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The Carney Landis Experiment
Suppose you're making your way through a jungle, and in pulling aside a bush you find yourself before a huge snake, ready to attack you. All of a sudden adrenaline rushes through your body, your eyes open wide, and you instantly begin to sweat as your heartbeat skyrockets: in a word, you feel afraid.
But is your fear triggering all these physical reactions, or is it the other way around?
To make a less disquieting example, let's say you fall in love at first sight with someone. Are the endorphines to be accounted for your excitation, or is your excitation causing their discharge through your body?
What comes first, physiological change or emotion? Which is the cause and which is the effect?
This dilemma was a main concern in the first studies on emotion (and it still is, in the field of affective neurosciences). Among the first and most influential hypothesis was the James-Lange theory, which maintained the primacy of physiological changes over feelings: the brain detects a modification in the stimuli coming from the nervous system, and it "interprets" them by giving birth to an emotion.
One of the problems with this theory was the impossibility of obtaining clear evidence. The skeptics argued that if every emotion arises mechanically within the body, then there should be a gland or an organ which, when conveniently stimulated, will invariably trigger the same emotion in every person. Today we know a little bit more of how emotions work, in regard to the amygdala and the different areas of cerebral cortex, but at the beginning of the Twentieth Century the objection against the James-Lange theory was basically this — "come on, find me the muscle of sadness!"
In 1924, Carney Landis, a Minnesota University graduate student, set out to understand experimentally whether these physiological changes are the same for everybody. He focused on those modifications that are the most evident and easy to study: the movement of facial muscles when emotion arises. His study was meant to find repetitive patterns in facial expressions.
To understand if all subjects reacted in the same way to emotions, Landis recruited a good number of his fellow graduate students, and began by painting their faces with standard marks, in order to highlight their grimaces and the related movement of facial muscles.
The experiment consisted in subjecting them to different stimuli, while taking pictures of their faces.
At first volunteers were asked to complete some rather harmless tasks: they had to listen to jazz music, smell ammonia, read a passage from the Bible, tell a lie. But the results were quite discouraging, so Landis decided it was time to raise the stakes.
He began to show his subjects pornographic images. Then some medical photos of people with horrendous skin conditions. Then he tried firing a gunshot to capture on film the exact moment of their fright. Still, Landis was having a hard time getting the expressions he wanted, and in all probability he began to feel frustrated. And here his experiment took a dark turn.
He invited his subjects to stick their hand in a bucket, without looking. The bucket was full of live frogs. Click, went his camera.
Landis encouraged them to search around the bottom of the mysterious bucket. Overcoming their revulsion, the unfortunate volunteers had to rummage through the slimy frogs until they found the real surprise: electrical wires, ready to deliver a good shock. Click. Click.
But the worst was yet to come.
The experiment reached its climax when Landis put a live mouse in the subject's left hand, and a knife in the other. He flatly ordered to decapitate the mouse.
Most of his incredulous and stunned subjects asked Landis if he was joking. He wasn't, they actually had to cut off the little animal's head, or he himself would do it in front of their eyes.
At this point, as Landis had hoped, the reactions really became obvious — but unfortunately they also turned out to be more complex than he expected. Confronted with this high-stress situation, some persons started crying, others hysterically laughed; some completely froze, others burst out into swearing.
Two thirds of the paricipants ended up complying with the researcher's order, and carried out the macabre execution. In any case, the remaining third had to witness the beheading, performed by Landis himself.
As we said, the subjects were mainly other students, but one notable exception was a 13 years-old boy who happened to be at the department as a patient, on the account of psychological issues and high blood pressure. His reaction was documented by Landis' ruthless snapshots.
Perhaps the most embarassing aspect of the whole story was that the final results for this cruel test — which no ethical board would today authorize — were not even particularly noteworthy.
Landis, in his Studies of Emotional Reactions, II., General Behavior and Facial Expression (published on the Journal of Comparative Psychology, 4 [5], 447-509) came to these conclusions:
1) there is no typical facial expression accompanying any emotion aroused in the experiment;
2) emotions are not characterized by a typical expression or recurring pattern of muscular behavior;
3) smiling was the most common reaction, even during unpleasant experiences;
4) asymmetrical bodily reactions almost never occurred;
5) men were more expressive than women.
Hardly anything that could justify a mouse massacre, and the trauma inflicted upon the paritcipants.
After obtaining his degree, Carney Landis devoted himself to sexual psychopatology. He went on to have a brillant carreer at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. And he never harmed a rodent again, despite the fact that he is now mostly remembered for this ill-considered juvenile experiment rather than for his subsequent fourty years of honorable research.
There is, however, one last detail worth mentioning.
Alex Boese in his Elephants On Acid, underlines how the most interesting figure of all this bizarre experiment went unnoticed: the fact that two thirds of the subjects, although protesting and suffering, obeyed the terrible order.
And this percentage is in fact similar to the one recorded during the infamous Milgram experiment, in which a scientist commanded the subjects to inflict an electric shock to a third individual (in reality, an actor who pretended to receive the painful discharge). In that case as well, despite the ethical conflict, the simple fact that the order came from an authority figure was enough to push the subjects into carrying out an action they perceived as aberrant.
The Milgram experiment took place in 1961, almost forty years after the Landis experiment. "It is often this way with experiments — says Boese — A scientis sets out to prove one thing, but stumbles upon something completely different, something far more intriguing. For this reason, good researchers know they should always pay close attention to strange events that occur during their experiments. A great discovery might be lurking right beneath their eyes – or beneath te blade of their knife."
On facial expressions related to emotions, see also my former post on Guillaume Duchenne (sorry, Italian language only).
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The Abominable Vice
Among the bibliographic curiosities I have been collecting for years, there is also a little book entitled L'amico discreto. It's the 1862 Italian translation of The silent friend (1847) by R. e L. Perry; aside from 100 beautiful anatomical plates, the book also shows a priceless subtitle: Observations on Onanism and Its Baneful Results, Including Mental and Sexual Incapacity and Impotence.
Just by skimming through the table of contents, it's clear how masturbation was indicated as the main cause for a wide array of conditions: from indigestion to "hypoconriac melancholy", from deafness to "bending of the penis", from emaciated complexion to the inability to walk, in a climax of ever more terrible symptoms preparing the way for the ultimate, inevitable outcome — death.
One page after the other, the reader learns why onanism is to be blamed for such illnesses, specifically because it provokes an
excitement of the nervous system [which] by stimulating the organs to transient vigour, brings, ere middle life succeeds the summer of manhood, all the sensible infirmities and foibles of age; producing in its impetuous current, such an assemblage of morbid irritation, that even on trivial occasions its excitement is of a high and inflammable character, and its endurance beyond the power of reason to sustain.
But this is just the beginning: the worst damage is on the mind and soul, because this state of constant nervous stimulation
places the individual in a state of anxiety and misery for the remainder of his existence, — a kind of contingency, which it is difficult for language adequately to describe; he vegetates, but lives not: […] leading the excited deviating mind into a fertile field of seductive error — into a gradual and fatal degradation of manhood — into a pernicious, disgraceful, and ultimately almost involuntary application of those inherent rights which nature wisely instituted for the preservation of her species […] in defiance of culture, moral feeling, moral obligation, and religious impressions: thus the man, who, at the advent of youth and genius was endowed with gaiety and sociality, becomes, ere twenty-five summers have shed their lustre on him, a misanthrope, and a nadir-point of discontent! What moral region does that man live in? […] Is it nothing to light the gloomy torch that guides, by slow and melancholy steps to the sepulchre of manhood, in the gay and fascinating spring-time of youth and ardent desire; when the brilliant fire of passion, genius, and sentiment, ought to electrify the whole frame?
This being a physiology and anatomy essay, today its embellishments, its evocative language (closer to second-rate poetry than to science) seem oddly out of place — and we can smile upon reading its absurd theories; yet The Silent Friend is just one of many Nineteeth Century texts demonizing masturbation, all pretty popular since 1712, when an anonymous priest published a volume called Onania, followed in 1760 by L'Onanisme by Swiss doctor Samuel-Auguste Tissot, which had rapidly become a best-seller of its time.
Now, if physicians reacted in such a harsh way against male masturbation, you can guess their stance on female auto-eroticism.
Here, the repulsion for an act which was already considered aberrant, was joined by all those ancestral fears regarding female sexuality. From the ancient vagina dentata (here is an old post about it) to Plato's description of the uterus (hystera) as an aggressive animale roaming through the woman's abdomen, going through theological precepts in Biblical-Christian tradition, medicine inherited a somber, essentially misogynistic vision: female sexuality, a true repressed collective unconscious, was perceived as dangerous and ungovernable.
Another text in my library is the female analogue of Tissot's Onania: written by J.D.T. de Bienville, La Ninfomania ovvero il Furore Uterino ("Nymphomania, or The Uterine Fury") was originally published in France in 1771.
I'm pasting here a couple of passages, which show a very similar style in respect to the previous quotes:
We see some perverted young girls, who have conducted a voluptuous life over a long period of time, suddenly fall prey to this disease; and this happens when forced retirement is keeping them from those occasions which facilitated their guilty and fatal inclination. […] All of them, after they are conquered by such malady, occupy themselves with the same force and energy with those objects which light in their passion the infernal flame of lewd pleasure […], they indulge in reading lewd Novels, that begin by bending their heart to soft feelings, and end up inspiring the most depraved and gross incontinence. […] Those women who, after taking a few steps in this horrible labyrinth, miss the strength to come back, are drawn almost imperceptibly to excesses, which after corrupting and damaging their good name, deprive them of their own life.
The book goes on to describe the hallucinatory state in which the nymphomaniacs fall, frantically hurling at men (by nature all chaste and pure, it seems), and barely leaving them "the time to escape their hands".
Of course, this an Eighteenth Century text. But things did not improve in the following century: during the Nineteenth Century, actually, the ill-concealed desire to repress female sexuality found one of its cruelest incarnations, the so-called "extirpation".
This euphemism was used to indicate the practice of clitoridectomy, the surgical removal of the clitoris.
Everybody kows that female genital mutilations continue to be a reality in many countries, and they have been the focus of several international campaigns to abandon the practice.
It seems hard to believe that, far from being solely a tribal tradition, it became widespread in Europe and in the United States within the frame of modern Western medicine.
Clitoridectomy, a simple yet brutal operation, was based on the idea that female masturbation led to hysteria, lesbianism and nymphomania. The perfect circular reasoning behind this theory was the following: in mental institutions, insane female patients were often caught masturbating, therefore masturbation had to be the cause of their lunacy.
One of the most fervent promoters of extirpation was Dr. Isaac Baker Brown, English gynaecologist and obstetrical surgeon.
In 1858 he opened a clinic on Notting Hill, ad his therapies became so successful that Baker Brown resigned from Guy's Hospital to work privately full time. By means of clitoridectomy, he was able to cure (if we are to trust his own words) several kinds of madness, epilepsy, catalepsy and hysteria in his patients: in 1866 he published a nice little book on the subject, which was praised by the Times because Brown "brought insanity within the scope of surgical treatment". In his book, Brown reported 48 cases of female masturbation, the heinous effects on the patients' health, and the miraculous result of clitoridectomy in curing the symptoms.
We don't know for sure how many women ended up under the enthusiastic doctor's knife.
Brown would have probably carried on with his mutilation work, if he hadn't made the mistake of setting up a publicity campaign to advertise his clinic. Even then, self-promotion was considered ethically wrong for a physician, so on April 29, 1866, the British Medical Journal published a heavy j'accuse against the doctor. The Lancet followed shortly after, then even the Times proved to have changed position and asked if the surgical treatment of illness was legal at all. Brown ended up being investigated by the Lunacy Commission, which dealt with the patients' welfare in asylums, and in panic he denied he ever carried out clitoridectomies on his mentally ill patients.
But it was too late.
Even the Royal College of Surgeons turned away from him, and a meeting decided (with 194 approving votes against 38 opposite votes) his removal from the Obstetric Society of London.
R. Youngson and I. Schott, in A Brief History of Bad Medicine (Robinson, 2012), highlight the paradox of this story:
The extraordinary thing was that Baker Brown was disgraced, not because he practised clitoridectomy for ridiculuous indications, but because, out of greed, he had offended against professional ethics. No one ever suggested that there was anything wrong with clitoridectomy, as such. Many years were to pass before this operation was condemned by the medical profession.
And many more, until eventually masturbation could be freed from medical criminalization and moral prejudice: at the beginning of the Twentieth Century doctors still recommended the use of constrictive laces and gears, straight-jackets, up to shock treatments like cauterization or electroconvulsive therapy.
1903 patent to prevent erections and nocturnal pollutions through the use of spikes, electric shocks and an alarm bell.
Within this dreadful galaxy of old anti-masturbation devices, there's one looking quite harmless and even healthy: corn flakes, which were invented by famous Dr. Kellogg as an adjuvant diet against the temptations of onanism. And yet, whenever cereals didn't do the trick, Kellogg advised that young boys' foreskins should be sewn with wire; as for young girls, he recommended burning the clitoris with phenol, which he considered
an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement, and preventing the recurrence of the practice in those whose will-power has become so weakened that the patient is unable to exercise entire self-control.
The worse cases among young women are those in which the disease has advanced so far that erotic thoughts are attended by the same voluptuous sensations that accompany the practice. The author has met many cases of this sort in young women, who acknowledged that the sexual orgasm was thus produced, often several times daily. The application of carbolic acid in the manner described is also useful in these cases in allaying the abnormal excitement, which is a frequent provocation of the practice of this form of mental masturbation.
(J. H. Kellogg, Plain Facts for Old And Young, 1888)
It was not until the Kinsey Reports (1948-1953) that masturbation was eventually legitimized as a natural and healthy part of sexuality.
All in all, as Woody Allen put it, it's just "sex with someone you love".
On the "fantastic physiology" of the uterus, there is a splendid article (in Italian language) here. Wikipedia has also a page on the history of masturbation. I also recommend Orgasm and the West. A History of Pleasure from the Sixteenth Century to the Present, by R. Muchembled.
15 Comments Posted in Anomalous Science, Mysteries of Sex Tagged '800, 700, 900, amico discreto, arousal, baker brown, bienville, century, chastity belt, cintura di castità, clitoride, clitoridectomia, clitoridectomy, clitoris, corn flakes, cura, cure, disease, doctor, dottore, eccitazione, elettroshock, ethics, etica, excitation, female, femminile, follia, genital, genitali, history, hysteria, illness, isteria, kellogg, kinsey, lesbian, lesbismo, lunacy, malattia, male, maschile, masturbation, masturbazione, medicina, medicine, medico, moral, morale, mutilation, mutilazione, ninfomania, nymphomania, occidente, onanism, onanismo, orgasm, orgasmo, physician, secolo, sesso, sessualità, sex, sexuality, shock, storia, terapia, therapy, tissot, utero, uterus, west, western, woody allen
Freaks: Gaze and Disability
Introduction: those damn colored glasses
The image below is probably my favorite illusion (in fact I wrote about it before).
At a first glance it looks like a family in a room, having breakfast.
Yet when the picture is shown to the people living in some rural parts of Africa, they see something different: a family having breakfast in the open, under a tree, while the mother balances a box on her head, maybe to amuse her children. This is not an optical illusion, it's a cultural one.
The origins of this picture are not certain, but it is not relevant here whether it has actually been used in a psychological study, nor if it shows a prejudice on life in the Third World. The force of this illustration is to underline how culture is an inevitable filter of reality.
It reminds of a scene in Werner Herzog's documentary film The Flying Doctors of East Africa (1969), in which the doctors find it hard to explain to the population that flies carry infections; showing big pictures of the insects and the descriptions of its dangers does not have much effect because people, who are not used to the conventions of our graphic representations, do not understand they are in scale, and think: "Sure, we will watch out, but around here flies are never THAT big".
Even if we would not admit it, our vision is socially conditioned. Culture is like a pair of glasses with colored lenses, quite useful in many occasions to decipher the world but deleterious in many others, and it's hard to get rid of these glasses by mere willpower.
'Freak pride' and disability
Let's address the issue of "freaks": originally a derogatory term, the word has now gained a peculiar cultural charm and ,as such, I always used it with the purpose of fighting pietism and giving diversity it its just value.
Any time I set out to talk about human marvels, I experienced first-hand how difficult it is to write about these people.
Reflecting on the most correct angle to address the topic means to try and take off culture's colored glasses, an almost impossible task. I often wondered if I myself have sometimes succumbed to unintended generalizations, if I unwillingly fell into a self-righteous approach.
Sure enough, I have tried to tell these amazing characters' stories through the filter of wonder: I believed that – equality being a given – the separation between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary could be turned in favor of disability.
I have always liked those "deviants" who decided to take back their exotic bodies, their distance from the Norm, in some sort of freak pride that would turn the concept of handicap inside out.
But is it really the most correct approach to diversity and, in some cases, disability? To what extent is this vision original, or is it just derivative from a long cultural tradition? What if the freak, despite all pride, actually just wanted an ordinary dimension, what if what he was looking for was the comfort of an average life? What is the most ethical narrative?
This doubt, I think, arose from a paragraph by Fredi Saal, born in 1935, a German author who spent the first part of his existence between hospitals and care homes because he was deemed "uneducable":
No, it is not the disabled person who experiences him- or herself as abnormal — she or he is experienced as abnormal by others, because a whole section of human life is cut off. Thus this very existence acquires a threatening quality. One doesn't start from the disabled persons themselves, but from one's own experience. One asks oneself, how would I react, should a disability suddenly strike, and the answer is projected onto the disabled person. Thus one receives a completely distorted image. Because it is not the other fellow that one sees, but oneself.
(F. Saal, Behinderung = Selbstgelebte Normalität, 1992)
As much as the idea of a freak pride is dear to me, it may well be another subconscious projection: I may just like to think that I would react to disability that way… and yet one more time I am not addressing the different person, but rather my own romantic and unrealistic idea of diversity.
We cannot obviously look through the eyes of a disabled person, there is an insuperable barrier, but it is the same that ultimately separates all human beings. The "what would I do in that situation?" Saal talks about, the act of projecting ourselves onto others, that is something we endlessly do and not just with the disabled.
The figure of the freak has always been ambiguous – or, better, what is hard to understand is our own gaze on the freak.
I think it is therefore important to trace the origins of this gaze, to understand how it evolved: we could even discover that this thing we call disability is actually nothing more than another cultural product, an illusion we are "trained" to recognize in much the same way we see the family having breakfast inside a living room rather than out in the open.
In my defense, I will say this: if it is possible for me to imagine a freak pride, it is because the very concept of freak does not come out of the blue, and does not even entail disability. Many people working in freakshows were also disabled, others were not. That was not the point. The real characteristics that brought those people on stage was the sense of wonder they could evoke: some bodies were admired, others caused scandal (as they were seen as unbearably obscene), but the public bought the ticket to be shocked, amazed and shaken in their own certainties.
In ancient times, the monstrum was a divine sign (it shares its etymological root with the Italian verb mostrare, "to show"), which had to be interpreted – and very often feared, as a warning of doom. If the monstruous sign was usually seen as bearer of misfortune, some disabilities were not (for instance blindness and lunacy, which were considered forms of clairvoyance, see V. Amendolagine, Da castigo degli dei a diversamente abili: l'identità sociale del disabile nel corso del tempo, 2014).
During the Middle Ages the problem of deformity becomes much more complex: on one hand physiognomy suggested a correlation between ugliness and a corrupted soul, and literature shows many examples of enemies being libeled through the description of their physical defects; on the other, theologians and philosophers (Saint Augustine above all) considered deformity as just another example of Man's penal condition on this earth, so much so that in the Resurrection all signs of it would be erased (J.Ziegler in Deformità fisica e identità della persona tra medioevo ed età moderna, 2015); some Christian female saints even went to the extreme of invoking deformity as a penance (see my Ecstatic Bodies: Hagiography and Eroticism).
Being deformed also precluded the access to priesthood (ordo clericalis) on the basis of a famous passage from the Leviticus, in which offering sacrifice on the altar is forbidden to those who have imperfect bodies (P. Ostinelli, Deformità fisica…, 2015).
The monstrum becoming mirabile, worthy of admiration, is a more modern idea, but that was around well before traveling circuses, before Tod Browning's "One of us!", and before hippie counterculture seized it: this concept is opposed to the other great modern invention in regard to disability, which is commiseration.
The whole history of our relationship with disability fluctuates between these two poles: admiration and pity.
The right kind of eyes
In the German exhibition Der (im)perfekte Mensch ("The (im)perfect Human Being"), held in 2001 in the Deutsches Hygiene Museum in Dresden, the social gaze at people with disabilities was divided into six main categories:
– The astonished and medical gaze
– The annihilating gaze
– The pitying gaze
– The admiring gaze
– The instrumentalizing gaze
– The excluding gaze
While this list can certainly be discussed, it has the merit of tracing some possible distinctions.
Among all the kinds of gaze listed here, the most bothering might be the pitying gaze. Because it implies the observer's superiority, and a definitive judgment on a condition which, to the eyes of the "normal" person, cannot seem but tragic: it expresses a self-righteous, intimate certainty that the other is a poor cripple who is to be pitied. The underlying thought is that there can be no luck, no happiness in being different.
The concept of poor cripple, which (although hidden behind more politically correct words) is at the core of all fund-raising marathons, is still deeply rooted in our culture, and conveys a distorted vision of charity – often more focused on our own "pious deed" than on people with disabilities.
As for the pitying gaze, the most ancient historical example we know of is this 1620 print, kept at the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck, which shows a disabled carpenter called Wolffgang Gschaiter lying in his bed. The text explains how this man, after suffering unbearable pain to his left arm and back for three days, found himself completely paralyzed. For fifteen years, the print tells us, he was only able to move his eyes and tongue. The purpose of this paper is to collect donations and charity money, and the readers are invited to pray for him in the nearby church of the Three Saints in Dreiheiligen.
This pamphlet is interesting for several reasons: in the text, disability is explicitly described as a "mirror" of the observer's own misery, therefore establishing the idea that one must think of himself as he is watching it; a distinction is made between body and soul to reinforce drama (the carpenter's soul can be saved, his body cannot); the expression "poor cripple" is recorded for the first time.
But most of all this little piece of paper is one of the very first examples of mass communication in which disability is associated with the idea of donations, of fund raising. Basically what we see here is a proto-telethon, focusing on charity and church prayers to cleanse public conscience, and at the same time an instrument in line with the Counter-Reformation ideological propaganda (see V. Schönwiese, The Social Gaze at People with Disabilities, 2007).
During the previous century, another kind of gaze already developed: the clinical-anatomical gaze. This 1538 engraving by Albrecht Dürer shows a woman lying on a table, while an artist meticulously draws the contour of her body. Between the two figures stands a framework, on which some stretched-out strings divide the painter's vision in small squares so that he can accurately transpose it on a piece of paper equipped with the same grid. Each curve, each detail is broke down and replicated thanks to this device: vision becomes the leading sense, and is organized in an aseptic, geometric, purely formal frame. This was the phase in which a real cartography of the human body was developed, and in this context deformity was studied in much the same manner. This is the "astonished and medical gaze", which shows no sign of ethical or pitying judgment, but whose ideology is actually one of mapping, dividing, categorizing and ultimately dominating every possible variable of the cosmos.
In the wunderkammer of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (1529-1595), inside Ambras Castle near Innsbruck, there is a truly exceptional portrait. A portion of the painting was originally covered by a red paper curtain: those visiting the collection in the Sixteenth Century might have seen something close to this reconstruction.
Those willing and brave enough could pull the paper aside to admire the whole picture: thus the subject's limp and deformed body appeared, portrayed in raw detail and with coarse realism.
What Fifteen-Century observers saw in this painting, we cannot know for sure. To understand how views are relative, it suffices to remind that at the time "human marvels" included for instance foreigners from exotic countries, and a sub-category of foreigners were cretins who were said to inhabit certain geographic regions.
In books like Giovan Battista de' Cavalieri's Opera ne la quale vi è molti Mostri de tute le parti del mondo antichi et moderni (1585), people with disabilities can be found alongside monstruous apparitions, legless persons are depicted next to mythological Chimeras, etc.
But the red paper curtain in the Ambras portrait is an important signal, because it means that such a body was on one hand considered obscene, capable of upsetting the spectator's senibility. On the other hand, the bravest or most curious onlookers could face the whole image. This leads us to believe that monstrosity in the Sixteenth Century had at least partially been released from the idea of prodigy, and freed from the previous centuries superstitions.
This painting is therefore a perfect example of "astonished and medical" gaze; from deformity as mirabilia to proper admiration, it's a short step.
The Middle Path?
The admiring gaze is the one I have often opted for in my articles. My writing and thinking practice coincides with John Waters' approach, when he claims he feels some kind of admiration for the weird characters in his movies: "All the characters in my movies, I look up to them. I don't think about them the way people think about reality TV – that we are better and you should laugh at them."
And yet, here we run the risk of falling into the opposite trap, an excessive idealization. It may well be because of my peculiar allergy to the concept of "heroes", but I am not interested in giving hagiographic versions of the life of human marvels.
All these thoughts which I have shared with you, lead me to believe there is no easy balance. One cannot talk about freaks without running into some kind of mistake, some generalization, without falling victim to the deception of colored glasses.
Every communication between us and those with different/disabled bodies happens in a sort of limbo, where our gaze meets theirs. And in this space, there cannot ever be a really authentic confrontation, because from a physical perspective we are separated by experiences too far apart.
I will never be able to understand other people's body, and neither will they.
But maybe this distance is exactly what draws us together.
"Everyone stands alone at the heart of the world…"
Let's consider the only reference we have – our own body – and try to break the habit.
I will borrow the opening words from the introduction I wrote for Nueva Carne by Claudio Romo:
Our bodies are unknowable territories.
We can dismantle them, cut them up into ever smaller parts, study their obsessive geometries, meticulously map every anatomical detail, rummage in their entrails… and their secret will continue to escape us.
We stare at our hands. We explore our teeth with our tongues. We touch our hair.
Is this what we are?
Here is the ultimate mind exercise, my personal solution to the freaks' riddle: the only sincere and honest way I can find to relate diversity is to make it universal.
Johnny Eck woke up in this world without the lower limbs; his brother, on the contrary, emerged from the confusion of shapes with two legs.
I too am equipped with feet, including toes I can observe, down there, as they move whenever I want them to. Are those toes still me? I ignore the reach of my own identity, and if there is an exact point where its extension begins.
On closer view, my experience and Johnny's are different yet equally mysterious.
We are all brothers in the enigma of the flesh.
I would like to ideally sit with him — with the freak, with the "monster" — out on the porch of memories, before the sunset of our lives.
'So, what did you think of this strange trip? Of this strange place we wound up in?', I would ask him.
And I am sure that his smile would be like mine.
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A Blog by Ivan Cenzi
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Dec 7, 2012: The subscribers of Tata Teleservices, Videocon and Telenor may face a black out from January 18 as their license gets expired next month. Services of around 10 million subscribers will be disconnected as the companies are like to switch off their networks in circles where their licence expires.
These three companies are among the nine companies whose 2G licenses were cancelled by Supreme Court in the spectrum allocation case. In the fresh auction which was conducted recently only Norway's Telenor and Videocon managed to retain permits for six circles whereas Tata Teleservices did not bid again.
Previous articleNokia's Asha: The 'asha' for Nokia ?


text:
Tea with the Changemakers
Lincoln.
29-31 Mint St, Lincoln, LN1 1UB
The Gridiron Building, 1 Pancras Square, London, N1C 4AG
Cutting through the hype: the state of knife crime
Date: 20/08/2019 Written by: Eloise 10 minutes to read.
From just a passing glance at the media headlines this year, you can't fail to notice the apparent increase in knife crime, particularly in London, and the accompanying sense of moral panic about the state of knife crime in the UK. In this blog, I'll examine whether this 'panic' is justified and explore what could be done differently to help address the issue.
Our interest, shock and sense of moral panic about knife crime has been heightened in the last 18 months, especially in London. Unless you have been living under a tree, our daily news is filled with the latest devastating and utterly shocking stories about knife crime. "Boy, 12 stabbed to death near school", "Boy who stabbed teenager in the heart fled scene on Boris Bike" and "Stabbing victim was mild mannered grandfather who called for his wife". With media coverage continually highlighting the specific crimes taking place across the capital, and how it is reaching 'record levels', moral panic is rising to boiling point.
As a researcher, I wanted to understand more about this issue. I wanted to find out if this panic is justified. As always, I started with the data.
So what did the data tell me?
I wanted to start by finding out whether the increase in moral panic about escalating rates of knife crime is really justified? Is knife crime really rising at the rate that we are led to believe?
Unfortuantly the data for 2019 won't be available until March next year, but data for 2018 shows that offences involving knives or other sharp objects have increased - by 16% from the year before (2017), reaching a total of 40,147 offences recorded across England and Wales (285 of these are deaths from knife offences). Are most of these in London? No. The majority of police forces (36 out of 44 forces) have reported a rise in knife offences - so this isn't just a London issue. But looking at these stats, regardless of where you live and work, maybe the panic is justified. The figures are up.
But this is when it gets interesting. When looking at London specifically, 32% of offences took place in the capital. For every 100,000 people, there were 169 knife-related offences. However, when compared to previous years, this represents a 1% increase in recorded knife offences in London from the year before. No one can deny that 86 deaths from knife crime in the capital is shocking and high - even one is too many - but their rates are increasing by 1%. So does that mean other parts of the country are contrinuting to the rise in knife offences?
About moral panic.
Alongside the reporting of incidents comes a societal sense of moral panic about knife crime. This moral panic stems from two main reasons: firstly, the sense of uncertainty and fear that comes with the 'unknown'. We start to feel more uncertain about the people surrounding us in public - am I really safe here?
Secondly, it's linked to the fear about what the increase in knife crime ultimately tells us; that is, the issues from which knife crime tends to be a 'symptom': poverty, social isolation, mental health issues, drug abuse, lack of opportunity. These issues are often more prevalent amongst younger men in society, and the data does show that a quarter of deaths from knife crime in 2018 were men aged 18 - 24. It's perhaps what knife crime says about our society that worries us the most. That people feel the need to carry knives in the first place speaks volumes about how we feel about the state of our communities.
Knife crime is not a new issue
Like many social issues that capture our attention and spark a sense of urgency to address, dramatic increases in the rates of knife crime is not new i'm afraid to tell you. In 2015 the media again highlighted that knife crime across England and Wales had risen for the first time in 4 years. In 2008, it was believed that crime had reached peak levels. In 2006, the then home secretary called a crisis meeting to tackle knife crime following the death of special constable Nisha Patel-Nasri who was stabbed outside her home. I could go further back in time, but I think the overall message is clear: every few years, we believe that we have reached a crisis point with knife crime. We just keep going around in circles with this issue.
What can be done differently to address it?
To actually tackle the issue, we need to be asking; 'what can we do to tackle the underlying causes of knife crime to address this epidemic successfully?'. In fact, the language of 'underlying causes' and 'epidemic' highlights exactly what the answer might be - shifting the perspective to frame the issue, and therefore the model to address it, as one of public health.
Public health model
The public health model frames the issue at a holistic level, with a focus on whole population change (rather than a focus on some individuals) to encourage prevention at its core by tackling the causes of the 'symptom' of knife crime; the underlying inequalities in a population.
Using the public health model gives 3 main levels of prevention which often form the whole system approach:
Primary prevention (those at risk) - reduce access to knives, alcohol and drug programmes awareness-raising campaigns;
Secondary prevention (early incidence and those with specific risk) - action to address truancy, gangs, school exclusion, mental health issues;
Tertiary (established incidence) - recovery and rehabilitation programmes.
This shift in model has been underway for over a decade now. Starting in America, it's made it's way to the UK, first in Glasgow (which in the early part of the millennium was known as the 'murder capital' of Europe following a World Health Organisation report). Now it's come to London.
In September last year, the Mayor of London established the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to embody the appraoch of treating violent crime as a public health issue. The Unit is bringing together experts across a range of specialisms (police, social mobility, health, education, local government and community organisations) to tackle the causes of violent crime at the root. As a researcher, I find it even more promising that it is data-driven using health and justice data to identify risks in children's lives. I think we might actually get somewhere this time.
While there is still a big role for individual measures, such as education, campaigns, robust sentencing and police numbers, it will be the whole system public health approach that will effectively get to grips with the real issues behind knife crime to deliver longer-term success. In Glasgow, since the establishment in 2005 of it's VRU, there has been a dramatic decrease in rates of knife crime, and in 2017, of all the deaths from knives amongst children and teenagers, none were in Scotland. It may take time, but ultimately a shift in approach should help to address the interconnected issues that often result in knife crime and the corresponding moral panic.
Only time, no sorry, I mean data, will tell.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Enjoy supreme comfort with Pioneer Linens Private Collection "Giglio". Giglio's perfectly embroidered sheeting brings creativity and simplicity to create a balanced look that anyone can enjoy. We found the perfect balance between comfort and beauty order now to start dreaming.
King Fitted Sheet / 78 X 80 X 18"
Queen Fitted Sheet / 60 X 80 X 18"


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Vote for Your Favorites in the DVF Awards!
By Véronique Hyland
Courtesy of Diane von Furstenberg
The (online) polls are open for the second annual DVF Awards. Diane von Furstenberg started the tradition last year to salute women in public service. This time around, Tina Brown will join von Furstenberg to present the honors on March 11 at the United Nations. Nominees for the People's Voice Award include Malika Saada Saar of human rights organization The Rebecca Project and Susannah Shakow from Running Start, which encourages young women to get involved in politics. For more on the nominees, you can listen to DVF's NPR interview (when acronyms collide!), and vote for your favorite candidate on her website.


Spenco announces the launch of its new Fall Footwear Line. Featuring chic leather styles in an ultra-supportive footwear design, the new fall line includes more traditional, everyday styles for men and women. The shoes are designed around an orthotic insole, promoting foot alignment and offering motion control and cushioning. The additional foot support may also help to reduce pain, improve posture, and prevent injuries. The fall line includes the Rachel Clog, the Timberjack, the Heidi Slipper, and the Nomad Moc. The shoes retail for $49.99 to $99.99 at shoe stores and on the company website.


I praveen Kumar used BOB ATM on Date 17.03.2019 , I have try to Withdraw 10,000 at Bank of Baroda Roorkee civil lines opp BSNL ATM. But nothing happened . I made second attempt with same amount but ATM machine declined due to showing less balance in my account. I left the ATM and went to another bank ATM where I could only withdraw 6000 rs. Later today I came to know when I saw statement of my SBI account that 10000 rs was already deducted from my current account no. 33773012773.


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Q: How to check user input from a file in Python? Hello I have a txt file that looks like this:
name1, password1
name2, password2,
name3, password3,
and so on...

I need to check if the user enters a name and password are the same stored in this file.
I looked at this answers but they did not help:
answ1
answ2
This is my code. If I put the correct name and password, the while loop still prompts me for user input:
name = input('Enter username: ')
password = input('Enter password: ')

with open('file.txt','r') as f:
    data = f.readlines()

    for line in data:
        names =line.split(' ')[0]
        passwords = line.split(' ')[1]

        while name not in names or password not in passwords:
            name = input('Enter a valid username: ')
            password = input('Enter a valid password: ')

A: For now you're testing the user input against EVERY line: the inputs can't match every lines
You'd better store the pairs in a dict, that'll facilitate the verifications

Test both at once
with open('file.txt', 'r') as f:
    data = f.readlines()

credentials = {}
for line in data:
    name, password = line.strip().split(",")
    credentials[name] = password

name = input('Enter a username: ')
password = input('Enter a password: ')
while name not in credentials or credentials[name] != password:
    name = input('Enter a valid username: ')
    password = input('Enter a valid password: ')

Separate tests
name = input('Enter a username: ')
while name not in credentials:
    name = input('Enter a valid username: ')

password = input(f'Enter a password for user {name}: ')
while credentials[name] != password:
    password = input(f'Enter a valid password for user {name}: ')

A: Due to the inconsistent use of commas in the data file, you'll need to take some extra steps.
with open('file.txt') as indata:
    DB = dict(map(lambda e: e.rstrip(','), line.split()) for line in indata)
    while True:
        name = input('Enter username: ')
        password = input('Enter password: ')
        if DB.get(name) == password:
            break # username / password is valid
        print('Invalid username or password\a')

A: With the help of fileinput. input() method, we can get the file as input and to can be used to update and append the data in the file by using fileinput. input() method. Return : Return the data of the file

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Now, at first glance, it seems like three topics but when You get The Red Tea Detox app (that you can do immediately after purchase as it's an internet program), you'll quickly see that you're mistaken. The 3 components have an list of themes within each, which I will show you. Each component includes a variety of tools, tricks, ideas , exercises, instructions and information to help you succeed. It is laid out so flawlessly you'll get lost in the webpage, although it might seem like a lot. Reading a weight reduction program hasn't been fun. That's also not to mention that you receive a 60-day Money Back Guarantee when you buy this system. Considering you may lose between 5 to 20 pounds in as little as 14 days, that's more than enough time to see what The Red Tea Detox can perform for you.
Liz Miller is a naturopath Writer on Amazon. She is highly renowned inside the fitness and wellness industry for her distinctive approach to assisting men and women throughout the globe achieve their goals. She focuses on the substance that functions — both the natural remedies and techniques from the past, and steers away from exhausting physical fitness regimes and diet programs. Liz Miller has created a fresh approach helping to burn unneeded pounds by switching to burning that was high-octane from fat burning off. It's based on more than a decade of medical research revolving around the advantages of African tea and the cleansing of toxins.
In this booklet, you understand how radicals can hold your metabolism back and also the advantages of cleansing your entire body with African red tea. It clarifies why detoxifying your body prior to your weight loss efforts is important and worthwhile. Also, you get a clear overview about which energy-rich foods are beneficial to your body during its travel to a belly that is lean.
If you decide to perform the exercise, it is going to increase your metabolism and can potentially double the rate at which you shed pounds. Exercise goes amiss and losing weight is a matter of intensity, but not the time spent doing this. This booklet contains exercises that are simple that anyone ought to be able to do.
Motivation and willpower are equally as important as the Path which you want to follow. I've found that a lot of individuals have till they reach their objectives, problems stay excited. That is the reason a manual on detox, dieting or fitness should include a segment. It speaks positively of the guide that you get you!
When you buy the Red Tea Detox app, you receive the Main manual, the 3 booklets, and be eligible for all the bonuses if you here to get your Red Tea Detox application today! Liz believes what she's doing this much that you obtain a 60 day money-back guarantee, which is something we always like to see.
We've begun to enjoy this and African tea a lot Manual did a great job of teaching us what we needed to know. So what did we like about it?
Even regular foods contain in toxins today One manner or another. There is a large amount of research that affirms our ordinary sense: Detaching yourself and cleansing your body as far as possible has outcomes that are positive. So anybody can understand the issues and solutions, it is explained by liz.
The combination of exercise and Wholesome foods & Drinks obviously can not fail. Better yet, it solves one of the main food related issues today: the excessive consumption of soda (especially in the USA). For many , it is the only thing they drink (rather than water). If you are like this, switching from carbonated sodas into crimson tea makes a huge gap to your body. But you also detoxify it, so the effects are even greater.
The human body is meant to be active and Live on foods, but we do not do either of these! People drink beer, or pop, coffee, lie on our couch or sit behind a desk. Not only is this ancient African American tea recipe amazing, in addition, it happens to be a beverage to begin with. No caffeine or sugar! Combined with the gym booklet, the two of the basic problems are addressed and direct you to results.
Red tea is great, as are the and, foods Workout routines in this system. However, any such effort needs to be kept. Can you even alter your behaviour to stay being healthy indefinitely and keep this up for a few months? Or are you the sort of person who tries this for a week and then gives up? The truth is that a lot of apps work well, while it. Any system that is true needs discipline to keep doing it.
Odds Are you have more if you are really big Ailments than your weight and appears which need to be addressed. Ensure you don't find any app as a way that for all.


text:
Q: Continuous image of a Paracompact space need not be Paracompact. The following is an exercise in Topology by Munkres.

*

*Show that if f is a continuous map from X to Y where X is paracompact then the subspace f(X) of Y need not be paracompact.
I am having trouble constructing such a function. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You.

A: HINT: Every discrete space is paracompact, and every map whose domain is a discrete space is continuous. Find a non-paracompact space $Y$ and just ...


Advance Care Planning and Goals of Care Designation assists patients and families with discussing and defining goals of care for indiividuals receiving health services that are both clinically appropriate and respectful of each person's values and beliefs. For more information Click Here.
For additional information on Advance Directives, view this article by AMERICA The National Catholic Weekly.
If you or someone in your family is sick or in hospital and would like to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, please call your parish priest.
The Sacrament of the Sick is administered by a priest and is intended to strengthen and comfort those who are suffering serious illness, the elderly and frail, or those near the time of death.
This resource is for chaplains and pastoral care teams in Care Centres, Seniors' Lodges, Nursing Homes and similar pastoral care facilities. If you have questions regarding this resource, please contact Teresa Kellendonk at 780-469-1010.
The Catholic Health Alliance of Canada has published a helpful reflection and education document for pastors, parishioners, patients, family members….all of us…to better understand and prepare for health care decisions at the end of life. It also clarifies Church teachings in areas that often arise as questions with families approaching end-of-life decisions: Do we have a duty to prolong life at all costs? Is deciding to stop treatment acceptable?
Losing someone or something you love is very painful and is often accompanied by all kinds of emotions such as shock, sadness, anger and guilt. While these feelings can be frightening and even overwhelming, they are normal reactions to loss. There is no right or wrong way to grieve — but there are healthy ways to cope with the pain. Grief that is expressed and experienced has a potential for healing that eventually can strengthen and enrich life. Many of our parishes offer Grief as a Journey, a support group program for anyone who is grieving the loss of someone close. To learn more about Grief as a Journey, visit https://caedm.ca/grief or contact Steve Defer at 780-469-1010.


text:
Update: Clean Water Fund bills pit key water programs against one another
The Clean Water Fund is designated to protect, enhance, and restore water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams and to protect groundwater from degradation. Both the Minnesota Senate and House have authored spending proposals, but they're very different. (Photo by Tom Reiter)
In recent weeks, committees in the House and Senate have laid out how they think Minnesota should spend its Legacy Amendment funding for clean water programs.
These bills, the House and Senate "Clean Water Fund" bills have major differences between them, with significant implications for programs that impact the health of the Mississippi River, FMR's top legislative priorities.
Unfortunately, what the bills have in common is a call to use these special, voter-created funds for programs normally supported through more routine channels. Now, three broadly-supported programs — The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, Forever Green and funding for Soil and Water Conservation Districts — have been essentially pitted against one another during a time of a billion-dollar surplus.
The Clean Water Fund
In 2008, Minnesota voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to our state constitution, providing a 3/8th of 1 percent sales tax increase dedicated to water quality, land conservation, parks and trails and the arts. The Clean Water Fund is one of four Legacy-backed funds — and receives 33% of all receipts.
The state's 28-member Clean Water Council makes recommendations to spend or appropriate the Clean Water Fund, though final allocations must be made by the Legislature and signed by the governor.
For this session, the council originally recommended $262 million in investments, to be trimmed by about $1.44 million[i] after the program's financial forecast was adjusted downward in February.
The Legislature's response
Both the House and Senate Clean Water Fund bills depart from the council's recommendation, with significant implications for programs that are important to the health of the Mississippi River.
House position (House File 653 - Rep. Lillie)
The House Clean Water Fund bill (HF 653) alters about 9% ($24 million) of the council recommendations. The headline change is moving "extra" Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) money out of year one of the bill (due to federal delays in being able to spend that money right away) and using it to fully fund Forever Green. The Forever Green program is one of FMR's top priorities for the session, though we would much prefer it be funded with general fund money.
The big changes are as follows:
Forever Green: Full funding for the University of Minnesota's Forever Green Initiative at $10 million for the biennium.
CREP delay: Reduced year 1 funding for the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, in order to free up funds for Forever Green. This change is proposed because federal delays prevent the state from using CREP money this year.
Other cuts: The House zeroes out several items, including agricultural research, a Clean Water Council awareness campaign, Department of Natural Resources infrared imaging, urban stormwater funding and conservation drainage funding.
Other additions or increases: Additional funding was provided for micro/nano-plastic and surface water monitoring, as well as grants to the Metropolitan Council.
Senate position (Senate File 836 - Rep. Ruud)
The Senate Clean Water Fund bill (SF 836) also alters the council recommendations, largely to fund local Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) operations to the tune of $24 million.
Big changes include:
$24 million to SWCDs: The bill provides $24 million in funds for local Soil & Water Conservation Districts. This controversial provision is one FMR opposes, as local government operations have historically been funded with state general fund money.
Cuts to most agency budgets: $24 million in SWCD money had to come from somewhere, so most (but not all) of the programs in the fund are trimmed back to clear room for this money.
Other cuts: The Senate zeroes out funding for Forests for the Future, the Clean Water Council awareness campaign and additional work at the University of Minnesota and Board of Water & Soil Resources, and cuts about half the support budget for the Clean Water Council.
Other additions or increases: The Senate provides new money for the Red River Water Management Board and some stream monitoring programs.
Resolving conflicts between the "big three" items
At the heart of the Clean Water Fund debate are three competing items (CREP, Forever Green and SWCD funding). Each has broad support, and each has alternative sources of funding that could be included in other legislation.
Forever Green: FMR and our allies advocated strongly that this money come from the state's general fund budget (through the Omnibus Agriculture Finance Bill). That bill could be amended to provide full funding for Forever Green. If not, the "extra" CREP money in the Clean Water Fund bill (see below) could be used for Forever Green or SWCDs.
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program: This program has traditionally been funded through bonding. A bonding bill that includes CREP would free up Clean Water Fund resources, but the two sides aren't close on bonding negotiations. Meanwhile, delays at the federal level mean CREP money can't be used in the first year of this budget — potentially freeing those "extra" funds up for Forever Green or SWCDs independent of a bonding bill.
Soil & Water Conservation Districts: The House includes some money for SWCDs in the state's general fund budget (through the Omnibus Environment Finance Bill). The Senate environment bill does not, pushing all SWCD funding into the Clean Water Fund instead. Amending the final Omnibus Environment Finance Bill to include SWCD funding frees up Clean Water Fund money for CREP or Forever Green.
End-of-session negotiations between the House, Senate and Gov. Walz will involve negotiations on a final state budget bill, a bonding bill and the Clean Water Fund bill. How each is decided has implications for each of the "big three" items in the Clean Water Fund this session.
Become a River Guardian
We count on our River Guardians to help us shape legislation to protect our environment. Sign up to become a River Guardian and we'll let you know when important river issues like this arise. Our emails make it quick and easy to contact decision-makers and make your voice heard.
River Guardians are also invited to special events (including happy hours) where you can learn more about important legislative and metro river corridor issues.
[i] The state is required to leave 5% of the fund unallocated as a cushion in case forecasts fail to match actual revenues.
FMR Updates, Legislative Update
Our Water and Legislative Priorities
Our 2021 legislative priorities
Support clean-water crops: Fully fund Forever Green
Protect the Environmental Trust Fund
Environmental policy & budget defense
Support Soil & Water Conservation Districts
Reduce salt pollution
Safeguard the Clean Water Fund


Cast Iron Old salt solid door stop. As found with original painted surface with no touch-ups.
Has some overall expected minor wear along with some paint chips. Nice example of this early sold casting door stop.
Dimensions: Measures overall 6 .75" tall.


It is dangerous in any building not to regularly test fire and evacuation procedures. When a real emergency occurs and procedures are found wanting then, quite simply, heads will roll and insurers will think long and hard before necessarily agreeing to cover losses. So why should contract security be any different? If we don't regularly test it, then it will almost certainly be found wanting when asked to stand up and be counted.


text:
OttawaVeloOutaouais
Biking around Ottawa and the Outaouais
Commute Routes
Biking from the Ottawa Airport to the Byward Market
Kathleen will be flying in to visit Ottawa in August. After happening upon my previously posted route to the airport from Centretown she enquired about a bike route heading in the opposite direction from the airport to the Byward Market. Here's what I came up with.
Once off the plane you will most likely be retrieving your bike from the oversized baggage counter located behind this sculpture of Sir John A. MacDonald and Sir George-Étienne Cartier. The official name of the airport is the Ottawa MacDonald-Cartier International Airport after these two gentlemen who played prominent roles in the founding of Canada as a country.
Bring a pump and any necessary tools to re-assemble your bike as they don't have any to lend at the counter.
MacDonald & Cartier watching folks retrieve their luggage
Exit the terminal on the same level through the doors opposite the oversized baggage counter and take an immediate left along the sidewalk past the line-up of parked taxis.
Head north along sidewalk as soon as you step out of the terminal
This sidewalk leads you to a no-cars-allowed laneway with an opening for cyclists and pedestrians. Ride along this winding laneway to where it ends at a parking lot.
Opening to get you on the laneway
Cut through the parking lot to get to Paul-Benoit Driveway.
Cutting through the parking lot to Paul-Benoit Driveway
There is a paved path on the west side (your left) of this two lane street that runs straight all the way to Hunt Club Road, apart for a short section of concrete sidewalk near Hunt Club.
Path along Paul-Benoit Driveway
Cross Hunt Club Road onto Bowesville Road. Bowesville cuts through the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club. Hunting has long been terminated on the grounds of this private club so don't worry about getting accidentally shot but keep your eyes peeled for golf carts as they still have right of way.
Start of Bowesville Road after crossing Hunt Club Road
At the northern end of the golf club there is a black gate with an opening to the left allowing cyclists and pedestrians to continue along Bowesville Road.
Path around gate to continue along Bowesville Road
Bowesville Road ends at Uplands Drive. I'm not a big fan of Uplands Drive as many drivers love to speed along this busy road that still doesn't have bike lanes but it's a short block to Riverside Drive where one can use the sidewalk to get there.
Uplands looking towards Riverside (traffic lights) from Bowesville
Along Riverside Drive there is a paved bit between the road and the sidewalk. These often exist along speedy roads throughout the capital. These strips are not maintained as a bike lane but this one is in OK shape. There is a bit of concrete sidewalk to deal with before it starts, as well as in front of a couple of bus stops.
1) Asphalt strip starts a bit beyond the Esso station. 2) Condition of strip is mostly like this. 3) Strip merges into sidewalk in front of a couple of bus stops.
The worst section of the asphalt strip along Riverside Drive is just before Quesnel Drive.
Worst patch of asphalt strip along Riverside just before Quesnel Drive
Beyond Quesnel Drive the asphalt strip dissapears for long sections so I turn right onto quiet Quesnel Drive. There are some sweet examples of mid-century-modern and 7o's style houses along this calm residential street.
Mid-century modern and 70's style houses along Quesnel Drive
Quesnel is a dead end but there is a short path that links it to Upper Otterson Place, another quiet street.
Path from Quesnel to Upper Otterson
Upper Otterson Place also becomes a dead end but there is another short path that links it to Otterson Drive. I don't know if these two Otterson streets were ever connected. Both were named after the Ottersons who settled here from County Tipperary in Ireland. These streets cut through their farms back in 1879.
Path connecting the two Otterson streets
Otterson Drive ends at Walkley Road and continues across the intersection as Springland Drive. This intersection has traffic lights. I then turned left onto Mooney's Bay Place which took me to another set of traffic lights leading across Riverside into Mooney's Bay Park.
There is a bike path that cuts through Mooney's Bay Park. If it's a hot day you could stop at the beach for a quick swim.
Path through Mooney's Bay Park
The last bit of the path through the park is a packed dirt road before arriving at Hog's Back Road. Turn left along the path over the bridge along Hog's Back Road.
Path along bridge over the Rideau River at Hogs Back Falls
Don't cross the second bridge over the canal, instead follow the path that curls under the bridge and becomes the Rideau Canal Eastern Pathway. This pathway normally continues all the way dowtown beside the canal and ending just a few blocks outside the Byward Market however a section of the path closer to downtown is closed for major repairs to the canal wall. There is an official signed detour if you choose to stay on the eastern side of the canal but this detour is horrendous with dangerous inadequate crossing lights across speeding Colonel By Drive with cars flying on and off at Main Street. Instead, before reaching the official detour, cross the new Flora bike/pedestrian bridge over to the Rideau Canal Western Pathway.
Bike bridge over the canal near Clegg St (Flora Bridge)
Continue north along the bike path and cross back to the Rideau Canal Eastern Pathway over the bike/pedestrian bridge at Somerset Street.
Bike bridge over the canal at Somerset (Corkstown Bridge)
View down the canal from the Corkstown Bridge Update Sept '19: All those love locks have been removed.
Continue along the Rideau Canal Eastern Pathway to where it pretty much ends at the intersection of Colonel By Drive and Daly Avenue. Cross Colonel By at the lights.
Canal Pathway ends at the intersection at Colonel By and Daly. Cross to the other side of Colonel By at these lights.
The Byward Market is just a couple of blocks further north along Colonel By Drive which turns into Sussex Drive but there is no safe bike infrastructure to get you to the Market from the intersection. Accessing the Byward Market safely by bike is a problem. There is a sidewalk one can push your bike along from the Daly & Colonel By intersection for the few blocks if you want to avoid riding in tight traffic.
View north along Colonel By Drive from the Daly intersection
Et voila – have a great visit!
Author ottawaveloPosted on July 30, 2019 September 17, 2019 Categories UncategorizedLeave a comment on Biking from the Ottawa Airport to the Byward Market
Biking to Windsor Park to see Romeo and Juliet!
A Company of Fools production of Romeo and Juliet
A Company of Fools is once again touring parks across the capital region throughout the summer. This year they will be performing Romeo and Juliet! Here's a description of the show from an interview with director Nicholas Leno.
Someone requested a bike route from Hintonburg to Windsor Park where they will be tonight on Saturday, August 17th.
Here is a map showing the route with a description below.
Starting from the corner of Fairmount St and Wellington St West, head south along Fairmount as far as Sherwood Drive, passing under the Queensway along the way.
Fairmont St after passing under the Queensway
Turn left onto Sherwood Drive and continue along until it ends at Carling Avenue.
Heading down Sherwood St towards Carling
Cross Carling at the lights and ride through Queen Julliana Park to Prince of Wales Drive.
Bike path through Queen Juliana Park
Cross Prince of Wales Drive at the pedestrian lights just west of where the bike path ends and head into the Arboretum. Ignore the sign on the gate that says it's closed. The sign has been there for ages and I have no idea why it's there – the Arboretum is open to the public all year round.
Entering the Arboretum after crossing Prince of Wales from Queen Juliana Park
The paths through the Arboretum are a combination of paved and stone dust surfacing.
Biking through the Arboretum
You will eventually reach the Rideau Canal. Ride along until you reach the Hartwell Locks. Push your bike over the last set of locks. The Fools will be playing at this location on July the 10th.
The top set of locks which are wide enough to push your bike across.
Cross Colonel By Drive into the Carleton University campus, and cut through the campus as per the above map to the pedestrian crossing at Bronson Avenue. At one stage you will be dipping under the O-Train tracks.
Path under the O-Train tracks while cutting through the Carleton U campus
Once across Bronson, continue along the path through Brewer Park to Cameron Avenue. Cameron is a quiet one way heading easy but it has a bike lane heading west so it's safe to ride along it on the way back.
Cameron Ave heading east with the dedicated bike lane heading west
Before reaching Bank Street turn right onto Wendover Avenue which merges into Warrington Drive that runs along the edge of the Rideau River. At the end of Warrington one can access the Rideau River Pathway that continues along the river.
Accessing the Rideau River Pathway off Warrington Drive
The path goes under Bank Street and continues on merrily along the river. Windsor Park is a short distance further along this path. There is no sign off the bike path identifying the park but you will have no problem noticing the stage.
Set for Romeo & Juliet
Enjoy the show !
For a complete list of the parks that The Company of Fools will be performing throughout the summer, including maps, click here. If anyone needs a bike route to get there, send me a starting point and the park you want to go to and I'll figure out a route for you.
Author ottawaveloPosted on July 5, 2019 July 9, 2019 Categories Art & Architecture, Public Art, UncategorizedLeave a comment on Biking to Windsor Park to see Romeo and Juliet!
Need a bike route?
If you are looking for a bike route to work, or any other destinations around the region, send me two points of reference: a starting point (like a street intersection, or address, or landmark, etc) and the final destination. These can be sent via the 'Leave a comment' tag, or by email at OttawaVeloOutaouais@gmail.com . If the start and finish destinations are within an hour's ride from each other (and most are) I will scout out a bike route and describe it on this blog, or point you to a link if I've aready tried it out.
Biking in Winter
Suggested rides for visitors to the region
Bike Ottawa ( previously Citizens for Safe Cycling)
Hans on Bike
re-Cycles
Right Bike
OttawaVeloOutaouais Blog at WordPress.com.


For companies that own, lease or manage real estate, having appropriate property insurance is essential. Most property policies insure not only buildings and their contents, but also the lost stream of income which results from damage to property. Often, lost profits are far greater than the loss from damage to property, and having adequate coverage for such business interruption claims may be essential to the company's survival, or continued profitability, after a catastrophic event. However, the scope of coverage provided for lost profits is far from clear in many respects, which leaves the policyholder with uncertain protection. This article discusses a number of the major areas of dispute between insurance companies and policyholders involving business income to demonstrate the need for the policyholder to focus with his or her insurance professional on minimizing the uncertainty surrounding this coverage.
We will pay for the actual loss of Business Income you sustain due to the necessary suspension of your "operations" during the "period of restoration." The suspension must be caused by direct physical loss of or damage to property. . . . The loss or damage must be caused by or result from a Covered Cause of Loss.
Contingent business income coverage insures against loss of income caused by damage to or destruction of property owned by suppliers and customers.
Contingent extra expense coverage is designed to pay for increased costs incurred after a disaster to minimize or avoid a contingent business income loss.
Leader property coverage insures against losses of business income stemming from damage or destruction to a third-party property such as an "anchor" store that attracts customers or business to the policyholder.
Service interruption coverage insures against business income losses attributable to dislocation of utility or telecommunications service.
Ingress/egress coverage pays for the loss of business income caused by physical loss or damage to thirdparty property that prevents or hinders ingress to or egress from the policyholder's business.
There are a number of potential hurdles to recovery for business income losses.
(a) What Is the Rate of Business Income Loss?
What is looked at, the business as a whole or a small sector of the business?
What amount of historical data is looked at? The previous month? The previous year?
What about cyclical businesses, like resort properties, does one look at the year as a whole or just the high season?
What about new or unprofitable businesses?
Essentially, the policy language is so vague that it ensures that, if the claim is large enough, there will be a dispute. For such losses, a loss adjuster or an accountant versed in property insurance should be engaged early in the process.
(b) Has There Been an "Interruption"?
location, resulting in a slowdown, rather than a cessation, of the business there. Some insurance policy forms specify that partial disruptions of a business are covered.
Issues often arise regarding the length of the period of interruption or period of restoration. As typically written, this period, during which the loss of business income is covered, is bounded by the shorter of (i) the hypothetical time in which the destroyed property could be repaired, rebuilt or replaced or (ii) the actual time it takes to repair, rebuild or replace the property. A number of issues can arise surrounding the former, "hypothetical" date. For instance, does it start during the period when authorities will not let the policyholder on site due to ongoing investigation, e.g., by environmental authorities? Further, disputes often arise over whether the policyholder could relocate to an alternative site and thereby end its period of loss, particularly where the location of business is important to its success.
Historically, a policyholder was entitled to its loss of business income under business interruption coverage for the period from the destruction of property until the property at the described premises should have been repaired, rebuilt or replaced with reasonable speed and similar quality. This "theoretical" period continued even if the policyholder mounted temporary or interim operations after the loss and damage, thereby recognizing the value of the policyholder's location. Since 1995, however, the Insurance Services Office standard form has defined the period of restoration as the lesser of the time to repair or replace the physical damage or the time at which operations are resumed at a new permanent location.
Some insurance companies have argued that policyholders, forced by destruction of their premises to move their operations elsewhere on a temporary basis, have in fact permanently relocated, thereby terminating the period of restoration. Such a result may not seem unfair for office operations, which likely can relocate in fungible space, but what about retailers and restaurants which rely upon their locations to provide access to a steady stream of customers? The courts have been inconsistent in their treatment of this issue.
Can the Business Income Loss Be Reduced by the Wider Effects of the Catastrophe?
In response to claims for losses resulting from 9/11 and recent hurricanes, some property insurance companies have argued that business interruption recovery is diminished by the wider economic effects of the catastrophe. Historically, there was no policy provision permitting insurance companies to reduce estimates of their policyholder's lost business income on account of generalized lack of consumer demand which follows a catastrophic loss. Nonetheless, this is what insurance companies attempted to do. Courts, however, consistently found that business income losses must be computed based on net profit expectancies as they existed prior to the loss. In response, some insurance policies now provide that the business income recovery must be based upon the business environment that existed after the loss.
Avoiding all of the issues discussed above may be impossible. Nonetheless, the policyholder can reduce the likelihood of encountering some of these problems by carefully selecting the business interruption coverage form to be used in its policies. This requires the assistance of an insurance professional who is not just concerned about obtaining high limits of coverage (which may be worthless) or the best rates, but is also well versed in the significance of the different wordings in the various policy forms in the marketplace. Other problems can only be addressed after the loss is suffered, with the assistance of a claim specialist such as a public loss adjuster. It is a shame that a policyholder should need a cadre of consultants in order to secure business interruption coverage that fills its needs, but the stakes are often too high to minimize the risks associated with this insurance.


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Axed Love Island contestant claims gameshow's couples who met days ago are actually fake
One of the contestants on the gameshow said the other's are, shockingly, playing games
Sophie McCoid
Daniel ChipperfieldContent Editor
An axed contestant from ITV show Love Island, where people are made to form seemingly-serious relationships within days to ensure they have a chance of winning money, has claimed that the contestants are in fact 'playing games' and are faking it.
Yewande left the villa tonight, after Danny coupled up with new girl Arrabella.
But after leaving the villa she has given the revelation that the couples may not all be completely in love with each other after just two weeks and maybe doing it for the £50,000 prise money and any fame they can get their hands on.
The scientist believes she has worked out the issue that saw her leave and lose her chance of claiming to have found love and thus earn the money- which is presumably what she means when she says "the right reasons".
Love Island 2019: Have Molly-Mae and Tommy Fury become the first couple to have sex in the villa?
"I think there are a couple of people in there playing a game – a lot of people aren't there for the right reasons.
"I'd probably say there are only two genuine couples. Michael and Amber and Curtis and Amy."
Yewande also had some harsh words about Danny and Arabella, as reported by Liverpool Echo.
She said: "A bombshell coming in, it's very hard and it's difficult to know their intentions. I hate it when a bombshell comes in saying 'I want to get to know everyone', because that is a lie. You know who you're going for.
"She knew she wanted Danny. I feel like if he does get to know her, it's not going to work.
"There are so many factors – they're so different, and the age gap. You have to be realistic. He's just starting his life – he's only 21. They are in two different phases of their lives. In the villa, it's very easy to forget."
Love Island's Joe Garratt denies 'abusive behaviour' towards Lucie Donlan
But Yewande had nothing but praise for Amber and Scouser Michael's relationship based on the same criteria as having the "right intentions".
She said: "I love the way it started because the minute I walked in and coupled up with Michael, he said 'there's something about Amber that I love so much.' I was friends with Amber and she was like 'he's not my type.'
"Gradually you could see her getting nervous around him. The way it's developed is so organic, which is the way it normally happens on the outside. It's so magical to watch it happen."
Yewande said she would love to go back to the villa to find love and continue the friendships she'd made.
Lucie Donlan 'to walk' after Joe Garratt is dumped from Love Island villa
Summing up her time in the villa Yewande said: "I really believe that everything happens for a reason and I wouldn't change anything. If I did, I wouldn't know the outcome and I wouldn't know if it would be any better or worse.
"It was a rollercoaster of emotions, up and down. I learnt so much about myself. I made amazing friends and I wouldn't change anything.
"The biggest thing I learnt about myself was that I can open up romantically and I can show a little bit of affection, which is something I struggled with in the past."


Anglian Water has beat the likes of Google, Ikea and Apple to be named the UK's best place to work in a list compiled by employer review site Glassdoor.
After coming second to Google in the annual league table last year, the website, which uses online reviews by current and former staff, placed Anglian Water in the top spot for the 2019 list.
Peter Simpson, Anglian Water's chief executive put the company's success down to a focus on health and wellbeing in the workplace as he welcomed the accolade on behalf of all staff.
He said: "It's fantastic that Anglian Water has been awarded the top spot in this year's Glassdoor awards, after coming second last year – I am extremely proud. It's especially significant because it's based on feedback left by our own employees.
The company's staff wellbeing strategy covers all aspects of employee health, safety and workplace happiness. An internal campaign runs throughout the year with regular awareness days, events and workshops on mental health, musculo-skeletal fitness, financial security and diversity.
Staff are encouraged to create wellbeing gardens at their own workplaces, take paid leave to volunteer for charity and get access to free advice and support from personal finance experts.
The Glassdoor Employees' Choice Awards are based on employee feedback which is anonymous.
When sharing a company review on Glassdoor, employees are asked to rate their satisfaction with the company overall, and key workplace factors such as career opportunities, compensation, benefits, work-life balance, senior management, as well as culture and values.
Employees are also asked to describe the best reasons to work at their companies as well as any downsides.
Simpson added: "We work hard on encouraging employee wellbeing and creating a culture driven by happier, healthier and safer staff.
Reviews for 2019 employees' choice awards were considered between 23 October 2017 and 21 October 2018.
Glassdoor said results are compiled based on its "robust calculations", which consider quantity, quality and consistency of reviews.
Other companies in the utilities sector to be featured in the top 50 include: Homeserve UK (18th); Shell (26th); First Utility (40th) and Severn Trent (44th).
Meanwhile Google ranked 13th, Ikea, which was a newcomer to the list ranked 16th and Apple placed 43rd.
The list included 16 newcomers that have never been on the UK list. Glassdoor also revealed that only three companies have ranked among the UK best places to work for all five years – Google, JP Morgan and PwC.


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Los Angeles Welcomes Its Scooter Overlords
This is a fancy concept scooter from MINI, shot against the LA skyline from Dodger Stadium. The yellow thing on the left is a car, soon to be obsolete.MINI USA
The city of Los Angeles has decided to approve the use of scooters within city limits, accompanied by a rather astonishing set of regulations. But at least the poor will benefit, I guess:
The companies will be limited to 3,000 scooters or bikes anywhere in the city, but can deploy up to 2,500 more in low-income areas, and an additional 5,000 vehicles in low-income neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley.
It doesn't appear that the scooters have to cost any less in low-income areas, they just have to exist. Is this the kind of help that our low-income workers really need? More scooters? I dunno, but several council members who represent poor districts seemed pretty taken with the idea. We'll see.
BTW, the speed limit is 15 mph and there's no riding on sidewalks. "We cannot regulate stupidity," said councilmember Joe Buscaino.


A startup, built on gel-based technology developed in the lab of Professor Molly Shoichet (ChemE, IBBME), has raised $3.25 million to develop a drug delivery system that could eliminate the need to give patients powerful painkillers following surgery – a key source of the current opioid crisis.
The startup, AmacaThera, uses Shoichet's gel technology to dramatically extend the duration of anesthetics injected at the site of a surgical incision.
That, in turn, means surgeons may no longer need to send patients home with prescriptions for powerful – and potentially addictive – painkillers like OxyContin.
More than half of all opioid-related deaths in Ontario in 2016 involved prescription drugs, according to a study last year led by U of T's Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. The same study also found one-third of deaths involved people being actively treated with a prescription opioid.
AmacaThera's key technology is a gel that can be easily stored and injected at room temperature, but firms up once it enters the body. It has been formulated to deliver commonly used anesthetic drugs to surgical sites and keep them there for two to three days.
By contrast, the same drugs delivered through conventional injections disperse quickly and lose their effectiveness in a matter of hours.
"Right now, drugs are given as a solution, which just won't stay at the incision," explains Mike Cooke, who has spent a decade working in Shoichet's lab and is AmacaThera's CEO.
In the company's first round of financing, AmacaThera managed to raise $3.25 million from Sprout BioVentures, Viva Biotech and Grey Sky Venture Partners. The money will be used to test and manufacture the gel in a certified lab and complete a Phase 1 clinical trial, which will begin in about a year.
Cooke and Shoichet first hatched the idea for AmacaThera while Cooke was working as a postdoctoral researcher in Shoichet's lab. At the time, he was using a version of the gel to transplant stem cells, with promising results. The gel had also been formulated into an anti-adhesive barrier to prevent scar tissue from fusing to organs after surgery.
In an effort to maximize the chance of success, Cooke and Shoichet canvassed more than 100 surgeons and anesthesiologists in search of a problem that needed solving, and ultimately settled on drug delivery. Next, they went back to the lab to see if their gel could be reformulated to fit the bill.
"We wanted to do the business-pull model versus the research-push model – and that's because we're starting a business, not starting a research project," says Shoichet, who has been involved in two previous startups based on research from her lab.
The end result was a product with a well-defined market. Another key factor in the decision: AmacaThera's drug delivery application faces a relatively straightforward regulatory approval process.


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Tom Haberstroh
NBC Sports Bet
Pick 'n Click
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Why Flyers did just fine with Alain Vigneault, not Joel Quenneville
It's uncertain how hard the Flyers went after Joel Quenneville or if the team was even in on the three-time Stanley Cup champion at all.
On the day Quenneville took the Panthers' head coaching job, Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher appeared unflappable when asked about his level of disappointment with the news.
"I'm happy for Joel," Fletcher said April 8. "We're less than 48 hours since the end of our season and the process of identifying the next head coach of the Flyers will start today. We'll start the process.
"He's not available. I'm not going to speculate on names or people that may be available or were available or were available in past years. It's a big decision for the Flyers."
Backup plan or not, Fletcher didn't do too shabby with his big decision, tabbing Alain Vigneault as the Flyers' new head coach.
Maybe there's some short-term memory with the outside perception of the hire. When you see Vigneault's name, many think of his final days with the Rangers. After four winning seasons, New York fired Vigneault last April as the team was ready for a fresh approach following a 25-point drop-off.
Well, the same happened with Quenneville. While he experienced a much longer and more fruitful run of success in Chicago, the situation eventually grew sour to the point in which new direction was wanted. Quenneville was fired 15 games into this season after his worst year with the Blackhawks in 2017-18.
Vigneault is not Quenneville. But he's no slouch, either.
The Flyers needed a coach with experience and got one.
Vigneault has led three teams to the Presidents' Trophy and two to the Stanley Cup Final. In 16 seasons as an NHL head coach, 11 have featured playoff berths, with eight of those teams advancing past the first round (see 5 takeaways).
He owns three 50-win seasons and eight 100-point seasons. The Flyers haven't won 50 or more games in a season since 1985-86 and haven't amassed 100 or more points in a season since 2011-12, when they last won a playoff series (see story).
"I think his track record speaks for itself," Fletcher said Monday. "He's had success at the junior level, had success in the minor leagues, and he's had success in the NHL. You can't have success at all those levels unless you're good at developing players and good at connecting with veteran players. He's a guy that gets his teams to play hard and gets his players to buy in."
And for Fletcher, what likely made Vigneault such an attractive candidate is the head coach's track record in Year 1 on the job. At Vigneault's previous three stops (Canadiens, Canucks, Rangers), each of his first seasons resulted in playoff bids and at least one series win. Overall, his combined record in those seasons was 131-89-26 with a .585 points percentage.
"Right now, it's about trying to continue to build our group and become as competitive as quickly as we can," Fletcher said.
Quenneville was clearly set on South Florida.
It's also clear why that didn't break the Flyers' hearts.
Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device.
Fletcher's telling move, Vigneault's belief in Flyers, more in 5 takeaways
That didn't take long! Flyers find their new head coach
Flyers fans explode on social media over new coaching hire
Two rising Flyers prospects on college hockey's forefront
Parent has bold prediction for Hart-led Flyers
Categories: Chuck Fletcher, Philadelphia Flyers, Joel Quenneville, Alain Vigneault, Jordan Hall
More From: Flyers
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NJTESOL/NJBE is the professional organization of English as a Second Language (ESL) and bilingual education teachers for all levels. Membership is open to all educators interested in current information on educating bilingual and English language learners (ESL students).
NJTESOL/NJBE sponsors several conferences throughout the year and keeps members informed through newsletters and online discussion of hot topics in ESL/bilingual education. The organization is very involved in advocacy/political action and collaborative activities with other professional organizations.
Dues: $35/year; $59/two years with the benefits of participating in the hotlist, receiving the current Voices newsletter and getting discounts on the conference payment.