semi-final and then beat England by 22 runs in the final.
### ENGLAND
G.A. Gooch c Richardson b Donald | 2
---|---
I.T. Botham b Pringle | 21
A.J. Stewart c Richardson b McMillan | 33
G.A. Hick c Rhodes b Snell | 83
N.H. Fairbrother b Pringle | 28
A.J. Lamb c Richardson b Donald | 19
C.C. Lewis not out | 18
D.A. Reeve not out | 25
Extras | 23
|
252–6 (45 overs)
Bowling: Donald 10–0–69–2, Pringle 9–2–36–2, Snell 8–0–52–1, McMillan 9–0–47–1, Kuiper 5–0–26–0, Cronje 4–0–14–0
Fall of Wickets: 20, 39, 110, 183, 187, 221.
### SOUTH AFRICA
K.C. Wessels c Lewis b Botham | 17
---|---
A.C. Hudson lbw b Illingworth | 46
P.N. Kirsten b DeFreitas | 11
A.P. Kuiper b Illingworth | 36
W.J. Cronje c Hick b Small | 24
J.N. Rhodes c Lewis b Small | 43
B.M. McMillan not out | 21
D.J. Richardson not out | 13
Extras | 21
|
232–6 (43 overs)
Bowling: Botham 10–0–52–1, Lewis 5–0–38–0, DeFreitas 8–1–28–1, Illingworth 10–1–46–2, Small 10–1–52–2
Fall of Wickets: 26, 61, 90, 131, 176, 206.
## MORE RECORDS FOR LARA
## BIRMINGHAM, JUNE 1994
Warwickshire entertained Durham in a four-day County Championship game that started on a Thursday. Durham batted first and dominated the first day. At the close they were 365 for 3 with John Morris unbeaten on 204, an innings of five sixes and 24 fours.
Morris was out first thing the next morning but Durham continued to amass runs. A county record eighth-wicket stand of 134 between David Graveney and Anderson Cummins took the score past five hundred. The declaration came when the stand was broken.
Cummins then took an early wicket in the Warwickshire innings, wicket-keeper Chris Scott holding the catch to dismiss Dominic Ostler with the score on eight. That brought in 25-year-old Brian Lara. The West Indian left-hander had been having a sensational year.
The highlight of Lara's year – indeed the highlight of the year for many cricket followers – was his world record Test score of 375 against England in March. It came in the fifth Test at St John's Recreation Ground, Antigua, an innings played with barely a blemish. He was dropped only once and made only a handful of other false shots. When he broke the Gary Sobers record (365) with a pull off Chris Lewis, Sobers himself walked out to congratulate Lara at the crease.
Lara was in his first season with Warwickshire, and a fine season it was proving to be. He had started with five centuries in six innings – 147 against Glamorgan, 106 and 120 not out against Leicestershire, 136 against Somerset, and 26 and 140 against Middlesex. A century in the first innings against Durham would bring him a world record seven centuries in eight innings (including the 375 against England).
Lara received his first ball from fellow West Indian Anderson Cummins. The bowler dropped it short, suspecting that Lara would go for the shot. Meanwhile Lara was looking for the hook because he suspected that Cummins would bowl short. Everybody was correct. But Lara mistimed his hook and the ball looped up towards the bowler off the end of his bat. Cummins lunged for the catch. The ball was just out of his reach.
When Lara had made ten, Cummins produced a beautiful yorker. Lara played round the ball and his leg stump went over. Lara admitted later that he hadn't heard the call of 'No Ball'.
On 18, facing Simon Brown, Lara edged a straightforward catch to wicket-keeper Scott. The ball went down.
'Jeez, I hope he doesn't go on and get a hundred,' Lara heard the wicket-keeper say.
In his book, Beating the Field, Lara describes this shaky start: 'The period before tea was one of my sketchiest at the crease in my year with Warwickshire. My feet simply would not go to the right places.'
During the tea interval, Lara went to the indoor school with wicketkeeper Keith Piper in an attempt to sort out his footwork.
Durham had bowled well at Lara during the early part of his innings but their chance had now almost disappeared. The pitch was perfect for batting, the outfield was fast, and there were plenty of runs to come. Lara ended that Friday not out on 111, having achieved his first world record of the match – seven centuries in eight innings. It was his eleventh century of the year.
Saturday was rained out.
On the Sunday David Graveney got Lara's wicket after he had scored six but it didn't halt Lara's progress because it happened in a Sunday League game.
On the Monday Durham refused the offer of a double-declaration followed by a Warwickshire run-chase. Their captain, Phil Bainbridge, was aware that the Edgbaston pitch was easy-paced and he was also aware that one of his key bowlers, David Graveney, was out of action with a thigh strain. Maybe he was also thinking about Brian Lara in the fourth innings.
The match was virtually dead when Lara resumed his innings on the Monday morning. He quickly brought it back to life with a scintillating performance that took his score to 285 at lunch. During the break the Warwickshire captain agreed to delay the declaration to give Lara a chance at the county record, which had been held by Frank Foster (305 not out) since 1914. Lara overtook Foster's score soon after lunch. His third century had taken only 58 balls but he had survived a chance to Cummins at mid-off when 238. Trevor Penney's dismissal ended a stand of 314. Penney had scored 44.
When he reached 325 Lara passed 1,000 runs for the season (an average of 200), equalling Don Bradman's 1938 feat of 1,000 runs in seven innings. He brought up his 400 with an all-run four and was then dropped on 413 by a substitute fielder at square-leg. He was unbeaten on 418 when tea was taken.
The next target was Archie McLaren's 424, the highest score made in England. Dermot Reeve decided that he would not declare while Lara was still batting, so the McLaren record fell soon after tea. Another record to fall was Charlie Macartney's 345 runs in a day, which Lara passed when he reached 457. Four successive fours off Bainbridge took Lara into the 470s.
Lara was tiring now but his stand with Keith Piper was growing towards 300 and the crowd was swelling as the news spread. Lara reached 494 with his 69th boundary (including ten sixes), thus overtaking Percy Perrin's 1904 record of 68 boundaries in an innings. There was only one more individual record outstanding – Hanif's record first-class score of 499.
Play was scheduled to finish at 5.30 and the last over was bowled by John Morris. Lara faced the third ball with 497 to his name. He was beaten by it. The next ball, the fourth of the over, was a bouncer which hit Lara on the helmet. Keith Piper walked down the pitch to make sure Lara knew that this was probably the last over. Two more balls to score the three needed to beat Hanif's world record 499.
Lara drove the next ball for four.
501 not out.
Lara scored his 501 from 427 balls in 474 minutes. He helped set two other county records – the unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 322 and the total score of 810 for four. Scoring 390 runs in a day was yet another record for Lara.
Brian Lara went on to score 3,828 runs in 1994 at an average of 79.75. He made 14 hundreds, including one double-hundred, one triple-hundred and, of course, one quintuple-hundred.
### DURHAM
Larkins c Penney b Munton | 13
---|---
Saxelby b Small | 19
Morris c Lara b P.A. Smith | 204
Hutton b Davis | 61
Bainbridge c Reeve b N. Smith | 67
Longley lbw b N. Smith | 24
Scott lbw b Small | 13
Cummins lbw b Twose | 62
Graveney not out | 65
Extras | 28
|
556 for 8 declared
Bowling: Small 22–8–80–2, Munton 28–4–103–1, Reeve 5–2–12–0, PA Smith 15–5–51–1, Davis 365–12–105–1, N Smith 32–6–97–2, Twose 9.5–1–42–1, Lara 11–1–47–0.
### WARWICKSHIRE
Ostler c Scott b Cummins | 8
---|---
Twose c Cox b Brown | 51
Lara not out | 501
Penney c Hutton b Bainbridge | 44
P.A. Smith lbw b Cummins | 12
Piper not out | 116
Extras | 78
|
810 for 4
Bowling: Cummins 28–1–158–2, Brown 27–1–164–1, Bainbridge 33–6–169–1, Graveney 7–1–34–0, Cox 30–5–163–0, Larkins 5–0–39–0, Morris 5.5–1–33–0.
The scoreboard at Edgbaston showing Brian Lara's World Record innings of 501 not out for Warwickshire during the County Championship match against Durham on 6 June 1994.
## ABANDONED AFTER 62 BALLS
## KINGSTON, JAMAICA, JANUARY 1998
The wicket at Sabina Park was cracked and uneven. England captain Mike Atherton thought it would deteriorate over the five days. He won the toss and elected to bat. Brian Lara led the West Indies team on to the field and Courtney Walsh measured his run-up. The fielders dispersed, Atherton took guard and the umpire signalled 'Play'.
Walsh's first ball was a loosener and Atherton steered it for two runs. The second ball kept low. The third was a vicious leg-cutter that speared towards Atherton's ribs. The fourth rolled along the ground.
Atherton was out to the first ball of Walsh's second over. He tried to take his bat away but was caught at gully. Mark Butcher's first ball lifted dangerously and he gloved it to third slip. England were four for two and now everybody suspected that this relaid wicket was not suitable for a Test match.
During the first hour England physiotherapist Wayne Morton was out in the middle for longer than most of the batsmen. He came on to treat injuries on six occasions – once for Nasser Hussain, twice for Graham Thorpe and three times for Alec Stewart, who was hit twice on the hands and once on the shoulder. Another time a ball from Curtly Ambrose bounced over Stewart and over the wicket-keeper's head for four byes. Stewart must have played on worse pitches, but he was probably playing football at the time.
The umpires, local-man Steve Buckner and Srini Venkataraghavan from India, became very aware that the batsmen could be seriously injured, especially when Thorpe was hit on the hand by a ball which reared up from a good length. After the umpires had conferred twice they called over the two captains. The teams went off after playing for 66 minutes and 62 balls (including one no-ball). Stewart had made a courageous nine from 26 balls.
There followed an hour's negotiation with the International Cricket Conference before the match was formally abandoned. Thankfully, no one had been seriously injured.
It was the first-ever Test match to have been abandoned for a dangerous wicket but the India-Sri Lanka one-day match, on Christmas Day 1997, was called off after 18 balls in similar circumstances. The three previous Test match abandonments – Karachi (1968-69), Jamaica (1977-78) and Bangolore (1978-79) – had been provoked by crowd rioting.
Jimmy Adams of the West Indies checks to see if England's Alec Stewart is injured after being hit by the ball during the First Test at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica, 29 January 1998. Stewart made a courageous 9 from 26 before the match was abandoned for a 'dangerous wicket' – the first ever Test match to have been called off for this reason.
## THE END OF THE RUN
## KOLKATA, INDIA, MARCH 2001
The second Test between India and Australia was an early candidate for match of the century. It was one of the most entertaining and amazing of all time.
Australia were one up in the three-match series and had won their last 16 Tests. Captained by the legendary Steve Waugh, Australia had scintillating batting from the likes of Mark Waugh and Michael Slater, and two of the best bowlers of any era in Glenn McGrath and leg-spinner Shane Warne.
The setting for the occasion was Eden Gardens, Kolkata, home to 75,000 fanatical spectators.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat. Matthew Hayden and Michael Slater gave them a good start. At lunch they were 88 without loss. When Slater was out, Justin Langer took over and tea came with the score at 193 for one.
The final session of the first day belonged to India. Hayden became Harbhajan Singh's first victim, the excellent Zaheer Khan picked up Langer's wicket, and Mark Waugh went just as he looked set for a big score. Harbhajan Singh, 20, then became India's first player to take a hat-trick (and the second youngest in Test cricket). He dismissed Ricky Ponting with the second ball of his 16th over, Adam Gilchrist with one that kept low, and Shane Warne when Sadagoppan Ramesh took a brilliant catch at forward short leg. The appeal against Warne was dramatically referred to the third umpire.
Having ended the first day on 291 for eight, Australia's position was strengthened by Steve Waugh's 25th Test century. Waugh and Jason Gillespie put on 113 runs for the ninth wicket, an Australian record against India, and Waugh passed Javed Miandad's total of 8,832 Test runs.
India ended the day on 128 for eight. An early Australian win seemed likely.
The third day did little to change that prediction. India followed on and ended the day trailing by 20 runs with six second-innings wickets in hand. When Tendulkar was out for only 10, most Indians gave up hope of a rescue act. At the close VVS Laxman was undefeated on 109 and Rahul Dravid had seven to his name. Their fifth-wicket stand amounted to 22 ... so far.
Laxman's first-innings 59 had been made from 83 balls with 12 fours, ending only when he was given out caught from a ball that may have hit his forearm. Promoted to number three for the second innings, Laxman dominated the Australian attack with a sweetly struck century off 166 balls (17 fours). He scored 14 from one Kasprowicz over and took 11 from the next (by Warne). When journalists sought quotes from Laxman at the end of the day's play, his first response was to congratulate Pullela Gopichand for winning the all-England open badminton tournament.
Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman and Rahul Dravid batted through the fourth day and added another 337 runs. On the fifth morning they took their stand to 376 off 625 balls. Laxman made 281 off 452 balls (44 fours), surpassing Sunil Gavaskar's Indian record for an individual score (236), and Dravid scored 180 from 353 balls (20 fours).
The quality of the batting made hardened journalists purr with pleasure and cheer like fans. Laxman played every stroke in the book and some of his own invention. Dravid was reliable and solid. They went through each session with the aim of not losing a wicket.
India bowled out Australia on the final day and won with 33 balls to spare. At one point it looked as though the top-order Australians could get close to the winning target. At tea, Australia looked in little danger of losing – 161 for three with Hayden on 59 and Steve Waugh 23 – but they lost five wickets for eight runs in only 32 balls.
VVS Laxman was man of the match, while Harbhajan Singh took 13 for 196 (including a hat-trick). It was the first time India had followed on and won a Test. Indeed, in Test history, only England – in 1894 and again in 1981 – had achieved victory after a follow-on. Australia had been the losing team on those occasions too.
India's victory at Eden Gardens ended Australia's record of 16 successive wins – against West Indies (five), India (four), New Zealand (three), Pakistan (three) and Zimbabwe (one).
The series was set up perfectly for the Third and final Test. This was another wonderful spectacle. India won by two wickets to clinch the series 2-1, and Harbhajan Singh took his wicket tally to 32 in the three Tests. Australia made 391 (Hayden 203, Mark Waugh 70, Harbhajan Singh 7-133) and 264 (Mark Waugh 57, Harbhajan Singh 8-84), India scored 501 (Tendulkar 126, Das 84, Dravid 81, Laxman 65, Ramesh 61) and 155-8 (Laxman 66).
## BURGLARY STOPS PLAY
## EYNSHAM, OXFORDSHIRE, JULY 2001
With three overs remaining, the home team, Eynsham 2nd XI, looked set for a victory against Wantage 1st XI. Then their concentration was disturbed by events beyond the boundary.
An Eynsham fielder saw two strangers jump out of a sports-car and act suspiciously. The home captain, Phil Brown, asked the umpire for permission to leave the field. The players sprinted towards the changing-rooms and Wantage players joined in. They caught two young men in the act of riffling through changing-room possessions. One suspect escaped through the clubhouse door and ran off towards the village. The other man was pinned to the floor by a bunch of cricketers representing both teams. One Wantage player was bitten by the suspect in the fracas and had to go to hospital for a tetanus injection and tests.
A mobile-phone call brought five police-cars to the Eynsham clubhouse, and a man was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft and assault. A Thames Valley Police helicopter circled above in a search for the second suspect.
Play resumed after a delay of 40 minutes. The remaining three overs of the Oxfordshire Cricket Association Division Five match were completed. According to some observers, the interlude had been more exciting than the match.
### **EYNSHAM 2nd XI**
186 for 8 (Brown 45, Harris 35 not out, Frost 33).
### **WANTAGE**
163-8 (Berryman 59, O'Dimbylow 44).
## CAUGHT FOR NOUGHT
## DISHFORTH, NORTH YORKSHIRE, JULY 2006
It had rained on the morning of Saturday 22 July so Dishforth captain Steve Wilson thought there might be a bit in the wicket for his bowlers. He won the toss and asked Goldsborough 2nd XI to bat. On paper it was a 45-over match. In fact the match lasted only 78 balls.
The match involved two North Yorkshire teams: Dishforth, based near Ripon, were top of the Nidderdale & District League Division Four; Goldsborough 2nds, from near Knaresborough, were bottom. The venue was a classic village ground just off the A1 (M). The wicket was cut at the edge of the square with a short boundary on one side. The boundary looked inviting but it proved elusive until the very last shot of the day. Dishforth players still refer to the track at the edge of the square as 'the Goldsborough wicket'.
Asked to bat, Goldsborough were soon nought for two and then four legside byes got the team off the mark. At four for two the scorebook showed no sign of what was to come. But Goldsborough added only one more run to their total and that came from a leg-bye. They were all out for five with one ball remaining in the twelfth over.
When Goldsborough were four for four their captain Peter Horseman jokingly said that it would be strange if they were all out for ducks. He certainly didn't plan it that way though. He couldn't believe that no-one even edged a run. There was one golden chance for a single but the batsman turned the opportunity down because he'd been hit on the foot the previous ball and was still recovering. The only batsman not culpable was last man John Tomlinson, who held up his end for nought not out.
Two things were astonishing about the Goldsborough innings – all ten dismissed batsmen made ducks and all ten were caught out. Some of the batsmen were out playing attacking shots and only one catch went to the wicket-keeper. How is it possible that all ten dismissed players could hit the ball well enough to be caught and yet not hit the ball well enough to score a run?
A whole team caught out for nought.
'It was very surreal,' Dishforth captain Steve Wilson said later. 'We knew that no-one had ever done anything like it before. It was certainly a rarity in this part of the world. We couldn't believe it and then it kept getting closer and closer to the end of the innings. Surreal, it was.'
Nothing remotely like it had happened in the 112-year history of the Nidderdale & District League. The innings also produced three bowlers who took more wickets than they conceded runs. Gavin Hardisty took seven for none, Craig Costello two for none and Anthony Addison one for none.
When Dishforth batted Wilson sent in numbers ten and eleven first. They were both out for ducks, and they were both caught too. Twelve wickets fell in the match before there was a run off the bat. A big cheer went up when Dan Bettles-Hall forced a single. Fifteen men batted that day but Bettles-Hall was the only one of them to have a run against his name.
The Goldsborough team were left ruing two dropped catches at a time when Dishforth were nought for two. Had they had them nought for four then maybe ...
The match finished at 2.57pm. It had lasted three minutes less than an hour. Normally the two teams would go to the local village pub. On this occasion, however, the pub had only just shut after lunch. It would be a few hours before it was open again.
The Dishforth players stayed in their kit while they had a photograph taken with their manual black scoreboard – RUNS 5, WKTS 10, OVER 12 – and then after changing they tidied up the pavilion. It was still only four o'clock and there was plenty of cricket left in the day, so they wandered a couple of miles up the road to see how their league rivals Rainton were doing. At 5 o'clock it was a bright and sunny day but it started raining during the next hour. The rained-off Rainton team had to settle for two points while Dishforth had chalked up six points before the rain came. Dishforth eventually won the league.
### GOLDSBOROUGH 2ND XI
Brackenbury c Gillespie b Costello | 0
---|---
Page c Addison b Hardisty | 0
Evans c Potts b Hardisty | 0
Wilson c Addison b Hardisty | 0
Horseman c Gillespie b Costello | 0
Mackrill c Lawson b Hardisty | 0
Morgan c Burnett b Hardisty | 0
Mace c Reed b Hardisty | 0
Morris c Costello b Addison | 0
Clayton c and b Hardisty | 0
Tomkinson not out | 0
Extras | 5
5
Bowling: Costello 5–5–0–2, Hardisty 5.5–5–0–7, Addison 1–1–0–1.
Fall of wickets: 0, 0, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5.
### DISHFORTH
Wintersgill c off Morgan | 0
---|---
Lawson c off Morgan | 0
Bettles-Hall not out | 5
Reed not out | 0
Extra | 1
|
6-2
Bowling: Morgan 1–0–1–2, Evans 0.1–0–4–0.
Fall of wickets: 0, 0.
## THE FIRST FORFEITED TEST
## THE OVAL, AUGUST 2006
In the history of Test cricket – 1,814 matches in 129 years – there had never been a Test match decided by forfeit. Then along came the fourth day of the fourth Test of an England–Pakistan series and an Australian umpire called Darrell Hair.
England had already won the four-match series – they led 2-0 with one to play – and the Tests had been relatively free of controversy. At the Oval Inzamam won the toss and decided to field first. England were dismissed for 170 with Marcus Trescothick looking out of sorts and Kevin Pietersen out first ball. A century by Mohammad Yousuf helped Pakistan to a 334-run first-innings lead.
At 2.30pm on the fourth day England were 250 for 3 after 56 overs, still 84 short of avoiding an innings defeat. But Pietersen was batting so well that some punters hadn't discarded the possibility of a Bothamesque England revival.
Then came the turning-point. Senior umpire Darrell Hair decided that Pakistan had somehow tampered with the ball. The fourth umpire, Trevor Jesty, arrived at the wicket with a box of six used balls. Pietersen chose one from the box.
Pundits later guessed that Hair might have started suspecting the ball when Umar Gul trapped Alastair Cook lbw with a massive inswinger. But the Pakistanis pointed to a history of ill-feeling between Hair and Asian teams. Hair had previously called Sri Lanka bowler Muttiah Muralitharan for throwing and Pakistan had not wished Hair to stand in this series after other incidents.
Hair penalized Pakistan five runs for ball-tampering and the Pakistanis were deeply offended. The charge cut at their religious beliefs and what is known in Urdu as izzat (honour). But they went about their business on the field professionally. Inzamam's astute bowling change accounted for Pietersen while the batsman was in full flow.
The problems came when bad light forced off the players at 3.47pm. After a delay of 53 minutes the bell went and the umpires took to the field. Hair and his colleague Billy Doctrove waited in the middle. England's two not-out batsmen, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood, watched from the dressing-room balcony. But the fielding side did not appear. The umpires spent four minutes on the field and then returned to the pavilion.
According to one report the Pakistan dressing-room was a confused and angry place. People were shouting advice at Inzamam-ul-Haq but the captain was still trying to understand the ball-tampering charge. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer advised Inzamam to take the field with his team – if they wanted to protest a five-minute sit-down was a better idea – but Inzamam was shocked and hurt. The Pakistani players swore under oath to Woolmer that they had not tampered with the ball.
At 4.55pm the umpires went out again, accompanied by Bell and Collingwood. But the Pakistan players stayed indoors. Bell and Collingwood were ready to play but Pakistan were not, so Hair melodramatically removed the bails. The umpires and batsmen left the field.
At this point it was unclear what was happening. There had been no announcement. Even the journalists were baffled. Almost everybody thought that it was just another delay. If the match was over, the stumps would have been pulled from the ground, wouldn't they?
There had been previous Test matches where a forfeit had been a brief possibility. In 1981, during the third Test in an Australia–India series, India captain Sunil Gavaskar was given out lbw to Dennis Lillee by umpire Rex Whitehead. Gavaskar thought the ball had gone from bat to pad so he stood his ground. After Lillee had baited Gavaskar with some choice words Gavaskar led his opening partner Chetan Chauhan off the field in protest. But Chauhan was met at the boundary by the India team manager, Wing Commander SK Durrani, and told to continue.
The negotiations took much longer when New Zealand played West Indies at Christchurch in February 1980. West Indies fast bowler Colin Croft took umbrage at decisions by umpire Goodall, and the West Indies demanded that Goodall be replaced or the team wouldn't come out for the third session on the third day. There was a delay of eleven minutes before play resumed, and then much of the next day, a rest day, was spent in dispute before the match continued.
Here, at the Oval, the Pakistan players eventually abandoned their protest. At 5.23pm Inzamam took his players on to the field. Spectators booed and jeered. No-one came out to join the Pakistan players so they left the field again. At 6.13pm there was an announcement that play had been called off for the day.
Almost four hours later, at 10.12pm, the result was finally announced – England had won by a forfeit.
Most people were shocked that the matter had not been resolved more subtly, especially as there was a capacity crowd of 23,000 waiting to see some cricket and 12,000 tickets had been sold for the Sunday. Inzamam later apologized for not leading out his team and was suspended for four one-day matches on a charge of 'bringing the game into disrepute'.
Some people argued that Darrell Hair could have had a quiet word with the Pakistan captain about the ball-tampering and the ball could have been switched without penalty. Twenty-six television cameras had failed to pick up any ball-tampering offence but one senior umpire sided with Hair by saying that a charge of ball-tampering was just a judgment call like any other umpiring decision and didn't need proof. Other experts said that the ball could have been scuffed by a shot that hit the boundary boards or a six from Pietersen that landed in the stand. A charge of ball-tampering, later brought by the International Cricket Council (ICC), was found not proven. The ICC banned Hair from umpiring in Test matches from November 2006. He returned briefly to top-level umpiring in 2008 but retired later that year to take a cricket job in Australia.
The fourth Test, decided by a forfeit, was a sad and strange tale. An editorial in The Times suggested that 'the rash of ill-judgments ... should be packaged into a corporate training video about how not to manage a crisis'.
## VATICAN CITY AWAY
## VATICAN CITY, SEPTEMBER 2008
Any cricket club with 'Fairly Odd' as its middle name is an obvious candidate for a book on strange matches. That is certainly true of the Dutch Fellowship of Fairly Odd Places (FFOP). Their once-a-year match is developed around some outrageous geographical concepts.
Formed in 2005 the team set a high standard of strangeness by playing their inaugural match on a pitch located in two countries. The ad hoc ground had the Holland–Belgium border running across the square. For once it didn't take a wild slog to send the ball into another country. A batsman could take guard in Holland, play a forward defensive stroke and jab the ball into Belgium. FFOP lost by 68 runs to Rood en Wit Zami 2.
The following year's annual match was a revival of Manor House cricket in the Netherlands. In superb weather FFOP played against Gentlemen of Zami at Zypendaal Castle near Arnhem, thus replicating the matches of the late 19th century, when some major Dutch landowners made land available for cricket on their estates.
Then, in 2008, came a very unusual concept – an away match in the Vatican City. The match took place on 13 September 2008 in the beautiful Stadio dei Marmi in Rome. Built in 1932 the stadium had sixty 9ft high marble statues around the ground. This was the first-ever cricket match in the stadium, a fact that might have been deduced from the state of the wicket.
The FFOP fellows flew in from around the world with the hope that they would be playing against an inexperienced Vatican XI put together especially for the occasion by Father Eamonn O'Higgins. But this was no ordinary scratch Vatican team. FFOP's opposition turned out to be a side of young and agile Indian priest students from the Pontifical International College Maria Mater Ecclesiae.
FFOP was formed by a group of cricketers who had all once played for the Haarlem-based Rood en Wit [Red and White] Cricket Club in Haarlem. By the time of the Vatican match, though, the Haarlem Old Boys really were old boys – their average age was just over fifty. The FFOP players were also great traditionalists who weren't yet ready to switch to pyjama cricket. They refused to wear helmets while batting and wore white shirts and white trousers on the field. They could be seen in red-and-white striped blazers off the field. The Vatican XI dressed in sky blue.
During the preliminary ceremony FFOP's Dr Michel Bakker gave a speech in Latin while the flags of the Vatican, the Netherlands and Italy were raised. FFOP batted first in a 35-over match but were bowled out for only 58. The Vatican XI won comfortably with 14 overs to spare. Afterwards the FFOP officials presented the Vatican with a cheque for €1,000 for the Sagar Orphanage in India.
'OΚ, we lost,' said Erik Bouwmeester, a Lieutenant-colonel in the Grenadier Guards. 'It was semi-geriatrics versus lean and mean batting and bowling machines as well as a deadly pitch, but the whole thing was quite unique. Let's face it, we challenged a sovereign state into raising a national side and we were mere amateurs from the Netherlands playing in a Roman stadium.'
The FFOP players immediately began planning their next match – on an uninhabited island off the coast of the Netherlands. What really mattered to them was not the winning and losing but the playing of the game in strange places. The Fellowship of Fairly Odd Places CC has thus added to a fine tradition that has included matches on board ships, games on sandbanks such as Goodwin Sands and Bramble Bank, and ice cricket on frozen lakes, glaciers and ice-hockey rinks. The late Harry Thompson once played in a cricket match on the ice in Antarctica, an experience he recalled in his book _Penguins Stopped Play_. No prizes for guessing how Thompson's book got its title.
### FELLOWSHIP OF FAIRLY ODD PLACES
M Koch c Saiju b das Yesudasan | 9
---|---
R Snijder b Bastan | 0
N Meijer c Abilash b Ollikkara | 1
R Heikens run out | 7
R Kottman c das Yesudasan b Sacarias | 13
E Bouwmeester b Anoop | 2
F Oudshoorn Spaargaren b Ollikkara | 5
J Thon not out | 4
M Bakker b Saiju | 0
A de Vries b Saiju | 0
A de Bruin retired hurt | 0
B J Henkes b Saiju | 3
Extras | 14
|
58
Bowling: Ollikkara 9–4–14–1, Saiju 5–2–7–3, das Yesudasan 4–1–9–1, Anoop 3–0–6–1, Sacarias 1–0–1–1, Bastian 3.2–0–7–2
### VATICAN XI
R Raphel not out | 27
---|---
G Abilash lbw Koch | 4
J Isac not out | 17
Extra | 11
|
|
59-1
Bowling: Kottman 4–1–13–0, Koch 6.3–4–13–1, Snijder 1–0–12–0, Heikens 2–0–10–0.
Published in the United Kingdom as eBook in 2015 by
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An imprint of Pavilion Books Company Ltd.
Copyright © Andrew Ward 1999, 2005
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by anymeans electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
eISBN 978-1-910232-45-3
This book can be ordered direct from the publisher at www.pavilionbooks.com
First published in the United Kingdom in 2005
Picture credits: p43 © Central Press/Getty Images; p87 © Keystone/Getty Images; p92 © Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; p114 © Allsport/Halton Archive/Getty Images; p135 © Mike Jones/kospictures.com/Getty Images; p153 © Shaun Botterill/Allsport/Getty Images; p156 © Clive Mason/Allsport/Getty Images.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Books3 |
Before Radiohead conquered the world, it was already Israel’s darling
On Wednesday evening, the groundbreaking rock group Radiohead is slated to take the stage in Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park and put on a multi-sensory and undoubtedly sweaty performance for thousands of devoted fans, despite calls for band members to cancel.
Its summer tour coincides with the 20-year anniversary of the album that brought it international fame: “OK Computer.”
The 1997 album’s chilling lyrics and experimental melodies plucked it from the mixed bag of alternative rock groups of the mid-90s and placed the group in the pantheon of rock legends, pushing the boundaries of rock music and inspiring a generation of indy bands. (Though some say their next album, Kid A, was their finest work.)
But before Radiohead became international sensation, it was an Israeli one.
In 1993, the band released its first album, Pablo Honey, and on it, the song “Creep.”
“Creep” is a song of adolescent self-loathing over an unrequited love, with a dreamy tune interrupted by heavy, distorted guitar dead notes. “I’m a creep. I’m a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here,” sings lead vocalist Thom Yorke in the chorus.
The album and song brought the band limited success in its native England and initially little recognition in America, but in Israel it went over like gangbusters.
“The funny thing about Radiohead early on was that they were more famous abroad than in England,” Tim Greaves, Radiohead’s longtime tour manager, told the New Yorker magazine in 2001. “They’d go around in a van, playing in sweaty little clubs. Then they’d go to Israel and they were rock stars.”
It all began when a copy of the song was presented to Army Radio disc jockey Yoav Kutner in 1992, when it was released as a single before the album came out. Kutner fell in love with the song and played it repeatedly on the popular radio station. (Kutner could not be reached for this article.)
From then on out, “Creep” was everywhere in Israel, on the radio and MTV Europe (back in the halcyon days of MTV actually playing music on television), along with Beck’s similarly pejoratively titled “Loser.”
At times in the mid-90s, Israeli radio listeners could count on hearing “Creep” multiple times a day. And in 1995 the infectious song became even more unavoidable in the Jewish state when the popular clothing brand Castro used it in a commercial for its winter collection.
In it, a man in a trench coat and nothing else flashes a pretty girl as she walks by him on the street, only to be shocked when the girl, also wearing a trench coat, does the same.
(According to Daniel “Dan-Dan” Matyuk, a former editor of the army’s Galgalatz music radio station, the clothing brand was too thrifty to pay for the song itself so it went instead with a cheaper cover of “Creep.”)
Even as the band shifted from the straightforward rock of Pablo Honey and The Bends and started making music that was “more challenging and complex,” something about Radiohead resonated with the Israeli public, Matyuk says.
The band’s music contains elements of alienation, futurism and cynicism — all things that the stereotypically sarcastic, defensive and technology-addicted Israeli public should love.
But, according to Matyuk, it’s “hard to pin down one element and say, ‘That’s why they love them in Israel.’ I don’t know how to explain exactly, there’s something in their music. And not just in their music, it’s something about what type of band they are, how they make music.”
The band has changed a lot since “Creep,” shifting from the grungy sounds of “Pablo Honey” and its sophomore record “The Bends” to a more complex style of music, like the dystopic vision of reality presented by “OK Computer” and on its next album “Kid A.”
Yet Israelis have stuck with it through the maturation process, as seen by the 50,000-plus people expected to attend Wednesday’s concert.
Elinora Shekercioglu, who co-founded an Israeli group called BigMouth that puts on parties and events celebrating British music, takes a historical approach when looking at what makes Israelis love Radiohead.
“It started with ‘Creep.’ And I think the love developed because Israelis have a loyalty, especially if it’s something that we helped grow and prosper,” she says. “Israel loves to coronate a new band.”
Earlier this year, BigMouth put on the event that kicked off the sale of tickets for Wednesday’s Radiohead concert.
‘I think the love developed because Israelis have a loyalty, especially if it’s something that we helped grow and prosper’
Shekercioglu, 34, recalls listening to “Creep” as a kid, when Radiohead was still the type of band that was in the domain of cooler older siblings.
“I was in elementary school,” she says. “My brothers and sisters went to [Radiohead’s first Israeli concert in 1993]. ‘Creep’ was where it started.”
She laughs realizing that she’s been a fan of Radiohead for over 20 years. “I’m an old hand now,” she says.
Shekercioglu was in high school when Radiohead’s second album, “The Bends,” was released. She bought that one and those that followed.
“That was the anthem of my high school: ‘The Bends,’” she says. “At my age, they’re a band whose lyrics come from a place that I less appreciate, but when I was a teenager, it was a much better fit.”
When the band released the album “In Rainbows” in 2007, which had the rarely seen, though not original, pay-what-you-want price structure, Shekercioglu even shelled out the recommended five dollars for a digital copy, unlike this freeloading reporter.
“They understood that you can’t stop technology. They were some of the first who said, ‘We can’t change the world. We’ll change ourselves,’” she says. “I appreciate that. And they’re still that way today.”
According to Matyuk, Israel’s relationship with Radiohead is two-sided. It’s not just that Israeli love Radiohead; Radiohead seems to love Israel.
For one member of the band, guitarist Johnny Greenwood, that love is perhaps more focused on one Israeli in particular: his wife, the visual artist Sharona Katan.
Greenwood and Katan have three children, who each bear thoroughly Israeli names: Tamir, Omri and Zohar.
The band’s apparent love and loyalty to Israel has come out amid some controversy surrounding Wednesday’s concert. Activists who support boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel over the conflict with the Palestinians — notably Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters — have called for Radiohead to call off the performance, saying that it normalizes Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Other bands who scheduled performances in Israel have been met with similar backlash, but most ignore the criticism or brush it off with an innocuous statement about not taking sides in the conflict.
Radiohead, on the other hand, has come out swinging, denouncing Waters and apparently cursing BDS activists who came to one of their shows in the UK.
In an interview with Rolling Stone last month, Yorke said he found it “patronizing in the extreme” that a group of international artists, including Waters, “choose to, rather than engage with us personally, throw shit at us in public” by publishing an open letter.
Earlier this month, director Ken Loach spoke out against Radiohead on Twitter, saying it either had to “stand with the oppressed or the oppressor.” (In the Twitter-battle, Loach neglected to mention that, unlike Radiohead, he apparently does not feel that he has to honor that decision and has his films shown in Israeli cinemas year after year.)
Responding on Twitter, Yorke defended his stance, saying, “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government. We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America.”
The lead singer added: “We don’t endorse Netanyahu any more than Trump, but we still play in America.”
Michael Stipe, of R.E.M. fame, stood by Radiohead, publishing a picture on Instagram saying so, with the caption: “Let’s hope a dialogue continues, helping to bring the occupation to an end and lead to a peaceful solution.”
‘I appreciate that they have an opinion and aren’t afraid to express it’
Both Shekercioglu and Matyuk think Radiohead’s stance also maintains the relationship between the band and its Israeli fans.
“I appreciate that they have an opinion and aren’t afraid to express it. The fear to express your view is logical, but they’re not afraid… and they do it publicly, on Twitter, on stage, in a bunch of places. That deserves appreciation,” Shekercioglu says.
Despite the apparent love for Israel, this will be Radiohead’s first concert in the Jewish state in nearly 20 years. It last played here in 2000, at Tel Aviv’s since-demolished Cinerama.
The band has a “memory that Israel was an important point in their career,” Matyuk says. “So they still come, despite the boycotts and Roger Waters and all the reasons not to come here.” | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Jwalant Jitendra Vs Institute of Infrastructure (Gujarat High Court)
CONCLUSION –
In the present case, the writ was filed by one of the student involved in the ragging who was suspended from the current academic year by the disciplinary committee of the institution. In the writ the student plead that being the bright student such suspension would ruin his future.
The court concluded that it is the duty of the authorities, in charge of the educational institutions, to ensure that the discipline is maintained in the institution and the head of the institution in such cases is required to be armed with sufficient powers so that those who are keen to study and improve their carrier should not be the victims of a handful of persons who may spoil the academic atmosphere by indulging in anti-social activities.
The court held that where no mala fides or other motives have been alleged against the management of the institute in the passing of the impugned order, the Court should not normally interfere in the punishment imposed upon the delinquent.
Gujarat HC termed ragging a ‘barbarous practice’ and concluded that if anybody is found guilty of ragging, he shall be immediately expelled from the institution and debarred from entering any other educational institution thereafter.
FACTS –
Number of students were involved in the ragging of junior students at the Institute of Infrastructure Technology Research & Management. The students so involved in ragging were divided into following three category –
Category A: the students who were involved in planning and executing the whole indecent activities.
Category B: the students who were observing, enjoying and encouraging the other students in the whole indecent activities and failed to inform the authorities.
Category C: the students happened by chance or curiously to be there at venue but failed to stop these indecent activities and also failed to inform the authorities.
Disciplinary committee concluded, following –
(i) Category A students be suspended from the current academic year and be permitted to continue with academics from August, 2019. However, they be not admitted into the Hostel in future.
(ii) Category B students be suspended from the current semester and be permitted to continue with academics from January, 2019. However, they be not admitted into the Hostel in future.
(iii) Category C students be suspended from academics for 3 weeks and be permitted to continue with academics from 22nd October, 2018 in the current semester.
One of the student filed writ petition based on the disciplinary committee conclusion with a view that the applicant, being a bright student such a punishment would ruin his future.
HELD –
The case on hand is not one in which the writ applicant and the other students were not given any opportunity of hearing. It is also not a case in which the writ applicant has been taken by surprise with the charges levelled against him.
So long as an inquiry is held to be fair and it affords a student an adequate opportunity of defending himself, the matter should not ordinarily be examined by the courts with the same strictness as applicable to the criminal charges.
The writ applicant may be a very brilliant student with a good academic record but if a brilliant student is found to have involved in ragging, he will have to bear the consequences of the same.
FULL TEXT OF THE HIGH COURT ORDER / JUDGEMENT
By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the writ applicant, a student pursuing his studies with the institute of Infrastructure Technology Research & Management, has prayed for the following reliefs;
“(A) be pleased to allow this petition.
(B) be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction by quashing and setting aside the impugned communication/order dated 22.10.2018 at Annexure-A and further be pleased to direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to carry on the study in the fourth semester and or further direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to appear in the retests which may be taken at the later stage for the third semester.
(C ) Pending admission, hearing and final disposal of this petition, be pleased to stay further operation, implementation and execution of the impugned order dated 22.10.2018 at Annexure-A and direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to carry on the study in the fourth semester and further direct the respondents to permit the petitioner to appear in the retests which may be taken at the later stage for the third semester.
(D) be pleased to pass such other and further orders may be deemed just and proper looking to the facts and circumstance of the case and in the interest of the justice.”
2. The case of the writ applicant, in his own words, as pleaded in the writ application, is as under;
“The petitioner herein is a 10 year old bright student having excellent career record. The petitioner got 9.6 out of 10 CGPA in standard 10th, 95.6% in standard 12th (Science C.B.S.E), 8.62 out of 10 CPI in B.Tech, (Mechanical), Semester-1 with the Respondent No.1 and was a Batch topper in the second semester in May 2018 (9.86 out of 10 CPI) with the Respondent No.1. A complete bio data of the petitioner is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-B to this petition. A bare look at the same will prove it beyond a shred of doubt that since admission in the Respondent No.1 University, the Petitioner has utilized every day for the constructive, educational and positive activities, in addition to being a batch topper. The petitioner submits that the mid-semester exam for the second year (third semester) began from 01.10.2018. As the petitioner was in the midst of the examination, the learned Registrar came and announced that 23 students should report to him after the examination is over. After the examination was over, the petitioner along with other students reported as per the instructions. To utter shock and surprise, these students received 2 notices dated 01.10.2018 (by email) at 5:23 p.m. Informing that these 23 students were suspended from classes and other academic resources on account of their misconduct and they were required to vacate the Hostel within 48 hours. The second notice of the same date informed that these 23 students were to remain present at 11:30 a.m on 03.10.2018 with respect to their misconduct at Hall No.G-5 at the University. Copies of both the notices dated 01.10.2018 received via email are annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-C to this petition. It is pertinent to note that 02.10.2018 was a public holiday and the petitioner and other students were not permitted to appear in the exam on 03.10.2018. No material or information regarding what misconduct the students have committed was given. The students were also not informed as to before whom they were to remain present. However, when the petitioner along with other students remained present at 11:30 a.m. they were informed not to carry the mobile phones with them. One by one student was called in the hall and after brief interaction each student was told to leave the premises without any interaction with other remaining students. When the petitioner entered the committee hall, an entire committee of 9 people started asking questions furiously. In fact a Fresher party was organized by about 130 students of Second Year (by contributing Rs.1,500/- each) to welcome about 140 students of the First Year (no contribution), on 16.09.2018 at Marigold Banquet, EKA Club and approximately 270 students enjoyed the party willingly and no untoward incident happened during the party. In fact, the students have requested the office by email dated 15.09.2018 for bus service for pick up and dropping the students. A copy of the email dated 15.09.2018 is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure-D to this petition. The committee was informed by the students that as per the tradition since last three years such party was organized and a contest to select Mr. Fresher and Ms. Fresher was organized by the entire group of the second year students (130 students). A questionnaire was prepared by some of the students but the petitioner has not finalized and prepared the same, and the same was filled up by 150 first year students on their free will and without any pressure. Out of these 150 students who filled in the questionnaire, 50 students were selected for the next stage of interaction, but, the petitioner has not played any role in in such selection. The petitioner was never a part of the students who actually interacted with the students. The interaction was held on different dates at different placed within the Campus. One such interaction was held in the sixth floor Reading room for 2 days. On the first day the petitioner requested the assistant Librarian (since the Librarian was not available on that day0 to open the reading room for interaction. On the second day, the same request was made to the Librarian who sent the Peon with keys to open the reading room. The petitioner has not interviewed any student of the first year. The entire process of interaction was recorded by the CCTV of the reading room. Nothing untoward happened during these two days in presence of the petitioner. No student has lodged any complaint against the petitioner. However, the committee kept on asking the petitioner as to who set the questionnaire which the petitioner was not knowing The petitioner was asked to leave the premises. Nothing happened between 03.10.2018 to 21.10.2018. Suddenly, the petitioner received order dated 22.10.2018 via email that the petitioner is debarred for one year (Annexure-A). Without any specific show-cause notice, without specifying the misconduct or the role of the petitioner, without supplying any material regarding the finding of the disciplinary committee and without a specific show cause notice on quantum of punishment, the impugned order was passed which is also unreasoned (non speaking). It came to the knowledge of the petitioner that in all 26 students are handed over different punishments in the same illegal and arbitrary manner in gross violation of principles of natural justice. On receipt of the impugned order the parents personally went to the respondent no.1 on 24-10-2018. On 25-10-2018 the petitioner’s father sent a representation by email, a copy of which is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure -E to this petition. On 26-10-2018, one of the student Anjali Pitroda sent a mail to the Respondent no. 1 in detail along with a signed Memorandum of first year students stating that they have no complaints against any one as there was no ill treatment, a copy of which is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure -F to this petition. One more detailed representation was sent on behalf of all the students to the Board of Governors (but till today the same is not considered), a copy of which is annexed herewith and marked as AnnexureG to this petition. The Board of Governors consists of eminent personalities in whom all the students have immense trust but it appears that the true facts are not presented before them by the office bearers. Several attempts were made by the parents to meet the Board of Governors but, these attempts were nullified by the office bearers for some alien purpose. In fact the parents and the students are told that if they try to challenge the punishment they will have to face criminal proceedings. The Learned Director General of the institute behaved cordially with the parents but it appears that correct facts were not placed before him and only twisted version was placed before him. The petitioner has no specific role in any specific conduct which may amount to misconduct. The petitioner submits that the aforesaid impugned order is non speaking, illegal, arbitrary, mala tide and in gross violation of principles of natural justice and is therefore violative of Art. 14 and Art. 21 of the Constitution of India. The impugned order will tarnish and leave a huge black spot on the otherwise Brilliant Career of a sincere Student like petitioner who is absolutely innocent. The petitioner submits that out of 26 students five students are suspended for 3 weeks, 16 students are debarred for one semester and 5 students are debarred for two semester (one year). No reason is given for such different treatment to different students without specifying individual roles / charges or a specific misconduct. The final exams of the third semester has already started and thus students have already lost one semester (the University has the power to take exam for this 26 students during the fourth semester). Hence, the present petition.”
3. Thus, the present litigation is one, in which, the institute has taken disciplinary action against the writ applicant and twenty five other students. The writ applicant has been discontinued by way of punishment from all the academic activities for the current academic year and will be permitted to continue with the academics with the academic year 2019-20. In addition to the same, he will not be admitted in the hostel in future.
4. Being dissatisfied with the action taken by the institute against the student, this writ application has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
5. Let me go straight go to the charges levelled against the writ applicant and the other students.
6. The report on the proceedings of the Disciplinary Committee meeting held on 3rd October, 2018 at the IITRAM, is as under;
“On 25th September, 2018 a suspected case of indiscipline of students was brought to the notice of Registrar, Director and Director General through the CCTV coverage from Reading Room area situated on 6th Floor of the Institute.
In view of above, a meeting of Director General, Director, Registrar, Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Associate Dean of Student Affairs and warden of boys’ AMC hostel was arranged on 27th September, 2018. The CCTV footage was shown to the members present in the meeting. The responsibility of the identification of the students involved in the disciplinary action was given to Warden, Associate dean and Dean. The identification was done very cautiously so as to be quadruple sure. The students were identified. List of identified students is given in Annex 1.
The 06 fresher students, Ms. Banasri Dalal, Ms. Mudra Patel, Ms. Harshini Kolte, Mr. Mohammad Arif, Mr. Abhay Upadhyay, Mr. Kushagra Nanglot, as found in the footage were called to know more about the incident in the office of Director on 1St October, 2018 at 1 pm. Mr. Kushagra was absent in the meeting as he was not available in the Institute at that time. Remaining 05 students attended the meeting in Director’s office in the presence of the Director, Dean of Academics and Student Affairs and Associate Dean of Student Affairs. These students initially were reluctant to speak about the incident, but eventually they opened up and said that they were asked to perform exercises (sit-ups), a dance or some mock activities. Mr. Upadhyay was asked to imitate a mock fight. Mr. Arif was asked to perform some yoga exercises. Ms. Bansari was asked to show some steps of dance and Ms. Mudra and Ms. Bansari were asked to perform the plank form and an internal competition between them was also made to happen. After the interaction was over Ms. Bansari came back and broke into tears and said that the dare she was given at the Fresher party was very indecent and made her feel very low. Ms. Mudra also came back to say that she had received a message to ramp-awalk with a senior boy in the party but decided to ignore the message.
Mr. Kushagra Nanglot who was absent from the interaction on 1st October, 2018, met Director, Dean of Academics & Student Affairs and the Registrar on 4th October, 2018 at 12.30 pm in the Director’s Office. He admitted that all the things like sit-ups, and bottle etc. had happened with him He also said that as he is a football player and had been in the hostel since his 5th standard, he was able to bear the things. The severity of the incident was such that somebody at his place might have broken down.
At 4:30 pm on the same day, i.e., on 1st October, 2018, Twenty Three -2nd Year students found in footage were called in room no.L-105 and were served the suspension notice intimating them;
I) they have to vacate the hostel within 48 hours and
II) they are suspended from all the academics (Annex
2: Suspension notice)
A meeting of Disciplinary Committee members was convened on 3rd October, 2018 at 1:30 am. The Disciplinary Committee consisting of;
1. Dr. A. U. Digraskar; Director, IITRAM .
2. Dr. Shanti Prasanna- Dean of Academics and Student Affairs
3. Dr. Meera Vasani- Associate Dean of Student Affairs
4. Dr. Gautam Borisagar-Warden AMC Boys Hostel
5. Dr. Mamta Shanna- Warden Girls’ Hostel.
6. Dr. Mahuya Bandhyopadhaya- Assistant Professor, Chemistry
7. Dr. Veerbhadra Rotte- Assistant Professor Civil Engineering
8. Dr. Harshad Patel- Librarian IITRAM
9. Ms. Bharatiben Patel- Administrative Officer, IITRAM
10 Mr. Hiren Halvadia- Parent representative
11. Mr. Deven Sheth- Parent representative
12. Mr. Chhatwani Naresh- Student representative
13. Mr. Mukul Jangid- Student representative.
The Proceedings:
The CCTV footages were shown to the committee:;
1) Footage 01: In this footage Mr. Kushagra Nanglot, 1st Year student, was seen being bullied by a group of 18 students of 2nd Year: Mr. Ashish Raj, Mr. Pushpendra Singh, Mr. Prashant Gupta, Mr. Himesh Panchal, Mr. Prabhat Tyagi, Mr. Hiren Chaudhary, Mr. Arnav Biswas, Mr. Dipen Patel, Mr. Jwalant Wadhwa, Mr. Praveen Dhaker, Mr.Yash Vardhan Omar, Mr. Rakshit Kaul, Mr. Akash Shanna, Mr. Kishan Zafadiya, Mr. Pranshu Soni, Mr. Monish Yadav, Mr. Kunj Shah and Mr. Abhilash Maurya. He was asked to perform large number of sit-ups. While sit-ups were being done, a bottle was also placed on the ground and he was asked to lift it with his butt (as reported by the 2nd Year boys in front of Disciplinary Committee Meeting). Here it was seen that the boys from 2nd Year were aggressive and it was also seen that a 2nd year boy jumped over the table and bounced on the junior. The scene went on for around 20 minutes. Suddenly Mr. Jwalant Wadhwa, in the group realized about the camera and asked Mr. Hiren Chaudhary sitting below it, to tilt it, thereby preventing any further action from being recorded.
2) Footage 02: In the footage of the second camera on 4lth September, 2018 shows the 2nd Year girls students namely Ms. Ashvi Shah, Ms. Anjali Pitroda, and Ms. Aayushi Prasad coming or going out of the Reading room i.e. incident place. In this footage, Ms. Bansari Dalal and Ms. Mudra Patel of 1st Year are seen doing the plank pose. (Annex. 03).
The committee then interacted with the First year students to take their feedback about the incident and met the boys and girls separately.
A few students had given in writing about the misconducts suffered by them due to the 2nd Year seniors. (Annex 4: The students’ feedback) Also they reported that a questionnaire was circulated to them in the seminar room in the Institute premises in the month of August/September. They were instructed by the 2nd Year seniors to fill and submit it to them. Further the students reported that the questionnaire contained some objectionable and vulgar questions. While interacting with the students, they intimated that the purpose of the questionnaire was to choose so called Mr. & Ms. Fresher. (Annex 5: The questionnaire as received from Mr. Jwalant Wadhwa & Mr. Gajendra Jain)
The committee met the suspended students one by one and asked them to present their say and were given fair chance to speak in his/her defense. Out of the 23 suspended students, 01 student Mr. Abhilash Mourya remained absent because of his reported ill health.
All the 22 suspended students accepted that they were involved in doing the indecent act and also accepted their guilt. During the interaction names of three more students: Mr. Pranshu Soni, Mr. Subhnao Singh Dixit, Mr. Rohit Singh were surfaced. The committee met them on the same day and the suspension notice was also served to them later. During the interaction all of them confessed that they have circulated a questionnaire to the juniors and on being asked Mr. Gajendra Jain and Mr. Jwalant Wadhwa brought the questionnaire and handed over it to the Committee.
The statement of students are given in Annex 6.
Based on the statements of the students the committee observed the following
1. The questionnaire circulated to the First Year Students contains vulgar and inappropriate material.
2. The clipping which the Institute CCTV has captured show some physical and mental torture done on 1stYear students.
3. Meddling with the security device i.e. tilting the CCTV camera is an offense.
4. Obtaining key of the Reading Room on 6th floor from Assistant Librarian on false proposition.
Conclusion;
Based on the statements made by the students and the CCTV footage, in the meeting the committee concluded that:
(i) A few students played a major role in planning and executing the whole indecent activities
(ii) A few were observers and enjoyed the whole scene, and
(iii) Some had just happened to be there by chance or curiosity.
Accordingly the committee recommends the following:
1) The culprit students be categorized in three different categories. The detailed description of categories of offence by 2nd Year students are given in Annex 07.
Category A: the students who were involved in planning and executing the whole indecent activities.
1. Prabhat Tyagi
2. Prashant Gupta
3. Gajendra Jain
4. Parixit Singh
5. Jwalant Wadhwa
Category B: the students who were observing, enjoying and encouraging the other students in the whole indecent activities and failed to inform the authorities.
1. Himesh Panchal
2. Hiren Chaudhary
3. Ashish Raj
4. Aashvi Shh
5. Dipen Patel
6. Kishan Zadafiya
7. Arnav Biswas
8. Pushpendra Singh
9. Pranshu Soni
10. Aayush Prasad
11. Anjali Pitroda
12. Praveen Dhakar
13. Yash Vardhan Omar
14. Raxit Kaul
15. Akash Sharma
Category C: the students happened by chance or curiously to be there at venue but failed to stop these indecent activities and also failed to inform the authorities.
1. Kunj Shah
2. Abhineet Singh
3. Monish Yadav
4. Rohit Singh
5. Shubhano Singh Dixit
2) The committee unanimously recommends the following action;
(I) Category A students be suspended from the current academic year and be permitted to continue with academics from August, 2018. However, they be not admitted into the Hostel in future.
(ii) Category B students be suspended from the current semester and be permitted to continue with academics from January, 2019. However, they be not admitted into the Hostel in future.
(iii) Category C students be suspended from academics for 3 weeks and be permitted to continue with academics from 22nd October, 2018 in the current semester.
Note; The committee would meet Mr. Abhilash Mourya, the student who remained absent, after his recovery and decide appropriately;
Sd/
Mr. Mukul Jangid
Student representative
Sd/
Mr. Chhatwani Naresh
Student representative
Sd/
Mr. Hiren Halvadia
Parent representative
Sd/
Mr.Deven Sheth
Parent representative
Sd/
Dr.Harshad Patel
Librarian IITRAM
Sd/
Ms. Bhartiben Patel
Administrative officer, IITRAM
Sd/
Dr.Mahuya Bandhyopadhyay
Assistant Professor,IITRAM
Sd/
Dr. Veerbhadra Rotte
Assistant Pforessor,IITRAM
Sd/
Dr. Mamta Sharma
Warden Girls’ Hostel, IITRAM
Sd/
Dr. Gautam Borisagar
Warden, AMC Boys’ Hostel,IITRAM
Sd/
Dr. Meera Vasani
Associate Dean of Student Affairs
Sd/
Dr. Shanti Prasanna
Dean of Academic & Student Affairs “
7. Submissions on behalf of the writ applicant ‘
7.1 Mr. Hardik Raval, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicant vehemently submitted that the impugned order at Annexure-A is liable to be quashed and set aside as the same is a non-speaking, illegal, arbitrary and a malafide order. Mr. Raval would submit that the action initiated against the writ applicant and the punishment imposed is in gross violation of the principles of natural justice. He would submit that no show-cause notice was issued by the institute specifying the allegations and the role played by the writ applicant.
7.2 Mr. Raval submitted that the haste with which the management of the institute conducted the inquiry, will indicate that there was complete breach of the principles of natural justice The writ applicant was not given any formal show-cause notice indicating as to on what charges, the inquiry was being conducted. They were not given an opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses.
7.3 According to Mr. Raval, the action, being in the nature of a quasi-judicial inquiry, the principles of natural justice would apply. Mr. Raval would submit that the punishment imposed is quite harsh and not incommensurate with the nature of the charge. Mr. Raval further pointed out that his client is a bright student and the punishment imposed would tarnish his image in the society and would also spoil the future prospects of higher studies. In such circumstances, referred to above, Mr. Raval prays that there being merit in this writ application, the same be allowed and the order of punishment be quashed.
Submissions on behalf of the Institute;
8. On the other hand, this writ application has been vehemently opposed by Mr. Dipen Desai, the learned counsel appearing for the institute. Mr. Desai would submit that the case on hand is one of ragging. He would submit that ragging is a worst kind of humiliation which takes a serious toll on the mental and emotional health of the student subjected to it. He further submitted that the menace of ragging is growing in proportion and degrading or worsening in terms of form and method. Such instances should be dealt with firmly. Mr. Desai would submit that the matter on hand is one of open and shut case. The report of the Disciplinary Committee is self-explanatory. The C.C.T.V. Footage makes the picture abundantly clear as regards the misconduct of the students found guilty of ragging.
9. Mr. Desai submitted that the writ applicant is one of the students who has been found involved in the planning and the execution of the entire indecent activities.
10. Mr. Desai further submitted that once the charges against the students, which are serious enough are proved, the punishment that could be imposed also is within the discretion of the disciplinary authority and this Court in exercise of its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India may not interfere with the same. Mr. Desai would submit that the case is one in which the students could have been rusticated from the institute for all times to come. However, the management of the institute has shown some mercy and has imposed the penalty which could definitely be said to be incommensurate with the charges. Mr. Desai would submit that the judicial review by this Court in exercise of extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is not directed against a decision but is directed against the “Decision making process”;that the question of appropriate punishment, both in its choice and quantum, being within the discretion of the Disciplinary Authority, this Court may not interfere with the same.
11. Mr. Desai, the learned counsel appearing for the institute has placed strong reliance on the following averments made in the affidavit-in-reply filed on behalf of the institute;
“15. Thereafter, considering the severity of the misconduct, the Institute decided to immediately suspended 23 second year students and they were served suspension order on 01.10.2018 and they were asked to vacate the hostel within 48 hours. A copy of communication dated 01.10.2018 is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-R2 to this reply.
16. It is submitted that thereafter, the disciplinary committee meeting was convened on 03.10.2018. 13 members consisted of the disciplinary committee which includes two parent’s representatives and two student’s representatives. The disciplinary committee first viewed the CCTV footages from which it was found that the group of 18 students of the second year including the present petitioner) were bullying a first year student Mr. Kushagra Nanglot He was asked to perform large number of sit-ups Thereafter, the bottle was placed on .the ground and he was asked to lift with his butt. It was seen that the second year students were very aggressive and they were pouncing on the junior students and this incident went on for about 20 minutes.
17. It was then that the petitioner herein in the group realized about the CCTV Camera and asked another student Mr. Hiren Chaudhary who was sitting below the CCTV Camera to tilt the Camera so that the Camera is not able to further view the action going on. The same is clearly caught on the CCTV Camera. The respondents crave leave to produce and rely upon the footage of CCTV Camera as and when required by the Hon’ble Court for viewing the same.
18. It is submitted that thereafter, the footage No.2 of the second CCTV Camera was seen by the disciplinary committee, which shows that various second year girl students were coming and going out of the reading room, where another incident had happened, where various girl students of the first year were asked to do the plank pose. The respondents crave lave to produce and rely upon the said CCTV footage as and when required by the Hon’ble Court.
19. The Committee then called various first year students to take their feedback about the incident. The first year students have given in writing about the misconduct suffered by them and they had stated before the committee that the kind of harassment that was done was really bad and vulgar and objectionable. The students also reported that the questionnaire was circulated in the seminar room of the Institute in the month of August-September to the students of first year by the second year students to fill and submit the same to the second year students. It was reported that the questionnaire contained very objectionable and vulgar questions.
20. The committee asked the junior students as to why such questionnaire was asked to be filled up to which the junior students said that the purpose of questionnaire was to choose Mr. and Ms. Fresher. Copies of statements of the first year students taken by the disciplinary committee are annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-R3 Collectively to this reply.
21. The committee then called the suspended students one by one to present their case. 22 out of 23 suspended students including the petitioner herein were asked to give their version and their defense. The committee heard each and every students patiently and individually and gave fair chance to speak to every student. All the 22 students including the petitioner herein accepted that they were involved in doing the indecent act and also accepted their guilt. Names of 3 additional students also emerged during hearing of the students and they were also called. When the committee asked about the questionnaire, the petitioner herein and one Mr. Gajendra Jain provided copy of the questionnaire to the committee and on seeing the contents of the questionnaire, the committee was shocked. A copy of questionnaire is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-R4 to this reply.
22. It is submitted that the committee took statements of each and every students including the petitioner The petitioner has agreed before the committee that he was involved in the indecent act and that he also admitted that there were vulgar questions included in the questionnaire. He also admitted that he asked other student to rotate the Camera. He also admitted that he was one of the persons who was actively involved in conducting, planning and executing the above acts. Copies of statements of the second year students taken by the disciplinary committee are annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-R5 Collectively to this reply.
23. It is submitted that on the basis of the above referred CCTV footage, statements of the junior students and the statements of the senior students, the committee observed that the questionnaire circulated by the second year students contained very vulgar and inappropriate material. The CCTV footage also showed that physical and mental torture was made on the first year students and there was an attempt to meddle with the security device i.e. CCTV Camera. The committee decided that the students be distributed in three parts and the punishment be given according to their involvement in the act, i.e. (i) students who played major role in planning and executing the whole indecent act be given the maximum punishment, (ii) students who were observers should be given a little less punishment and (iii) students who had happened to be there, but they also did not report the incident should be given the least punishment. The committee on the basis of CCTV footage, statements etc. found that five students including the present petitioner were actively involved in planning and executing the entire incident and therefore, five students including the petitioner were recommended to be suspended for a period of one year and they shall not be admitted in hostel in future lesser punishment was proposed on other students. It is submitted that the committee gave the report to the Institute recommending the above action on 21.10.2018. A copy of report of the disciplinary committee is annexed hereto and marked as Annexure-R6 to this reply.
24, On the basis of the aforesaid report, the Institute decided to accept the report as it is and vide impugned order dated 22.10.2018 passed the impugned order of punishment upon the petitioner so also the other students.
25. From the above, the Hon’ble Court would be satisfied that the Institute has taken all possible care of the entire proceedings conducted by the Institute are after affording opportunity to defend their case to the students, the students were made known about the charge against them during the disciplinary committee proceedings and they categorically accepted the guilt. Therefore, it is not correct that the Institute did not make the petitioner know about the charge or the order was passed without observing the principles of natural justice.
26. It is submitted that the act of the petitioner is very serious and it also involved torturing of minor students (some of the 1styear students are below 18 years of age), which may also be a criminal offence under the Provision of Commission of Sexual Offence Act. The Institute had an option to file complaint before the police however, looking at the age and future of the students and also looking at the career of the victim girls, the Institute thought fit not to undertake the said exercise and only decided to take the route of disciplinary proceedings. The said decision was taken to safeguard the future of the students like the petitioner and to see that their career is not ruined for all times to come.”
12. Mr Desai, the learned counsel appearing for the institute has placed reliance on the following decisions;
13. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and having gone through the materials on record, the only question that falls for my consideration is whether I should interfere with the action taken by the Disciplinary Committee of the institute and the punishment imposed upon the writ applicant.
14. Having regard to the materials on record, there is no scope for this Court to take the view that the disciplinary action taken against the writ applicant is tainted with bias or victimization. There is no allegation of such a nature against the Disciplinary Committee/members. It is also not the case of the writ applicant that he had been wrongly implicated. The C.C.T.V. Footage makes the picture abundantly clear in this regard. The charges are extremely serious.
15. Mr. Desai, the learned counsel appearing for the institute is right in his submission that the menace of ragging is growing in proportion and degrading or worsening in terms of form and method. It is a worst kind of humiliation to junior/fresh students who come with hope and aspirations and look forward to the seniors for guidance, support and protection and there is critical need to curb the practice which takes a serious toll on the mental and emotional health of the student subjected to ragging. Actually, such instances have to be prevented with great care and vigilance and if at all it occurs, it should be dealt with firmly, and in accordance with law.
16. The case on hand is not one in which the writ applicant and the other students were not given any opportunity of hearing. It is also not a case in which the writ applicant has been taken by surprise with the charges levelled against him. So long as an inquiry is held to be fair and it affords a student an adequate opportunity of defending himself, the matter should not ordinarily be examined by the courts with the same strictness as applicable to the criminal charges. The writ applicant may be a very brilliant student with a good academic record but if a brilliant student is found to have involved in ragging, he will have to bear the consequences of the same.
17. In inflicting appropriate punishment, certain aspects have to be borne in mind. When the relationship of the Head of the Institution and the student is that of a parent and child, the punishment imposed should not result in any retribution or give vent to a feeling of wrath. The main purpose of punishment is to correct the fault of the student concerned by making him more alert in future and to hold out a warning to the other students to be careful, so that they may not expose themselves to similar punishment and the approach is that of a parent towards an erring or misguided child. In order to not to attract the criciticm that the action is a result of arbitrariness, it has to be ensured that the penalty imposed is commensurate with the magnitude of the fault.
18. I am of the view that the writ applicant is otherwise fortunate that the maximum penalty of expulsion from the institute has not been imposed. At least, the institute has taken care to ensure that the career of the writ applicant is not completely ruined. If the writ applicant would have been expelled from the institute, no other college would have granted him admission to enable him to complete his studies, thereby leading to such frustration and disappointment or despondency which may lead even either to suicide or taken him into antisocial elements.
19. I am not impressed by the submission canvassed on behalf of the writ applicant that no opportunity was given to the writ applicant to defend himself. To put it in other words, I am not impressed with the submission that no reasonable opportunity of hearing was given to the writ applicant and that the inquiry conducted by the Committee was not fair. As noted above, there is thumping incriminating materials on record in the form of C.C. TV Footage and the statements of the victims. The duty of any Educational Institution be it a school or college or any other institute in maintaining internal discipline is paramount. When they see any slightest threat to the discipline, the preventive measures are enforced eo-instanti. That necessarily obliterates the extravagance of a full-fledged inquiry. When the courts have recognized the power of the Educational Institute to inflict reasonable corporal punishment on the erring student or students, the holding of a full inquiry like a criminal trial for indiscipline appears to be out of place.
20. The Supreme Court inK. Kraipak v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 150, held that the rules of natural justice aims at securing justice or to prevent injustice. They operate only in the areas not covered by any law validly made.In Union of India v. J. N. Sinha, AIR 1971 SC 40, it was laid down that the principles of natural justice do not supplant law but supplement it. If a statutory provision either specifically or by necessary implication excludes the application of any rules of natural justice then the court cannot ignore the mandate of the legislature or the statutory authority and read into the concerned provision of the principles of natural justice. In this view, the Supreme Court held in that case, the principles of natural justice cannot be read into Fundamental Rules and no opportunity can be given before compulsorily retiring an employee as that implication does not arise by reason of the express statutory language. Applying this ratio the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Ex Constable Amrik Sing, AIR 1991 SC 564, held that in cases of special enactments like Army Actall the principles of natural justice cannot be imported. It further held that the same ratio will apply to a petition under Section 117(2) of the Border Security Force Act, 1968. It is also pointed out that the Chapter XIII consisting of Rules 167 to 169 of the B.S.F. Rules deals with petitions filed under Section 117 of the Act and “even in them there is nothing to indicate that a hearing has to be given before disposal of a petition.”
21. I do not find any reason to detract in extending the ratio inUnion of India v. J. N. Sinha, AIR 1971 SC 40 (supra), andUnion of India v. Ex Constable Amrik Singh, AIR 1991 SC 564 (supra), to the academic bodies like the schools and colleges, where the prevalence of discipline is asseverated. It cannot therefore be said that the opportunity of hearing to the delinquent student or his guardian is always an invariable attribute in a disciplinary proceeding. I am fully conscious of the position that the “principles of natural justice are fundamental in the constitutional set up of this country” (Charanlal Sahu v. Union of India, (1990) 1 SCC 613 : (AIR 1990 SC 1480). However, the limitations and restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court in this regard on different occasions are reverberative. Once it said “the extent and application of the doctrine of natural justice cannot be imprisoned within the straight jacket of a rigid formula. The application of the doctrine depends upon the nature and jurisdiction conferred on the administrative authority, upon the character of the rights affected, the scheme and policy of the statute and other relevant circumstances disclosed in the particular case” (Union of India v. P. K. Roy , AIR 1968 SC 850). In Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education v. K.S. Gandhi, (1991)2 SCC 716: (1991 AIR SCW 879) (supra), the Supreme Court remarked “the applicability of the principles of natural justice is not a rule of thumb or straight jacket formula as an abstract proposition of law. It depends on the facts of the case, nature of the inquiry and the effect of the order/decision on the rights of the person and attendant circumstances.” In a recent decision, Rattan Lal Sharma v. Managing Committee, (1993)4 SCC 10 : (AIR 1993 SC2155), the Supreme Court has approved the following observation of Tucker L.J. in Russell v. Duke of Norfolk, (1949) 1 AH ER 109 (C.A.), which is found to be very relevant on the point under discussion :
”….There are, in my view, no words which are of universal application to every kind of inquiry and the every kind of domestic tribunal. The requirements of natural justice must depend on the circumstances of the case, the nature of the inquiry, the rules under which the tribunal is acting, the subject-matter that is being dealt with, and so forth.”
22. In cases where academic discipline is involved the rule of hearing has always been construed strictly. It is not the indispensable facet of principles of natural justice. Such rule can be waived in situation where the head of the institute or the governing body is satisfied that the ‘fairness’ has been shown to the delinquent student or his guardian before action is taken against him. Such satisfaction can be arrived at by the depending on the facts of each case and the attendant circumstances. The issue of a pre-decisional or show cause notice to the delinquent student or his guardian to explain the allegations would no doubt constitute ‘fairness’. When such fairness is shown it is for the Management or the Principal to decide any further opportunity is necessary in the facts of the case. But I can certainly visualise that even fairness to a delinquent would, in certain cases, cause more injustice than justice. The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court made a very significant remark about the extension of the rule of natural justice while dealing with the question of furnishing enquiry report to a delinquent employee. It is contained in Managing Director, ECIL v. B. Karunakar,(1993) 4 SCC 727 : (AIR 1994 SC 1074). There it is observed : “Where, therefore, even after the furnishing of the report, no different consequence would have followed, it would be a perversion of justice to permit the employee to resume duty and to get all the consequential benefits. It amounts to rewarding the dishonest and the guilty and thus to stretching the concept of justice to illogical and exasperating limits. It amounts to an “unnatural expansion of natural justice.” The Supreme Court in Karnataka Public Service Commission v. B. M. Vijaya-shanker, AIR 1992 SC 952, remarked : “Even though the procedure of affording hearing is as important as decision on merits yet urgency of the matter, or public interest at times require flexibility in application of the rule as the circumstances of the case and the nature of the matter required to be dealt may serve interest of justice better by denying opportunity of hearing …..”. In that case the Karnataka Public Service Commission did not afford any opportunity to the candidates who appeared in competitive examinations to explain their bona fides and innocence in disobeying the instructions. But the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal issued directions to get the answer books of the candidates evaluated. These directions were challenged before the Supreme Court by the Public Service Commission and State of Karnataka. The orders of the Administrative Tribunal were set aside by the Supreme Court on the ground that facts of the case justify the exclusion of the natural justice before taking any action in the matter.
23. In Herring v. Templeman, (1973) 3 All ER 569) the Court of Appeal held: “… .the assumption that the plaintiff was entitled as of right to a full legal trial on every detailed matter was fallacious, the hearing before the governing body was neither a law suit nor a legal arbitration; its purpose was to give the student a fair chance to show why the recommendations of the academic board, which was the competent body to make an assessment, and the principle should not be accepted;. . . .” The Supreme Court in Board of High School and Intermediate Education U. P. v. Bagleshwar Prasad, AIR 1966SC 875 observed: “This problem which educational institutions have to face from time to time is a serious problem and unless there is justification to do so, Courts should be slow to interfere with the decisions of domestic Tribunals appointed by educational bodies like the Universities. In dealing with the validity of the impugned orders passed by Universities under Article 226, the High Court is not sitting in appeal over the decision in question; its jurisdiction is limited.”
24. Over a period of time, the courts have modulated the in built restriction exercising powers under Article 226 of the Constitution while dealing with the orders of the academic bodies. The courts have generally set certain limitations and self-imposed restrictions on them while exercising their discretionary power under Article 226 in dealing with the decisions of the academic bodies. The courts have consistently kept their hands off high academic bodies unless flagrant violation of fair play based on bias or mala fides is brought to their notice in the orders passed by them. The academic bodies enjoy a position of primacy in the matters relating to internal administration. It is primarily a matter in their domestic jurisdiction. That, is not to say that the courts will not interfere, if the procedure adopted by the authority is so grossly unfair, as to produce unjust results. The courts will intervene then, and only then. The interference of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution in the matters relating to the internal discipline of the academic bodies will normally be rigid.
25. In B.C.Chaturvedi v. Union of India, (1995) 6 SCC 749 it was held by the Supreme Court that where the finding of the disciplinary authority are based on some evidence, then the court/Tribunal should not interfere with the same and will not re-appreciate the evidence and substitute its own findings. In this matter the Central bureau of investigation had concluded that the petitioner working as an income tax officer possessed assets disproportionate to that of his own income, however as the evidence was not sufficient the case could not be registered under thePrevention of Corruption Act. However, in the departmental proceedings initiated against him, he was dismissed from service. The Central administrative tribunal upheld the charges, however, altered the punishment imposed. Relying on Bidyabhusahn Mohapatra, , Bhagat Ram v. State of H.P. and Rangaswami v. State of T.N. 1989 Suppl (1) SCC 686, it was observed by the Apex Court that it has not been laid down that in no case, the High Court/Tribunal has the power to alter the penalty imposed by the disciplinary or appellate authority. However, the disciplinary authorities being the fact-finding authorities have the exclusive power to consider the evidence with a view to maintain discipline. They are invested with the discretion to impose an appropriate punishment keeping in view the magnitude and gravity of the misconduct. The High Court/Tribunal, while exercising the power of judicial review, should not normally substitute its own conclusion on penalty and impose some other penalty. If the punishment imposed by the disciplinary authority or by the appellate authority shocks the conscience of the High Court/Tribunal, it would appropriately mould the relief, either directing the disciplinary authority to reconsider the penalty imposed, or to shorten the litigation, it may itself, in exceptional cases, impose appropriate punishment with cogent reasons in support thereof. Similarly in Union of India v. G Ganayutham it was held that according to Wednesbury principles, while examining `reasonableness’ of an administrative decision the court has to find out if the administrator has left out relevant factors or taken into account irrelevant factors. The decision of the administrator must have been within the four corners of the law, and not one which no sensible person could have reasonably arrived at, having regard to the above principles, and must have been a bona fide one. The decision could be one of many choices open to the authority but it was for that authority to decide upon the choice and not for the court to substitute its view. In this case 50% of respondent’s pension and 50% of gratuity were withheld on proof of his misconduct. The tribunal had interfered with the quantum of punishment and had also substituted its view of the punishment. The Apex court had set aside the punishment imposed by the tribunal and had restored the punishment awarded by the Departmental authorities. The apex court had also summarized the position of proportionality in England and in India as follows:
(1) To judge the validity of any administrative order or statutory discretion, normally the Wednesbury test is to be applied to find out if the decision was illegal or suffered from procedural improprieties or was Page 3412 one which no sensible decision-maker could, on the material before him and within the framework of the law, have arrived at. The court would consider whether relevant matters had not been taken into account or whether irrelevant matters had been taken into account or whether the action was not bona fide. The court would also consider whether the decision was absurd or perverse. The court would not however go into the correctness of the choice made by the administrator amongst the various alternatives open to him. Nor could the court substitute its decision to that of the administrator. This is the Wednesbury test
(2) The court would not interfere with the administrators decision unless it was illegal or suffered from procedural impropriety or was irrational in the sense that it was in outrageous defiance of logic or moral standards. The possibility of other tests, including proportionality being brought into English administrative law in future is not ruled out. These are the CCSU9 principles.
(3)(a) As per Bugdaycay20, Brind12 and Smith19 as long as the Convention is not incorporated into English law, the English courts merely exercise a secondary judgment to find out if the decision-maker could have, on the material before him, arrived at the primary judgment in the manner he has done.
(3)(b) If the Convention is incorporated in England making available the principle of proportionality, then the English courts will render primary judgment on the validity of the administrative action and find out if the restriction is disproportionate or excessive or is not based upon a fair balancing of the fundamental freedom and the need for the restriction thereupon.
(4)(a) The position in our country, in administrative law, where no fundamental freedoms as aforesaid are involved, is that the courts/tribunals will only play a secondary role while the primary judgment as to reasonableness will remain with the executive or administrative authority. The secondary judgment of the court is to be based on Wednesbury and CCSU principles as stated by Lord Greene and Lord Diplock respectively to find if the executive or administrative authority has reasonably arrived at his decision as the primary authority.
(4)(b) Whether in the case of administrative or executive action affecting fundamental freedoms, the courts in our country will apply the principle of proportionality and assume a primary role, is left open, to be decided in an appropriate case where such action is alleged to offend fundamental freedoms. It will be then necessary to decide whether the courts will have a primary role only if the freedoms under Articles 19, 21 etc. are involved and not for Article 14.
26. The quantum of punishment in disciplinary matters is, therefore, primarily for the disciplinary authority to decide and the jurisdiction of the High Court’s underArticle 226 of the constitution is limited and is confined to the applicability of one or other of the well-known principles known as the Wednesbury principles. This was held so by the Supreme Court in Om Kumar v. Union of India (2001) 2 SCC 386. It was held that the courts are confined to a secondary role and only has to see whether the administrator has acted illegally or has omitted relevant factors into consideration or whether his view is one which no reasonable person could have taken and if his action does not satisfy any of these conditions it is to be treated as arbitrary.
27. In my view, a very conscious decision has been taken by the institute in imposing the penalty.
28. The only question now left for my consideration is with regard to the submission of the writ applicant that he was not heard or put to notice about the proposed penalty.
29. In the aforesaid context, the averments made in para-28 of the affidavit-in-reply filed on behalf of the institute are relevant. Para-28 of the reply reads as under;
“28. Further, father of the petitioner, who also met the authorities and tried to persuade the authorities for reconsidering the punishment, was also given patient hearing and was shown the material because of which the Institute had to take this action.”
30. Mr. Raval, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicant invited my attention to the observations made by a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Kolli Madhav (supra), more particularly, from para-12 onwards. I may quote the relevant observations;
“12. Now, we may turn to the second part of the contention viz. the appellant was not put to notice about proposed penalty.
12.1 In this context, it is appropriate to note that while it is true that the appellant was asked to make his statement about the incidence, it is equally true that in absence of the notice informing him about the proposed penalty the appellant was left guessing as to which punishment, from amongst the different penalties prescribed under the regulations, will visit him i.e. which penalty, the disciplinary authority was contemplating to impose, in the event he was held guilty. Furthermore, he also did not get the opportunity to represent against the decision about the penalty.
12.2 An action taken by the authority can be recognized as an action taken in accordance with principles of natural justice if the opportunity to represent and tender response qua the proposed punishment is afforded. Ordinarily, the obligation to comply the principles of natural justice can be said to have been observed and fulfilled if the person is heard on the point of proposed penalty and the failure or omission would amount to non-compliance. The person against whom the proceedings are held and any action is contemplated should, ordinarily, get opportunity to represent against the proposed penalty. This is the minimal and elementary requirement. Such requirement is all the more relevant and vital in cases where the regulations provide for different types/quantum of penalty and the discretion to decide the quantum is conferred on the authority. In present case the said elementary and primary requirement is not complied with inasmuch as the appellant was not put to the notice about the proposed penalty.
12.3 There may be myriad of exceptions, depending upon the facts of the case, so far as the proceedings and procedure for domestic inquiry is concerned and/or so far as the requirement for complying the principles of natural justice is concerned. However, an inquiry which is conducted against a person for appropriate action for his alleged misdemeanor, without putting him to notice, beforehand, about the proposed punishment would, ordinarily, amount to hollow formality or mere eye-wash and would not qualify as inquiry in accordance with the principles of natural justice.
12.4 It is not in dispute in present case that the appellant was not put to notice about the proposed punishment. He, therefore, did not get the opportunity to put forward his response as regards the proposed penalty and about its quantum. In absence of the notice, the appellant remained uninformed about the proposed penalty and did not get opportunity to represent against proposed penalty to that extent the impugned action regarding imposition of penalty stands vitiated. We hold accordingly.
The matter cannot be closed or concluded at this stage since it would amount to closing the matter without any penalty.
The question, therefore, would be what final order, while also addressing the aforesaid aspect, can be passed in such case.
In this context, we may refer to the observations by the Hon’ble Apex Court in para 32 in the judgment in the case of State Bank of Patiala & Ors. (supra), which read thus:-
32. Now, coming back to the illustration given by us in the preceding paragraph, would setting aside the punishment and the entire enquiry on the ground of aforesaid violation of sub-clause (iii) be in the interests of justice or would it be its negation? In our respectful opinion, it would be the latter. Justice means justice between both the parties. The interests of justice equally demand that the guilty should be punished and that technicalities and irregularities which do not occasion failure of justice are not allowed to defeat the ends of justice. Principles of natural justice are but the means to achieve the ends of justice. They cannot be perverted to achieve the very opposite end. That would be a counter-productive exercise.(emphasis supplied).
In view of the facts of the case, we may also recall the observations by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Ajit Kumar Nag (supra) that:-
We are aware of the normal rule that a person must have a fair trial and a fair appeal and he cannot be asked to be satisfied with an unfair trial and a fair appeal but we are also aware that the principles of natural justice are not rigid or immutable and hence they cannot be imprisoned in a straitjacket. While interpreting legal provision, a court of law cannot be unmindful of the hard realities of life. In our opinion, the approach of the Court in dealing with such cases should be pragmatic rather than pedantic, realistic rather than doctrinaire, functional rather than formal and practical rather than precedential…”[emphasis supplied]”
31. I am of the view that this, by itself, would not vitiate the entire proceedings or the impugned order, imposing the punishment. The writ applicant has been fortunate enough to get away with the punishment which cannot be said to be in any manner very harsh or not incommensurate with the nature of the charge. The case is, otherwise, one of rustication from the institute. However, the management of the institute seems to have taken some lenient view and have shown some mercy on the writ applicant, though not deserving. The quantum of punishment has to be decided by the authority who is responsible for the maintenance of discipline of the institution. Such authority, being responsible for the welfare ‘of the students as a whole’ is the best judge to say what punishment should be awarded, regard being had to the welfare of the general student body of the institution and the indiscipline committed by a particular student, its effect on the administration of the institution, its future effect on the morale and efficiency of the institution and its students. These are matters which can best be determined by the head of the institution or the governing body of the institution.
32. In Hira Nath v. Rajendra Medical College, Ranchi,, AIR 1973 SC 1260, the Supreme Court had occasion to consider the applicability of principles of natural justice with regard to domestic enquiries, with particular reference to the educational institutions. The complaint in that case was that the appellants who were 2nd Year students of the College and who lived in a hostel attached to the College, entered the compound of the ladies’ hostel and walked inside without clothes on them. They tried to misbehave with one of the girl students and they also climbed up along the drain pipes to the terrace of the girls’ hostel, where some of the girls were doing their studies. The miscreants were identified by the college and an enquiry was held by an Enquiry Committee. The Committee had enquired with the girls and recorded their statements. But, those statements were not recorded in the presence of the delinquent boys and the latter were enquired by the Committee later. As a result of the findings of the Enquiry Committee, the miscreants were expelled from the College for two academic sessions and they were directed to vacate the hostel immediately. The main contention urged before the apex Court was that the rules of natural justice had not been followed before the order of expulsion was made as the statements of the girl students were recorded behind their back and there was no opportunity given to the delinquents to cross-examine the witnesses with a view to test their veracity. It was also contended that the report of the Enquiry Committee was not made available to them. Repelling those contentions, the Court observed that under the circumstances of the case, the requirements of natural justice were fulfilled. It will be useful and advantageous to refer to the following passage in the judgment :–
“10. We think that under the circumstances of the case the requirements of natural justice were fulfilled. The learned Counsel for the respondents made available to us the report of the Committee just to show how meticulous the members of the Committee were to see that no injustice was done. We are informed that this report had also been made, available to the learned Judges of the High Court who heard the case and it further appears that the counsel for the appellants before the High Court was also invited to have a look into the report, but he refused to do so. There was no question about the incident. The only question was of identity. The names had been specifically mentioned in the complaint and, not to leave anything to chance, the Committee obtained photographs of the four delinquents and mixed them up with 20 other photographs of students. The girls by and large identified these four students from the photographs. On the other hand, if as the appellants say, they were in their own Hostel at the time it would not have been difficult for them to produce necessary evidence apart from saying that they were innocent and they had not gone to the girls Hostel at all late at night. There was no evidence in that behalf. The Committee on a Careful consideration of the material before them came to the conclusion that the three appellants and Upendra had taken part in the night raid on the girls Hostel. The report was confidentially sent to the Principal, The very reasons for which the girls were not examined in the presence of the appellants, prevailed on the authorities not to give a copy of the report to them. It would have been unwise to do so. Taking all the circumstances into account it is not possible to say that rules of natural justice had not been followed. In Board of Education v. Rice, 1911 AC 179, Lord Loreburn laid down that in disposing of a question, which was the subject of an appeal to it, the Board of Education was under a duty to act in good faith, and to listen fairly to both sides, inasmuch as that was a duty which lay on everyone who decided anything. He did not think that the Board was bound to treat such a question as though it were a trial. The Board need not examine witnesses. It could, he thought, obtain information in any way it thought best, always giving a fair opportunity to those who were parties in the controversy to correct or contradict any relevant statement prejudicial to their view. More recently in Russell v. Duke of Norfolk, (1949) 1 All ER 109 at p. 118, Tucker, L.J. observed : “There are in my view, no words which are of universal application to every kind of inquiry and every kind of domestic tribunal. The requirements of natural justice must depend on the circumstances of the case, the nature of the inquiry, the rules under which the Tribunal is acting, the subject-matter that is being dealt with, and so forth. Accordingly, I do not derive much assistance from the definitions of natural justice which have been from time to time used, but, whatever standard is adopted, one essential is that the person concerned should have a reasonable opportunity of presenting his case.” More recently in Byrne v. Kinematograph Renters Society Ltd., (1958) 2 All ER 579, Harman, J. observed : “what, then, are the requirements of natural justice in a case of this kind? First, I think that the person accused should know the nature of the accusation made; secondly that he should be given an opportunity to state his case; and thirdly, of course, that the Tribunal should act in good faith. I do not think that there really is anything more.
11. Rules of natural justice cannot remain the same applying to all conditions.”
33. A similar ruling was given by Mohan, J. in R. Satheesh (minor) rep. by father and natural guardian, C. Rajendran v. Director of Higher Secondary Education, (1989) 2 LW 206. The learned Judge held that in every case it cannot be insisted that there must be a memorandum of charge, an enquiry and a finding arrived at like a Court or a judicial proceeding. The learned Judge observed as follows :–
“It is well settled by now that a student, so long as he behaves himself properly, in a disciplined way in other words, as a student ought to behave, has every right to prosecute his studies. Such a right cannot be interfered with. As against this, should there be any act of indiscipline which is not conducive to the interests of the Institution, and which will pollute the educational atmosphere of the Institution or the calm of the Institution, certainly, the school authorities have every right to see that such a student who would not behave himself in a disciplined way is expelled from the school. Apart from the fact that such an indisciplined student is not only an undesirable element who spoils his own future, his conduct and character will have deleterious effect on others as well.
“Upon the eduction of the people of the country, the fate of the country depends” (White paper on the Education Act of 1944 quoted by Lord Denning in Smith v. Inner London Educational Authority, (1978) 1 All ER 411 at 417).”
In this connection, it requires to be remembered that the students are of impressionable age; sometimes they take all adventurism; sometimes they become victims of unguided enthusiasm; sometimes they become the victim of vicious circumstances. In all these cases, could it be said by the Court — No you shall not take action against this person, because his right to prosecute the study will be hindered? I should answer this question in the negative. To put it briefly, it is the educational authorities who alone should have every control over the students and take such action as is warranted in the circumstances. Court would no doubt come to the rescue of the student where they are victimised, or to use the phraseology of Labour Law, they are singled out for some hostile treatment. Normally speaking, I do not expect such victimisation or hostile treatment, in an educational institution, because, it is controlled and run by enlightened persons. The students come there to receive light and education. That being so, these are totally alien to such an atmosphere.”
With respect I agree with whatever the learned Judge had observed in the above passage.
34. In my view, ragging is a barbarous practice and it should be totally banned. If anybody is found guilty of ragging, he shall be immediately expelled from the Institution and he shall he debarred from entering any other educational institution thereafter. The origin of ragging is not clearly known. It had its birth only in the foreign shores. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictonary, the word is a University slang. ‘An act of ragging’ means especially an extensive display of noisy disorderly conduct, carried on in defiance of authority or discipline. The word “rag” as a verb is also defined as follows :–
“a. To scold, rate, talk severely to.
b. To annoy, tease, torment; spec. in Univ. slang, to assail in a rough or noisy fashion; to create wild disorder in (a room).”
In Webster’s New 20th Century Dictionary it is stated that from 19th century it is a British University slang. A guess is made in the Dictionary that it had its origin probably from the phrase like a red rag to a bull; its derivative being bully rag etc.
35. Ragging was totally unknown in this country. It is not known how, when and who imported it into this country. It has been in vogue if at all for the past few decades. Before that it was not heard of. But, it has become a wide-spread virulent disease prevalent in all educational institutions and more in the Professional colleges and hostels. It causes deep sorrow and anguish that in a country which had very lofty University ideals expounded in the Vedas, this shameful and disgusting evil of ragging degenerating into bestiality should come to stay in the educational institutions, which are intended for imparting knowledge to the future rulers of this country. Tait-tiriyopanishad describes the rules to be observed by a good student. He prays to the Supreme Being to give him able and active body, sweet tongue and make him listen abundently through his ears and learn.
The teacher advises the student as follows :–
“Swerve not from truth.
Swerve not from duty.
Swerve not from what is proper and good.
Swerve not from auspicious rites and well-being.
Swerve not from study and teaching.”
“If the instructions are followed by a student diligently, he becomes healthy in mind and body and the world will be full of wealth and achievement for him.”
Saint Tiruvalluvar has spoken about purity of conduct and discipline :
(Matter in vernacular omitted) “The man whose conduct is pure is honoured by all; purity of conduc! is therefore to be prized even above life.”
(Matter in vernacular omitted) “Purity of conduct sowelh the seed of prosperity; but an evil course is the mother of endless ill.”
How can anyone conceive of more ennobling thoughts and better ideals than that prevailed in our ancient Universities? But alas! what a fall from that high peak of virtuous principles to the murky depths of a dirty mire named ‘ragging’. Any person with a little sense of decency would abhor even to think of indulging in it. “
36. Having come to the educational institution to learn and pave the way for a bright future, it is unfortunate that the students indulge in such activities and satiate their sadist instincts in the name of ragging. There seems to be a misapprehension among some sections of the students that ragging is a way of training the new entrants to the institution to face the difficulties in life later. There cannot be a more absurd view than that. In several cases, the students get mental shock and depression by ragging and there are instances of the victims of ragging committing suicide. Even assuming without admitting that some of the victims of ragging will be bold enough to face difficulties in life later, end cannot justify the means. The sooner the ragging is abolished by an appropriate legislation, the better.
37. It appears that in a number of States, there are acts makingragging a cognizable offence and prescribing the types of punishment to be awarded. Why there is no such legislation in the State of Gujarat?. It is high time that such a legislation was passed by the legislature of Gujarat also. No doubt, this Court cannot give any direction to the State Government to initiate a legislation. But, this Court can express a fervent hope that the Government would take note of the situation now prevailing in the State and take steps to bring about a legislation preventing ragging and making it a cognizable offence. (see Leo Francis Xaviour vs. Principal, Karuna Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, 1992(2) LW 642)
“(i) There is a degradation of discipline among students in the College institutions. We find through newspaper reports that day-in and day-out, unruly incidents happen in educational institutions by way of ragging, eve-teasing, boycotting, etc. This unhealthy trend is causing great concern. It is noticed that no effective effort has been made by the educational institutions to stop degradation of discipline among students in the educational institutions. The real reason must be that though the present day education develops intelligence and skill among students, it does little to develop good qualities among students.
(ii) The knowledge that is gathered in educational institutions should be capable of being used for service to society and help to improve the conditions of one’s fellow men. The place where true teachers and students are gathered, should be filled with atmosphere of serene, peace and orderliness.
(iii) When the educational institutions are trying to curb the evils like ragging, eve-teasing, boycotting, etc., the students, without proper guidance from parents and elders, rush to the Court to get some interim orders to throw the same as a challenge before the teaching institutions, so as to wriggle out of their misdeeds. The students shall not be the stumbling block to public tranquility. They should start cultivating the spirit of mutual regard and harmony.
(iv) There is no point in blaming students alone. They are like the stones out of which the sculptors chisels the figure he wants. It is the sculptor who produces the things of beauty out of pieces of hard rock.
(v) The parents are keen about educating their children, but are not concerned about the kind of education that is being given. If there is failure in making the students to have good qualities, there will certainly be failure of orderliness in the educational institutions. This must be taken note of by both parents and educational institutions, if they are really interested in the well-being and improvement of students. So, the parents and teachers have to play a pivotal role in cultivating good human values in the minds of students.
(vi) The only panacea for eradicating the evils like indifferent attitude towards teachers, ragging, eve-teasing, boycotting, etc., is to teach the students not only the curriculum subjects, but also teaching human values. Therefore, educational institutions must ensure that students are given coaching by providing special classes to teach human values, such as TRUTH, RIGHTEOUS CONDUCT, PEACE, LOVE AND NON-VIOLENCE, so that they may not resort to any sort of aggressive activities. The educational institutions should give special attention and indulge themselves in imbibing these qualities in the heart and soul of students. This Court is of the definite view that only through imparting human values in education, the students would blossom as “good citizens” of the country and consequently, the evils such as ragging, boycotting, insulting teachers, causing damage not only to College properties, but also the public properties, ingratitude to parents, etc., will automatically get eradicated.
(vii) The educational institutions should further ensure that a special Committee is constituted to see that the grievance of the students are redressed then and there and that all facilities are given to them to carry on with their studies effectively and also for conducive atmosphere in the institutions, so that a situation may not warrant where the students would indulge in agitation under the garb of claiming rights. “
39. It all started in the name of “welcome party” or “freshers” day celebrations in the honour of the “freshers”. This, prima facie, was just an excuse or an opportunity to indulge in ragging. In the Special Leave Petition No.24295 of 2006, University of Kerala vs. Council of Principals of Colleges [with SLP (C ) No.24296-24299 of 2004, W.P. (Crl) No.173/2006 and SLP (C ) No.14356/2005], the Hon’ble Supreme Court was pleased to direct that a Committee headed by Shri R.K. Raghavan, former Director, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be notified to give suggestions on means of prevention of ragging in educational institutions.
40. I take notice that one of the recommendations at Clause-5.13 is very relevant. The same reads as under;
“5.13:We further recommend that social events such as ‘welcome parties’ or “freshers” day celebrations in honour of “freshers” is a sound tradition that needs to be encouraged by institutions. However, what is lamentable is that such events which often mark the ending of ragging and beginning of bonhomie among seniors and “freshers”, is scheduled only after a prolonged bout of ragging. Therefore, we recommend that in every institut9ion, the “freshers” day or ‘welcome party’ shall be concluded within the first two weeks of the beginning of the academic session, that is not later than one week after the commencement of classes for the seniors in the context of our recommendation in 5.12 above. In any such event, celebrating the “freshers” day or party, college faculty must be present and must ensure that no ragging or untoward incident takes place on the occasion.”
41. I also take notice of two other recommendations at Clauses-5.25 and 5.26. The same are as under;
“5.25 The Committee recommends that preventing or acting against ragging should be the collective responsibility of all levels and sections of authorities or functionaries with in the institution i.e. administrative head, teaching faculty and non-teaching employees and not merely that of the specific body constituted for prevention of ragging. In case of any incident taking place all the sections must co-ordinate with the sense of moral propriety and share the responsibility and accountability.
5.26 The burden of proof must, in the opinion of the Committee, lie on the perpetrator and not on the victim to prove that ragging did not take place. As mentioned earlier in the previous Chapter, dealing with the Observations of the Committee, we did not come across any significant instance of implementing the earlier directions of the Apex Court in regard to collective punishment in those cases where the perpetrators could not be identified. Nevertheless, the concept of collective fines or punishment is a time-tested method of making both active as well as passive participants or abettors pay for the crime and therefore we recommend that collective punishment must continue to be in force, with a more effective monitoring at higher levels.”
42. All Educational Institutions in the State of Gujarat should bear the above in mind and follow the same strictly. I wonder how many educational Institutions in the State of Gujarat are aware of the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the case of Vishwa Jagriti Mission Through President vs. Central Government Through Cabinet Secretary, reported in 2001(3) Scale 503. I may quote those guidelines;
“(i) This Court views with concern the increase in the number of incidents of ragging in educational institutions. Some of the reported incidents have crossed the limits of decency, morality and humanity. Some of the States have acted by enacting legislations and making ragging as defined therein a cognizable and punishable offence. However, we feel ragging cannot be cured merely by making it a cognizable criminal offence. Moreover, we feel that the acts of indiscipline and misbehaviour on the part of the students must primarily be dealt with within the institution and by exercise of the disciplinary authority of the teachers over the students and of the management of the institutions over the teachers and students. Students ought not ordinarily be subjected to police action unless it be unavoidable. The students going to educational institutions for learning should not remain under constant fear of being dealt with by police and sent to jail and face the courts. The faith in the teachers for the purpose of maintaining discipline should be restored and the responsibility fixed by emphasising the same.
(ii) Broadly speaking Ragging is: Any disorderly conduct whether by words spoken or written or by an act which has the effect of teasing, treating or handling with rudeness any other student, indulging in rowdy or indisciplined activities which causes or is likely to cause annoyance, hardship or psychological harm or to raise fear or apprehension thereof in a fresher or a junior student or asking the students to do any act or perform something which such student will not do in the ordinary course and which has the effect of causing or generating a sense of shame or embarrassment so as to adversely affect the physique or psyche or a fresher or a junior student
(iii) The cause of indulging in ragging is deriving sadistic pleasure or showing off power, authority or superiority by the seniors over their juniors or freshers.
(iv) Ragging can be stooped by creating awareness amongst the students, teachers and parents that ragging is a reprehensible act which does no good to any one and by simultaneously generating an atmosphere of discipline by sending a clear message that no act of ragging shall be tolerated and any act of ragging shall not go unnoticed and unpunished.
(v) Anti-ragging movement should be initiated by the institutions right from the time of advertisement for admissions. The prospectus, the form for admission and/or any other literature issued to aspirants for admission must clearly mention that ragging is banned in the institution and any one indulging in ragging is likely to be punished appropriately which punishment may include expulsion from the institution, suspension from the institution or classes for a limited period or fine with a public apology. The punishment may also take the shape of : (i) withholding scholarships or other benefits (ii) debarring from representation in events (iii) withholding results (iv) suspension or expulsion from hostel or mess, and the like. If there be any legislation governing ragging or any provisions in the Statute/Ordinances they should be brought to the notice of the students/parents seeking admissions.
(vi) The application form for admission/enrolment shall have a printed undertaking to be filled up and signed by the candidate to the effect that he/ she is aware of the institution’s approach towards ragging and the punishments to which he or she shall be liable if found guilty of ragging, A similar undertaking shall be obtained from the parent/guardian of the applicant.
(vii) Such of the institutions as are introducing such a system for the first time shall ensure undertakings being obtained from the students and their parents/guardians already studying in the institutions before the commencement of the next educational year/session,
(viii) A printed leaflet detailing when and to whom one has to turn for information, help and guidance for various purposes, keeping in view the needs of new entrants in the institution, along with the addresses and telephone numbers of such persons, should be given to freshers at the time of admissions so that the freshers need not look up to the seniors for help in such matters and feel indebted to or obliged by them.
(ix) The management, the principal, the teaching staff should interact with freshers and take them in confidence by apprising them of their rights as well as obligation to flight against ragging and to generate confidence in their mind that any instance of ragging to which they are subjected or which comes in their knowledge should forthwith be brought to their knowledge and shall be promptly dealt with while protecting the complainants from any harassment by perpetrators of ragging. It would be better if the head of the institution or a person high in authority addresses meetings of teachers, parents and students collectively or in groups in this behalf.
(x) At the commencement of the academic session, the institution should constitute a proctorial committee consisting of senior faculty members and hostel authorities like wardens and a few responsible senior students; (i) to keep a continuous watch and vigil over ragging so as to prevent its occurrence and recurrence, (ii) to promptly deal with the incidents of ragging brought to its notice and summarily punish the guilty either by itself or by putting-forth its finding/recommendation/suggestions before the authority competent to take decision. All vulnerable locations shall be identified and specially watched.
(xi) The local community and the students in particular must be made aware of dehumanising effect of ragging inherent in its perversity. Posters, notice boards and sign-boards-wherever necessary, may be used for the purpose.
(xii) Failure to prevent ragging shall be construed as an act of negligence in maintaining discipline in the institution on the part of the management, the principal and the persons in authority of the institution. Similar responsibility shall be liable to be fixed on hostel wardens/superintendents.
(xiii) The hostels/accommodations where freshers are accommodated shall be carefully guarded, if necessary by posting security personnel, and placed incharge of a warden/superintendent who should himself/herself reside thereat, and wherein the entry of seniors and outsiders shall be prohibited after specified hour of night and before except under the permission of the person incharge. Entry at other times may also be regulated.
(xiv) If the individuals committing or abetting ragging are not identified collective punishment could be resorted to act as a deterrent punishment and to ensure collective pressure on the potential raggers.
(xv) Migration certificate issued by the institution should have an entry apart from that of general conduct and behaviour whether the student had participated in and in particular was punished for ragging.
(xvi) If an institution fails to curb ragging, the UGC/Funding Agency may consider stoppage of financial assistance to such an institution till such time as it achieves the same. An University may consider disaffiliating a college or institution failing to curb ragging.
(xvii) The Universities and the institutions shall at a reasonable time before the commencement of an academic year, and therefore at such frequent intervals as may be expedient deliberate over and devise such positive and constructive activities to be arranged by involving the students generally so that the seniors and juniors, and the existing students and the freshers, interact with each other in a healthy atmosphere and develop a friendly relationship so as to behave like members of a family in an institution. Seniors or juniors should be encouraged to exhibit their talents in such events so as to shed their complexes. “
43. The Supreme Court, after laying the guidelines, referred to above, proceeded further to observe in para-5 as under;
“We make it clear that guidelines are only illustrative and are not intended to come in the way of the institutions and authorities devising ways and means to curb the ragging. If there are local laws governing ragging they shall be implemented and knowledge and information about such laws shall also be disseminated. Ragging if it becomes unmanageable or amounts to a cognizable offence the same may be reported to the police. However, the police should be called in or allowed entry in the campus at the instance of the head of the institution or the person in charge. We expect the police also to deal with such incidents when brought to its notice for action by keeping in mind that they are dealing with students and not criminals. The action of the police should never be violent and be always guided by a correctional attitude.”
44. The Supreme Court further directed the UGC to bring the guidelines to the notice of all the Educational Institutions;
45. From the aforesaid principles of law laid down by various Courts including the Supreme Court of India, it is clear that on a question of discipline in the educational institutions, the rules of natural justice cannot be put in a strait-jacket and they vary from situation to situation and from case to case. Where no mala fides or other motives have been alleged against the management of the institute in the passing of the impugned order the Court should not normally interfere in the punishment imposed upon the delinquent. It is the duty of the authorities, in charge of the educational institutions, to ensure that the discipline is maintained in the institution and the head of the institution in such cases is required to be armed with sufficient powers so that those who are keen to study and improve their carrier should not be the victims of a handful of persons who may spoil the academic atmosphere by indulging in anti-social activities In the matter of discipline the disciplinary authority does not act as a judicial or quasi-judicial Tribunal and the delinquent student cannot claim, as a matter of right, that the proceedings should be taken only after the procedure necessary for the exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial powers had been gone through. A decision having been take by the authorities on due consideration of the conduct of the student and the prevailing situation in the campus should normally not be interfered with by the Courts..
46. In the last, Mr. Raval submitted that the writ applicant being a student, sympathy may be shown towards him, otherwise, his career would be ruined with this kind of stigma. I may only say that the reliefs granted by the court must be seen to be logical and tenable within the framework of the law and should not incur and justify the criticism that the jurisdiction of courts tends to degenerate into misplaced sympathy and generosity and private benevolence. It is essential to maintain the integrity of legal reasonings and the legitimacy of the conclusions. They must emanate logically from the legal findings and the judicial results must be seen to be principled and supportable on those findings. Expansive judicial mode of mistaken and misplaced compassion at the expense of the legitimacy of the process will eventually lead to mutually irreconcilable situations and denude the judicial process of its dignity, authority, predictability and respectability. (see Kerala Solvent Extractions Ltd. v. A. Unnikrishnan and another, (1994)2 LLJ SC 888).
47. If the writ applicant has any remorse for his conduct, he may approach the authorities again expressing his regret and seeking forgiveness from the new entrants to the institute who must have such a traumatic experience, and the authorities may reconsider his case. However, it is entirely for the authorities to take action in the matter for keeping discipline in the institute, and I wish to say no more on the subject.
48. In the overall view of the matter, I have reached to the conclusion that the writ applicant is not entitled to any relief from this Court. The matter deserves to be viewed very strictly.
49. in the result, this writ application fails and is hereby rejected. Notice stands discharged. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Anonymous asked: "I have a question. I can be attracted to people without the emotional connection, but that attraction evaporates when I start to get to know them, and then it might redevelop depending on how I feel about them. So, pretty much, I can find strangers hot based on appearances only, but in terms of actual sex and ultimate attraction, I'm pretty demi... Does this mean I'm demisexual? Would I fall under that category?"
Possibly. I myself find random people to be attractive from an aesthetic point of view, but I don’t actually have any sexual desires for them unless I have that emotional connection, which sounds similar to your situation. It sounds like you would fall under the demi spectrum if that’s how you choose to identify. Just remember that sexuality is fluid and changes as we change, so even if you find you don’t fit into one particular category, that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. You’re sexuality is entirely your own.
~staggsy | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Report: Former Patriots Player Comes Out as Gay
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Former Patriots tackle Ryan O’Callaghan has come out as gay, according to Outsports.com.
O’Callaghan, who played for the Patriots in 2006 and 2007, says he realized he was in gay in junior high school, but kept it a secret from the public until now.
"In high school, football turned into a way to go to college," O'Callaghan explained. "In college football was a great cover for being gay. And then I saw the NFL mainly as a way to keep hiding my sexuality and stay alive."
O’Callaghan continued his football career with the Kansas City Chiefs, until his retirement following the 2011 season.
At that point, O’Callaghan says he was spending $400 a day to feed his addiction to painkillers and contemplating suicide.
"I was abusing painkillers, no question," O'Callaghan said matter-of-factly. "It helped with the pain of the injuries, and with the pain of being gay. I just didn't worry about being gay when I took the Vicodin. I just didn't worry."
In 2011 O'Callaghan sought help from a drug counselor associated with the Chiefs, in whom he confided he was gay. O'Callaghan also told Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli that he was gay shortly thereafter.
Now that O'Callaghan has shared his story, he hopes that it will be an inspiration to others.
"As long as there are people killing themselves because they are gay, there is a reason for people like me to share my story and try to help," O'Callaghan said.
SUICIDE PREVENTION HELP: The National Suicide Prevention Hotline (1-800-273-8255) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
---
abstract: |
Simulation and bisimulation metrics for stochastic systems provide a quantitative generalization of the classical simulation and bisimulation relations. These metrics capture the similarity of states with respect to quantitative specifications written in the quantitative $\mu$-calculus and related probabilistic logics. We first show that the metrics provide a bound for the difference in [*long-run average*]{} and [*discounted average*]{} behavior across states, indicating that the metrics can be used both in system verification, and in performance evaluation. For turn-based games and MDPs, we provide a polynomial-time algorithm for the computation of the one-step metric distance between states. The algorithm is based on linear programming; it improves on the previous known exponential-time algorithm based on a reduction to the theory of reals. We then present PSPACE algorithms for both the decision problem and the problem of approximating the metric distance between two states, matching the best known algorithms for Markov chains. For the bisimulation kernel of the metric our algorithm works in time $\calo(n^4)$ for both turn-based games and MDPs; improving the previously best known $\calo(n^9\cdot\log(n))$ time algorithm for MDPs.
For a concurrent game $G$, we show that computing the exact distance between states is at least as hard as computing the value of concurrent reachability games and the square-root-sum problem in computational geometry. We show that checking whether the metric distance is bounded by a rational $r$, can be done via a reduction to the theory of real closed fields, involving a formula with three quantifier alternations, yielding $\calo(|G|^{\calo(|G|^5)})$ time complexity, improving the previously known reduction, which yielded $\calo(|G|^{\calo(|G|^7)})$ time complexity. These algorithms can be iterated to approximate the metrics using binary search.
address:
- '[a]{}IST Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria)'
- 'Computer Science Department, University of California, Santa Cruz'
- '[c]{}Department of Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles'
author:
- Krishnendu Chatterjeea
- Luca de Alfarob
- Rupak Majumdarc
- Vishwanath Ramand
bibliography:
- 'dvlab.bib'
title: Algorithms for Game Metrics
---
Acknowledgments. {#acknowledgments. .unnumbered}
----------------
The first, second and fourth author were supported in part by the National Science Foundation grants CNS-0720884 and CCR-0132780. The third author was supported in part by the National Science Foundation grants CCF-0427202, CCF-0546170. We would like to thank the reviewers for their detailed comments that helped us make the paper better.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | ArXiv |
***LET IT SHINE***
The theme of the 2016 International Youth Day is “The Road to 2030: Eradicating Poverty and Achieving Sustainable Consumption and Production”. This year’s Day is about achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It focuses on the leading role of young people in ensuring poverty eradication and achieving sustainable development through sustainable consumption and production.
——-http://www.un.org/en/events/youthday/ | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
for me, it's increble. everybody can -- can try and be happy y re -- very, very happy. >> get the power pressure cooker xl right now and start enjoying fast, healthy, mouthwatering meals at home. jukt look at all the amang food we've made. this is enough t tfeed a hungry crew, and i mean any hungry crew. what do you guys think? >> great! >> yeah! >> announcer: coming up... we'll show you how to replace your rice cooker, cook time-intensive foods, like rice a a chicken or this low country seafafd boil, in as little as 15 minutes. stay tuned. call now and bring the power pressure cooker xl into your home -- not for $500, $300, or even $200. get ititirect from the factory for just 4 payments of $33.33. but there's more -- we'll also include the power pressure xl cookbook. discover big, hearty mouthwatering meals you can make in no time. plus, you'll get the exclusive power pressure xl cannnng guide. can your favorite fruits and vegetables. make jams, hearty soups, even meat dishes free of preservatives, with no harmful additives. and be one of the first
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include this instantnt power chopper absolutely free! chop and dice vegetables, garlic, and herbs. perfect to use with your all-new power xl recipes. but wait! as part of our special factory direct-to-you offer, we'll knock off one payment. you get the versatile power pressure cooker xl, the power pressure cookbook, the canning guide, and the amazing power chopper, all for 3 payments of just $33.33. thatat over $100 in savingngif you call or go online right now. and here's our guarantee -- if you don't absolutely love it, send it back -- no questions asked, but keep the power chopper as our free e ft, sisily for trying the power pressure cooker xl. this incredible offer will end without notice, so call or click today. >> you know, denise, now you're gonna find out why i call this the ultimate one pot cooking miracle -- 'cause we can ck me... >> ooh.
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look at that. >> yummy! so delicious. took at this. >> [ laughs ] >> now, wait. >> look at all that food. >> i can't even get all the e od the platter. now, we are talking about foods cooking all together, right? >> ooh, how fresh. >> how about chicken, rice, and occoli and all that nderful flavor in one pot? you know what? >> oh! >> it's one touch of one button. >> yes. >> and you're gonna have unbelievable, delicious results. >> 'cause rice is tough sometimes. >> rice is tough. you know, i'glad you said that because, in the power r essure cooker, it's the best rice cooker you're gonna get. >> look at that. >> guess how long this rice took. >> fluffy -- i mean, like -- i don't know -- 15, 20? >> 6 minutes. >> no way. >> look at this. feelelhat texture. >> ah! >> that's the way rice is supposed to be. >> it's nice. it's not clumpy or stuck together. >> that's right. and you know, denise, you said it before -- rice is tough, but we took all the guesswork out of it. we have one setting, one-touch button for whiteteice, one touch for brown rice, and one touch for wild rice.
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so, we can't talk about all of chili. it's really hard, so pay attention. so, first what i didids i put the meat in, put it on sear mode, and i'm searing my meat with my tomatoes. now...look how hard this is. i'm gonna put my ingredients into the pot. >> [ laughs ] that's not hard at all. lid on. okay. so, i put the lid on. and then i touch one button... [ beeps ] ...and 20 minutes later -- iet me show you what chili looks like when it's power cooked. >> love the one-button touch. that's gorgeous! >> look at that! so, not only do we have a huge bounty of chili, 'cause we have 6 quarts... >> [ gasps ] >> ...but it's infused with flavor. look at the beans. look at the meat. >> b butiful ingredients. >> look at the tomato sauce. >> oh, yum. >> that is the way to eat chili. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. let me do this right. >> and just remember -- i did it >> oh, wow. >> ...with the touch of one button. >> wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. off for me when it's done... >> yeah. >> ...and goes to a warming cycle, so that's ready for you when you're ready to eat it. >> this looks amazing.
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>> is that crazy good? >hat is good. that's what chili's'sike when you power cook it. >> mmm. >> you infuse it with flavor. you pound it with flavor. >> mmm. incredible, baby. incredible. >> i was really excited about getting the power pressure cooker. the ease of it is so good. the capacity is phenomenal. [ beeps ] i can cook for my family of five, or i can have 8 pounds of wings done in 20 minutes f a party. i i n really do everything in the power pressure cooker, and i really don't need anything else. it's really the be-all and end-all of cooking in my kitchen. >> denise, we've cooked all kinds of food today, but there's covered yet. >> what's that? >> ha! >> boom. >> my favorite! face or what? >> you bet it does. >> look at these beautiful >> oh, gorgeous lobsters. >> oh, man. ooh. perfectly cooked. >> one, two. >> keep it coming. keep it coming. >>8three. >> h@re we go. four. >> [ gasps ] >> [ lauauing ] five, yes. >> that's crazy. >> i got five lobsters in there.
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more amazing than five lobsters is i cooked five lobsters in 5 minutes with the touch of one button. how about ng crab legs? >> oh, man! >> you know what? no more rubbery seafood. we cooked these king crab legs in 2 to 3 minutes, and look at the result. >> oh, man! >> take a look at that meat. >> gorgeous. >> that's the way crab wasaseant to be eaten... >> yeah. >> ...not rubbery, not dry -- just done in a couple of minutes. >> yeah. and if i'm spending that kind of money on seafood, i really want it to be perfect. >> all right, here's one of my favorite dishes... >> [ gasps ] >> ...low cocotry boil. >> how pretty is that? >> you know what? down south, they make this all the time, but it takes hours. >> wow. >> now, take a look at the bounty of food that comes out of this pot. ready? are you -- look at this. >> that is so pretty. >> is that absolutely beautiful? we have the corn and the mussels and the potatoes and the all in 15 minutes. >> something in there for everybody. >> yeah, yououot that right. but you know what, denise? there's no way i'm gonna talk about pressure cooking without talking about my grandma's meatballs. >> oh, wow!
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toil in the kitchen for hours to make these.. i cooked them in 15 minutes. >> really? >> yeah, under pressure. look at the results that i got. i had 100 meatballs in here -- look at that. >> that's a lot of meatballs. >> that is a lot of meatballs, and you know what? i'm sorry to say... >> beautiful. >> ...gram, i cooked them under pressure, and they actually taste better. >> you know what, eric? with all that we've made today, and all of it's not just% delicious, but it's so simple -- know that the power pressure c cker xl is something that i'm gonna rely on to make fast and healthy meals every single day. i mean, look at the incredible variety of food we've made today -- tender, fall off the bone meats, like pot roast, ribsand shredded pork... whole chickens and wings that went from frozen to fabulous in minutes... incredible one pot meals, like mexican chicken and rice, beans, stroganoff, and -- what was that? -- osso... >> [ chuckles ] osso buco.o. >> ...osso buco. i mean, even seafood, rice, chili, pasta, and canned food -- we can enjoy this all year long. >> you know what, denise? it's time to update your kitchen with the power pressure cookekexl.
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enjoy healthier, more flavorful food that you cooked yourself with the simple touch of a button. meats in minutes instead of hours. forget about ordering takeout -- it's full of preservatives, and packaged foods are loaded with salt. cook at home. cook forourself. cook for your family. get your power pressure cooker xl and alalthe recipes that go o th it. it's all you need to feed the hungriest gorillas in your house. >> this is incredible. [ laughs ] >> announcer: introducing the power pressure cooker xl, the amazing push-button kitchen miracle that lets you prepare that succulent, perfectly cooked family roast in 25 minutes... or a pot full of mouthwatering meatballs in 15 minutes... or how about a classic homemade lasagna, oozing with cheese in 20 minutes? this is power cooking. the cret is power pressure cooker's air-tight lid that locks into place, trapping superheatedd steam inside. the hyper pressurized
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moisture into your food, lockink in intense flavor and nutrients. and thanks to power pressure cooker's on-board intelligent technology, your food cooks fast and to your exact specifications for the best-tasting meals ever. imagine the tenderest, most savory fall off the bone riby 10 times faster. and what a capacity! you'll feed d small army. insanely tender and flavorful chicken wings from frozen to steaming in just 10 minutes. a gourmet seafood feast in 15 minutes. hearty, homemade chunky soups in under 10 minutes. choose from one-touch push-button settings for meats, fish and vegetables, beans, rice, soups or stews. do your stmed vegetables look like this -- soft and overcooked? wouldn't you rathehehave this -- crisp al dente vegetables loaded with nutrients, done in 2 minutes? a tenderhredded pulled pork, cooked%to perfection 10 times faster. or cook dry pasta right out of the box in its own sauce without having to boil water -- table
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perfect rice -- white, brown, or wild -- in as little as 6 minutes. tasty one pot chili ready to serve in 20 minutes. the power pressure cooker xl's incredible 6-quart capacity allows you to cook hearty, fill-up-your-plate meals that more. and look -- totoh a button to set that delay timer and eat when you want to. even use the power pressure cooker xl for canning -- perfect for frus, vegetablfs, meats, and more. meets usda standards for canning. and cleanup is a breeze. just drop the removable insert into the dishwasher. the power pressure cooker xl is the one button, one pokitchen miracle that makes delicious homemade meals everyone will enjoy. you could spend thousands of dollars on appliances and still not get the results you can with the power pressure cooker xl. call now and bring the power pressure cooker xl into your home -- not for500, $300, or even $200. get it direct from the factory for just 4 payments of $33.33. but there's more -- we'll also include the power pressure xl cookbook. discover big, hearty mouthwatering meals you can make
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plpl, you'll get the excxcsive power pressure xl canning guide. can your favorite fruits and vegetables. make jams, hearty soups, even meat dishes free of preservatives, with no haraful additives. and be one of the firstt 500 callers, a a we'll also include this instant power chopper absolutely free! chop and dice vegetables, garlic, and herbs. perfect to use with your all-new power xl recipes. but wait! as part of our special factory direct-to-you offer, we'll knock off one payment. you get the versatile power pressure cooker xl, the power pressure cookbook, the canning guidi, and the amazing power chopper, all for 3 payments of just $33.33. that's over $100 in savings if you call or go online right now. and here's our guarantee -- if you don't absolutely love it, send it back -- no questions asked, but keep the power chopper as oururree gift, simply for trying the power pressure cooker xl. this incredible offer will end
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today. the preceding was a paid presentation for the power pressure cooker xl,
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pow." i don't think you would feel nearly thehe adrenaline rush that you feel when people come in in high gear with things that look like rifles. >> we try to get them in there fiting and make them at least understand if that's where you would find yourself, then you need to be able to do it and you're capable of doing it. >> reporter: preparing people for the worst-case scenario.
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washington. >> axelrod: a rescucu operation is undnd way to save endangered sea turtles. and sittin' on the dock of the bay watching big ben roll in when the cbs evening news continues. now the #1 selling brand for frequent heartburn. get complete protection with the new leader in frequent heartburn. that's nexium lel protection. dave, i'm sorry to interrupt. i gotta take a sick day tomorrow. dads don't take sick days, dads take nyquil severe the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, cougng, aching,
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it neutralizes stomach acid and is the only product that forms a protective barrier that helps keep stomach acid in the stomachhere it belongs. for fast-ting, long-lasting try gaviscon >> axelrod: as we reported earlier, heading into this last full week of 2015, many parts of the northeast are still waiting for their first blast of winter weather. but on cape cod, the temperatures have been a blessing for the folks working to save endanred sea turtltl. here's jericka duncan. >> reporter: every year around this time, volunteers work from sunup to sundown to save the endangered kemp's ridley turtle. ter spending the summer onn cape cod, they struggle to find their way out of the frigid waters in december. cape cod bay's hook-shaped geography makes it eve more difficult for the kemp's ridley to escapap
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1200 trapped sea turtles along the shores. rescuers packed the living ones into thesemall banananoxes and rushed them to marine hospitals across the country where they were numbered, diagnosed, and treated. a year ago, more than half of these turtles were dead when they washed ashore because the water was so cold. connie merigo, who spoke with us then, is director of the sea turtle hospital at the new england aquarium. >> when they come here, a lot of these turtles are so cold that their heartbeat is somewhere around one, two, three, four boots a minute. >> reporter: but officials with the massachusetts audubon society say this yea the sea surface temperature cape cod bay is the warmest it's ever been. bob prescott, who has been rescuing turtles for more than 30 years, says the kemp's ridley are getting comfortable in the bay. >> water temperature being very, very warm late in the season keeps them here longer.
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pulse of turtles, 80% to 90% of those turtles werstill alive, which is j jt unheard of for december. >> reporter: a december to remember for the volunteers who are expected to save more of the endangered species and return them to where they belong. jericka dcan, cbs news, new york. >> axelrod: up nthe community that's putting the cart before the horse-- power. powerful relief of couou, sore throat, stufuf nose and fever. new robitussin cf max severe. because it's never just a cough. when heartburn hits fight back fast tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue and neutralizes stomach acid at the source tum, tum, tum, tum smoothies! ly from tums good news. you're down with crestor. alright! now there's a way you can get crestor for $3. adding crestor, along with diet, lowers bad cholesterol.
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side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. to avoid long-term injury, get medical help right away for an ereion lasting more than four hours. if you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. ask your doctor about cialis and a $200 savings card. ugh! heartburn! no o o burns on my watch! try alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. they work fast and don't taste chalky. mmm...amazing. i have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. fact. when emergency room doctors choose an otc pain reliever for their patients muscle, back and joint pain. the medicine in advil is their #1 choice. nothing is stronger on touou pain than advil.l. relief doesn't get any better than this. advil. >> axelrod: we turn now to a
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vehicles. while i'd like to say these are not your grandfather's golf cartes, as davidd begnaud reports, the fact is, they are. >> reporter: you own two. >> own two golf carts. >> reporter: one for you, one for your wife? >> no, one for me go golfing in and one foror me to take herer out to dinner and to take her shopping. >> reporter: after retiring to the villages in florida, gary search didn't have toearch very far for the right ride. they're all over. this community caters to folks like search-- 55 and older. it is crawling with low-speed electric vehicles. ca. for people who have never been here, this is quite the sight. >> with over 60,000 golf carts in the villages, it's a major form of transportation. >> reporter: his tricked out candy apple red california roadster looks more like a hotrod and has safety features, too. and this is legal on the road. >> it's legal because it has a license plate on it. >> reporter: are they strict
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golf carts arovnd here? >> they are for safety reasons becausus when you'ree driving a typical golf carte at those speeds with the break system it's not safe forhem, this car has disk brakes on all four tires. >> reporter: according to the sumter county sheriff's office, over the past eight years, 16 people in the villages riding riding in golf carts have been killed in roadccidents. almost all of them were not wearing seat belts and were ejected. >> we used to have two cars and one cart, and now we have two rts and one car >> reporter: tim bought his first strtrt legal six years ago. in terms of insurance, this falls under your home insurance. >> no you have to register it just like a car and get insurance. >> reporter: car insurance and seat belts are required. the maximum speed limits 25 miles per hour. does it feel any less safe? >> on occasion it does. i mean, you have to be more aware when you're on the roads, because, obviously we're a smaller vehicle, and c cs think
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they think that you're slower and try to beat you through intersections. low-speed vehicles are on the fast track to being allowed on the city streets in los angeles and new york, where politicians believe the future is slower, and at least in florida, cooler, too. david begnaud, cbs news, the villages, florida. >> a alrod: today at the port of los angeles, a giant arrived. its name the "benjamin franklin "and it's the largest2container ship ever to dock in north america. the "frank is longer than the empire state building, wider than an olympic swimming pool. just ahead, her call to arms was a hug. we remember the hug lady of fort hood. when heartburn strikes, take zantac for faster relief than nexium or ur money back. take the z ztac it challenge. it's here, the first gummy multivitamin...
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at planters we know how to throw a remarkable holiday party. ju serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up. [cricket sound] richard. didn't think you were going to make it. hey sorry about last wkend, i don't know what got into me. well forgive and forget... kind of. i don't think so! do you like nuts? ugh! heartburn!!
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try alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. they work fast and don't taste chalky. mmm...amazing. i have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. >> axelrod: we close tonight at fort hood, texas, where troops are remembering aery special woman named elizabeth laird and the power of her hugs. >> she was a wonderful, wonderful lady. >> reporte "she" was the beloved hug lady, and for t t last dozen years, elizabeth laird was there for them with open arms. more than half a million of them, actually, soldiers from fort hoooo anxiously heading off to war and some with the deepest
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>> she meant a lot to a lot of us, and she had a wonderful, wonderful l pact on everybody that she had met. >> reporter: last month, when word got out that elizabeth was losing her long battle with breast cancer, the troops made it their mission to return the hugs and to thank the 84-year-old air force veteran for her service. former president george w. bush sent h%r a letter. >> we are a fortunana nation to have men and women who fact fies for our freedom. thank you for all of you have done at fort hood. >> axelrod: last tuesd, elizabeth was honored with a big award for her devotion to the troopsps two days later, on christmas eve, she passed away. >> she was a smiling face, you know, in a time@ where people could have possibly been afraid. >> axelrod: elizabeth laird, whwhmade the world better with her hugs, would have been 84 next month.
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rename the fort hood deployment center innemory of elizabeth laird. and that's the cbs evening news for tonight. later on cbs, "48 hours." for now, i'm jim axelrod in new york, and for a of us hered at cbs news, thanks for jning us. and goodod night. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by mediaccess group at wgbh access.wgbh.org cbs 2 news, rosy traditionwhy a local hawkeye fan's annual trip to pasadena means more to him that just making it tothe game. plus ...more violence in chicagothe latest deadly police shooting, and the familiar outcry, from family
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less than a week now until the hawkeyes battle it out in the rose bowl, but before the big game, comes a big parade. all those beautiful floats will go rolling down colorado boulevard on new years day - and one float in this year's rose parade will feature the art of one eastern iowa florist. florist.cbs 2 news reporter steffi lee is re to tell us why it's extra special for the florist this year. we had a chance to speak with laurel hollopeter before he puts his floral arranging skills to work in sunny california. california.he starts decorating the floats with thouounds of roses tomorrow. every year - he works until the last minute to make sure the floats are picture perfect for new year's morning.as a floral manager for the iowa city hyvef - he's used to crafting beautiful arrangements for the hawkeyes. he's also a lifelong fan. that's why this rose bowl is all the more meaningful - he'll get to cheer on his favorite team as he carries on his trition. "this is the ultimate trip - | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Jem Snowden
James (known as "Jim" or "Jem") Snowden was a British Classic winning jockey.
Snowden was a Yorkshireman of gypsy heritage. His parents sold pots and pans from a cart around the Yorkshire Dales, and he learned to ride bareback at gypsy horse fairs.
He spoke in a thick Yorkshire accent, and rarely rode outside the north. His talent was "nearly ethereal" and he was able to ride through gaps before other jockeys had noticed them.
He won his first Classic, the Oaks, aged 17 on Butterfly. He also rode three Classic winners for William l'Anson - the 1864 Derby and St Leger on Blair Athol and the 1880 Oaks on Jenny Howlet. I'Anson rated Snowden as the best jockey he ever saw.
He was a heavy drinker, who followed on from Bill Scott as the heaviest drinker in the north. Sometimes, he was barely able to hold the reins of his horse, and needed other jockeys to prop him up.
Once, he turned up for Chester Races a week late. Another time, at Catterick, he demanded that the hood and blinkers with which his horse Aragon was being fitted be removed, as a "bleend horse and bleend jockey winnet dee [a blind horse and a blind jockey will not do]". The horse won, with a drunk jockey, but without headgear.
On yet another occasion, he was instructed not to win a selling race by more than a neck, so that connections could buy the horse back cheaply. He won by six lengths, and told an intermediary, "thou tell him he ought to think himself lucky to win at all, as I saw five winning posts and didn't know which was the right one!" The effect on him was such that he once vowed he would give £5,000 to be able to stop.
Despite this alcoholism, many of his trainers thought he was a better rider drunk than most of his contemporaries were sober, as the drink did not diminish his courage in the saddle. He was also held in high regard by fellow jockey, Fred Archer. For his part, Snowden was sometimes dismissive of Archer. After beating Archer a head in their first meeting, Snowden said of Archer, "Tha cassn't ride for nuts", and after beating him again at Stockton Racecourse he told Archer, "thee can thell them i' the Sooth that there's mair jockeys in the world than thee."
It is said he was "incoorigable". He died penniless at the age of either 43 or 45. At one point, he claimed to have ridden seven winners at Ayr, but despite seven promises to pay, he received nothing.
Major wins
Great Britain
Epsom Derby - Blair Athol (1864)
Epsom Oaks - (2) - Butterfly (1860), Jenny Howlet (1880)
St Leger - Blair Athol (1864)
References
Bibliography
Category:English jockeys | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Teacher Accused of Sex with a Student Pleads Guilty
A Franklin teacher accused of having sex with a student has plead guilty. Elizabeth Dillett admitted she had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy on two different occasions.
RELATED: Police: Athletic Director had Sex with 16-Year-Old Student
Dillett was the athletic director and a coach at Saint Peter Immanuel before the investigation began.
According to the criminal complaint, she allegedly begged the student’s parents not to report her to authorities.
RELATED: Teenager Discloses Additional Incidents in Athletic Director Sexual Assault Case
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for December. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Sex Differences in Factors Affecting Hospital Outpatient Department Visits: Korea Health Panel Survey Data from 2009 to 2016.
This study intends to inspect the sex differences in proportion of hospital outpatient department (OPD) visits in overall outpatient (OP) visits using national panel data and to explore factors that influence the proportions by sex. This study analyzed data of the 2009-2016 Korea Health Panel Survey. Fractional logit regression was applied to analyze factors that affect proportion of hospital visits among outpatient visits. Analysis of related factors was carried out first for all analysis subjects and then by sex. The study data were provided by 7470 women (52.2%) and 6846 men (47.8%). The overall average number of OP visits was 13.0, and women showed a much higher frequency of visits (15.8) than men (9.9). The average proportion of hospital OPD visits among overall OP visits was 21.9%, and men showed a higher rate (25.1%) than women (19.5%). The analysis model including sociodemographic factors, economic factors, and health-related factors confirmed that men showed a higher rate of hospital usage than women. Type of medical security, household income, participation in economic activities, disability, and serious illnesses were significant variables for both sexes. Age, education level, marital status, and subscription to voluntary private health insurance were significant only for women, whereas region of residence was significant only for men. This study confirmed that there is a sex difference in proportion of hospital OPD visits and in the factors that affect the proportion of hospital OPD visits. Universal health coverage is provided through social health insurance, but there is a sex difference in hospital OPD visits, and factors related to socioeconomic status have a significant effect, especially on women's selection of health care institutions. More attention should be given to sex differences in factors affecting health care utilization. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
Or, One Man's Long Fight With Both EDS and NHS.
transability
So, here’s a bag of worms that I’m going to tip out all over the floor and really work into the carpet.
Body Integrity Identity Disorder. It’s rare, or it’s presumed to be rare, and I first encountered it a long time ago through BMEzine and the body modification world. The stories would show up a few times a year, usually anonymised, of someone having gone through with cutting off a digit, or a limb, and how miuch happier they were in the aftermath, getting used to existing without the offending body part. In the context of a site where things like ear pointing, tongue splitting, urethral rerouting, penile bisections, clitoridectomies, castration, flesh removal, scleral tattooing, PTFE and titanium implants and good old piercings and tattoos were firmly considered to be value-neutral expressions of personal/sexual/artistic freedom, as long as they were done in a sterile environment, with informed consent, and by a trained practitioner. It was extreme, and still a little controversial, but basically just “one end of the sliding scale” where having your ears pierced was the other end. We nodded, we read the long, technical ramblings about the legal and professional requirements for various types of modification, and moved on.
Now the word “Transabled” is coming up a lot more often, and it’s being linked to disability. And not just people cutting off limbs – There’s people asking to be paralysed (Like Chloe Jennings-White), or to be blinded (Like Jewel Shuping), and more still who use wheelchairs or canes or other accessibility tools for not-directly-physical reasons. I don’t think that the number of people has changed, necessarily, just that the narrative has changed from being one about body modification to being one about inherent identity. As, indeed, it might – I know plenty of modified people, myself included, who feel “just a bit wrong” if (for example) they’ve taken out their piercings or stopped dyeing their hair, and in the other direction I know at least a few modified people who felt “just a bit wrong” before being modified in the first place; The common refrain of “I always knew I’d end up covered in tattoos” is common for a reason. So it’s not unusual for discussions of identity and discussions of body modification to overlap (See “The Church Of Body Modification” for a potted example of how strange it can all get).
A lot of people seem to balk at the comparison of transability and being transgender – Usually along the lines of “Transability is just BIID, and is a mental illness, and being transgender is not a mental illness, we’ve already had that fight, we don’t need to have it again.” – and I understand the reticence. Being transgender is, well, hard enough as it is. But that’s the angle I end up thinking about it from; I’m trans, I’ve always* been trans (Though we can go back and forth until we’re both blue in the face over whether I’m innately non-binary and that people have always treated me as such because they saw that in me, or if I’m “not a woman” because everyone has always told me that I’m not) and it’s something that, when I think about it at all, is pretty keenly felt. Not being “out” to anyone wouldn’t make me cis, dressing up as a woman wouldn’t make me cis, using a girls’ name wouldn’t make me cis, they would all at most just make me miserable. It could be argued that, for example, a chest reconstruction is a long surgery, it’s a painful recovery, it’s risky, it doesn’t always result in the chest you planned for, and society will treat someone that doesn’t pass for cis even worse now that they no longer “automatically” pass as their birth-assigned gender. But nobody worth listening to would ever say “We should never offer top surgery, only counselling to make trans people happier in being stuck with whatever gender they were asigned at birth”.
And I wonder if the same is true for the transabled – Even if told to stay quiet, to never talk about wanting to be paralysed or blind or cut off a limb, they’d still be themselves. I see far too many commentors saying “They’re choosing to be disabled!” in a way that you’d never say to a transgender person “They’re choosing to not be cis!”
And this runs up against the other unpleasant implication – Bodily disabled people telling the transabled “You’re appropriating our experience!” sound a little bit like trans-exclusionary-feminists sometimes (For example, Germaine Greer, who links womanhood with having a vagina, or Julie Bindel, who claims that trans women are just men who want to invade women’s privacy and mock them).
I think if someone told me that they really believed that they should have EDS, if they were saving up to have their joint capsules surgically weakened, if they scrubbed their skin with glasspaper every morning to get that “being touched is painful” feeling and hoicked around on crutches and sat down suddenly every few minutes… I don’t know what I’d do. I’d certainly not hate them. I’d probably worry about them, on the practical level – Are they safe? Are they doing anything that would really cause them serious harm? Is there someone that they know and trust who can ensure that they’re not making rash decisions without thinking through the consequences?
But then this gets to another point – So, BIID or transability is talked about a lot in the sense of “An ablebodied person who believes they should be disabled”, but that kind of assumes another really unfortunate thing – That a disabled person’s body will always feel “right” to them. Indeed, I know that for a lot of us, probably the majority of us, it does, especially for people that’ve always had their disability. But much as the phantom pain in a phantom limb is unsettling, neither all nor no disabled people want to be ablebodied. I strongly suspect that the majority of people denouncing the transabled would assume that all disabled people want to be ablebodied, and indeed that’s a big theme in the comments as well; “I hope you meet someone with a real disability, so that you learn that being disabled is a pointless living hell”. Well, it’ isn’t, but also there are definitely a large number of disabled people who wouldn’t really want an abled body. They want society to be better adapted for their needs – Whether those be spatial, social, temporal – but they don’t want to be abled. Conversely, there are those of us who would bite your hand off to have an abled body, who wake up every morning feeling a deep sense of wrongness (“Why don’t my legs take my weight? How can’t I stir this cup of tea?”) and whose self-image and reality don’t match up even at the most basic level. From talking to people, the “answer” there seems to be a mixture of doing everything they can to get closer to being abled (at least on some axes, if not all – For example, someone may well accept the stairlift because it means they can get around the house without using a cane) and a long, solid grieving process over the body they don’t have.
I don’t know, I’m basically just full of morphine and rambling, but if there’s anyone with BIID or who is transabled who’s reading this, I’d love to hear from you. It’s a subject that I’m woefully ignorant on, and that the media and popular perception seems determined to take out of the hands of the people involved.
*Other than for about fourteen months around when I was nineteen. That was weird. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
One of the many, many consequences of Donald Trump’s victory Tuesday night is that the nation will have to wait at least four more years to see a woman elected president.
Hillary Clinton’s loss came as a devastating blow to many people across the country eager to see a woman take office. But among Tuesday’s winners is California’s new Democratic senator-elect, Kamala Harris, who may be the next best hope for shattering that glass ceiling.
She’s drawn many comparisons to President Barack Obama, who famously ran for president during his first term in the Senate. Her background and her polished yet personable approach to politics embody what many think the Democratic Party should aim to look like going forward. And even before her Senate win, her name was floated for roles including California governor, Supreme Court justice and vice president.
Here are some things you should know about the woman who could very well challenge Trump in 2020.
She’s spent six years as California’s attorney general.
Harris, a San Francisco Bay Area native, spent years as a prosecutor and was elected twice as San Francisco’s district attorney before she won the California attorney general race in 2010. That election placed her at the top of the most populous state’s enormous law enforcement system and gave her a platform to fight for the issues she cared about.
Among her more high-profile efforts: waging a statewide campaign to reduce school truancy, eliminating the state’s backlog of untested rape kits, successfully suing the for-profit Corinthian Colleges to the tune of $1.1 billion and negotiating a mortgage relief settlement on behalf of California homeowners (which some critics said made a nice headline but didn’t accomplish much).
She’s also emerged as one of the leading attorneys general standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. During a pen-and-pad session with reporters at the Democratic National Convention in July, she spoke at length about police killings of black men and women, arguing that states should take steps like keeping track of the data on officer-involved shootings and increasing training to reduce police bias.
Still, she’s been criticized by activists for not doing enough to investigate police shootings and for her opposition to statewide regulations on body cameras for police.
She’s campaigned on her criminal justice reform record.
Harris has run multiple races on the back of what she describes as her “smart on crime” approach to criminal justice. That approach is largely focused on keeping low-level offenders out of jail. As state attorney general, she has openly addressed the failures of the war on drugs and pointed to the importance of early childhood education in keeping kids out of trouble. In 2013, she launched an initiative to reduce recidivism via partnerships between the state’s Justice Department and local officials.
However, reform advocates have said Harris’ tenure as California’s top cop was too cautious, pointing out that many of the state’s strides over the last years toward reducing the prison population ― including the state’s prison realignment ― happened in the state legislature or via ballot initiative. She’s also been criticized for not taking a strong stand on prosecutorial misconduct, including her lukewarm response to a jailhouse informant scandal in Orange County.
Barbara Davidson via Getty Images The celebration of Kamala Harris' win in California's Senate race was overshadowed by concerns over Donald Trump's presidential victory.
She played a big role in the fight for marriage equality.
Harris refused to enforce California’s Proposition 8, a voter-passed initiative in 2008 that banned same-sex marriage in the state, and in 2011 she pressed a federal appeals court to allow weddings to continue as the court considered the constitutionality of the ban.
“I declined to defend Proposition 8 because it violates the Constitution,” Harris said in 2013, when the case against Prop. 8 made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which set a process in motion that eventually ended the ban. “The time has come for this right to be afforded to every citizen.”
She’s remained a champion of gay rights, and in 2015 she specifically called out Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for dismissing California as different from the rest of the country in his dissent of the court’s decision that legalized same-sex marriages nationwide.
“Don’t hate the playa; hate the game,” she said. “Justice Scalia has caused many people to question the dignity of the court when he makes statements such as the statements he’s made in connection with this case. And that’s unfortunate.”
She’s already made history with her Senate win.
Harris is just the second black woman ever elected to the upper chamber. The first, Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.), was elected in 1992 and served one term. She’s also the first Indian-American ever elected to the Senate. (Harris’ mother immigrated to the U.S. from India.)
Breaking down these kind of barriers is nothing new to Harris. She was the first woman, the first African-American and the first Indian-American to become California’s top cop.
“My mother had a saying ― ‘you may be the first to do many things, make sure you aren’t the last,’” Harris told CQ Roll Call in June. “We need to work to ensure the leaders reflect the people they are supposed to represent, and until we achieve that full representation, I think we should understand we are falling short of the ideals of this country.”
She’s got friends in high places.
Chiefly, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who are on track to leave office with very strong approval ratings and who endorsed Harris over U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a fellow Democrat, in this Senate race. Obama is a longtime ally of Harris ― he also endorsed her in her first bid for attorney general in 2010. (He also praised her as the nation’s “best-looking” attorney general, a statement he later had to apologize for.)
She also has support from a deep bench of prominent and popular Democrats, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (whom she’ll replace), New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, California Gov. Jerry Brown, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and many House members.
These alliances could help boost Harris’ profile across the country should she choose to run for president in 2020.
Her first move as senator-elect? Denouncing Trumpism.
Harris’ Tuesday night victory party was overshadowed by Trump’s victory, giving what would typically be a jubilant event a rather somber tone. She took the opportunity to make a full-throated case against embracing the racist, xenophobic values espoused by Trump throughout his campaign, urging her supporters to continue to fight inequality.
“It is the very nature of this fight for civil rights and justice and equality that whatever gains we make, they will not be permanent. So we must be vigilant,” Harris said. “Do not despair. Do not be overwhelmed. Do not throw up our hands when it is time to roll up our sleeves and fight for who we are.”
CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect Booker is a senator from New Jersey, not Massachusetts. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
We caught up with Waggoner and producer Zac Ramras in advance of tonight's world premiere at the Gothic Theater for more on the gritty gambles they took to add a South American epic to the Sweetgrass filmography.
Westword: I've been following along with all the teasers and making-of clips you've been releasing over the last few months. Can you tell me about the decision to pull back the curtains a bit to let your fans in on what you were up to as you were working on this film?
Waggoner: There's so much that goes into making these films and there's so much in the lifestyle that's just so wild. It's an adventure just to go out there and try to capture these moments, and there are all these little flavors that don't really fit into the big film bit they still make really amazing stories and they're part of the appeal of filmmaking for us, so as we were going through all the footage we wanted to share the process of unraveling some of the mystery of going to these places and trying to figure it all out.
Ramras: Plus it's really fun for us to relive those moments.
Waggoner: It's really cool to be able to think and reflect and look back at the time that you had and to try to make some poetry out of it and share those stories with people.
Westword: A quote at the end of Episode 2 caught my attention: "The camera is just an excuse. There's a lot more to skiing than just sliding on snow.
Waggoner: Being able to camp at 13, 14, 15,000 feet for three weeks is amazing in its own right, and to sit there with the locals talking with them about the Robin Hood of Peru and stories of buried gold in the mountains... to float down the Amazon... there's just something about those moments. All the journeys along the way to make the film happen lead us past so many amazing people and such incredible experiences, entirely separate from but completely related to the skiing itself.
Westword: Who was the most amazing person you met?
Waggoner: We met this woman Gloria. It was her and her daughter and they lived at the end of this valley at 14,000 feet in the middle of absolutely nowhere. It took us ten hours from a remote city to get to this town, and the farthest she'd gone in 8 years was about three miles from her stone hut. From day one she was just the most welcoming, amazing person. She'd spin yarn and talk to us, and we'd come back at the end of the day and she'd have cooked us a lamb in this underground oven. She'd hand us full plates and we'd sit there and eat it with her, and then invite her to our camp and give her soup. It was just this amazing process of just being human, finding these amazing opportunities to have people be hospitable and then to return it. I think that whole exchange really empowers us to travel more and to see more. At the end of sharing soup with this woman, we're in this candlelit tent in the midst of this cathedral of the most incredible looking mountains you've ever seen, and she says, "Could you just say my name in your video? I want the world to know that my name is Gloria." To her it was a pretty far out idea that she'd be on a video screen somewhere around the world, and it reminded us that it was pretty far out for us to be down there making this film.
Westword: What was the driving idea behind shooting an entire ski film in South America?
Ramras: It's kind of the last frontier.
Waggoner: How many cameras have gone to Alaska and British Columbia and places that consistently provide good skiing? In South Amerca that does not exist: There's no promise. You think that there's the promise, that if you wait long enough things will work out, but they don't. That was something we wanted to engage with, we wanted to take on that challenge: Nobody's ever gone to South America and come back with a lot of really good footage. The cameras have only ever gone to a tiny little percentage of this entire continent, but there are all these amazing places and ridiculous landscapes that are so unique and have never been seen before. We came out of Signatures and Handcut, our last two films, and understood that there was a formula we could follow, but we wanted to challenge ourselves and we wanted to see and ski something new.
Westword: What was the snow like?
Waggoner: It's really inconsistent, everything from really good dry powder to really windblown, textured snow. The wind is truly the architect of the snow down there, and it either rips it off and blows it clear into another planet or deposits it in weird places, or creates these striated artistic patterns. It would snow two feet one night and we'd be all excited, then get up the next morning and get to the top and it's all gone. Our spirits were just broken time and time and time again. But when it's good it's so, so good.
Westword: You mentioned earlier that you were going for poetry. Obviously you set out here to do things a bit differently than the usual ski porn being made.
Waggoner: It started with the way were skiing, which was almost entirely in the backcountry. Initially we made that departure because it was like, 'Here's the way ski films have been going for a long time, with helicopters and everything,' and the energy and the vibe of those film was really in contrast with the energy we feel when we're in the backcountry skiing. We had this whole checklist of the things we loved about skiing, and everything on that list -- the peacefulness, the reflectiveness, the unknown, the wildness, and the real culture of these places -- all of those elements were absent from what we were seeing in ski films. That was part of the initial split for us. We could just get a helicopter, but I think that our process slows us down and allows us to get more into the genuine texture and flavor of the places we're traveling to. It changes the way you look at mountains and the way you think about skiing, and it allows us to spend way more time out there, which is why we got into this in the first place.
Westword: There still aren't a lot of films out there that feature a mix of skiers, telemarkers, and snowboarders like Solitaire. Was that a conscious decision to blur those lines?
Ramras: We choose people that we want to be out there with, and that really dictates who was on our film. Telemark guys and splitboarders were some of the only people who could hang.
Waggoner: At the same time I think the backcountry vibe in our films is approachable, and I think people can relate to our film and think, "I could go and do that," versus, you know, a helicopter taking off of a yacht or whatever. A very select few people have the money and time to pull that kind of stuff off, but guys who have been out skiing in the backcountry could go actually go and and do some of what we do.
Westword: From what I've seen of the film it has a very distinct visual style. Did you have something specific in mind from the outset?
Waggoner: We put an emphasis on the landscape in this film, making the landscape be just as much of a character in every shot as the skier, because it's such a unique place and it has all these visual details that you don't see anywhere else. In the end the film is really about the land and all of these wild places that we go, and the effect that it has on you, the way you feel when you're there. You turn on the camera in a place like that and you think, 'How am I going to shoot this differently than I would if I was somewhere else? What's unique about this place and how do I capture it?'
Westword: There are so many premieres and big over-the-top parties going on this month. What's it like for you to be able to show a film in a place like the Gothic Theatre, knowing that the locals are going to go nuts for it?
Waggoner: It's what I think about when I'm in a tent in a sleeping bag, cold and wet and miserable, and it's what keeps me going. When I think about that moment of showing this film that we've worked so hard to make happen, it just makes my heart beat so fast. I can't even think about it after about 7:00 or I won't sleep that night. It's kickass to get to share it with people and come over that hump, where you push through all the trouble and all the difficulty and get to inspire people. And then you party, of course. All the tension just sort of flies off.
Westword: Is there anything you want people to take away from watching this film?
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Waggoner: We hope that our journey and all of these things that were difficult along the way, inspires you to go ski something hard or engage with something that you might not know if you can accomplish. This is really hard, but you can do it. Have that faith in yourself to go exploring and to not fear it and run with it. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Ratibořské Hory
Ratibořské Hory () is a village and municipality (obec) in Tábor District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.
The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 747 (as at 2 October 2006).
Ratibořské Hory lies approximately north-east of Tábor, north of České Budějovice, and south of Prague.
History
The municipality was founded in 1527 and further developed during the 16th century because of growing mining activities - the silver ores were found around the village Ratibořice and mineworkers were coming from Krušné hory area. After the thirty years war a new rise in silver mining occurred after 1737 under lordship of the Schwarzenbergs and at the end of the 18th century the population reached its peak of over 1000.
References
Czech Statistical Office: Municipalities of Tábor District
Category:Villages in Tábor District | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Purported to be the clearest water in the world. Certainly the best visibility I have ever taken pictures in. It's hard to say from the view here exactly how far you can see, probably upwards of 100 meters. Buddy Trevor Rees kindly modeling for me, and giving a sense of scale to the image.
Purported to be the clearest water in the world. Certainly the best visibility I have ever taken pictures in. It's hard to say from the view here exactly how far you can see, probably upwards of 100 meters. Buddy Trevor Rees kindly modeling for me, and giving a sense of scale to the image. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
GOTY 2014 B-Sides: What's in the Box?
The remaining contents from the GOTY "mail bag" have remained a secret for too long...
Discover the best and worst games of the year with your friends from Giant Bomb.
Jan. 21 2015
Cast: Jeff, Brad, Vinny, Drew, Patrick, Dan
Posted by: Vinny | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Background
==========
A fifth of adults in Europe have moderate or severe chronic pain but, although only 2% are managed by a specialist \[[@B1]\], most published data on the epidemiology and treatment of pain conditions come from secondary care sources \[[@B2]-[@B6]\]. The prevalence of pain of predominantly neuropathic origin has been reported as 8% in a UK primary care survey \[[@B7]\]. One UK General Practice Research Database study investigated the epidemiology and treatment of four neuropathic pain syndromes; post-herpetic neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, phantom limb pain and painful diabetic neuropathy \[[@B8]\]. Data from 1992 to 2002 showed trends in incidence of disease, with painful diabetic neuropathy and trigeminal neuralgia increasing over the ten years while post-herpetic neuralgia and phantom limb pain decreased. Co-proxamol, carbamazepine, amitriptyline, codeine plus paracetamol and co-dydramol were the five most common medications included in initial treatments across all four conditions. Within the more commonly prescribed therapies, those patients who received an antiepileptic or an antidepressant at the time of diagnosis were shown to be less likely to switch therapy.
It was anticipated that prescribing patterns for the neuropathic pain conditions would have changed recently with negative publicity concerning co-proxamol \[[@B9]\], increased use of newer therapies such as gabapentin, and changes to prescribing guidance \[[@B10]\]. Continuing changes in incidence rates may have an impact on workload. The objective of this study was to investigate current prescribing patterns and to update the incidence estimates for neuropathic pain syndromes.
Methods
=======
The study was an observational, descriptive study of patients with an incident diagnosis of one of four neuropathic pain syndromes. All data were obtained from the Health Information Network database (THIN), which is an observational database containing primary care records from throughout the UK. Details of demographics, primary care diagnoses and prescription treatment are routinely recorded against date in individual patient records. Information on referrals, secondary care diagnoses and deaths are also captured because of the structure of the UK National Health Service (NHS). Within the NHS, the general population are registered with one General Practitioner (GP) and remain on that GP\'s list whilst being treated by hospital specialists or hospitalized. Major events from before computerization are added retrospectively. Medical events are recorded using the Read Coding system \[[@B11]\].
Study Populations
-----------------
The study population comprised all patients who were permanently registered at one of the practices contributing to THIN at any time in the study period, May 2002 to July 2005; that is over 2.9 million patients from 295 practices, 51% female and 20% over 60 years of age. The files of all patients in the study population were searched for a record of any of the four forms of neuropathic pain studied \[see Additional file [1](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}\]. The index date was the date of the first record of the neuropathic pain or neuropathy. Patients could be in more than one category. A post-herpetic neuralgia record was a specific term for post-herpetic neuralgia or an acute herpes zoster term plus either neuropathy, or neuropathic pain, 3--6 months after the first acute herpes zoster entry. A trigeminal neuralgia record had a specific term for this diagnosis. Phantom limb pain was defined as a specific term or a term for amputation plus either a neuropathy or neuropathic pain record 3--24 months after the first amputation code. Patients were included in the painful diabetic neuropathy cohort if their record contained a specific term; a term for diabetic neuropathy with a prescription for a treatment for pain current at the date of diagnosis; a record of diabetes and a general term for neuropathic pain or record of diabetes and both neuralgia and a treatment for pain current on the date of the neuralgia code. A neuropathic pain treatment was defined as an analgesic (excluding low dose aspirin), an anaesthetic (oral or intravenous), an antiepileptic with no history of epilepsy, or an antidepressant. A sensitivity analysis was included in the study of painful diabetic neuropathy to assess the impact of removing patients with a prescription for a treatment for pain, current at the date of diagnosis, but not initiated on this date. This group may have included patients with non-painful diabetic neuropathy who were being treated for depression or other painful conditions.
The person years observation and incidence per person years observation were estimated for each form of neuropathic pain. Those with a first record of their neuropathic pain dated during their period of observation counted as incident cases and formed the neuropathic pain cohorts. A period of observation was assigned for each patient. The start of observation was the later of May 2002, or one year after the date that either the practice started using the Vision Computer System or the patient registered at that practice. The year was added to allow time for the recording of prevalent events. The end of observation was the earliest of the following: death, transfer-out of the practice, the final data collection or the end of July 2005. Incidence rates were age adjusted by direct standardisation to the UK figures for 2005 \[[@B12]\].
Treatment Patterns
------------------
The computerised treatment records of each patient in the incident neuropathic pain cohorts were searched for an initial treatment, defined as any treatment for neuropathic pain started within 28 days of the first record of the diagnosis. If more than one therapy was prescribed in this period then that nearest to the first record was the initial treatment. When more than one item was prescribed on the same day, the initial treatment was considered to be the combination of these therapies. For the four study conditions, the number of patients with each initial drug regimen (drug and daily dose), therapeutic class, and number of therapies per patient were counted. Therapeutic class was based on the British National Formulary \[[@B13]\]. Daily doses which could not be interpreted from the computer record were grouped, as were those that were interpreted but were not specific (for example: \'2--3, 3--4 times a day\', \'as directed\' or \'as required\'). The latter group was labelled \'dose not specified\'. When a prescription described a dose titration, then the final dose was included. The duration was calculated for each initial treatment. A therapy was considered to have stopped when no additional prescription was issued within 56 days, a concomitant drug was introduced or, for combination therapies, one therapy was stopped. When the duration could not be calculated from details on a prescription, it was assumed to last 28 days.
To understand changes in treatment a sub-group of patients who received an initial treatment and who could be followed for at least one further year were identified. Prescription records during the year were searched for any changes in neuropathic pain treatment. Changes to therapy included each switch, new treatment, discontinuation or addition of a concomitant drug. A switch was defined as prescriptions for more than one drug, where the prescription for the first drug was dated before that of the second, with less than 56 days between these prescriptions, and no subsequent treatment for the first drug in the 56 days after the prescription for the second drug. A new treatment was defined as prescriptions for more than one drug, where one prescription was dated after the other, with between 56 days and 6 months between the prescriptions and no subsequent treatment for the first drug in the 56 days after the second prescription. Concomitant therapy was defined as prescriptions for more than one treatment where the date of the second prescription was on or after the starting treatment date but on or before the date of the last prescription in a treatment episode (one or more prescriptions separated by less than 56 days). A discontinuation was defined as no further prescriptions for that drug. Stable therapy was defined as more than two prescriptions for the same drug or drugs (ignoring daily dose) with less than 56 days between them, and without a break of more than 6 months with no neuropathic pain treatment. The number of patients who reached a stable therapy regimen within the year was counted.
Ethics approval was given by London MREC, reference number 05/MRE02/77.
Results
=======
Incident cases of one or more of the four neuropathic pain conditions were identified for 5,445 patients during the period of observation. There were 1,923 incident cases of post-herpetic neuralgia, incidence 28.2 per 100,000 person years (95% CI 27.0, 29.5) and 1,862 cases of trigeminal neuralgia, incidence 27.3 (95% CI 26.1--28.6) and 57 of phantom limb pain, incidence 0.8 (95% CI 0.6--1.1). The incidence of painful diabetic neuropathy was 27.2 (95% CI 26.0--28.4), n = 1,867, and 26.1 per 100,000 person years when the stricter definition was used excluding those whose pain treatment did not start at the time of the first diagnosis record. The age standardised incidence rates (to UK 2005) were 27.3 per 100,000 person years for post herpetic neuralgia, 26.7 for trigeminal neuralgia, 0.8 for phantom limb pain and 26.7 for painful diabetic neuropathy.
A treatment for neuropathic pain was initiated at the time of the first diagnosis record for between 49.4% and 73.5% of patients with a neuropathic pain condition (Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). The mean duration of this treatment varied between 50 days for post-herpetic neuralgia and 90 days for trigeminal neuralgia. The tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline was the most frequently prescribed treatment for post-herpetic neuralgia, phantom limb pain and painful diabetic neuropathy, and the second most commonly prescribed in trigeminal neuralgia. Carbamazepine an antiepileptic was the most common item on the initial prescription for those diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia (Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). The majority of patients were prescribed one treatment when therapy was initiated so the majority of patients received one therapeutic class of drug (Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). At the time of the first record, 46.8% of patients with trigeminal neuralgia started treatment with carbamazepine, however 52.7% were being treated with this drug. Antidepressants and antiepileptics were prescribed in an initial treatment to the majority of patients: 75% of patients with trigeminal neuralgia, 63% with painful diabetic neuropathy or phantom limb pain, and 57% of those with post-herpetic neuralgia (Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"}). Between 55 and 68% of the treated cohorts had at least one year of data after this initial treatment. For those who reached stable therapy during this period the median number of preceding changes was two for trigeminal neuralgia and painful diabetic neuropathy and three for post-herpetic neuralgia and phantom limb pain (Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"}). There was great variation in initial treatments with no treatment -- dose combination given to more than nine percent of patients (Table [4](#T4){ref-type="table"}).
######
Initial treatments^a^by pain condition
Post Herpetic Neuralgia Trigeminal Neuralgia Phantom Limb Pain Painful Diabetic Neuropathy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------
Number with an initial treatment (% total with condition) 1,414 (73.5) 1,164 (62.5) 40 (70.2) 922 (49.4)
Duration of initial treatment^b^in days mean (± SD) 50.5 (126.3) 90.0 (168.6) 73.1 (192.9) 77.1 (141.2)
**Items prescribed on initial prescription as % of those treated**
1 item 56.2 72.6 52.5 63.7
2 items 24.6 15.9 40.0 24.2
3 or more items 19.2 11.5 7.5 12.1
**Five most common medications included in initial treatments, n (% treated)**
1 Amitriptyline hydrochloride 704 (49.8) Carbamazepine 545 (46.8) Amitriptyline hydrochloride 12 (30.0) Amitriptyline hydrochloride 375 (40.7)
2 Codeine phosphate +paracetamol 248 (17.5) Amitriptyline hydrochloride 304 (26.1) Gabapentin 9 (22.5) Gabapentin 154 (16.7)
3 Capsaicin 149 (10.5) Codeine phosphate +paracetamol 131 (11.3) Paracetamol 6 (15.0) Codeine phosphate+ paracetamol 112 (12.1)
4 Co-dydramol 126 (8.9) Gabapentin 99 (8.5) Codeine phosphate+ paracetamol 5 (12.5) Paracetamol 97 (10.5)
5 Carbamazepine 118 (8.3) Co-proxamol 59 (5.1) Carbamazepine 3 (7.5) Co-dydramol 54 (5.9)
^a^Started within 28 days of the first record of the disease. ^b^Duration of initial treatment in days, ignoring titration of dose. SD, standard deviations
######
Initial treatments by condition and combination of therapeutic class (percentage of treated patients)
**Post-herpetic neuralgia** **Trigeminal neuralgia** **Phantom limb pain** **Painful diabetic neuropathy**
------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------- -------------------------- ----------------------- ---------------------------------
N (%) N (%) N (%) N (%)
Opioid analgesics alone 84 (5.9) 45 (3.9) 7 (17.5) 47 (5.1)
Opioid analgesics + Antidepressants (tricyclic) 41 (2.9) 12 (1.0) 2 (5.0) 21 (2.3)
Opioid analgesics + Antidepressants (other) 2 (0.1) 1 (0.1) 0 4 (0.4)
Opioid analgesics + Antiepileptics 13 (0.9) 22 (1.9) 0 8 (0.9)
Opioid analgesics + Non-opioid analgesics 168 (11.9) 94 (8.1) 5 (12.5) 97 (10.5)
Opioid analgesics + Rubefacients 6 (0.4) 1 (0.1) 0 2 (0.2)
Antidepressants (tricyclic) alone 445 (31.5) 225 (19.3) 8 (20.0) 281 (30.5)
Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Antidepressants (other) 2 (0.1) 1 (0.1) 0 5 (0.5)
Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Antiepileptics 7 (0.5) 12 (1.0) 0 14 (1.5)
Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Non-opioid analgesics 68 (4.8) 21 (1.8) 1 (2.5) 35 (3.8)
Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Rubefacients 17 (1.2) 2 (0.2) 0 2 (0.2)
Antidepressants (tricyclic) + Local anaesthetics 2 (0.1) 0 0 0
Antidepressants (other) alone 7 (0.5) 7 (0.6) 2 (5.0) 23 (2.5)
Antidepressants (other) + Antiepileptics 2 (0.1) 10 (0.9) 1 (2.5) 8 (0.9)
Antidepressants (other) + Non-opioid analgesics 4 (0.3) 1 (0.1) 1 (2.5) 5 (0.5)
Antidepressants (other) + Rubefacients 3 (0.2) 0 0 0
Antiepileptics alone 158 (11.2) 543 (46.7) 7 (17.5) 165 (17.9)
Antiepileptics + Non-opioid analgesics 15 (1.1) 13 (1.1) 3 (7.5) 5 (0.5)
Antiepileptics + Rubefacients 8 (0.6) 2 (0.2) 0 5 (0.5)
Antiepileptics + Local anaesthetics 2 (0.1) 1 (0.1) 0 0
Non-opioid analgesics alone 70 (5.0) 43 (3.7) 1 (2.5) 72 (7.8)
Non-opioid analgesics + Rubefacients 7 (0.5) 0 0 2 (0.2)
Rubefacients alone 78 (5.5) 12 (1.0) 0 37 (4.0)
Local anaesthetics alone 2 (0.1) 4 (0.3) 0 8 (0.9)
1 therapeutic category 844 (59.7) 879 (75.5) 25 (62.5) 633 (68.7)
2 therapeutic categories 367 (26.0) 193 (16.6) 13 (32.5) 213 (23.1)
3 or more therapeutic categories 203 (14.4) 92 (7.9) 2 (5.0) 76 (8.2)
######
Number of changes^a^from initial^b^to stable^c^therapy by condition and therapeutic class included in the prescription
**Number of patients** **Changes to stable therapy in 1 year**
-------------------------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------------------------- ------------ ---- -------
**Post-herpetic neuralgia:**
**Total** 1414 828 (58.6) 232 (28.0) 3 0--20
Antiepileptics 248 (17.5) 153 (61.7) 46 (30.1) 3 1--20
Antidepressants (tricyclics) 728 (51.5) 422 (58.0) 104 (24.6) 2 0--11
Antidepressants (other) 39 (2.8) 26 (66.7) 10 (38.5) 4 2--8
Non-opioid analgesics 529 (37.4) 310 (58.6) 103 (33.2) 3 0--18
Opioid analgesics 504 (35.6) 277 (55.0) 92 (33.2) 3 0--18
Rubefacients/other topical antirheumatics 150 (10.6) 91 (60.7) 29 (31.9) 2 1--8
Local anaesthetics 8 (0.6) 4 (50.0) 2 (50.0) 3 1--4
**Trigeminal neuralgia:**
**Total** 1164 762 (65.5) 168 (22.0) 2 0--17
Antiepileptics 653 (56.1) 433 (66.3) 91 (21.0) 2 0--17
Antidepressants (tricyclics) 318 (27.3) 205 (64.5) 43 (21.0) 2 1--12
Antidepressants (other) 29 (2.5) 16 (55.2) 4 (25.0) 2 1--5
Non-opioid analgesics 258 (22.2) 169 (65.5) 40 (23.7) 2 0--17
Opioid analgesics 260 (22.3) 165 (63.5) 45 (27.3) 3 1--17
Rubefacients/other topical antirheumatics 24 (2.1) 14 (58.3) 4 (28.6) 6 2--12
Local anaesthetics 5 (0.4) 3 (60.0) 1 (33.3) 4 4-4
**Phantom limb pain:**
**Total** 40 27 (67.5) 13 (48.1) 3 1--53
Antiepileptics 11 (27.5) 8 (72.7) 2 (25.0) 3 2--3
Antidepressants (tricyclics) 13 (32.5) 8 (61.5) 5 (62.5) 3 1--36
Antidepressants (other) 4 (10.0) 3 (75.0) 3 (100.0) 1 1--53
Non-opioid analgesics 13 (32.5) 8 (61.5) 3 (37.5) 1 1--3
Opioid analgesics 16 (40.0) 9 (56.3) 5 (55.6) 3 1--5
Rubefacients/other topical antirheumatics 0 \- \- \- \-
Local anaesthetics 0 \- \- \- \-
**Painful diabetic neuropathy:**
**Total** 922 508 (55.1) 161 (31.7) 2 0--31
Antiepileptics 237 (25.7) 107 (45.1) 41 (38.3) 2 0--16
Antidepressants (tricyclics) 404 (43.8) 233 (57.7) 73 (31.3) 2 0--12
Antidepressants (other) 59 (6.4) 30 (50.8) 12 (40.0) 4 1--8
Non-opioid analgesics 283 (30.7) 171 (60.4) 48 (28.1) 2 0--31
Opioid analgesics 249 (27.0) 137 (55.0) 54 (39.4) 2 0--31
Rubefacients/other topical antirheumatics 54 (5.9) 34 (63.0) 14 (41.2) 2 1--8
Local anaesthetics 9 (1.0) 8 (88.9) 3 (37.5) 1 1--7
^a^Treatment changes comprised each switch, discontinuation, new treatment or addition of a concomitant treatment, but not a change in dose. ^b^Started within 28 days of the first record of the disease. ^c^More than two prescriptions for the same treatment with less than 56 days between them. ^d^Some patients had more than 1 therapeutic class in the initial therapy, percentages add to \>100.
######
Number of changes^a^from initial^b^to stable^c^therapy by condition for initial treatments (drug(s) and dose) prescribed to ≥ 10 patients
**Initial treatment** **Patients** **Changes to stable therapy**
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- ------------------------------- ----------- ----- --- -------
**Post-herpetic neuralgia**
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (10 mg per day) 93 (6.6) 50 (53.8) 9 (18.0) 2.6 2 1--5
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (10 mg not specified) 65 (4.6) 36 (55.4) 4 (11.1) 4.8 5 2--8
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (25 mg per day) 64 (4.5) 39 (60.9) 10 (25.6) 2.6 3 1--5
Codeine phosphate (8 mg)+paracetamol (500 mg not specified) 34 (2.4) 21 (61.8) 9 (42.9) 4 2 1--12
Co-dydramol (not specified) Dihydrocodeine tartrate (10 mg)+paracetamol (500 mg) 30 (2.1) 20 (66.7) 7 (35.0) 5.6 4 1--18
Codeine phosphate (30 mg)+paracetamol (500 mg not specified) 24 (1.7) 15 (62.5) 5 (33.3) 5.4 5 1--9
Capsaicin (0.025% 4 times a day) 19 (1.3) 15 (78.9) 6 (40.0) 2.8 2 1--6
Carbamazepine (200 mg per day) 19 (1.3) 12 (63.2) 7 (58.3) 4 4 1--8
Paracetamol (500 mg not specified) 18 (1.3) 14 (77.8) 4 (28.6) 2.8 2 1--6
Co-proxamol (not specified) Dextropropoxyphene hydrochloride (32.5 mg)+paracetamol (325 mg) 17 (1.2) 11 (64.7) 2 (18.2) 5 5 3--7
**Trigeminal neuralgia**
Carbamazepine (200 mg per day) 103 (8.8) 67 (65.0) 9 (13.4) 3.7 3 1--10
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (10 mg per day) 53 (4.6) 35 (66.0) 6 (17.1) 2 2 1--4
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (10 mg not specified) 43 (3.7) 33 (76.7) 3 (9.1) 1.3 1 1--2
Carbamazepine (300 mg per day) 35 (3.0) 22 (62.9) 8 (36.4) 2.1 2 1--4
Carbamazepine (100 mg not specified) 33 (2.8) 19 (57.6) 4 (21.1) 1.5 2 1--2
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (25 mg per day) 31 (2.7) 17 (54.8) 4 (23.5) 3.5 3 2--6
Carbamazepine (100 mg per day) 30 (2.6) 22 (73.3) 4 (18.2) 2.5 2 1--5
Carbamazepine (400 mg per day) 29 (2.5) 23 (79.3) 5 (21.7) 4.8 2 1--16
Gabapentin (300 mg per day) 21 (1.8) 14 (66.7) 5 (35.7) 2.8 3 1--4
Codeine phosphate (8 mg)+paracetamol (500 mg not specified) 20 (1.7) 12 (60.0) 3 (25.0) 5.7 6 5--6
Codeine phosphate (30 mg)+paracetamol (500 mg not specified) 19 (1.6) 13 (68.4) 4 (30.8) 2 1 1--5
Co-proxamol (not specified) Dextropropoxyphene hydrochloride (32.5 mg)+paracetamol (325 mg) 14 (1.2) 11 (78.6) 1 (9.1) 1 1 1-1
**Painful diabetic neuropathy**
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (10 mg per day) 72 (7.8) 35 (48.6) 4 (11.4) 1.5 2 1--2
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (25 mg per day) 41 (4.4) 25 (61.0) 7 (28.0) 3 2 1--11
Amitriptyline hydrochloride (10 mg not specified) 35 (3.8) 21 (60.0) 2 (9.5) 1 1 1-1
Gabapentin (900 mg per day) 30 (3.3) 15 (50.0) 5 (33.3) 5.2 4 2--12
Co-dydramol (not specified) Dihydrocodeine tartrate (10 mg)+paracetamol (500 mg) 21 (2.3) 15 (71.4) 4 (26.7) 2.8 1 1--8
Paracetamol (500 mg not specified) 20 (2.2) 11 (55.0) 1 (9.1) 1 1 1-1
Codeine phosphate (8 mg)+paracetamol (500 mg not specified) 18 (2.0) 13 (72.2) 1 (7.7) 2 2 2-2
^a^Treatment changes comprised each switch, discontinuation, new treatment or addition of a concomitant treatment, but not a change in dose. ^b^Started within 28 days of the first record of the disease. ^c^More than two prescriptions for the same treatment with less than 56 days between each one.
Within those patients in the phantom limb pain cohort, and followed for at least one year, no initial treatment (drug and daily dose combination) had been prescribed to ten or more patients. For post-herpetic neuralgia and painful diabetic neuropathy the most common drug and dose combinations were amitriptyline 10 or 25 milligrams per day and 10 milligrams \'dose not specified\'. Carbamazepine 200 milligrams per day was the most common treatment for trigeminal neuralgia, followed by amitriptyline 10 milligrams per day and 10 milligrams \'dose not specified\'.
Discussion
==========
This large study aimed to provide updated incidence rates and prescribing practices for four neuropathic pain conditions as seen by UK general practitioners rather than in secondary care clinics. The population was similar to that of the UK in terms of age and sex, 51% were female as in the UK 2001 census data, while there were slightly fewer elderly patients, 20% over 60 years of age compared to 21% \[[@B14]\].
The incidence rate of 28.2 per 100,000 patient years for post-herpetic neuralgia is in-line with other published findings \[[@B15],[@B16]\] which give rates of 34 and 49 per 100,000 person years one month after acute herpes zoster. When compared to data from a similar general practice study, the incidence had decreased since 1998--2001, age-adjusted incidence of 56.8 per 100,000 population compared to 27.3 in 2002--2005 \[[@B8]\]. This may relate to the definition of PHN which included a GP diagnosis of post-herpetic neuralgia. A GP\'s perception of post herpetic neuralgia may include acute or sub-acute zoster pain. In addition to inflating the true incidence rate, if perceptions change with time and possibly education, this could explain the declining rates. Alternatively, treatment of acute herpes zoster with antiviral agents has been reported to reduce both the risk of developing post-herpetic neuralgia and the overall the duration of pain \[[@B17]\]. No UK data were available on the use of antivirals in herpes zoster, but information from the Netherlands suggest that, while they are used in a minority of patients (22.5%), treatment is more common in those at higher risk of complications \[[@B18]\]. Without intervention the rising age of the UK population might be expected to result in higher rates of post-herpetic neuralgia as age is a risk factor for both acute herpes zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia in acute herpes zoster \[[@B19]\].
Our finding of an incidence of trigeminal neuralgia of 27 per 100,000 person years is consistent with the previous database study, however these rates are considerably higher than those previously published (2.1 to 4.7 per 100,000 patient years and 8 per persons per annum \[[@B20]-[@B22]\]). This further supports the view that primary care physicians use a wide definition when they diagnose trigeminal neuralgia. The incidence of phantom limb pain of 0.8 per 100,000 person years is slightly less than the 1998--2001 rate of 0.9 \[[@B8]\] (age-adjusted rates of 0.8 per 100,000 person years and 1.3 in 1998--2001) as might be expected given the lower rate of limb amputations \[[@B23]\]. No other community based incidence rates were found for phantom limb pain.
Incidence rates for painful diabetic neuropathy, from both this and the previous UK general practice study are considered to be maximum incidences. The data source did not allow separation of patients with non-painful diabetic neuropathy who had a treatment for depression or other pain initiated at the same time as the neuropathy was first recorded from those treated for painful diabetic neuropathy. Although the crude incidence of painful diabetic neuropathy increased, age-adjusted rates (taking into account the new dataset) were the same for the 1998--2001 and 2002--2005 data.
Neuropathic pain treatment
--------------------------
A treatment was initiated at the time of diagnosis for between 40% and 74% of patients in the neuropathic cohorts. Other patients may have been established on a treatment before a firm diagnosis was made, particularly as definitions for both phantom limb pain and post-herpetic neuralgia include a delay between the precipitating event and diagnosis. The prescribing of antidepressants and antiepileptics is in-line with UK guidelines for neuropathic pain treatment \[[@B13],[@B24]\], although amitriptyline is not included in these recommendations for the first line treatment of trigeminal neuralgia. Amitriptyline is the tricyclic antidepressant of choice in all cohorts despite evidence that imipramine and nortriptyline are also effective \[[@B24]\]. Prescribing paracetamol alone, or in combination with codeine, is recommended for post-herpetic neuralgia patients with mild to moderate pain \[[@B10]\]. Our finding that combination therapy was more common than paracetamol alone could, in part, be due to the availability of over the counter paracetamol.
When compared to prescribing in the previous, similar UK primary care study \[[@B8]\] the 2002 to 2005 data show an increase in the use of antidepressants and antiepileptics while prescribing of conventional non-opioid analgesics declined. Across all four conditions there was a two to four fold increase in use in amitriptyline between the January 1992 to April 2002 and May 2002 to July 2005 cohorts (1992-April 2002 data:12%, 6%, 8% and 24% for post-herpetic neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, phantom limb pain and painful diabetic neuropathy respectively). Gabapentin is now one of the five most common initial treatments in three of the conditions, the exception being post-herpetic neuralgia, and has replaced carbamazepine as the most commonly prescribed antiepileptic for phantom limb pain and painful diabetic neuropathy. Gabapentin was not licensed for neuropathic pain until 2000 and so was not a frequently prescribed treatment for any condition in the earlier analysis. Carbamazepine use increased only in the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia. While the negative press reports concerning the association of co-proxamol and fatal overdose may have accounted for some of the change, the decreased use of all non-opioid analgesics is probably due to increased evidence and acceptance of efficacy of other agents \[[@B25]-[@B29]\]. The withdrawal of co-proxamol was not announced until February 2005 so will have had little effect on this study. Another change was the inclusion of the rubefacient capsaicin in the top five most frequently prescribed items for post-herpetic neuralgia, possibly because it was not licensed for neuropathic pain for all of the earlier study period and was not included in previous management recommendations.
The study used the most up to date records available. This allowed us to provide current incidence figures, but meant that we had one year of follow-up on 56% to 66% of the cohorts. The remainder will either have left the practice before the end of the year or have been diagnosed within a year of either the last data collection or the end of the study period. Fewer patients with post-herpetic neuralgia and trigeminal neuralgia were followed to stable regimen than those with phantom limb pain and painful diabetic neuropathy. This difference may be partly the result of our definition rather than an indication that patients with post-herpetic neuralgia and trigeminal neuralgia have more difficulty achieving effective pain relief. Stable therapy was defined as more than two prescriptions for the same treatment. As post-herpetic neuralgia may wane while trigeminal neuralgia can be intermittent these patients may not require a third consecutive prescription.
Results of the January 1992 to April 2002 analysis suggested that, for the most commonly prescribed treatments, changes to a treatment regimen appeared to be less frequent when initial therapy was with frequently used antidepressants or antiepileptics rather than compound analgesics. Our ability to explore this further in more recent cohorts is limited given that conventional analgesics were prescribed less frequently and severity of pain or underlying disease cannot be accounted for in the dataset. However, the mean change in therapy within cohorts was slightly greater in this study (2--3 changes compared to 1--2 changes) despite a larger proportion receiving antiepileptics and antidepressants. Conversely, the mean duration of the initial treatment increased, 50 to 90 days compared to 47 to 76 days previously, as did the number of initial prescriptions with more than one item (28% to 43% compared to 7% to 19% previously) \[[@B8]\].
Conclusion
==========
Incidence rates of phantom limb pain and post-herpetic neuralgia as seen in UK general practice continue to change, although the reasons for this are not clear. Treatment patterns at the time of the first diagnosis have also changed as the use of antidepressant and antiepileptics has increased and is common across all conditions studied with most patients prescribed one item. Although this is in line with directives, frequent changes to therapy before a stable regimen is reached suggest that pain relief with tolerability are difficult to achieve.
Abbreviations
=============
THIN: The Health Information Network database; NHS: National Health Service; GP: General Practitioner; UK: United Kingdom.
Competing interests
===================
Gillian Hall has received funding for research and payment for consultancy from a number of pharmaceutical companies and charities and has no direct stock holding in any pharmaceutical company. Dawn Carroll was an employee of Pfizer Inc. Henry McQuay has received research support, consultancy and lecture fees from pharmaceutical companies, charities and government sources, and has no direct stock holding in any pharmaceutical company.
Authors\' contributions
=======================
All authors formulated the research questions. GH participated in the design of the study and was responsible for the analysis and interpretation of the patient database and drafting and finalising the paper. DC and HMcQ participated in the design of the study and commented on the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Pre-publication history
=======================
The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:
<http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2296/9/26/prepub>
Supplementary Material
======================
###### Additional file 1
Read codes with terms used for identification of four neuropathic pain cohorts.
######
Click here for file
Acknowledgements
================
The study was funded by Pfizer UK, including funding of the authors time, comment on study design and the manuscript but with no direct involvement in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and no restriction on publication.
The authors would like to thank those at practices which contribute data to the THIN database and Steve Morant for his programming. Steve Morant was funded by Pfizer UK.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Central |
Post by orangemittens on Aug 13, 2015 9:49:34 GMT -5
I'm glad you got it working now
Please help other creators find Sims 4 Studio and receive the help you received by mentioning Sims 4 Studio with your downloadsPlease do not PM me with meshing questions. Post in the Creator Help forum and I will answer you there.
Post by orangemittens on Aug 16, 2015 11:36:52 GMT -5
Hi minitte, welcome to Studio forums. I'm glad the batch fix worked well for you
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Post by cubanasims on Aug 16, 2015 14:06:13 GMT -5
hi I have the updated version of the sims 4 studio. and my sims are still washing up with shirts and hats on and also when they woohoo I've fixed a few outfits and went into too game and there still doing it but when i click to fix the clothes it says there's none to fix help pleaseeeeee
Post by orangemittens on Aug 16, 2015 16:43:11 GMT -5
Hi cubanasims, welcome to Studio forums. Could you post or PM me with an example .package that needs to be fixed and will not allow itself to be fixed?
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Post by orangemittens on Aug 18, 2015 6:35:36 GMT -5
What I found was that a garment that was tagged incorrectly with bathing and situation tags would cause any Sim assigned to wear it to become permanently bugged so that, even if I took that garment out of the Mods folder entirely, it would always wear some garment in the shower...generally an EA default garment. The only direct solution to the bugged Sim was getting rid of it and making a new Sim. Batch fixing tags cannot fix a bugged Sim...it can only prevent them from getting bugged in the first place. This is why I recommend running the fixer on all new content you put in your Mods folder prior to using it.
There is a discussion over at EA forums about this topic and one person said they found a workaround that sounds a little tedious but not too bad if you would prefer to try to keep the bugged Sims you have. I've never tried this myself but, while resetting the Sim's default clothes doesn't fix the bug, it seems you can copy outfits from an unbugged Sim over to one that is bugged and that will fix this.
Please help other creators find Sims 4 Studio and receive the help you received by mentioning Sims 4 Studio with your downloadsPlease do not PM me with meshing questions. Post in the Creator Help forum and I will answer you there.
Post by orangemittens on Sept 9, 2015 8:55:47 GMT -5
Hi jmcarthen, welcome to Studio forums. If Studio is saying that it means you have a version that doesn't have this batch fix update. Grab the newest version and give it another go
Please help other creators find Sims 4 Studio and receive the help you received by mentioning Sims 4 Studio with your downloadsPlease do not PM me with meshing questions. Post in the Creator Help forum and I will answer you there.
Post by Lorry on Oct 4, 2015 20:25:34 GMT -5
What I found was that a garment that was tagged incorrectly with bathing and situation tags would cause any Sim assigned to wear it to become permanently bugged so that, even if I took that garment out of the Mods folder entirely, it would always wear some garment in the shower...generally an EA default garment. The only direct solution to the bugged Sim was getting rid of it and making a new Sim. Batch fixing tags cannot fix a bugged Sim...it can only prevent them from getting bugged in the first place. This is why I recommend running the fixer on all new content you put in your Mods folder prior to using it.
There is a discussion over at EA forums about this topic and one person said they found a workaround that sounds a little tedious but not too bad if you would prefer to try to keep the bugged Sims you have. I've never tried this myself but, while resetting the Sim's default clothes doesn't fix the bug, it seems you can copy outfits from an unbugged Sim over to one that is bugged and that will fix this.
Post by orangemittens on Oct 7, 2015 13:17:10 GMT -5
lies14099, it may be that you need to install it on the C drive as is typical.
You're welcome Lorry
Please help other creators find Sims 4 Studio and receive the help you received by mentioning Sims 4 Studio with your downloadsPlease do not PM me with meshing questions. Post in the Creator Help forum and I will answer you there.
Post by Metalfenix_Raf on Oct 12, 2015 15:45:38 GMT -5
Hi! I must say thanks for saving my sorry backside with this problem. It didn't happen until today, when I found out that the two teens I have in one of my households were bathing clothed (and the two adults were fine), that drove me nuts. But thanks to your batch tool, it fixed 4 outfits that had problems.
I first ran your tool, got into the game, used this mod to reset the sims bathing suits to fix the teens, and voila, problem solved.
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Post by orangemittens on Oct 12, 2015 19:53:44 GMT -5
I'm so glad to hear it worked well for you
Please help other creators find Sims 4 Studio and receive the help you received by mentioning Sims 4 Studio with your downloadsPlease do not PM me with meshing questions. Post in the Creator Help forum and I will answer you there.
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My early experiences with Commodore computers
[WARNING: this post is pretty much pure nostalgia for 1980s hardware, and has little technical content. It does, however, set up something else that I want to write about soon.]
I was born 1968; I finished primary school and went to secondary school, at age 11, in 1979. At that time I’d never seen a computer, but at secondary school I met Myles Kelvin, and we quickly became best friends. His dad had recently bought a Video Genie to run a small business on, and that was the first computer I used.
(I know it seems odd to start an article about Commodore computers with a Video Genie photo, but bear with me.)
I cut my programming teeth on two computers more or less simultaneously: that Video Genie, and a Commodore PET 2001 belonging to Richard Lewsey, the father of a boy that my mum used to child-mind. I’ll probably write about the Video Genie some time, but today I want to concentrate on the Commodore stream, because that’s where I ended up putting most of my efforts for the next seven years.
Remember the PET 2001? The PET was the initial line of Commodore computers, predating the VIC-20 (see my blog banner image) and the Commodore 64. As far as I recall, the 2001 was the earliest model, blessed with 8 Kb of memory (half as much as the Video Genie), and a 40×25 character monochrome screen. PETs have a very distinctive profile, and the 2001 is instantly recognisable by its hideous keyboard — an array of tiny, closely packed squares, with lots of blue and red all over it.
I can’t begin to tell you how my inner self wells up with nostalgia just from seeing this image. The funny blue OFF/RVS and RUN/STOP keys; the white letter and number keys and silver punctuation; the weird graphics characters above the main glyphs (which you got using SHIFT, since there were no lower-case letters.)
Richard was an amazing man. It’s been 24 years since I last saw him, but I owe him a huge debt. He let me spend a huge amount of time camped in the corner of his living room, hacking away on his computer; he taught me all sorts of important techniques, critiqued my early programming efforts, and built me a truly unique piece of hardware (see below).
Programming on the PET was either using the built-in Microsoft BASIC interpreter (back from when Microsoft were the Little Guy) or in machine code. I’ll admit I did much more of the former than the latter, but enough machine-code stuck that I still remember far too many of the 6502 op-codes: A9 for load immediate, AD for load absolute, AA for transfer A to X, 00 for BRK. (What is all that stuff still doing in my mind, when I can’t seem to find space to remember the difference between the virtual factory maker pattern and the virtual builder factory pattern?)
When I was about thirteen years old, I started doing a milk round to earn the money to buy my own computer. I got up at 4:30 in the morning every Saturday and Sunday, and worked through to about mid-day, for £5 a week. (Sorry if this is a bit of an Old Fart story, but it’s in here as background.) By Christmas 1981, I’d accumulated about £140, and for Christmas my parents gave me the rest of the money that I needed to make it up to the list-price of the VIC-20 — a number engraved forever in my mind, £189.95.
A few days after Christmas, Dad took me shopping — I think this was literally the most exciting day of my life (sorry, Fiona!). I’d been happily expecting each programming session to consist of turning it on, writing a program, turning it off, and starting all over again the next time, but to my amazement Dad had another forty quid or so, and I was able to get the external tape-drive that would enable me to save my work! Awesome!
It was called a “Datasette”. With a VIC, you had to use Commodore’s official tape drive, unlike the Sinclair Spectrum and other such computers that would let you plug in any old tape deck. Under control of the firmware provided, the Datasette could transfer a less than awe-inspiring 50 bytes per second.
The VIC-20 was both less and more than the PET. On the positive side, it had a much better keyboard, eight colours, three-channel sound (the PET was silent, although I seem to remember that Richard had hacked his hardware to get a non-standard sound-card working on his PET) and lower-case letters (though not at the same time as the graphics characters). And of course, it had a much lower price. On the negative side, it had only 5 Kb of memory, of which 1 Kb was used by the system and 1/2 Kb for the memory-mapped screen, leaving a rather meagre 3583 bytes for the programmer — one byte shy of three and a half Kb. Finally, its truly tiny screen resolution: 22 characters across and 23 down, each drawn in an 8×8 pixel space for a total size of 176×184 pixels — 32384 pixels, or 0.03 megapixels in modern camera terms.
It’s worth taking a moment to think about that. My main work machine now has a 1920×1200 screen, which means you could tile it with 71 VIC-20 screens.
So about that three-and-a-half Kb. You could actually do a surprising amount in that space: I remember writing a Donkey Kong game with custom graphics characters, a fruit machine, various games where your spaceship had to avoid meteors falling down the screen and suchlike. (I got really good at writing Meteors. When I was in the local shopping centre, I’d often pop into Dixons, write that program on their display model VIC-20 and leave it running.)
Still, more memory was obviously needed, but I had a problem: money. We weren’t a rich family, and I’d stopped earning from the milk round because I was now spending all my early-morning time playing with the VIC instead of delivering milk. If I’m remembering right, the 8 Kb expansion cartridge cost a massive £35, and there was no way that was going to happen.
Richard Lewsey to the rescue! He made a memory expansion. I didn’t even know that was possible. He got hold of the chips, designed and soldered the board and housed it all inside … a cassette case! I still have it up in my office, and here it is for your enjoyment:
Armed with a full 11.5 Kb, I was ready to start making some real programs, and what moved me most was Adventure games. (“I’m in a forest. I can also see: trees.”) I wrote a whole sequence of these on the VIC, of which the first two were published: Magic Mirror and Nosferatu. Thanks to the wonder of emulators, I can still play them today, which I think is pretty astonishing. More worryingly, I can see the horrible code that I wrote back then, and marvel that it ever got published. (I’ll talk more about this in a future post.)
Those two games made me a bit of money — I think something like £650 all together, which was a lot for our family. I spent nearly all of it on more Commodore hardware: first the amazing new C64, which had a massive 64 Kb of memory:
Yes, the 64 looks very, very much like the VIC-20: basically identical except that the plastic casing is a duller shade of cream and the function keys are grey rather than sand-coloured. Around the back, it was a little more different — for example, the cartridge expansion slot was narrower.
Of the 64 Kb on board, 38 Kb was directly available to programs: if I’m remembering correctly, 16 Kb of the remainder was hidden behind the ROMs (8 Kb kernel and 8 Kb BASIC); some of the other 10 Kb was screen-mapped or zero-page, but I’m not sure where the rest of it went. (Note that loading a program that used the easily accessible 38 Kb, at the rate of 50 bytes per second, would take 13 minutes, plus however long it takes to get the milk.)
You could switch out the kernel and BASIC ROMs by setting certain magic memory locations to special values; but of course if you did that from BASIC using POKE, the interpreter would suddenly not be there any more and the computer would crash. So to access the hidden memory, it was necessary to use machine-code. I remember writing routines to copy chunks of memory in and out of the hidden banks to an area where I could access it from BASIC. A popular trick was to copy the ROMs through to the RAM hidden behind them, then switch the ROMs out and run the kernel and BASIC from RAM, where they could be tweaked.
As well as the C64 itself, I bought the astonishing (I am not being sarcastic) 1541 disk drive:
The reason I describe this drive as astonishing is that it was connected to the computer by: a serial lead. Yes: a line with DIN plugs at each end, connecting to a bit-serial IEEE 488 interface. Although its capacity of 170 Kb per disk compared fairly well with the disk drives of competitor computers such as the BBC Micro, the super-slow serial interface meant that its speed was tortoise-like. What’s that? You want a number? OK, here it is: 300 bytes per second. That’s 3000 baud (allowing for stop-bits and suchlike), which is 1/17 as fast as a typical modem (if you can even buy them any more). At that speed, copying a 170 Kb disk took ten minutes — but that was if you had two drives and could copy directly from one to the other. In practice of course, with only one disk, the process was read into memory for a while, prompt the user to switch disks, write to the destination disk for a while, prompt the user to switch back, and vamp till fade. All in all, it was a twenty-minute-plus process. To add insult to injury, lots of third-party drivers turned up for the tape drive, increasing its speed by an impressive 10x, yielding 500 bytes per second: the upshot was that the cassette drive was actually half as fast again as the disk drive.
How did we ever get anything done?
Completing the menagerie was the Commodore 1702 monitor, which meant I could dump the old black-and-white portable TV I’d been using:
Later I got a slow, noisy Commodore dot-matrix printer whose characters were bitmaps in an 8×8 matrix, and which therefore lacked descenders for the lower-case g, j, p, q and y characters. It printed, of course, on fanfold paper — everything did in those days. But I don’t remember the model number, and googling for photos hasn’t turned up anything that rings bells, so here is a picture of battleship-style salmon roe sushi instead.
Armed with my C64, 1541 disk drive, 1702 monitor and the printer, whatever it was, I was able to get more done, more quickly, than with the VIC-20. I wrote a multi-user[1] adventure game called The Causes of Chaos, which I sold via a London-based software house called CRL, and which made enough money for me to survive through university without accumulating any debt. (Note that this was in England, where tutition is free; and in the late 1980s, when there were student grants instead of loans. So this is not as impressive as it probably sounds to anyone who’s working their way through Yale.)
So by 1986, I was firmly established in the world of Commodore computers, subscribing to ICPUG (the newsletter of the Independent Commodore Products User Group), and cheerfully hacking away mostly in BASIC with a bit of 6502 machine-code on the side, and dreaming of the day when amazingly advanced languages like COMAL would revolutionise the programing world by being even better than BASIC. (I knew this because I’d read about it in Practical Computing.) I was very comfortable and very happy in this world.
Then I went to university and met Unix. But that is a story for another day.
Note [1]. I am embarrassed to admit this, but “multi-user” here meant that the players would take turns at the keyboard. I doubt that anyone, ever, actually played it that way.
40 responses to “My early experiences with Commodore computers”
Wow, that’s a trip down memory lane. My old C64, and possibly a C128 is still stuffed away in my parents attic somewhere. I wonder if they still work. The monitor was great, I used it for years because it had RCA jacks. I sure wish my fancy flat panel display I have today had an input so simple and versatile. I never understood why the IBM monitor I got later didn’t have them.
Ah! Bringing back memories (nightmares) of sector patching TRS-80 floppy discs that had been corrupted by crashing software… And tweaking the 8008 assembler code for a home-brew (wire-wrapped) rally computer I and a friend built.
I had much the same C=64 set-up as you when I was younger. I used it through high school (graduated 1994) for everything. The printer I had was the 1526 – sounds like it could be what you had, too. And I can’t believe I remembered that number off the top of my head without looking it up. . .
I have my Commdore 64 sitting next to me right now. I would like to get back into coding on it, but the issue is always relevancy. Unfortunately the world is not what it was once and the Internet does spoil one rather.
To be honest, it saddens me that the console-de-jour these days is so closed and that there just isn’t that bedroom coding nature anymore. Imagine what could be achieved if the Wii came with a “Programming Channel” and full documentation. Gosh, we would have killed to have access to a computer with an always-on wireless connection to the Internet and every other console.
I’m amazed you got something published, well done. I wrote a lot, but lacked the [what we now call] ‘social network’. I’m quite proud of myself for writing a machine code IRQ routine to move a mouse pointer sprite around the screen using the joystick.
mdhills, your memory serves you well: 6502 in the PET, 6510 in the C64, and I don’t remember which in the VIC-20. I seem to recall that the chip actually ran slightly slower in the C64 than in the VIC. Weird.
Croc Kamen, I’ll be writing more about my experiences getting my games published, and more generally about the cottage-industry feel of the computer-games world in those days.
I don’t recall the exact speed ratings for the CPU of the V20 vs C64, but I do seem to recall that a part of the relatively slowness of the C64 was the larger display area which stole cycles from the CPU.
In any case, awesome blog. If if you are just *slightly* younger than I am and more successful. :) Subscribed.
You may be surprised to learn that there is an active community of VIC-20 users and that new software and hardware is *still* being released. No nostalgic VIC-20 journey would be complete without a visit to:
I think that Video Genie was sold in Australia as a Sorcerer. That was the first computer I ever saw – one of The Dads brought it along to my Cubs group. I think I was 7. He typed:
10 CLS
20 PRINT “HI”
30 GOTO 20
RUN
The screen strobed with HIs and I was lost. The next year I got my first VIC-20. Those few short years with it are the bedrock of my current programming practice. I can’t imagine myself now trying to PEEK and POKE to manipulate the _actual graphics memory of the display_, but (and this is related to your other post about frameworks): I know how computers work. Not just how CoreGraphics or Cocoa or X-Windows or Unix work, but how the _computer_ works.
And that tiny 3.5k of memory? It was freedom! I devoted one Christmas hols to writing an entire Star Wars adventure game (Episode IV had just come out, remember) including a stupidly lengthy intro sequence with graphics and sound (the programmable sound chip was awesome – Attack Decay Sustain Release!). How did we do it? I’ve no idea, but by jiminy I’m glad we did.
I’m certain it makes us better programmers now, if only because it taught us to relish the unknown, to think of the computer as a very large bucket of generic lego, rather than the Star Wars Jar-Jar Binks Torture and Execution set (5 pieces, batteries not included, not compatible with sets from other manufacturers).
According to Wikipedia, the Video Genie was a clone of the TRS-80. The Sorcerer was a similar Z80 machine made by Exidy. The Sorcerer was my first computer, so my head is filled with Z80 opcodes rather than 6502, but my first computer programming stories are more-or-less the same.
The Sorcerer had these plug-in ROM packs with different software, the BASIC interpreter was the most common one. It had a cassette interface, and the S100 expansion bus allowed you to plug in this bus enclosure that you could slot S100 cards into (like floppy drive controllers).
It also had a small “monitor” program burnt onto ROMS, I remember we completely rewrote the monitor in machine code and burned it onto EPROMS to replace those original ROMs. We also modified the video controller (all hardware in those days, fixed clock rates, etc) to change the 64×30 character display to 80×24. Wow!
I think the machine and the S100 expansion box are still in my father’s cupboards somewhere, I hope to pull them out some day to show my son.
As for me, my first machine was a Commodore 64. My brother and I wanted an Atari 2600 and saved up money from our paper round. Our father talked us out of buying the Atari because he thought that, when we got bored playing games, we could use it for programming and learning about computers. This was the start of my career in IT (thanks, Dad). Our father also came up with the extra money ($A50) to buy a Datasette for us.
After a few years my brother got bored of the C64, so I bought out his share and sold it to fund the purchase of a Commodore 128, which I still have.
@Scott Yes of course it was the System 80, not the Sorcerer. I remember it was popular with Ham Radio enthusiasts because someone had written some logbook software, and they used to tell each other about it over the air. Pre-Internet – a viral marketing campaign!
I also remember Dick Smith (for Podean readers, Dick Smith Electronics was a slightly more upmarket version of Radio Shack – or Tandy as it was called in Australia) used to sell a computer called the CAT, which was an Apple II-compatible that looked a bit like an Atari ST, back when those things were important.
About load times being slow on the C64 is an understatement. We used to play darts while we waited. Then I got a Super Snapshot cartridge and all was good (the code for the fast loader was written by someone that went to my school. My brother knew him and was in the same class.).
One thing I remember doing for kicks was building a parallel cable between the CIA chip in the disk drive (yes, the drive was its own computer with its own processor) to the user port of the C64. I had to write code both for the disk drive and the C64 and have them talk to each other and stay in sync without losing speed. Today, this is called distributed computing. Or at least client/server programming. I was doing it for kicks and got a 10x speedup. Then I obtained fast loader software designed for this parallel cable and it was insane the speedup. No more wait times at all. Didn’t work with copy protected materials unfortunately since they used their own disk drive code for the copy protection, but for most things, it worked great.
I actually miss going to the electronics store (the kind that sold resistors and capacitors) and asking the guy who worked there all sorts of questions. His faces were quite telling at how he found us annoying, but we learned a lot and after a while, he seemed anxious to find out what crazy projects we’d be working on next. (One project was a sound sampler I saw in a magazine. 4-bit sound, YAY!) Those stores don’t exist around here anymore.
Wow, nice stroll down memory lane. My first exposure to computers was with Apple II’s in high school. Then with an original IBM PC & PCjr during senior year.
The VIC-20? My best friend had one and when he got a 64, he loaned the VIC-20 to me to see if I wanted to buy it. I played with it for one evening and took it back. I’ll admit it – I was spoiled after working with the Apples & IBM’s.
Enough about me though. That custom memory expansion module is utterly cool! I’ve always envied those who had a knack for tinkering with hardware in ways that I could only dream of. The closest I ever came was a DIY car charger for my walkman (X-mas gift in ’82) – and duly fried it. Sorry Mom & Dad.
Ah yes, the 1541. It really *was* an astonishing drive, though, because it had a CPU in it nearly as powerful as that in the C64 (a 6502 rather than a 6510, so all it lacked was bank-switching) and some RAM (IIRC, 8K). You could run distributed systems across the serial link, and with not very much work you could rewrite the astonishingly dire serial protocol into something that was actually relatively nippy: I managed 1.5Kb/s once, I think.
That RAM expansion pack is amazing. I started with a ZX81: we bought a wobbly RAMpack, but a short in the RAMpack stopped it from working (it drew too much power and the machine shut down in sympathy). After dithering in worry for a year or two my dad fixed it. It’s surprising how much you can write in 1K… as long as you avoided BASIC. (The ZX81 BASIC’s only numeric representation was a six-byte float. Perhaps a bad choice given the tiny RAM). Its assembler was awesome, alternate banks and everything (the 6510’s was of course awesome in pretty much the diametrically opposite fashion, RISCy before RISC was cool). I can still remember Z80 opcodes the way you can remember 6502 ones (C9 for unadorned RET is the first that springs to mind 27-odd years later).
That printer was horrific in hindsight. It was so noisy that more than once the neighbours knocked on the door to ask me to stop printing something so they could hear their TV, and the print quality was dire.
oh, also, you typed in meteors games on store computers? I’m afraid I was much more evil. I tended to type in programs on store computers that would display an imitation of the normal boot prompt and then act bizarrely when the users tried to ‘use’ it, insulting them, boasting about how amazing this specific computer was and how it was so much better than the primitive carbon-based users… every time I rewrote it it got more surreal.
In hindsight I’m surprised I never turned into some sort of systems cracker ;) I mean, fake login screens would have been easy in comparison!
you’ve used my image of the 1702, which is cool (I’m glad you liked it! :-) ), but it’s licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. if you could link ‘er back to the page it comes from (http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaniber/3027892522), I’d muchly appreciate it.
I really enjoyed the article… brought back a lot of memories of how I cut my teeth on the Vic-20 and C64. beautiful machines, they were…
I was born in 1968 – I remember being 13 years old. Saving all the money I could from my paper-round so I could buy a VIC-20. The day came to collect the computer, it was pure magic – I whish every day could be like that :)
Does anybody remember a model of the PET 2001 without the tape drive? I fully remember the typing on the chicklets, but I’m pretty sure the ones in our lab had the keyboard centered, and some 3rd-party hack with an external tape drive. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Kenmore side by side fridge freezer. 36″ wide. Ice and water in door. Good condition – $275 OBO Pick up in Primghar. Kenmore dishwasher. Built in – $75 OBO. Pick up in Primghar. Both are white — 712-363-1892 | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
1. Dirty Grandpa is even worse than you think it is, and I bet you think it’s pretty bad. There’s no reason, inherently, that a movie called Dirty Grandpa, even one starring one of the greatest actors of our time, has to be bad. The idea that a comedy is supposed to have taste, that certain jokes should be beneath us, is wrong-headed and dismissive; all that is required of a joke is that it be funny. There is a way, in a theoretical universe, that a scene where Robert DeNiro masturbates on his couch while watching amateur porn involving elderly people could be funny. I don’t know where this theoretical universe is, and I suspect I wouldn’t want to live there, but it could exist. It requires set up, and dedication to the joke, and a cheerful willingness to take every comedic scenario to its logical extreme. It requires more than a half second of thought. Nothing in Dirty Grandpa appears to have been thought out any further than “what’s the grossest thing we can have Robert DeNiro say right now?” It is depressing, sure, but not because of the style; it’s all about the execution. I’m probably kidding myself that Robert DeNiro sticking his penis in the face of a sleeping Zac Efron is ever a joke that could be executed properly. It’s a joke that should probably be executed in the public square.
2. The plot of Dirty Grandpa is so thin that it appears to have been written on note cards that were thrown at the actors as they walked though each particular scene. DeNiro plays Dick Kelly, whose wife dies when the film begins; he requests that his grandson Jason (Efron) drive him from Georgia to Florida, for reasons I frankly don’t remember and do not care to. Turns out, Grandpa just wants to get to Daytona Beach so he can have a lot of sex and take a lot of drugs. No real reason is given for this other than “it’ll be funny to watch Robert DeNiro take a lot of drugs and curse and toss around millennial slang.” And let me tell you, reader, that is an awfully bad reason. Along the way, they come across a couple of spring breakers (Zoey Deutch—the daughter of Lea Thompson, which made me feel sort of old—and Aubrey Plaza, who I suspect initially thought she was signing up for a far different movie) and end up taking a lot of bong hits with their shirts off while drawing penises on each other’s faces. I could go on with the plot summary here, but why put us both through that?
3. Where do I start here? DeNiro’s Dick Kelly isn’t a character so much as a constant spewer of “outrageousness,” the outlet of the screenwriters’ desperate desire to offend everyone possible in the least inventive way. Kelly is sexist and homophobic and racist—Dirty Grandpa actually has a “comedic” section about the n-word that made me want to crawl under my chair, and maybe even curl up and die down there—but not in any sort of foundational, believable way. It’s not a character trait, or something that makes any sense in context, or out of it. DeNiro is just a puppet through which the filmmakers funnel every wretched, gross joke they can come up with. That’s depressing for DeNiro, but he gets no dispensation here: It’s depressing to watch, too. This frat house humor can be done well, or at least better; I (sort of notoriously) can’t stand the films of Seth MacFarlane, but at least his (nearly as bad) jokes take the form of jokes, with cadence and timing and the occasional set up. Here, DeNiro just spews and spews and spews, to no end other than to “shock.” If you are offended, you just don’t get it. And all told, the movie can’t even muster enough energy to rise to the level of offensiveness. I’m reminded of that old Onion bit about Marilyn Manson going door-to-door screaming, “Look at me, suburban dung!” and bathing in pig’s blood as residents take pity on him. Of course, it is one thing for Marilyn Manson to be the butt of that joke. It is quite another for Robert DeNiro to be.
DeNiro is just a puppet through which the filmmakers funnel every wretched, gross joke they can come up with.
4. While there is a temptation to lament what DeNiro puts himself through in this movie—and there is much to lament—it is worth noting that it does no other actor any favors either. The movie is so poorly thought out and shoddily constructed that the only reason I can imagine most of the actors signed up for it was because DeNiro was in it, and they trusted he had some idea what he was doing. (He didn’t.) Efron was funny and even a little charming in a lunkheaded way in Neighbors, but an attempt to recreate that magic here is a disaster. His willingness to go all the way for a joke is commendable—he spends most of the movie naked and/or with penises drawn on his face—but here he just goes all the way off the cliff. But the true victim here is Aubrey Plaza, so funny and sharp and acerbic in just about everything she’s ever been in. You can see what the idea was for her being in this movie. Her character is a Daytona Beach version of her usual type, an anarchist nihilist embracing the void, with the void being, in this case, the film-long journey to have wild sex with DeNiro’s grandpa. (“I want you to tear me open like a social security check.”) Plaza tries to have fun with this lunatic, and you can see the seedlings of what might have even been chemistry with DeNiro, were this a different movie with different people in charge of it. But here, it’s just a nightmare for her. My best hope is that it is a Joaquin Phoenix-esque I’m Still Here stunt she’s pulling on all of us, and she’ll show up on Colbert tonight or something and let us know she was just messing around. “Can you believe I was in Dirty Grandpa? What a prank that was!”
5. The film has such an awkward, halting, inept rhythm that one wonders how much of it was stripped apart and reconstructed in postproduction. It has the feel of a movie that had many doctors trying to save the patient on the operating table, failing, and then just throwing all the body parts inside the corpse, sewing it up, and hoping no one notices the patient’s dead. There is nothing wrong with crude humor in movies. This movie exists, surely, because of the success of recent gross-out comedies like Neighbors, The Hangover, or even Bad Grandpa, which is not a prequel to Dirty Grandpa but is in fact a lot better. (And it’s not even that good.) But you have to start with the jokes and then bring the penis drawings and the semen stains. Dirty Grandpa will make you feel bad for Robert DeNiro, and Zac Efron, and Aubrey Plaza, and the rest of the stranded cast. But it will also make you feel bad for yourself, and anyone else who sees it, and anyone else who has to live in the world where it exists as a physical document. It inspires despair for us all, for all of it. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
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abstract: |
We describe a general framework for measuring risks, where the risk measure takes values in an abstract cone. It is shown that this approach naturally includes the classical risk measures and set-valued risk measures and yields a natural definition of vector-valued risk measures. Several main constructions of risk measures are described in this axiomatic framework.
It is shown that the concept of depth-trimmed (or central) regions from the multivariate statistics is closely related to the definition of risk measures. In particular, the halfspace trimming corresponds to the Value-at-Risk, while the zonoid trimming yields the expected shortfall. In the abstract framework, it is shown how to establish a both-ways correspondence between risk measures and depth-trimmed regions. It is also demonstrated how the lattice structure of the space of risk values influences this relationship.
author:
- |
Ignacio Cascos[^1]\
[*Department of Statistics, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid,*]{}\
[ *Av. Universidad 30, E-28911 Leganés (Madrid), Spain*]{}\
Ilya Molchanov[^2]\
[*Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science,*]{}\
[*University of Berne, Sidlerstr. 5, CH-3012 Berne, Switzerland*]{}[^3]
title: 'Multivariate risks and depth-trimmed regions'
---
AMS Classification [91B30 91B82 60D05 62H99]{}
Introduction {#sec:introduction}
============
Risk measures are widely used in financial engineering to assess the risk of investments and to optimise the capital allocation. The modern theory of coherent risk measures [@art:del:eber:99; @delb02] aims to derive properties of risk measures from several basic axioms: translation-invariance, monotonicity, homogeneity and convexity. The risk measures are mostly considered in the univariate case, i.e. it is assumed that all assets have been transferred to their monetary values. The quantile-based risk measures gain a particular importance in the form of so-called spectral risk measures that are weighted integrals of the quantile function, see [@acer02].
When assessing risks of multivariate portfolios, the situation becomes more complicated. The quantile function is not a numerical function any more, and it is not possible to represent all portfolios as functions of a uniform random variable. The simplest approach to assess the risk of a multivariate portfolio is to aggregate the individual assets using their cash equivalents and then assess the risk of the combined univariate portfolio. Then all portfolios with identically distributed monetary equivalents would have identical risks.
Several recent papers suggest various alternative ways of measuring risks for multivariate portfolios without taking their monetary equivalents. The multivariate analogue of the Value-at-Risk discussed in [@emb:puc06] is based on set-valued quantiles of the multivariate cumulative distribution function. A construction of real-valued multivariate risk measures based on combining univariate risks from transformed portfolios is described in [@bur:rues06]. Multivariate coherent risk measures have been studied in [@jouin:med:touz04] following the techniques from [@delb02] based on the duality representations. The risk measures considered in [@jouin:med:touz04] are actually set-valued and the preference order corresponds to the ordering of sets by inclusion. It is interesting to note that this order has the same meaning for risk, but formally is the exactly opposite to the ordering of univariate risks from [@art:del:eber:99]. Set-valued risk measures have been also studied in [@ham06].
Because of this reason and in order to unify several existing definitions we decided to consider risk measures as maps that have values in a certain partially ordered cone, which may be, e.g., the real line or the Euclidean space or the family of convex sets in the Euclidean space. We single out the basic properties of so defined risk measures and then describe the main technical constructions that make it possible to produce new risk measures from the existing ones while respecting their properties, e.g. the homogeneity or coherence. It is not always assumed that the risk measures are coherent. Note that risk measures with values in a partially ordered cone have been considered in [@jas:kuec01], where however it was assumed that this cone is embeddable into a linear space. This is not the case for set-valued risk measures which are also covered by the current work. These set-valued measures can be used to produce vector-valued or real-valued risk measures for multivariate portfolios.
In comparison with the studies of multivariate risk measures, the multivariate statistical theory has an impressive toolbox suitable to handle random vectors. We show that the multivariate setting for the risk measures has a number of common features with the concept of central (or depth-trimmed) regions well known in multivariate statistics [@zuo:ser00a; @zuo:ser00b]. They associate a random vector with a set formed by the points in space located near to the “central value” of this random vector. The risk measure is generated by considering all translations of a random vector that bring its central region to the positive (acceptable) part of the space. In other words, the risks is determined by the relative location of the central region comparing to the acceptable or completely non-acceptable risks. Note that in the multivariate setting the sets of acceptable and non-acceptable risk values are no longer complementary, as they are in the univariate setting. Estimation methods for depth trimmed regions then may be utilised to come up with estimators for multivariate risk measures. Despite the fact that the definition of central regions (and indeed the name also) treats all directions in the same way, it is possible to establish a two-way link between depth-trimmed regions and risk measures.
The paper is organised as follows. Section \[sec:risk\] introduces the main concept of a risk measure with values in an abstract cone. As special cases one obtains the classical risk measures [@art:del:eber:99], set-valued risk measures of [@jouin:med:touz04] and vector-valued risk measures. A crucial concept here is the function that assigns risks to deterministic outcomes and controls changes of the risk if a deterministic amount is being added to a portfolio. The partial order relation on the space of risks makes it possible to consider it as a lattice.
The acceptance cone constitutes a subset of acceptable values for the risk measure, while the acceptance set is the family of random vectors whose risks belong to the acceptance cone. Section \[sec:acceptance-sets\] discusses the main properties of the acceptance set and the acceptance cone. We single out conditions that make it possible to retrieve the risk measure from the acceptance set it generates. This self-consistency condition can be traced to some facts from the morphological theory of lattices [@hei94].
Section \[sec:constr-risk-meas\] describes several ways to construct new risk measures: minimisation, re-centring, homogenisation, worst conditioning and transformations of risks. In particular, the worst conditioning is a generic construction that yields the expected shortfall if applied to the expectation. It is shown that by transforming risks it is possible to produce vector-valued risk measures from set-valued risk measures. This construction can be applied, for instance, to the set-valued risk measures from [@jouin:med:touz04].
The definition of depth-trimmed regions and their essential properties in view of relationships to risk measures are given in Section \[sec:depth\]. In particular, the well-known halfspace trimmed regions [@mas:theod94; @rous:rut99] correspond to the Value-at-Risk and the zonoid trimming [@mos02] produces the expected shortfall. This analogy goes much further and leads to a systematic construction of a risk measure from a family of depth-trimmed regions in Section \[sec:accept-sets-gere\]. The main idea here is to map the depth-trimmed region of a random vector into the risk space using the function that assigns risks to deterministic outcomes and then consider all translations of the image (of the depth-trimmed region) that place it inside the acceptance cone. Examples of basic risk measures obtained this way are described in Section \[sec:basic-risk-measures\]. It is shown in Section \[sec:depth-trimm-regi\] that the correspondence between risk measures and depth-trimmed regions goes both ways, i.e. it is possible to construct a family of depth-trimmed regions from a risk measure, so that, under some conditions, the initial risk measure is recoverable from the obtained family of depth-trimmed regions.
Finally, Section \[sec:duality-results\] deals with dual representation of coherent risk measures and depth-trimmed regions using families of measures, in a way similar to the well-known approach [@delb02] for real-valued coherent risk measures. In particular we show that all coherent vector-valued risk measures are marginalised, i.e. can be represented as the vector of risk measures for the marginals. This fact confirms the idea that set-valued risk measures are a natural tool for multivariate portfolios if one is interested in non-trivial coherent risk measures.
Risk measures in abstract cones {#sec:risk}
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A risky portfolio is modelled as an essentially bounded random vector $X$ that represents a financial gain. Let ${{L}_d^\infty}$ denote the set of all essentially bounded $d$-dimensional *random vectors* on the probability space $(\Omega,{\mathfrak{F}},{{\mathbf P}})$. In order to combine several definitions of risk measures, it is sensible to regard them as functionals on ${{L}_d^\infty}$ with values in a partially ordered *convex cone* ${\mathbb{C}}$.
\[def:cc\] An *abelian topological semigroup* is a topological space ${\mathbb{C}}$ equipped with a commutative and associative continuous binary operation ${\oplus}$. It is assumed that ${\mathbb{C}}$ possesses the *neutral element* ${\mathbf{e}}$ satisfying $x{\oplus}{\mathbf{e}}=x$ for all $x\in{\mathbb{C}}$. The semigroup ${\mathbb{C}}$ is a *convex cone* if it is also equipped with a continuous operation $(x,t)\mapsto t{\odot}x$ of multiplication by positive scalars $t>0$ for $x\in{\mathbb{C}}$ so that $1{\odot}x=x$ for all $x\in{\mathbb{C}}$, $t{\odot}{\mathbf{e}}={\mathbf{e}}$ for all $t>0$, and the following conditions are satisfied $$\begin{aligned}
t{\odot}(x{\oplus}y)&=t{\odot}x{\oplus}t{\odot}y, \quad t>0,\; x,y\in{\mathbb{C}},\\
t{\odot}(s{\odot}x)&=(ts){\odot}x,\quad t,s>0,\; x\in{\mathbb{C}}.
\end{aligned}$$
Assume throughout that ${\mathbb{C}}$ is endowed with a *partial order* $\preceq$ that is compatible with the (commutative) addition operation and multiplication by scalars, i.e. $x\preceq y$ implies that $x{\oplus}z\preceq y{\oplus}z$ for all $z$ and $t{\odot}x\preceq t{\odot}y$ for all $t>0$. Furthermore, assume that ${\mathbb{C}}$ with the order $\preceq$ is a *complete lattice*, i.e. every set has supremum and infimum, which are denoted by $\vee$ and $\wedge$ respectively. Since this partial order may differ from the conventional order for real numbers, we retain the notation supremum and infimum (also min and max) for the conventional order on the real line, while $\vee$ and $\wedge$ denote the supremum and infimum in ${\mathbb{C}}$. The *top element* of ${\mathbb{C}}$ is denoted by ${\mathbb{T}}$. It is assumed that the top element is absorbing, i.e. ${\mathbb{T}}{\oplus}a={\mathbb{T}}$ for all $a\in{\mathbb{C}}$.
Note that the cone ${\mathbb{C}}$ is not necessarily embeddable in a linear space, since the addition operation does not necessarily obey the cancellation law and the second distributivity law $t{\odot}x{\oplus}s{\odot}x=(t+s){\odot}x$ is not imposed, see [@dav:mol:zuy05] for a discussion of algebraic properties of convex cones. Accordingly, it is not possible to view ${\mathbb{C}}$ as a partially ordered linear space. This situation is typical if ${\mathbb{C}}$ is the family of convex sets in the Euclidean space ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ and the additive operation is the *closed Minkowski addition*, i.e. the sum of $A{\oplus}B$ of two sets is the topological closure of $\{x+y:\; x\in A,\; y\in B\}$. Note that the Minkowski sum of two non-compact closed sets is not necessarily closed. The multiplication by positive numbers is given by $tA=\{tx:\: x\in A\}$, i.e. the usual dilation of $A$ by $t>0$ and we simply write $x+A$ instead of $\{x\}{\oplus}A$.
We retain the usual $+$ and multiplication signs for operations with real numbers and vectors in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$. For convenience, letters $x,y,z$ with or without subscripts stand for points in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$, letters $t,s$ represent real numbers, letters $a,b$ denote elements of ${\mathbb{C}}$, letters $X,Y$ are used for random variables or random vectors, and $A,B,F,K$ are subsets of ${{\mathbb R}}^d$.
A *proper Euclidean convex cone* $K$ is a strict subset of ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ such that ${{\mathbb R}}^d_+\subseteq K$, $K$ does not contain any line, and $x+y\in K$, $tx\in K$ for all $x,y\in K$ and $t>0$. In the univariate case ($d=1$) the only possibility is $K=[0,\infty)$.
\[def:rd-order\] Let $K$ be a proper Euclidean convex cone. For $x,y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$, we denote $x{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}y$ if and only if $y-x\in K$.
From the economical viewpoint, this ordering would correspond, e.g. to exchanges of various currencies, cf. [@jouin:med:touz04; @kab99].
A risk measure is a functional on ${{L}_d^\infty}$ with values in ${\mathbb{C}}$. As the first step of its proper definition, one should specify how this functional acts on degenerate random variables, i.e. on the space ${{\mathbb R}}^d$, which is naturally embedded in ${{L}_d^\infty}$. This action is defined by a function $f:{{\mathbb R}}^d\mapsto{\mathbb{C}}$, which is interpreted as the risk associated with the degenerate random variable $X=x$ a.s. Assume that $f(0)={\mathbf{e}}$, $f$ is linear, i.e. $$\label{eq:f}
f(x){\oplus}f(y)=f(x+y)$$ for all $x,y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$, and non-decreasing, i.e. $f(y)\preceq f(x)$ if $y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}x$. The mapping $f$ is a linear positive map between partially ordered linear spaces: ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$ order and the space ${\mathbb{F}}=\{f(y):\; y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}$ with the order inherited from ${\mathbb{C}}$. Condition (\[eq:f\]) implies that $f(x)\neq{\mathbb{T}}$ for all $x$. Indeed, if $f(x)={\mathbb{T}}$, then $f(x+y)={\mathbb{T}}$ for all $y$, so that $f$ identically equals ${\mathbb{T}}$ contrary to the fact that $f(0)={\mathbf{e}}$.
The following definition specifies the desirable properties of risk measures.
\[def:1\] A functional ${\varrho}:{{L}_d^\infty}\mapsto{\mathbb{C}}$ is called a *risk measure* associated with $f$ if ${\varrho}(X)=f(x)$ in case $X=x$ a.s. and the following conditions hold
$f(y){\oplus}{\varrho}(X)={\varrho}(X+y)$ for all $y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$;
${\varrho}(Y)\preceq {\varrho}(X)$ whenever $Y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X$ a.s.;
is called a *homogeneous* risk measure if also
${\varrho}(tX)=t{\odot}{\varrho}(X)$ for all $t>0$ and $X\in{{L}_d^\infty}$;
and a *coherent risk measure* if additionally
${\varrho}(X){\oplus}{\varrho}(Y)\preceq{\varrho}(X+Y)$ for all $X,Y\in{{L}_d^\infty}$.
Condition **R2** means that ${\varrho}$ is a lattice morphism between ${{L}_d^\infty}$ with the partial order generated by ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$ and ${\mathbb{C}}$. It is also possible to consider not necessarily homogeneous risk measures that satisfy the assumption $$\label{eq:crm}
t{\odot}{\varrho}(X){\oplus}(1-t){\odot}{\varrho}(Y)\preceq{\varrho}(tX+(1-t)Y)$$ for all $t\in[0,1]$, which are traditionally called *convex* [@foel:sch02c] (despite the fact that the inequality in our setting actually means that ${\varrho}$ is concave).
Note that the multiplication by numbers in ${\mathbb{C}}$ is not needed if **R3** is not considered. In this case one can only require that ${\mathbb{C}}$ is a partially ordered abelian semigroup. Furthermore, Definition \[def:1\] can be formulated for any partially ordered cone ${\mathbb{C}}$ (not necessarily a complete lattice) and any partial ordering on ${{\mathbb R}}^d$.
Since ${\mathbf{e}}\neq{\mathbb{T}}$, the condition $f(0)={\mathbf{e}}$ together with **R2** imply that ${\varrho}(X)$ never takes the value ${\mathbb{T}}$. This corresponds to the requirement that conventional risk measures do not take the value $-\infty$, see [@delb02]. Indeed, if ${\varrho}(X)={\mathbb{T}}$, then $f(a)={\varrho}(a)={\mathbb{T}}$ for $a$ being an upper bound for $X$.
The use of function $f$ in Definition \[def:1\] is twofold. It determines risks of deterministic portfolios and also controls how the risk of $X$ changes if a deterministic quantity is added to the portfolio $X$. The second task can be also delegated to another function $g:{{\mathbb R}}^d\mapsto{\mathbb{C}}$, so that **R1** becomes $g(y){\oplus}{\varrho}(X)={\varrho}(X+y)$ and $g(y){\oplus}g(-y)={\mathbf{e}}$ for all $y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$. It is easy to show that $f$ and $g$ coincide if and only if $f(0)={\mathbf{e}}$.
\[ex:jouini\] Consider the family of closed convex sets in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ partially ordered by inclusion with the addition defined as the closed Minkowski sum and the conventional dilation by positive numbers. Define $f(x)=\{y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; -x{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}y\}=-x+K$, where $K$ is a proper Euclidean cone from Definition \[def:rd-order\]. In particular, the fact that ${\varrho}(X)\supset K$ means that $X$ has a negative risk. In this case Definition \[def:1\] turns into [@jouin:med:touz04 Def. 2.1]. Since $f(0)=K$ has to be the neutral element, the relevant cone ${\mathbb{C}}$ should consist of all closed convex sets $F\subseteq{{\mathbb R}}^d$ such that the closed Minkowski sum $F{\oplus}K$ coincides with $F$. This important family of sets will be denoted by ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$.
Let us show that ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ is a complete lattice. Consider any family of sets $\{A_i:\;i\in I\}\subseteq{{\mathbb{C}}_K}$. Then $F=\bigvee_{i\in I}
A_i$ is the smallest convex set that contains all the $A_i$s, i.e. $F$ is the closure of the convex hull of the union of these sets. Since $F$ is closed convex and $F=\bigvee (A_i{\oplus}K)=K{\oplus}F$, we have $F\in{{\mathbb{C}}_K}$. Furthermore, $M=\bigwedge_{i\in I} A_i$ is given by $M=\bigcap_{i\in I} A_i$. The set $M$ is closed convex and also belongs to ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$, since $$M=\bigcap_{i\in I} A_i=\bigcap_{i\in I} (A_i{\oplus}K)
\supseteq K{\oplus}\bigcap_{i\in I} A_i
\supseteq M\,,$$ because $K$ contains the origin.
\[ex:artzner\] The classical definition of real-valued coherent risk measures from Artzner *et al.* [@art:del:eber:99] can be recovered from the setting of Example \[ex:jouini\] for $d=1$ and ${\varrho}(X)=[\rho(X),\infty)$, where $\rho(X)$ is the risk measure of $X$ as in [@art:del:eber:99]. An alternative approach is to let ${\mathbb{C}}$ be the extended real line ${\overline{\mathbb R}}=[-\infty,\infty]$ with the *reversed* order and conventional addition and multiplication operations. In this case $f(x)=-x$. We will briefly recall three univariate risk measures: the value at risk, which is the most widely used risk measure, and two coherent risk measures, the expected shortfall and the expected minimum.
The *value at risk* is defined as the amount of extra capital that a firm needs in order to reduce the probability of going bankrupt to a fixed threshold $\alpha$. It is the opposite of the $\alpha$-quantile of a random variable $X$, i.e. $${\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X)=-\inf\{x:\; {\mathbf{P}\{X\leq x\}}>\alpha\}=-F^{-1}_X(\alpha)\,,$$ where $F_X$ is the cumulative distribution function of $X$. It can be shown that the value at risk is a homogeneous risk measure, but not a coherent one. It satisfies properties **R1**, **R2** and **R3**, but not necessarily **R4**.
The *expected shortfall* is a coherent risk measure defined as $${\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X)= -\,\frac{1}{\alpha}\int_0^\alpha F_X^{-1}(t){\rm d}t\,,$$ where $\alpha\in(0,1]$.
The *expected minimum* is another coherent risk measure defined as $${\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X)= - {{\mathbf E}}\min\{X_1,X_2,\dots,X_n\},$$ where $X_1,X_2,\dots,X_n$ are independent copies of $X$. The expected minimum belongs to the family of weighted V@Rs and is called Alpha-V@R in [@cher:mad06c].
In the following we often consider the Euclidean space ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ extended by adding to it the top and bottom elements at the infinity, so that the space then becomes a complete lattice. In order to simplify notation we retain notation ${{\mathbb R}}$ and ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ for such extended spaces.
\[ex:vector\] Let ${\mathbb{C}}$ be ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the usual addition, multiplication by positive numbers and the reversed coordinatewise order, i.e. $a\preceq b$ if $b{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}a$ with $K={{\mathbb R}}_+^d$. Given a $d$-dimensional random vector $X=(X_1,\dots,X_d)$, any of the aforementioned univariate risk measures $\rho$ yields a risk measure ${\varrho}(X)=(\rho(X_1),\dots,\rho(X_d))$ with values in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$. In this case $f(x)=-x$.
Acceptance cones and acceptance sets {#sec:acceptance-sets}
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The concept of an acceptance set is the dual one to the risk measure, see [@art:del:eber:99; @foel:sch02c; @jouin:med:touz04]. The main idea is that a portfolio $X$ is acceptable if ${\varrho}(X)$ belongs to a certain subcone ${\mathbb{A}}\subset{\mathbb{C}}$ called the *acceptance cone*. The classical setting (see Example \[ex:artzner\]) corresponds to ${\mathbb{C}}={{\mathbb R}}$ with the reversed order and ${\mathbb{A}}=(-\infty,0]$. Every acceptance cone ${\mathbb{A}}$ is upper with respect to $\preceq$, i.e. if $a\preceq b$ and $a\in{\mathbb{A}}$, then $b\in{\mathbb{A}}$. We also assume that $$\label{f-acceptance}
\{a\in{\mathbb{C}}:\; {\mathbf{e}}\preceq a\}={\mathbb{A}}\,,$$ i.e. a deterministic portfolio $x$ is acceptable if and only if $0{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}x$.
Given the risk measure ${\varrho}$, the set ${\mathcal{A}}\subset{{L}_d^\infty}$ of acceptable portfolios (called the *acceptance set*) is given by $${\mathcal{A}}=\{X\in{{L}_d^\infty}:\; {\varrho}(X)\in{\mathbb{A}}\}
=\{X\in{{L}_d^\infty}:\; {\mathbf{e}}\preceq {\varrho}(X)\}\,.$$ If ${\varrho}$ is coherent, then ${\mathcal{A}}$ is a cone in ${{L}_d^\infty}$. It follows from **R1** that $$\{y:\; X-y\in{\mathcal{A}}\}=\{y:\; {\varrho}(X-y)\in{\mathbb{A}}\}
=\{y:\; {\varrho}(X){\oplus}f(-y)\in{\mathbb{A}}\}\,.$$ The $f$-image of the set in the right-hand side is $$\begin{aligned}
{\varrho}_{\mathcal{A}}(X)&=\{f(y):\; y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d,\; {\varrho}(X){\oplus}f(-y)\in{\mathbb{A}}\}\\
&=\{a\in{\mathbb{F}}:\; {\varrho}(X)\in {\mathbb{A}}{\oplus}a\}\\
&=\{a\in{\mathbb{F}}:\; a\preceq {\varrho}(X)\}\,.\end{aligned}$$ Indeed, since the family ${\mathbb{F}}$ of values of $f$ is a linear space, ${\mathbb{A}}{\oplus}a=\{b{\oplus}a:\; b\in{\mathbb{A}}\}$ coincides with the set $\{b\in{\mathbb{C}}:\; a\preceq b\}$ for any $a\in{\mathbb{F}}$.
Note that ${\varrho}_{\mathcal{A}}(X)$ is not necessarily an element of ${\mathbb{C}}$, since it may consist of several elements of ${\mathbb{C}}$. For instance, in Example \[ex:artzner\] (with ${\mathbb{C}}={{\mathbb R}}$), ${\varrho}_{\mathcal{A}}(X)$ is the set $[\rho(X),\infty)$, while the risk of $X$ is a real number. In this case, one can retrieve the risk of $X$ by taking the infimum of all members of ${\varrho}_{\mathcal{A}}(X)$. This minimum corresponds to the $\vee$-operation in ${{\mathbb R}}$ with the reversed order. The following easy observation generalises the well-known relationship between risk measures and acceptance sets [@art:del:eber:99; @delb02].
\[prop:r-a\] If ${\mathbb{F}}$ is sup-generating (see [@hei94 p. 28]), i.e. $$\label{eq:sg}
b=\bigvee\{a\in{\mathbb{F}}:\; a\preceq b\}\quad\textrm{for all}\;\;
b\in{\mathbb{C}}\,,$$ then $${\varrho}(X)=\bigvee {\varrho}_{\mathcal{A}}(X)\,.$$
In the multivariate case one often needs the concept of the rejection cone ${\mathbb{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}=\{a\in{\mathbb{C}}:\; a\preceq{\mathbf{e}}\}$ and the rejection set $${\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}= \{X\in{{L}_d^\infty}:\; {\varrho}(X)\preceq {\mathbf{e}}\}\,.$$ While ${\mathbb{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}$ is a subcone of ${\mathbb{C}}$, the set ${\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}$ is not necessarily convex even if ${\varrho}$ is coherent. Indeed, if $X,Y\in{\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}$, then ${\varrho}(X)+{\varrho}(Y)\preceq{\mathbf{e}}$, while **R4** no longer suffices to deduce that ${\varrho}(X+Y)\preceq{\mathbf{e}}$.
\[ex:mvar-cones\] Let ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ be the cone of convex closed sets described in Example \[ex:jouini\] and $f(x)=-x+K$, so that ${\mathbb{F}}=\{y+K:\;
y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}$. If ${\mathbb{A}}=\{A\in{{\mathbb{C}}_K}:\; K\subseteq A\}$, then ${\mathbb{F}}$ is sup-generating, since for any $F\in{{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ we have $$\bigvee\{a\in{\mathbb{F}}:\; a\preceq b\}
=\bigcup\{y+K:\; y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d,\; (y+K)\subseteq F\}
=F\,.$$ As in [@jouin:med:touz04 Sec. 2.5], it is possible to choose another acceptance cone ${\mathbb{A}}'$ which is richer than the cone ${\mathbb{A}}$ defined above. Furthermore, the sup-generating property (\[eq:sg\]) corresponds to the self-consistency property from [@jouin:med:touz04 Property 3.4].
\[ex:ac-sval\] There is also an alternative way to introduce set-valued risk measures. Let ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$ be the family of complements to the interiors of sets from ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$, with the addition operation induced by one from ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$, i.e. $F_1{\oplus}F_2$ is the complement to the Minkowski sum of the complements to $F_1$ and $F_2$. The neutral element ${\mathbf{e}}={K^{\mathrm{r}}}$ is then the complement to the interior of $K$. If ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$ is equipped with the inclusion order, then the same arguments as in Example \[ex:jouini\] confirm that ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$ is a complete lattice.
If $f(x)=x+{K^{\mathrm{r}}}$, $x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$, then the corresponding family ${\mathbb{F}}$ is inf-generating (see [@hei94 p. 28]), i.e. $$b=\bigwedge\{a\in{\mathbb{F}}:\; b\preceq a\}\quad\textrm{for all}\;\;
b\in{\mathbb{C}}\,.$$ In this case $$\label{eq:r-ar}
{\varrho}(X)=\bigwedge {\varrho}_{{\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}}(X)\,,$$ where ${\varrho}_{{\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}}(X)$ is the $f$-image of all $y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$ such that $X-y\in{\mathcal{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}$.
Consider a risk measure ${\varrho}$ defined on ${{L}_1^\infty}$ with values in ${\mathbb{C}}={{\mathbb R}}^2$ with the usual summation and multiplication by scalars and the reversed coordinatewise ordering, i.e. the reversed ordering generated by $K={{\mathbb R}}_+^2$. Such a risk measure may be defined as a vector composed of several univariate risk measures from Example \[ex:artzner\]. In this case $f(x)=(-x,-x)$, so that ${\mathbb{F}}$ is the diagonal in ${{\mathbb R}}^2$, which is clearly not sup-generating.
This example explains, by the way, why in the framework of [@jouin:med:touz04] only risk measures that do not increase the dimension of the portfolios have been studied.
Constructions of risk measures {#sec:constr-risk-meas}
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Minimisation {#sec:minimisation}
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Consider a family ${\varrho}_i$, $i\in I$, of risk measures on the same cone ${\mathbb{C}}$, all associated with the same function $f$. Then ${\varrho}=\bigwedge_{i\in I}{\varrho}_i$ is also a risk measure associated with $f$. If all ${\varrho}_i$ are coherent (resp. homogeneous or convex) the resulting risk measure is coherent (resp. homogeneous or convex). The acceptance set associated with ${\varrho}$ is the intersection of the acceptance sets of the risk measures ${\varrho}_i$, $i\in I$.
While it is not interesting to take minimum of, say, the expected shortfalls at different levels, it is possible to combine members from different families of univariate risk measures. For instance, if $n\geq 1$ and $\alpha\in(0,1]$, then $\max\{{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X),{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X)\}$ is a coherent risk measure associated with $f(x)=-x$. Note that the maximum of two risk measures correspond to the minimum in ${\mathbb{C}}={{\mathbb R}}$ with the reversed order.
Re-centring {#sec:recentring}
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All random vectors from ${{L}_d^\infty}$ can be naturally centred by subtracting their expected values. This makes it possible to define a risk measure on centred random vectors and then use **R1** to extend it onto the whole ${{L}_d^\infty}$. If ${\varrho}$ is defined on the family of essentially bounded random vectors with mean zero, then the re-centred risk measure is given by $${\varrho}_{\mathrm{o}}(X)={\varrho}(X-{{\mathbf E}}X){\oplus}f({{\mathbf E}}X)\,, \quad X\in {{L}_d^\infty}\,.$$ If ${\mathbb{C}}$ is ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ or a family of subsets of ${{\mathbb R}}^d$, we rely on the canonical choice of the translation by setting ${\varrho}_{\mathrm{o}}(X)={\varrho}(X-{{\mathbf E}}X)-{{\mathbf E}}X$.
It should be noted that **R2** does not hold automatically for re-centred risk measures and has to be checked every time the re-centring is applied.
Homogenisation {#sec:homogenisation}
--------------
If ${\varrho}$ satisfies **R1** and **R2**, it is possible to construct a homogeneous risk measure from it by setting $$\label{eq:hc}
{\varrho}_{\mathrm{h}}(X)=\bigwedge_{t>0} \frac{1}{t}{\odot}{\varrho}(tX)\,.$$ Note that the infimum operation $\bigwedge$ in ${\mathbb{C}}$ makes sense, since ${\mathbb{C}}$ is a complete lattice. It is easy to see that ${\varrho}_{\mathrm{h}}$ satisfies **R3**. Furthermore, it satisfies **R2** and **R1** if $f$ is homogeneous. The latter is clearly the case if $f(x)=-x+K$, $x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$, for a proper cone $K$, see Example \[ex:jouini\].
A similar construction produces a translation-invariant risk measure from a general one by $$\label{eq:htc}
{\varrho}_{\mathrm{t}}(X)=\bigwedge_{z\in {{\mathbb R}}^d}
\Big({\varrho}(X+z){\oplus}f(-z)\Big)\,.$$ Both (\[eq:hc\]) and (\[eq:htc\]) applied together to a function ${\varrho}$ that satisfies **R2** and **R4** yield a coherent risk measure.
\[ex:homog\] If ${\mathbb{C}}$ is the real line with the reversed order and (\[eq:hc\]) results in a non-trivial function, then ${\varrho}(tX)\to
0$ as $t\to 0$. Similarly, a non-trivial result of (\[eq:htc\]) yields that ${\varrho}(X+z)\to -\infty$ as $z\to\infty$. For instance, these constructions produce trivial results if applied to the risk measure ${{\mathbf E}}(k-X)_+$ studied in [@jar02].
Worst conditioning {#sec:worst-conditioning}
------------------
A single risk measure ${\varrho}$ can be used to produce a family of risk measures by taking the infimum of the risks associated to the random vectors obtained after certain rearrangements of the underlying probability measure. For each $\alpha\in(0,1]$ define $${\varrho}_\alpha(X)=\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha} {\varrho}(X_\phi)\,,$$ where $X_\phi=X\circ\phi$ and $\Phi_\alpha$ is the family of measurable mappings $\phi:\Omega\mapsto\Omega$ such that ${{\mathbf P}}(\phi^{-1}(A))\leq\alpha^{-1}{{\mathbf P}}(A)$ for all $A\in{\mathfrak{F}}$. If $X\in{{L}_d^\infty}$, then $X_\phi\in{{L}_d^\infty}$ for any $\alpha\in(0,1]$ and $\phi\in\Phi_\alpha$. It is possible to define the worst conditioning alternatively as $${\varrho}_\alpha(X)=\bigwedge_{Y\in {\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)} {\varrho}(Y)\,,$$ where ${\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)$ is the family of all random vectors $Y$ such that ${\mathbf{P}\{Y\in B\}}\leq \alpha^{-1}{\mathbf{P}\{X\in B\}}$ for all Borel $B\subset{{\mathbb R}}^d$.
It is easy to show that ${\varrho}_\alpha$ preserves any property that ${\varrho}$ satisfies from **R1**–**R4**. For instance, if $Y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X$ a.s., then $Y_\phi{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X_\phi$ a.s. for any $\phi\in\Phi_\alpha$, so that $${\varrho}_\alpha(Y)=\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}
{\varrho}(Y_\phi)\preceq\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}
{\varrho}(X_\phi)={\varrho}_\alpha(X)$$ whenever ${\varrho}$ satisfies **R2**. If $X,Y\in{{L}_d^\infty}$ and ${\varrho}$ satisfies **R4**, then $$\begin{aligned}
{\varrho}_\alpha(X+Y)&=\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}
{\varrho}\big((X+Y)_\phi\big)=\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}
{\varrho}(X_\phi+Y_\phi)\\
&\succeq\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}
\big({\varrho}(X_\phi){\oplus}{\varrho}(Y_\phi)\big)
\succeq\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}
{\varrho}(X_\phi){\oplus}\bigwedge_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}
{\varrho}(Y_\phi)={\varrho}_\alpha(X){\oplus}{\varrho}_\alpha(Y)\,.\end{aligned}$$
Consider now the setting of univariate risk measures from Example \[ex:artzner\], i.e. $X$ is a random variable from ${{L}_1^\infty}$ and ${\mathbb{C}}$ is the real line with the reversed order. The simplest coherent risk measure is the opposite of the expectation of a random variable. In fact, this risk measure appears from the expected shortfall when $\alpha=1$, i.e. ${\mathrm{ES}_{1}}(X)=-{{\mathbf E}}X$. The worst conditioning applied to the opposite of the expectation yields $$\begin{aligned}
(-{{\mathbf E}})_\alpha(X)&=\sup_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}\{-{{\mathbf E}}(X_\phi)\}
=-\inf_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}{{\mathbf E}}(X_\phi)
=-\inf_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}\int X(\phi(\omega)){{\mathbf P}}({\rm d}\omega)\\
&=-\inf_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}\int X(\omega){{\mathbf P}}\phi^{-1}({\rm
d}\omega)=-\inf_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}{{\mathbf E}}_{{{\mathbf P}}\phi^{-1}}X\,,\end{aligned}$$ where ${{\mathbf E}}_{{{\mathbf P}}\phi^{-1}}$ denotes the expectation with respect to the probability measure ${{\mathbf P}}\phi^{-1}$.
In general, $-\inf_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}{{\mathbf E}}_{{{\mathbf P}}\phi^{-1}}X\leq{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X)$ with the equality if $(\Omega,{\mathfrak{F}},{{\mathbf P}})$ is non-atomic. Without loss of generality assume that $\Omega=[0,1]$, ${{\mathbf P}}$ is the Lebesgue measure restricted to $[0,1]$ and $X$ is increasing mapping from $[0,1]$ into ${{\mathbb R}}$, which implies that $X(\omega)=F^{-1}_X(\omega)$ for all $\omega\in[0,1]$, where $F_X$ is the cumulative distribution function of $X$. The infimum of ${{\mathbf E}}_{{{\mathbf P}}\phi^{-1}}X$ over all $\phi\in\Phi_\alpha$ is achieved when $X\circ\phi$ takes the smaller possible values with the highest possible probabilities, and thus it is attained at $\phi'(\omega)=\alpha\omega$. We conclude $$(-{{\mathbf E}})_\alpha(X)=-\int X(\alpha\omega){\rm d}\omega
=-\frac{1}{\alpha}\int_0^\alpha F_X^{-1}(t){\rm d}t={\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X)\,,$$ i.e. the expected shortfall appears by applying the worst conditioning construction to the opposite of the expectation.
Let us now apply the worst conditioning to the expected shortfall at level $\beta$, $$\begin{aligned}
\big({\mathrm{ES}_{\beta}}\big)_\alpha(X)
&=\sup_{\phi_1\in\Phi_\alpha} {\mathrm{ES}_{\beta}}(X_{\phi_1})
=\sup_{\phi_1\in\Phi_\alpha}\Big(-\inf_{\phi_2\in\Phi_\beta}
{{\mathbf E}}_{{{\mathbf P}}\phi_1^{-1}}X_{\phi_2}\Big)\\
&=-\inf_{\phi_1\in\Phi_\alpha,\;\phi_2\in\Phi_\beta}
{{\mathbf E}}_{{{\mathbf P}}\phi_1^{-1}\phi_2^{-1}}X\,.
\end{aligned}$$ Clearly $\phi_2\circ\phi_1\in\Phi_{\alpha\beta}$ and thus $\big({\mathrm{ES}_{\beta}}\big)_\alpha(X)\leq{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha\beta}}(X)$. If the probability space is non-atomic, all mappings from $\Phi_{\alpha\beta}$ can be written as the composition of a mapping from $\Phi_\alpha$ and a mapping from $\Phi_\beta$, so that $\big({\mathrm{ES}_{\beta}}\big)_\alpha(X)={\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha\beta}}(X)$. One can say that the expected shortfall is stable under the worst conditioning.
Let us finally apply the worst conditioning construction to the value at risk at level $\beta$ considered on a non-atomic probability space $\Omega=[0,1]$ with ${{\mathbf P}}$ being the Lebesgue measure. Without loss of generality assume that $X$ is increasing, so that $X(\omega)=F^{-1}_X(\omega)$. The infimum below is attained at $\phi'(\omega)=\alpha\omega$ and since $X_{\phi'}$ is also increasing, we have $X_{\phi'}(\omega)=F^{-1}_{X_{\phi'}}(\omega)$. Thus $$\big({\mathrm{V@R}_{\beta}}\big)_\alpha(X)
=-\inf_{\phi\in\Phi_\alpha}F^{-1}_{X_\phi}(\beta)
=-X_{\phi'}(\beta)=-X(\alpha\beta)=-F^{-1}_X(\alpha\beta)
={\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha\beta}}(X)\,.$$
Transformations of risks {#sec:transf-risks-1}
------------------------
Risk measures with values in a cone ${\mathbb{C}}$ may be further transformed by mapping ${\mathbb{C}}$ into another cone ${\mathbb{C}}'$ using a map $h$. The aim may be to change the dimensionality (cf. [@jouin:med:touz04]) or produce a vector-valued risk measure from a set-valued one. The map $h:{\mathbb{C}}\mapsto{\mathbb{C}}'$ that transforms any ${\mathbb{C}}$-valued risk measure ${\varrho}$, into the ${\mathbb{C}}'$-valued risk measure $h({\varrho}(\cdot))$, will be called a *risk transformation*. If $h$ respects the coherence property of risk measures, it will be called a *coherent map*.
Let us denote by $\preccurlyeq$ the partial order in ${\mathbb{C}}'$ which we assume to be compatible with the (commutative) addition operation and multiplication by scalars. The additive operation on ${\mathbb{C}}'$ and the multiplication by numbers will also be denoted by ${\oplus}$ and ${\odot}$ respectively. In the following result, we list the properties that a coherent map should possess. The mapping that assesses the risk of a deterministic portfolio in the new cone ${\mathbb{C}}'$ will be $h(f(\cdot))$. Recall that ${\mathbb{F}}$ denotes the family of possible values of the function $f$.
\[risk-transform\] A map $h:{\mathbb{C}}\mapsto{\mathbb{C}}'$ is a risk transformation if it is
- non-decreasing, i.e. $h(a)\preccurlyeq h(b)$ if $a\preceq b$;
- linear on ${\mathbb{F}}$, i.e. $h(a{\oplus}b)=h(a){\oplus}h(b)$ for all $b\in{\mathbb{C}}$ and $a\in{\mathbb{F}}$.
Further, $h$ is a coherent map if $h$ is homogeneous, i.e. $h(t{\odot}a)=t{\odot}h(a)$ for all $t>0$ and $a\in{\mathbb{C}}$ and also satisfies $$\label{eq:hconvex}
h(a){\oplus}h(b)\preccurlyeq h(a{\oplus}b)$$ for all $a,b\in{\mathbb{C}}$.
Since ${\varrho}$ satisfies **R1** and $f(y)\in{\mathbb{F}}$, we have for all $y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$ $$h\big({\varrho}(X+y)\big)=h\big(f(y){\oplus}{\varrho}(X)\big)
=h\big(g(y)\big){\oplus}h\big({\varrho}(X)\big)\,,$$ i.e. **R1** holds. Property **R2** holds because $h$ is non-decreasing. The homogeneity of $h({\varrho}(\cdot))$ is evident if $h$ is homogeneous. If ${\varrho}$ is coherent and (\[eq:hconvex\]) holds, then $$h\big({\varrho}(X)\big){\oplus}h\big({\varrho}(Y)\big)\preccurlyeq
h\big({\varrho}(X){\oplus}{\varrho}(Y)\big)\preccurlyeq h\big({\varrho}(X+Y)\big)\,.$$
As an immediate consequence of Proposition \[risk-transform\] we deduce that every linear non-decreasing map is coherent. Such maps between partially ordered vector spaces are called Riesz homomorphisms, see [@lux:zaan71 Sec. 18].
\[ex:sval-vect\] A particularly important instance of transformations of risks arises if ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ is a family of convex closed subsets of ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with inclusion order defined in Example \[ex:jouini\] and ${\mathbb{C}}'$ is ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the reversed ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-order for a proper Euclidean cone $K$. The reversing is needed since $y+K\subseteq z+K$ (i.e. $y+K\preceq z+K$) if and only if $z{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}y$.
The cone $K$ is said to be a *Riesz cone* if ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-order is a Riesz space, i.e. for every $x,y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$ their supremum is well defined. It follows from [@lux:zaan71 Th. 26.11] that each Riesz cone can be represented as $K=\{u\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; Au\in{{\mathbb R}}_+^d\}$ for a non-singular $d\times d$ matrix $A$ with non-negative entries, i.e. $K=A^{-1}{{\mathbb R}}^d_+$. The matrix $A$ can represent possible transfers between the assets so that $Y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X$ if and only if $AY$ is coordinatewise smaller than $AX$.
Assume that $K$ is a Riesz cone. Then it is easy to see that ${\mathbb{C}}'$ is a complete lattice. Let $h(F)$ denote the supremum of $F\subset{{\mathbb R}}^d$ in ${\mathbb{C}}'$ (i.e. the ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-infimum of $F$). If ${\varrho}$ is a ${\mathbb{C}}$-valued risk measure, then $h({\varrho}(\cdot))$ is a vector-valued risk measure. Indeed, the map $h$ is monotone and homogeneous. Since $$h(F-y+K)=h(F-y)=h(F)-y=h(F)+h(-y+K)\,,$$ $h$ is linear on ${\mathbb{F}}$. Finally, $h$ satisfies (\[eq:hconvex\]), since $x=h(F_1)$ and $y=h(F_2)$ imply that $F_1+F_2\subseteq
(x_1+x_2)+K$.
It is also possible to produce vector-valued risk measures from set-valued risk measures in the cone ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$ from Example \[ex:ac-sval\] if $h$ is chosen to be the supremum in ${\mathbb{C}}'$ of the complement of $F\in{{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$.
\[ex:lt\] Let ${\varrho}$ be a risk measure on ${{L}_d^\infty}$ with values in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the reversed ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-order for a Riesz cone $K$. Note that $K$ generates both the order on ${{L}_d^\infty}$ and on the space of values for ${\varrho}$. Then $$\tilde{{\varrho}}(X)=A^{-1}{\varrho}(AX)$$ is a risk measure with values in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the reversed coordinatewise order.
\[ex:vect-scal\] Let $K$ be a Riesz cone and ${\mathbb{C}}={{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the reversed ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-order. Define ${\mathbb{C}}'={{\mathbb R}}$ with the reversed natural order. Finally, let $h(a)=\langle a,u\rangle$, where $\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle$ is the scalar product and $u$ belongs to the *positive dual cone* to $K$, i.e. $\langle u,v\rangle\geq
0$ for all $v\in K$. Clearly $h$ is a coherent map and we obtain univariate risk measures as those of Example \[ex:artzner\], but now for multivariate portfolios.
Depth-trimmed regions {#sec:depth}
=====================
Depth functions assign to a point its degree of centrality with respect to the distribution of a random vector, see Zuo and Serfling [@zuo:ser00a]. The higher the depth of a point is, the more central this point is with respect to the distribution of the random vector. Depth-trimmed (or central) regions are sets of central points associated with a random vector. Given a depth function, depth-trimmed regions can be obtained as its level sets. With a $d$-dimensional random vector $X$ we associate the family of *depth-trimmed regions*, i.e. sets ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$, $\alpha\in(0,1]$, such that the following properties hold for all $\alpha\in[0,1]$ and all $X\in{{L}_d^\infty}$:
${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X+y)={\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)+y$ for all $y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$;
${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(tX)=t{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$ for all $t>0$;
${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{\mathrm{D}^\beta}(X)$ if $\alpha\geq\beta$;
${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$ is connected and closed.
Note that the addition of $y$ in **D1** and the multiplication by $t$ in **D2** are the conventional translation and the rescaling of sets in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$.
These properties are similar to those discussed by Zuo and Serfling [@zuo:ser00b Th. 3.1]. Additionally, [@zuo:ser00b] requires that the depth-trimmed regions are invariant with respect to linear transformations, i.e. ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(AX)=A{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$ for any nonsingular matrix $A$.
We will consider two additional properties of depth-trimmed regions, that, to our knowledge, have not been studied in the literature so far:
if $Y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X$ a.s., then ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K$, and $0\in {\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq K$ if $X=0$ a.s.;
${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X+Y)\subseteq {\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y)$.
Observe that depth-trimmed regions are closed subsets of ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ and the addition operation in **D5** and **D6** is the closed Minkowski addition. Later on we will see that **D6** is closely related to the coherence property of risk measures.
\[ex:hs-t\] The *halfspace trimmed regions* are built as the intersection of closed halfspaces whose probability is not smaller than a given value: $$\begin{aligned}
{\mathrm{HD}}^\alpha(X)
=\bigcap\big\{H:\,H\textrm{ closed halfspace with }{\mathbf{P}\{X\in
H\}}\geq1-\alpha\big\}\,.
\end{aligned}$$ The above definition of the halfspace trimmed regions is taken from Massé and Theodorescu [@mas:theod94]. Alternatively, the strict inequality in the definition of ${\mathrm{HD}}^\alpha$ is replaced by the non-strict one, see Rousseeuw and Ruts [@rous:rut99]. However the definition of [@mas:theod94] leads to a simpler relationship between the value at risk and the univariate halfspace trimming, see Section \[sec:accept-sets-gere\].
It is well known that the halfspace trimmed regions satisfy **D1**–**D4** and they are compact and convex. The new property **D6** does not hold in general; this can be shown in the univariate case using examples for which the value at risk does not satisfy **R4**. The monotonicity property **D5** does neither hold in general.
However, it is possible to build a variant of the halfspace trimmed regions satisfying **D5**. We define the *monotone halfspace trimmed regions* as $$\label{eq:halfspace}
{\mathrm{HD}}^\alpha_K(X)=\bigcap_{u\in K^*}
\big\{H_u:\; {\mathbf{P}\{X\in H_u(t)\}}\geq 1-\alpha\big\}\,,$$ where $H_u=\{x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; \langle x,u\rangle \geq 1\}$ denotes a halfspace, and $K^*=\{u:\; \langle u,v\rangle \geq 0,\, v\in K\}$ is the positive dual cone to $K$. The monotone halfspace trimmed regions satisfy **D1**–**D5** and are nonempty for all $\alpha\in(0,1]$.
\[ex:z-t\] Koshevoy and Mosler [@kos:mos97z] defined *zonoid trimmed regions* for an integrable random vector $X$ in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ as $$\label{eq:zonoid}
{\mathrm{ZD}}^\alpha(X)=\big\{{{\mathbf E}}[X l(X)]:\,l:{{\mathbb R}}^d\mapsto[0,\alpha^{-1}]
\textrm{ measurable and }{{\mathbf E}}l(X)=1\big\}\,,$$ where $\alpha\in(0,1]$. Properties **D1**–**D4** together with convexity and boundedness (and thus compactness) are already derived in [@kos:mos97z]. The proofs of **D5** and **D6** do not involve serious technical difficulties.
\[ex:ch-t\] *Expected convex hull regions* of a random vector $X$ at level $n^{-1}$ for $n\geq1$ are defined by Cascos [@cas05] as the selection (Aumann) expectation of the convex hull of $n$ independent copies $X_1,\dots,X_n$ of $X$, see [@mo1 Sec. 2.1] for the definition of expectation for random sets. The expected convex hull region can be given implicitly in terms of its support function as $$h({\mathrm{CD}}^{1/n}(X),u)
={{\mathbf E}}\max\{\langle X_1,u\rangle,\langle X_2,u\rangle,\ldots\langle
X_n,u\rangle\}\quad\textrm{for all } u\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\,,$$ where $\langle\cdot,\cdot\rangle$ is the scalar product. Note that for any $F\subset{{\mathbb R}}^d$ its *support function* is given by $h(F,u)=\sup\{\langle x,u\rangle:\,x\in F\}$ for $u\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$. The expected convex hull regions satisfy properties **D1**–**D6** and are compact and convex.
\[ex:int-t\] Let ${\mathcal{F}}$ be a family of measurable functions from ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ into ${{\mathbb R}}$. Cascos and López-Díaz [@cas:lop05] defined the family of integral trimmed regions as $$\begin{aligned}
{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}_{{\mathcal{F}}}(X)
&=\bigcup_{Y\in {\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)}
\bigg\{x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\, {\mathfrak{f}}(x)\leq {{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(Y)
\,\textrm{ for all }{\mathfrak{f}}\in{\mathcal{F}}\bigg\}\\
&=\bigcup_{Y\in {\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)}\;\bigcap_{{\mathfrak{f}}\in{\mathcal{F}}}
{\mathfrak{f}}^{-1}\big((-\infty,{{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(Y)]\big)\,,
\end{aligned}$$ where ${\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)$ is defined in Section \[sec:worst-conditioning\]. All families of integral trimmed regions satisfy **D3**. Other properties of the integral trimmed regions heavily depend on their generating family of functions. For instance, if for any ${\mathfrak{f}}\in{\mathcal{F}}$, $t>0$ and $z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$, the function ${\mathfrak{f}}_{t,z}$ defined as ${\mathfrak{f}}_{t,z}(x)={\mathfrak{f}}(tx+z)$ belongs to ${\mathcal{F}}$, then the integral trimmed regions generated by ${\mathcal{F}}$ satisfy properties **D1** and **D2**.
If ${\mathcal{F}}=\{{\mathfrak{f}}_{t,z}:\,t>0,z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}$ with continuous and ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-decreasing function ${\mathfrak{f}}$, then $$\label{eq:itr-da}
{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}_{{\mathcal{F}}}(X)=\bigcup_{Y\in {\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)}\;
\bigcap_{t>0\atop z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d}\;
\bigg[\frac{1}{t}\Big({\mathfrak{f}}^{-1}
\big({{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(tY+z)\big)-z\Big){\oplus}K\bigg]\,.$$
Hereafter we will assume that all depth-trimmed regions satisfy **D1**–**D5**.
Risk measures generated by depth-trimmed regions {#sec:accept-sets-gere}
================================================
As a motivation for the following, note that for an essentially bounded random variable $X$, $\alpha\in(0,1]$ and $n\geq1$, we have $$\begin{aligned}
{\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X)&=-\min{\mathrm{HD}}^\alpha_{[0,\infty)}(X)\,,\\
{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X)&=-\min{\mathrm{ZD}}^\alpha(X)\,,\\
{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X)&=-\min{\mathrm{CD}}^{1/n}(X)\,.\end{aligned}$$ The following example provides another argument showing relationships between depth-trimmed regions and risk measures.
\[depth-risk\] Observe that any depth-trimmed region that satisfies **D1**–**D5** can be transformed into a set-valued risk measure from Definition \[def:1\]. Namely, ${\varrho}(X)={\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K$ is a risk measure in the cone ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ of closed subsets of ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the addition operation being the closed Minkowski addition and the *reversed* inclusion order. Because of the reversed order, the function $f$ is given by $f(x)=x+K$. However, the obtained risk measure is not coherent even if **D6** holds.
In order to construct a coherent risk measure from depth-trimmed regions, define ${\varrho}(X)$ to be the closure of the complement to ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K$. Then ${\varrho}$ becomes a coherent risk measure in the cone ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$ from Example \[ex:ac-sval\] if the depth-trimmed region satisfies **D1**–**D6**.
In general, a random portfolio $X$ will be acceptable or not depending on the depth-trimmed region of level $\alpha$ associated with $X$. Since the depth-trimmed regions are subsets of the space ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ where $X$ takes its values, we need to map it into the space ${\mathbb{C}}$ where risk measures take their values. This map is provided by the function $f$ from Definition \[def:1\]. Then $${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)=f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K)$$ is a subset of ${\mathbb{C}}$. Recall that the acceptance cone ${\mathbb{A}}$ is a subset of ${\mathbb{C}}$ that characterises the acceptable values of the risk measure, see (\[f-acceptance\]).
\[accept-set\] The *acceptance set at level $\alpha$* associated with the depth-trimmed region ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(\cdot)$ and function $f$ is defined as $$\label{eq:drisk}
{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}=\{X\in{{L}_d^\infty}:\,{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}\}.$$
\[th:accept-sets\] The acceptance sets associated with depth-trimmed regions satisfy the following properties:
- $0\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ for all $\alpha$;
- if $\alpha\geq\beta$, then ${{\mathcal{A}}_\beta}\subseteq{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$;
- if $X\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$, then $tX\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ for all $t>0$;
- if $X\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ and $f(x)\in{\mathbb{A}}$, then $x+X\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$;
- if $Y\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ and $Y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X$ a.s., then $X\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$;
- if $X,Y\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ and **D6** holds, then $X+Y\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$.
*(i)* By **D5**, ${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(0)= f(K)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}$, i.e. $0\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ for all $\alpha$.
*(ii)* By **D3**, ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{\mathrm{D}^\beta}(X)$ whenever $\alpha\geq\beta$. Thus ${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{{\mathbb{D}}^\beta}(X)$ and ${{\mathcal{A}}_\beta}\subseteq{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ trivially holds.
*(iii)* By **D2** and the homogeneity of $f$, we have ${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(tX)=t{\odot}{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)$ for all $t>0$. Since ${\mathbb{A}}$ is a cone, ${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(tX)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}$ if and only if ${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}$.
*(iv)* Let $f(x)\in{\mathbb{A}}$. By **D1**, we have ${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X+x)=f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)+x)$ and by (\[eq:f\]), we have ${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X+x)={{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}f(x)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}$ because ${\mathbb{A}}$ is a (convex) cone. By (\[eq:drisk\]), $X+x\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$.
*(v)* Note that $f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}$. By **D5**, ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K\subseteq{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K$ and thus $f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}$.
*(vi)* By (\[eq:f\]) and **D6**, $${{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X+Y)\subseteq
f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K)={{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(Y)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}\,.$$ Finally, the fact that ${\mathbb{A}}$ is a convex cone yields that $X+Y\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$.
Similarly to the construction used in Section \[sec:acceptance-sets\], we measure the risk of a portfolio $X$ in terms of the collection of deterministic portfolios $x$ that *cancel* the risk induced by $X$ and make $X+x$ acceptable.
\[def:srisk\] The risk measure induced by a family of depth-trimmed regions ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}$ at level $\alpha$ is given by $$\label{eq:srisk}
{{s}_\alpha}(X)=\bigvee \{f(y):\; f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X-y){\oplus}K)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}\,, \;
y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}\,.$$
By **D1**, ${{s}_\alpha}(X)$ can be given alternatively in terms of the acceptance set at level $\alpha$ as $$\label{eq:srisk-1}
{{s}_\alpha}(X)=\bigvee \{f(y):\; X-y\in{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}\,, \; y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}\,.$$
\[thr:srisk\] Assume that ${\mathbb{F}}$ is sup-generating. Then the mapping ${{s}_\alpha}(X)$ satisfies $$\label{eq:sbw}
{{s}_\alpha}(X)=\bigwedge {{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\,,$$ and so becomes a homogeneous risk measure associated with $f$. If the family of depth trimmed regions satisfies **D6**, then ${{s}_\alpha}(X)$ is a coherent risk measure such that ${{s}_\alpha}(X)\succeq{{s}_\beta}(X)$ for $\alpha\geq\beta$.
The linearity of $f$ and (\[eq:srisk\]) imply that $$\begin{aligned}
{{s}_\alpha}(X)&=\bigvee\{f(y):\; f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K)\subseteq{\mathbb{A}}{\oplus}f(y)\}\\
&=\bigvee\{f(y):\;c\in{\mathbb{A}}{\oplus}f(y)\;
\textrm{ for all }\;c\in{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\}\\
&=\bigvee\{f(y):\; f(y)\preceq c\;
\text{ for all }\; c\in{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\}\\
&=\bigvee\{a\in{\mathbb{F}}:\; a\preceq \bigwedge{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\}\,,
\end{aligned}$$ so that (\[eq:sbw\]) follows from the sup-generating property (\[eq:sg\]).
If $X=x$ a.s., then ${{s}_\alpha}(X)=\bigwedge f(x+{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(0){\oplus}K)=f(x)$, since $\bigwedge f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(0){\oplus}K)={\mathbf{e}}$ by **D5** and $f$ is non-decreasing. By (\[eq:f\]) and **D1** we deduce that ${{s}_\alpha}(X){\oplus}f(y)={{s}_\alpha}(X+y)$, so **R1** holds.
If $Y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X$ a.s., then ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K$ by **D5**. Thus **R2** holds, since $${{s}_\alpha}(Y)=\bigwedge f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K)\preceq\bigwedge f({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K)={{s}_\alpha}(X)\,.$$ Property **R3** follows directly from **D2**, the fact that $K$ is a cone and the homogeneity of $f$. If **D6** holds, then ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X+Y){\oplus}K\subseteq\left({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K\right){\oplus}\left({\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K\right)$ $${{s}_\alpha}(X+Y)=\bigwedge{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X+Y)\succeq\bigwedge{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}\bigwedge{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(Y)
={{s}_\alpha}(X){\oplus}{{s}_\alpha}(X)\,,$$ i.e. **R4** holds. Finally, the ordering of the risks with respect to $\alpha$ follows from **D3**.
Now we describe a dual construction, based on rejection sets, of set-valued risk measures associated with depth-trimmed regions. The rejection set at level $\alpha$ associated with ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(\cdot)$ is given by $${{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}=\{X\in{{L}_d^\infty}:\; {{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\cap{\mathbb{A}^{\mathrm{r}}}\neq\emptyset\}
=\{X\in{{L}_d^\infty}:\; {\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\cap(-K)\neq\emptyset\}\,.$$ Assuming that ${\mathbb{F}}$ is inf-generating, by (\[eq:r-ar\]) we have $${{s}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}(X)=\bigwedge{\varrho}_{{{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}}(X)\,,$$ where ${{s}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}(X)$ is also given by (\[eq:srisk-1\]) with ${{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha}$ replaced by ${{\mathcal{A}}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}$. It is possible to reproduce Theorem \[thr:srisk\] in this dual framework and obtain that $${{s}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}(X)=\bigwedge{{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)\,.$$ Further, ${{s}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}$ is a homogeneous risk measure which is also coherent if **D6** holds.
\[ex:sva-d\] In the setting of Example \[ex:mvar-cones\] $f(x)=-x+K$, so that Theorem \[thr:srisk\] implies that $$\begin{aligned}
{{s}_\alpha}(X)&=\bigcap_{x\in{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)} (-x+K)
=\bigcap_{x\in{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)} \{z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; -x{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}z\}\\
&=\{z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d: z+{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq K\}
=\{z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; {\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq (-z+K)\}\,.
\end{aligned}$$ If $K$ is a Riesz cone, then there exists the infimum of ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$ with respect to the ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-order (denoted as $\wedge_K{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$), so that $$\label{eq:new-sva}
{{s}_\alpha}(X)=\bigcap_{x\in{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)} \{z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; -z{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}x\}
=-\wedge_K{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)+K\,.$$ Therefore, risk measures generated by depth-trimmed regions using the acceptance cone are not particularly interesting, since they are essentially vector-valued. In Example (\[eq:mrep\]) it will be shown that vector-valued risk measures are necessarily marginalised, i.e. they appear from the scheme of Example \[ex:vector\].
However, the rejection construction produces more interesting set-valued risk measures. Namely, in the setting of Example \[ex:mvar-cones\] with $f(x)=x+{K^{\mathrm{r}}}$, the corresponding risk measure ${{s}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}(X)$ is the closure to the complement of ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X){\oplus}K$. The obtained risk measure takes values in the cone ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$.
Basic risk measures associated with depth-trimmed regions {#sec:basic-risk-measures}
=========================================================
Let us now specialise the constructions from Section \[sec:accept-sets-gere\] for $X=(X_1,X_2,\dots,X_d)\in{{L}_d^\infty}$ and several basic definitions of depth-trimmed regions and set-valued risk measures with values either in ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ with a Riesz cone $K$. Recall that set-valued risk measures with values in ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ can be represented as $x+K$ for some $x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$, i.e. are effectively vector-valued. Similar constructions are possible for ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$-valued risk measures. In this case the ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-infimum of the complement to ${{\mathbb{C}}_K^{\mathrm{r}}}$-valued risk measures also yields a vector-valued risk measure, see Example \[ex:sval-vect\].
#### Risk measures generated by monotone halfspace trimming.
The monotone halfspace trimming induces a homogeneous risk measure, i.e. **R3** holds. This set-valued risk measure is given by ${{s}_\alpha}(X_1)=\big[{\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X_1),+\infty\big)$ in the univariate case. In general, $$\begin{aligned}
{{s}_\alpha}(X_1,X_1,\dots,X_1)
=&\big({\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X_1),{\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X_1),\dots,{\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X_1)\big)+K\,,\\
{{s}_\alpha}(X)
\supseteq&\big({\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X_1),{\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X_2),\dots,{\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}(X_d)\big)+K\,.\end{aligned}$$
#### Risk measures generated by zonoid trimming.
The zonoid trimming induces coherent risk measures. Then ${{s}_\alpha}(X_1)=\big[{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X_1),+\infty\big)$ and in the multivariate setting $$\begin{aligned}
{{s}_\alpha}(X_1,X_1,\dots,X_1)
&=\big({\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X_1),{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X_1),\dots,{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X_1)\big)+K\,,\\
{{s}_\alpha}(X)
&\supseteq\big({\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X_1),{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X_2),\dots,{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}(X_d)\big)+K\,,\end{aligned}$$ where the latter inclusion turns into the equality if $K={{\mathbb R}}^d_+\,$. If $K=A^{-1}{{\mathbb R}}_+^d$ for a matrix $A$, then $$\label{eq:es-mvar}
{{s}_\alpha}(X)=A^{-1}\big({\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}((AX)_1),{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}((AX)_2),\dots,{\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}((AX)_d)\big)+K\,,$$ where $(AX)_i$ stands for the $i$-th coordinate of $AX$. In particular, (\[eq:es-mvar\]) implies that the marginalised expected shortfall (as in Example \[ex:vector\]) of $AX$ is coordinatewise smaller than $A$ applied to the marginalised expected shortfall of $X$.
#### Risk measures generated by expected convex hull trimming.
The expected convex hull trimming induces coherent risk measures. Then ${{s}_{{1/n}}}(X_1)=\big[{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X_1),+\infty\big)$ and $$\begin{aligned}
{{s}_{{1/n}}}(X_1,X_1,\dots,X_1)
&=\big({\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X_1),{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X_1),\dots,{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X_1)\big)+K\,,\\
{{s}_{{1/n}}}(X)
&\supseteq\big({\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X_1),{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X_2),\dots,{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X_d)\big)+K\end{aligned}$$ with the equality if $K={{\mathbb R}}^d_+\,$. If $K=A^{-1}{{\mathbb R}}_+^d$ for a matrix $A$, then (\[eq:es-mvar\]) also holds for the expected minimum instead of the expected shortfall. Note that in all three examples described above we have $${{s}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}(X)\supseteq (\rho(X_1),\dots,\rho(X_d))+{K^{\mathrm{r}}}\,,$$ where $\rho$ stands for ${\mathrm{V@R}_{\alpha}}$, ${\mathrm{ES}_{\alpha}}$ or ${\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}$.
#### Integral trimmed risk measures.
The integral trimmed regions generate new multivariate risk measures. Consider the cone ${{\mathbb{C}}_K}$ from Example \[ex:jouini\] and $f(x)=-x+K$. Let ${\mathcal{F}}=\{{\mathfrak{f}}(tx+z):\,t>0,\,z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}$, where ${\mathfrak{f}}$ is continuous and ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-decreasing for a proper Riesz cone $K$. Since ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$ is the union of $${\mathrm{D}^1}(Y)=\bigcap_{t>0\atop z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d}\left[
\frac{1}{t}\Big({\mathfrak{f}}^{-1}\big({{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(tY+z)\big)-z\Big){\oplus}K\right]$$ for $Y\in{\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)$, we obtain $${{s}_\alpha}(X)=\bigcap_{Y\in{\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)} {{s}_1}(Y)\,,$$ so that ${{s}_\alpha}(X)$ appears from the worst conditioning construction applied to the risk measure ${{s}_1}$. Furthermore, (\[eq:new-sva\]) yields that ${{s}_1}(X)=x+K$, where $$\begin{aligned}
x=-\wedge_K{\mathrm{D}^1}(X)
&=-\wedge_K \left(\bigcap_{t>0\atop z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d}\; \left[
\frac{1}{t}\Big({\mathfrak{f}}^{-1}\big({{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(tY+z)\big)-z\Big){\oplus}K\right]\right)\nonumber\\
&=-\bigvee_{t>0\atop z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d}\wedge_K\left[
\frac{1}{t}\Big({\mathfrak{f}}^{-1}\big({{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(tY+z)\big)-z\Big)\right]
\nonumber\\
&=\bigwedge_{t>0\atop z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d}\left(-\wedge_K\left[
\frac{1}{t}\Big({\mathfrak{f}}^{-1}\big({{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(tY+z)\big)
-z\Big)\right]\right)\,\label{eq:srk1}.\end{aligned}$$ This risk measure satisfies **R1**–**R3** and results from the homogenisation construction (\[eq:hc\]) and (\[eq:htc\]) applied to the set-valued risk measure generated by the integral trimmed regions whose generating family is ${\mathcal{F}}=\{{\mathfrak{f}}\}$, $$\label{eq:srk2}
{\varrho}(X)=-\wedge_K {\mathfrak{f}}^{-1}\big({{\mathbf E}}\;{\mathfrak{f}}(X)\big)+K\,.$$ Notice that this homogenisation preserves **R2**, but not necessarily **R4**. The idea of constructing scalar risk measures using real-valued functions of vector portfolios appears also in [@bur:rues06]. Alternatively, it is possible to take infimum in over $t>0$ or over $z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$ only, which results in a risk measure that satisfies **R3** or **R1** respectively.
The function ${\mathfrak{f}}(t)=e^{-t/\gamma}$ yields the risk measure ${\varrho}(X)=\gamma\log({{\mathbf E}}e^{-X/\gamma})$ by (\[eq:srk2\]) in ${\mathbb{C}}={{\mathbb R}}$ with the reversed order and $f(x)=-x$. The properties **R1** and **R2** evidently holds, while (\[eq:crm\]) follows from the Hölder inequality, i.e. ${\varrho}$ is a *convex* risk measure, which does not satisfy **R3**. Since **R1** already holds, there is no need to take infimum over $z\in{{\mathbb R}}^d$ in (\[eq:srk1\]). The corresponding convex risk measure is called the *entropic risk measure* with $\gamma$ being the risk tolerance coefficient.
If we attempt to produce a homogeneous (and thereupon coherent) risk measure from ${\varrho}$, we need to apply (\[eq:hc\]), which in view of the reversed order on the real line turns into $${\varrho}_{\mathrm{h}}(X)=\sup_{t>0}\; t^{-1}\, {\varrho}(tX)
=\sup_{t>0}\; t^{-1}\,\log ({{\mathbf E}}e^{-tX})
=\sup_{t>0}\; \log (({{\mathbf E}}Y^t)^{1/t})$$ for $Y=e^{-X}$. Since $({{\mathbf E}}Y^t)^{1/t}$ is an increasing function of $t>0$, we have $${\varrho}_{\mathrm{h}}(X)=\lim_{t\to\infty}
t^{-1}\log ({{\mathbf E}}e^{-tX})\,.
$$ It is easy to see that the limit equals $(-{\mathrm{essinf}}X)$, so a coherent variant of ${\varrho}$ is not particularly interesting.
Depth-trimmed regions generated by risk measures {#sec:depth-trimm-regi}
================================================
Consider a family of homogeneous risk measures ${\varrho}_\alpha$ for $\alpha\in(0,1]$ such that $$\label{eq:rmon}
{\varrho}_\alpha\succeq{\varrho}_\beta\,,\quad \alpha\geq\beta\,,$$ which are associated with function $f$ according to **R1**. For instance, such family of risk measures can be produced using the worst conditioning construction from Section \[sec:worst-conditioning\].
\[def:back-depth\] The *depth-trimmed regions generated by the family of risk measures* are defined as $${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)=\{y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; {\varrho}_\alpha(X-y)\preceq{\mathbf{e}}\}\,.$$
By **R1**, the depth-trimmed regions generated by a family of risk measures are alternatively given by $$\label{eq:depth:risk}
{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)=\{y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\;{\varrho}_\alpha(X)\preceq f(y)\}\,.$$
\[thr:depth-risk\] The depth-trimmed regions generated by a family of risk measures satisfy
- properties **D1**, **D2**, **D3** and **D5**;
- are convex if the risk measure is convex;
- are closed if $f$ is upper semicontinuous, i.e. $\{x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; a\preceq f(x)\}$ is closed in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ for every $a\in{\mathbb{C}}$.
*(i)* Properties **D1** and **D2** trivially hold by **R1** and **R3** respectively. The nesting property **D3** of depth-trimmed regions is a consequence of (\[eq:rmon\]). We will show that **D5** follows from **R2**. If $Y{\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}X$ a.s., then **R2** yields that ${\varrho}_\alpha(Y)\preceq{\varrho}_\alpha(X)$. Then $$\{y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\,{\varrho}_\alpha(Y)\preceq f(y)\}
\supseteq\{y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\,{\varrho}_\alpha(X)\preceq f(y)\}$$ and by (\[eq:depth:risk\]) we have ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y)\supseteq{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$ and finally ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\subseteq{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(Y){\oplus}K$, since $0\in K$.
*(ii)* Given $y,z\in{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$ and $t\in[0,1]$, $${\varrho}_\alpha(X)\preceq t{\odot}f(y){\oplus}(1-t){\odot}f(z)=f(ty+(1-t)z)$$ and finally $ty+(1-t)z\in{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)$.
*(iii)* If $f$ is upper semicontinuous, the set $\{y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\;{\varrho}_\alpha(X)\preceq f(y)\}$ is closed.
Under mild conditions, it is possible to recover a risk measure from the depth-trimmed regions generated by it. If ${\mathbb{F}}$ is sup-generating and inf-generating, the original risk measure is the risk measure induced by the family of depth-trimmed regions that it generated. Theorem \[thr:srisk\] and equation (\[eq:depth:risk\]) yield that $${{s}_\alpha}(X)=\bigwedge {{\mathbb{D}}^\alpha}(X)
=\bigwedge\{f(y):\;{\varrho}_\alpha(X)\preceq f(y)\}
={\varrho}_\alpha(X)\,.$$ Notice that if the construction based on rejection sets is used, see (\[eq:r-ar\]), the first equality in the left holds when ${\mathbb{F}}$ is inf-generating, so the sup-generating assumption on ${\mathbb{F}}$ can be dropped and we still have $${{s}_\alpha^{\mathrm{r}}}(X)={\varrho}_\alpha(X)\,.$$
\[ex:ectr-rev\] The expected minimum can be formulated as a *spectral risk measure*, see [@acer02], as $$\label{eq:minimum}
{\mathrm{EM}_{{1/n}}}(X)=-\int_0^1 n(1-t)^{n-1}F_X^{-1}(t)dt\,,\quad n\geq1\,.$$ For any $\alpha\in(0,1]$, define ${\mathrm{EM}_{\alpha}}(X)$ substituting $n$ by $\alpha^{-1}$ in (\[eq:minimum\]). The risk measures ${\mathrm{EM}_{\alpha}}$ generates a family of depth-trimmed regions for $X\in{{L}_1^\infty}$ with a continuous parameter $\alpha\in(0,1]$. Applying Definition \[def:back-depth\], we obtain ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)=[-{\mathrm{EM}_{\alpha}}(X),+\infty)$.
In contrast to risk measures, depth-trimmed regions treat all directions in the same way, so that the regions ${\mathrm{D}^\alpha}$ must be slightly modified so that they yield the expected convex hull trimmed regions for $\alpha=1/n$. Define $$\begin{aligned}
{\mathrm{CD}}^\alpha(X)&={\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(X)\;\cap\;\big(-{\mathrm{D}^\alpha}(-X)\big)\\
&=[-{\mathrm{EM}_{\alpha}}(X)\,,\,{\mathrm{EM}_{\alpha}}(-X)]\\
&=\bigg[\alpha^{-1}\int_0^1(1-t)^{\alpha^{-1}-1}F_X^{-1}(t)dt\,,
\,\alpha^{-1}\int_0^1 t^{\alpha^{-1}-1}F_X^{-1}(t)dt\bigg]\,.
\end{aligned}$$ In this formulation, we can assume that the parameter $\alpha$ takes any value in $(0,1]$ and thus, we obtain an extension of the univariate expected convex hull trimmed regions.
Duality results {#sec:duality-results}
===============
The dual space to ${{L}_d^\infty}$ is the family of finitely additive bounded *vector* measures $\mu=(\mu_1,\dots,\mu_d)$ on the underlying probability space $(\Omega,{\mathfrak{F}})$, which act on $X\in{{L}_d^\infty}$ as ${{\mathbf E}}_\mu(X)=\sum_{i=1}^d \int X_id\mu_i$. The polar set to the cone of acceptable portfolios to a coherent risk measure ${\varrho}$ can be written as $${\mathcal{A}}^*=\bigcap_{X\in{\mathcal{A}}}\{\mu:\,{{\mathbf E}}_\mu(X)\geq 0\}\,.$$ As in [@jouin:med:touz04], we can apply the bipolar theorem to show that $$\label{eq:sa-rep}
{\mathcal{A}}=\bigcap_{\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*}\{X:\,{{\mathbf E}}_\mu(X)\geq 0\}\,.$$ For each $u\in K$ and measurable $\Omega'\subset\Omega$, the random element $u{\mathbf{1}}_{\Omega'}$ belongs to ${\mathcal{A}}$. Therefore, every $\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*$ satisfies $\sum \mu_i(\Omega')u_i\geq0$ for every $u\in
K$. Thus, the values of any $\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*$ belong to the positive dual cone to $K$.
Assume that ${\mathbb{F}}$ is sup-generating. Proposition \[prop:r-a\] implies that $${\varrho}(X)=\bigvee\{f(y):\; X-y\in {\mathcal{A}}\}\,.$$ It follows from (\[eq:sa-rep\]) that $$\begin{aligned}
{\varrho}(X)&=\bigvee
\{f(y):\; y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d,\;
{{\mathbf E}}_\mu(X)\geq \langle \mu,y\rangle\; \text{for all}\;
\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*\}\\
&=\bigvee f\Big(\bigcap_{\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*}
\{y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; \langle \mu,y\rangle\leq {{\mathbf E}}_\mu(X)\}\Big)\,,\end{aligned}$$ where $\langle \mu,x\rangle=\sum_{i=1}^d \mu_i(\Omega)x_i$.
For instance, a set-valued risk measure with values in the cone of convex closed sets in ${{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the inclusion order (so that $f(-x)=x+K$) can be represented as $${\varrho}(X)=\bigcap_{\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*} \{x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\;
\langle \mu,x\rangle \geq {{\mathbf E}}_\mu(-X)\}\,,$$ where ${\mathcal{A}}^*$ is a set of finitely additive bounded vector measures with values in $K$. Note that there is no need to add $K$ to the right-hand side, since $\langle \mu,x+z\rangle\geq \langle
\mu,x\rangle$ in case $\mu$ takes values from the positive dual to $K$. By applying to this set-valued risk measure ${\varrho}$ the worst conditioning construction, we obtain $$\begin{aligned}
{\varrho}_\alpha(X)&=\bigwedge_{Y\in{\mathcal{P}}_\alpha(X)}\;
\bigcap_{\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*} \{x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; \langle \mu,x\rangle
\geq {{\mathbf E}}_\mu(-Y)\}\\
&=\bigcap_{\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*}
\left\{x\in{{\mathbb R}}^d:\; \langle \mu,x\rangle\geq
(-{{\mathbf E}}_\mu)_\alpha(X)\right\}\,,\end{aligned}$$ where $$(-{{\mathbf E}}_\mu)_\alpha(X)=(-{{\mathbf E}}_{\mu_1})_\alpha X_1+\cdots+
(-{{\mathbf E}}_{\mu_d})_\alpha X_d\,.$$ Thus ${\varrho}_\alpha$ also admits the dual representation, where instead of the expectation ${{\mathbf E}}_\mu(-X)$ we take the expected shortfall of $X$ with respect to the measure $\mu$. Definition \[def:back-depth\] yields then a dual representation for the family of depth-trimmed regions.
If the risk measure satisfies the Fatou property, then all measures from ${\mathcal{A}}^*$ can be chosen to be $\sigma$-additive. Recall that the Fatou property means that the risk measure is lower semicontinuous in probability, i.e. the lower limit (which for set-valued risk measures is understood in the Painlevé-Kuratowski sense [@mo1 Def. B.5]) of ${\varrho}(X_k)$ is not greater than ${\varrho}(X)$ if $X_k$ converges in probability to $X$.
\[ex:degen\] Let ${\varrho}$ be a coherent risk measure with values in ${\mathbb{C}}={{\mathbb R}}^d$ with the reversed ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-order with $K={{\mathbb R}}^d_+$ and $f(x)=-x$. Then $${\varrho}(X)=\bigvee \bigcap_{\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*}
Y(\mu)\,,$$ where all $\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*$ have non-negative coordinates and $$Y(\mu)=\{-y:\; \langle \mu,y\rangle\leq {{\mathbf E}}_\mu(X),\; y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}
=\{y:\; \langle \mu,y\rangle\geq -{{\mathbf E}}_\mu(X),\; y\in{{\mathbb R}}^d\}\,.$$ For instance, the first coordinate of ${\varrho}(X)$ is obtained as the infimum of the projection of $\cap_{\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*} Y(\mu)$ onto the first coordinate. If $\mu_1(\Omega)>0$ and $\mu_2(\Omega)=\cdots=\mu_d(\Omega)=0$, then $Y(\mu)=[y_1,\infty)\times{{\mathbb R}}\cdots\times{{\mathbb R}}$ for some $y_1$. If $x^*$ is the essential lower bound of $X$ with respect to ${\leq_{\scriptscriptstyle K}}$-order, then $(y_1,-x_2^*,\dots,-x_d^*)$ belongs to $Y(\mu)$ for all $\mu\in{\mathcal{A}}^*$. Thus, the first coordinate of ${\varrho}(X)$ is given by the infimum $-\mu_1(\Omega)^{-1}{{\mathbf E}}_{\mu_1} X_1$ over all measures $(\mu_1,0,\dots,0)$ that belong to ${\mathcal{A}}^*$. Thus, $$\label{eq:mrep}
{\varrho}(X)=
\Big(-\inf_{\mu_1\in{\mathcal{A}}^*_1} {{\mathbf E}}_{\mu_1}(X_1),\dots,-\inf_{\mu_d\in{\mathcal{A}}^*_d}
{{\mathbf E}}_{\mu_d}(X_d)\Big)\,,$$ where ${\mathcal{A}}^*_i$ is the family of normalised measures $\mu_i$ such that $(0,\dots,0,\mu_i,0,\dots,0)\in{\mathcal{A}}^*$, $i=1,\dots,d$. The individual infima in (\[eq:mrep\]) are risk measures themselves. Therefore, ${\varrho}(X)$ can be represented as the vector composed of coherent risk measures of the marginals of $X$.
A similar argument is applicable for the risk measure $A^{-1}{\varrho}(AX)$ if $K$ is a general Riesz cone with $K=A^{-1}{{\mathbb R}}_+^d$. Then $A{\varrho}(X)$ can be represented as the vector composed of risk measures calculated for the coordinates of $AX$, cf. (\[eq:es-mvar\]).
Conclusions {#sec:conclusions}
===========
It is likely that other results from the morphological theory of lattices [@hei94] have applications in the framework of risk measures. In particular, it would be interesting to find a financial interpretation for dilation mappings that commute with supremum, erosions that commute with infimum, and pairs of erosions and dilations that are called adjunctions.
It is possible to consider a variant of **R2** where $Y\leq X$ is understood with respect to any other chosen order on ${{L}_d^\infty}$. The consistency issues for scalar risk measures for vector portfolios are investigated in [@bur:rues06] and in [@baeuer:muel06] for the one-dimensional case.
Acknowledgements {#sec:acknowledgements .unnumbered}
================
Ignacio Cascos acknowledges the hospitality of the Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science of the University of Berne. The encouragement of the editors has led to a substantial improvement of the manuscript.
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[^1]: Supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology under grant MTM2005-02254.
[^2]: Supported by Swiss National Science Foundation.
[^3]: Corresponding author: Ilya Molchanov, Department of Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Berne, Sidlerstr. 5, CH-3012 Berne, Switzerland, e-mail: ilya.molchanov@stat.unibe.ch, Fax: 0041 31 631 3870
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | ArXiv |
Kim Cattrall
ARTICLES ABOUT KIM CATTRALL BY DATE - PAGE 3
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"The series ended with pathos and deep emotion, but this would have been big laughs. Now it will never happen." --Michael Patrick King "Sex and the City" executive producer on actress Kim Cattrall's decision to not sign on for a "Sex" movie TRANSLATION: "From now until eternity, I'm going to trash Kim Cattrall with pathos and deep emotion." ---------- Edited by RedEye staff (ritaredeye@tribune.com)
The "Sex and the City" movie may not be off to such a pleasurable start. The New York Post reports that star Kim Cattrall is already throwing down roadblocks. Cattrall, who is rumored to have a frosty relationship with co-star Sarah Jessica Parker, reportedly won't sign on for the movie unless she signs off on the script and the final choice for director. But an HBO spokesman shrugged off the rumors: "Far too much has been made about Sarah Jessica and Kim. If there was such animosity, there wouldn't be a movie."
"They can make up plots for the movie and send them to HBO," "Sex and the City" star Cynthia Nixon said, according to espn.com's Page 3. She was asked what women could do on Sundays now that the show has ended. Said Kim Cattrall, "They can actually have sex." ---------- Compiled from RedEye news services by Leo Ebersole (lebersole@tribune.com) and Curt Wagner (cwwagner@tribune.com)
Some television shows become celebrated because of great writing and acting and, in the best cases, a timelessness. Others make it primarily because, no matter how many of those qualities they do or don't have, they fill a certain void. "Sex and the City," which will end its run of original episodes after six seasons Sunday (8 p.m., HBO), was one of the latter, an example of a demographic and chronological bull's-eye pierced by a stiletto heel. When New York City sex columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker)
The flirtatious foursome of HBO's "Sex and the City" won't necessarily say goodbye after the series ends Sunday. As the final episode approaches, talk has turned to a big-screen version of the sexed-up comedy, according to industry sources. "Sex" follows the big city adventures of the post-feminist Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis, respectively. Michael Patrick King, the series' writer, director and executive producer, is writing a feature-length script that is expected to be finished in May. Although no start date has been set for production yet, negotiations have begun for the four lead stars to reprise their roles for the film.
So from now on, as far as Justin Timberlake is concerned, it's "Miss Jackson." Oh, you nasty boy, Justin. Seriously, before Sunday night, did you ever think that any Jackson could have a worse winter of 2004 than Michael? Or that the tuck rule should be applied to the Super Bowl halftime show? If there's a Jackson performing at next year's Super Bowl, I'm betting on Alan. We should feel some empathy for Janet. After all, it's not as if we've ever seen a CD cover or video that exploits her cleavage.
HBO's "Sex and the City" has entered the home stretch--the first of the final eight episodes begins at 8 p.m. Sunday--and it's neither limping nor sprinting to the finish line. The show picks up with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and company in their usual relationship hodgepodge. Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is married, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has gotten back together with Steve, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is flinging with her young boy toy, and Carrie is seeing an older Russian artist, played ably and romantically by Mikhail Baryshnikov.
It was no doubt your first haircut: that face-framing set of bangs. Probably trimmed by mom using her sewing scissors, probably accompanied by pigtails or a pony. Well it's time to go back to the future, girls. Break out the scissors (but hold the pigtails) because bangs are back. That sweet, innocent, girlish hair "do" is all the rage with some of Hollywood's hottest stars. Catherine Zeta-Jones sported new, totally tolerable bangs at the premiere of "Intolerable Cruelty." Britney Spears got in the zone with sassy bangs on "Saturday Night Live." | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Jose Alberto is thought to have died during sex with the scarecrow
An Argentinian shepherd has died while having sex with a scarecrow that was dressed with lipstick, wig and a strap-on sex toy.
The remains of Jose Alberto, 58, were discovered after neighbours called the council to report a smell coming from his house in San Jose de Balcare in eastern Argentina.
Police spokesman Rodolfo Moure said: "I initially thought there were two bodies but then I realised one was a scarecrow wearing lipstick and a long-haired wig. It was lying next to the deceased and had a six-inch strap-on penis.
"There were no signs of violence and we are working on the assumption that the man died during sex with the scarecrow. Straw had been stuffed inside the old clothes that had been sewn together to make the scarecrow.
"We are now waiting the results of an autopsy.”
Neighbours said he lived alone and was described as "very lonely" man who had few visitors.
Belfast Telegraph | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Sprint and Kyocera today launched the Sanyo Zio Android smartphone with the new Sprint ID service. With a focus on making the Android experience accessible to those looking for a phone priced under $100, Zio will cost just $99.99 with a new two-year service agreement or eligible upgrade and after a $100 mail-in rebate (pricing excludes surcharges and taxes). It will be available in all Sprint retail channels, including www.sprint.com and 1-800-SPRINT1. Here is more info on the Sanyo Zio Android smartphone:
Proving that a wireless device can be smart, attractive and unique to each individual, the Android-powered Sanyo Zio features Sprint ID, a user-friendly new means of customizing Android content on mobile phones. Sprint ID allows Zio users to instantly download ID packs that deliver a predefined experience, including applications, widgets, ringtones and wallpapers, all at once. As beautiful as it is powerful, Zio is only .5? thick and weighs only 3.7 ounces, making it one of the thinnest, lightest Android devices on the market. Designed with productivity and entertainment in mind, Zio boasts multiple keyboard options, all with haptic feedback, an accelerometer to rotate between landscape and portrait orientations and an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts screen brightness to optimize viewing.
The easy-to-use trackball also helps users navigate between the seemingly endless features found on Zio including address book integration with social apps like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more; GPS functionality and digital compass plus preloaded Google Maps; media player for streaming videos; full HTML Web browser; and even more customization from Android Market.
ENTERTAINMENT AND PERSONALIZATION
? Sprint ID, a user-friendly new means of customizing Android content on mobile phones. Allows users to instantly download ID packs that deliver a predefined experience, including applications, widgets, ringtones and wallpapers, all at once.? Android v2.1 providing direct access to more than 80,000 applications and fun games from Android Market, which users can download and install on their phones.? 3.2 MP camera and camcorder with auto-focus and video playback.? 3.5-inch WVGA touch screen with virtual QWERTY.? MP3 player and Bluetooth v2.1+EDR (including Stereo Bluetooth).? MicroSD card slot (includes 2GB microSD card and supports up to 32GB microSDHC cards).? CDMA2000 1xEV-DO rev. A and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g.? Sprint Zone - one-stop source for access to wireless account info, firsthand customer news, phone tips and tricks, a list of top apps and more.? Sprint Music Plus ? Allows users to personalize their music experience providing full music tracks, ringtones, and ringback tones. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Tanushree Dutta blasts Rakhi Sawant
When Tanushree Dutta came forward with an allegation of sexual misconduct against Nana Patekar, she opened up a can of worms unknowingly. She claimed that during the shoots of Horn Ok Pleassss in 2008, she was made so uncomfortable by him that she had to leave the film. Later on, Rakhi Sawant was called in as her replacement to complete the film.
In many interviews, Tanushree has called out Rakhi Sawant who has been belittling her #MeToo movement since the very beginning. Both the actresses have been exchanging words since then. The things got so worse that Rakhi Sawant called her a drug addict and a liar. Tanushree replied her by slamming a 10 crore suit on her regarding defamation.
Various press conferences were then held by Rakhi Sawant who claimed that she was raped by Tanushree Dutta multiple times twelve years ago. She also called her a lesbian and 'Man from inside'. The former even claimed that the latter used to take her to rave parties and would force her to consume drugs along with her.
To all of these allegations, Tanushree replied by saying, “For those uninitiated in the art of guerrilla war tactics: Smear campaigns never run fair or square. So just to set the record straight: I'm not a drug addict, I don't smoke or drink and I'm most definitely not a lesbian.” She also added, “too much of a woman for this patriarchal and misogynistic cesspool to handle". Rakhi was making such "perverted character assassination attempts” in such a way to silence her.
She concluded by saying, “It's clearly not working. Let's not make a jokery (sic) of such a serious movement that can potentially bring positive changes of mindset in our society.” | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Share this:
There’s a chance you’ve seen a particularly bizarre clip floating around on the Internet…
First posted by JoBlow.com, it’s a grainy outtake from the 1984 classic “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” in which Barbra Streisand, Carrie Fisher and “Empire Strikes Back” director Irvin Kershner surprise Harrison Ford with a practical joke.
Only rumored to exist in “Indiana Jones” director Steven Spielberg‘s private library until now, the clip shows a barely discernible Streisand in leather dominatrix gear, whipping Ford and berating him “for all the money you’re going to make on ‘Return of the Jedi.'”
Her getup just adds to the snuff film atmosphere created by the blurry footage — which makes it only slightly awkward until Streisand ends the video by clearly announcing, “I feel like a faggot…” | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
By CHRIS BROOKE
Last updated at 19:16 07 March 2008
Tracy Brooks made a string of false rape claims against different men but walked free from Newcastle Crown Court
A binge-drinking woman who accused five innocent men of rape walked free from court.
Tracy Brooks, 26, wasted massive amounts of police time when she made two false allegations against two friends within the space of a month last summer.
The men were arrested, questioned, held for hours in custody and faced the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence if her claims were believed.
But weeks later, she came clean and told detectives the allegations were false.
Several years ago, Brooks, a self-confessed binge-drinker, falsely accused three other men of rape in separate incidents, Newcastle Crown Court was told.
In 2001 and 2002, she made complaints against two former boyfriends and in 2004, she told police she had been raped by a friend's boyfriend.
But the judge said he could not take these incidents into account in passing sentence because she had never been formally cautioned or charged in relation to them.
Instead, Brooks, of North Shields, North Tyneside, was given a 32-week suspended prison sentence and a three-month night-time curfew.
She had admitted two charges of perverting the course of justice.
The court heard she made one complaint last July 31, telling police she had been attacked by a male friend at his home.
The man was arrested and made to give DNA samples, while she was examined by a doctor and a video was made of her describing her fake ordeal to detectives.
Just a month later on August 30, she made another complaint, saying a different friend had raped her in her home.
The man went through a similar ordeal and she was again examined and videotaped.
It was weeks later, on September 27, that she was arrested and the allegations against the men were formally withdrawn.
Passing sentence, Judge David Hodson told her: "The effect of your false complaints was two men were subjected to a substantial degree of humiliation and a colossal amount of anxiety that they were being charged with an offence that could have resulted in a very lengthy sentence of imprisonment."
The judge said she had escaped custody by "a hair's breadth" and added: "I am sure the two men who were the victims of your false complaints would expect you should receive an immediate sentence of imprisonment.
"But I take the view it would be counter-productive in the light of the more stable life you have had recently."
Defence barrister Gavin Doig said Brooks, who had a history of mental health problems, was an alcoholic who came from a troubled background.
He said she was making good progress with the help of mental health organisations.
After the case, jobless Brooks apologised for her actions, saying: "I feel devastated and ashamed of what I have done.
"On top of my mental health problems, I have had a drink problem for a very long time, though I haven't drunk now for five months.
"Giving up booze has given me clarity of mind and now I feel I am a better person." | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Antony I. Ginnane
Antony I. Ginnane is an Australian film producer best known for his work in the exploitation field. He was head of the Screen Producers Association of Australia from 2008 to 2011.
A CD of themes from fourteen of his films was produced in 2008 by Philip Powers and released by 1M1 Records.
Biography
Early career
Ginnane studied law at Melbourne University where he was involved in the Film Society, and published a film magazine, Film Chronicle. He wrote, produced and directed a low-budget feature, Sympathy in Summer (1971).
In 1970 he established a small distribution company, Studio Films, in Melbourne which imported several art house and exploitation films, and began attending Cannes Film Festival regularly. Among the films he distributed in Australia were Wind from the East and The Vampire Happening.
Producing - Australian International Film Corp
In the mid 1970s Ginnane decided to enter the production field. He attempted to set up a Roger Corman type "nurses" film which he would produce and direct, and then a crime drama set against the background of the massage parlour business called Sexy Little Me , but was unable to find the money. However he could raise $50,000 for a sex film. For director he hired Richard Franklin, with whom Ginnane had worked with on the overseas marketing for The True Story of Eskimo Nell; Ross Dimsey wrote the script. The result, Fantasm (1976) was shot mostly in the US with a number of American actors with experience in pornographic films.
Fantasm was very profitable, and led to a sequel, Fantasm Comes Again (1977), directed by Colin Eggleston; it did less well at the box office. Ginnane also moved into family films with Blue Fire Lady (1977), directed by Ross Dimsey and starring Cathryn Harrison.
Ginnane went into thrillers with Patrick (1978), directed by Franklin from a script by Everett De Roche, starring an imported Susan Penhaligon. It was not that popular at the Australian box office but sold extremely well internationally.
Ginnane stayed in the thriller genre with Snapshot (1979), written by de Roche, the first feature directed by Simon Wincer and first leading role for Sigrid Thornton. He went into vampire films with Thirst (1979), the directorial debut of Rod Hardy, and featuring an imported Henry Silva and David Hemmings in the cast.
Ginnane was reunited with de Roche and Winder on Harlequin (1980) a modern-day retelling of the Rasputin story featuring Robert Powell, Hemmings, and Broderick Crawford. The film was seemingly designed so as to appear it was not shot in Australian, which, along with the three imported actors, led to Ginnane receiving much criticism, especially as the film was partly financed with money from the Australian tax payer. The movie was very successful internationally.
Ginnane imported three foreign actors, Powell, Jenny Agutter and Joseph Cotten, for The Survivor (1981), directed by Hemmings, which was a commercial disappointment.
New Zealand
Ginnane wanted to make his next film, The Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981), written by De Roche, with foreign leads. Australia's Actors Equity objected, so Ginnane decided to make it in New Zealand. It was directed by Hemmings and starred George Peppard, Ken Wahl, Donald Pleasence and Lesley Ann Downe. The Hemdale Film Corporation helped finance.
Ginnane stayed in New Zealand to make Strange Behavior (1982), directed by Michael Laughlin and co-written by Bill Condon, with American leads Michael Murphy and Louise Fletcher; Hemdale co financed this one too. He also made Prisoners (1981) with Tatum O'Neal.
Ginnane returned to Australia to produce Turkey Shoot (1982) directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith with Steve Railsback and Olivia Hussey. He went back to New Zealand to make Second Time Lucky (1984); Mesmerized (1985) from director Laughlin with Jodie Foster and John Lithgow. In Australia he produced the mini series Great Expectations: The Untold Story (1987).
Executive Producer
In the late 1980s Ginnane worked mostly as an executive produce, being more involved in raising finance than organising physical production.
In 1987 his company, International Film Management Limited, combined with Hemdale to produce a number of movies. Hemdale later encountered a series of financial difficulties as did Goldfarb, another company Ginnane was associated with.
Ginnane's credits include Dark Age (1987), a killer crocodile film that was a co-production with RKO which was never released theatrically; High Tide (1987) directed by Gillian Armstrong starring Judy Davis and Claudia Karvan; Slate, Wyn & Me (1987) starring Thornton and directed by Don McLennan; The Tale of Ruby Rose (1987), shot in Tasmania; The Lighthorsemen (1987), a $10 million World War One epic about the Battle of Beersheba directed by Wincer; The Time Guardian (1987), a science fiction epic starring Tom Burlinson that was a financial disaster; Initiation (1987), a horror film; Incident at Raven's Gate (1988), directed by Rolf de Heer; The Everlasting Secret Family (1988) directed by Michael Thornhill; The Dreaming (1988), directed by Mario Andreacchio; Grievous Bodily Harm (1988), directed by Mark Joffe; Boundaries of the Heart (1988); Mull (1989) directed by McLennan, which won awards; Minnamurra (1989) ; and Fatal Sky (1990). He made another mini series Emma: Queen of the South Seas (1988).
Philippines
In the late 1980s Ginnane started making movies in the Philippines, including Killer Instinct (1987); Whiteforce (1988); Savage Justice (1988); The Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989), directed by Trenchard-Smith; A Case of Honor (1990), directed by Eddie Romero; Driving Force (1990) and Demonstone (1990), both directed by Andrew Prowse.
Canada and New Zealand
Ginnane's output was limited in the early 1990s. He relocated to Canada where his films included No Contest (1995) starring Andrew Dice Clay; Screamers (1995), one of his most highly regarded films; Men with Guns (1997); Captive (1998); The Truth About Juliet (1998); Reluctant Angel (1998); Black Light (1998); Reaper (2000), Sweet Revenge (2001), The Risen (2005),
In New Zealand he made Bonjour Timothy (1995), The Whole of the Moon (1997) and Lawless: Beyond Justice (2001), Lawless: Dead Evidence (2001),
Back in Australia he made a children's film Sally Marshall Is Not an Alien (1998) directed by Andreacchio, with Canadian money.
He helped finance a documentary about Broken Hill, The Big Red (2005).Blind Heat (2000) was a US-Mexican co production and The Hit (2001) was made in the US.
Ginnane helped finance a series of ultra low budget features including Look @ Me (2005); Ten Dead Men (2006), shot in the UK.
Later Credits
Ginnane's later credits include Screamers: The Hunting (2009); Arctic Blast (2010), shot in Australia, and directed by Trenchard-Smith; Surviving Georgia (2011); Metal Tornado (2011); and Last Dance (2012), in Australia.
He produced two remakes of his earlier films, Patrick (2013) and Turkey Shoot (2014). He helped produce the TV series Pulse (2017) and the film Bad Blood (2017).
Selected filmographySympathy in Summer (1971) - director, writerFantasm (1976) - producerFantasm Comes Again (1977) - producerBlue Fire Lady (1977) - producerPatrick (1978) - producerThirst (1979) - producerHarlequin (1980) - producerPrisoners (1981) - producerRace for the Yankee Zephyr (1981) - producerThe Survivor (1981) - producerStrange Behavior (1981) - producerTurkey Shoot (1982) - producerSecond Time Lucky (1984) - producerGreat Expectations: The Untold Story (1986) (mini series) - producerDark Age (1987) - producerThe Lighthorsemen (1987) - producerGrievous Bodily Harm (1988) - executive producerMull (1989) - executive producerMinnamurra (1989) - producerThe Siege of Firebase Gloria (1989) - executive producerFatal Sky (1990)Screamers (1995) - supervising producerSally Marshall Is Not an Alien (1999) - executive producerTen Dead Men (2008) - executive producerArctic Blast (2010) - producerMetal Tornado (2011) (TV movie) - producerLast Dance (2012) - producerPatrick (2013) - producerTurkey Shoot (2014) - producer, actorBad Blood (2017) - producerStonerunner'' (TBA) - producer
References
External links
Antony I Ginnane at Australian Screen Online
Category:Australian film producers
Category:Living people
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Melbourne Law School alumni | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Man sues parents over destroyed porn collection
GRAND HAVEN, MI (Gray News) - A mom and dad in Michigan have found themselves in a court battle with their own son.
The defendants reportedly told him they had destroyed the entire collection, which was enough to fill 12 moving boxes. (Source: Gray News)
According to WXMI, the unidentified plaintiff in a civil lawsuit is angry his parents threw away his pornography collection. He estimated it was worth $28,940.72, but he's seeking $86,822.16 in damages.
The case dates back to October 2016 when a divorce forced the plaintiff to move into his parents' house in Grand Haven. He stayed with them for 10 months, living rent-free, but doing chores to pull his weight.
Still, a domestic incident in August 2017 prompted police to force him out of the home.
He ended up moving to Indiana, and his parents made a trip there that November to drop off the things he'd left behind.
But the plaintiff knew something was missing: his porn collection. The defendants reportedly told him they had destroyed the entire thing, which was enough to fill 12 moving boxes.
The father had warned the plaintiff he would destroy any porn he found in his son's possession after the plaintiff was kicked out of high school and college for selling adult content, court documents show.
"Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional health," the father said in an email to his son. "I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine. Someday, I hope you will understand."
The plaintiff filed a police report with the Ottowa County Sheriff's Office, but prosecutors declined to bring charges against mom and dad.
Not deterred, the plaintiff again contacted authorities and claimed many of the videos that were destroyed can no longer be found. The studio that produced them dissolved decades ago.
The prosecutor's office, again, declined to file charges, so the son settled for the civil suit.
Online Public Information File
Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Cimex lectularius
Cimex lectularius is a species of Cimicidae (bed bugs). Its primary hosts are humans, and it is one of the world's major "nuisance pests".
Although bed bugs can be infected with at least 28 human pathogens, no studies have found that the insects are capable of transmitting any of these to humans. They have been found with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), but the significance of this is still unknown.
Investigations into potential transmission of HIV, MRSA, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and hepatitis E have not shown that bed bugs can spread these diseases. However, there is some evidence that arboviruses may be transmissible.
Bed bug bites or cimicosis may lead to a range of skin manifestations from no visible effects to prominent blisters. Effects include skin rashes, psychological effects, and allergic symptoms.
C. lectularius is found all over the world in almost every area that has been colonized by humans.
Life cycle
If feeding regularly, a female bed bug can lay between two and three eggs per day throughout her adult lifetime, which may last several months, allowing one female to produce hundreds of offspring under optimal conditions. The tiny (<1 mm) yellowish-white eggs are vase-shaped, and are laid within harborages where the insects rest between blood meals and spend virtually all of their time: although parasitic, they do not reside on their hosts and only contact them briefly for blood meals. Eggs typically hatch within 10 days at room temperature, but become non-viable below . Cimex lectularius goes through five immature life stages that each require a blood meal to develop and move on to the next stage. The life cycle occurs more rapidly at warmer temperatures, and more slowly at lower ones. Once the egg hatches, the larval form must take one blood meal per week as it completes each of its five to six molts. Once it completes the final molt, it will have reached the adult stage and can reproduce. Meals take several minutes to consume, and occur only under the correct conditions: darkness, warmth, and carbon dioxide. C. lectularius typically feed on hosts when they are asleep, they tend to feed exclusively on humans, and are obligate blood feeders. Newly hatched nymphs must consume a blood meal within two to three days or will die of starvation, whereas an adult can live for as long as six months between feedings.
References
Category:Cimicidae
Category:Insects described in 1758 | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Human chorionic gonadotropin inhibits Kaposi's sarcoma associated angiogenesis, matrix metalloprotease activity, and tumor growth.
Kaposi's sarcoma is a highly angiogenic, AIDS-associated neoplasm that is more frequent in male than in female patients. Cases of spontaneous regression during pregnancy have been reported and the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has shown anti-Kaposi's sarcoma activity in several, but not all, clinical trials. Antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities specific for Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) cells have been shown. We report here further analyses of the anti-KS activity of the hormone and show that urinary hCG, the hCG beta-subunit, the hCG beta-core, and to a lesser extent a recombinant hCG, directly inhibit the activity of matrix metalloproteases of different origin. The hCG hormone also inhibited angiogenesis in vivo in the matrigel sponge assay as well as growth of KS cell xenografts in nude mice. The effect of the pure recombinant hormone dimer on xenograft growth was transient, indicating that the activity of intact hCG alone is not sufficient to overcome the growth potential of this tumor and suggesting that active hCG fragments or other anti-KS activities contribute to the activity of urinary hCG. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
The Go I Forgot: Concurrency and Go-Routines - fogus
http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2009/11/the_go_i_forgot_concurrency_an.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogs%2FCyKN+%28Good+Math%2C+Bad+Math%29
======
jgrahamc
I think one of the nicest things about this are its origins in CSP. By using
channel communication for synchronization between threads you eliminate all
the hassle of worrying about mutexes and shared memory.
And they have a nice choice operator called select which allows the language
to read from multiple channels at the same time and make a random choice about
competing channels to send to. See this example:
var c, c1, c2 chan int;
var i1, i2 int;
select {
case i1 = <-c1:
print("received ", i1, " from c1\n");
case c2 <- i2:
print("sent ", i2, " to c2\n");
default:
print("no communication\n");
}
for { // send random sequence of bits to c
select {
case c <- 0: // note: no statement, no fallthrough, no folding of cases
case c <- 1:
}
}
The style corresponds to the CSP choice operator where the bottom select is
doing something like
P = ( 0 -> P ) OR ( 1 -> P )
OR there is the CSP non-deterministic choice operator. Either branch can go
ahead.
CSP doesn't make a distinction between sending and receiving on a channel (it
doesn't have channels, merely the parallel, or interface parallel, operator to
combine processes). Essentially sending is offering to synchronize on a single
value and receiving is accepting to synchronize on any value: run those in
parallel you get a communication channel.
~~~
jacquesm
There is an OS called QnX that does this by using synchronized (for the most
part) interprocess communication using messages.
Makes you wonder what you could do if you extended the channel concept to the
OS level and to machine-to-machine communication.
I guess you'd end up with Plan-9 sooner or later.
------
bradford
I feel like I might be the only person in the world who isn't excited about
this language.
I don't like the verbose c-style syntax. The examples that I've seen don't
have the clarity that I've come to expect from functional programming
languages like haskell.
To me, the language feels like a c/c++ that has better language features for
dealing with shared state and concurrency. That's nice, but it's just not
enough to get me stoked about learning it.
I'll maintain an open mind, though.
~~~
BigZaphod
I agree with your assessment and share it myself. What gets me is the "I'll
keep an open mind" type of comments I see attached to criticism of the
language.
I don't mean that as a dig against you personally, but what I mean is that a
lot of people who admit they don't like the language still feel obligated to
add a similar phrase to their statements - which I think is entirely because
this came out of Google and has a couple classic rockstars behind it. If it
were introduced by an unknown research student or hobbyist, it'd have been
dismissed and declared dead from the very start and that'd have been the end
of it.
(I admit that I also was influenced by this. I saw the initial specs, some
examples, and immediately thought, "this seems... pointless." But I dug in
deeper because of the reputations involved. My opinion hasn't really changed,
but I gave it a lot more attention than I would have otherwise because of
these factors.)
The reason this bugs me is that there's a lot of interesting research out
there in the languages world. It shows up on HN pretty frequently, but it
never really spills beyond places like here because people have no trouble
dismissing or ignoring new ideas immediately when they come from "strangers."
I guess I don't have a big point here, just that it's unfortunate that this is
likely going to result in a huge uptake of Go when other viable systems
language alternatives have existed for, in some cases, decades but seem doomed
to be ignored just because there wasn't a big name attached.
~~~
nkurz
_What gets me is the "I'll keep an open mind" type of comments_
I think the 'open mind' is indeed the correct attitude here. If a very
experienced programmer with stellar credentials comes along and says 'this is
a good solution to the problems I've faced in my career', I'm inclined to
listen very patiently even if my first impressions are negative.
This doesn't mean that you are wrong about the syntax, but perhaps there is
something useful below the surface that's worth digging to discover. Maybe the
right solution will be blend of a modern bracket-free syntax and the guts of
something like Go.
For me, the syntax isn't really that important. Probably this is just due to
my brain damage from coping with C.
~~~
jpr
I think that after they add some sort of generics, ie. parametric
polymorphism, the language is semantically quite close to a modern ML-style
language like OCaml, but with a syntax familiar to C hackers and a native
support for concurrency.
~~~
abecedarius
Concurrent ML exists already, with typed synchronous channels, etc., very much
like what I've read of Go.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concurrent_ML>
[http://www.amazon.com/Concurrent-Programming-ML-John-
Reppy/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Concurrent-Programming-ML-John-
Reppy/dp/0521480892)
------
jgrahamc
> Goroutines all run in the same thread
Rob Pike's presentation says something quite different. It says that gccgo
"allocates one goroutine per thread" and that 6g has "good goroutine support,
muxes them onto threads".
The language FAQ says:
"Goroutines are part of making concurrency easy to use. The idea, which has
been around for a while, is to multiplex independently executing
functions—coroutines, really—onto a set of threads. When a coroutine blocks,
such as by calling a blocking system call, the run-time automatically moves
other coroutines on the same operating system thread to a different, runnable
thread so they won't be blocked. The programmer sees none of this, which is
the point. The result, which we call goroutines, can be very cheap: unless
they spend a lot of time in long-running system calls, they cost little more
than the memory for the stack. "
~~~
scott_s
I think he meant to say that goroutines all run in the same _process_ \- they
share an address space.
------
btilly
Several things about channels.
The first is a random correction to a common meme. Channels can be created
buffered or unbuffered. If they are unbuffered, then sender blocks. If
buffereed, then sender blocks when the buffer is full. Buffering can improve
performance significantly.
Secondly when you set up complicated messes of goroutines talking over
channels it is easy to get deadlocks. There is a deadlock detection mechanism,
but I don't have any details beyond knowing that some people have run into it.
Thirdly am I the only person in the world who looks at the channel mechanism
and thinks how naturally it maps onto a capability style security system? I've
pointed that out a few times and nobody seems to bite on it. Odd.
~~~
jerf
"Thirdly am I the only person in the world who looks at the channel mechanism
and thinks how naturally it maps onto a capability style security system?"
I'm thinking that "people interested and excited about capabilities" - "people
who didn't realize channels can be used that way" is probably a fairly small
number. I saw one of your earlier comments to that effect, but it wasn't very
surprising to me, for instance.
~~~
btilly
I realized that they could be used that way immediately. My excitement is over
the potential for the approach becoming more mainstream, and not over being
surprised that it was possible.
------
bumblebird
>> "Why a whole post about this? Because, these days, we're all using multi-
core computers. For the most part, the way that we're making things faster
isn't really by making them faster: we've been running into some physical
barriers that make it hard to keep pushing raw CPU speed. Instead, we've been
adding CPUs: my laptop has 2 processors, and my server has 8 processors."
I don't know about this... Laptops have had 2 cores for quite a while. Are we
really going to see 8 core laptops? I'd bet the other way - more CPU intensive
work will be done on servers, and laptops/desktops will end up as low powered
thin clients to the web.
~~~
vito
Actually, with i7's hyperthreading (which is in iMacs now and a few laptops)
common desktops effectively have 8 "cores" to play with. There are 4 hardware,
and 4 virtual, it still shows up as 8 completely usable cores in activity
monitors and such.
------
lt
I'm a bit confused: I see several threads running aparent infite loops
generating numbers. It doesn't seem to be lazily evaluated (or is it?). Is
this going to run until it runs out of memory (or thread handles)?
When it runs, it is going to spawn a thread generating a sequence of numbers,
then another one taking that sequence, start generating a new sequence based
on that skipping multiples of a particular number, then start another one
doing the same. Number of threads seems to always go up. Is that the right
analysis of the code? Doesn't seem right to me.
~~~
vito
That blew my mind for a bit too. It's not lazy in the sense of postponing
evaluation, it just blocks until something reads or writes from the channel.
This could go on forever assuming you have something that reads from the
channel in an infinite loop (as it looks like it's doing in main(),
actually...), but the generators themselves only loop when the channel is
interacted with.
~~~
lt
It does make more sense after understanding that.
There's still the ever-increasing number of concurrent goroutines, but what
just helped me accept that a bit is the fact is that each goroutine does not
necessarily map to one thread (it actually does in one of their compilers -
there's two - but that's an implementation detail).
------
ThinkWriteMute
At first I was kinda psyched about GO (And SPDY), but after looking at it...
If computers can read shit like Brainfuck (And therefor any damn syntax we
come up with), why the hell do so many programming languages /choose/ to look
like shit? I mean Ruby does a pretty good job of avoiding this, but looking at
things like GO and Java I wonder what the hell went wrong.
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | HackerNews |
'I'm surrounded by people - but I feel so lonely' Published duration 30 September 2018
When the BBC launched the Loneliness Experiment on Valentine's Day 2018 a staggering 55,000 people from around the world completed the survey, making it the largest study of loneliness yet. Claudia Hammond, who instigated the project, looks at the findings and spoke to three people about their experiences of loneliness.
"It's like a void, a feeling of emptiness. If you have a good piece of news or a bad piece of news, it's not having that person to tell about it. Lacking those people in your life can be really hard."
Michelle Lloyd is 33 and lives in London. She is friendly and chatty and enjoys her job - she seems to have everything going for her, but she feels lonely. She has lived in a few different cities so her friends are spread around the country and tend to be busy with their children at weekends. She does go for drinks with colleagues after work, but tells me it's the deeper relationships she misses.
"I'm very good at being chatty, I can talk to anyone, but that doesn't mean I'm able to have those lasting relationships with people," says Michelle. "You can be in a group and it can be intimidating because you're conscious of not letting people get to know the 'real you'.
"I would say I've always had an element of feeling lonely. Ever since I was a teenager, I've always felt a little bit different and separate from large groups of friends, but in the last five years it's crept in more."
Michelle has experienced anxiety and depression which she finds can amplify her loneliness because she finds it hard to articulate negative emotions.
"If I'm in a group I often find myself saying 'I'm great' when people ask how I am. It's almost like an out-of-body experience because I can hear myself saying these positive things, when I'm thinking about how I struggled to get out bed yesterday. It's the loneliness of knowing how you feel in your own head and never being able to tell people."
There is a common stereotype that loneliness mainly strikes older, isolated people - and of course it can, and does. But the BBC survey found even higher levels of loneliness among younger people, and this pattern was the same in every country.
The survey was conducted online, which might have deterred some older people, or attracted people who feel lonely. But this is not the first study to see high rates of loneliness reported by young people: research conducted earlier in 2018 by the Office for National Statistics on paper as well as online with a smaller, but more representative sample also found more loneliness among the young.
It's tempting to conclude that something about modern life is putting young people at a higher risk of loneliness, but when we asked older people in our survey about the loneliest times in their lives, they also said it was when they were young.
There are several reasons why younger people might feel lonelier. The years between 16 and 24 are often a time of transition where people move home, build their identities and try to find new friends.
Meanwhile, they've not had the chance to experience loneliness as something temporary, useful even, prompting us to find new friends or rekindle old friendships - 41% of people believe that loneliness can sometimes be a positive experience.
Michelle has been open about her loneliness and her mental health, even blogging about them . This is not something everyone feels they can do. The survey suggested that younger people felt more able to tell others about their loneliness than older people, but still many young people who feel lonely told us they felt ashamed about it. Were older people afraid to tell us how they really felt or had they found a way of coping?
The BBC loneliness experiment
In February 2018 The BBC Loneliness Experiment was launched on BBC Radio 4 in collaboration with Wellcome Collection. The online survey was created by three leading academics in the field of loneliness research.
The results will be revealed on All in the Mind at 20:00 on Monday 1 October - or catch up via the iPlayer
Listen to The Anatomy of Loneliness on BBC Radio 4
But what the results do suggest is that loneliness matters at all ages.
When loneliness becomes chronic it can have a serious impact on both health and well-being. To try to pin down why some feel so lonely, we looked at the differences between people. Those who told us they always or often felt lonely had lower levels of trust in others.
The survey was a snapshot in time, so we can't tell where this lack of trust in others came from, but there is some evidence from previous research that if people feel chronically lonely they can become more sensitive to rejection. Imagine you start a conversation with someone in a shop and they don't respond - if you're feeling desperately lonely, then you might feel rejected and wonder if it's something about you.
Michelle recognises some of this in herself. "You become quite closed off. You are dealing with so many things alone that when people do take an interest you can be quite defensive sometimes. It can be incredibly debilitating being lonely."
The relationship between loneliness and spending time alone is complex - 83% of people in our study said they like being on their own. A third did say that being alone makes them feel lonely and in some cases isolation is clearly at the root of their loneliness.
Jack King is 96 and lives alone in Eastbourne, on the south coast of England, after losing his wife in 2010. On his windowsill sits the tennis-ball-sized rock that hit him, leaving a hole in his forehead, when he spent more than three years as a Japanese POW during World War Two.
Today, he says, the days feel very long, but to distract himself from his loneliness he fills his time writing novels and poetry, playing music and painting.
image caption Jack likes to keep busy
"I like to keep busy. I'm creative, it's a curse," he says. It was his creativity which kept him going when he was held captive all those decades ago. He would write comic plays and perform them for the other prisoners, fashioning stage curtains out of rice sacks.
After the war he was on a train which was just pulling out of the station when a young woman on the platform shouted to him that he could take her to the pictures if he liked. At first he thought she didn't mean it, but he did notice her beautiful head of hair. They did go on a date and married the same year. After 65 years of happy marriage she had a stroke, followed by another, developed dementia and eventually died. This is when his feelings of loneliness began.
"Loneliness feels like a deep, deep ache," he says. "It's strange when you find the house empty - you really don't know what to do. We took delight in the simple things in life, like walks. We used to go time after time to watch the cloud shadows on the sea at Seven Sisters. And that's what I miss - that type of companionship that is so close and so intense."
Jack has found some solace in his computer. Now that he's too frail to leave the house very often, he says it's opened up the world.
image caption Too frail to leave the house, Jack finds solace in his computer
When we examined the use of social media in the survey, we found that people who feel lonely use Facebook differently, using it more for entertainment and to connect with people. They have fewer friends who overlap with real life, and more online-only friends. Social media might heighten feelings of loneliness, but it can also help connect people.
Michelle has found it both helps and hinders. "Through blogging, people have been in touch and that's great - but when I am at my lowest, going on Instagram and seeing people having these amazing lives and enjoying themselves does make you feel, 'Why can't I have that?'
"I think it's really important to remember that people only put up the fun stuff," she adds. "I think we should be more honest on social media. Celebrities are trying to be a bit more honest about the less glamorous sides of their lives, but there's a long way to go."
The survey also found that people who feel discriminated against for any reason - like their sexuality or a disability - were more likely to feel lonely.
Megan Paul is 26. Like Jack and Michelle, she's very sociable and lively. She is blind and looks back now on a very lonely time at school, set apart by her disability and even more so by others' reactions to it.
"I went to a mainstream, all-girls secondary school," says Megan. "It was OK for the first couple of years and then when girls hit their teenage years they become interested in makeup, magazines and how boys look - all quite visual things. I loved my books and animals, so I didn't have the same interests. I couldn't talk about whether boys were cute, so there was that natural growing apart."
In lessons pupils would often work in pairs. When the teacher asked the whole class who wanted to work with Megan, there would be an awkward silence until eventually the teacher paired up with her. Sometimes she felt the staff set a bad example.
"I would put my hand up needing help from the teacher and the teacher would ignore me or make inappropriate comments about me. Pupils learn a lot from adult role models at that age and they saw that the teachers didn't know what to do with me," Megan says.
"I felt awful. My mental health was the worst it's ever been. I wanted to die rather than be at school. Then in Year 11 they agreed that I could do a lot of my work at home. I found that was much better than being stressed out at school and it taught me great study skills."
image caption Megan found that her disability set her apart at school
Now Megan is studying for a master's degree and life has become easier, but she says that there are still aspects of her disability which can make her feel lonely.
"As a blind person we can't make eye contact or use body language. If someone who can see comes into a room they will gravitate towards someone who smiles at them. I'm not smiling until I know that they are there, so they don't get any feedback from me.
"The frustration is that I am confident enough to go up to people and chat, but I have to wait for people to come to me. It does mean the friends I have are really special though, because they're the kind of people who persevered. I appreciate the friends I have so much more because I don't have many of them."
When Megan first got an assistance dog, knowing how many people love dogs, she wondered whether the dog might draw people in to talk to her, but she's found that's not always the case.
"Being an assistance dog owner brings its own type of loneliness - a lonely-in-a-crowd scenario," she says. "If people start stroking the dog I'll use that to start a conversation, but quite a lot of people just walk off. Sometimes I feel I'm overshadowed by my dog. I know I'm not cute and furry but I do have something to offer."
I asked Megan whether she has tried joining any clubs or schemes designed to alleviate loneliness. She would like to, but finds access can be a problem. "Meetups are awkward because people don't know how to approach me. I recently tried to join a walking group with my dog, but they wrote back and said I needed to find a group that walks slowly. I'm a fast walker. They should decide how fast we walk together. If I do go to a group, I'm in the corner and everyone swirls around me. But the more groups I could join, the better."
As time goes on Megan has found that one solution is to turn to her phone. "As you grow, you develop coping strategies. If I feel really bad, now I drop people a message. I don't tell them I'm feeling bad, I'm just making connections and reaching out, so I can work through that feeling."
With the high levels of loneliness among young people, a blog Megan wrote might be particularly useful for those with disabilities at school today. She includes tips, such as holding the door open for people in order to start a conversation.
"I was so bored at school. A lot of people walked through without noticing, but even if you got a 'Thank you' or a 'Hello' at least it was an interaction. I wasn't able to go up to people and say 'Hi' because I didn't know where they were. So it's one way of getting noticed. It's nice to be seen as helpful rather than 'Here's the weird blind girl again.'"
Another of Megan's tips is to talk to teachers as if they're real people, and not just your teachers.
"Even as a teenager, if you're that lonely you don't care who you talk to. I remember talking to a teacher who told me her cat had had kittens. Afterwards I thought, 'That's one less break time spent alone.'"
Megan says she believes not being able to see has made her kinder to others. "People with vision judge people on appearances and I don't, because I can't."
It's possible that loneliness has made her kinder too. We found that people who say they often feel lonely score higher on average for social empathy. They are better at spotting when someone else is feeling rejected or excluded, probably because they have experienced it themselves.
But when it comes to trust, the findings are very different. Although they may be more understanding of other people's emotional pain, on average people who say they often feel lonely had lower levels of trust in others and higher levels of anxiety, both of which can make it harder to make friends.
Michelle can relate to this. "I sometimes feel that people are just being pitying by wanting to spend time with me. I do have trust issues and I think they stem from my anxiety. I think when you become lonely you do start to look inward and question people's motives. You find yourself wondering whether people spend time with me because they want to, or because they feel guilty."
Sometimes it's suggested that people experiencing loneliness need to learn the social skills that would help them to make friends, but we found that people who felt lonely had social skills that were just as high as everyone else's. So instead, perhaps what's needed are strategies to help deal with the anxiety of meeting new people.
Loneliness around the world
People from 237 different countries, islands and territories took part in the survey
The type of culture you live in has implications for loneliness
People from cultures which tend to put a high value on independence, such as Northern Europe and the US, told us they would be less likely to tell a colleague about their loneliness
In these cultures relationships with partners seemed to be particularly important in the prevention of loneliness
In cultures where extended family is often emphasised, such as Southern Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa, older women in particular were at lower risk of feeling lonely
Both Jack and Michelle find weekends the hardest. Michelle would like to go out for brunch, but has no-one to go with.
"You can do these things on your own, but it's not as fun, because you can't try the other person's food," she says. "Nice weather makes it worse. You see people sitting outside laughing and joking and I think how I want to be part of that.
"If I stay in all weekend cabin fever will set in, so I take myself off to Oxford Street and spend money I don't necessarily have. It's not the most healthy or practical way of dealing with loneliness, but it's about being around people and it's great because you can lose yourself in the crowd."
So what might help? We asked people which solutions to loneliness they had found helpful. At number one was distracting yourself by dedicating time to work, study or hobbies. Next was joining a social club, but this also appeared in the list of the top three unhelpful things that other people suggest. If you feel isolated then joining a club might help, but if you find it hard to trust people, you might still feel lonely in a crowd.
Number three was trying to change your thinking to make it more positive. This is easier said than done, but there are cognitive behavioural strategies which could help people to trust others. For example, if someone snubs you, you might assume it's because they don't like you, but if you ask yourself honestly what evidence you have for that, you might find there isn't any. Instead you can learn to put forward alternative explanations - that they were tired or busy or preoccupied.
The next most common suggestions were to start a conversation with anyone, talk to friends and family about your feelings and to look for the good in every person you meet.
People told us the most unhelpful suggestion that other people make is to go on dates. Michelle says she does feel lonelier now she's not in relationship, but knows that that meeting someone new wouldn't solve everything. "It's important to remember you can be lonely even when you're in a relationship," she says.
image caption Jack and his wife Audrey near their beloved cliffs
Jack still misses his late wife desperately. I asked him whether he would consider sharing a house so that he had company, but he says he's too set in his ways. He wouldn't want to move to a residential home with other older people because then he'd lack the space to paint and write. So, too frail to leave the house, he called the charity The Silver Line, who arranged for a volunteer to phone him every Sunday for a long chat. His three children live a couple of hours away, but they all phone frequently and he has someone who comes in for two hours on weekdays to help out. All of this makes a difference, he says, but he finds it still doesn't give him the companionship he had previously.
"The weekend is a dismal time," says Jack. "The time can drag. I don't have any friends because all my friends are dead. All the ladies I loved are dead. At this age nearly everybody is dead - except me. I'm still here at 96-and-a-half."
I asked Jack what he thinks the solutions are. "Do what you can do. If you're mobile you can join a class or, if not, do something creative on your own. When you're painting simple watercolours you are so intent on what you're doing that you can't think about anything else."
How to feel less lonely
Another of the solutions suggested in the survey was to start conversations with everyone you meet. Jack does that. "It's a polite thing to do," he says. "If you can find an interest that the other person has got, it's a good way to start a conversation."
Several organisations run projects to alleviate loneliness, but Michelle hasn't yet found anywhere she would be comfortable attending.
"Where do you go to find friends if you're 33?" she asks. "People say, 'Get a dog.' I would love it, but it's not fair on the dog at this time in my life. Maybe exercise would be good - joining a yoga class maybe - or volunteering. I know how powerful that can be."
image caption People have told Michelle to "get a dog" to stave off loneliness
But after blogging about her loneliness she might be finding her own solution, tailored to her interest in music. Lots of people have been getting in touch with her about going to gigs and she's thinking about whether she could start some kind of social club in London for other young people who feel lonely and like music.
Michelle has also noticed that the small, kind things people do can help, and she tries to do the same herself. "On the way to work, someone smiling at you on the tube can make such a difference, especially if you've woken up feeling like the world is on your shoulders. I go and get coffee in the building where I work and the lady there is so lovely. That's my first interaction of the day.
"It's just being mindful that everyone is dealing with their own stuff, so be kind. Do tiny acts of kindness."
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Rock a Hula Ted
"Rock a Hula Ted" is the seventh episode of the second series of Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, and the thirteenth episode overall.
Synopsis
Ted and Dougal see feminist musician Niamh Connolly on the television, accusing the Catholic Church of multiple atrocious but highly improbable acts during the Great Famine, such as shutting the "potato factories" and turning them into children's prisons. She then sings a radically feminist, anti-clerical song ("Big men in frocks / Tellin' us what to do / They can't get pregnant like I do") with the lyrics signed for TV viewers. Ted and Dougal loudly dismiss all of this. Meanwhile, Mrs Doyle declares that the Church has always been good to her, while she is preoccupied with various heavy labour tasks around the Parochial House in addition to her regular housework as the men relax in front of the television.
Ted is asked to be a judge in the Lovely Girls competition, and Jack comes along for the day. Due to Jack's atypical long hair, he resembles Bob Geldof and proceeds to imitate him by beginning a collection for Live Aid—any proceeds going directly to Jack himself. When Ted finds out, he tells off Jack asking, "What would Queen think, and Peter Gabriel and all those acts who were on earlier in the day? And what about Phil Collins flying all the way from Boston?", prompting a vicious punch in the stomach by Jack.
This results in Ted showing up at the contest breathing heavily as he welcomes the girls. The contest revolves around various self-parodying imitations of typical events (sandwich construction, walking, laughing) with Imelda ultimately deemed the winner by Ted. Her prize is a meal with Ted in Craggy Island's top seafood Thai restaurant, The Thai Cottage, out of her own wallet.
While Ted is out, Niamh Connolly comes to visit. Dougal invites her in and (technically following some advice Ted gave him) asks her if she would like to remove her bra, even offering to make tea while she takes her bra off. He then attempts to make a cup of tea for her but concedes defeat with Mrs Doyle busy elsewhere.
When Ted returns, he is dismayed to discover that Dougal has managed to sign over the parochial house to Niamh behind his back. Niamh asks Ted and Dougal to leave; this is further strongly encouraged by her two bodyguards. Spending the night in a tent outside the house Ted asked Dougal how he let this happen. Dougal says he was following Ted's instructions about dealing with women: He had tried to talk about clothes and make her comfortable (by asking her to remove her bra) and he had given her what she had wanted (the house). Ted leaves a pen and notebook outside the tent, in the hope that God will write the answer to their problem overnight.
As expected this doesn't happen, so Ted returns to the house and negotiates with Niamh. Just as he is telling her about the "good work" that goes on in the parish, another priest comes in, asking Ted which dress he prefers out of two he has in his arms. Niamh does not know the dresses are for Imelda, and thinks the priest is going to wear them himself. Ted says the dresses are both equally good, and after the priest gratefully departs, he tells Niamh that Craggy Island is a place where priests who lead all sorts of lifestyles can live free from hypocrisy and intolerance.
A noise is heard upstairs and Jack comes barging into the room. He sees Niamh and yells "Woman!" before Ted pushes him out of the room and hastily attempts to disguise this sudden intrusion as "Father Billy" expressing his positive views on women priests. Jack is seen at the window behind Niamh leering lustily at her. Imploring Niamh to return the house, Ted makes the mistake of saying he is a huge fan who has all her records; she agrees to give him back the house as soon as she has signed all the records.
Ted rushes off to John and Mary's shop where he luckily finds most of her discography. Whilst Niamh is signing them, an exhausted Mrs Doyle appears saying that she has finished with the pipes and she will get on with the rest of her chores, even though she is visibly worn out. Ted interrupts in an attempt to save the day but is hit across the chest by the pile of records thrown by Niamh.
The next scene shows Imelda, Niamh and Mrs Doyle dining in the Thai restaurant. Mrs Doyle is agitated about having left the priests home alone but Niamh urges her to enjoy herself. She reveals she has returned the house to Ted and Dougal in return for Mrs Doyle having one night off every week, and urges the other two to relax and enjoy themselves as there are "no men around, sisters, we can do as we like." However, as Mrs Doyle nervously attempts to use her chopsticks to pick up a bite of food, Niamh suddenly erupts in fury, screaming "Is that meat??!" Mrs. Doyle is utterly discomfited. Imelda inquires with bafflement, "Do I still have to pay for this?"
The credits roll and Ted and Dougal are shown in the kitchen struggling to put out a fire which has broken out. Ted screams, "I just want a cup of tea!" and the pair break down in tears.
Trivia
The Lovely Girls competition is a parody of The Rose of Tralee competition, which takes place every August in Tralee, County Kerry. A contest called "The Lovely Girls" existed during the 1950s in Butlin's Mosney holiday camp which, as in the episode, was held in a tent with the contestants dressing in a similar way.
Niamh Connolly is based on Sinéad O'Connor, who famously criticised the Catholic Church.
References
External links
"Rock-a-Hula Ted" at the IMDB
Category:1996 British television episodes
Category:Father Ted episodes
Category:Feminist television
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SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — Two months ago a band of chanting pro-Russian separatists marched past commuter traffic into the state treasury building in Donetsk—the east Ukrainian city they now say they rule following Sunday’s flawed secession referendum. Their first order of business: instructing startled officials to stop transferring the region’s tax money to Kiev and to give it to them instead.
Twelve days before, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had fled Kiev, ousted after months-long protests by pro-European agitators. Revolution was in the air and now a bunch of pro-Russian protesters faced the state treasurer of Donetsk oblast, a province with 4.3 million people—10 percent of Ukraine’s population—and much of the country’s heavy industry. At first nervous, the portly state treasurer’s confidence grew as he realized the emphatic would-be revolutionaries were ignorant of the complexity of state finance and didn’t even realize revenues were not physically stored in the treasury but were deposited in various commercial bank accounts.
What started out as a confrontation turned swiftly into a noisy class on the intricacies of taxes and pensions, with the state treasurer switching from sitting defensively in his chair to standing up, smoking a cigarette and teaching.
“Would there be enough revenue to cover all the obligations in Donetsk without Kiev’s contribution?” the state treasurer asked them. And in a Saturday Night Live moment, the revolutionaries protested they were sure there would be.
Well, “pretty sure,” they amended.
The leader of the group, Pavel Gubarev, a man who declared himself the “people’s governor” of Donetsk oblast at a rally four days before, can be spotted in an online video of the confrontation student-like scribbling notes as the state treasurer lectures. The would-be revolutionaries are finally advised to open bank accounts and to set up a country before they can demand tax.
That surreal moment of revolutionary play-acting by a motley group of Moscow-backed insurrectionists is now being performed every day in what feels to increasingly frustrated locals like a make-believe state.
The separatists now say with Sunday’s sham referendum they have formed a sovereign country. But they are ill prepared and blithely ignorant of the mechanics of practical politics—let alone state making. And their naiveté stands in marked contrast to the gravity of the position they find themselves in: at the center of an effort to dismember a real country and in the middle of the biggest East-West standoff since the Cold War.
The towns in the region where the separatists hold sway are trapped in a twilight world created by an obscure nine-year-old separatist party called the Donetsk Republic, where stores open their doors and businesses try to get on with trading, but where government doesn’t really function. Courts have stopped working in some towns and capricious leaders and unpredictable camouflaged gunmen, or club-wielding unemployed youths eager for status, arbitrarily enforce what passes for order in separatist flashpoints.
“We are reduced to waiting to see what happens—everything is on hold,” says Vladimir, a 45-year-old lawyer in the town of Slovyansk, 100 kilometers north of the city of Donetsk. He and his wife, also a lawyer, are standing in a long, irritable queue to retrieve cash from one of only two functioning banks in the town of 130,000. Since this rust belt town is the main target of an “anti-terrorist” operation by Kiev, its 23 other banks have shuttered for safety reasons. Maybe Ukrainian security forces will come storming in or maybe they’ll just continue with a seemingly aimless siege that is punctured by occasional clashes on the outskirts.
“The court here is not functioning,” says Vladimir, the frustrated attorney. He is clutching more out of habit than for any practical reason his black briefcase. “People can’t get divorced, land disputes can’t be settled and broken contracts aren’t being enforced,” he says. “It is very stressful for people. My wife and I have had no work for two months.”
It isn’t clear if Vladimir will have cases to plead for some time to come—if the Donetsk Republic persists. It’s made up of nothing more than seized government buildings in a dozen cities, armed followers (predominantly former soldiers drawn from either the Ukrainian or Russian armies commanded by a Russian military intelligence officer) and people with selective nostalgia for the bygone Soviet Union. The same applies in the neighboring oblast of Luhansk, which on the basis of its own dubious plebiscite has declared sovereign status.
There is no constitution ready, no idea about what the new country’s political system should be and nothing planned yet on how to draw up new laws to replace the Ukrainian legal system. Prior to the uprising no detailed thought had been given to this. There are no blueprints—despite the fact that the hard-core separatist leadership has been agitating for years and grumbling obsessively in apartments and dingy cafés about how things would be better, if only Donetsk oblast could restore a short-lived, self-declared republic from 1918 that lasted anarchically for one month before even the Soviets wearied of it.
Some of the leaders, like Vladimir Makovich, the speaker of the presidium of the self-styled Donetsk Republic, who sports a long Russian Orthodox-style beard, were members of a conspiratorial, informal Slav history-discussion group. Secretive and Masonic-like, the few dozen members had a special membership badge designed. Makovich himself is a keen ecologist—and other members like him are opposed to shale gas drilling.
Aside from separatist dreams, the leaders come from different political traditions and seem able to swap ideological allegiances with unabashed ease.
Thirty-one-year-old Gubarev, who has had a series of jobs, including advertising salesman and seasonal work for an entertainment company as a Santa Claus for hire, has switched affiliations with careless intellectual promiscuity—shifting from membership of the neo-Nazi Russian National Unity party to joining the pan-Slav Progressive Socialist Party. On Wednesday he announced the creation of his own party—the Novorossiya (New Russia) Party. “The new party will be led only by those people who in this difficult time showed themselves as true patriots of their Motherland and proved themselves as true fighters and defenders of their Fatherland,” he said in a statement.
Gubarev says elections for a parliament will soon be announced. Other leaders say the elections should be for a president and there are signs of increasing splits in the separatist leadership over joining Russia or being an independent state.
The lack of preparedness by the Donetsk breakaway leaders is reminiscent of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in March, when Russian separatist Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov, a notorious crime boss, waved away trifling questions about technical details concerning government and laws saying all such matters could quickly be resolved by working groups following a vote to secede.
But in Crimea’s case it was clear that the Black Sea peninsula would quickly be folded into Russia and annexed with indecent haste by Moscow. There are signs that Moscow may be having buyer’s remorse now when it comes to eastern Ukraine, preferring the option of keeping Ukraine destabilized and fragmented and eventually transformed into a federation more easily manipulated by the Kremlin. And if Russia doesn’t speedily comply with Monday’s appeal by separatist leaders to annex the oblast, then this Donetsk Republic is likely to last less time than its predecessor.
Separatist inadequacy was stripped away midweek by the Kiev-appointed official regional governor Serhiy Taruta, a successful businessman and Woody Allen look-alike. Unfazed by the 89 percent majority claimed by the separatists in Sunday’s referendum, Taruta quipped, “Behind the two words Donetsk Republic there is nothing of substance.” Speaking to reporters at the plush Donbas Palace Hotel in central Donetsk, he noted the new republic “exists in name only. They have no economic and social programs, no law enforcement.”
But the separatists continue to think they are basking in the glory of their accomplishment. Suddenly nobodies have become somebodies—an ego-inflating, if daunting prospect when you claim to be governing 4.3 million people.
Three days into the life of the fledgling country and separatists dissemble on how far advanced they are in state making. “We have a group of experts working on things now,” says 31-year-old Myroslav Rudenko, who like Gubarev is a history graduate from Donetsk National University. He insists the unrest in eastern Ukraine is homegrown and a mirror image of the Maidan uprising in Kiev that ousted President Yanukovych in late February.
“On the constitution they will come up with a few drafts and we will choose which one to adopt,” he adds. How the selection will be made and by whom, he can’t say. Nor has he any idea what models will form the basis of their thinking. Likewise he is unclear on the legal system or whether the new republic will be a presidential or a parliamentary democracy.
Unless Russia President Vladimir Putin does decide to annex the east, the separatist leaders are on a hook they don’t appear to know how to get off. They are even having difficulty overcoming basic day-to-day problems in the outrageously trashed 11-floor regional administration building they occupy in Donetsk. Leaders are constantly issuing contradictory orders and security commanders are bickering. Recently when a group of separatist gunmen raided an emergency services building in Donetsk and kidnapped a couple of firemen, some leaders complained the action was stupid. “So if we have a fire here, will the firemen come now that we have grabbed some of their people?” one demanded.
Official Donetsk Republic business is frequently log-jammed because the high command has only one stamp for documents and identity papers. A hard-pressed secretary on the 11th floor, the chaotic nerve center of the political leadership, holds it and is faced every day with clamoring groups needing her to stamp papers.
On the outskirts of Slovyansk, a hundred kilometers away, frustration is building among some of the townsfolk. “We never thought we would be in the middle of a battlefield,” says Galina, a 49-year-old mother of two, who has built up a good life in Slovyansk with her advertising executive husband. They have a large, modern house and a café business. But they live on a junction on the outskirts of town in a district that has seen clashes between separatist gunmen and Ukrainian Special Forces.
“We keep our lights off when it gets dark,” says Galina, over tea at the family’s kitchen table. She fusses around hospitably, offering radishes, cucumbers, spring onions—and some delicious cheesecakes. But the atmosphere of domesticity is fragile. Her house has been shot up in firefights and in the background we can hear the occasional report of guns. Outside, her husband lifts his head from working on the family’s vegetable garden.
A few streets away on May 5 a young woman whose sixth-floor apartment overlooks a wood that has become a tug of war between combatants was shot dead by a sniper when she was on the balcony at night and silhouetted by the living room light.
Galina is unnerved by the arrival two days ago on a nearby main road of a large group of heavily armed, camouflaged gunmen who built a formidable checkpoint. She says they are not locals. “I think they are from Crimea, but we don’t look at their faces too much. They act like professional soldiers and were quick and efficient putting up tents and building the block post.” Unlike the often drunken local gunmen manning the main checkpoint entering Slovyansk before a bridge spanning the Torets River, these gunmen search rigorously every car and examine identity documents carefully.
If the drift and danger persist, Galina doesn’t know what the family will do. Many families are leaving but she has relatives in the area and doesn’t want to desert them or her home. Her 14-year-old boy nods vigorously at this. He has been kicking his heels at home for weeks now as local schools are closed. But Galina has had to close her café and lay off the five workers.
Galina and her husband, Vladimir, are the rare citizens of Slovyansk who will speak openly with a Western reporter. Many, when they are approached, nervously wave away the request to comment on what life is like in the separatist-controlled town of Slovyansk in the make-believe state of the Donetsk Republic. They have every right to be self-protective. Russian television outlets hype the danger of spies and the separatists have instructed townsfolk to report anything suspicious, including anyone heard speaking Ukrainian. There have been several abductions and rough interrogations.
As I scribble in my notebook the name of a street near the center of town where taxis are lined up with their drivers forlornly waiting for customers, an old lady approaches and loudly denounces me as a spotter for bombers. “You are a spy,” she screams, waving first her walking stick and then a bunch of dill at me. “You are plotting where our checkpoints are for them to be bombed. American, English, you are the first enemy,” she yells.
“She’s been watching too much Russian television,” says Galina as she offers me another one of her delicious cakes. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Evaluation of the correlation between Scoring Feline Allergic Dermatitis and Feline Extent and Severity Index and skin hydration in atopic cats.
Evaluation of the severity of clinical signs of cats with allergic skin diseases has used two scoring systems: Scoring Feline Allergic Dermatitis (SCORFAD) and the Feline Extent and Severity Index (FeDESI). The integrity of the cutaneous barrier can also be evaluated by measuring skin hydration. A correlation between the clinical score and skin hydration has been observed in humans and dogs with atopic dermatitis (AD). To demonstrate a correlation between the clinical score and skin hydration of cats affected with presumed AD. European short hair cats (n = 18): 11 females and seven males with a confirmed diagnosis of AD. SCORFAD and FeDESI scores were calculated and the measurements of skin hydration were assessed from seven body sites using corneometry. The correlation between the SCORFAD and FeDESI systems and skin hydration of each site, and the average skin hydration was calculated. There was a positive correlation between the SCORFAD score and skin hydration for the axilla, thorax and forelimb; for FeDESI and axilla and lumbar sites. There was a negative correlation between the FeDESI and skin hydration for the pinna (r = -0.47). Measurements of skin hydration could be a useful tool for the evaluation of allergic cats. There is limited evidence of any useful correlation between clinical scoring systems and measurements of hydration. The pinna may be a suitable region for the assessment of skin barrier function in normal and allergic cats. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
“We feel a very strong obligation that we do it responsibly,” Holze said. “We’ve never seen it as playing around or trying to do something illegal.”
He said crews in the past have occasionally gone up in the county helicopter for aerial footage, but the quadrocopter is more convenient and flexible.
“This puts us in control,” he said. “These guys can be as creative as they want to.”
Zack Morris, a producer for the station who was demonstrating the camera this week using a handheld device with two joysticks, said it didn’t take long to get used to operating it.
“The learning curve wasn’t that steep,” he said.
Before flying, the operator punches in his or her GPS coordinates, and even if the flying camera lost signal, it would rise 60 feet then return to the starting point.
Unmanned aircraft
The use of unmanned aircraft in the past few years has grown quickly as the price has dropped as low as a few hundred dollars. Municipalities, photographic firms and newspapers such as the Tyler Morning Telegraph have used them for a variety of purposes. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
[Effect of Bufei Qingyu Granule in mollifying skin of mouse scleroderma model].
To investigate the effect and mechanism of Bufei Qingyu Granule (BQG) in mollifying the skin of scleroderma model mice. Scleroderma model induced with bleomycin in BALB/C mice 8-weeks old were administered with different dose of BQG for 26 days. The pathological changes of the mice skin were observed. Treatment with low, medium and high dose of BQG showed a tendency to ameliorate the thickened dermis in scleroderma mice but without statistical significance. Medium and high dose of BQG reduced the perivasculitis of dermis and alleviated the reduction or deletion of accessory structure, such as hair follicle and sweat gland. And the spleen index was lower markedly in mice treated with BQG of any dose than that in the untreated model mice (P < 0.05). BQG could ameliorate the sclerosed skin in model mice and prevent the occurrence of splenomegaly. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
Heart murmurs are abnormal sounds during your heartbeat cycle — such as whooshing or swishing — made by turbulent blood in or near your heart. These sounds can be heard with a stethoscope. A normal heartbeat makes two sounds like "lubb-dupp" (sometimes described as "lub-DUP"), which are the sounds of your heart valves closing.
Heart murmurs can be present at birth (congenital) or develop later in life. A heart murmur isn't a disease — but murmurs may indicate an underlying heart problem.
Most heart murmurs are harmless (innocent) and don't need treatment. Some heart murmurs may require follow-up tests to be sure the murmur isn't caused by a serious underlying heart condition. Treatment, if needed, is directed at the cause of your heart murmurs.
If you have a harmless heart murmur, more commonly known as an innocent heart murmur, you likely won't have any other signs or symptoms.
An abnormal heart murmur may cause no obvious other signs, aside from the unusual sound your doctor hears when listening to your heart with a stethoscope. But if you have these signs or symptoms, they may indicate a heart problem:
Skin that appears blue, especially on your fingertips and lips
Swelling or sudden weight gain
Shortness of breath
Chronic cough
Enlarged liver
Enlarged neck veins
Poor appetite and failure to grow normally (in infants)
Heavy sweating with minimal or no exertion
Chest pain
Dizziness
Fainting
When to see a doctor
Most heart murmurs aren't serious, but if you think you or your child has a heart murmur, make an appointment to see your family doctor. Your doctor can tell you if your heart murmur is innocent and doesn't require any further treatment or if an underlying heart problem needs to be further examined.
There are two types of heart murmurs: innocent murmurs and abnormal murmurs. A person with an innocent murmur has a normal heart. This type of heart murmur is common in newborns and children.
An abnormal heart murmur is more serious. In children, abnormal murmurs are usually caused by congenital heart disease. In adults, abnormal murmurs are most often due to acquired heart valve problems.
Innocent heart murmurs
An innocent murmur can occur when blood flows more rapidly through the heart. Conditions that may cause rapid blood flow through your heart, resulting in an innocent heart murmur, are:
Changes to the heart due to aging or heart surgery may also cause an innocent heart murmur. Innocent heart murmurs may disappear over time, or they may last your entire life without ever causing further health problems.
Abnormal heart murmurs
Although most heart murmurs aren't serious, some may result from a heart problem. The most common cause of abnormal murmurs in children is when babies are born with structural problems of the heart (congenital heart defect). Common congenital defects that cause heart murmurs include:
Holes in the heart or cardiac shunts. Many heart murmurs in children are the result of holes in the walls between heart chambers, known as septal defects. These may or may not be serious, depending on the size of the hole and its location. Shunts occur when there's an abnormal blood flow between the heart chambers or blood vessels, which may lead to a heart murmur.
Heart valve abnormalities. Congenital heart valve abnormalities are present at birth, but sometimes aren't discovered until much later in life. Examples include valves that don't allow enough blood through them (stenosis) or those that don't close properly and leak (regurgitation).
Other causes of abnormal heart murmurs include infections and conditions that damage the structures of the heart and are more common in older children or adults. For example:
Rheumatic fever. Although rare in the United States, rheumatic fever is a serious condition that can occur when you don't receive prompt or complete treatment for a strep throat infection. Untreated rheumatic fever can permanently affect the heart valves and interfere with normal blood flow through your heart.
Endocarditis. This is an infection and inflammation of the inner lining of your heart and valves. Endocarditis typically occurs when bacteria or other germs from another part of your body, such as your mouth, spread through your bloodstream and lodge in your heart. Left untreated, endocarditis can damage or destroy your heart valves. This condition usually occurs in people who already have heart abnormalities.
Valve calcification. This hardening or thickening of valves, called mitral or aortic valve stenosis, can occur as you age. These valves may become narrowed (stenotic), making it harder for blood to flow through your heart, resulting in murmurs.
Mitral valve prolapse. In this condition, the valve between your heart's left upper chamber (left atrium) and the left lower chamber (left ventricle) doesn't close properly. When the left ventricle contracts, the valve's leaflets bulge (prolapse) upward or back into the atrium, which may cause a murmur.
There aren't any risk factors for developing an innocent heart murmur.
There are risk factors that increase your chance of having an underlying condition that can cause a heart murmur from birth. These include:
Family history of a heart defect. If blood relatives have had a heart defect, that increases the likelihood you or your child may also have a heart defect and heart murmur.
Illnesses during pregnancy. Having some conditions during pregnancy, such as uncontrolled diabetes or a rubella infection, increases your baby's risk of developing heart defects and a heart murmur.
Taking certain medications or illegal drugs during pregnancy. Use of certain medications, alcohol or drugs can harm a developing baby, leading to heart defects.
Factors that can increase your risk of a heart murmurs later in life include:
Uncontrolled high blood pressure (hypertension)
A history of rheumatic fever
Past radiation treatment involving the chest
A previous infection of the lining of the heart (endocarditis)
A past heart attack
High blood pressure in the lungs (pulmonary hypertension)
A weakened heart muscle, which is sometimes caused by a condition known as cardiomyopathy
If you think you or your child has a heart murmur, make an appointment to see your family doctor. Although most heart murmurs are harmless, it's a good idea to rule out any underlying heart problems that could be serious.
Because appointments can be brief, and because there's often a lot of ground to cover, it's a good idea to be prepared for your appointment. Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment and know what to expect from your doctor.
What you can do
Be aware of any pre-appointment restrictions. At the time you make the appointment, be sure to ask if there are any advance preparations. For example, if you're having a certain type of echocardiogram, you may need to fast for several hours before your appointment.
Write down any symptoms you or your child is experiencing, including any that may seem unrelated to heart murmurs.
Write down key personal information, including a family history of heart murmurs, heart rhythm problems, heart defects, coronary artery disease, genetic disorders, stroke, high blood pressure or diabetes, and any major stresses or recent life changes.
Make a list of all medications, vitamins or supplements that you or your child is taking.
Take a family member or friend along, if possible. Sometimes it can be difficult to remember all of the information provided to you during an appointment. Someone who comes along with you may remember something that you missed or forgot.
Be prepared to discuss diet and exercise habits. If you or your child doesn't already follow a diet or exercise routine, be ready to talk to your doctor about any challenges you might face in getting started.
Write down questions to ask the doctor.
Your time with the doctor is limited, so preparing a list of questions can help you make the most of your time together. For heart murmurs, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:
What's the most likely cause of the heart murmur?
What are other possible causes for the heart murmur?
What kinds of tests are necessary?
What's the best treatment or follow-up care?
What are the alternatives to the primary approach that you're suggesting?
How should health conditions other than the heart murmur be managed?
Are there any dietary or exercise restrictions that I need to follow?
Should I see a specialist?
If surgery is necessary, which surgeon do you recommend?
Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing?
Are there any brochures or other printed material that I can take home with me? What websites do you recommend visiting?
What to expect from the doctor
Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions. Being ready to answer them may reserve time to go over any points you want to spend more time on. Your doctor may ask:
When did you or your child first have symptoms?
Have the symptoms been continuous or occasional?
How severe are the symptoms?
What, if anything, seems to make your symptoms better?
Does anything make the symptoms worse?
Have you ever noticed a bluish discoloration of the skin?
Do you have shortness of breath? When does this happen?
Have you ever fainted?
Have you had chest pain?
Have you had swelling in your legs?
How do you feel when you exercise?
Have you ever used illicit drugs?
Have you ever had rheumatic fever?
Does anyone else in the family have a heart murmur or a heart valve problem?
Heart murmurs are usually detected when your doctor listens to your heart using a stethoscope during a physical exam.
To check whether the murmur is innocent or abnormal, your doctor will consider:
How loud is it? This is rated on a scale from 1 to 6, with 6 being the loudest.
Where in your heart is it? And can it be heard in your neck or back?
What pitch is it? Is it high-, medium- or low-pitched?
What affects the sound? If you change your body position or exercise, does it affect the sound?
When does it occur, and for how long? If your murmur happens when your heart is filling with blood (diastolic murmur) or throughout the heartbeat (continuous murmur), that may mean you have a heart problem. You or your child will need more tests to find out what the problem is.
Your doctor will also look for other signs and symptoms of heart problems and ask about your medical history and whether other family members have had heart murmurs or other heart conditions.
Additional tests
If the doctor thinks the heart murmur is abnormal, you or your child may need additional tests including:
Chest X-ray. A chest X-ray shows an image of your heart, lungs and blood vessels. It can reveal if your heart is enlarged, which may mean an underlying condition is causing your heart murmur.
Electrocardiogram (ECG). In this noninvasive test, a technician will place probes on your chest that record the electrical impulses that make your heart beat. An ECG records these electrical signals and can help your doctor look for heart rhythm and structure problems.
Transthoracic or transesophageal echocardiogram. This exam, which includes an ultrasound of your chest, shows detailed images of your heart's structure and function. Ultrasound waves are transmitted, and their echoes are recorded with a device called a transducer that's held outside your body. A computer uses the information from the transducer to create moving images on a video monitor. This test identifies abnormal heart valves, such as those that are hardened (calcified) or leaking, and can also detect most heart defects.
If the images from a transthoracic echocardiogram are unclear, the doctor may recommend a transesophageal ultrasound. During this exam, a flexible tube containing a small transducer about the size of your index finger is guided down your throat. The transducer will transmit images of your heart to a computer monitor. Since the esophagus passes close behind your heart, the transesophageal transducer can produce better images than can sound waves transmitted through your chest.
Cardiac catheterization. In this test, a short tube (sheath) is inserted into a vein or artery at the top of your leg (groin) or arm. A hollow, flexible and longer tube (guide catheter) is then inserted into the sheath. Aided by X-ray images on a monitor, your doctor threads the guide catheter through that artery until it reaches your heart. The pressures in your heart chambers can be measured, and dye can be injected. The dye can be seen on an X-ray, which helps your doctor see the blood flow through your heart, blood vessels and valves to check for problems. This test generally isn't necessary when diagnosing the cause of a heart murmur.
Cardiac computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).These tests can help diagnose heart problems and detect heart murmurs. In a cardiac CT scan, you lie on a table inside a doughnut-shaped machine. An X-ray tube inside the machine rotates around your body and collects images of your heart and chest.
In a cardiac MRI, you lie on a table inside a long tube-like machine that produces a magnetic field. The magnetic field aligns atomic particles in some of your cells. When radio waves are broadcast toward these aligned particles, they produce signals that vary according to the type of tissue they are. Images of your heart are created from these signals, which your doctor will look at to determine the cause of your heart murmur.
An innocent heart murmur generally doesn't require treatment because the heart is normal. If innocent murmurs are the result of an illness, such as fever or hyperthyroidism, the murmurs will go away once that condition is treated.
If you or your child has an abnormal heart murmur, treatment may not be necessary. Your doctor may want to monitor the condition over time. If treatment is necessary, it depends on what heart problem is causing the murmur and may include medications or surgery.
Medications
Digoxin (Lanoxin). Digoxin is a medication that helps your heart squeeze harder, which can help if your heart murmur is caused by an underlying condition that weakens your heart muscle.
Medications that prevent blood clots (anticoagulants). Your doctor may also prescribe anticoagulants, such as aspirin, warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven) or clopidogrel (Plavix). This prevents blood clots from forming in your heart and causing a heart attack or stroke.
Water pills (diuretics). Diuretics remove excess fluid from your body, which can help treat other conditions that might worsen a heart murmur, such as high blood pressure.
Statins. Statins help lower your cholesterol. Having high cholesterol seems to worsen some heart valve problems, including some heart murmurs.
Beta blockers. These drugs lower your heart rate and blood pressure. They are used for some types of heart valve problems.
Surgery or catheterization
Surgical or catheterization options also depend on your specific heart problem. Although open-heart surgery may be needed, sometimes the cause of the heart murmur is treated by inserting a catheter through an artery in your groin and threading the catheter through your veins to your heart to treat your condition (cardiac catheterization). Examples of procedures include:
Patching a hole in your heart
Fixing or replacing a valve
Doctors used to recommend that most people with abnormal heart murmurs take antibiotics before visiting the dentist or having surgery. That's usually not the case anymore. Most people with heart murmurs won't need antibiotics. If you have questions about whether or not you should take antibiotics, talk to your doctor.
While there's not much you can do to prevent a heart murmur, it is reassuring to know that heart murmurs are not a disease and are often harmless. For children, many murmurs go away on their own as they grow. For adults, murmurs may disappear as the underlying condition causing them improves.
Reprint Permissions
A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.org," "Mayo Clinic Healthy Living," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for adult cardiac support: the Allegheny experience.
A mix of cardiac assist options is necessary to meet the diverse indications for cardiac support in a comprehensive heart failure program. At our institution, an adult extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) system comprising a centrifugal pump and hollow fiber membrane oxygenator is used for short-term and temporary cardiac assist. Between December 1991 and August 1997, 82 adult cardiac patients were supported on ECMO. Indications for cardiac assist included postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock (PCCS, 55 patients), high-risk cardiology intervention (27 patients), perioperative cardiac graft failure (4 patients), and emergency cardiac resuscitation (6 patients). Data for analysis were collected by prospective completion of standardized ECMO report forms and retrospective review of hospital charts. The ECMO system was inexpensive to operate, uncomplicated to implant, and adaptable for diverse indications. Survival in PCCS was 20 of 55 patients (36%), with an increased survival rate of 56% (18 of 32 patients) in patients with PCCS after isolated coronary bypass. Catheter-based revascularizations were successfully performed in 26 of 27 (96%) high-acuity patients temporarily supported by ECMO, and 23 of 27 patients (85%) survived to discharge. Survival in the cardiac graft failure group was 2 of 4 (50%). No patient supported on ECMO for cardiac resuscitation survived. ECMO provides good cardiopulmonary and end-organ support; survival rates are similar to or higher than those seen with centrifugal pump support in comparable patient populations. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
Gluten Free and Vegetarian Cooking
Meal Plan Monday, February 14, 2011
This week’s Gluten Free Menu Swap is being hosted byGluten Free Goodness with a theme of “Food as Love”. Quite fitting, don’t you think? You did remember Valentine’s Day, right?
Well, around here this theme fits. We don’t give gifts or make a big deal out of certain dates or holidays. We just appreciate each other every day and show it in those little ways that couples do. That said, in honor of the holiday, we will be having my husband’s favorite meal – PIZZA! – along with a chocolate dessert for us both – we both love chocolate. In fact this evening I jokingly asked him what he got me for Valentine’s Day and he told me that we were playing by the “Japanese rules” this year. This means that the women buy all the MEN in their lives chocolate. Uh-huh. We’ll see about that…
Last week we didn’t get to everything because we had so many leftovers from the tacos and we ended up going out one night. So this week is a lot of repeats from last week.
Pizza! and Salad
Pasta with Red Lentils and Ginger – from Vegetarian Planet – we have a huge jar of red lentils in the pantry
So does it count if you bought the man the chocolate and then proceeded to eat half of it? I think I may have started a new tradition. You reminded me that I was going to get out my long-neglected pressure cooker. Maybe next week’s menu…
Wendy – Nice one. Although I did stop by Walgreen’s on my way home and bought some chocolate and left it on his chair. I plan on eating half too, no worries! And he asked me if indeed it was all ‘his’ or if he had to share…he knows me well after almost 13 years!
So sad about the tamales ending! It seems like it has been so nice to have them on hand in the freezer. Talk about food as love – whenever I make something ahead and freeze it, it feels like such a lovely gift from me to future me!
Pasta with red lentils and ginger sounds super intriguing. I love red lentils! I should check out Vegetarian Planet. It seems like you make a lot of great stuff from it.
Did I tell you I joined Paperback Book Swap? I can’t remember if I told you when I signed up. I finally posted my first books today! Very exciting. All I want right now are cookbooks, though, and there aren’t any vegan ones there right now. I’m sure I’ll find exciting treasures in the future, though.
I know, right? Guess we have to make some more tamales. The decision being what kind! I am not so good about making things and freezing them. Even soups don’t sound or look all that appetizing to me after they have been in the freezer. The exception being my mom’s chili (meat-filled). I need to get better about that. Although we tend to eat up all our leftovers and don’t get bored with those, so we don’t usually have much to freeze. Luckily over the past 13 years, I have taught my husband to be okay with leftovers. I won’t say ‘like leftovers’ because I know he would rather have something else, unless it’s pizza of course!
So it was you – I wondered who gave me a credit on PBS! Thanks so much! I hope you’ll enjoy. I will have to go check out your ‘bookshelf’! Make sure you wishlist whatever you want and then when it comes up, they will offer it to you. I have a whole ton of wish list items…I am a book whore, as my husband calls me, both novels and cookbooks!
And yes, I am enjoying Veg Planet. I’ll let you know if I like the Pasta with Lentils. The ginger sounds like an interesting combo….? But everything I’ve made s far sounds great, so I’ll give it a whirl once! | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Board Kings for PC – Free Download
Board Kings for Windows 7/8/8.1/10/XP/Vista/MAC OS/Laptop
This is a free online multiplayer game (from Jelly Button Games) that tests your board and dice gaming strategies, skills and luck, as you play in a variety of challenges. You are expected to build the greatest city for your bunnies using coins earned by rolling the dice and traveling around the board.
The same coins are also used to upgrade or develop buildings and make even more money or unlock stronger defenses. In this article, we provide you with more information about this casual mobile game, and we walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to install it on Windows 7/8/8.1/10/XP and MAC desktop/ laptop.
The Gameplay
Once you enter into the Board Kings arena, you’ll see the board and dices placed within it. Select the idol/hero with whom you want to play with and then throw the dice by tapping on the dice button located on the software’s interface. The rolled dice results will then be displayed and will help determine where you go. Just follow directions and expect to earn lots of coins on your way.
Note: You’ll have a limited number of dice rolls that you can make. Once exhaust all the initial runs, you’ll have to wait for several minutes to get new ones. But you shouldn’t be worried since there are many other ways to get runs such as drawing cards from the decks.
Key Features:
1. Build an Amazing Thriving City of All Time
As mentioned above you’ll be building a great city for your bunnies using coins. The more you build and develop the city, the bigger the board becomes and the more rabbits you’ll have. Expand your bunny population and climb up the leaderboards.
2. Win Bonus Features
If you are lucky enough, you may land on bonus tiles and win special features for your board as well as impressive rewards & boost. These include extra coins, extra police cars, etc. It’s always a win that provides you with a chance to have more than your friends.
3. Protect Your Board
You’ll need to land on the “Police Station” to protect your city from invasion by other players, strangers and other unwelcome mischiefs. Upgrade the police station to deploy more police cars.
4. Steal From Your Friends
Land on “Steal tile” and win your friend’s coins. In case you don’t find the wealthiest city, you shouldn’t be worried since you’ll earn other peoples coins as well.
5. Visit Your Friends Boards
You are free to hop on the train and choose the one friend you miss the most. Note that you can also visit others who were on your boards. While visiting friends’ city, you can throw the dice and:
Own your friend’s buildings.
Destroy others’ cities.
Steal coins by breaking others’ piggy banks.
Note: You should always watch out for the police or else, you might get thrown in jail. To be free, you’ll have to pay the fine or throw a double.
Other Features:
The game is free to play, but you can purchase additional items with real money.
It lets you upgrade your board and invade other’s boards to steal some cash.
If you have any suggestion/ new ideas or if you are experiencing any problems, you can contact the developers via the in-game support feature.
Summary
Board Kings is an addictive and fun game. However, traveling around the city on a small mobile screen can be challenging, especially with the small spaces you have to see. But when you decide to install Board Kings for PC, you’ll be able to increase the playing field and see the whole city in all of its bunny glory.
Also, you’ll never have to worry about cables or finding your mobile device. Download Board Kings for PC on your laptop or desktop and enjoy everything that the game has to offer.
How To Play/Download Board Kings on PC
Follow the instructions below, it’s really easy and it takes about 5-10 minutes to run the game. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
2006 Arizona Proposition 107
Arizona Proposition 107 was a proposed same-sex marriage ban, put before voters by ballot initiative in the 2006 General Election. If passed, it would have prohibited the state of Arizona from recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions. The state already had a statute defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman and prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
This proposed amendment to the Arizona Constitution failed, with 48.2% voting in favor and 51.8% opposed, making Arizona the first U.S. state to defeat a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Several states approved similar measures between 1998 and 2006.
The proposition was backed by the Protect Marriage Arizona coalition, which included the Center for Arizona Policy and United Families Arizona. The proposition was primarily opposed by the Arizona Together coalition, which included the Arizona Human Rights Fund and the Human Rights Campaign.
Voters approved a more limited constitutional amendment which banned same-sex marriage but not state-recognized civil unions or domestic partnerships, Arizona Proposition 102, in 2008 with 56% of the vote.
Official title and text
An Initiative Measure
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Arizona; amending the Constitution of Arizona; by adding Article XXX; relating to the protection of marriage
To preserve and protect marriage in this state, only a union between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage by this state or its political subdivisions and no legal status for unmarried persons shall be created or recognized by this state or its political subdivisions that is similar to that of marriage.
Electoral results
Statewide
By county
See also
List of Arizona Ballot Propositions
Arizona Proposition 102 (2008)
LGBT rights in Arizona
References
External links
Proposition Text at AZ Secretary of State site (including arguments for and against the measure)
Protect Marriage Arizona (Yes On Prop 107)
Arizona Together (No On Prop 107)
The Center for Arizona Policy
The Human Rights Campaign
The Money Behind the 2006 Marriage Amendments – National Institute on Money in State Politics
Category:2006 Arizona ballot measures
Category:2006 in LGBT history
2006 107
Category:LGBT in Arizona
Category:Same-sex union legislation in the United States
Category:Initiatives in the United States
Category:Marriage referendums | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @11:34PM
from the helping-the-little-guy dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Rumors have surfaced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will restrict bidding at their TV spectrum auction in 2015 to effectively favor smaller carriers. Specifically, when 'auction bidding hits an as-of-yet unknown threshold in a given market, the FCC would set aside up to 30MHz of spectrum in that market. Companies that hold at least one-third of the low-band spectrum in that market then wouldn't be allowed to bid on the 30MHz of spectrum that has been set aside.' Therefore, 'in all band plans less than 70MHz, restricted bidders—specifically AT&T and Verizon (and in a small number of markets, potentially US Cellular or CSpire)—would be limited to bidding for only three blocks.' The rumors may be true since AT&T on Wednesday threatened to not participate in the auction at all as a protest against what it sees as unfair treatment."
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @09:02PM
from the how-I-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-cd-rom dept.
coondoggie (973519) writes "It's impossible to imagine the Internal Revenue Service or most other number-crunching agencies or companies working without computers. But when the IRS went to computers — the Automatic Data Processing system --there was an uproar. The agency went so far as to produce a short film on the topic called Right On The Button, to convince the public computers were a good thing."
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @07:33PM
from the when-and-where dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The FBI insists that it uses drone technology to conduct surveillance in 'very limited circumstances.' What those particular circumstances are remain a mystery, particularly since the Bureau refuses to identify instances where agents deployed unmanned aerial vehicles, even as far back as 2006. In a letter to Senator Ron Paul last July, the FBI indicated that it had used drones a total of ten times since late 2006—eight criminal cases and two national security cases—and had authorized drone deployments in three additional cases, but did not actually fly them. The sole specific case where the FBI is willing to confirm using a drone was in February 2013, as surveillance support for a child kidnapping case in Alabama. New documents obtained by MuckRock as part of the Drone Census flesh out the timeline of FBI drone deployments in detail that was previously unavailable. While heavily redacted—censors deemed even basic facts that were already public about the Alabama case to be too sensitive for release, apparently—these flight orders, after action reviews and mission reports contain new details of FBI drone flights."
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @06:48PM
from the look-straight-ahead dept.
EwanPalmer (2536690) writes "A project involving GoPro cameras and people living on the streets of San Francisco has suggests technology is making people feel less compassionate towards the homeless. Started by Kevin F Adler, the Homeless GoPro project aims to 'build empathy through a first-hand perspective' by strapping one of the cameras onto homeless volunteers to document their lives and daily interactions. One of the volunteers, Adam Reichart, said he believes it is technology which is stopping people from feeling sympathy towards people living on the street as it's easier to have 'less feelings when you're typing something' than looking at them in the eye"
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @06:02PM
from the blow-it-up dept.
mpicpp (3454017) writes "The 'kill switch,' a system for remotely disabling smartphones and wiping their data, will become standard in 2015, according to a pledge backed by most of the mobile world's major players. Apple, Google, Samsung and Microsoft, along with the five biggest cellular carriers in the United States, are among those that have signed on to a voluntary program announced Tuesday by the industry's largest trade group. All smartphones manufactured for sale in the United States after July 2015 must have the technology, according to the program from CTIA. Advocates say the feature would deter thieves from taking mobile devices by rendering phones useless while allowing people to protect personal information if their phone is lost or stolen. Its proponents include law enforcement officials concerned about the rising problem of smartphone theft."
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @05:17PM
from the put-your-money-where-your-code-is dept.
just_another_sean sends this followup to yesterday's discussion about the quality of open source code compared to proprietary code. Every year, Coverity scans large quantities of code and evaluates it for defects. They've just released their latest report, and the findings were good news for open source. From the article:
"The report details the analysis of 750 million lines of open source software code through the Coverity Scan service and commercial usage of the Coverity Development Testing Platform, the largest sample size that the report has studied to date. A few key points: Open source code quality surpasses proprietary code quality in C/C++ projects. Linux continues to be a benchmark for open source quality. C/C++ developers fixed more high-impact defects. Analysis found that developers contributing to open source Java projects are not fixing as many high-impact defects as developers contributing to open source C/C++ projects."
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @04:35PM
from the just-the-crap-in-my-mailbox-every-day dept.
guises writes: "A recent story discussing the cover of Byte Magazine reminded me of just how much we've lost with the death of print media. The Internet isn't what took down Byte, but a lot of other really excellent publications have fallen by the wayside as a result of the shift away from the printed page. We're not quite there yet, though. There seem to still be some holdouts, so I'm asking Slashdot: what magazines (or zines, or newsletters, or newspapers) are still hanging around that are worth subscribing to?"
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @03:54PM
from the goat-simulator-falls-just-short dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The folks at Ars Technica scraped a ton of gameplay data from Steam's player profiles to provide statistics on how many people own each game, and how often it's played. For example: 37% of the ~781 million games owned by Steam users have never been played. Dota 2 has been played by almost 26 million people for a total of 3.8 billion hours. Players of CoD: Modern Warfare 2 spend six times as long in multiplayer as in single-player. This sampling gives much more precise data than we usually have about game sales rates. 'If there's one big takeaway from looking at the entirety of our Steam sales and player data, it's that a few huge ultra-hits are driving the majority of Steam usage. The vast majority of titles form a "long tail" of relative crumbs. Out of about 2,750 titles we've tracked using our sampling method, the top 110 sellers represent about half of the individual games registered to Steam accounts. That's about four percent of the distinct titles, each of which has sold 1.38 million copies or more. This represents about 50 percent of the registered sales on the service. ... about half of the estimated 18.5 billion man-hours that have been spent across all Steam games have gone toward just the six most popular titles.'"
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @03:12PM
from the hot-wheels dept.
sciencehabit writes: "Fossil fuels power modern society by generating heat, but much of that heat is wasted. Researchers have tried to reclaim some of it with semiconductor devices called thermoelectrics, which convert the heat into power. But they remain too inefficient and expensive to be useful beyond a handful of niche applications. Now, scientists in Illinois report that they have used a cheap, well-known material to create the most heat-hungry thermoelectric so far (abstract). In the process, the researchers say, they learned valuable lessons that could push the materials to the efficiencies needed for widespread applications. If that happens, thermoelectrics could one day power cars and scavenge energy from myriad engines, boilers, and electrical plants."
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @02:30PM
from the you-totally-could-have-invented-flappy-birds dept.
msmoriarty writes: "According to a recent survey of 1,000 U.S.-based software developers, 56 percent expect to become millionaires in their lifetime. 66 percent also said they expect to get raises in the next year, despite the current state of the economy. Note that some of the other findings of the study (scroll to bulleted list) seem overly positive: 84 percent said they believe they are paid what they're worth, 95 percent report they feel they are 'one of the most valued employees at their organization,' and 80 percent said that 'outsourcing has been a positive factor in the quality of work at their organization.'"
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @01:47PM
from the beginning-of-the-end dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Here's another story of a tech gadget that arrived before its time. Nokia created a web-ready tablet running EPOC (later to be renamed as Symbian) thirteen years ago. The tablet was set to go into full production, and they actually built a thousand units just before it was canceled. The tablet was scrubbed because market research showed there wasn't demand for the device. The team got devices for themselves and the rest were destroyed. The team was then fired. The lesson: Don't try to be pioneer if you're relying on market research studies."
Posted
by
Unknown Lamer
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @11:38AM
from the just-a-crashed-ring-station dept.
KentuckyFC (1144503) writes "Iapetus, Saturn's third largest moon, was first photographed by the Cassini spacecraft on 31 December 2004. The images created something of a stir. Clearly visible was a narrow, steep ridge of mountains that stretch almost halfway around the moon's equator. The question that has since puzzled astronomers is how this mountain range got there. Now evidence is mounting that this mountain range is not the result of tectonic or volcanic activity, like mountain ranges on other planets. Instead, astronomers are increasingly convinced that this mountain range fell from space. The latest evidence is a study of the shape of the mountains using 3-D images generated from Cassini data. They show that the angle of the mountainsides is close to the angle of repose, that's the greatest angle that a granular material can form before it landslides. That's not proof but it certainly consistent with this exotic formation theory. So how might this have happened?
Astronomers think that early in its life, Iapetus must have been hit by another moon, sending huge volumes of ejecta into orbit. Some of this condensed into a new moon that escaped into space. However, the rest formed an unstable ring that gradually spiraled in towards the moon, eventually depositing the material in a narrow ridge around the equator. Cassini's next encounter with Iapetus will be in 2015 which should give astronomers another chance to study the strangest mountain range in the Solar System."
Posted
by
Unknown Lamer
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @11:04AM
from the don't-leave-your-lawyer-at-home dept.
After being forced to turn over encryption keys (being held in contempt of court for several weeks after initially refusing to comply), secure mail provider Lavabit halted all operations last year. With the assistance of the EFF, an appeal was mounted. Today, the appeals court affirmed the district court decision and rejected the appeal. From Techdirt:
"The ruling does a decent job explaining the history of the case, which also details some of the (many, many) procedural mistakes that Lavabit made along the way, which made it a lot less likely it would succeed here. ... The procedural oddities effectively preclude the court even bothering with the much bigger and important question of whether or not a basic pen register demand requires a company to give up its private keys. The hail mary attempt in the case was to argue that because the underlying issues are of 'immense public concern' (and they are) that the court should ignore the procedural mistakes. The court flatly rejects that notion: 'exhuming forfeited arguments when they involve matters of “public concern” would present practical difficulties. For one thing, identifying cases of a “public concern” and “non-public concern” –- divorced from any other consideration –- is a tricky task governed by no objective standards..... For another thing, if an issue is of public concern, that concern is likely more reason to avoid deciding it from a less-than-fully litigated record....'"
Posted
by
Unknown Lamer
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @10:35AM
from the worst-frenemies dept.
SmartAboutThings (1951032) writes "While we are still waiting for the official Windows 8.1 touch-enabled apps to get launched on the Windows Store, Microsoft went and decided that it's time to finally bring the Office online apps to the Chrome Web Store, instead. Thus, Microsoft is making the Web versions of its Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote apps available to users through the Chrome Web Store and also improving all of them with new features, along with several bug fixes and performance improvements."
More on the Microsoft front: an anonymous reader wrote in with a link to Ars Technica's review of the upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 release: "It is a major platform update even if it is just a .1 release. Updates include the debut of Cortana, using the same kernel as Windows 8.1 and the Xbox One, a notebook reminder app, inner circle friend management, IE 11, Nokia's camera app by default, lock screen and background customizations, a much improved email client with calendar support, more general Windows 8.1 API inclusion for better portability, and a notification center. Ars rated it more of a Windows Phone 9 release than .1 update."
What I find interesting is how Stevens maintains that the Amendment only protects armament ownership for those actively serving in a state or federal military unit, in spite of the fact that the Amendment specifically names 'the People' as a benefactor (just like the First, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth) and of course, ignoring the traditional definition of the term militia. I'm personally curious about his other 5 suggested changes, but I guess we'll have to wait until the end of April to find out."
Posted
by
Unknown Lamer
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @09:28AM
from the i-think-you-mean-gnu-slash-freedom dept.
Eben Moglen's FreedomBox concept (personal servers for everyone to enable private communication) is getting closer to being an easy-to-install reality: all packages needed for FreedomBox are now in Debian's unstable branch, and should be migrating to testing in a week or two. Quoting Petter Reinholdtsen: "Today, the last of the packages currently used by the project to created the system images were accepted into Debian Unstable. It was the freedombox-setup package, which is used to configure the images during build and on the first boot. Now all one need to get going is the build code from the freedom-maker git repository and packages from Debian. And once the freedombox-setup package enter testing, we can build everything directly from Debian. :)
Some key packages used by Freedombox are freedombox-setup, plinth, pagekite, tor, privoxy, owncloud, and dnsmasq. There are plans to integrate more packages into the setup. User documentation is maintained on the Debian wiki."
You can create your own image with only three commands, at least if you have a DreamPlug or Raspberry Pi (you could also help port it to other platforms).
Posted
by
Unknown Lamer
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @07:49AM
from the blame-canada dept.
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Jonathan Kaiman reports at The Guardian that China's air pollution could be intensifying storms over the Pacific Ocean and altering weather patterns in North America leading to more ... warm air in the mid-Pacific moving towards the north pole. 'Mid-latitude storms develop off Asia and they track across the Pacific, coming in to the west coast of the U.S.,' says Ellie Highwood, a climate physicist at the University of Reading. 'The particles in this model are affecting how strong those storms are, how dense the clouds are, and how much rainfall comes out of those storms.' Fossil fuel burning and petrochemical processing in Asia's rapidly developing economies lead to a build-up of aerosols, fine particles suspended in the air. Typically, aerosol formation is thought of as the antithesis to global warming: it cools our Earth's climate. But researchers say, too much of any one thing is never good. 'Aerosols provide seeds for cloud formation. If you provide too many seeds, then you fundamentally change cloud patterns and storm patterns,' says co-author Renyi Zhang. China's leaders are aware of the extent of the problem and will soon revise China's environmental protection law for the first time since 1989 ... 'The provisions on transparency are probably the most positive step forward,' says Alex Wang, expert in Chinese environmental law at UCLA. 'These include the requirement that key polluters disclose real-time pollution data.'"
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @07:12AM
from the it-takes-real-effort-to-be-this-wrong dept.
An anonymous reader tips news of an incident in a Pennsylvania high school in which a student, Christian Stanfield, was being bullied on a regular basis. He used a tablet to make an audio recording of the bullies for the purpose of showing his mother how bad it was. She was shocked, and she called school officials to tell them what was going on. The officials brought in a police lieutenant — but not to deal with the bullies. Instead, the officer interrogated Stanfield and made him delete the recording. The officer then threatened to charge him with felony wiretapping. The charges were later reduced to disorderly conduct, and Stanfield was forced to testify before a magistrate, who found him guilty. Stanfield's mother said, "Christian's willingness to advocate in a non-violent manner should be championed as a turning point. If Mr. Milburn and the South Fayette school district really want to do the right thing, they would recognized that their zero-tolerance policies and overemphasis on academics and athletics have practically eliminated social and emotional functioning from school culture."
Update: 04/17 04:36 GMT by T: The attention this case has gotten may have something to do with the later-announced decision by the Allegheny County District Attorney's office to withdraw the charges against Stanfield.
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @04:15AM
from the go-big-or-go-home-on-your-hoverboard dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Google has a huge research budget and an apparent willingness to take on huge projects. They've gotten themselves into autonomous cars, fiber optic internet, robotics, and Wi-Fi balloons. But that raises a question: if they're willing to commit to projects as difficult and risk as those, what projects have they explored but rejected? Several of the scientists working at Google's 'innovation lab' have spilled the beans: '[Mag-lev] systems have a stabilizing structure that keeps trains in place as they hover and move forward in only one direction. That couldn't quite translate into an open floor plan of magnets that keep a hoverboard steadily aloft and free to move in any direction. One problem, as Piponi explains, is that magnets tend to keep shifting polarities, so your hoverboard would constantly flip over as you floated around moving from a state of repulsion to attraction with the magnets. Any skateboarder could tell you what that means: Your hoverboard would suck. ... If scaling problems are what brought hoverboards down to earth, material-science issues crashed the space elevator. The team knew the cable would have to be exceptionally strong-- "at least a hundred times stronger than the strongest steel that we have," by Piponi's calculations. He found one material that could do this: carbon nanotubes. But no one has manufactured a perfectly formed carbon nanotube strand longer than a meter. And so elevators "were put in a deep freeze," as Heinrich says, and the team decided to keep tabs on any advances in the carbon nanotube field.'"
Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday April 16, 2014 @01:08AM
from the cats-and-dogs-governing-together dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers from Princeton University and Northwestern University have concluded, after extensive analysis of 1,779 policy issues, that the U.S. is in fact an oligarchy and not a democracy. What this means is that, although 'Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance,' 'majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts.' Their study (PDF), to be published in Perspectives on Politics, found that 'When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.'" | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Expression of Bcl2 family genes in the early phase of long-term potentiation.
Expression of Bcl2 family genes was studied during the early phase of long-term potentiation in the CA1 field of rat hippocampal slices. The level of Bax mRNA and protein increased, while the content of Bcl2 mRNA and protein decreased 30 min after tetanization of the Schaffer collaterals. Our results suggest that proteins of the Bcl2 family play a role in the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)
The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) is a Federal agency of the Swiss Confederation. It is the statistics office of Switzerland, situated in Neuchâtel and attached to the Federal Department of Home Affairs.
The Federal Statistical Office is the national service provider and competence centre for statistical observations in areas of national, social, economic and environmental importance. The FSO is the main producer of statistics in the country and runs the Swiss Statistics data pool. It provides information on all subject areas covered by official statistics.
The office is closely linked to the national statistics scene as well as to partners in the worlds of science, business and politics. It works closely with Eurostat, the Statistics Office of the European Union, in order to provide information that is also comparable at an international level.
The key principles upheld by the office throughout its statistical activities are data protection, scientific reliability, impartiality, topicality and service orientation.
History
With the founding of the Swiss Federal State in 1848, statistics gained in importance at national level: statistics became the task of the Department of Home Affairs under Stefano Franscini who conducted the first population census in the newly founded federal state in 1850.
In 1860, the Federal Statistics Bureau (the present Federal Statistical Office) was founded in Bern, where it was located until 1998. Since 1998 all sections of the FSO have been centrally located in one building in Neuchâtel.
In the year of the FSO's foundation, a federal act was passed on the population census to be conducted every ten years. Ten years later the law was extended. In 1870, Parliament approved a brief law confined to organisational issues about "official statistical surveys in Switzerland". In 1992 this was replaced with the more up-to-date Federal Statistics Act. The new Federal Constitution of 1999 included for the first time an article (Art. 65) regarding statistics. In 2002 the Charter of Swiss Public Statistics was approved. One of the aims of the Charter is to establish universal principles that are based upon international standards but that also take particularities of the Swiss statistical system into account. The bilateral cooperation agreement between Switzerland and the European Union in the area of statistics came into force in 2007.
The Statistical Yearbook of Switzerland was first published in 1891 and has since then been published without interruption by the FSO. Since 1987, the FSO has been making important statistical information available online in electronic form, and in 1996 this service was extended and the STATINF database and website were added.
Mission
The FSO produces and publishes key statistical information on the current situation and development of the nation and society, of the economy and the environment. It completes these with comprehensive analyses, it creates scenarios of future developments and safeguards historical data.
Various methods are employed for data acquisition: direct interviews, more or less automated observation, analyses of administrative data, complete enumeration surveys and representative sample surveys.
The efficiency of modern statistical information systems is largely determined by the type of data acquisition. For legal and financial reasons, preference is given to the systematic use of existent data rather than to new direct surveys with the ensuing burden on those interviewed.
Statistical findings are disseminated in various forms and using varying channels: as tables or indicators accompanied by commentaries or graphs and maps, as printed documents or in electronic form, in standard issue or made-to-measure versions.
Regular FSO surveys (selection):
Population census
Business Census
National consumer price index (CPI)
Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS)
Swiss Earnings Structure Survey (SESS)
Population census
The first federal population census took place in March 1850 under the direction of Federal Councillor Stefano Franscini. As well as counting the number of inhabitants, these were also asked about their sex, age, marital status, profession, occupation and religious denomination. Between 1860 and 2000 a census took place every ten years in December. The only exceptions to this 10-year rhythm were the population census of 1888 (brought forward as basis for the revision of the constituency allocations) and the population census of 1941 (delayed due to the mobilisation of the army in May 1940).
The census of 2000 was the last to use traditional methods. As of 2010 a fundamental change has been introduced: The population census, in a new format, will be carried out and analysed annually by the FSO. In order to ease the burden on the population, the information is primarily drawn from population registers and supplemented by sample surveys. Starting this year, only a small proportion of the population (about 5%) will be surveyed in writing or by telephone. The first reference day for the new census will be 31 December 2010.
Legal basis
Public statistics are anchored in the Swiss constitution. In the vote held on 18 April 1999 the Swiss electorate approved a total revision of the constitution, which now includes a statistics article (Art. 65) concerning the commissioning and competence of statistics:
"1 The federal authorities shall collect the necessary statistical data concerning the current status and changes in the population, the economy, society, education, research, territory and environment in Switzerland.
2 They shall be authorised to issue regulations with regard to the harmonisation and management of official registers with a view to minimising the work needed for collecting such information."
The legal basis for public statistics in Switzerland is defined in more detail in various laws, principally in the Federal Statistic Act of 9 October 1992. The Federal Statistical Act provides a legal framework. The Act sets out the tasks and organisation of federal statistics as well as fundamental principles for data acquisition, publications and services. In particular it describes data protection principles.
The salient innovations in the 1992 Act are the coordination function of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office in its capacity as the Government's central statistical unit, the establishment of a multi-year statistical programme for overall planning of Swiss statistics, and the institution of the Federal Statistics Commission as an advisory body to the Federal Council (with representatives from academia, business, social partners as well as federal, cantonal and communal units).
Product range
The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) offers the following products:
the statistics portal on the internet
Publications
spatial analyses in a geographical information system (GIS)
thematic cartography
a telephone enquiry service and 24h fax on demand service (national consumer price index)
an information centre open to the general public (Espace public) in Neuchâtel with library and electronic information
a specialised range of products for schools with graphs and teaching aids (Schools forum)
The statistics portal (www.statistik.admin.ch) enables key statistical findings to be published quickly. The web site is updated daily. Links and downloads lead straight to the content. RSS subscribers are notified of new statistical results and activities via the portal and thus kept up-to-date.
As far as publications are concerned, the "Statistical Yearbook of Switzerland" (German/French) has been the standard reference book for Swiss statistics since 1891. It contains the most important statistical findings regarding the Swiss population, society, government, economy and environment. In addition to the Yearbook, further FSO printed publications appear on a monthly, three-monthly, six-monthly or annual basis. The Swiss Statistical Lexicon offers a collection of data to be downloaded: there are tables, graphs, maps, texts and whole publications on all statistical topic areas. For specific audiences a range of products on certain themes are available as special applications, databases and also data collections. A fee may be charged for some of these products.
The federal statistics' product range is divided into 22 topic areas (* only available in German and French):
Basics and Overviews
Population
Territory and environment
Employment and income
National economy
Prices
Industry and services
Agriculture, forestry
Energy*
Construction and housing*
Tourism*
Mobility and transport
Banks and insurance*
Social security
Health
Education and science
Culture, media, information society, sports*
Politics*
Public finance*
Crime, criminal justice
Economic and social situation of the population
Sustainable development
See also
Legal basis of official statistics in Switzerland
Eurostat
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
References
FSO (ed.): Statistics – A universal language, Swiss Statistics - The Swiss Federal Statistical Office in Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel 2009
Further reading
Hans Ulrich Jost: On Numbers and Power (Von Zahlen und Macht. Statistiker, Statistik und politische Autoritäten in der Schweiz, 18. bis 20. Jahrhundert, Studie aus Anlass des Jubiläums 75 Jahre VSSA.) In: Forum Statisticum Nr. 35, Berne 1995 (PDF, German & French)
Heiner Ritzmann-Blickenstorfer: 150 years of the Swiss Federal State from a statistical perspective (150 Jahre schweizerischer Bundesstaat im Lichte der Statistik, Separatdruck aus dem Statistischen Jahrbuch der Schweiz 1998), Neuchâtel 1998, (PDF, German & French)
FSO (ed.): The new census, Neuchâtel 2010 (PDF)
External links
Official website
ChronoStat: A multimedia history of the FSO (in German and French)
FSO: Catalog of publications
Statistical Yearbook of Switzerland (in German and French)
Statistical Data on Switzerland (in German and French)
Statistical Encyclopedia
Category:National statistical services
Category:Canton of Neuchâtel
Statistical
Category:Federal Department of Home Affairs | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
Caroline Paul
Caroline Paul (born July 29, 1963 in New York City) is an American writer of fiction and non-fiction.
Early years and education
Caroline Paul was raised in Connecticut. Her father was an investment banker, her mother a social worker. She was educated in journalism and documentary film at Stanford University.
Career
She volunteered as a journalist at Berkeley public radio station KPFA before (in 1988) joining the San Francisco Fire Department, as one of the first women hired by the department. She worked most of her career on Rescue 2, where she and her crew were responsible for search and rescue in fires. Rescue 2 members were also trained and sent on scuba dive searches, rope and rappelling rescues, surf rescues, confined space rescues, all hazardous material calls, and the most severe train and car wrecks.
Her first book was the nonfiction memoir Fighting Fire, published in 1998. Her second, the 2006 historical novel East Wind, Rain is based on the Niihau Incident, a historical event in which a Japanese pilot crash-landed on the private Hawaiian island of Niihau, after the attack on Pearl Harbor. "When it's over, we don't want to leave," said the New York Times review of the book. Lost Cat, A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology was published in 2013 and illustrated by her partner, artist Wendy MacNaughton. It details Paul and MacNaughton's high-tech search for their cat. The PBS Newshour described the book as "A thoughtful, kind and funny story about the love people can have for their pets and the weird places that this love and accompanying devotion can take them. But it also travels beyond the realm of human-pet relationships, offering commentary on all relationships and the roles of those we love, and sometimes don't love, in our lives."
Paul's latest book is the New York Times bestseller The Gutsy Girl, Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure. She calls it "Lean in for girls, set not in a boardroom, but in trees, on cliff edges and down wild rivers". In a controversial New York Times essay that preceded publication she wrote that risk teaches kids responsibility, problem solving, and confidence. "...By cautioning girls away from these experiences we are not protecting them. We are woefully under-preparing them for life."
She is a member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, a workspace and literary community whose members have included Po Bronson, Mary Roach, ZZ Packer, Noah Hawley, Ethan Canin, Julia Scheeres, Vendela Vida, and TJ Stiles.
Her identical twin sister is Baywatch actress Alexandra Paul. The two sisters were featured in a People magazine feature on twins, "Seeing Double," in 1998. Her younger brother Jonathan Paul is a militant animal rights activist; he was released in 2011 after serving a four-year sentence in federal prison for the 1997 arson of a slaughterhouse in Redmond, Oregon.
Caroline flies ultralights and paragliders. An accomplished athlete, she has competed on the U.S. National Luge Team in trials for the Olympics.
Works
Fighting Fire, (author's page)
East Wind, Rain, (author's page)
Lost Cat, (author's page)
The Gutsy Girl, (author's page)
External links
Caroline Paul's official website
References
Category:1963 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American women novelists
Category:Writers from California
Category:Identical twins
Category:Twin people from the United States
Category:LGBT writers from the United States
Category:Lesbian writers
Category:LGBT novelists
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American women non-fiction writers
Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers
Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers
Category:LGBT people from Connecticut
Category:LGBT people from California
Category:Novelists from Connecticut | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Wikipedia (en) |
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4/02/2017
Christmas Card Club - Challenge 7 - Christmas Flowers
Hi and welcome to another Christmas Card Club post. Our theme this week was chosen by Carol who wanted to see Christmas Flowers. I happen to love Poinsettias (apparently more than I realized by the number of poinsettia stamps I'm finding during my sort-through of stamps).
- Poinsettia inked with WOW clear embossing ink, then heat embossed with Ranger's Queens Gold. Tried using the Misti for this, as the red c/s has a texture and did not stamp well. I had difficulty using the Misti, so finally just started over, using a clear & see through block and the process worked better. The sentiment came from the same set, was heat embossed with Queen's Gold. It looks straight IRL, but looks a bit wonky in the photo. The camera always sees what the eye missed**.
- plaid background is from a 6x6 Christmas pack in the stash. This is a side fold card. Was not terribly happy with how this one turned out, so searched out a MB Poinsettia die, and then another MBox set which has the petals in layers of different sizes.
- Die cut the base die from Canson #98 Mixed Media C/stock, as I'd decided to try to water color with Zigs. Once the bottom flower which is a single die, was finished, colored each petal layer (there are 3 in graduating sizes, and the stamen)...colored those. Adhered the single flower with dimensional foam squares, then layered the remaining layers with liquid glue. Added some Nuvo Crystal over the stamen.
- White background embossed with a Candy Cane stripes EF.
- Sentiment is from an old Inkadinkadoo clear set and the Misti was used for this - the white paper has a texture, and it required repeated inkings to get a sharp & even image.
Please do check out what my fellow team members have created to inspire us on the Christmas Flowers theme. Each member is listed in the right sidebar, and clicking on the name should take you to their blog.
I love poinsettias too, Mary, so you know I love these cards! The gold embossing on the red is so elegant! And your watercolor is gorgeous! I love how you've achieved movement from the water and the dimension! Awesome, my friend!
Lovely both your Christmas card with these poinsettias! Love the brightness af the first one, so vibrant and the stunning 3D effect of the second one! Greta colouring on it!Hugs, have a lovely new week!
Well, I love BOTH of them, Mary! Your elegant gold-embossed poinsettias are breathtaking! The image is lovely.
Your Memory Box die cut is AMAZING! The colors and attention to detail with the shading AND shaping are just amazing. I especially like the front leaf, it looks like it is growing outward, reaching for the recipient to wish them a Happy Christmas. Love it!
They're both so beautiful! I love the first one and know it just shines away. The second is equally as pretty! Two wonderful cards for the holidays now.I never liked poinsettia's when I was younger, but guess they finally "grew" on me. Love them now!Lynn
Well I think they are both beautiful -love the gold embossed poinsettias on the first and the beautiful layered one on the the second one Carol xoh by the way the black on my door hanger is actually DI through a stencil x
What a pretty pair of cards, both beautifully done with florals! Love the gold embossed on red with that great plaid paper and you're so right on the camera seeing what your eyes miss!! LOL The flower in card #2 looks painfully tedious to put together, but it looks just fabulous in the finished results! Two real beauties!
Two beautiful cards Mary, and I love poinsettias too. The first looks so pretty with the gold embossing on the red, and the second is wonderfully coloured and layered up, and I adore the background embossing. x
Well, I think both of the cards you made are so very lovely. The sentiment being a little crooked isn't that noticeable. And, like you, I am always turning to poinsettias for Christmas greetings too. I really love them.
Beautiful poinsettia Christmas cards, Mary! I'm forever stamping my sediments crooked and then cutting the panel to make it straight and then the sides will be crooked so I'll cut it again to straighten out the sides and pretty soon all I have left of the whole panel is a tiny little rectangle of sediment, lol!! When that happens, you just have to laugh! There isn't even a boo-boo left to take a photo of, lol! Why do I feel like this is only going to get worse for those of us who are getting more, ahem, mature?!! But anyway, back to your card, the oops isn't noticeable because the red and gold and shimmer and plaid demand all of our delighted attention!! Thanks so much for playing with me! Love ya, Darnell
Both cards are beautiful Mary, I didn't even notice that the sentiment was not perfect on the first one until you said, the embossing is so lovely! I do love the second one though, the die cut poinsettia is gorgeous! Hugs, Anne xx
Hi Mary,what brilliant a nd very super cards.Love the way you have stamped off the edges of the first, and the colours are so very luxurious.Your second is also very beauitful and gorgeous.Love that wonderful poinsettia, and the fab colour.It's so perfect for the card, and your CC club.Love and big hugs from my house to yours. Jenny L.
Well! if I had boohoos like you, I would be VERY satisfied, I love your first one, so vibrant in it's red and gold and love the second for the gentler effect, BOTH wonderful cards my Friend :)HugsFaith
I love poinsettia's too Momma Mary, they are just a beautiful flower. I love both of your cards! Your first one is so elegant and clean looking. That poinsettia you used is amazing! Love the green plaid background you used for it. Your second card is equally beautiful! I love the dimension you got with this poinsettia!! It looks like a real one laying on the card base. Like I could reach down and pick it right off the card base! The leaves and the flower petals are colored so pretty, love the striped embossing folder used for the background too! Hugs, Brenda
I really, really like that poinsettia on your second card it pops straight off the card . Love your colouring of it. I keep taking photos that make the card look wonky. I think its the angle to the lens as the cards are perfectly straight. hugs Mrs A. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
(Photo by aaroncarter/Instagram)
Aaron Carter has said is not looking to date men, despite coming out as bisexual.
The ’90s kid pop singer, now aged 29, came out as bi in an emotional letter earlier this month, revealing that he was attracted to both men and women.
Carter, known for tracks like Aaron’s Party, spoke about growing up in the entertainment industry while discovering his sexuality.
Just a day after the post, reps confirmed that he had split from girlfriend of one year, Madison Parker.
But in an interview with TMZ, Carter said that he was not looking to date men now that he’s single.
He said: “When it comes down to it, really, I had an experience when I was 17 with a guy, but now as an almost 30-year-old man, I’m going to be pursuing relationships with women.
“I want to pursue a relationship with a woman. I’m actually taking [reality star] Porcelain Black out on a date tonight.”
Carter said that while he had had “cool” messages from his fans, “I’ve been hearing a lot of negativity too… like prejudice and slurs, and remarks that I don’t deserve.”
He also threw some shade at his ex-girlfriend.
The singer said: “It’s all good… isn’t it funny what she comes out and says? I can’t really do anything about it, I’m going to move on with my life.
“If someone loves you enough, they’ll never leave you.
“They’ll never leave you over you saying that I want to be honest about whether it’s about me being bisexual, bicurious, being gay, or anything.
“It doesn’t matter – if they really love you, they’ll never leave you for that.”
Parker has denied that Carter’s coming out was the reason for their break-up.
She said: “My split with Aaron has nothing to do with him being bisexual.
“Our parting of ways is something that has been coming for some time and it’s the best thing for us both.
“Some of my closest friends and loved ones are of the LGBTQ community, people I love and support wholeheartedly, so for… anyone to label me ‘homophobic’ is appalling and hurtful and couldn’t be more off character.”
She continued: “I’ve been nothing but supportive of Aaron and his career and I’m happy for him that he’s having the courage to live his truth.
“Breaking up is never easy for anyone, but it is my hope that we can move on from this point as peacefully and respectfully as possible. I wish him all the best.” | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | OpenWebText2 |
Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains harbouring an unusual blaVIM-4 gene cassette isolated from hospitalized children in Poland (1998-2001).
During 1997-2001, 151 isolates of imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa were obtained from clinical specimens taken from children hospitalized in Warsaw, Poland. These strains were investigated further to determine the mechanism of resistance. The strains were analysed by a combination of genotyping and PCR-based strategies. Eleven of these strains were found to contain the metallo-beta-lactamase (M beta L) gene bla(VIM-4). The first strain appeared in 1998, and P. aeruginosa strains harbouring this M beta L have become endemic in this hospital since then. All P. aeruginosa strains belonged to serotype O:6, and PFGE analysis revealed four different patterns and three sub-types. All 11 M beta L-producing strains contained an identical class 1 integron with the usual 5' and 3' conserved sequences. The integron included two resistance cassettes, aacA4 in the first position and the bla(VIM-4) cassette in the second position. The bla(VIM-4) gene included an unusual direct repeat of 169 bp of the 3' portion of the bla(VIM-4) gene. An unusual bla(VIM-4) M beta L has become endemic in P. aeruginosa isolates infecting Polish children hospitalized on surgical wards. The formation of this unusual bla(VIM-4) gene cassette could be explained by a mechanism involving deletion of a segment of an ancestral tandem repeat of bla(VIM-4) via slipped strand replication, mediated by a combination of polymerase and integrase. | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Abstracts |
Monthly Archives: January 2008
Steve Lehman Quartet – Manifold (CF 097)
Alto saxophonist Steve Lehman is a familiar name among new jazz aficionados, mostly for his pedigree of studying the instrument with Anthony Braxton and Jackie McLean, and composition (currently) with George Lewis. He’s worked in more commercial settings as well as – where these ears first heard him – with pianist Dave Burrell and drummer William Hooker in the Echo/Peace Continuum group. On Manifold, his second date for Clean Feed (recorded live in Coimbra, Portugal), he’s joined by trumpeter Jonathan Finlayson, drummer Nasheet Waits and bassist John Hebert on a series of compositions and ostensible group improvisations as well as Andrew Hill’s “Dusk” and Finlayson’s “Berceuse.”
So much is made of the presence of a “concept” behind Lehman’s work that the freshness of his playing and arrangements, not to mention his consistently excellent choice of sidemen (his first on Clean Feed featured drummer Pheeroan Ak Laff and bassist Mark Dresser), seem a bit scuttled. The pretense of M-base this and Braxton/Lewis that, shouldn’t get in the way of as landmark a performance as listeners here have of “Dusk.” A more recent entry in the late pianist-composer’s catalog, it was featured prominently on 2000’s Dusk (Palmetto) with then up-and-coming saxophonists Greg Tardy and Marty Ehrlich. Hill’s music is rarely covered, and much in the way Steve Lacy approached Monk, it’s interesting to hear a piano-less unit interpret his work. Hebert’s tone is impeccable, reminiscent here of Barry Guy or Dave Holland, and sketches the pensive vamp perfectly. Finlayson and Lehman, presented up to this point in darting counterpoint, catch the rays of the tune’s Latin lilt in knotty unison. Waits and Hebert set up a an insistent but fragmented outline beneath the trumpeter’s flits and contortions, hardbop phrases played as whiffs through Don Cherry’s battered pocket horn. Lehman’s got a puckery tone and bone-worries his phrases; there’s a bit of Braxton’s speed and McLean’s power, but I’m mostly reminded of John Tchicai. As Waits steps up the density of his dry whirlwind, Lehman’s resoluteness in developing a very small phrase area is rather astounding, and accounts for much of the tension driving the piece. “Dusk” is as consummate a performance of “inside-outside” jazz as one’s likely to hear. Manifold is lean, hungry creative music, and is highly recommended to both old-soul Lehman converts and new ears alike.http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001907.html
Alipio C Neto Quartet – The Perfume Comes Before The Flower (CF 093)One of the most promising aspects of the Lisbon-based Clean Feed label is their penchant for bringing together hometown heroes and improvisers from elsewhere, notably the United States. Brazil-born tenorman Alipio C. Neto, also of the IMI Kollektief, joins forces with Downtown New Yorkers, drummer Michael T.A. Thompson, tubaist Ben Stapp and trumpeter Herb Robertson, and globetrotting bassist Ken Filiano for a set of hard-driving freebop and rangy group improvisations.
The first cut brings together what are ostensibly two different tunes, “The Perfume Comes Before” and “Early News.” The first part of that equation has Neto and Filiano providing a husky and delicate bottom figure while Robertson skates atop, his own fat sound broken into pulpit-pounding shards. There’s a brief unison rejoinder before Filiano’s furious horsehairs coax Neto into grounding his boot heels and stitching together a solo of heady contrasts. He has a soft, breathy tone and an introverted sense of pacing, mostly holding back the fireworks despite the ensemble’s tendency to splay out. One doesn’t really think of “caution” coupled with a big, fat tenor sound and meaty group improvisation, but Neto’s working of phrases in “Early News” is not unlike the delicacy out of the gate you’d hear from Marzette Watts or a young Joe McPhee. When he does stretch out, as on “The Pure Experience,” his merger of tuneful phrases and burnished yawp has an uncanny resemblance to Sam Rivers.
“The Will/Nissarama” starts with a pizzicato bass recital before the front line enters with a multipart nursery rhyme, turned dark with Robertson’s nasty chortle and snide growls. Neto’s choice of frontline partner is interesting, for Robertson’s brashness and frequent extroverted smears are in direct contrast to the pensive ferocity of the leader’s tenor. Goaded into calculated yelps and false-fingered buzz, one feels like he’s just barely keeping his exuberance corked. Neto’s writing isn’t merely of blowing vehicles; approaching territory explored by Dewey Redman, “The Flower” is texturally diverse (Robertson doubles here on a musette-like instrument). Stapp fleshes out the low end, marching in tandem with Filiano as pinched reed exhortations bubble up from the depths. The trumpeter is at his most stately here, his bravura in neat opposition to the dusky landscape Neto has formed. “Aboio” grows naturally out of “Flower,” delineated by brighter colors and a more pronounced rhythm – yet still indebted to its free seed. It’ll be interesting to see how Neto grows as a composer and soloist; a power-trio and its unfettered view of the helm is my vote for the latter.http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001905.html
Joe Fiedler Trio – The Crab (CF 092)
Trombonist Joe Fiedler staked his claim as disciple of Albert Mangelsdorff with his previous Clean Feed release, Plays the Music Of Albert Mangelsdorff. That he’s no mere epigone is reinforced by his latest trio release, The Crab, featuring bassist John Hebert and drummer Michael Sarin. Born in 1965 and based in New York since 1993, Fiedler has worked in an eclectic range of settings including pop, Afro-Caribbean (Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri) and jazz (Andrew Hill, Konitz, Braxton, Cecil Taylor), and he’s a member of Fast And Bulbous and the big bands of Satoko Fujii and Charles Tolliver.
Fiedler is a leading practitioner of the multiphonic techniques pioneered by Albert Mangelsdorff and Paul Rutherford, and this album is replete with growling Multiphonics—especially and unsurprisingly on “For Albert”—and bold intervallic leaps. The tightly meshed and muscular trio features Hebert’s funk-infused vamps, for instance on “Don’t Impede the Stream.” “Trout Stream” features Fiedler’s supremely strong mute work. Like Mangelsdorff, he aims to ally a sense of drama and humour with his use of extended techniques. The problem is not with them, but with a slight sense of metrical over-complexity and fussiness to the arrangements. Fiedler has a range of tonal variation, which means he can’t be accused of the un-trombone-like dryness of the bebop instrumentalists, but somehow that seems to be the underlying feel—though the recording could be a factor here. On some listens I haven’t liked this album, but I’m enjoying it right now.
Dennis González NY Quartet – Dance of the Soothsayer’s Tongue (CF 094)
Trumpeter and composer Dennis González’ latest release on Clean Feed comes from what’s probably a rather sizeable archive of tapes in his closet. A little over half of Dance of the Soothsayer’s Tongue captures a gig recorded at Tonic four years ago with tenorman Ellery Eskelin, bassist Mark Helias and drummer Michael T.A. Thompson. The remainder of the disc was recorded in a New York studio in 2004 with the same quartet. It’s sort of a requiem for the club, which closed its doors last year in the face of rising rents and business problems we’ll never quite understand; though its jazz policy had long been curtailed, the venue was still one of the few options for independent and creative music in Downtown Manhattan.
González always has a knack for bringing together interesting groups, and this latest release is no exception. Helias is, of course, a stalwart of vanguard New York jazz, and Thompson has long cut his teeth working with Sabir Matteen, Steve Swell, and other free improvisation heavies. Eskelin might be the outlier here – his trio with accordionist Andrea Parkins and drummer Jim Black has cut a unique chunk out of jazz’s history and served it up on a darkly irreverent platter, but it’s rare to see him working as a sideman. Here, his mastery of postbop tenor and his strong rhythmic guise are welcomed.
The leader starts the set unaccompanied with a repeating and almost calypso-like figure; he’s quickly joined in duo by Thompson’s tumbling polyrhythmics, as González varies the length and charge of his brittle brass bits. The pair enters into a slinky rhumba, long, thick and sure lines recalling some of Don Ellis’ Moorish figures. González, like Ellis and Ted Curson, is an expert at fattening up in the absence of a front-line partner, and his duet with Thompson is a fantastic example of this. “The Matter At Hand” is a stately unison line over limber accompaniment, and is the first “live” track of the disc. The piano-less arrangement echoes the robustness of a post-Mingus language rather than Ornette and Don Cherry. Helias’ solo is an aberration of slapping pizzicato into dense, percussive filigree, a fullness of notes that contrasts the leader’s fullness of tone.
Eskelin follows with an amazing extrapolation, working from the velvety bowels of phrase up to a polished, straight-arrow keen and back down into Ike Quebec’s candle-lit grave. Thompson works backwards into the bassist’s hyperactive plucks, slaps and jabs, segueing into the arid rhythms of the title track with the leader’s wide-vibrato bray in full view. Well-placed is Thompson’s solo feature “Soundrhythium,” a streetwise minimalism of bells, rimshots, thunder-sheet and kalimba that updates Amadeo Roldán and Cage for the new-jazz set.
Dennis Gonzalez NY Quartet – Dance of the Soothsayer’s Tongue (CF 094)
****
From Gerry Mulligan and Ornette Coleman to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Julius Hemphill and latterly Byron Wallen, the piano-less small group has produced some of the most beautiful sounds in jazz history and the body of work that the Dallas trumpeter has amassed in the last decade or so has decisively enriched the canon.
Captured here at the sadly defunct New York venue Tonic, González and the group are in finely poetic form. In short, the leader has found a way of taking the at times resoundingly folk-like sensibilities of previous recordings such as Namesake and Stefan to greater heights, using space, a very economic approach to harmony and the dramatically dry, stark textures of the ensemble minus a keyboard with tremendous focus. Both the compositions and group interplay are strong enough to make the music shift through many tonalities and levels of emotional pitch with great coherence.
Minor mode dirges dovetail with upbeat major key dances time and time again, slow tense themes topple into punchy, energised motifs in the space of one or two bars. This structural fluidity creates a series of bold, tricky segues that reach a climax on the “Afrikanu Suite” where a series of lengthy, funereal ambient-like passages perambulate into an off-centre 7/8 clave pulse. It’s a lopsidedly joyous release. While drummer Thompson is outstanding in his creation of esoteric sound canvas as well as rhythmic invention, it is González, though his board, rich tone and ringing melodic statements – short snappy lines with a real skipping quality – who stands tall in a band of very good musicians. A powerful document of a player and composer who, upholding the legacy of Cherry and Bowie among others, is an essential name in the pantheon of contemporary jazz trumpet.
STEPHEN GAUCI’S BASSO CONTINUO – Nididhyasana (CF 101)
This superb disc was recorded right here at Downtown Music Gallery exactly one year ago last week (January 14th, 2007). Although I was in attendance, this disc sounds even better than I remember and is captured closely and cleanly. I’ve always been a fan of the two bass thing, from Coltrane albums in the early sixties to Soft Machine ‘Four’ in 1971. Here, we again fine two master acoustic bassists playing with the strong toned tenor of Mr. Gauci and the ever-inventive trumpet of the ubiquitous Nate Wooley. Right from the opening note, both bassists are plucking deep notes together. Soon, Steve’s exceptional, haunting and unique tone emerges. Wow, what a sound he has! Both bassists spin and blur their layers of notes. Nate Wooley soon enters and sounds marvelous on his quick, calm muted trumpet. The balance of Steve’s thick, immense tone with Nate’s thinner, yet equally diverse array of notes is somehow perfect. There is a constant stream of ideas by both horns and both bassists that are inter-connected and blend into a flurry of riveting activity. What amazes me is that there is an ongoing story and communion between all four players as each contributes to the flow or directs the stream into another area. There is an incredible duo section that takes place about 9-minutes into the first piece between the trumpet and one bassist, slowly the other bassist takes over pushes the thread in another (connected) direction. Soon after the trumpet lays out, Gauci’s tenor comes in and slowly builds to a powerful solo. I soon notice that Nate never really stopped, he switches to breath-like, radiator-steam flutters, that add shades and shadows almost imperceptibly. When the bassist on the left starts bowing, it is as if the heavens have parted and the sun is shining down on us. Holy sh*t! This entire nearly hour disc is filled with grand moments like this, so why wait to make your life even richer?!? | tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | Pile-CC |
Introduction
============
Ulcerative colitis (UC), a major form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is an idiopathic chronic inflammatory condition affecting the colon and rectum, which influences life quality of patient ([@B54]). Although the pathogenesis of IBD remains unclear, it is accepted that bacterial dysbiosis is an important cause ([@B46]). Bacterial dysbiosis in IBD is characterized by a reduction in bacterial diversity, a decrease in the Firmicutes phylum (*Faecalibacterium, Blautia*, *Roseburia*, etc.), and an increase in the Proteobacteria phylum (Enterobacteriaceae, including *Escherichia*) ([@B41]; [@B32]; [@B49]; [@B52]). Compared with healthy subjects, an increase in fecal Proteobacteria and a decrease in Firmicutes have been observed in IBD patients; additionally, compared with patients in remission, the mucosae of patients in an active stage were colonized with a higher abundance of Proteobacteria and a lower abundance of Firmicutes ([@B32]; [@B49]). Apart from bacterial imbalance, there are some reports on the intestinal microbiome in IBD patients, including fungal and viral microbiomes ([@B31]; [@B39]; [@B32]; [@B49]; [@B6]; [@B21]; [@B42]).
It is reported that there was relative connection between inflammation and bacterial dysbiosis in IBD pathogenesis. For example, intestinal dysbiotic microbiota triggers a sustained and uninhibited inflammatory response by inducing effective cells, such as type 1, 9, and 17 T helper cells and innate lymphoid cells, to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines like interferon-γ, IL-17 and tumor necrosis factor α ([@B24]; [@B45]; [@B4]; [@B54]). Adversely, it is also reported that inflammation drove microbial dysbiosis ([@B60]). Several studies provide evidence that the inflammatory tissue facilitates a growth advantage for pathogens such as *Citrobacter rodentium* and *Salmonella* ([@B3]; [@B23]; [@B60]). Thus, it is plausible for regulating inflammatory status to affect the microbiota. Nevertheless, the effect of regulating inflammation on the bacterial microbiota has been rarely studied in IBD patients.
Currently, 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), an anti-inflammatory modulator, is the primary therapeutic regimen for controlling inflammation in IBD patients ([@B28]; [@B54]). [@B2] reported that 5-ASA altered fecal bacterial microbiota in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In this study, 12 women with diarrhea-predominant IBS received 5-ASA treatment. Data from *16S rRNA* sequencing showed a decrease of bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs), and an increase in the abundance of Firmicutes ([@B2]). However, the effect of 5-ASA on mucosal bacterial microbiota in UC patients is still unclear. Therefore, we aim to clarify the effect of 5-ASA treatment on the bacterial microbiota in this study to gain insight into the probable causal relationships associated with 5-ASA therapy.
Materials and Methods {#s1}
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Study Subjects and Biopsy Collection
------------------------------------
This study was approved by the Institutional Medical Ethics Review Board of Peking University People's Hospital. All UC patients were enrolled from Peking University People's Hospital from January 2015 to January 2017. The diagnosis of UC was established according to the World Gastroenterology Organization Global Guidelines ([@B5]). Apart from patients who did not undergo mucosal sampling, 57 patients in the activate stage of UC were recruited for an exploration cohort. Two groups, untreated (*n* = 20) and 5-ASA-treated (*n* = 37), were included in this cohort. Only patients following regimens for at least 1 month were classified in the 5-ASA-treated group. Furthermore, 10 UC patients from the 20 untreated patients in the exploration cohort underwent 5-ASA treatment for approximately 6 months and showed a decrease in their Mayo Endoscopic score (described below), but not a clinical complete remission. All of them were recruited into a validation cohort to confirm the data acquired from the exploration cohort (**Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}** and Supplementary Table [S1](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). All recruited patients were requested to avoid using probiotics and antibiotics for at least 2 weeks before sampling. After that, for each patient, inflamed mucosae and adjacent non-inflamed (2--4 mm^3^ of each mucosa sample) mucosae were obtained endoscopically and stored at -80°C after freezing in liquid nitrogen until DNA was extracted. We defined "non-inflamed" and "inflamed" by using endoscopic observation ([@B29]). The mucosa with following characters was considered as "endoscopic inflamed," including erythema, decreased/absent vascular pattern, friability, erosions, spontaneous bleeding, or ulceration. The mucosa without these symptoms was defined as "endoscopic non-inflamed."
######
Demographic and clinical data of UC patients in the exploration cohort.
Treatment Untreated 5-ASA treated *p*-Value
------------------- ------------------------ ----------- --------------- -----------
Number 20 37 --
Gender Male/Female 12/8 9/28 0.032^∗^
Age Mean ± SD, year 48 ± 14 47 ± 16 0.796
Mayo clinic score Mean ± SD 2.3 ± 0.6 2.1 ± 0.7 0.516
(Endoscopic) Normal or inactive (0) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) --
Mild (1) 1 (5%) 6 (16%) --
Moderate (2) 13 (65%) 20 (54%) --
Severe (3) 6 (30%) 11 (30%) --
Montreal E1 4 (20%) 10 (27%) --
classification E2 7 (35%) 11 (30%) --
E3 9 (45%) 16 (43%) --
Untreated, untreated UC patients; 5-ASA treated, 5-ASA treated UC patients.
∗
p
\< 0.05
.
DNA Extraction
--------------
Microbial genomic DNA was extracted from biopsy samples using the QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer's instructions, with minor modifications. Briefly, each biopsy sample was re-suspended in 200 μL phosphate-buffered saline with 80 μL enzyme solution (22.5 mg lysozyme powder \[Sigma-Aldrich, United States\] and 40 units of mutanolysin dissolved in 80 μL 10 mM Tris-HCl/1 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid \[Sigma, United States\]). After a 40-min incubation at 37°C, 2 zirconium beads (0.1 mm) were added, and the mixtures were homogenized in a Mini-bead Beater (FastPrep, United States) ([@B10]). The subsequent genomic DNA-purification steps were performed according to the manufacturer's instructions.
*16S rDNA* Amplification and Sequencing
---------------------------------------
After DNA extraction, bacterial *16S rDNA* was amplified. Briefly, the V3--V4 region of *16S rDNA* was amplified using paired primers (357F: CCTACGGGNBGCASCAG/806R: GACTACNVGGGTATCTAATCC). The *16S rDNA* gene was PCR-amplified using the KAPA HiFi HotStart PCR Kit (Kapa Biosystems, United States) in a 25-μL reaction volume containing 0.5 μL KAPA HiFi HotStart DNA Polymerase, 5 μL GC buffer, 0.5 μL deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates, 0.5 μM of each primer, 2 μL genomic DNA, and 16 μL double-distilled water. The reaction was held at 95°C for 3 min, followed by 25 cycles at 95°C for 1 min, 55°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 30 s, with a final elongation step at 72°C for 5 min in an ABI thermocycler (Applied Biosystems 2720, United States). Each PCR product was purified and amplified again to link with sample-specific barcodes (NEXTflex^TM^ DNA PCR Master Mix, Bioo Scientific, United States). After quantification using an ND-1000 v3.3.0 spectrophotometer (NanoDrop, United States), a paired-end sequencing (2 × 125 bp) was performed on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencer in two lanes at the Center for Molecular Immunology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China).
*16S rDNA* Sequence Analysis
----------------------------
The Illumina reads were sorted into different samples according to their barcoded index sequences. Fast Length Adjustment of SHort reads (FLASH) software was used to merge paired-end reads from the next-generation sequencing results ([@B36]). Low-quality reads were filtered using the fastq_quality_filter (-p 90 -q 25 -Q33) in FASTX-Toolkit, v.0.0.14 ([@B9]) and chimera reads were removed with USEARCH 64 bit, v8.0.1517 ([@B15]). The OTUs were aligned utilizing the UCLUST algorithm with a 97% identity and taxonomically classified using the SILVA database, v128 released on 29/09/2016 ([@B44]). Alpha and beta diversity were generated with the Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) ([@B9]) pipeline and calculated based on weighted and unweighted Unifrac-distance matrices. The pivotal criterion to select core OTUs was an abundance higher than 10 reads in at least 1 sample. We used the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) method to identify species with statistically significant differential abundance among groups ([@B48]). We characterized species alpha diversity in the community by calculating the Shannon and Chao1 diversity indexes. A Venn diagram was drawn for analysis of group-specific bacterial microbiota. In addition, we analyzed bacterial beta diversity using partial-least squares discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) and non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMDS) ([@B9]). Additionally, the relative abundance of the various phyla, classes, orders, families, and genera in each sample was computed and compared among all groups.
Microbial Abundance-UC Severity Correlation in the Exploration Cohort
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mayo Endoscopic Score ([@B29]) was used to estimate the severity of UC patients. Based on the total Mayo Clinic score, UC patients were divided into four groups: inactive (Mayo score = 0, *n* = 0), mild (Mayo score = 1, *n* = 7), moderate (Mayo score = 2, *n* = 33), and severe (Mayo score = 3, *n* = 17). Linear regression was performed to analyze correlations between microbial abundance and UC severity.
Analysis of the Bacterial Interaction Patterns
----------------------------------------------
To analyze bacterial-interaction patterns associated with different treatment strategies, pairwise bacterial abundance at the genus level was analyzed to determine correlations using Spearman's method. Correlation coefficients were calculated using the *pandas* software package of Python, v.3.6.0. Gplots and pheatmap packages were launched in R 3.3.2 and Cytoscape 3.4.0, respectively, to visualize the patterns of microbial-interaction networks. Only significant correlations (*p*-value \< 0.05 after false-discovery rate correlation) are shown.
Data Availability Statement
---------------------------
The sequences generated in the present study are available through the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (accession number [SRP136321](SRP136321)).
Statistical Analysis
--------------------
GraphPad Prism, v.6.0c was used for data analysis and graph preparation. All data are expressed as the mean ± standard error of the mean. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Fisher's least significant difference *post hoc* test was used for data analysis. Differences with a *p*-value \< 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results
=======
General Information on Recruited People
---------------------------------------
Fifty-seven UC patients, including untreated (*n* = 20) and 5-ASA treated (*n* = 37), were recruited for the exploration cohort. There was no significant difference in mean age between the untreated and 5-ASA treated groups (*p* = 0.796). The endoscopic mayo clinic score and Montreal classification of each patient were recorded (**Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}**). The Mayo Endoscopic score in the untreated and 5-ASA treated groups was not significantly different (2.3 ± 0.6 vs. 2.1 ± 0.7, *p* = 0.516).
Ten UC patients were recruited for an independent validation study; the mean age was 33 ± 14 years, and four out of 10 patients were male. The mean therapy time was 6 months. Six patients were treated with 5-ASA for approximately 6 months, and four patients were treated for approximately 12 months. The total Mayo Endoscopic score of each patient was recorded before and after 5-ASA treatment. After 5-ASA treatment, the total mayo clinic score of UC patients was decreased significantly (9.2 ± 2.5 vs. 5.9 ± 1.8, *p* = 0.002) (**Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}**).
######
Demographic and clinical data of UC patients in the validation cohort.
5-ASA treatment Before After *p*-Value
--------------------- --------------------------- ----------- ----------- -----------
Numer 10 --
Gender Male/Female 4/6 --
Age Mean ± SD, year 33 ± 14 --
Median therapy time Months 6 --
Mayo clinic Mean ± SD 9.2 ± 2.5 5.9 ± 1.8 0.002^∗∗^
score (Total) Normal or inactive (0--2) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) --
Mild (3--5) 2 (20%) 4 (40%) --
Moderate (6--10) 4 (40%) 6 (60%) --
Severe (11--12) 4 (40%) 0 (0%) --
Montreal E1 5 (50%) --
classification E2 2 (20%) --
E3 3 (30%) --
Before, before 5-ASA treatment; After, after 5-ASA treatment.
∗∗
p
\< 0.01
.
Effect of 5-ASA on Bacterial Diversity in UC Patients
-----------------------------------------------------
### Different Traits of the Bacterial Diversity in Untreated and 5-ASA Treated UC Patients of the Exploration Cohort
The bacterial alpha diversity was analyzed using observed species, and Chao1 and Shannon's indexes, and there was no significant difference between the Untreated/Non-inflamed and Untreated/Inflamed groups (**Figure [1A](#F1){ref-type="fig"}**). PLS-DA was carried out to estimate bacterial beta diversity. The bacterial microbiota clustered depending on non-inflamed and inflamed mucosae (**Figure [1B](#F1){ref-type="fig"}**).
{#F1}
We further analyzed the bacterial contents in the ASA-treated/Inflamed group. No significant difference in alpha diversity was found between the Untreated/Inflamed and ASA-treated/Inflamed groups (**Figure [1A](#F1){ref-type="fig"}**). Analyzing the bacterial beta diversity indicated that 5-ASA treatment drove separate clustering of all samples obtained from inflamed mucosae (**Figure [1B](#F1){ref-type="fig"}**).
### 5-ASA Treatment Altered the Bacterial Diversity of UC Patients in the Validation Cohort
Determining the Chao1 and Shannon indexes for the observed species revealed no statistical differences between the groups. Irrespective of whether the mucosae were non-inflamed or inflamed, 5-ASA treatment significantly decreased the bacterial alpha diversity. After 5-ASA treatment, however, higher alpha diversity was observed in After/Inflamed group compared with After/Non-inflamed group (**Figure [1C](#F1){ref-type="fig"}**).
In place of PLS-DA, NMDS analysis was performed to confirm the effect of 5-ASA treatment on bacterial beta diversity. We observed mucosal-type-dependent and treatment-dependent clustering in all mucosal samples (**Figure [1D](#F1){ref-type="fig"}**). These data indicated that 5-ASA treatment significantly altered the mucosal bacterial diversity.
Effect of 5-ASA on the Bacterial Composition in UC Patients
-----------------------------------------------------------
### Different Traits of the Bacterial Composition in Untreated and 5-ASA Treated UC Patients of Exploration Cohort
Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Proteobacteria phyla constituted the main part of the bacterial microbiota. These data were consistent with a previous study ([@B49]). Of note, there were trends of abundant decrease in Firmicutes and increase in Proteobacteria in the Untreated/Inflamed group compared with the Untreated/Non-inflamed group (**Figures [2A,B](#F2){ref-type="fig"}**), although these differences were not significant. Additionally, at the genus level, most of the bacterial microbiota were comprised of *Escherichia--Shigella*, *Bacteroides*, and *Faecalibacterium*. Compared with the Untreated/Non-inflamed group, there were decreased trends in abundance of *Enterococcus* and *Faecalibacterium*, and increased trends in the abundance of *Escherichia--Shigella* and *Prevotella_9* in the Untreated/Inflamed group (**Figure [2C](#F2){ref-type="fig"}**).
{#F2}
Compared with the Untreated/Inflamed group, a lower abundance of Proteobacteria and a higher abundance of Firmicutes were noted in the ASA treated/Inflamed group at the phylum level, but these differences were not significant (**Figures [2A,B](#F2){ref-type="fig"}**). At the genus level, *Faecalibacterium* and *Bifidobacterium* were more abundant, and *Escherichia--Shigella* and *Prevotella_9* were less abundant in the ASA treated/Inflamed group, compared with the Untreated/Inflamed group (**Figure [2C](#F2){ref-type="fig"}**).
### 5-ASA Treatment Altered the Bacterial Composition of UC Patients in the Validation Cohort
We further analyzed the bacterial composition in the validation cohort. At the phylum level, a lower abundance of Firmicutes and a higher abundance of Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria were observed in the Before/Inflamed group compared with the Before/Non-inflamed group, although these differences were not statistically different. After 5-ASA treatment, the abundance of Firmicutes significantly increased, and the Bacteroidetes abundance significantly decreased in the inflamed mucosae (After/Inflamed vs. Before/Inflamed) (**Figure [2D](#F2){ref-type="fig"}** and Supplementary Table [S2](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). In addition, the Firmicutes/Proteobacteria abundance ratio significantly increased in the inflamed mucosae (*p* = 0.004) (**Figure [2F](#F2){ref-type="fig"}**).
At the genus level, 19 bacterial genera were found with an average abundance of over 1%. These genera belonged to three phyla: Firmicutes (14), Proteobacteria (3), and Bacteroidetes (2) (**Figure [2E](#F2){ref-type="fig"}**). Thirty genera represented over 0.5% of the total and belonged to four phyla: Firmicutes (16), Proteobacteria (9), Bacteroidetes (4), and Verrucomicrobia (1) (Supplementary Table [S3](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
Before 5-ASA treatment, compared with the non-inflamed group, 4 bacterial genera (*Prevotella_2*, *Prevotella_9*, *Dialister*, and *Klebsiella*) significantly increased in the inflamed group. The abundance of some bacteria changed in the inflamed group without statistical significance. Trends toward alterations in these genera, such as *Subdoligranulum*, *Roseburia*, *Eubacterium coprostanoligenes*, and *Escherichia-Shigella* increased, and *Enterococcus*, *Lactococcus*, and *Faecalibacterium* decreased in inflamed mucosae (Supplementary Table [S3](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
Compared with the untreated groups, after 5-ASA treatment, the abundance of *Enterococcus* and *Lactococcus* increased significantly in both non-inflamed and inflamed mucosae. However, the abundance of several bacterial genera such as *Bacteroides*, *Prevotella_9*, *Faecalibacterium*, *Phascolarctobacterium*, *Subdoligranulum*, *Roseburia*, *Ruminococcus_2*, *Eubacterium coprostanoligenes*, *Ruminococcaceae UCG-014*, *Ruminococcaceae_UCG_002*, *Dialister*, *Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group*, *Parasutterella*, and *Akkermansia* significantly decreased after 5-ASA treatment (Supplementary Table [S3](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). These data suggested that 5-ASA treatment altered the bacterial composition.
Based on these data, we primarily hypothesized that 5-ASA treatment affected the bacterial microbiota. To test this hypothesis, we subsequently performed a further confirmation study in the validation cohort.
5-ASA Treatment Altered the Representative Bacteria in the Validation Cohort
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEfSe analysis was performed to identify the differential bacteria composition. The difference in the bacterial microbiota between non-inflamed and inflamed mucosae was also explored using the Mann--Whitney *U* test at different taxon levels, including order, family and genus.
Before 5-ASA treatment, three representative bacterial genera were identified in the Before/Non-inflamed group and four representative genera were identified in the Before/Inflamed group. *Tyzzerella_3*, *Atopobium*, *Klebsiella*, and *Dialister* were enriched in the Before/Inflamed group (**Figure [3A](#F3){ref-type="fig"}**). To investigate the effect of 5-ASA treatment on mucosal microbiota, the differentiated taxa in the After/Non-inflamed and After/Inflamed groups were assessed. Forty representative genera were found in the After/Inflamed group, but no representative bacterium was found in the After/Non-inflamed group, at the genus level. Firmicutes members in the Clostridiales order (Christensenellaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae) and Selenomonadales order (Veillonellaceae) were overrepresented in the After/Inflamed group. Among the Firmicutes, the *Roseburia*, *Faecalibacterium*, *Ruminococcaceae UCG_002/003/004/009/010/013*, *Ruminococcus_2*, and *Lachnos piraceaeUCG_003* genera were associated with the After/Inflamed group (**Figure [3B](#F3){ref-type="fig"}**). These data indicated that Firmicutes were overrepresented in mucosae after 5-ASA treatment, especially in inflamed mucosae.
{#F3}
Group-Specific Bacterial Microbiota in the Validation Cohort
------------------------------------------------------------
To further investigate the effects of 5-ASA treatment on the bacterial microbiota, we analyzed group-specific OTUs before and after 5-ASA treatment. The group-specific OTUs were identified by matching data with the SILVA database. We identified 850 OTUs, 582 of which were shared by all four groups (**Figure [3C](#F3){ref-type="fig"}**).
*Rhodanobacter* (OTU420, Proteobacteria) uniquely existed in non-inflamed mucosae (Before/Non-inflamed and After/Non-inflamed groups), and OTU843 exclusively colonized inflamed mucosae (Before/Inflamed and After/Inflamed groups). Five specific OTUs were found in the Before/Non-inflamed group. Four of them were not identified in the SILVA database, although one OTU was identified in the database (*Anaerosalibacter*, a genus belonging to the Clostridiaceae family). Three OTUs, namely *Phascolarctobacterium* (OTU51, Firmicutes), *Bacteroides* (OTU146, Bacteroidetes), and OTU837, were shared by the Before/Non-inflamed and Before/Inflamed groups. No unique bacteria were detected in the Before/Inflamed and After/Non-inflamed groups. Several new OTUs were discovered after 5-ASA treatment. *Ruminiclostridium* (OTU164, Firmicutes) and OTU805 were found in the After/Inflamed group, and *Clostridium sensu stricto 2* (OTU393, Firmicutes), *Bacillus* (OTU597, Firmicutes), *Coprococcus 2* (OTU624, Firmicutes), and OTU821 were found in both the After/Non-inflamed and After/Inflamed groups (Supplementary Table [S4](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
These data suggested that more kinds of Firmicutes bacteria and less kinds of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes bacteria existed in the intestinal mucosae of UC patients after 5-ASA treatment.
5-ASA Treatment Altered the Bacterial Interaction Patterns in UC Patients
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
We further analyzed the effect of 5-ASA treatment on bacterial interaction patterns in non-inflamed and inflamed mucosae. Before 5-ASA treatment, the abundance of *Lactococcus, Enterococcus*, and *Roseburia* (belonging to Firmicutes) correlated negatively with *Bacteroides* and *Propionibacterium* in non-inflamed mucosae. Additionally, a low degree of bacterial correlation was found in the Before/Non-inflamed group. Notably, there was an extensive negative correlation of Escherichia--Shigella with Firmicutes (Ruminococcaceae, *Faecalibacteria, Streptococcus, Lachnoclostridium,* etc.) and Bacteroidetes (*Prevotella, Alistipes, Bacteroides,* and *Parabacteroides*) in the Before/Inflamed group. In addition, *Bacteroides* and *Parabacteroides* (belonging to the Bacteroidetes phylum) negatively correlated with *Lactococcus* and *Enterococcus.* These data indicated that increased Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria abundance negatively correlated with the Firmicutes abundance in the Before/Inflamed group. These skewed bacterial correlations tended to be related to inflammatory responses in inflamed mucosae (**Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}**).
{#F4}
After 5-ASA treatment, a few bacterial correlations were observed in the After/Non-inflamed group. Compared with the Before/Inflamed group, fewer bacterial correlations were observed in the After/Inflamed group. *Escherichia--Shigella* did not extensively correlate with Firmicutes. However, the abundance of *Lactococcus* and *Enterococcus* increased and negatively correlated with Bacteroidetes (including *Prevotella* and *Parabacteroides*) and Proteobacteria (including Escherichia--Shigella, *Klebsiella* and *Parasutterella*). These data suggested that 5-ASA treatment alleviated the skewed negative correlation between *Escherichia--Shigella* and Firmicutes. In addition, increased Firmicutes exerted a suppressive effect on Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria (**Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}**).
Relationship Between 5-ASA Efficiency and the Bacterial Microbiota
------------------------------------------------------------------
### The Correlation Between UC Severity and Bacterial Abundance in the Exploration Cohort
We assumed that, irrespective of 5-ASA treatment, the abundance of some bacteria correlated with UC severity. To test this hypothesis, linear-regression analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between bacterial abundance and UC severity in the exploration cohort.
We found that bacterial abundance in non-inflamed mucosae poorly correlated with UC severity. In inflamed mucosae, the abundance of Firmicutes (*R* = 0.2603, *p* = 0.0549) negatively correlated with UC severity, and Proteobacteria (*R* = 0.2576, *p* = 0.0576) positively correlated with UC severity at the phylum level. Analysis at the genus level showed that the abundance of *Faecalibacterium* (*R* = 0.2873, *p* = 0.0334), *Roseburia* (*R* = 0.3416, *p* = 0.0107), and *Bifidobacterium* (*R* = 0.3536, *p* = 0.0081) negatively correlated with UC severity, while Enterobacteriaceae (*R* = 0.2873, *p* = 0.0179) and *Escherichia--Shigella* (*R* = 0.3175, *p* = 0.0182) positively correlated with UC severity (**Figure [5A](#F5){ref-type="fig"}** and Supplementary Table [S5](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). These data indicated that the bacterial abundance might be a reliable factor for evaluating UC severity.
{#F5}
### Bacterial Abundance Reflected the Efficiency of 5-ASA Treatment
To investigate the relationship between 5-ASA treatment efficiency and bacterial microbiota, we clustered samples by analyzing bacterial abundance at the genus level (**Figure [5B](#F5){ref-type="fig"}**). We found obvious clustering depending on 5-ASA treatment. Before 5-ASA treatment, bacteria such as *Escherichia--Shigella*, *Dialister*, *Bacteroides*, *Prevotella_9*, and *Klebsiella* colonized in the non-inflamed and inflamed mucosae with high abundance. The abundance of these bacteria decreased after 5-ASA treatment, and increase in *Enterococcus*, *Lactococcus*, and *Lactobacillus* was detected. Additionally, compared with the untreated group, several bacteria such as *Faecalibacterium*, *Subdoligranulum*, *Parasutterella*, *Roseburia*, *Ruminococcus_2*, *Lachnoclostridium*, *Prevotella_2*, *Akkermansia*, *Phascolarctobacterium*, and *Ruminococcaceae UCG-014* decreased after 5-ASA treatment (**Figure [5B](#F5){ref-type="fig"}**).
In our exploration study, we found that UC severity positively correlated with the abundance of *Escherichia--Shigella* in inflamed mucosae. In the validation study, although the difference was not significant, we still found a decreased abundance of *Escherichia--Shigella* and other genera belonging to Enterobacteriaceae after 5-ASA treatment (Supplementary Table [S5](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). These data indicated that bacterial abundance (e.g., *Escherichia--Shigella*) might reflect the efficiency of 5-ASA treatment.
Discussion
==========
Compared with fecal microbiota (passersby), mucosal microbiota act as residents that can continuously activate the host immune system and induce chronic gut inflammation ([@B53]). To investigate the characteristics of the gut microbiota of UC patients undergoing 5-ASA treatment, we analyzed mucosal samples. Additionally, because of ethical limitations, we did not compare the mucosal bacterial microbiota of UC patients to healthy controls. Previous studies have reported microbial differences between non-inflamed and inflamed mucosae, and between remission and inflamed mucosae ([@B31]; [@B32]). Therefore, we compared the bacterial microbiota in inflamed and non-inflamed mucosae.
Gut microbiota is a complex biosystem affected by several factors. It has been reported that the location of the mucosal sampling sites influenced the microbial composition ([@B1]; [@B19]; [@B12]; [@B20]). According to the Montreal classification, we enrolled approximately the same percentage of patients with each type to verify this effect. Furthermore, a previous study also reported a sex-based effect on mucosa-associated bacteria along the human colon ([@B1]). We found that there was a significant difference in the sex percentage in our exploration cohort. To avoid the sex-based bias in our study, we further confirmed the results obtained from the exploration cohort within our validation cohort.
Bacterial dysbiosis is related to IBD development ([@B58]; [@B22]). In IBD patients, the bacterial diversity and the percentage of the Firmicutes phylum decreased and that of the Proteobacteria phylum increased ([@B41]; [@B32]; [@B49]; [@B52]). Our data were in agreement with these previous studies. Recently, some IgA-coated bacteria have been shown as dominant pathogens in IBD pathogenesis ([@B40]). *Escherichia* (belonging to the Proteobacteria phylum) is a genus of IgA-coated bacteria ([@B56]). In addition, *Escherichia coli* (in particular, the AIEC pathotype) has been implicated in IBD pathogenesis ([@B38]). It has been reported that chronic infection with *Escherichia* induced cell cycle disorder, DNA damage, and inflammation. These processes play pivotal roles in IBD development ([@B25]; [@B56]). Apart from *Escherichia*, a high abundance of Bacteroidetes was discovered in the inflamed mucosa of untreated UC patients, especially in the validation cohort. This finding suggests that the pathogenesis is related to Bacteroidetes species, such as *Bacteroides*, *Prevotella_2*, *Prevotella_9*, and *Parabacteroides*. *Bacteroides fragilis* has been reported to produce a toxin termed *B. fragilis* toxin that induced IBD and even colorectal cancer ([@B47]). *Prevotella falsenii* and *Parabacteroides distasonis*, two peptidoglycan recognition protein-regulated gut microbes, were also reported as aggravating colitis ([@B14]). In our exploration study, we also found that UC severity correlated with the Proteobacteria abundance, especially Enterobacteriaceae and *Escherichia--Shigella* in inflamed mucosa. We also assessed the bacterial microbiota in UC patients after 5-ASA treatment in our validation cohort. We found that it reduced the abundance of bacteria associated with inflammation after 5-ASA treatment, such as *Escherichia--Shigella*, *Bacteroides*, *Prevotella_9*, *Prevotella_2*, and *Klebsiella*. These data indicate that 5-ASA treatment might affect inflammation-associated bacteria colonizing the gut mucosa of UC patients.
Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), especially butyrate, provide up to 60% of the energy needed to colonic epithelium and gut immune cells, and play beneficial roles in anti-inflammation, anti-carcinogenesis, mucosal protection, and healing ([@B11]; [@B8]; [@B55]). SCFAs levels are reduced in IBD patients, and this reduction is associated with a decrease in SCFAs-producing bacteria ([@B35]). In Firmicutes, SCFA-producing bacteria include *Blautia*, *Roseburia*, *Ruminococcus*, *Clostridium*, *Faecalibacterium*, etc. In the exploration study, we found that the abundance of *Roseburia*, *Ruminococcus*, *Clostridium*, *Faecalibacterium*, and *Dorea* decreased in the inflamed mucosae of untreated UC patients. These data were in accord with those of previous studies ([@B35]; [@B33], [@B34]). Additionally, we also showed that UC severity negatively correlated with bacteria such as *Faecalibacterium*, *Roseburia*, and *Bifidobacterium* in our exploration cohort. Although we could not perform a statistical analysis with our validation cohort because of the small sample size, these data were consistent with previous reports ([@B41]; [@B37]; [@B49]; [@B52]), and they validated the methods used in this study. Notably, increased colonization of Firmicutes, such as *Ruminiclostridium*, *Clostridium sensu stricto 2*, *Coprococcus 2*, and *Bacillus,* was found after 5-ASA treatment. The former three genera belong to the Clostridiales order and have been associated with SCFAs production ([@B51]). *Bacillus clausii,* a probiotic *Bacillus* spp., is utilized to treat small intestinal bacterial overgrowth ([@B16]). These data suggest that the gut mucosa developed to a suitable state for colonization of some beneficial Firmicutes after 5-ASA treatment.
[@B50] reported a skewed microbial interaction pattern in IBD patients. He found that the concomitant analysis of microbiota showed a dense and homogenous correlation network in healthy subjects, but an unbalanced network in IBD patients ([@B50]). In our validation cohort, the skewed negative correlation between *Escherichia--Shigella* and bacterial genera of Firmicutes was also found in the inflamed mucosae of UC patients before 5-ASA treatment. Many of the involved Firmicutes bacteria were SCFA-producing bacteria. It has been reported that the translocation of *E. coli* across epithelia was reduced by SCFAs, especially butyrate ([@B30]; [@B7]). We inferred that the decrease in anti-inflammatory SCFA-producing bacteria, such as some Firmicutes bacteria, and the increase of pro-inflammatory *Escherichia--Shigella* represent two fundamental traits in the mucosal inflammation of UC patients. Thus, the skewed negative correlation between *Escherichia--Shigella* and bacterial genera of Firmicutes in inflamed mucosae may play a key role in gut inflammation in UC patients. After 5-ASA treatment, we found that the skewed interaction disappeared, which partly indicated a therapeutic effect of 5-ASA.
It is widely accepted that there is an interaction between host immunity and microbiota. The gut microbiota plays an instrumental role in the development and education of the host immune system early in life ([@B17]; [@B18]). Through its symbiotic relationship with immune cells, colonizing microbiota can stimulate host immunity to prevent pathogen invasion ([@B57]). The interaction between the immune system and microbiota is essential for the immune defense system of the host in a healthy state ([@B4]). These reports highlighted a microbiota--immunity interaction. Nevertheless, interruption of host immunity--microbiota interactions plays a pivotal role in triggering inflammation in IBD, which is mediated by the host immune system ([@B13]; [@B58]; [@B26]; [@B27]; [@B43]); however, we are not clear as to whether inflammatory status affects gut microbiota. We observed in our study that there were parallel changes between the decrease in the Mayo Endoscopic score and bacterial alteration (e.g., decreased *Escherichia--Shigella*) of UC patients after 5-ASA treatment in our validation cohort. A previous study also indicated that the proposed anti-inflammatory and bacteriological effects of 5-ASA were well aligned with factors implicated in IBS pathogenesis ([@B2]). We did not use sulfasalazine (SASP) in our research as its sulfonamide group might directly exert an antimicrobial effect. Unlike SASP, 5-ASA exerts its anti-inflammatory effect mainly by inhibiting TNF-α-regulated IκB degradation and NF-κB activation ([@B59]). Thus, we inferred that 5-ASA treatment might alter bacterial microbiota through regulating inflammatory status, although this needs further investigation.
In this study, we showed the microbial dysbiosis (mainly characterized by an abundant increase of *Escherichia--Shigella*) and the skewed negative correlation between *Escherichia--Shigella* and bacterial genera of Firmicutes in the inflamed mucosa of UC patients. In addition, we found that 5-ASA treatment altered the diversity, composition, and bacterial interaction patterns in mucosal samples of UC patients.
Ethics Statement
================
This study was carried out in accordance with the *World Medical Association's Declaration of Helsinki*. The protocol was approved by the *Institutional Medical Ethics Review Board of Peking University People's Hospital* (Document No. *2016PHB024-01*). All subjects gave *written informed consent* in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
Author Contributions
====================
YL and JX designed the study. JX and NC performed acquisition of clinical data. JX, ZW, YS, NW, FZ, and XR performed analysis and interpretation of data. JX and YZ drew the figures. JX and YL wrote the manuscript. NC, ZW, and YS revised the manuscript for important intellectual content. NC and YL supervised the study.
Conflict of Interest Statement
==============================
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
**Funding.** This study was supported by Capital Characteristic Clinic Project (Z161100000516161) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (81670499).
The authors thank Zhu Baoli, Lv Na and Liu Fei from the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for their warmhearted assistance in microbial genomics sequencing and analysis.
Supplementary Material
======================
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01274/full#supplementary-material>
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Click here for additional data file.
[^1]: Edited by: Benoit Chassaing, Georgia State University, United States
[^2]: Reviewed by: Bruno Bonaz, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Grenoble, France; Yuji Naito, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan; Simon Andrew Hirota, University of Calgary, Canada
[^3]: ^†^These authors have contributed equally to this work.
[^4]: This article was submitted to Microbial Symbioses, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology
| tomekkorbak/pile-curse-small | PubMed Central |
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