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BMW Unveils the Concept I4
by Rubén P March 3, 2020
BMW just unveiled their electric visions for the near future, with the BMW Concept i4. The new electric car has been presented ahead of the Geneva Motor Show, which will be held in a few days.
BMW says that the Concept i4 is a preview of the production model of the BMW i4, which will go into production in 2021.
The Concept i4 is in many ways a counterpart to the electric BMW i3. In the new car, BMW has a strong focus on creating a sporty and dynamic four-door gran coupe.
The BMW Concept i4 is a pure electric car that has a range of 600 kilometers per charge based on the WLTP standard, it provides the equivalent of 530 horsepower and can handle 0-100 mph in about four seconds.
BMW.com
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Q-GUjn4Kk/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Q90V4nr9j/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Q143vAad7/
Images via BMW / Instagram
bmwconcept i4
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Reflections on real employee disability discrimination lawsuits
When employees go out on a covered disability or medical leave, employers have a legal obligation to help them return to work. However, many of these situations are complicated. Following best practices can help employees return to work — and avoid costly and time-consuming employee disability discrimination lawsuits.
California, a state with some of the nation's strictest employment regulations, recommends taking these steps to getting an injured or ill worker back on the job.2
30% of all charges filed with the EEOC are employee disability discrimination claims.1
1. Contact the employee on a covered leave in a timely fashion. Explain the company's leave policy and provide any forms the employee may need to complete. While the employee is out, stay in touch, respectfully letting the person know the company is available to answer questions.
2. Discuss with the employee the "essential functions" of the job. This will help put in place a plan to cover the employee's absence while also better understanding what accommodations the employee may need when returning to work. Suggest to the employee that this information be shared with the medical professional overseeing treatment. This list of tasks will aid the physician in determining when the person may safely return to work and if accommodations will be needed.
"When in doubt, reach out," recommends Eric Marler from The Hanover Insurance Group's management liability claims team. "Proactively communicating with employees using trackable methods such as email and certified mail is an easy, but effective, way for employers to protect themselves against employee disability discrimination cases. Courts want to see that employers engaged in a timely, good faith, interactive process to help employees successfully return to work. And, in our claims experience, written documentation often plays a key role in resolving these matters and in some cases influencing the settlement amount."
3. Obtain documentation,such as work capacities and restrictions from the employee's medical care provider and be ready to make reasonable accommodations to help the employee return to work. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, allowing time off for follow-up medical appointments, providing new equipment, restructuring responsibilities to those that are safe for the employee and considering a part-time schedule. For additional guidelines about reasonable accommodations, visit the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (https://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/ accommodation.html).
4. Implement and assess accommodations once the employee returns to work to be sure the return-to-work plan is successful, is continuing to help the employee recover and no additional accommodations are needed.
5. Institute an official return-to-work program. Our return-to-work program toolkit provides sample forms, guidelines, a checklist and more to help get you started.
Back to work is a win-win
Getting employees back to work safely, in a timely manner and in accordance with federal and state laws is a win-win. Employees preserve their full earning capacity while employers retain the employees experience and productivity, and are less likely to be involved in an employee disability discrimination claim or lawsuit.
Employee disability discrimination claims are the third most common cause of complaints or suits filed with the EEOC.3
Failing to have and follow a thoughtful and thorough process could result in a claim or lawsuit. Indeed, employee disability discrimination claims are on the rise — with a record-breaking number of claims filed in 2016.3 As a way to assist in mitigating your exposure, we are sharing some fact scenarios that if the employer handled the situation differently there may not have been a claim and subsequent settlement.
THE EMPLOYEE TERMINATED WITH A BACK-DATED LETTER: $200,000 SETTLEMENT
What happened: An HVAC installer suffered a knee injury and went on a covered leave. When the employee said he was returning to work, the employer sent a back-dated letter stating that because leave had been exhausted and the company had not heard from the employee, the company would consider him to have resigned. The employee claimed that he had provided a doctor's note extending his leave and should not have been terminated. The employee alleged disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and engage in an interactive process, retaliation, and wrongful termination. The settlement was for $200,000 in favor of the employee.
Reflections from our defense team: The employer should have engaged in proactive communications with the employee to plan and prepare for a return to work, used trackable methods such as email and certified mail for these communications, and warned the employee before terminating his employment.
POOR PERFORMER TERMINATED FOR NO CALL/NO SHOW: $150,000 SETTLEMENT
What happened: An office manager was terminated after being out on sick leave. She turned in a doctor's note and then had the leave extended two days later. While she was out of the office the owner discovered that she had not billed their clients for months and the company was losing money. The termination letter stated she was dismissed for failing to report to work for two days. The company claimed it never received the second doctor's note. She alleged disability discrimination, failure to accommodate and engage in interactive process, retaliation, as well as wage and hour violations. The settlement was $150,000 in favor of the employee.
Reflections from our defense team: If a company requires documentation for a leave, it is incumbent on them to request and follow-up via trackable methods.
Also, terminating an employee while on leave is risky. In most circumstances, an employer should only consider termination after the employer has made the employee aware that termination is possible if the employee does not fulfill their employment responsibilities and obligations.
GENERAL LABORER LAID OFF TOWARD THE END OF EXTENDED MEDICAL LEAVE: $30,000 SETTLEMENT
What happened: A general laborer hurt his wrist at home and took a short permitted leave. He then presented a note, calling for an extended leave, which was approved. Next, the laborer brought in a note saying he could work with extensive restrictions, or be considered disabled and remain on leave for the next month. His employer again let him take medical leave, but then terminated him two weeks later. The employer claimed that it no longer had a need for the position due to financial reasons. The employee sued for disability discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation, failure to provide reasonable accommodations, failure to engage in an interactive process, wrongful termination, and declaratory judgment. The settlement was $30,000 in favor of the employee.
Reflections from our defense team: This is the classic case of an employer believing that it doesn't need an employee once he goes out on leave, and based on cost savings and efficiencies, terminates the employee. The leave laws are designed to prevent this exact situation and the courts rarely look with favor upon any employer who terminates an employee while on medical leave.
$131 million in damages were collected for individuals harmed by disability-based discrimination at work.4
Connect to protect
Having the right coverage in place is important part of business planning.
Contact us to learn more about how employment practices liability insurance can help protect your business.
For more information about how to help employees return to work, visit these websites.
Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ADA homepage
Americans with Disabilities Act National Network
1 Employee Equal Opportunity Commission 2016 Enforcement and Litigation Data
2 Helping Injured Employees Return to Work, California Department of Industrial Relations
4 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
Best Practices in Returning an Injured Employee to Work fact sheet
119-10021 (11/17) LC 2017-489


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WAC-UNA: Report of WAC-UNA AGM, 8.11.18, ...
You are here: WAC-UNA: Report of WAC-UNA AGM, 8.11.18, with two speakers on SDGs in the UK
After a short business meeting there were presentations by two speakers with discussion.
A report of 2 speakers at meeting of WAC-UNA on 8.11.18
Lynn Everson spoke on "The interaction between the UK and the UN – implementing the SDGs here".
Lynn is the Managing Director of Lifeline Language Services and Leader in Residence (Languages) at University of Central Lancashire, Director of the UK Association of Translation Companies (ATC). At the heart of Lifeline is a belief in duty and support for fellow human beings. In addition Lynn is the Past National President of BPW UK (Business and Professional Women UK, 2013 to 2016), and now is the Vice-Chairman of WAC-UNA.
She described the report of the UKSSD (UK Stakeholders for Sustainable Development) called "Measuring up: How the UK is performing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals". In 2015 the UK government and 192 other countries signed up to comply with the United Nations on 17 sustainability goals and their 169 targets, each with several indicators.
The targets specify objectives within each goal and the indicators are for measuring progress. The aim is to ensure that no-one is left behind within our society and we respect and sustainably share the resources on the planet. We should achieve each goal and target by 2030.
The NGO UKSSD monitors the national progress against these 17 goals and actively lobbies the UK government. Data was collected by 100 organisations. The results show that, on adding up the performance and / public coverage for all the targets of each goal, 24% were good, 57% were inadequate , 15% were poor – and for 3% there was a data gap.
This is well worth reading. It shows for the first time how the UK is performing on the SDGs. The aim is to end poverty and inequality, improve health and wellbeing, end the devastating decline of biodiversity and ecosystems, and reduce the impacts of climate change. These offer us a route to a better, more sustainable and just, future . While there's an enormous amount to celebrate, the most vulnerable people and places in our society are increasingly being left behind. A start has been made but there is much to do.
The information in Measuring up helps organisations identify where they are having, and could have, an impact on the SDGs giving opportunities for collaboration. UKSSD believe this report provides a solid platform for the UK Voluntary National Review to the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the United Nations in 2019.
Looking at SDG 5 as an example, for gender equality, which seems to have remarkably poor performance, there are 6 targets:
End discrimination
Eliminate all forms of violence
Eliminate harmful practices
Recognise and value unpaid care and domestic work
Ensure women have access to full participation in economic and political life
Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health.
For which it is suggested the UK:
a. undertake reforms to give women equal rights
b. ensure the use of enabling technology to promote the empowerment of women
c. adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation to promote gender equality.
Wider awareness in the UK populace would both aid and monitor government action
Dr Carl Wright, trustee, UNA (UK) spoke on the sustainable development goals
He is an eminent person with over 40 years professional experience working with the UN, the Commonwealth, the EU and intergovernmental organisations, consequently has an impressive and extensive biography.
Carl described the implementation of the SDGs, and interestingly was able to tell us about promising local action in Canterbury, which other areas would do well to emulate.
He commented that the National Audit Office had just published a report on the UK's implementation of SDGs but with little analysis. The UKSSD report Measuring up: How the UK is performing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, is much better, and shows that the UK is behind in meeting most SDG targets
Carl said that he had been closely involved in much of the SDG negotiations during 2012-15.
SDGs are different from previous Millennium Development Goals – MDGs - as they are much boarder in scope, more universal, applying to all countries..
Additionally there are means to implement these and report back annually to the UN – as the UK will do in 2019. Also there are regular reports to the British Parliament on progress and Carl had released a report critical of the UK Government's limited action on the 2030 Agenda compared to other countries.
Localising the SDGs
If the SDGs were to be successfully implemented a multi-stakeholder, bottom-up, not top-down approach was needed - by civil society, academia, local government, private sector, not only central government or the UN. Other countries like Belgium are ahead of the UK - see www.vvsg.be/sites/sdgs.
This bottom-up approach has been termed 'localising the SDGs' by UNDP and Carl was closely involved in developing this concept, see www.localizingthesdgs.
There is now a substantial literature on localising SDGs, including toolkits and roadmaps as well as practical examples of what is being done across the world, especially by civil society and local governments: This is facilitated by UNDP, the EU and many other international bodies.
An example of local action on SDGs in Canterbury
UNA Canterbury, with other local CSOs formed Canterbury SDG Forum (see on Facebook).
Two universities (of Kent and Canterbury Christchurch) gave specialised expertise and venues.
Local government, Canterbury City Council, CCC, and Kent County Council, KCC were approached by the Forum with the Lord Mayor and Chief Executive of CCC, using a public petition. They are looking at the local implementation of SDGs, noting challenges, best practice and making a report to raise public awareness of SDGs. They look for cooperation- not confrontation- and seek dispel the jargon.
The Forum has now set up a sub-group under this Forum which is looking at 10 key local issues, linked to specific SDG targets: For example -
"Tackling homelessness and providing genuinely affordable housing (SDG 11.1; SDG 1). "Protecting cultural heritage, sustainable tourism (SDG 11.4; 12.10)
The CCC and KCC are already engaged in implementing many SDG targets.
Objectives set out in CCC's corporate plan 2016-20, e.g. 'making the most of our unique and natural environment', reflect targets under key SDGs such as SDG11 - but is not called (or recognised as) SDG targets and this connection now needs to be made through their work.
Back to UNA Women's Advisory Council
All branch news


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Lars Eller is a lot better than you think, here's why
The oft-criticized Great Dane has had yet another inconsistent offensive year, yet he remains criminally underrated by the hometown media and fanbase.
By Andrew Berkshire Updated Mar 30, 2015, 2:00pm EDT
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Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Outside of P.K. Subban, there isn't anyone in the Montreal Canadiens organization that gets more unfair scrutiny than Lars Eller. The complaints about Eller usually stem from his point totals, which many believe should be significantly higher. On the surface that seems like a valid criticism, if you're paying your third line center $3.5M per year, you probably expect more than 30 points, and he may fail to hit that mark for the second straight year.
The thing is, none of the Canadiens' current top three centers are "do it yourself" offensive players. There's no Sidney Crosby there, no Evgeni Malkin. What all of Tomas Plekanec, David Desharnais, and Eller are though, are complementary centers with unique skillsets.
Plekanec is the closest thing the Habs have to a center who carries his line offensively, but he struggles to do that at even strength. Where Plekanec truly excels offensively is on the powerplay, where he is the Canadiens' best offensive producer over the last three seasons.
What these players can produce at even strength is important, because when comparing them, you have to realize that they play very different kinds of minutes. For example, Desharnais has played 357 more minutes on the powerplay the last three years more than Eller has. That has a gigantic impact on point totals, and it's only one of a multitude of factors.
Consistency of linemates
This isn't something that's discussed concretely very often, but it's important for players to produce. Fans like to complain about coaches blending the lines, which is something almost all of them do regularly, but most centers have at least one common winger to spend at least half their ice time with, but Eller doesn't.
What you can see from the above graph is that there's a great disparity in consistency of linemates among the Habs' top three centers, with Desharnais getting the cushiest spot of them all, playing over 71% of his even strength ice time with Max Pacioretty, and over 45% with Brendan Gallagher.
Surprisingly, an even larger share of Plekanec's ice time was spent with Brian Gionta, over 80%, until he was let go in free agency this past summer. Since Gionta was let go, it's been Alex Galchenyuk who has been Plekanec's wing man. Because Galchenyuk was Eller's most common linemate the previous two years, this has even further thrown Eller's production into flux.
While it makes sense that the third line center will have less-consistent linemates than the top-two, spending less than a third of his total ice time over three years with his most common linemates is pretty sad, and a difficult situation to work with.
Quality of linemates
Consistency of linemates matters, but what's even more important is who you're playing with. Just looking at each center's two most common wingers, we can see the vastly different situations each center plays in.
Desharnais' most common linemates score near double the goals per minute that Eller's most common linemates do, and produce nearly double the shots as well. Eller's most common linemates also have a negative impact on his possession numbers, while Plekanec's are slightly positive, and Desharnais' are massively positive.
Breaking down production
Even before you factor in zone starts, it's essentially impossible for Eller or Plekanec to produce at the same rate at even strength as what Desharnais does, yet, they're not far off.
Over the last three seasons, Desharnais has produced 1.82 points per 60 minutes, while Plekanec has produced 1.55, and Eller has produced 1.51. It probably comes as a fairly big surprise to people that Eller has produced at a nearly identical rate to Plekanec at even strength, but it's true.
For all the comments about Eller lacking hockey sense, it doesn't really make sense as a criticism that he could produce as much offensively as Tomas Plekanec, who has great hockey sense, with inferior linemates.
Taking it one step further, over the last three seasons, Eller has produced 4.0 points per 60 minutes on the powerplay, not as good as Plekanec's 4.8, but significantly better than Desharnais' 3.31, which begs the question of what could Eller do given the linemates Desharnais has boasted the last three years.
This is a player who has never been given an extended period of time with any real opportunity to produce, and in all likelihood is at least as good offensively as both the other centers on the team. Is Eller inconsistent? Yes, he is. And that has far more to do his situation than his performance.


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Movies and Entertainment
Review of American Sniper
By Francisco Ferrer
January 20, 2015 in Movies and Entertainment
Francisco Ferrer
If this country is ever again occupied by a foreign army, may there be men, women and, yes, even children brave enough to risk their lives to drive the invader from these shores.
Brant Gaede
Location:Tucson, AZ
Interests:All kinds of stuff
The foreign army is Federal government bureaucrats. No one else is coming and no one else is here. As for the movie, I doubt I'll ever see it. Flying killer drones is the logical extension of sniping. I'm only up to it in extremis. I'm not a good enough shot for the job anyway. (With new technology, though, snipers won't have to have uber skills.) For me it would be like torturing someone. Can't do it like it was a job ("Next!"), only in extremis, when I don't care what's left of me when I'm done. That's the psychological commitment of combat and one year of Vietnam was enough for me--a war that wasn't good enough for its carnage. (It was a lot better than the oil wars, however, with the possible exception of The Gulf War. [This is not a reference to the amount of destruction but to the relative morality as such. 3-4 million or more died--were killed--if you count the Cambodian spillover. That's another significant moral factor, but I simply parsed it out for clarity.])
--Brant
Darrell Hougen
Location:Littleton, CO
First, I'll say that I saw the movie and I liked it.
The story is about the true life adventures of Chris Kyle, one of the most successful U.S. snipers of all time. It starts with his early life as a cowboy and follows him as he decides to serve his country after he sees reports of the terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Tansania. By the time of the World Trade Center attack, he was already a Navy Seal. The movie skips the war in Afghanistan and jumps to his first of four deployments to Iraq which included places like Fallujah and Sadr City.
Chris Kyle is not exactly Rand's style of hero. Her ideal man, John Galt, is much more intellectual and philosophical than Kyle, but in many respects, Kyle is the all American hero. On some level, he was just an average guy --- modest, unassuming, self-assured. On another level, he was as close to the ideal of what a man should be of any man in recent memory --- tough, no-nonsense, professional, yet kind, compassionate, and caring for those that mattered to him --- his family and his brothers in arms.
I didn't mind living vicariously through Chris Kyle for a couple of hours. We should all aspire to be such noble creatures.
In addition to helping to establish a new government in Iraq with Islam as the state religion, the United States military implemented a nation-wide gun-confiscation program in Iraq. "Operation Iraqi Freedom" meant liberating rifles from their owners. "Noble Hero" Chris Kyle was there to shoot down anyone who objected to that confiscation.
Always a cynic.
The glass is always half empty.
What we did in Iraq wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. One wonders whether we should have been there at all. We should have insisted on Western values in the Constitution of Iraq.
Confiscating guns is justified when they're being used to shoot at the liberating force. Sorry, it's not like we were trying to pry them out of the hands of a bunch of libertarians that just wanted to live in peace.
Chris Kyle was there to defend this country and keep his fellow soldiers safe.
The implication that he was there to shoot down a bunch of libertarians is both absurd and disgusting.
I wonder if this movie is psychologically compatible with being a gut-level libertarian. I'm not that kind of libertarian. I'm just more of one than I used to be. Some people seem to be born libertarian. I'm not talking about the ideas but the psychological relationship to the state and American warriorism. I was actually young enough still for the first Gulf War and up to it in my head, but come 2003 and the coming invasion of Iraq by our oil-drenched-Hussein-tried-to-kill-my-daddy-stupid-ignorant-bull-headed-religious-fanatic of a President and I had had enough and in a much deeper way than I had had enough of Vietnam when I left in 1967. But I'm still an American warrior. I just won't fight for Lincoln. Too bad there's no America. America is a city on a hill. An idea only.
Left libertarians?
Location:Republic of South Africa
Brant, I wonder if you have read Up Country, by Nelson deMille. I'ts about Vietnam today, an ex-SF Intelligence guy is 'requested' to go back on a clandestine mission to solve an old murder of an officer. Into a very good plot there is woven-in his feelings visiting old battlegrounds - since I've read quite a lot of Vietnam War fiction, it even left me with a taste of "going back" too. It is very good.
Chris Kyle and the Marine platoons he served with performed house-to-house invasions and weapons snatching. All arms--not just those aimed at the invaders--were verboten. And the weapons owners could expect swift justice in one of the "less than perfect" detention facilities in "liberated" Iraq. We need not concern ourselves too much about those placed under arrest. The idea that any one of them couid have been libertarian is "disgusting." Can you imagine a solid American citizen refusing a polite request from a member of an invading army to turn over his guns? Or trying to hide them under the floorboards? "Absurd."
Chris Kyle fought in Iraq to defend American citizens. It is a well known fact that between 2003 and 2014 Iraqis killed over 4,491 U.S. citizens. To mention that these individuals were on Iraqi soil in a war zone created by the 43rd President of the United States is the height of cynicism and glass-half-emptyism.
Fortunately, there is not one ounce of cynicism in Eastwood's movie about our "noble hero." The plot is simple and straight-forward. U.S. embassies in East Africa are bombed in 1998. Patriotic cowboy Kyle joins the SEALs. The next thing you know Kyle and the gun grabbers are fighting Muslims in Iraq. Fortunately, Eastwood does not bother telling the audience that Saddam had no connection with the bombings.
That would spoil the fun for all the dumbasses in the theatre.
How "noble" the man was cannot be known save as myth through a movie. And is this movie fiction on its face? It should be and not with the real names. Using real names and real purported incidents out of a book written by the main protagonist and not a documentary makes the movie lying propaganda on its face. Propaganda from the right that counters the common Hollywood propaganda from the left. Okay--hooray for that. It doesn't matter that I have reason to believe there is a lot of good depicted about good vs evil with Americans as the good guys and the bad guys getting killed by these Americans. In the context of a war being fought you take out your rifle and shoot the bad guys down. The problem is it was a bad war, a wrong war, stupidly fought--not by the soldiers but by the highest higher ups--and after 12 years many lives and a trillion dollars it's all worse than it has ever been in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and the neighboring countries if not all around the world respecting the consequences of "The War On Terror." What's happened merely illustrates the true extent of the genius of George Orwell.
In war, one shoots the enemy down and wrecks his stuff. It does not matter whether the enemy is good or bad. He is the enemy....
Thanks. I had no idea. That's your sentence #1. #2 is false. #3 is true. True, false, true. You're getting better.
The middle one is true also. Allied bombing raids killed infants. Are they bad? Collateral damage is what happens when one goes after the bad guys with area wide weapons.
And if you're the bad guy?
yes, the allied bombing raids were bad--war is bad--killing infants is bad--WWII was bad--we have so much to thank Churchill for: look around; it's all around--thanks to "The Great War" (was it "good" the US got into it?)
There's a bright young man, Vinay Kolhatkar, from Australia who is both involved in Objectivism and the film industry. (We are Facebook friends.)
He is not happy with American Sniper.
American Sniper and Birdman: A Tale of Two Movies
by Vinay Kolhatkar
Date - kinda Jan 27, 2015*
The Savvy Street
(* This is the date he posted a link to it on Facebook. Man, I hate it when bloggers leave off the dates. It makes hell for correct attribution.)
The marketing tagline on IMDb is "Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle's pinpoint accuracy saves countless lives on the battlefield and turns him into a legend"—that makes it sound like American Sniper is a heroic, thrilling ride with a hero fighting for worthwhile values that are hard to obtain, action sequences, and an inner growth of character. The trouble is—it is not even close.
Much has already been made of the historical inaccuracies in American Sniper, and as to whether he was in fact a hero.
A basic rule of fiction writing is to create increasing jeopardy.
Only the highest form of a work of art achieves a cathartic outcome, and clearly, depending on your emotional state of mind, and sense of life, certain works will move you repeatedly, and some never will—to each his own.
Chris Kyle, the "American Sniper," starts off as a simpleton cowboy in Texas, coached by his old man to serve God, Country, and Family. He "wakes up" at age 30 and suddenly enlists in the Navy. The triggering incident is a news item about a U.S. embassy bombing. Say what—the most important scene in the movie is a news item?
Then Chris meets a lady in a bar, who will never even date a Marine; he flirts with her. Suddenly, they are married. One day, they are watching TV and live coverage of 9/11 comes on the air. She, with whom we have no connection, cries. Even his POV is centered on the TV, not her. Then suddenly, he is deployed to Iraq. Authenticity—where art thou? Anyone watching this movie will bet that the story is fake, unless they know otherwise.
Of all the details to not mess up, the 9/11 to Iraq sequence needed a better explanation, even schoolchildren in Morocco or Zambia know that 9/11 did not directly lead to Iraq.
In replicating a true story, how did we lose the feel of authenticity?
... we have an image with a simplistic morality of us versus an undefined "them." All that Clint Eastwood and Jason Hall (the screenwriter) have given us is a video game of a gun battle between two snipers. A legitimate question is—Is this good enough to be called a movie?
And on he goes.
Kolhatkar certainly knows his Aristotle. I need to see the film, though, and come to my own conclusions. Clint Eastwood is a master storyteller.
Interestingly enough, a screenwriting guru I admire, Brian McDonald, also doesn't like Eastwood for very similar reasons. McDonald thinks Eastwood is sloppy in setting up character motivations and clumsy about some other things, too. I heard him in a podcast blast Unforgiven to pieces. In my book, that was a hell of a great film.
Kolhatkar gives some fine food for thought (including the part about Birdman), even though I suspect I will disagree with his evaluation after I see the movie. He wrote a highly opinionated article, but well worth reading.


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The Foundation for a Drug-Free World has distributed millions of copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets to young people around the world as part of its multimedia drug education program.
Effectively describing the dangers of drug abuse while drawing on 25 years of experience in anti-drug campaigns, the materials and the people who share them convey factual messages about drug abuse, without using scare tactics, to help youth make informed decisions on the dangers of illegal street drugs and prescription medicine abuse. The campaign has reached more than 700 million people in more than 190 countries.
by Jena Wilson
On the streets of Athens, Greece, it is called "Sisa." It is a deadly mixture of methamphetamine and fillers that sometimes include battery acid. Because it is so inexpensive, it is often called the "poor man's cocaine."
To many politicians and police in the country, the situation seems insoluble.
But not to Florita Gerasimidou. She and her fellow Scientologists rolled up their sleeves and set out to educate people throughout the country using booklets, videos and lectures to spread the message of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World (DFW) person to person.
"We started increasing the amount of distribution in streets, parks and squares," Florita told Freedom. "Also, in order to do more, we … started activating store owners. We also contacted city halls and presented municipal officials with the Drug-Free World portfolio, informing them of what we were doing."
Florita and members of the Church believe the drug information has had a positive impact on attitudes throughout the Greek islands. They point to government statistics showing falling drug rates.
Based on the data provided by the Greek Center of Monitoring and Information, there was a 92 percent drop in drug-related deaths in Athens alone, from 2011 to 2014. Between 2011 and 2015, substance abuse-related arrests and convictions in Greece fell by 33 percent.
Currently reading: Scientologists Use DFW to Fight the New Scourge in Greece


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Game of Thrones (TV series) episodes
Dark Wings, Dark Words 7 Apr 2013
Breaker of Chains 20 Apr 2014
The Lion and the Rose 13 Apr 2014
The Rains of Castamere 2 Jun 2013
The Kingsroad 24 Apr 2011
You Win or You Die 29 May 2011
The North Remembers 1 Apr 2012
Valar Dohaeris 31 Mar 2013
And Now His Watch Is Ended 21 Apr 2013
Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things 8 May 2011
The Watchers on the Wall 8 Jun 2014
What Is Dead May Never Die 15 Apr 2012
The Mountain and the Viper 1 Jun 2014
Two Swords (Game of Thrones) 6 Apr 2014
Game of Thrones (season 3) 31 Mar 2013 - 9 Jun 2013
The Climb (Game of Thrones) 5 May 2013
A Golden Crown 22 May 2011
Oathkeeper 27 Apr 2014
The Wolf and the Lion 15 May 2011
The Prince of Winterfell 20 May 2012
Blackwater (Game of Thrones) 27 May 2012
The Bear and the Maiden Fair 12 May 2013
Kissed by Fire 28 Apr 2013
Fire and Blood (Game of Thrones) 19 Jun 2011
Lord Snow 1 May 2011
Game of Thrones (season 2) 1 Apr 2012 - 3 Jun 2012
Blood of My Blood 29 May 2016
The Children (Game of Thrones) 15 Jun 2014
Valar Morghulis 3 Jun 2012
Mhysa 9 Jun 2013
Mockingbird (Game of Thrones) 18 May 2014
Second Sons 19 May 2013
The Pointy End 5 Jun 2011
The Laws of Gods and Men 11 May 2014
The Night Lands 8 Apr 2012
A Man Without Honor 13 May 2012
The Old Gods and the New 6 May 2012
First of His Name 4 May 2014
Baelor 12 Jun 2011
Winter Is Coming 17 Apr 2011
Game of Thrones (season 4) 6 Apr 2014 - 15 Jun 2014
The Ghost of Harrenhal 29 Apr 2012
Game of Thrones (season 1) 17 Apr 2011 - 19 Jun 2011
Walk of Punishment 14 Apr 2013
Garden of Bones 22 Apr 2012
Game of Thrones season 5 12 Apr 2015 - 14 Jun 2015
The Wars to Come 12 Apr 2015
The House of Black and White 19 Apr 2015
High Sparrow 26 Apr 2015
Sons of the Harpy 3 May 2015
Kill the Boy 10 May 2015
Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken 17 May 2015
The Gift (Game of Thrones) 24 May 2015
Hardhome 31 May 2015
The Dance of Dragons 7 Jun 2015
Mother's Mercy 14 Jun 2015
Game of Thrones (season 6) 24 Apr 2016 - Present
The Red Woman 24 Apr 2016
Home (Game of Thrones) 1 May 2016
Oathbreaker (Game of Thrones) 8 May 2016
Book of the Stranger 15 May 2016
The Door (Game of Thrones) 22 May 2016
The Broken Man 5 Jun 2016
No One (Game of Thrones) 12 Jun 2016
Battle of the Bastards 19 Jun 2016
The Winds of Winter (Game of Thrones) 26 Jun 2016
Game of Thrones (season 7) 16 Jul 2017 - Present
Stormborn 23 Jul 2017
Dragonstone (Game of Thrones) 16 Jul 2017
The Queen's Justice 30 Jul 2017
The Spoils of War (Game of Thrones) 6 Aug 2017


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obust bilateral economic and trade ties have been the greatest source of strength and foundation for engagement in the U.S.-China relationship for decades. Yet in recent years those ties have been frayed by an ongoing trade war, the threat of decoupling, and a global economic and public health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Join the National Committee on Tuesday, November 17 at 7:00 p.m. EST for a conversation with Amy Celico (Albright Stonebridge Group), Huang Yiping (Peking University), and Andy Rothman (Matthews Asia), moderated by NCUSCR President Stephen Orlins, as they discuss the current trade tensions, prospects for economic growth during and after COVID-19, and the future of U.S.-China economic ties.
Amy Celico is a principal at the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG) and leads the firm's D.C.-based China practice, assisting corporate and non-profit clients develop and expand their business in China. Previously, Ms. Celico served as senior director for China affairs at the office of the U.S. trade representative and worked at the U.S. departments of commerce and state, including as a diplomat stationed in Beijing and Shanghai. Ms. Celico serves on the board of directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and is a senior associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Ms. Celico earned a B.A. with honors in Asian studies from Mount Holyoke College and completed her M.A. in international economics and strategic studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She is also a graduate of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in China.
Dr. Huang Yiping is the Jin Guang Chair Professor of Economics, deputy dean at the National School of Development, and director of the Institute of Digital Finance at Peking University. He served as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the People's Bank of China from 2015 to 2018. Currently, he is vice chairman of the council at the Public Policy Research Center and research fellow at the Financial Research Center, both at the Counselors' Office of the State Council. He also serves as chairman of the Academic Committee of the China Finance 40 Forum and as a member of the Chinese Economists 50 Forum. He is editor of the China Economic Journal and an associate editor of the Asian Economic Policy Review. His research areas include macroeconomics, financial markets, and rural development.
Previously, Dr. Huang was a policy analyst at the Research Center for Rural Development of the State Council, research fellow and senior lecturer of economics at the Australian National University, General Mills International Visiting Professor of Economics and Finance at the Columbia Business School, managing director and chief Asia economist for Citigroup, chief economist for the Caixin Media Group, managing director and chief economist for emerging Asia for Barclays, and an independent director of China Life Insurance Ltd., Minmetal Trust Ltd., and Mybank.
Dr. Huang received his Ph.D. in economics from Australian National University, his master's degree in economics from Renmin University of China, and his bachelor's degree in agricultural economics from Zhejiang Agricultural University.
Andy Rothman is an investment strategist at Matthews Asia. He is principally responsible for developing research focused on China's ongoing economic and political developments while also complementing the broader investment team with in-depth analysis on Asia. In addition, Mr. Rothman plays a key role in communicating the firm's perspectives and latest insights into China and the greater Asia region to clients and the media.
Prior to joining Matthews Asia in 2014, Mr. Rothman spent 14 years as CLSA's China macroeconomic strategist conducting analysis into China and delivering his perspectives to clients. Previously, Mr. Rothman spent 17 years with the U.S. foreign service in a diplomatic career focused on China, including experience as the head of the macroeconomics and domestic policy office of the U.S. embassy in Beijing. In total, he lived and worked in China for more than 20 years.
Mr. Rothman earned an M.A. in public administration from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a B.A. from Colgate University. Mr. Rothman is a proficient Mandarin speaker.
Stephen A. Orlins has been president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations since 2005. Prior to that, he was the managing director of Carlyle Asia and the chairman of the board of Taiwan Broadband Communications, one of Taiwan's largest cable television and high speed internet providers. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Orlins was a senior advisor to AEA Investors Inc., a New York-based leveraged buyout firm, with responsibility for AEA's business activities throughout Asia. From 1983 to 1991, Mr. Orlins was with the investment banking firm of Lehman Brothers where he was a managing director from 1985 to 1991. From 1987 to 1990, he served as president of Lehman Brothers Asia. From 1976 to 1979, Mr. Orlins served in the Office of the Legal Advisor of the United States Department of State, first in the Office of the Assistant Legal Advisor for Political-Military Affairs and then for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. While in that office, he was a member of the legal team that helped establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.
Mr. Orlins is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and earned his law degree at Harvard Law School. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Your contribution makes events like these possible, please donate to the National Committee.
7:00 PM to 8:00 PM EST
Amy Celico
Huang Yiping
Andy Rothman
Click Here to Watch the Event Livestream
The Henry Luce Foundation
China's Economy
More CHINA Town Hall Events
CHINA Town Hall: Ray Dalio
Tuesday, November 10, 7:00 p.m. EST
with Ray Dalio
CHINA Town Hall: Society & Culture
Thursday, November 12, 7:00 p.m. EST
with Raymond Chang, Lucas Sin, and Janet Yang
CHINA Town Hall: U.S. Perspectives in Chinese
Monday, November 16, 8:00 a.m. EST
with Robert Daly, June Mei, and Matt Sheehan
CHINA Town Hall: Health & Climate
Wednesday, November 18, 7:00 p.m. EST
with Margaret Hamburg, Ryan Hass, and Angel Hsu
Resources from Speakers
Amy Celico:
"Trade and the Post-Covid Global Economy" event hosted by Amy Celico in CSIS
"What to Expect From This Week's U.S.-China Talks" news program featuring Amy Celico on Bloomberg TV
"Best Frenemies: China, the US, and the Future of the 21st Century" event featuring Amy Celico at the Aspen Ideas Festival
Andy Rothman:
"Lessons From China" analysis by Andy Rothman in Matthews Asia
"Four China Trends" analysis by Andy Rothman in Matthews Asia
"Matthews Asia Andy Rothman says China is headed for V-shaped recovery" interview featuring Andy Rothman on CNBC
Huang Yiping:
"Domestic Consumption set to get Renewed Impetus" article featuring Huang Yiping in China Daily
"China Revises Ceiling on Private Lending Interest Rates" article featuring Huang Yiping in CGTN
"China 2049: Economic Challenges of a Rising Global Power" panel discussion featuring Huang Yiping in Brookings
Confronting the global challenges of climate chan...
CHINA Town Hall connects leading China experts wi...
Starting with ping-pong diplomacy in 1971, cultur...
obust bilateral economic and trade ties have been...
Jack Ma's speech at the Bund Summit 2020 in Shang...


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Overblown Outrage
Tattooed Jesus billboard not as controversial as outraged critics think
Elizabeth Rhodes
Oct 13, 2013 | 12:57 pm
A billboard of a tattooed Jesus Christ along a West Lubbock highway is causing quite a lot of commotion. The work of the website Jesustattoo.org, the billboard depicts Jesus with outstretched arms, which are tattooed with such words as "Outcast," "Jealous" and "Addicted."
Some people in the community have reacted strongly to the billboard. "I don't like the picture. I think it's very derogatory," a Lubbock resident told CBS affiliate KEYE-TV.
The website's homepage features a video that portrays Jesus as a tattoo artist. Several tattooed individuals approach him, revealing their sinful markings, including a woman with "Self Righteous" tattooed on her chest and a young disabled boy with the word "Outcast" tattooed on his body.
Although the billboard has certainly drawn a lot of attention, it hasn't all been negative.
"I thought that it was cleverly done because, basically, it's a visual of Jesus taking the sins of people and covering them and taking them from an outcast or something and giving them a new start, which is what the gospel is about," David Wilson, a senior pastor at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock, told ABC News.
The six-minute video on the website shows Jesus going to work on the tattooed victims and changing each negative word or phrase into something positive. The woman with the "Self Righteous" tattoo breathes a sigh of relief when her tattoo is changed to "Humbled," and the young boy delights as his tattoo goes from "Outcast" to "Accepted."
The filmmakers' comments on their website emphasize the positive nature of the message. "It really is as simple as it appears. We are a small group of people humbled by the love of Jesus. We are not a church. We are not selling anything. We encourage you to tell as many people as possible. That's it."
Wilson agrees, saying the billboard is a creative way to reach a different demographic. "You know, I use the analogy — I like to fish, and I use different baits for different fish, and to me this is fishing for people who would never walk in the door of a church."
news/travel
Prom dress drive
Plano Prom Closet opens doors to thousands of dresses for deserving teens in 2023
Stephanie Allmon Merry
Photo courtesy of Prom Closet
Every girl deserves her dream prom dress.
One of Dallas-Fort Worth's largest prom dress drives is on its way to making dreams come true for a record number of local teens. The Prom Closet at St. Andrew Methodist Church in Plano expects to provide 4,000 pieces of formal attire, free of charge, to prom-goers in spring of 2023.
A service of the St. Andrew United Methodist Church United Methodist Women group, Prom Closet allows teens the chance to "shop for" dresses, shoes, and accessories at no cost. The event has grown from assisting 35 teen girls when it started in 2009, to an anticipated 1,000 "shoppers" this year.
The 2023 shopping event will take place February 7-9, 11 and 13-18 ... more on that in a sec.
Bur first, they need to fill the shelves, racks, and hangers.
Donations of gently used or new dresses (sizes 0-30), jewelry, shoes, handbags, and wraps are being taken now through February 16, from 8:30 am-8:30 pm Monday through Thursday; 8:30 am-12 pm Friday; 11:30 am-4 pm Saturday; and 9 am-12 pm Sunday.
Donations should be dropped off in Smith Worship Center on the east side of the church, 1401 Mira Vista Blvd., Plano.
Also, items can be donated through a Prom Closet Amazon Wish List. There are additional volunteer opportunities available as personal shopping assistants.
This year's shopping days are February 7-9, 11 and 13-18; appointments are required and last 90 minutes. Interested shoppers can register online now.
Each shopper must be present to select her own dress and accessories and may have one guest, age 16 or older, with them, organizers say. A volunteer will help each shopper personally throughout the process.
"It's no secret that attending prom can be very expensive," said Devra Helffrich, a founder of Prom Closet, in a statement. "Not only is the need great, but the impact the dress makes on the girl and her family is immeasurable. Each volunteer strives to provide an uplifting experience for the young ladies letting them know they are loved, and they are beautiful. There are countless beautiful and emotional stories of girls and their families who have received prom dresses and accessories."
Find more information about donating, shopping, or volunteering on the Prom Closet website, email promcloset@standrewmethodist.org, or call 469-385-1810.
familiescharity


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Save Yourselves
The Trump Administration Dumped Thousands of Migrants – Including Kids – on the Streets with No Support
It forced local communities to either spend money and resources on migrants who are just passing through, or let them fend for themselves.
Gaby Del Valle
US Border Patrol Illegally Held a Sick Nine-Year-Old Girl Without Medical Attention, Lawsuit Says
She and her mother were detained at a California Border Patrol station for ten days.
This Court Battle Could Force Trump to Stop Separating Migrant Families
Advocates have filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in hopes of reversing the administration's policies.
Paul DeBenedetto
One Widow's Quest to Make Border Patrol Pay for Killing Her Husband
Her husband died after being beaten and tased by border agents, and now Maria Puga gets a chance to shame the United States in an international tribunal.
Sam Gilbert
Border Patrol Agents Stopped a Hearse Carrying a Coffin Full of Weed
A drug-sniffing dog uncovered more than 60 pounds of marijuana that had been hidden inside the ornate casket, next to bags of manure.
Drew Schwartz
Smugglers Tried to Fool Border Patrol Agents with Weed Disguised as Limes
The pot was packaged to look like 34,000 limes stashed inside a commercial fruit shipment.
Brian Moylan
We Talked to the Man Walking the Length of the US-Mexico Border
The first leg of Mark Hainds's journey – 1,010 miles of Texas borderlands – is the subject of a new documentary, La Frontera.
Ted Hesson
Why Chinese Migrants Go Through Mexico to Get to America
In the last few years, the number of Chinese immigrants caught crossing into the United States from Mexico at the San Diego border has skyrocketed.
Anonymous US Border Patrol Agents Keep Killing People
46 people have died at their hands since 2005.
Lucy Steigerwald
Talking to Deported Immigrants Through the Fence at the US/Mexico Border
Between immigration stories blaring on the news and hostile protests in border towns, it can be easy to forget that the immigrants who have traveled to America are actual human beings.
Shanrah Wakefield
Mexico's Immigrant Oasis
The town of Altar, Sonora is the last stop before the border.
VICE Staff
VICE MEDIA PRIVACY POLICY


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Movie: Frequency
Posted on Fri, Apr 28, 2000 at 4:00 AM
Dad was a heroic firefighter, happily married and living a sunny, blue-collar life in Queens. Junior followed in Dad's footsteps by going to work for the City of New York, varying only in his choice to become a cop instead of a fireman.
Years later, after Dad had long since died, Junior was fiddling with his old man's ham radio during an atmospheric disturbance. Over the airwaves, he heard a voice that sounded inexplicably identical to his pop's.
That's the point at which "Frequency" takes off. It is indeed John Sullivan's (Jim Caviezel) father, Frank (Dennis Quaid), on the other end, and thanks to some Hollywood magic, John gets to change the central event of both their lives -- Dad's death in a warehouse blaze -- and recast their fates.
But before everything can turn out peachy, there's a serial killer to find, as well as enough flash-forward and flashback action to leave everyone in the theater just about dazed and confused.
Contrived? Sure. This isn't the deceitful thicket of the nearly real that wowed us in The Sixth Sense, but it certainly challenges even the most attentive viewer. And about halfway into this slick little story, the contrivances stop mattering so much, as this cop yarn with a twist produces better-than-routine action.
The credit goes to first-time screenwriter Toby Emmerich and director Gregory Hoblit ("Primal Fear"). Even viewers eager to pick at inconsistencies in the illogic of time travel will find themselves absorbed in the various problems that impede the drive toward a happy ending.
That drive would be more interesting were John played by an actor more endearing than Caviezel, a relative newcomer whose hoped-for breakout role in The Thin Red Line was shredded by poor editing. Allowed the leeway to carry a picture, Caviezel doesn't impress: His John appears more pained than baffled by time's tricks. Whatever emotion his wounded-deer looks are intended to communicate, it sure isn't warmth. John wears the same expressions as a shell-shocked GI as when he's a time-traveling detective.
Caviezel's work contrasts markedly with Quaid's athletic, smiling portrayal. Quaid looks good even under some odd old-man makeup, and the screen lights up whenever Frank and his wife, Julia (Elizabeth Mitchell), appear together.
Fans of the always fascinating Andre Braugher will likely be disappointed. His character, Satch DeLeon, is a cop, but one not nearly as interesting as the flatfoot he played on TV's "Homicide: Life On the Street." Braugher has marginal impact on anything that goes on in "Frequency."
Then again, this gimmick-fest isn't about winning acting Oscars. It's about filling the seats with viewers who want a bit of challenge with their escapism. And on that order, it works just fine.
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Dae Sung Park Owes Success to ONE Warrior Series Experience
UFC 269 Contest : Oliveira vs. Poirier | MMA INDIA SHOW
UFC on ESPN: Font vs. Aldo
"Crazy Dog" Dae Sung Park is steadily making a name for himself as one of South Korea's most promising talents on the ONE Championship stage.
The 26-year old from Jeonju has been nothing but impressive since joining the largest martial arts organization in the world, racking up four consecutive wins, a streak that began when he became one of the earliest success stories on Rich Franklin's ONE Warrior Series.
A taekwondo practitioner during his elementary days, Park eventually found his way to amateur wrestling when he enrolled in a sports high school. It was then that his passion for martial arts began to grow.
In junior high, Park stumbled upon mixed martial arts on television, and from then on, he knew that it was something he wanted to do.
"I watched mixed martial arts on television when I was in junior high school and I thought to myself that I wanted to try it out," Park recalled.
Inspired by his idol Yoshihiro "Sexyama" Akiyama, who was also born in South Korea, Park began training in judo, until finally devoting himself to mixed martial arts.
In 2013, Park began his mixed martial arts journey by debuting for legendary Japanese promotion Shooto. While Park's career began on a sour note, he would immediately bounce back by going unbeaten in his next six contests.
Catching the attention of ONE Warrior Series CEO and mixed martial arts legend Rich Franklin because of his impressive record on the regional circuit, Park was invited to be part of the inaugural ONE Warrior Series event in Singapore back in 2018.
His spectacular first-round technical knockout win over Japan's Kimihiro Eto was enough to earn him a spot on ONE Championship's main roster, and since then, "Crazy Dog" has never looked back.
In his first opportunity on the big stage, Park immediately went to work, defeating Trestle Tan by unanimous decision and then following that up with another stoppage win over Eto the following year.
Park's most recent victory is his most significant one by far, edging out former ONE Featherweight World Champion Honorio "The Rock" Banario.
For Park, his win over Banario is easily his best and most memorable performance since beginning his career.
"I would say that the most memorable performance I've had so far was against Honorio Banario. He was a former champion and he has had a great career, so it was my absolute honor to have been able to share the Circle with him."
Park adds that being able to get the better of a former world champion has given him the belief and the confidence that he too can one day become a world title holder.
"Honorio Banario is definitely a true champion, and by being able to win that match, I believe that I earned honor and I gained confidence in myself that I too can become a champion as well, one day," Park added.
Now, as one of the top contenders in the talent-rich lightweight division in ONE Championship, Park's primary goal is to do just that: become a world champion.
"Right now, there is only one goal for me, and that is to become a ONE World Champion," says Park.
As of the moment, Park may not exactly be in the front of the line in terms of being the number one contender to Christian Lee's ONE Lightweight World Championship, but the South Korean star knows that he's close.
With that in mind, Park has his sights set on facing another top contender who also recently was able to take down a former ONE World Champion from the Philippines.
"I really want to compete against Pieter Buist. I actually had the opportunity to fight him before, but unfortunately the fight didn't push through," Park revealed. "I really want to test my skills against him."
Buist, the rangy striker from the Netherlands, recently recorded the biggest win of his career by edging out former three-time ONE Lightweight World Champion Eduard "Landslide" Folayang.
Park understands that a win over Buist could improve his chances at becoming the next number one contender.
"He did a great job against a former champion like Eduard Folayang, and if I can beat him, I think I would be very close to a title shot," Park added.
World championship opportunities aside, Park is finally getting the recognition that he deserves, and it's largely because he's been putting on great performances on the big stage.
For Park, being a ONE athlete in itself is already a great honor.
"The biggest difference with ONE is that we athletes can really feel that we are being taken care of, and that we are really the company's first priority," says Park.
"If other promotions are more of fighters fighting with each other, ONE Championship is more like martial artists competing with each other and showing the utmost respect."
Being a part of the ONE Championship family and being in the position he is in now is something that Park says he owes to that life-changing experience he went through with ONE Warrior Series.
"If there was no ONE Warrior Series, then definitely, there is no Dae Sung Park right now," he said.
"I learned so much from that experience and I learned so much from Rich Franklin."
Now on the cusp of stardom, Park is more than proud to be representing his home country every time he steps into the ONE Circle.
"It's really an honor for me to be able to represent my country of South Korea in the biggest martial arts promotion in the world," he concluded.
One Warrior series
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Univention Corporate Server An Enterprise Linux (Overview And Tutorial)
In this article, we will take a look at Univention Corporate Server (UCS) and It is also sort of brief tutorial on UCS. Before we get into it, lets talk about an overview.
1: Overview
First, what is Univention Corporate Server (UCS)? It is an enterprise Linux distribution that is built by Univention. It is their goal to simplify the access to applications and devices for organizations and Univention heavily uses Open Source software for that. Basically, this involves three core topics:
A central identity management system
An app store-like environment for applications
And, of course, IT infrastructure and device management
All this is brought together into one product called Univention Corporate Server.
You can imagine UCS as an alternative to Microsoft Windows Server, because it provides Active Directory (AD) services and can be used for similar purposes. For example, UCS can participate in an Active Directory domain or Active Directory domain data can be migrated to UCS for a drop-in replacement.
You can also imagine UCS as Android for servers. Like Android UCS offers a marketplace for apps. Univention calls it App Center. It manages apps' life cycles and integrates them with the central identity management system incorporated in UCS. Because of the flexibility of UCS, most apps can be operated both on premises or in the cloud.
UCS is used by a broad variety of organizations in very different industries ranging from just a few users until up to 30 million users in the directory service.
2: Origin and Functionality
Univention Corporate Server is derived from Debian GNU/Linux. The software packages are taken from the Debian project. Univention builds some packages on their own, because some packages like Samba or OpenLDAP are customized with patches or simply need a newer version than available in Debian stable.
The Open Source software projects Samba 4, Heimdal Kerberos or OpenLDAP are used to provide the Active Directory domain functionality in UCS.
UCS offers a central configuration system name Univention Configuration Registry (UCR). It consists of a tree of variable keys and their values that are used in configuration files and scripts. It allows to use the same variable, for example the LDAP base distinguished name, in different places and it is only defined once. With UCR a system administrator does not need to worry about missing settings spread over several configuration files. A value can be changed and is then committed to the relevant configuration files.
System administrators are mostly interacting with UCS via the web-based management system. There they take care of the identity management with users, groups and roles and the infrastructure management like IP address leases, name resolution for systems. The UCS system itself is also managed this way and administrators update system packages or install new apps via the web-browser. System administrators usually deal with recurring tasks and they are simplified by the management system. Furthermore, the learning curve for enterprise Linux systems is lowered.
Univention's value creation basically consists of Open Source "glue" to bring the right components together for the tasks and put everything in a very neat box. The glue ingredients are software craftsmanship, creativity, Python, JavaScript and Dojo, Bash and a bunch of knowledge about Linux and various Open Source Software projects.
3: Download
Univention Corporate Server in the Core Edition can be downloaded from Univention's website. The Core Edition comes full-featured and free of charge with community support. It is available as ISO image or pre-installed virtual machine image for KVM, VirtualBox and VMware. Enterprise subscription is also available including support and a longer maintenance of five to seven years for a major version.
4: Installation Tutorial
Let's now get our hands a little bit dirty and setup UCS as virtual machine. This installation uses the UCS virtual machine image for VirtualBox and walks through the single steps.
Download UCS virtual machine image for VirtualBox.
Download VirtualBox and install it.
Import the UCS virtual machine image into VirtualBox
Start the virtual machine and go through the UCS system setup wizard:
Customize keyboard, if needed
Enter network configuration: Either choose to obtain an IP address automatically (default) or enter a static IP address. In this tutorial, used a static IP, because UCS system should take care of all the ip address handling.
Domain setup: Select the first option. I want setup my own domain and I start with creating a new one. I can later add more systems to this new domain by selecting the second option during the setup. Furthermore, if an existing Active Directory service should be used, select option three.
Enter the password for the root and Administrator account. The system needs to have a root password. It can later be used for the user "Administrator" to login to the management system. I postpone the system activation to a later time and leave the other fields empty.
Specify the name of the system in the Host settings. I just went with the proposed defaults. Here the system receives its name.
You may already want to install additional components, like for example the Active Directory compatible domain controller.
Go over the configuration summary and click "Configure System". UCS will apply the settings. This can last several minutes and depends on the performance of your underlying virtualization host system.
Finally the setup is completed. After finishing the setup wizard, the appliance greets with a welcome screen and announces what IP address should be used in the browser to access the UCS management system. This screen comes up after every reboot of the appliance and gently reminds where to reach the system.
Heading to the address provided by the welcome page opens the UCS portal page. It looks quite empty yet and offers a login to the management system.
For the first login I choose "Administrator" for the username and the password I provided during the setup. The Administrator is the first administrative user having all the rights for the environment.
With the first successful login, UCS welcomes the user with a short dialog and asks for the first feedback, if issues occurred during installation and setup.
The UCS management system is the central place to control your UCS environment. At the top there are the sections Users, Devices, Domain, System and Software. Each section reveals its own modules for different administrator tasks. Frequently used modules can be put into the Favorites section.
After UCS setup, the system should be extended by an additional app and ownCloud is my candidate.
In order to use the App Center, the system has to be registered. I didn't register before and I'm now reminded of it. A click on "Install" guides me through the registration where I provide a valid email address, receive the registration via email and upload it to the system. Afterwards, I can continue with the installation. The registration has to be done only once.
ownCloud is now installed and the app informs the administrator about how to access the ownCloud admin account.
A look at the portal now shows some more tiles on it. It offers the login to ownCloud. Before a login with a usual user can be made, the user needs to be created. The admin user can login though with the given credentials shown after the installation.
To create a new user, select the Users module from the Favorites or Users section in the UCS management system. Provide at least a lastname, username and a password. By default, new users are enabled for ownCloud, as soon as the app is installed. If a new user shall not be able to login to ownCloud, the checkbox has to be removed in the Advanced settings section.
Going back to the UCS portal, I click on the ownCloud login and there I enter the credentials of my new user. Et voilà, I'm in and can use my fresh ownCloud.
5: Summary
Univention Corporate Server (UCS) is very sophisticated operating system for identity and infrastructure management for organizations. The setup is straight forward and easy to make. I like the way how third party solutions extend the platform and that they are integrated with the identity management. This makes testing and even production operation very easy.
Also checkout: How to automatically join Ubuntu clients to a Univention Corporate Server domain
server, UCS,


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Stephen Strasburg
Married Wiki Bio / Biography / Stephen Strasburg
Facts of Stephen Strasburg
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Stephen Strasburg is the name of a professional baseball pitcher in the United States. He is currently a member of the Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals (MLB). Washington took him with the first overall selection in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. He also won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019 and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Series (MVP). In general, he is a gifted athlete.
Stephen Strasburg's $245 million contract is set up in such a way that he will be paid even less
Because of the Washington Nationals' frequent use of deferred money in multi-year player contracts, it's a question that's been raised for years. It's come to the fore once more after the team re-signed World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg to what was briefly the richest contract ever for a pitcher.
Strasburg's seven-year, $245 million deal is worth $35 million a year, just a million dollars less per year than Gerrit Cole's record-breaking nine-year, $324 million contract with the New York Yankees signed Tuesday. (Cole, 29, ostensibly received two more years and $1 million a year because he is two years younger and, some may say, better.)
The Nationals' owners, the Lerner family, will not be paying the 31-year-old righty nearly as much over the duration of his deal. A staggering $80 million, or one-third of the overall contract value, will not be charged until 2027. And that IOU, which will be charged in three annual installments after the contract expires, will only accrue interest at a meager 1% per year.
According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, the Nationals have agreed to pay Strasburg $23.6 million a year for the next seven years, a significant discount from Cole's $36 million per year offer.
For winning a World Series with the Nationals in 2019.
For becoming one of the best collegiate pitchers in the country.
Who are Stephen Strasburg's parents?
Stephen James Strasburg was born on July 20, 1988, in San Diego, California, United States. Jim and Kathleen, his parents, gave birth to him. He is an American citizen with a white ethnicity. He is a devout Christian.
He went to Santee, California's West Hills High School. He had a rocky junior season. His high school career, on the other hand, was remarkable. Scouts were attracted to him because of his excellent success at El Capitan High School.
He won varsity letters in high school, set school records in ERA and shutouts, was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2006, and was named second-team all-league. He will celebrate his 31st birthday with friends and family in 2019.
Which team does Stephen Strasburg represent?
Stephen went to West Hills High School in Santee, California, where he struggled on the baseball team, ending his junior year with a 1-10 win-loss record.
With 74 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings pitched and seven complete games, he ended his senior year with a 1.68 ERA and 74 strikeouts.
He earned three varsity letters, set school records in ERA and shutouts, and was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year at his school in 2006.
He was a member of the San Diego State Aztecs, who were coached by Tony Gwynn, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He was named Co-Freshman of the Year for the Mountain West Conference after keeping opponents to a.141 batting average against.
As a closer, he was named to the NECBL First Team, as well as the NECBL's Top Pro Prospect and Top Relief Pitcher.
As a junior, he was converted to a full-time starting pitcher.
In 109 innings pitched during his junior year, he went 13-1 with a 1.32 ERA, 59 hits allowed, 16 earned runs, 19 walks, and 195 strikeouts.
A Professional Life
On June 9, 2009, the Washington Nationals picked him first overall in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft.
On August 17, 2009, he signed a four-year, $15.1 million deal with the Nationals, which set a new franchise record.
He made his professional debut for the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League on October 16, 2009, at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
He was chosen to play in the league's Rising Stars Showcase, but due to a minor neck injury, he was unable to do so.
On May 4, 2010, he was promoted to the Syracuse Chiefs of the Class AAA International League.
On June 8, 2010, he made his major-league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In 2010, he pitched in 12 games, all starts, for a total of 68 innings, 92 strikeouts, and a 2.91 ERA.
During the 2011 minor league season, he made six rehab starts, pitching a total of 20 1/3 innings with 29 strikeouts while posting a 3.49 ERA and a 1-1 record.
He went 15-6 in 159 1/3 innings pitched in 2012, with a 3.16 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 197 strikeouts.
He ended the 2013 season with a 3.00 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, eight wins, nine losses, and 191 strikeouts in 183 innings pitched.
In 2014, he set career highs in starts (34), innings pitched (215), and strikeouts (242).
In his 2015 season, he won 11 games, which was good for third most among the Nationals' pitching staff.
He agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract extension with the Nationals for the 2016 season.
In a 3-0 win over the San Diego Padres in 2017, he struck out a career-high 15 batters.
In 22 starts in 2018, he went 10-7 with a 3.74 ERA, striking out 156 batters in 130.0 innings.
He led the National League in wins (18) and strikeouts (22) during the regular season of 2019. (251).
On December 9, 2019, he agreed to a seven-year, $245 million deal to return to the Nationals.
The contract's annual average value of $35 million is the highest ever charged to a pitcher in MLB history.
Who is Stephen Strasburg's wife?
Stephen Strasburg is a married man when it comes to his marital status. On January 9, 2010, he married his wife, Rachel Lackey. They met at San Diego State University, where they were both students.
He has been faithful to his wife and there is no rumor or history of his previous affairs other than with her. They do not have children yet, but might do so in the near future.
They are currently having a wonderful time without any interruptions in their lives. He is not gay and has a straight sexual orientation.
What is Stephen Strasburg's net worth?
As of 2019, this well-known baseball player's net worth is projected to be $60 million, up from a net worth of $10 million in 2016. His exact salary is undisclosed, but there is no question in the minds of his supporters that he is making a decent living from his current job.
Without a doubt, he is happy with his earnings. He must be living in a comfortable home and leading a wealthy lifestyle with his earnings.
How tall is Stephen Strasburg?
Stephen Strasburg is a very attractive guy, with the ideal height and weight. He stands six feet five inches tall, with a healthy body weight of 95 kilograms or 209 pounds.
His hair is dark, and his eyes are also brown. His other body dimensions, such as waist size, hip size, chest size, and others, have yet to be revealed, but will be added as soon as we learn more. Overall, he has a good body and a beautiful smile that attracts a huge number of people to him.
1 Stephen Strasburg's $245 million contract is set up in such a way that he will be paid even less
2 Popular for
3 Who are Stephen Strasburg's parents?
4 Which team does Stephen Strasburg represent?
5 Who is Stephen Strasburg's wife?
6 What is Stephen Strasburg's net worth?
7 How tall is Stephen Strasburg?
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Scaling up the efforts of the world's most influential companies to run on 100% renewable power by 2050
The impact.
RE100 is a global corporate leadership initiative committing the world's most influential businesses to run on 100% renewable electricity by 2050.
Developed by The Climate Group in partnership with CDP, RE100's purpose is to accelerate progress towards zero-carbon grids at a global scale.
The initiative increases corporate demand for – and, in turn, supply of – renewable energy by bringing together major companies committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity globally in the shortest possible time frame (by 2050 at the latest).
If the current roster of RE100 members were a country, they would be the 21st largest electricity consumer in the world – bigger than South Africa.
What's the challenge?
Transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable sources of electricity is critical to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address the climate emergency around the world.
Businesses account for approximately two-thirds of the world's end-of-use of electricity. Switching this demand to renewables is transforming the global energy market and accelerating the transition to a clean economy.
More demand for renewable power brings economies of scale, making renewable energy the cheaper option and a better choice for the environment and human health.
Climate change is one of the biggest global challenges that will shape the way we do business now and in the coming decades. The Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, facilitated by the World Economic Forum, believes the private sector has a responsibility to actively engage in global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to help lead the global transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy.
World Economic Forum Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders
The ambition behind RE100 is to raise the bar for corporate leadership on renewable electricity. Companies joining RE100 set a public goal to source 100% of their global electricity consumption from renewable sources by a specified year. They disclose their electricity data annually, and RE100 reports on their progress.
The initiative increases corporate demand for – and in turn supply of – renewable energy, by:
•	Bringing together major companies committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity globally in the shortest possible time (by 2050 at the latest)
•	Setting the bar for corporate leadership on renewable electricity, holding members to account, and celebrating their achievements to encourage others to follow
•	Communicating the compelling business case for renewables to companies, utilities, market operators, policy-makers and other key influencers
•	Highlighting any barriers to realizing the business and economic benefits of renewable electricity as reported by RE100 members
•	Working with RE100 members and in partnership with others to highlight and address policy and market barriers to corporate sourcing of renewable electricity
Since the initiative was launched in New York in 2014, more than 200 companies – including many of the Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders – have joined RE100 and set a public goal to source 100% of their global electricity consumption from renewable sources.
The momentum continues to grow as the initiative spreads to Europe, North America, India, China, Japan and Australia.
Companies joining RE100 make a global, public commitment to 100% renewable electricity. To achieve this goal, they must match 100% of the electricity used across their global operations with electricity produced from renewable sources – biomass (including biogas), geothermal, solar, water and wind – either sourced from the market or self-produced.
Businesses can join RE100, the initiative is also supported by the Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders and part of the Forum's Platform for Shaping the Future of Global Public Goods.
Find out more about the Forum's range of Climate Initiatives or apply to join the Forum's Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders.
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Prosecutor: 'Mark Wahlberg should not be pardoned'
by HELEN NIANIAS
MARK Wahlberg's petition to have his 1988 assault conviction overturned has been met with a plea from his prosecutor, who has urged officials not to pardon the actor as it would show that famous white people enjoy special privileges.
In an article for the Boston Globe, Judith Beals wrote that giving Wahlberg a pardon would be "extraordinary". She won a civil rights injunction against the actor and his friends after they allegedly threw rocks and shouted insults at black children during an outing in 1986.
Beals wrote: "Wahlberg's status as a 'role model to troubled youth' would not be helped by a public pardon, as he claims. In fact, a formal public pardon would highlight all too clearly that if you are white and a movie star, a different standard applies. Is that really what Wahlberg wants?"
She added: "Sometimes, wiping the slate clean is not the right thing to do... I prosecuted Wahlberg for his actions 26 years ago when I was an assistant attorney general. Now, as a private citizen, I see no reason why that history should be erased from the public record through a pardon...
"In the 13 years I served in the attorney general's office, I recall only one instance of a defendant violating a civil rights injunction - Mark Wahlberg... I'm glad Mark Wahlberg has turned his life around... But a public pardon is an extraordinary public act... On this, I am not sold," she wrote.
One of Wahlberg's victims, Johnny Trinh, who was punched in the face by then-16-year-old Wahlberg in 1988 has forgiven him. "Everybody deserves a second chance," Trinh explained.
Wahlberg has maintained that he isn't using his fame to get the pardon. "In no way shape or form was I trying to use my celebrity or success to say: 'Well, I feel entitled to get this because of the fame and fortune,'' he said.
"I've worked really hard to be a positive influence for kids growing up in communities like mine who don't really have a chance, and try to provide an opportunity for them to be more successful and that's why I'm doing it."
Mark Wahlberg seeks pardon for blinding man in one eye
'Marky' Mark Wahlberg goes to Church twice on Sundays
Mark Wahlberg: My wife made me believe in love again
Mark Wahlberg grateful for assault victim's forgiveness


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Mental Health Tracy Moore June 10, 2019
The Reasons Men Have a Midlife Crisis Aren't What You Think
That new Porsche and ear piercing has a lot more to do with Western history than it does an unhappy marriage or shitty job
This might not make you feel any better, but if you're a man having a so-called midlife crisis, and around a quarter of men in one study do, it's not your fault. It's also not your spouse's. It's actually because of a series of unfortunate events that began nearly a hundred years ago and conspired to mess with your head. Those events include, but aren't limited to: industrialization, the Great Depression, World War II, public health advances that have extended the human lifespan, changing timelines for marrying and childrearing, private industry, the phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses," the government, divorce laws, the ongoing global conflicts of the early 20th century, the American Dream and the Cold War.
Mark Jackson, an expert on aging and a professor of the history of medicine at Exeter University, just won the Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal for excellence in the history or philosophy of science, and gave the prize lecture in mid-May to London's Royal Society on the various forces that created not just the concept of middle age, but also our feelings about it. And it's a staggeringly comprehensive yet accessible explanation of why somewhere between the ages of 35 and 60, people, often men, might despair enough to flip out and buy a Porsche, pierce one ear, start cycling and hit on the hostess at their local Applebee's.
In short: Blame America.
More specifically, in the early 20th century, we began marrying around 20 or 21, but having fewer children, who were more clustered together, Jackson explains. So by 25, couples were raising a brood who had been produced as fast as a year apart. While a woman typically raised those children and rarely worked outside the home, a man went off to work at one job for life, retiring in his mid-50s, an age in part driven by biology, but also one set entirely by governments and private industry.
The timing of these milestones, plus an increased lifespan, began producing a unique experience in the 1930s and 1940s that took firm hold in the 1960s: Not only was there suddenly a middle age, but now there were milestones to hit around a certain time and awareness that after they were hit, there were still a few more decades to kill with no roadmap for how to drive them. "If there were standard milestones against which we could measure ourselves," Jackson says in the lecture, "we became more conscious or anxious about whether we were hitting them. That expectation that we'd leave home, get married, have children, get a job, retire — those were raised, but if we didn't meet them on that timetable, we could be dissatisfied with our achievements."
Jackson says phrases like "Keeping up with the Joneses" first appear in 1913 in a comic strip, but they soon become a phrase throughout the 1930s and 1940s that acts as "a key driver of envy, jealousy, emulation and measuring ourselves."
Men became suddenly aware of a new understanding of their place among neighbors and society at large, but also where they were failing — and all while staring down years of vague, terrifying free time post-retirement. Jackson calls it "age anxiety." A man's children began experiencing adolescence just as he hit middlescence, and at the same time, his parents were also aging and required more care and attention. An average man is then suddenly alive longer and retired from the workforce without the resources to deal with it, or a plan for how to spend his new free time or how to think of himself. His sense of financial security would've changed, too. In 1891, Jackson says a typical (Western, middle-class) man stood to inherit at 37. By the 1940s, it was 56.
The first thing to take a hit? Marriage. "Marrying for life suddenly becomes a lot more difficult," Jackson says. "Do I really want to live like this, with this person, for the next 40 or 50 years?" became the question of the day.
Experts pitched solutions. Anthropologist Margaret Mead, as early as 1949, famously suggested that with a new lifespan there might come three different kinds of relationships: One for passion in your youth; one for raising children; and one for companionship. She saw no reason why it couldn't be the same person having all three of those types of marriages, but she also saw no reason it had to be.
Thus, midlife crisis became a marriage crisis almost as soon as it happened, and with that, Jackson notes, came our stereotypical idea of male panic and revolt. It isn't that there isn't biology in play — "A biological fade begins," he says — but what's really going on is psychological, driven by social and cultural pressures to hit certain marks and be wildly successful at them.
Jackson cites a number of forces that instructed this new modern society on how to live with themselves as early as the 1930s. The very notion of the American Dream — coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams — was about having it all. It meant using your time and money for more leisure, pleasure and personal fulfillment, and for avoiding becoming, as Jackson puts it, "jaded and faded." He adds, though, that all of that was dashed by World War II and global conflicts that continued through the Cold War. Instead of the good life where a guy could enjoy his money, children and leisure, he was left with nothing but a life filled with the pursuit of goods and services. And so, he looked for "happiness in a hurry," and when he didn't get it, he rebelled.
In 1958, psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler published The Revolt of the Middle-Aged Man, exploring an uptick in anxiety and depression for men who'd realized they'd failed at life. Jackson notes a passage that sums up the midlife male's cry of woe perfectly: "I want happiness, love, approval, admiration, sex, youth. All this is denied me in this stale marriage to an elderly, sickly, complaining, nagging wife. Let's get rid of her, start life all over again with another woman."
The midlife crisis was and still is, in many senses, an understandable set of circumstances solved the wrong way. Only it mistakenly threw the wife out with the wifewater. Though many experts of the era suggested counseling before getting the hell out of dodge, we know today that the divorce rate won the day. If anything, given Jackson's historical analysis, we could view the millennial rising marriage age and reluctance to wed or breed too soon as a clever solution to the inevitable rut of going through middle age and the rest with the wrong person.
If these ideas outlined here are, in fact, the real culprit of the midlife crisis, what then is the solution? Well for starters, it's been made clear that the midlife crisis doesn't actually exist — or at least, most of the ink given to our popular understanding of the midlife crisis is that it isn't actually a thing.
But that's misleading. A midlife crisis isn't real in the sense that it isn't some biological, natural or inevitable fact of aging that hits like clockwork for everyone. It's a cultural or social pressure some people experience who happen to be unhappy with their choices and feel too old to fix them in time. And even those who denounce it admit that lots of people find themselves dissatisfied with their lives at midlife, just not everyone. What's more, it's common sense that it's a natural time to take stock of one's life. After a few decades of employment and raising children, at the beginning of the signs that our youth is fading, we might stop and think about whether it's all been worth it.
It's not as if there's no biology at play here either. "Aging, and losing virility, hair, muscle mass and energy," Jackson notes, "leads him into a crisis of despair linked to death, but not entirely the same. This is a man behaving strangely."
But again, it's psychological despair, not a biological one. It's the fear that a man has nothing else to look forward to but death, because he doesn't like how his life has turned out. If you've failed to meet your own goals, a society's, a spouse's or your peers, and you've hit an age at which most people are celebrating those very choices, you're naturally and understandably going to feel bad if you're still grinding it out for nothing with the wrong partner.
Jackson's solution to this experience is to create a medical discipline devoted to addressing that period of age that isn't covered by pediatrics or geriatrics. It would be called mediatrics. It doesn't really exist yet, but it would, in theory, offer support and understanding rather than mockery to tend to this delicate phase. "Many people can reach 40 and suddenly realize that all the success in relationships and jobs they once hoped for had not quite happened," Jackson told the London Sunday Times last month. "My view is that just as we teach kids what to expect in puberty and adolescence, so we should teach adults what to expect in middle age — how difficult it can be and how to cope. It's not your wife or husband that's the problem — it's in you."
And what's truly fucking with what's "in you," is really none of your doing. Or as Jackson explains in the lecture, "We are aged not just by our minds and bodies, but also aged by history and cultural values, attitudes, beliefs, norms practices that we have inherited from the past."
So as always, you can blame your government (in the West at least). And your parents. But also their parents. And their parents. And their parents…
Tracy Moore is a staff writer at MEL. She covers all the soft sciences like psychology, sex, relationships and parenting, but since this is a men's magazine, occasionally the hard ones. Formerly at Jezebel.