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Susan Zirinsky, legendary figure at CBS, makes history as first female executive to head news division
By Stephen BattaglioStaff Writer
Reporting from New York City —
On Monday morning, incoming CBS News President Susan Zirinsky made an entrance worthy of a rock star.
Loud cheers and applause arose from elated staff members as she stepped into the newsroom at the network's studios on Manhattan's West Side for the first time since her appointment was announced Sunday.
Some of the people in the "news hub" have worked with the producer, who is known as "Z," for many of her 46 years at CBS. Some were young women, who after seeing their company roiled by #MeToo scandals, were thrilled to watch the first female chief of the division take the reins.
During her speech to the troops, Zirinsky pulled out a copy of a script used by CBS News legend Walter Cronkite on the night that President Nixon resigned in 1974. As a staffer in the network's Washington, D.C., bureau, she had taken the pages out of a trash bin and saved them.
"It was the most moving experience that I've ever had at CBS News," a veteran anchor said of the speech.
Zirinsky, 66, replaces outgoing CBS News President David Rhodes, who was brought in by the network's then- chief executive, Leslie Moonves, in 2011. She is faced with preserving the journalistic legacy of the network while boosting the ratings for CBS News, which has lost ground to competitors in recent years. She also will have to heal the reputational damage to CBS caused by the sexual harassment allegations that led to the firing of anchor Charlie Rose and "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager.
A legend at CBS News, Zirinsky is one of the last remaining figures linked to its glory years, when the broadcast networks were the dominant source of news for TV viewers. The promotion of a longtimer will be a morale booster for the rank and file, according to one company veteran. Her reputation as a strong collaborator has made her a popular figure throughout CBS.
Betsy West, a professor at Columbia University's School of Journalism and a former network news executive, said Zirinsky's experience, energy and passion make her an ideal choice for the task.
"Not only are they putting a woman as the head of CBS News, but she is also one of the most talented, hard-working people there," West said. "Zirinsky commands respect across the division and the network news world in general. This is sending a great signal that it's a new day."
Zirinsky's reputation as a dynamic, hard-charging producer was solidified by the Hollywood portrayal of her in the 1987 feature film "Broadcast News."
Director James L. Brooks went to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco in 1984 and observed all three networks as he began to research a film about a woman working in the highly competitive news business.
After the convention was over, Brooks arranged a meeting with Zirinsky. It took place just after her civil marriage ceremony to Joe Peyronnin (both were producers at the "CBS Evening News" at the time and were working at the convention). Zirinsky was brought on as a technical advisor on the film and inspired the character of Jane Craig, played by Holly Hunter.
Not only did Brooks and Hunter immortalize Zirinsky but they also have remained friends with the producer and her husband.
Zirinsky is a native of Queens, N.Y., where her father was a commercial real estate mogul. She could have been a trust fund kid, but she saw journalism as a calling, an occupation that could make a difference in people's lives. She joined the network in 1972 as a 20-year-old student at Washington's American University, when Cronkite was still the lead anchor and the Watergate scandal was entering the country's consciousness.
"It's been said that I was delivered from the maternity ward to the CBS Washington bureau," Zirinsky said in an interview shortly before her appointment was announced.
From Washington, she went on to oversee the network's coverage of the student uprising in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and the first Gulf War. In 2001, two filmmakers came to her with more than two dozen hours of footage shot during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She turned the footage into an award-winning documentary on CBS that drew 39 million viewers. She took a foundering news magazine, "48 Hours," and converted it into an appointment program for true crime enthusiasts and a profit center for the company for the last 20 years.
Zirinsky's versatility and willingness to take on any task led Moonves to offer her the top job in the news division nearly 10 years ago. She turned it down, becoming one of his few lieutenants to refuse an offer from the then-powerful executive.
Moonves was ousted in September over sexual misconduct allegations and recently stripped of his $120-million severance after a four-month investigation.
Zirinsky said she did not want the front office job, because it would take her away from the work she loves, which is producing.
But with CBS News struggling to maintain audiences amid the myriad choices viewers have in 2019 — and the prospect of monumental news coming out of the Trump White House that could rival the Watergate scandal — she accepted the offer from interim CBS Chief Executive Joe Ianniello.
Zirinsky said she thought about Cronkite and other CBS News journalists she'd worked with, such as the late Bob Simon and Ed Bradley. When talking about them, she choked up. Her emotion is rooted in the belief that their values have been instilled in the people she works with today, and she said she wants to give them a chance to succeed.
"I feel a pride in CBS News," she said. "The people we have now embody people like Cronkite, Bradley and Simon. I'm not crying about the past. I'm pushing forward."
With Charlie Rose and Jeff Fager gone, CBS News faces a daunting task to repair the damage from sexual harassment scandals »
One of Zirinsky's top priorities will be to improve ratings for two key programs.
Ratings for "CBS This Morning" — which grew under the first five years of Rose and coanchors Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell — have eroded since Rose was replaced by John Dickerson, who had been successful as moderator of the Sunday program "Face the Nation" from Washington.
"CBS Evening News" has also become less competitive since Jeff Glor was tapped by Rhodes to replace Scott Pelley in the anchor chair in late 2017. The program has been running a poor third behind "ABC World News Tonight With David Muir" and "NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt."
"We have to look at everything — what stories we are covering, how we are stacking the show, framing the scope of the broadcasts," Zirinsky told her colleagues. "We have to make sure we're at the top of our game."
stephen.battaglio@latimes.com
Twitter: @SteveBattaglio
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
Stephen Battaglio
Stephen Battaglio writes about television and the media business for the Los Angeles Times out of New York. His coverage of the television industry has appeared in TV Guide, the New York Daily News, the New York Times, Fortune, the Hollywood Reporter, Inside.com and Adweek. He is also the author of three books about television, including a biography of pioneer talk show host and producer David Susskind.
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HollywoodNews.com > Yakin
Tag Archives: Yakin
Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson projects going to Lionsgate
Wed, Nov 3 2010
Also tagged: American film directors, American Special Forces, Awards Movies News Award, Boaz Yakin, Cape Town, Cinema of the United States, Connell Hollywoodnews, Danni Lang, Dwayne Johnson, Entertainment/Culture, film, Hollywood Los Angeles California, Human development, Human Interest, IM Global, IMDB Inc, James Colby, Jason Statham, Judge, Judge Dredd, Karl Urban, New Mexico, News Hollywood Awards, Olivia Thirlby, operative, Pete Travis, Simon West, south africa, Stallone, Teen films, Tim Carr, Twitter Inc, Wrestler
By Sean O'Connell Hollywoodnews.com: Lionsgate is filling its slate with a trio of titles that it will distribute in partnership with IM Global, and we are starting to get a few more details about each project, thanks to Variety. Jason Statham will headline "Safe," which is currently in production. Written[...]
Hollywood Movie Roundup: Enter Sandman (but make way for the ladies)
Fri, May 28 2010
Also tagged: Abu Dhabi, alfred molina, At the Movies, ben kingsley, Betsy Sharkey, Boaz Yakin, breaking news, Candace Bushnell, Carlo Bernard, carrie bradshaw, Chicago Tribune, Cinema of the United States, Cynthia Nixon, Dargis, director, Doug Miro, Entertainment, Entertainment news, Entertainment Weekly, Entertainment/Culture, films, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Gemma Arterton, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Hollywood, hollywood news, jake gyllenhaal, Joe Morgenstern, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Lisa Schwarzbaum, los angeles times, Mass media, Memorial Day, Michael Patrick King, Michael Phillips, Middle East, Mike Newell, Prince, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, PRINCESS, Roger Ebert, Romantic comedy films, sarah jessica parker, sex, Sex and the City, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The New York Times Co, the Sun, the Sun-Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal Online, USD, writer /director
By Kevin Crust HollywoodNews.com: The summer's first three-day weekend features a pair of films that figure to split demographically along gender lines with the women taking the top spot at the box-office. Memorial Day is traditionally one of the biggest holiday weekends at the movies, but without a behemoth to[...]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Soft Cover, English, Thread Stiching, 170 Pages, 2016, Sternberg Press
James Richards
Request and Antisongs
Requests and Antisongs is an artist's book to accompany a sequence of exhibitions by James Richards held at Bergen Kunsthall, Norway; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; and the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover.
Requests and Antisongs is an artist's book to accompany a sequence of exhibitions by James Richards held at Bergen Kunsthall, Norway; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; and the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover. The book contains a series of visual essays by the artist, documentation of recent exhibitions, as well as essays by Dan Fox, Ed Atkins, Steve Reinke, Chris McCormack, and Fatima Hellberg. In Richards's work, images and sounds are merged into highly affective videos that combine footage from a wide range of sources to form elegant compositions. His recent projects separate these elements out again, allowing space for multichannel audio installations that combine sound in a way that is physical and spatial. The video works convene materials according to the silent rhythms and movements of the footage they contain—footage from newscasts, medical documentaries, and French erotica as well as the institutions' own archives of video documentation—composing a lyrical meditation on the body as a site for the flow of material and sensation.This book, the most significant publication on Richards's work to date, is an extension of the shows, transposing the strategies of his exhibition making into the rhythm of printed matter. The artist has developed a new series of collages specially for the book, comprising promiscuous relations and dissonant juxtapositions between photographic documentation of the works in the exhibitions, the artist's personal photographs, and found images. Language: English
Gesammttkkunnstt MeshuggahhLaandttttt
An Introduction. (Over and over and once again)
Aleksandra Jach, Antje Majewski, Amy Patton, …
D.I.E. Now The True Story of John Webber and His Endless Struggle with the Table of Content
10 minutes after
Josephine Meckseper


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Disgraced Owner Robert Sarver Selling Suns To Billionaire Mat Ishbia
Robert Sarver Disgraced Suns Owner Selling Team To Billionaire Mat Ishbia
LinkedIn/Getty Composite
1:00 PM PT -- Woj reports the final price tag is believed to be in the "neighborhood" of $4 billion.
Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver, who announced his intent to sell his team after an investigation concluded he'd used the n-word, amongst other awful behavior, has now finally found a suitor ... former Michigan State basketball player and billionaire businessman, Mat Ishbia.
The news comes via a report from Adrian Wojnarowski ... who tweeted Tuesday morning that the sides are putting the finishing touches on a deal.
"Billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia is finalizing a purchase of the Phoenix Suns," Woj wrote, adding, "The deal, expected to be completed in the near future, would end the tumultuous tenure of owner Robert Sarver."
IMAGN
Ishbia is a former college basketball player ... he played 3 seasons under Tom Izzo at MSU. Although he didn't play much (2.4 minutes per game), Mat won a National Championship in 2000.
After college, Ishbia made a fortune in the lending business ... he owns a majority stake in United Wholesale Mortgage, a company founded by his dad in the mid-80s.
Ishbia is worth $5.1 billion, according to Forbes -- making him the 501st richest person in the world.
As we previously reported, Sarver was suspended for 1 year and fined $10 million by the NBA after an extensive investigation, spanning 320 interviews with current and former employees, found the Suns and Mercury owner used the n-word at least 5 times. FWIW, the league said his use of the word wasn't motivated by hate or prejudice, but instead, he was "recounting the statements of others."
The investigation also concluded Sarver didn't treat male and female employees equally. In addition, they found RS engaged in inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, as well as players like LeBron James (and many more around the league), came out against Sarver ... and he finally announced his intent to sell the team.
"I do not want to be a distraction to these two teams and the fine people who work so hard to bring the joy and excitement of basketball to fans around the world," Sarver, who bought the team in 2004, said when announcing he was going to sell back in September.
"I want what's best for these two organizations, the players, the employees, then fans, the community, my fellow owners, the NBA and the WNBA. This is the best course of action for everyone."
Now it appears he's found his buyer.
The Suns, Sarver, nor the NBA have addressed the reported upcoming sale.
Story developing ...
Phoenix Suns Coach Monty Williams 'Disgusted' By Robert Sarver N-Word Use
PayPal Threatens To Pull Plug On Suns Deal Unless Sarver Resigns
Robert Sarver Money TMZ Sports Basketball Phoenix Suns NBA Controversial S#!T


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Follow @SeaTimesSports
More virus cases linked to UAE Tour as riders face isolation
March 4, 2020 at 3:41 am Updated March 4, 2020 at 3:18 pm
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Six more people with links to the canceled UAE Tour cycling race have been infected with the virus spreading around the world.
The Ministry of Health in the United Arab Emirates said in a statement that two Russians, two Italians, one German and one Colombian have been diagnosed with the virus. They were all linked to two previous cases involving Italians, it said.
Rider Igor Boev of the Gazprom-RusVelo team told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that he was in the hospital after being diagnosed. Boev said he was waiting for more test results and said the hospital food was "more than fine for a normal person but not enough for a pro rider."
Riders from other teams are staying in isolation in case they develop symptoms. Arnaud Demare of Groupama-FDJ posted a video of makeshift fitness routines in his hotel room and eating food delivered in a paper bag.
The UCI said Abu Dhabi authorities ordered riders and staff from Groupama-FDJ, Gazprom-RusVelo and Cofidis to be isolated until March 14. They're all staying on the same floor of a hotel.
Cofidis team president Thierry Vittu said Wednesday it was a relief to have a deadline for when riders and staff could leave, even if it's still some time away.
"Now we know where we stand, and even if the confinement in the room continues, everyone will manage to find occupations, distractions, activities," he said on the team website. "We are going to stay in solidarity with each other, conscious that we are living a collective adventure, that we would have liked not to live, but which will teach us about ourselves and others. We already tell ourselves that in a few months, we will be laughing about it among ourselves."
The last two stages of the UAE Tour were canceled on Feb. 28 after two virus cases among team staff members. British rider Adam Yates was declared the winner because he was leading after the first five stages.
Team Ineos, the British powerhouse that includes Tour de France winners Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, announced it was pulling out of all races until the start of the Volta a Catalunya on March 23, citing both the uncertainty surrounding the virus outbrak and the death of former rider Nicolas Portal.
In Italy, the government declared that all sporting events for the next month must take place without fans, while soccer officials said the second leg of the Italian Cup semifinals between Napoli and Inter Milan scheduled for Thursday in Naples has been postponed indefinitely.
The other semifinal match, Juventus-AC Milan, scheduled for Wednesday had already been postponed.
Ten Serie A matches scheduled over the past two weekends have also been postponed.
German soccer club Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday canceled a preseason tour of Asia because of the virus outbreak, while some fans have been asked not to attend a Bundesliga game this weekend.
Dortmund apologized to fans in Asia, saying that the planned tour of China and other countries couldn't go ahead because it is "not possible to make safe travel arrangements."
Dortmund is to play at title challenger Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday. That is the closest Bundesliga team to the area of Heinsberg, where a cluster of virus cases have been reported.
Following talks with regional government officials, Gladbach said the game would go ahead but asked fans from Heinsberg not to attend. They will be offered a refund and a free ticket to a European home game next season.
The French league is trying to reduce players' physical contact at games. The league said players won't have to shake hands with their opponents, and the players and referee will hold child mascots by the shoulders, not by the hands.
In tennis, players will have to handle their own towels at an Italy-South Korea Davis Cup qualifier scheduled for this weekend — freeing ball kids of the duty.
The match in Cagliari, Sardinia, could be called off or played in an empty stadium, however.
"We're awaiting government orders," Italy captain Corrado Barazzutti said. "We'll play if we can. We'll play without fans if they tell us to. And we won't play if they tell us not to."
The International Boxing Association postponed its congress from March 20 to June 20, citing concerns by Hungarian authorities about delegates from countries with virus cases. The Hungarian capital of Budapest remains the host despite the delay.
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The congress was a key step for the association, known as AIBA, to restore confidence after years of infighting and financial crises.
AIBA was barred last year from running the Tokyo Olympic boxing tournament after the International Olympic Committee criticized its leadership and questioned the integrity of its judging and refereeing. AIBA said interim president Mohamed Moustahsane, a former ringside doctor, would remain in office until the new June congress.


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US and Netherlands begin hydrogen technology collaboration
October 9, 2020 1 By Alicia Moore
The two countries issued a statement of intent (SOI) to collaborate on tech relating to H2 use.
The United States Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy's Directorate General for Climate and Energy have issued a statement of intent (SOI) for a hydrogen technology collaboration.
The two countries will collaborate on the collection, analysis and sharing of information on H2.
This hydrogen technology collaboration will include tech for both production and infrastructure related to this form of renewable energy. In this partnership, the countries will gather real-world data from H2 applications in order to direct the future research and development (R&D) in this area on both sides. It will also help to guide demonstration activities moving forward.
As a component of this SOI, the DOE's Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) and the EERE will leverage tech expertise, cutting-edge equipment and facilities at the National Labs of the DOE for validating the durability and performance of electrolyzers. That equipment will be used for the production of electricity using water. Furthermore, this SOI will examine lessons learned in this field, in addition to alignment of safety, codes, and standards in emerging areas such as blending H2 and natural gas.
The goal is to work together in this hydrogen technology collaboration to learn and move H2 forward.
"This partnership will help address key hydrogen R&D areas, pave the way for at-scale hydrogen demonstrations, and foster new national, regional, and worldwide hydrogen value chains," explained Daniel R Simmons, Assistant Secretary at the EERE. "As EERE-supported hydrogen and fuel cell technologies continue to gather momentum, we, as well as DOE's Office of Technology Transitions, are pleased to be spearheading this collaboration."
In March, Netherlands Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy Eric Wiebes, issued a letter to the Dutch Parliament, advocating for an active international policy. The purpose was to decrease sustainable hydrogen costs and form new partnerships with other countries.
Director General for Climate and Energy, Sandor Gaastra, said that they are looking forward to the hydrogen technology collaboration. He added that it will encourage cooperation between the two countries and their H2 researchers, industrial demonstrations for scaling up, and other areas of learning, development and innovation.
CategoryHydrogen Fuel Cell Hydrogen news Industry
TagsDOE EERE DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy's Directorate General for Climate Energy H2 technology hydrogen fuel cells hydrogen fuel technology Hydrogen technology collaboration the Netherlands hydrogen fuel United States Department of Energy us hydrogen fuel
DOE announces hydrogen and fuel cell technology awards
Canada to begin single use plastic ban in 2021
Stanley Szymczyk says:
The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy collaboration is welcomed and appreciated. Decreasing sustainable hydrogen costs quickly will greatly minimize the damage our world dependency on fossil fuels has caused. We are very close to achieving a hydrogen economy that can be supported by renewal energy generated from sunlight. These two energy options are the best replace for fossil fuels. The USA is on an accelerated fracking pace that will likely deplete it's available fossil fuel reserves by the end of this century. DOE, please reach out to all nations and collaborate. Time is running out on climate change and a timely sustainable energy solution worldwide.
Energy for the world, endless energy and a solution for climate change.


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Harvik Desai (Cricketer) Height, Weight, Age, Family, Biography & More
Full Name Harvik Manishbhai Desai
Profession Cricketer (Right-Hand Batsman)
Weight (approx.) in Kilograms- 65 kg
in Pounds- 143 lbs
Body Measurements (approx.) - Chest: 38 inches
- Waist: 30 inches
- Biceps: 12 inches
Hair Colour Black
International Debut India U19 Test- 23 July 2017 against England at Chesterfield, England
India U19 ODI- 14 August 2017 against England at Bristol, England
Jersey Number	 #99 (India U-19)
Coach/Mentor Narendra Singh Gohel
Domestic/State Team Saurashtra
Records (main ones) None
Career Turning Point After when his performance against England was good in his debut Under-19 Youth Test series, he got an opportunity to play in the Youth ODI for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
Date of Birth 4 October 1999
Birth Place Bhavnagar, Saurashtra, Gujarat, India
Zodiac sign/Sun sign Libra
Hometown Bhavnagar, Saurashtra, Gujarat, India
School Saint Xaviers High School, Bhavnagar
College Not Known
Educational Qualification Not Known
Family Father- Manish Desai (Tailor)
Mother- Name Not Known
Brother- Abhishek Desai
Sister- Not Known
Religion Hinduism
Hobbies Travelling
Some Lesser Known Facts About Harvik Desai
Does Harvik Desai smoke?: Not Known
Does Harvik Desai drink alcohol?: Not Known
Harvik's father was a decent wicketkeeper-batsman himself. When he saw his interest in cricket, he took him to Bharucha Cricket Club at the age of six to nourish his batting skills.
He started his cricket career by playing in the Saurashtra Under-16 cricket team. He played his first series in the 2013-2014 Vijay Merchant Trophy in which he scored 62 runs.
In 2016, he was selected to play in the Challenger Trophy tournament and later on, he was picked for the 2016 Under-19 cricket world cup but instead of him, Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan got selected.
Harvik is a regular wicketkeeper.
In February 2017, he made his List A debut against Hyderabad in Kalyani, West Bengal.
In July 2017, he got selected for India's Under-19 cricket team and played his first match in the Youth Test against England at Chesterfield, England in which he scored 89 runs in the first inning.
In December 2017, he has been chosen for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
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A Heart That Watches and Receives
"Please don't give up on the truth." A commencement address by author and historian Hampton Sides.
The newsroom of The New York Times. Photo: Getty Images, Jonathan Torgovnik / Contributor
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Hampton Sides | Longreads | June 2017 | 13 minutes (3,083 words)
Hampton Sides, historian and author of bestselling books including Ghost Soldiers and In the Kingdom of Ice, gave the following commencement address to graduating students of Colorado College on May 22, 2017. Our thanks to the author for allowing Longreads to reprint it here.
Warm greetings to the Class of 2017! It's such a tremendous honor to be here today, to wish you well as you begin your life's adventures. I've taught some of you, I've read your work in the college publications, I've rooted for you on the soccer fields. I've even tested my hand-eye coordination skills with some of you in the exacting sport . . . . of beer pong. I've greatly enjoyed my experience teaching here at this most unique and authentic school set at the foot of Rockies, a school that has perfected the fine art, the almost forgotten art, of doing one thing at a time.
I don't know about you, but I'm a big fan of the sayings of Yogi Berra, the late great catcher for the New York Yankees who later became a manager and a coach. Yogi Berra was famous for uttering pithy, off-the-cuff malapropisms, little witticisms that were seemingly contradictory, but also somehow wise. His sayings, known as "Yogi-isms," made no sense, and yet they made perfect sense. "The future ain't what it used to be," he famously said. Or, "When you come to the fork in the road, take it." Or, "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded." One sportswriter has defined Yogi-isms as "distilled bits of wisdom which, like good country songs, get to the truth in a hurry." A few other classic Yogi-isms:
"Never answer an anonymous letter."
"Always go to other people's funerals. Otherwise, they won't come to yours."
And this one, which perhaps carries a special resonance in our current world: "Even Napoleon had his Watergate."
I'm going to try really hard to avoid the subject of politics today, but with all that's been happening in the news, it's hard to avoid it altogether. No doubt like many of you, I've become riveted to the news over the past few months—alternately fascinated and horrified, sometimes repulsed, sometimes entertained. In the end, I guess I've become addicted. I need my daily fix, my hourly dose, my half-hourly hit. This maddening dependency on the news has affected my sleep, my disposition, my ability to focus, and probably my sanity.
Well, it turns out that neuroscientists have recently identified a new hormone produced by the brain, a substance, like dopamine or seratonin, with its own networks of receptors. A hormone that when it surges within us leads directly to these symptoms of manic restlessness, and is apparently reactivated each time we turn on the news or consult our iPhones. The researchers have just given this new substance an official scientific name. It's called . . . Trumpamine.
Today I want to talk about something that, while perhaps related to Trumpamine, is a little bigger, a little more serious, and a little more urgent. Something that as a journalist, and as a historian, is of enormous concern to me, and something that should be of enormous concern to anyone who cares about the health of our democracy and the prospect for civility in our public life. What I want to talk about today is . . . Truth.
It's been said that we live in an age of "truth decay." That we inhabit a post-factual world. A world of Fake News and alternative facts. A world in which every story is tainted, the product of leaks and hacks, black ops and active measures, propaganda and disinformation—spread by trolls, replicated by internet bots, amplified in echo chambers deep in the dungeons of the web. The noun "truth," it seems, has morphed into something far squishier, what Stephen Colbert used to call "truthiness."
We see that serious journalism has been all but replaced by the infoscape, the blogosphere, the social network, the Twitterverse. That stories have become merely content, news organizations have become merely platforms, the long narrative has been pecked to death by tiny newsfeeds crawling across the bottom of the screen. We see that the democratization of information, combined with the shrinking of our attention spans and our fast-twitching fingers, has led to a Tower of Babel that threatens to make all of us not only unintelligible to each other, but also, often, insufferable.
Last year the Oxford English Dictionary proclaimed "post-truth" the Word of the Year for 2016. "Post truth. Adj: relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."
Some have said that not only is truth under siege, but also the standards and protocols by which we determine truth—the processes we use to sift and strain it, deem it and declare it. It's a problem at the root of the crises we've seen in journalism, and in politics. But it also speaks to something deeper, something perhaps existential. Ultimately, it works its way down to the level of epistemology: What do we know? And how do we know that we know it? Who did the fact-checking? How does your truth compete with my truth? And how does it make me feel?
Someone who's written brilliantly and thought deeply about this subject is University of Connecticut philosopher Michael P. Lynch, the author of The Internet of Us. Lynch writes: "Without a common background of standards against which we measure what counts as reliable information, or a reliable method of inquiry, and what doesn't, we won't be able to agree on the facts, let alone values. Indeed, this is precisely the situation we seem to be headed toward in the United States."
This syndrome was acutely on display in the recent election, but it's a phenomenon that took years and even decades to come about. The real problem, I think, is not that there's no such thing as truth anymore. Rather, it's that there are multiplicities of truth, multiplexes of reality. We are drowned in so much information, swamped by such oceans of data, that we can't process it. The idea of shared facts—facts that we can all pretty much trust and agree on—seems to have gone the way of the great CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, who used to sign off every night with the tagline: "And that's the way it is." Who could get away with that today? Today there is no IT, and there is no IS.
Instead, the world has become minutely fractured. There are CNN facts, and Fox facts. Blue facts and red facts. Huffington facts and Breitbart facts. Climate change believer facts and climate change denier facts. We select the wavelength of truth that suits us and we park our sensibilities there, marinating our minds in sauces we already think we like. We create bubbles of information, silos of opinion, and we tune out all that is extraneous or disagreeable. And increasingly, it seems, we can simply get away with denying facts that are inconvenient to our chosen world—just blot them out, as though they don't exist, or never happened.
The other problem that's led to this phenomenon, of course, is the incredible speed and ease with which information travels today. Never in the history of the world has so much knowledge been so instantaneously available at our fingertips—and for free. Yet ironically never before have we been so disdainful of facts: Because they are so easy to come by, they are no longer precious. Why do we need to be smart, when we have smartphones? Why do we need an appetite for knowledge when we can just get the app? Why do we need to know when we can Google-know?
But if information travels fast and furious, so of course does misinformation: Errors and innuendoes, hoaxes and wholesale fictions. Winston Churchill said that a lie "gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." Today a lie circumnavigates the globe before we can even locate our pants. We've seen the rise of Fake News—not just false stories, but also whole websites and news outlets expressly designed to spread them. The massive chemical disaster that ISIS orchestrated recently in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana . . . didn't happen. Remember that terrible terrorist attack in Sweden? Remember that horrible massacre in Bowling Green?
The real problem with this sort of story is not the falsehood itself but the subtle ways in which it begins to erode the very foundations of truth. According to the authors of a recent Rand Corporation study on "truth decay," the real goal of Fake News "is not to make people believe the lie. It is to make them doubt all news." The chess genius Garry Kasparov said it even better: "The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda," he said. "It is to exhaust your critical thinking. It is to annihilate truth."
Some writers have begun to postulate that the constant, compulsive use of the internet and its related devices has changed the way we think, altered our processes of cognition, and possibly even changed the way the wiring in our brain fires. While that may be far fetched, it's safe to say that it has caused many of us to be more distracted, more disjointed, and more restless in our hot pursuit of information. We go farther faster, but we don't necessarily go deeper. We know more, but we don't understand.
Nicholas Carr, in his acclaimed book about this phenomenon, The Shallows, warns that our overreliance on the internet has caused us in effect to outsource human intelligence to distant machines and algorithms. We've become more facile at gathering facts, while seldom grasping the deeper meanings of complex and interrelated ideas. Carr, who like most of us uses the internet a hundred times a day, confesses that he thinks it is, as he puts it, "chipping away at my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski."
In The Shallows, Carr talks about a kind of observational experiment that the great author Nathaniel Hawthorne undertook one morning, in Concord, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1844. He went out to a place called Sleepy Hollow, not far from his house. He sat down in the grass, and then took copious notes on everything he saw and heard and felt and smelled around him. In a sense, Hawthorne was being a kind of investigative journalist of the pastoral, documenting every twisting leaf, every squirrel and bird, the call of farmers working in distant fields, the ebb and flow of all these quiet stirrings. He was conducting a romantic and mildly radical experiment—mind you, this was well before his colleague Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden Pond. In that rustic clearing at Sleepy Hollow, Hawthorne fell into a kind of a rapturous reverie, a spell.
Then, all at once, he was startled by the shrill sound of something so completely at odds with the world he was describing, a newly invented machine invading in the garden. It was a train, chuffing through the countryside—a technology so completely disruptive that it changed everything. "But hark!" Hawthorne writes. "There is the whistle of the locomotive—the long shriek, harsh, above all other harshness, for the space of a mile cannot mollify it into harmony. It tells a story of busy men, citizens, from the hot street, who have come to spend a day in a country village, men of business; in short of all unquietness; and no wonder that it gives such a startling shriek, since it brings the noisy world into the midst of our slumberous peace."
Carr believes that the internet is akin to that locomotive, that machine in the garden. It is an invention that we must be grateful for—there is nothing like it in the history of the planet, bringing the entire world, or at least a digital approximation of it, right into our lives. But it is a gift we should be extremely wary of—this a loud, brash interloper that, if we're not careful, can drag all of us out of our Sleepy Hollows forever, whether we like it or not.
So…are we really living in a Post Truth Society? Are we really living in a world of alternative facts? Are all the clocks striking 13? Is Trumpamine coursing through our veins? If this is the world today, then what do we do with it? How do we navigate it? And what advice do I have for you, who are about to embark upon it?
My first piece of advice is, please please please don't give up on the truth. It may be under assault but it's still alive and kicking, and it will never go out of style. Truth may not be a thing that we can always absolutely, objectively prove, but it is a thing we can aspire to. A thing we must aspire to. In our journalism, in our government, in our courts, in our businesses, in our personal lives, and in our very souls. I've built my life and livelihood on chasing the truth, in trying to get the facts right. I haven't always succeeded. Sometimes I've failed completely. But it's always seemed an eminently worthy cause.
The second thing I would say is, trust your instincts to get at the truth. That's what the critical thinking that comes with a liberal arts education is all about. You've spent the last four years honing your skills of judgment and discernment, learning to weigh the evidence and question everything. You've spent the last four years assessing, observing, and listening with an open but also skeptical mind—developing, as Wordsworth put it, "a heart that watches and receives." Those critical skills may not seem directly marketable to you right now, but you will find they put you on very solid ground as you go through life. And they are skills that have never been more important to our society.
Another thing I would say is Nil desperandum. Do not despair. I firmly believe this trend of truth decay is, in many ways, a temporary phase. It is a tear in our social fabric caused by the many far-ranging dislocations brought on by the bewildering advent of worldwide electronic interconnectivity and the cacophony of all our little devices. From the standpoint of human evolution, this is all still so new to us, and we're just beginning to figure it out. We are like infants playing with strange new toys. Some of these toys are extremely cool and helpful. Some of them are, often simultaneously, very dangerous—like poisonous berries that our hunter-gatherer ancestors learned not to eat a long time ago. Some of our inventions, in the guise of easy, fast communication, are actually retarding our ability to say anything eloquent or meaningful. They are distorting our sense of reality and creating a toxic environment for us all. But I believe we'll find a way to ameliorate the most harmful effects of our new devices and technologies. As a journalist I'm a zealot for the 1st Amendment, and so I'm not talking about censorship here. On the other hand, I would be all for a Constitutional Amendment preventing any sitting U.S. President from having a Twitter account. It is an absurd and deeply dangerous idea to think that matters of statecraft can be conducted in 140 characters.
And another thing, while we're on the subject of those toys: Whatever you do, wherever you go, I want to encourage you to seek out an authentic experience. There's far too much secondary living, virtual living, simulated living, going on these days. As we've been discussing, too often life comes to us mediated through earbuds and screens and viewfinders. I don't mean to sound like a Luddite here—you are coming of age in a fascinating and truly revolutionary era of technological innovation that has nearly limitless possibilities. There's no retreating now from the digital age. But don't let the gadgets distract you from the true pulse of life. My advice to you is, whatever you do, seek out something gritty and challenging and raw. Experience real love and real pain in real places with real people, face to face, heart to heart. Your life will be happier and richer in direct proportion to its authenticity.
And so: Every now and then, but with some regularity, Unplug! You've heard it a thousand times but it's true. Whether it's one hour a day, one day a week, or one week a year, I believe the best way to prevent truth decay is to seek truth outside our echo chambers of instantaneous communication. Tune out, shut up, sign off, power down.
Better yet, escape to the mountains. Get yourself on a trout stream. Be a ski bum for awhile. Go off grid. Find your church. Quit your machines, and return to the garden.
Living at the edge of these extraordinary mountains, at a school that takes every advantage of the great landscapes of the West, this is something most of you already know, deep in your bones: That the nature of truth can often best be found in the truth of nature. For wilderness doesn't lie—and it has much to teach. To me, it's a source of comfort to be swallowed up in places that remind us that we homo not so sapiens, and all our inventions, are mere spore-specks in the record of time. It's one of life's great paradoxes: Nothing makes us feel grander than to feel small, that nothing makes us wiser than to know we know nothing at all. This, I think, is what Wordsworth was referring to, in his great poem "The Tables Turned," when he said:
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.
Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.
To the Class of 2017: Be well, and stay true. I wish you happiness and fulfillment on your life's journey, wherever it may lead. I hope you will enjoy every twist and every turn. But just remember: When you come to the fork in the road, take it.
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Posted by Longreads	on June 6, 2017
Categories: Current Events, Story
Tags: advice, commencement, hampton sides, truth
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June 1, 2015 / 1:36 PM	/ Updated June 2, 2015 at 9:40 AM
Bruce Jenner debuts as Caitlyn Jenner
The Olympic medalist revealed she is transgender in an interview in April.
Bruce Jenner debuted as Caitlyn Jenner on the June cover of Vanity Fair. File photo by Helga Esteb/Shutterstock
Bruce Jenner debuted as Caitlyn Jenner on the June cover of Vanity Fair. File photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo
Bruce Jenner debuted as Caitlyn Jenner on the June cover of Vanity Fair. File photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Bruce Jenner debuted as Caitlyn Jenner on the June cover of Vanity Fair. File photo by Roger Williams/UPI | License Photo
Bruce Jenner debuted as Caitlyn Jenner on the June cover of Vanity Fair. File photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
MALIBU, Calif., June 1 (UPI) -- Bruce Jenner has reintroduced herself as Caitlyn Jenner.
The 65-year-old Olympic medalist revealed her new name and look on the June cover of Vanity Fair.
Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz shot Jenner in a white, bustier bodysuit and a black gown for the issue. The accompanying article by contributing editor Buzz Bissinger explores Jenner's transition from male to female.
"The last few days and doing this shoot was about my life and who I am as a person," she shared in the interview. "Bruce always had to tell a lie. He was always living that lie every day. He always had a secret from morning to night. Caitlyn doesn't have any secrets."
"I'm not doing this to be interesting. I'm doing this to live." #CallMeCaitlyn http://t.co/Mwfy5PkjTp pic.twitter.com/V2NmSJG2eV
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) June 1, 2015
Jenner confirmed she is transgender in an interview with Diane Sawyer in April. The reality star will document her journey on an upcoming E! series, and joined Twitter as Caitlyn Jenner following the magazine reveal Monday.
"I'm so happy after such a long struggle to be living my true self," she wrote. "Welcome to the world Caitlyn. Can't wait for you to get to know her/me."
ESPN has announced that Jenner will receive the prestigious Arthur Ashe Courage Award at The ESPYS on July 15. The award is presented to those whose courage "transcends" sports, and the network says this particular award is to celebrate "Bruce becoming Caitlyn."
"In the past few months, the overwhelming outpouring of support from all over the world for my journey has been incredible," Jenner said in a statement. "However, being honored with this award, which is named after one of my heroes, is truly special. For the first time this July, I will be able to stand as my true self in front of my peers."
Jenner's former stepdaughter, Kim Kardashian, recently told Access Hollywood seeing the former Olympian as a woman was an "amazing" experience and "felt really natural." She and husband Kanye West announced they are expecting their second child over the weekend.
Bruce and Kris Jenner discuss love, pain in part 2 of 'About Bruce' Bruce Jenner reveals he stole Kim Kardashian's clothes Bruce Jenner plans to fully transition in the spring Khloe Kardashian shows support for Bruce Jenner, buys gifts for 'Her'
TV // 6 hours ago
Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Lifetime has ordered a 4-hour docu-series called "Surviving Jeffrey Epstein."
Entertainment News // 8 hours ago
Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Supermodel Bar Refaeli announced Saturday she has given birth to her third child.
TV // 11 hours ago
Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Cable network Freeform has renewed its college sitcom "Grown-ish" for a fourth season.
Entertainment News // 12 hours ago
Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Disney has changed the names of Fox Searchlight and 20th Century Fox, film divisions it acquired through its recent $71 billion deal with 21st Century Fox.
Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Actor Jason Segel turns 40 and actor Mark Rylance turns 60, among the famous birthdays for Jan. 18.
Entertainment News // 1 day ago
Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Armenian-Iranian musician Andy Madadian received the 2,684th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday.
TV // 1 day ago
'Laguna Beach' alum Morgan Smith gives birth to third child
Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Morgan Smith (née Olsen) welcomed her third child, a baby boy, with her husband, Joel Smith.
Jan. 17 (UPI) -- "The Ranch" star Sam Elliott recites the Lil Nas X song "Old Town Road" in a Dorito Super Bowl commercial.


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LEFO - Legeforskningsinstituttet
Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession
Legepanelet
IPOQ 2013: Research on health and working conditions of the medical profession
Christina Maar Andersen
Burnout in Danish General Practice - development, risk and prognosis
Christina Maar Andersen is a psychologist and a PhD-student at the Research Unit for General Practice in Aarhus University, Denmark.
Burnout in Danish General Practice – development, risk and prognosis
Collaborators Anette Fischer Pedersen, Frede Olesen and Peter Vedsted, Denmark
BACKGROUND: Burnout is an increasing problem among physicians which can have serious consequences for both the physicians and their patients. Burnout among physicians is associated with increased risk of depression, suicidal ideation and substance abuse. Burnout among physicians may also have implications for the health of their patients. Studies have shown that burned-out physicians feel they deliver lower quality of patient care including failing to discuss treatment options and answering patient questions, having reduced attentiveness or caring behavior towards their patients, and reporting more medical errors than physicians who are not burned-out. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of burnout among GPs and to identify risk factors associated with development of burnout. METHODS: All GPs in the county of Aarhus in Denmark (N=458) were invited to participate in a survey on burnout in 2004. This survey was followed up in 2012 and included all GPs in the Central Denmark Region (N=835). The survey consisted of questions on burnout, GP characteristics and work-related factors. Burnout was assessed by the Maslach Burnout Inventory and was categorized as moderate or severe burnout. RESULTS: Although no difference in moderate burnout was found between 2004 and 2012 an 89% increase in severe burnout was detected rising from 2.8% (1.3-5.1%) in 2004 to 5.3% (3.1-8.1%) in 2012. The risk of developing burnout was analyzed from data on GPs who had participated in both the 2004 and 2012 surveys (N=216) and was found to be 13.2% (8.2-19.6%). Among GPs with moderate or severe burnout in 2004, 26.1% had withdrawn from general practice during follow-up compared to 31.0% of GPs who were not burned-out in 2004 (adj. OR = 0.97; 95%CI: 0.48-1.96; p = 0.935). GPs who were not burned-out in 2004 but reported that general practice would not be their choice of medical specialty again had a statistically significant increased risk of burnout in 2012 (OR=4.5; 95% CI: 1.2-16.5; p=0.023) compared to GPs who would choose general practice as specialty again. CONCLUSIONS: There has been an increase in severe burnout from 2004 to 2012 among GPs. Over the seven year period the incidence of burnout was 13%. Burned-out GPs appeared not to have higher job turnover rates than GPs who were not burned-out. Thoughts about changing medical specialty were strongly and prospectively associated with risk of burnout which might be used as an important predictor of future burnout.
Look at Christina Maar Andersen´s presentation in the attached file (pdf).
Maar Andersen-presentation_4-11-13.pdf
Ansvarlig redaktør: Erlend Hem
Nettredaktør: Lise B. Johannessen
E-post: lefo@legeforeningen.no
Hjemmeside: www.lefo.no
LEFO - Legeforskningsinstituttet,
Postboks 1152 Sentrum,
0107 OSLO.
Christiania torv 5


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Stranger Things Season 2 Trailer Released
Post published:Jul 23, 2017
Post category:Television
Great news Sci-fi fans! A full Stranger Things Season 2 trailer has been released at San Diego Comic Con. This series (which made its debut on Netflix in 2016) completely blew everyone (including myself) away and the second season promises to be even cooler than the first one.
More great news is that Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, Dustin, Nancy, Steve and Jonathan will all be back in season 2, alongside new characters Billy and Max (played by Dacre Montgomery and Sadie Sink). The boys are big fans of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Sean Astin, best known for playing the lead role of Sam in the Lord of the Rings films, is also part of the cast. Paul Reiser (who you might remember from TV's Mad About You) is also making an appearance. Stranger Things season 2 will premiere on Netflix on the 27th of October 2017.
In case you're not familiar with Stranger Things, you should know that the Duffer Brothers developed the series as a mix of investigative drama alongside supernatural elements with childlike sensibilities, establishing its time frame in the 1980s and creating a homage to pop culture of that decade. Several themes and directorial aspects were inspired and aesthetically informed by the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, and Stephen King, among others. They actually wanted to remake IT, but they were unfortunately turned down.
Stranger Things has received several industry nominations and awards, including winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2016, and receiving eighteen nominations for the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series.
It's 1984 and the citizens of Hawkins, Indiana are still reeling from the horrors of the demogorgon and the secrets of Hawkins Lab. Will Byers has been rescued from the Upside Down but a bigger, sinister entity still threatens those who survived.
Check out the trailer for Stranger Things Season 2 below:
It looks like Stranger Things season 2 is going to be one hell of a ride and I can't wait to binge watch it. Let's hope that it doesn't disappoint.
Watch this space for regular updates in the Television category on Running Wolf's Rant.
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Westworld Season 2 Trailer Released
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25 Common Dog Myths That Just Aren't True
Dogs aren't blind — and other common dog myths you shouldn't believe.
You might think you know a lot about dogs, but how much of your knowledge is based on myths and old wives' tales?
It's time to separate fact from fiction and debunk some of the most common myths about our dogs.
Dogs Are Colorblind
First of all, no human can see what a dog sees — so it's a little tricky to work out where this myth came from.
But it's not true that dogs only see in black and white.
Dogs Are Colorblind — Debunked
"Dogs just don't see as vivid colors as we do," explains Veterinarian Sara Ochoa, DVM, a consultant for doglab.com. "The main colors dogs see are yellow and blue."
This is because the canine retina contains two of the three photo receptor types required to see color.
Dogs Eat Grass When They Are Sick
Yes, it's true that some dogs eat grass when they're nauseous.
That's because grass causes them to vomit, Ochoa says, but other dogs chomp on the green stuff for a variety of different reasons.
Dogs Eat Grass When They Are Sick — Debunked
"Often dogs just like to eat anything!" say the experts at The Puppy Academy. "It's fun for them to graze, sniff and taste what's out there, especially in new areas!"
So, don't panic right away and assume something's wrong if you see your dog is eating grass — they could just be feeling curious!
A Wagging Tail Means a Friendly Dog
Often, a wagging tail is the clearest sign of a happy dog.
It can show a dog is friendly, over-excited and wanting to play, but that's not always the case, according to The Puppy Academy team.
A Wagging Tail Means a Friendly Dog — Debunked
A wagging tail can also be a sign of anxiety or aggression.
The Puppy Academy suggests looking for other behavioral signs, like relaxed eyes and ears, to ensure you're reading the situation correctly before assuming a dog is friendly.
One Dog Year Equals 7 Human Years
This oft-cited "fact" isn't actually a fact.
"Dogs do age faster than humans, but it is not necessarily true that every year is equal to seven for dogs," says Karen Reese, animal behavior manager at Operation Kindness.
One Dog Year Equals 7 Human Years — Debunked
Dogs age faster in their younger years, so a six-month-old dog is close to a teenage human in maturity and development. "At 12 months old, the dog is akin to a 20-year-old human," Reese explains. "After about 2 years old, they seem to age a little slower."
Also, larger dogs sometimes seem to age faster than smaller dogs, but that is due to their typical lifespan. "For example, a dog with a seven-year lifespan will age much faster than one that is expected to live 12-15 years," Reese says.
A Cold, Wet Nose Means a Healthy Dog
Yes, a cold, wet nose can be a sign of a healthy dog. But that doesn't mean other nose conditions can't be healthy, too.
"A warm, dry nose does not mean that your dog is not healthy," Ochoa says.
A Cold, Wet Nose Means a Healthy Dog — Debunked
The temperature, dryness and wetness of your dog's nose can change throughout the course of a single day and shouldn't be used as the sole indicator of health.
More reliable signs of potential health issues are behavioral changes, like a loss of appetite or decreased activity levels.
A Dog's Mouth Is Cleaner Than a Human Mouth
This is highly unlikely for obvious reasons. First of all, dogs don't brush their teeth twice a day.
Plus, more than 80 percent of dogs over age three years have some form of periodontal disease, says VCA Animal Hospitals.
A Dog's Mouth Is Cleaner Than a Human Mouth — Debunked
This myth may stem from the fact that when dogs lick their wounds, they seem to heal faster.
But that's due to the process of licking, which stimulates blood flow and thus accelerates healing, and not because a canine mouth is cleaner than a human one.
You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
This dog myth is a hard no.
"You can absolutely teach an old dog new tricks!" says dog trainer Steffi Trott. "Dogs of any age can start to train and learn."
You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks — Debunked
Not only can you teach an old dog new tricks, but Trott also points out that it's actually quicker to teach an old dog a "new" trick in the sense that it's something he hasn't learned before, such as teaching him to spin in a circle or give you his paw for a "shake."
On the other hand, it's a lot harder to undo long-rehearsed behaviors. For instance, if your dog pulled on his leash for the last eight years, it will take a while to teach him to not do that, Trott says.
Female Dogs Need to Go Through a Heat Cycle Before Being Spayed
Again, this isn't true, says Ochoa.
In fact, she points out that spaying a dog before her first heat cycle will decrease her chance of mammary cancer in later life by 95 percent.
Female Dogs Need to Go Through a Heat Cycle Before Being Spayed — Debunked
According to the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Canine Life Stage Guidelines, small-breed dogs (i.e., those estimated to weigh under 45 pounds as an adult) should be spayed prior to the first heat (around five to six months).
Deciding when to spay large-breed dogs (over 45 pounds projected adult body weight) involves considering many factors, including disease risk and lifestyle, with the help of a veterinarian.
Dogs Look Guilty When They've Done Something Wrong
Your dog might have a particular expression when she's chewed up the sofa or gone to the toilet on the rug, but it's not guilt.
"Dogs do not feel the emotional state of guilt," explains Marissa Sunny, CPDT-KA, senior specialist at the Best Friends Animal Society.
Dogs Look Guilty When They've Done Something Wrong — Debunked
When dogs look guilty, they are displaying appeasement behaviors.
"They do this because they have learned that it makes humans less angry, and therefore, they are safer," says Sunny. "Dogs don't see things as right or wrong, rather they view things as safe or unsafe."
A Female Dog Feels 'Empty' If She Doesn't Have a Litter
Like the myth that female dogs need to have one litter before getting spayed, the notion that they're "missing out" by not having a litter is an old wives' tale.
"Most dogs are just fine never having puppies at all," says Ochoa.
A Female Dog Feels 'Empty' If She Doesn't Have a Litter — Debunked
In fact, dogs aren't actually able to feel broody, and letting them have one litter before getting them spayed has no proven health or behavior benefits.
It could also contribute to the (already huge) numbers of unwanted dogs in shelters and rescue centers.
It's OK to Leave Your Dog in a Car on a Hot Day If Your Windows Are Down
This is never OK. "We do not advise ever leaving your pet unattended in a vehicle," Reese says.
"Even with the windows down, it can become dangerously warm. Dogs need to have shade and fresh water to drink when it is hot outside."
It's OK to Leave Your Dog in a Car on a Hot Day If Your Windows Are Down — Debunked
Remember, dogs can't sweat like humans do, so it's much harder for them to regulate their body temperature and keep themselves cool.
Heatstroke can be fatal to pets in a matter of minutes, so it's simply not worth the risk.
All Rescue Dogs Are Damaged
This couldn't be further from the truth. "Some dogs that are in rescue have never experienced any trauma," says Trott.
"They might be there because their owners got sick or passed away. Or perhaps they ran away from home and could not be reunited with their family."
All Rescue Dogs Are Damaged — Debunked
Even dogs in rescue who did experience trauma aren't "damaged." As Trott says, some dogs have amazing resilience and are able to overcome poor treatment. "Most puppies that are in rescue are the result of unplanned litters," she adds. "They are essentially a 'blank slate' and can become fantastic companion dogs."
"You get the added bonus of saving a life when you adopt a rescue dog!" adds Sunny.
Pedigree Dogs Are Better Behaved
There are no inherent reasons why a purebred dog would be better behaved than a mixed dog breed.
"How well-behaved a dog is will depend on the owner's commitment to ongoing training as well as whether the dog's breed has a tendency to be interested in training and working together with the owner as a team," Trott explains.
Pedigree Dogs Are Better Behaved — Debunked
Most herding dogs do really well in training, she adds, whereas independent breeds such as Huskies can be more difficult to train. "A herding dog mix might be better behaved than a purebred Husky," she says.
On the other hand, most owners that acquire an expensive purebred dog are very likely to put in the effort and time required to train their dog well. Ultimately, it comes down to the time spent training as well as the individual dog's ability to learn.
A Little Bit of Chocolate Is Fine for Dogs
This is definitely not true and can be harmful for your dog if you believe it to be.
Chocolate contains a chemical called theobromine, which is toxic to dogs. The amount of theobromine in chocolate depends varies — white chocolate only has a small amount, while dark chocolate contains much more.
A Little Bit of Chocolate Is Fine for Dogs — Debunked
Therefore, how dangerous chocolate is for a dog depends on the type of chocolate and the size of the dog, but it's really not worth the risk.
It's best to keep this sweet treat to yourself.
I Need to Show My Dog Authority by Being the Pack Leader
This is completely unnecessary and can also be damaging for the relationship, Trott says.
"Dogs need predictable and kind owners," she explains.
I Need to Show My Dog Authority by Being the Pack Leader — Debunked
"Being a 'pack leader' mostly entails being strict and rough, which dogs do not appreciate," according to Trott.
Instead, be kind, predictable and fair in training to form the best relationship with your dog.
If My Dog Has a Cold, I Can Catch It
Dog colds are not contagious to humans, says the American Kennel Club.
This means you can't catch a cold from your dog (and likewise, your dog can't pick up a human strain of a cold virus from you).
If My Dog Has a Cold, I Can Catch It — Debunked
What can happen is that dog colds and influenza can spread easily and quickly between dogs, meaning it's important to take steps to help prevent transmission. So, don't let your dog drink out of an infected dog's water bowl or play with infected toys.
This is especially important for very young and very old dogs, plus pets with suppressed immune systems due to illness or medication.
I Can Give My Dog Paracetamol for a Headache
It can be difficult to know if your dog has a headache (because they can't tell you), but common signs to watch for are sickness and sensitivity to light and/or sound.
But even if you do believe they have one, any human painkillers, like paracetamol, are toxic to pets.
I Can Give My Dog Paracetamol for a Headache — Debunked
According to VCA Animal Hospitals, you should never give your dog paracetamol unless directed by your vet, as it can cause serious health issues like stomach ulcers and kidney and liver failure.
In severe cases, paracetamol can be fatal in dogs.
Garlic Is Good for Fleas and Ticks
It would be great if this was true, but despite doing the round on the internet, there's little science to back up the myth that garlic keeps your dog free from fleas and ticks.
Garlic Is Good for Fleas and Ticks — Debunked
Also, garlic has also been known to cause something called hemolytic anemia in dogs, which causes the body to attack and destroy its red blood cells.
This won't necessarily happen to every dog who eats garlic, but it's best not to find out.
My Dog Is Hypoallergenic
Unfortunately, there's no dog that is completely hypoallergenic.
However, it's true that some breeds are less likely to produce an allergic response than others.
My Dog Is Hypoallergenic — Debunked
The American Kennel Club says dog breeds that have a predictable, non-shedding coat that produces less dander include Afghan Hound, Bichon Frise, Maltese and Poodle.
However, some sources say there are 50 dog breeds that you can choose from to avoid allergies.
It's Good for a Dog to Lick Their Wounds
While licking themselves might offer dogs some protection against bacteria, the American Kennel Club warns that those licks can do more harm than good.
It's Good for a Dog to Lick Their Wounds — Debunked
In fact, your vet is likely to recommend an Elizabethan collar, a surgical suit and/or a bandage to protect your dog's wound from licking following an injury or surgical procedure.
Brushing My Dog's Teeth Is Silly
VCA Animal Hospitals recommends brushing your dog's teeth twice a day — just like you brush your own.
You might feel a little silly at first, but it's an important step to help prevent dental disease, which affects a huge number of adult dogs.
Brushing My Dog's Teeth Is Silly — Debunked
Your pooch might not like it at first, but like anything else, they'll get used to it as part of their regular routine.
Also, brushing your dog's teeth regularly means you're looking in their mouth, which lets you spot health issues like abscesses and tumors.
I Don't Need to Vaccinate My Dog
The AAHA says dogs should definitely get vaccinated against canine distemper, infectious hepatitis, parvovirus and rabies.
As well as protecting your pet and other animals (and, in some cases, humans) from serious disease, vaccination also makes life easier for you if you plan on socializing your dog.
I Don't Need to Vaccinate My Dog — Debunked
If you ever want to take your dog to puppy class or a boarding facility, you'll need to provide proof of certain vaccines.
Your vet can advise you on the vaccinations your dog should get, and talk to you about the process and potential side effects.
My Dog's Thick Fur Coat Means They Stay Warm in Winter
A thick-haired Siberian Husky is far less susceptible to the cold than a Greyhound or a Boston Terrier, but all dogs are at risk of getting frostbite.
Dogs are most likely to develop frostbite on their paws, the tips of their ears and their scrotum (in males), and even breeds with ultra-thick coats don't have a lot of protection in those parts.
My Dog's Thick Fur Coat Means They Stay Warm in Winter — Debunked
You can still keep your pooch safe in cold temperatures if you don't expose them for too long.
Signs that your dog may be too cold include shivering, shaking, whining or howling, says PETA.
Some Dog Breeds Are More Aggressive Than Others
While different breeds may be more prone to higher energy or medical issues, every dog is an individual and should be treated as such, Sunny says.
"Each dog has a very different personality, experiences and environment — all of which shape how they act," she adds.
Some Dog Breeds Are More Aggressive Than Others — Debunked
What is true, Trott warns, is that some dog breeds have a higher tendency to show aggression and guarding instincts than others, especially dogs that were bred to protect their property and owners. "Dogs with a high prey drive also can be aggressive towards smaller animals and children."
Breeds that have a genetic disposition to be aggressive are Belgian Malinois, Mastiffs and Chows, she adds.
A Dog Will Cry If They're in Pain
Dogs are less vocal creatures than humans, and although they may cry or whimper if they're in pain, it's not a given.
In fact, dogs — like many other species — may instinctively try to hide their pain to protect themselves from predators.
A Dog Will Cry If They're in Pain — Debunked
By keeping a close eye on your dog, you'll be able to spot changes in behavior that may suggest they're in pain, as well as more obvious signs, like limping.


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Tumbling Basics
Kathleen Ortiz
Chapter 1. Preparing to Teach Tumbling
Chapter 2. Forward Rolls
Chapter 3. Backward Rolls
Chapter 4. Cartwheels
Chapter 5. Combination of Rolls and Cartwheels
Chapter 6. Front Limbers and Backbend Kickovers
Chapter 7. Front Handsprings
Chapter 8. Back Handsprings
Chapter 9. Combination of All Skills
Kathleen M. Ortiz is an instructor in the physical education department at Boston University. She is also an instructor in the physical education department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Ortiz was an adjunct professor for 10 years, teaching tumbling and gymnastics to future physical educators at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey. She has coached athletes in gymnastics and cheerleading up to the Olympic level for more than 40 years and served as a gymnastics official in colleges for more than 30 years. Ortiz has been involved with the Special Olympics for more than 35 years. She has owned a gymnastics club and directed gymnastics programs, and she has been a head coach and written manuals for gymnastics clubs.
Ortiz received her bachelor of science degree in education from Ohio State University. She has been involved in many professional associations, such as USA Gymnastics and National Association of Women's Gymnastics Judges. Ortiz served as the state education director in New Jersey for eight years and in Illinois for three years and is safety certified in gymnastics. She also served as the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) gymnastics rules interpreter from 2000 to 2011. Ortiz was president of the State Gymnastics Officials for five years.
Basic technique of the backwards roll
Safety must be primary concern in any tumbling program


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Special Report: Super Bowl
Super Bowl Alert: Burger King is back in the Big Game, while Coke opts out
For the first time in more than a decade, Coca-Cola will not air a Super Bowl ad
By Jeanine Poggi. Published on January 24, 2019.
SimpliSafe plays on America's fears in Super Bowl teaser
Good afternoon Super Bowl junkies,
I'm Jeanine Poggi, Ad Age's senior editor, here with the latest edition of our Super Bowl Alert. With less than two weeks left until the game, Ad Age is bringing you breaking news, analysis and first looks at the high-stakes, big-game commercials—all in our Super Bowl Alerts newsletter. Sign up right here to get them in your email.
Oh say can you see
For the first time in over a decade, Coca-Cola will not air a Super Bowl ad, E.J. Schultz reports. Instead, the beverage giant will run a 60-second commercial in the pre-game right before the National Anthem. It's a strategic move by Coke, which is using the anthem to call for unity. Of course, the National Anthem has been a polarizing moment for the National Football League since Colin Kaepernick began kneeling as a form of protest over racial and social injustices.
Coke's animated spot is by Wieden & Kennedy Portland, the same agency that made Nike's ad last year starring Kaepernick. Coke's ad is not making a political statement, but instead looks to tout the beverage as something enjoyed by everyone, no matter their race, status or beliefs. The spot features an original poem that is inspired by quotes from Andy Warhol's 1975 book, "The Philosophy of Andy Warhol," in which he states that "a Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking."
The tone keeps with Coke's tradition of trying to push for higher ideals during the Super Bowl. Last year's "Wonder of Us" Super Bowl ad used the gender-neutral "them" to refer to a non-binary person. The 2018 ad was backed by an original poem written by Wieden & Kennedy copywriter Becca Wadlinger, who also penned the script for this year's spot.
Coca-Cola won't have an in-game spot even as Super Bowl LIII is hosted in its hometown of Atlanta. PepsiCo, which is an official sponsor of the Big Game, has been making its presence in the city known with some coy and snarky outdoor ads, according to Adweek.
The King's return
Burger King will air its first Super Bowl ad since 2006, Jessica Wohl reports. The home of the Whopper announced its return to advertising's biggest night with a staged video of its spokescharacter the King seemingly preparing to shoot a commercial. The King is seen adjusting a microphone but, staying true to character, doesn't say anything in the 30-second teaser. Burger King's 45-second Super Bowl ad will feature the Whopper and run in the fourth quarter.
From the archives: Here's a look a BK's ad from 2006, which was also its first Super Bowl ad in over a decade. That commercial was also Whopper-centric, featuring an over-the-top version of 1930s musicals, with "Whopperettes" singing and dancing to the "Have it Your Way" jingle along with an appearance by the King mascot. Earlier Super Bowl work by Burger King included the adventures of a Whopper-loving nerd in 1986 ("Find Herb"), the introduction of a bang-for-your-buck in 1995 ("Used Cars") and a convincing pre-fame Elisabeth Shue in 1993 ("Ultimate Weapon").
Anheuser-Busch InBev plays on ABC's reality show "Shark Tank" in its first Super Bowl ad for its revamped Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzerr brand, E.J. Schultz reports. The commercial, which was released on Thursday, stars two mermaids, Bonnie and Vivian, as the brand's founders, pushing the sugar-free product to four sharks (the ones with fins, not the actual judges on the ABC show). The reference to the show is notable considering the game is airing on ABC competitor CBS. It's worth noting that the Bon & Viv ad will be the first spot to air in the game.
Another teaser
Avocados From Mexico released yet another teaser on Thursday, this time showing Kristin Chenoweth and a trio of dogs at an art museum. They are looking at a spoof of the classic painting of dogs playing poker, but in this version the prize is guacamole in a bowl.
Expense this
To promote its first-ever Super Bowl ad, Expensify released a music video on Thursday starring rapper 2 Chainz and actor Adam Scott that viewers can "expense." Throughout the video there are "receipts" for various items featured that viewers can take a picture of and upload in the Expensify app for a chance to win cash or the items themselves. Prizes range from an ice-sculptured sports car, an Audi R8 and a diamond-encrusted football. The goal is to have people test out the Expensify app.
A-listers add up
Cardi B and Steve Carrell are the latest celebrities set to appear in Pepsi's Super Bowl ad, Schultz reports. Pepsi released two new teasers on Wednesday featuring the celebrities, who will also join Lil Jon.
This brings the celebrity count for the Super Bowl to about 18.
What's the goal?
There's plenty of debate over the goal of Super Bowl ads: Is it to build brand awareness or drive product sales? Leslie Zane, founder and president of Triggers Growth Strategy, argues in an op-ed for Ad Age that Super Bowl ads should lead to sales and that far too many advertisements during the Big Game aren't built to actually change brand preference.
Super Bowl Alert: Amazon and Jeff Bridges both have secrets
Amazon unveils celebrity beta-testing program for Super Bowl
Watch Michelob Ultra's Super Bowl ad featuring robots and a Latin pop star
Coke sits out Super Bowl for pre-game 'unity' spot before national anthem
Expensify debuts music video starring 2 Chainz in Super Bowl push
Watch AB InBev's 'Shark Tank'-inspired mermaid Super Bowl ad for Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer
Kristin Chenoweth and dogs study art in second Avocados From Mexico teaser


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Tax Justice Network - Africa
For A Program To Promote More Equitable Tax Systems In Africa
Citizen Voices and Evidence-Informed Policy
Tax Justice Network-Africa (TJN-A) brings together 23 civil society groups from across five African countries to promote socially just and progressive taxation systems in Africa while also representing African perspectives in international tax reform discussions. This grant would help TJN-A to generate empirical evidence on the costs of ineffective tax regimes and to advocate for the pro-poor tax policies that are necessary to fund broad-based access to social services. TJN-A would also strengthen the capacity of national tax coalitions and enlist the support of the media and trade unions to ensure that African countries adopt responsible tax practices.
www.taxjusticeafrica.net/
George Padmore Ridge | 2nd FL Wing 'B' | George Padmore Lane | KilimaniP. O. Box 25112-00100
Tax Justice Network - Africa brings together more than 30 civil society groups from across 16 African countries to promote socially just taxation systems and represent African perspectives in international tax reform discussions. This grant will enable the network to advocate for progressive and pro-poor tax policies; it will also support a campaign to reduce or eliminate illicit financial flows from Africa. The network will strengthen the capacity of national tax coalitions and enlist the support of media and trade unions to promote responsible tax practices in the region.
Tax Justice Network-Africa brings together 29 civil society groups from across 16 African countries to promote socially just taxation systems and represent African perspectives in international tax reform discussions. This grant will help the network promote and reinforce a campaign to reduce or eliminate illicit financial flows from Africa and advocate for pro-poor tax policies. The network will also strengthen the capacity of national tax coalitions and enlist the support of media and trade unions to promote responsible tax practices in Africa.
Global development's past, present, and future
The Hewlett Foundation Way
Driving change when we're Menlo Parked


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U.K. Treasury announced forthcoming regulatory proposals for stablecoins and ongoing research into CBDC
By Selena	11/10/20 12:10 PM
In a statement published Nov. 9, UK Treasurer Rishi Sunak noted the upcoming regulatory proposals alongside other targets for the country's financial services sector – including a review of the UK listing regime and green financial support. At the same time, Sunak has placed stablecoins and the central bank's digital currency (CBDC) at the heart of the UK's efforts to maintain a post-Brexit financial services hub.
U.K. Treasury revealed it is drafting proposals to regulate private stablecoins while also researching CBDC
The news comes amid a week of decisive negotiations between the UK and the European Union over a post-Brexit trade deal.
The UK Department of Finance said:
"We would put forward proposals for regulating relevant stablecoin always to ensure they are held to the same standard as rival payment methods."
Prime Minister Sunak said he hopes the UK's financial services sector will lead the global conversation about new technologies like stablecoins and central bank digital currencies in the future:
"We are starting a new chapter in the history of financial services and renewing the UK's position as the world's pre-eminent financial center. Our plans will ensure the UK moves forward as an open, attractive, and well-Companies Market."
We'll publish a consultation to ensure new privately-issued currencies, stablecoins, meet the high standards we expect of other payment methods.
And the @bankofengland & Treasury are considering if central banks can issue their own digital currencies, as a complement to cash. pic.twitter.com/k5hbVT8R5X
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) November 9, 2020
The announcement states that the draft guidance will require stablecoin initiatives to follow the same minimum standards as entities that operate with other payment methods. In it, both the UK central bank and the treasury are currently researching a CBDC. However, the question is whether central banks can issue CBDCs as an additional source of cash.
FinCEN Released Its Assessment Of A $60 Million Civil Monetary Penalty Against The Operator Of Two Cryptocurrencies "Mixers"
New Jersey Lawmaker Files A Bill Known As The "Digital Asset And Blockchain Technology Act" To The Senate
Bitcoin hashrate currently sits at 157.5 EX/s, increased by 42% in two days
Ethereum-based fantasy football platform Sorare announced a partnership with FC Bayern Munich
The Financial Conduct Authority warned the public about…
Since Iran began recognizing cryptocurrency mining as…
Comptroller of the Currency: Federally regulated banks…
FinCEN wants Americans to report if they have more than…
The Indian Government is currently weighing a proposal…
The Israel Tax Authority is looking to boost the state…


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Rationalizations and Reality Checks
Emily	Blog, Personal Life, Politics/Current Affairs	 4 November 2009 3 Minutes
Last night, I was sitting on my window seat, blaring public radio and refreshing half a dozen websites; making phone calls; covering the New Jersey elections—and, to a lesser extent, Maine and NY-23—as if it's my job. (In fact, it sort of is; I'll have a piece up at Campus Progress later today about NJ.) I went to bed last night full of depression and malaise, not even fully angry at the voters who elected an incompetent Republican governor in my state, nor at those who voted to take away the rights of LGBT Mainers. No, I was just sad. Sad and frustrated and wondering what the point is of letting my schoolwork suffer while I care about politics. I put on a 50-year-old comedy radio show that had nothing to do with politics, and I fell asleep consumed by guilty that I wasn't listening to a cable news show instead. It's so hard. It's so hard to do enough, because it's never enough. It seems as if the forces of good and equality and righteousness are up against so much.
This afternoon, after I'd turned in my copy and gotten an H1N1 vaccine (all the while grumbling, "If we had public health care, I wouldn't have had to pay $15 out-of-pocket for this"), I went to get lunch and wound up chatting with one of the dining hall workers, who is from Haiti. He was telling me that his cousin is running for office in Haiti, and that he was going to go back to Haiti to vote for his cousin. We talked about how we're both from warm places, and how much colder it is here in New Jersey. We didn't, of course, talk about the American election.
And that's because there are people to whom American politics is simply not the center of the universe—not just those who live in privilege and so don't want to work to get everyone health care and equal rights, but those whose universe is focused differently. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Corzine vs. Christie, or marriage in Maine, aren't questions that make a whole lot of difference to someone whom one of the richest universities in the world can barely manage to pay a living wage. And we all should remember that. Those of us who wake up the next morning election after election, full of elation or remorse and the will to organize and to vote again, should remember that American electoral politics are not the be-all and end-all of reality.
I'm telling that to myself as much as to anyone else, because here I am, now, sitting in Princeton and eating my eggs and drinking my coffee, wondering what to do next. I am left winded by this election, suffering post-2008 disillusionment the way a lot of us are. I feel exhausted by politics, by reading hundreds of blog posts per day, by writing and talking and posting shit on Facebook. I feel lost after phonebanking and campaigning for Corzine, donating to Maine, and being left with the notion that the progressive grassroots is powerless in the face of far more entrenched and well-funded lobbyists.
I would like nothing more than to put politics in a box for the next ten years, and train to be the best historian that I can possibly be. I would like to be able to tell myself that devoting the next two and a half years to telling the story of Princeton's gay alumni is as worthwhile an endeavor as devoting the next two and a half years to fighting for marriage equality in New Jersey. I would like to believe that going to grad school and fighting for one of those rapidly-disappearing tenure-track jobs is as morally conscionable a career path as getting paid subsistence wages to organize for another pie-in-the-sky progressive cause. I want to believe that telling the untold stories of Americans dead for thirty or forty or fifty or a hundred years is as important as telling the untold stories of Americans suffering today.
I want someone to tell me that it's okay if I can't do everything, and that furthermore it's okay to choose my schoolwork over campaigning. I want someone to tell me that historiography can be a fight for social justice too. But the fact that I want so desperately to hear those glad tidings makes me think that it can't possibly be true. It makes me believe that this is just rationalization to explain away the fact that I spent the weeks before the election writing my midterm papers and not out in the streets. It makes me believe this is just an attempt to justify my privileged access to elite higher education and a cushy academic job after.
But all the same. All the same I think that ten or fifteen years hence, if I do keep doing this, it will be worth it. The organizers will organize and my god, I wish them well. But how will we know if the arc of history bends towards justice unless there are historians to interpret and understand it?
Published 4 November 2009
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3 thoughts on "Rationalizations and Reality Checks"
Elizabeth Cooper says:
It's okay, Emily. It's okay that you can't do everything. Nobody can do everything, and it would be foolish to try. It's not only okay to focus on your schoolwork, it's great, because it's where you are right now in your life and it's what you love.
Follow your bliss. If there's one thing I learned last year, it's to follow your passion. You have and will make the world a better place for it. The fact that you have one, that you have a dream, and that it's within your reach, is something to embrace. Because if you didn't, you'd be letting yourself and others down by not living your own life as fully as you can. And by living your life fully, you shine as an amazing, dedicated, passionate person who I respect and admire, and who influences me tremendously. It was to meet and be inspired by people like you that I came to Princeton.
Oh Elizabeth, thank you.
Pingback: In Which I Cultivate My Own Garden « Worthless Drivel


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The council tax bill is shared between a number of public services including council services, police and fire.
The council tax you pay for policing and services to support victims and reduce offending equates to a percentage of the total, which varies depending on where you live.
Read the 2023-2024 council tax leaflet
The portion of council tax that residents of Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton pay towards services that keep them safer is one of the lowest in the country and accounts for 41% of the total funding available for these services locally; the other 59% is made up of a national grant from Government.
How the council tax is set
The policing budget


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Library has helped to prepare the exhibition in the Botanical Garden
Sep 16, 2015 | News
Library of Ukrainian Art took part in the preparation of exhibition in the National Botanic Garden of them. M.M. Gryshko of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Exhibition dedicated to the 80th anniversary of this outstanding Kyiv Botanical Garden, and to the...
Uartlib.org in The National Art Museum of Ukraine
Library provided books for Jacques Hnizdovsky's exhibition un the National Art Museum of Ukraine. At the National Art Museum of Ukraine starting on 05.29.2015 is open Jacques Hnizdovsky's exhibition. The Library Of Ukrainian Art has provided two books...


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Series: The Rent Racket
NYC May Actually Crack Down on Developers Who Cheat Taxpayers and Renters
The head of the city's housing department has laid out steps to boost oversight of tax breaks for developers and other programs overseen by the agency.
by Cezary Podkul
Feb. 8, 2016, 1:51 p.m. EST
How landlords sidestep tenant protections in New York City.
New York City officials are stepping up oversight of tax breaks to property developers and other programs overseen by the city's housing agency, according to an internal memo obtained by ProPublica.
"Because of the critical importance of enforcement and monitoring, we are doubling down on those efforts," Housing Commissioner Vicki Been wrote in the Jan. 29 memo, which outlines planned hiring of more staff for oversight, technology investments and reorganization steps, some new and some already under way.
The shift comes amid rising attention to housing and related enforcement issues, with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo each pushing plans to create more housing for low- and moderate-income residents with the help of tax breaks and state and federal funds.
It also follows reports by ProPublica that state and city regulators have failed to police the city's biggest housing subsidy, a $1.1 billion-a-year tax break known as 421-a. Landlords get the subsidy in return for the limiting the rent on apartments. But we found landlords who have failed to register 50,000 apartments for rent limits have still received more than $100 million in 421-a and other tax subsidies.
Been's memo said that her agency, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, was creating a working group of agency lawyers and other officials to figure out the best way to oversee compliance of the "ill-fated" 421-a tax break program, which was suspended in January after an impasse over its renewal. A variety of other programs and policies are also under review, Been wrote.
Tenant and housing advocates who reviewed Been's memo welcomed the new changes.
Help Us Investigate New York City Rents
Is your rent legal? It might not be. Your landlord might be charging you too much, and we want your help figuring that out. Learn more.
Renter Beware: Ten Ways Unscrupulous Landlords Cheat NYC Tenants
Here are 10 ways unscrupulous landlords take advantage of tenants, and what you can do about it. Learn more.
"It's always good to see an agency with a history of non-enforcement, like HPD, increase the staff devoted to enforcement," said Seth Miller, a tenant attorney at the law firm of Collins, Dobkin & Miller in New York.
Still, it's too early to know how much difference the changes will make. "That's the million-dollar question," said Harvey Epstein, Associate Director of the Urban Justice Center, which advocates for low-income residents. He said the city's sprawling portfolio of housing subsidies haven't been closely monitored for compliance with tenant and worker protections.
HPD declined an interview request for Been, but said it "regularly examines its policies and processes to identify ways to be even more efficient, effective, and fair." The agency said Mayor de Blasio's preliminary budget for the city's 2017 fiscal year includes 80 new positions for HPD but did not specify how many of them are specifically for enforcement staff.
The question of enforcement also arose in Albany last week, where James Rubin, commissioner of the state agency charged with enforcing rent-stabilization laws, faced some tough questions at a budget hearing.
Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, asked Rubin about ProPublica's report last month that up to 200,000 apartments are missing from the agency's registry of rent-stabilized apartments despite being subject to rent limits due to tax breaks and other reasons.
"Clearly you can't manage what you don't measure. How are we going to get a handle on these apartments that are obviously taken off the rolls?" Hoylman asked. He said the missing registrations could put tenants at risk of being overcharged or illegally evicted.
Commissioner Rubin said his agency would work with the city to determine why the state has fewer apartments listed as being rent stabilized than the city says there should be. He also said the state's Tenant Protection Unit has negotiated deals with some landlords to bring them into compliance.
Still, Rubin acknowledged that the state hasn't made it a priority to share apartment data with the city's HPD. "We had a preliminary conversation with them about doing that, and I think it's probably a terrific idea to restart those conversations," Rubin said.
Hoylman, who has sponsored legislation to increase fines on landlords who overcharge tenants, pressed Rubin further: "Are the fines so low that they can just remove units from rent regulation and not expect severe consequences as a result?" he asked. Rubin declined to say.
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, D-Manhattan, who co-sponsored Hoylman's measure, said in a statement she was concerned that regulators are just now beginning to step-up compliance.
"Rent overcharges are always egregious, but they are even more galling when they involve developers receiving valuable taxpayer-funded property tax abatements," she said. "HPD needs to create systems and strategies to ensure vigorous oversight and prevent the unscrupulous from gaming the system."
Six New York City Council members have also proposed a bill to increase accountability over taxpayer-subsidized housing, but the measure has yet to have a hearing or be voted on.
Council members Ben Kallos and Jumaane Williams, two of the measure's chief sponsors, both told ProPublica that they welcome HPD's steps but that they're not a substitute for the reforms they've proposed.
"Whatever's been happening now hasn't worked," Williams said.
Update, Feb. 9, 2016: The City Council legislation referenced in this story has now been scheduled for a hearing on Feb. 22 at 10 a.m. at City Hall. Details are available here.
Cezary Podkul
Cezary Podkul is a reporter for ProPublica who writes about finance.
@Cezary