text:
\section{Introduction}

The main goal of the Large Hadron Collider\,\cite{LHC} (LHC) is to
shed light on the mechanism responsible for the electroweak symmetry
breaking. In the context of the Standard Model\,\cite{sm_all} (SM)
this is ensured by the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism\,\cite{higgs_all}
that, by assuming the existence of one doublet of scalar fields, gives
also rise to an additional scalar particle known as the Higgs
boson. The mass of the Higgs boson \mH{} is not predicted by the
theory\,\cite{Djouadi20081-short}, but direct experimental searches
have set a lower limit\,\cite{LEP2-short} to $\mH>114.4\,\GeV$, and
have recently excluded\,\cite{arXiv:0903.4001-short} the range between
160 and 170\,\GeV{} at the 95\% confidence level (CL). The global fit
of precision electroweak data\,\cite{Gfitter-2009-short} including the
LEP--2 data\,\cite{LEP2-short} indicates a preferred mass of
$\mH=116.4_{-1.3}^{+15.6}\,\GeV$ with an upper bound of 191\,\GeV{},
if the Tevatron direct limits\,\cite{arXiv:0903.4001-short} are not
included \cite{LEP-EW-WG}.

The two LHC general-purpose detectors
ATLAS\,\cite{1748-0221-3-08-S08003} and
CMS\,\cite{1748-0221-3-08-S08004} are designed to search for the SM
Higgs boson over a wide mass range\,\cite{ATLAS-EP,CMT-TDR-2}, from
the LEP exclusion limit up to several hundreds of \GeV{}. An overview
of the the search strategies over the whole mass range is presented
here, as well as the sensitivities of the detectors with different
integrated luminosities at $\sqrt{s} = 14\,\TeV$, the nominal LHC
center-of-mass energy for the proton--proton collisions.

\section{The Standard Model Higgs boson at the LHC}

\begin{figure}[ht]
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\linewidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[height=.6\linewidth]{HiggsProd}
    \caption{SM Higgs production cross-sections at the LHC for
      $\sqrt{s} = 14 \TeV$ as a function of the Higgs mass.}
    \label{fig:HiggsProd}
  \end{minipage}
  \hspace{0.02\linewidth}
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\linewidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[height=.6\linewidth]{HiggsBR}
    \caption{Branching ratios for SM Higgs decays as a function of the
      Higgs mass.}
    \label{fig:HiggsDecays}
  \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

The dominant production mechanism of the SM Higgs boson in the
proton--proton collisions provided by the LHC is the gluon
fusion\,\cite{Djouadi20081-short} (Fig.~\ref{fig:HiggsProd}), where at
leading order the production is mediated by an heavy quark loop. The
next-to-leading (NLO) order cross section for this process accounts to
about 37.6\,pb for $\mH=120\,\GeV$. The following production mechanism
is trough Vector Boson Fusion (VBF)\,\cite{Djouadi20081-short};
despite being approximately one order of magnitude smaller -- the NLO
cross section for this process accounts to about 3.19\,pb for
$\mH=120\GeV$ -- this mechanism is nevertheless interesting for the
particular topologies of its final states.

The productions of the Higgs boson in association with a $Z$ or $W$
vector boson or with a $t\bar{t}$ pair have much smaller cross
sections: they are used by ATLAS and CMS to improve their sensitivity
further more, or to study very specific final states, but they will
not be discussed here.

\section{Higgs discovery final states}

The most promising Higgs decay modes to search for the particle in a
given mass range are selected both by the Higgs branching
ratios\,\cite{Djouadi20081-short} (see Fig.~\ref{fig:HiggsDecays}) and
by the relative level of background for those particular decays in
that mass range.

In the low mass region ($m_H\lesssim 135 \,\GeV$) the $b\bar{b}$ final
state accounts for about 81\% of the decays, but it is strongly
disfavored because of the very high QCD background and the small $p_T$
of the decay particles. In this mass region the
$H\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ decay, despite the tiny branching ratio
($\sim$\,0.2\% for $\mH=120\,\GeV$), provides instead a clear
signature of high $p_T$ photons, and represents the most promising
search channel (see Sec.~\ref{sec:Hgg}). The decay in $\tau^+\tau^-$
pairs accounts only for about 8\% of the decays at low mass, and
potentially suffers of limitations similar to the ones affecting the
$b\bar{b}$ decay mode; on the other hand the use of the particular
final state topology provided by the VBF production mode promotes this
decay channel to be an important support to increase the sensitivity
in the low mass region (see Sec.~\ref{sec:Htautau})

For larger masses ($\mH\gtrsim 130\,\GeV$) the decay in a pair of $Z$
or $W$ bosons becomes accessible, with at least one of them
on-shell. Thanks to its kinematics providing a very clear signature,
the decay of the Higgs boson into four leptons mediated by two $Z$
bosons ($H\rightarrow ZZ^{(*)}\rightarrow 4l$) represents the search
\emph{golden channel} in this mass range (see Sec.~\ref{sec:H4l}),
except for the region around $\mH\simeq 2 m_{W}$ where the decay in
two $W$ bosons account for about 95\% of the branching ratio, and the
search for $H\rightarrow W W^{(*)} \rightarrow l \nu l \nu$ becomes
the most significant one (see Sec.~\ref{sec:HWW}).

\subsection{$H\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$}
\label{sec:Hgg}

Two high $p_T$ photons represent the clean signature of this final
state: the kinematic of the event can be fully reconstructed, and the
existence of the Higgs boson would manifest itself as a bump in the
di-photon invariant mass spectrum, sitting on top of the irreducible
background spectrum constituted by genuine photon pairs from
$q\bar{q}\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$, $gg\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ and
quark bremsstralung (Fig.~\ref{fig:HiggsGammaGammaSpectrumCMS}).

Jet--jet and $\gamma$--jet events where the jets are misidentified as
photons make up the reducible background, that has to be kept as low
as possible with an excellent jet rejection. In order to achieve the
higher sensitivity possible the best invariant mass resolution is
needed: this implies guaranteeing an optimal electromagnetic
calorimetric resolution, an excellent measurement of the interaction
primary vertex, and a good control of the photon conversions.

Both ATLAS and CMS have studied this signal and its background at NLO,
have extended their cut--based analysis's to more
statistical--aggressive
approaches\,\cite{ATLAS-EP,CMS-HiggsGammaGamma-Notes}, and have
reached similar signal sensitivities in this channel. With an
integrated luminosity of 10 (30) fb$^{-1}$ their discovery
significance is about 4\,$\sigma$ (8\,$\sigma$) for $\mH=130\,\GeV$.

\begin{figure}
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\linewidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[height=.6\linewidth]{CMS_Hgg.eps}
    \caption{Di-photon invariant mass spectrum after the selection for
      the CMS cut-based analysis. Events are normalized to an
      integrated luminosity of 1 fb$^{-1}$ and the Higgs signal, shown
      for different masses, is scaled by a factor 10.}
    \label{fig:HiggsGammaGammaSpectrumCMS}
  \end{minipage}
  \hspace{0.02\linewidth}
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\linewidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[height=.6\linewidth]{ATLAS_H4l}
    \caption{Reconstructed four-lepton mass for signal and background
      processes in ATLAS, in the case of a 130 \GeV{} Higgs boson,
      normalized to a luminosity of 30 fb$^{-1}$.}
    \label{fig:Higgs4LeptonsSpectrumATLAS}
  \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

\subsection{$H\rightarrow \tau^+\tau^-$}
\label{sec:Htautau}

The search of low mass ($\mH\lesssim 140\,\GeV$) the Higgs boson
decaying in a $\tau^+\tau^-$ pair can be performed exploiting the
particular topology of the events where the Higgs is produces through
VBF. When the Higgs is produced by this mechanism the products of the
$\tau$ decays are accompanied by the presence of two high $p_T$ jets,
that can be used to distinguish the signal. The absence of color flow
between these tag jets introduces a rapidity gap between them: a
central jet veto suppresses then the background.

Because of the small $\tau$ mass with respect to the Higgs mass, the
products of the $\tau$ leptonic or hadronic decays can be considered
approximately collinear: despite the presence of neutrinos in the
final states, the Higgs invariant mass can be fully reconstructed
using the two components of the measured missing transverse energy, if
the Higgs boson has some transverse momentum. The Higgs mass peak
would be partly superimposed to the $Z\rightarrow\tau^+\tau^-$ peak in
the di-$\tau$ invariant mass spectrum. In order to evaluate this
contribution, the similarities between the $Z\rightarrow\mu^+\mu^-$
and $Z\rightarrow\tau^+\tau^-$ processes are used: the measure of the
latter helps to estimate all the detector effects from data, that are
then transposed to the former replacing the measured $\mu$'s with
simulated $\tau$'s.

A 5\,$\sigma$ discovery with this channel alone will require about
30\,fb$^{-1}$ (60\,fb$^{-1}$) for $\mH=115\,\GeV$
($140\,\GeV$)\,\cite{ATLAS-EP,CMS-HiggsTauTau-Notes}.

\subsection{$H\rightarrow Z Z^{(*)} \rightarrow 4l$}
\label{sec:H4l}

The Higgs boson with $\mH\gtrsim 130\,\GeV$ decaying in $ZZ^{(*)}$ is
sought for in the $e^+e^-e^+e^-$, $\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$ and
$e^+e^-\mu^+\mu^-$ channels, taking advantage of the excellent energy
reconstruction of electrons and muons of both the ATLAS and CMS
detectors. Since four leptons are present in all final states, the
reconstruction efficiency plays a crucial role.

The main reducible backgrounds for this channel are $Zb\bar{b}$,
$t\bar{t}$ and fakes, that can be strongly reduced requiring lepton
isolation and imposing selections on the impact parameter; requiring
that at least one $Z$ is on-shell helps reducing the background
further more.

Since the full kinematics of the event can be reconstructed, the Higgs
boson would manifest itself as a clear mass peak of the four leptons
invariant mass sitting on top of a smooth continuum due to the
irreducible background of $ZZ^{(*)}$
(Fig.~\ref{fig:Higgs4LeptonsSpectrumATLAS}), for Higgs masses ranging
from 130 to 600\,\GeV{}.

This channel would guarantees 5\,$\sigma$ discovery significance over
this mass range with about 30\,fb$^{-1}$, except in the region around
2~$m_W$\,\cite{ATLAS-EP,CMS-Higgs4leptons-Notes}. Already with the
1\,fb$^{-1}$ this channel could disprove the existence of an Higgs
boson with $\mH > 185\,\GeV$ at 95\%
CL\,\cite{CMS-Higgs4leptons-1fb-1}.

\subsection{$H\rightarrow W W^{(*)} \rightarrow l \nu l \nu$}
\label{sec:HWW}

Unlike the other channels described above, the Higgs mass peak cannot
be reconstructed in the $H\rightarrow WW^{(*)} \rightarrow l \nu l
\nu$ decays, because of the presence of neutrinos in the final state
and the large $W$ mass. The discovery of the Higgs boson in this
channel reduces to a counting experiment, in which the estimate of the
background level from data is therefore crucial. The background is
dominated by $WW$ and $t\bar{t}$ production, followed by $Wt$, $WZ$,
$ZZ$, Drell--Yan and fakes.

The decay leptons from the $W$'s originating from the Higgs boson
would be preferentially emitted in the same direction in the Higgs
rest frame: this introduces a kinematical correlation that can be used
to separate the signal from the background, and especially to build
signal--depleted samples to measure the background level with.

This powerful decay channel would already allow to exclude the
existence of an Higgs boson between 150 and 180\,\GeV{} at 95\% CL
with the first few fb$^{-1}$, while with 10 fb$^{-1}$ a 5\,$\sigma$
discovery could be claimed\,\cite{ATLAS-EP,CMS-HiggsWW-Notes}.

\section{Higgs discovery and exclusion potentials}

\begin{figure}
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\linewidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[height=.7\linewidth]{CMS_discovery}
    \caption{SM Higgs boson signal significance with 30 fb$^{-1}$ in
      CMS, as a function of $\mH$.}
    \label{fig:}
  \end{minipage}
  \hspace{0.02\linewidth}
  \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\linewidth}
    \centering
    \includegraphics[height=.7\linewidth]{ATLAS_exclusion}
    \caption{Expected luminosity required by ATLAS to exclude a SM
      Higgs boson with a mass $\mH$ at a confidence level given by the
      corresponding color.}
    \label{fig:HiggsExclusionATLAS}
  \end{minipage}
\end{figure}

The SM Higgs boson discovery reach combining the various final states
described above for an integrated luminosity of 30 fb$^{-1}$ is
presented in Fig.~\ref{fig:} as a function of the Higgs mass for the
CMS experiment\,\cite{CMT-TDR-2}; ATLAS has similar
performances\,\cite{ATLAS-EP}. Both experiments exceed a 5\,$\sigma$
significance over the whole mass range with 30\,fb$^{-1}$ provided by
LHC at $\sqrt{s}=14\,\TeV$.

The combined SM Higgs boson exclusion limits are presented in
Fig.~\ref{fig:HiggsExclusionATLAS} as a function of the Higgs mass and
the integrated luminosity for the ATLAS experiments\,\cite{ATLAS-EP};
CMS has similar performances\,\cite{CMT-TDR-2}. Both experiments will
be able to exclude a SM Higgs boson at 95\% CL over the whole mass
range with the first few fb$^{-1}$ provided by LHC at
$\sqrt{s}=14\,\TeV$.

\section*{References}
\bibliographystyle{unsrt}
{\small

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Opera Atelier's french double header opened last night at the Elgin Theatre. It was, bar the occasional twist, classic Opera Atelier. They presented two French baroque operas in their distinctive style with a little humour and none of the excesses that have sometimes crept in.
June is kind of quiet but first there's yet another show to mention for the busy last weekend of May. David Fallis is conducting his last performances as Music Director of the Toronto Consort. It's Monteverdi's Orfeo and it's at Trinity St. Pauls at 8pm on the 25th and 26th and 3.30pm on the 27th. Besides David it features Charles Daniels in the title role, Kevin Skelton as Apollo, Laura Pudwell as Messagiera with Jeanne Lamon on first violin plus Montreal's premier cornetto and sackbut ensemble La Rose des Vents.
Here's the news that's arrived in my inbox this week.
Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts announced that from 2019 the DORA awards will be gender neutral. In categories where there has traditionally been "Best Performance by a Male" and "Best Performance by a Female" there will now be a single "Best Performance" award.
Tan Dun's Water Passion After St. Matthew, given last night by Soundstreams at Trinity St. Paul's is very Tan Dun. The work is in nine movements and scored for chorus, soprano and bass-baritone soloists, violin, cello, electronics and lots of percussion. And bowls of water and rocks. The texts broadly follow the Passion story finishing with a final Resurrection movement in which water is the symbol of rebirth, recycling and spiritual completeness. There are also ritual elements. Bowls of water laid out in a cruciform pattern are lit from beneath. The musicians change position and the players, especially the percussionists, perform hieratic gestures with the water bowls and their contents. It also involves a complex and dramatic lighting plot.


text:
Search the Mississippi Asylum Cemetery Records
of the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History
The Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum opened in Jackson on January 8, 1855 at what is now the campus of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The asylum was renamed the Mississippi State Insane Hospital in 1900 and remained there until the present Mississippi State Hospital was opened in Whitfield on March 4, 1935.
MDAH volunteer Nan Harvey researched and transcribed information from Mississippi death certificates to compile a database of approximately 4,380 Insane Hospital patients that died between November 1912 and March 9, 1935 and were buried on the Hospital grounds. The database includes the death certificate number, date of death, patient's name, sex, race, age at death, length of stay at the hospital, county of residence and cause of death. This database not only includes patient deaths but also infants that may have been born and died there while the mother was a patient.
The records are searchable by name of deceased and name of county. Please be aware that due to handwriting, spelling variations, and legibility issues, accuracy of the transcribed information cannot be guaranteed.
Search by: CountyName Search phrase:
Sort by: Certificate NumberCountyDeath DateName

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A fraudster has been sent to prison for going on spending sprees with two stolen bank cards.
The trial of Marcin Kuc, 35, of Basset Street in Camborne, got underway at Truro Crown Court on Monday (January 21).
Polish national Kuc denied two counts of burglary but had at previous hearings admitted fraud charges relating to using the bank cards.
The prosecution alleged that Kuc entered two properties in Rosevean Avenue and Trenance Road in May and June of last year and took the cards. However after a period of deliberation a jury said they were unable to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that Kuc was responsible for entering the homes and found him not guilty of the burglaries.
In respect of the fraud charges already admitted, Judge Simon Carr jailed Kuc for three months.
The first victim, an elderly woman, didn't cancel her card until the following day and in that time the defendant used it to withdraw cash and obtain goods at various stores in Camborne.
The first use of the card was at 3:14pm on that afternoon of the burglary when the defendant withdrew £500 in cash at Tesco.
Within 10 minutes of the second card going missing Kuc was making use of the cards.
Prosecution barrister Ed Bailey said: "At 6:47pm at the Arkwrights store close by he made a series of contactless payments for scratch cards. He then moved on to Tesco where, at 7pm, he made further use of the card with contactless payments. He obtained £100 in scratchcards before being arrested on June 9 and interviewed the following day.
"Mr Kuc denied he was responsible for either of the burglaries. In relation to the Rosevean Avenue break-in Mr Kuc claimed he found the card on the ground. When it was put to him that CCTV showed him using the card in Tesco and he was asked how he worked out the PIN number he said he didn't know before going on to say that maybe he 'probably guessed it'.
"When asked about the burglary on June 7 the defendant denied finding any bank cards that day. When questioned about CCTV footage 40 minutes after the burglary showing him using a Halifax card he said he must have found it somewhere.


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text:
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Another thing that has been reworked is the Tundra's interior. The steering wheel has been completely redesigned, and it comes with large buttons that have clear labels, and there is plenty of space inside the cabin for adult passengers and all of their stuff in all the different rows. The dashboard is comprehensive and horizontal and is covered in premium-grade materials. There is a hexagonal grille on the outside, which is flanked by solid LED headlamps and functional air intakes. In the back, the Tundra name has been imprinted in the tailgate. Meanwhile, the taillamps are vertical and are located at the corners of the truck. The Tundra comes in Double Cab and Max Cab so that you can get a 6.5-foot or an 8.1-foot bed.
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With powerful engines, tons of advanced tech, and supreme power when it comes to towing, there is a lot to love about the 2022 Toyota Tundra. If you are interested in learning more about this great pickup, then head down to Umansky Toyota and speak with one of our knowledgeable sales team, where we are more than happy to answer any questions you may have and set you up with a test drive. While you're here, be sure to check out our entire inventory, which you can also view here on our website. We can't wait to put you behind the wheel of the 2022 Tundra here at Umansky Toyota!


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Whether you are representing a museum, theatre or moviemaker, it is always hard to find that special theater fabric that will pop out on stage. When you want to print your own costume fabric, our online fabric collection offers you a wide range of Cotton fabrics, Linen fabrics, Polyamide fabrics, Polyester fabrics, Rayon fabrics, Silk fabrics and Wool fabrics.
We have several very durable and stretchy polyamide fabrics for dancewear, ballet outfits, and other clothing items that are worn close on the body. Not only are our theatre fabrics suitable for people who move a lot, the designs printed on the fabric always look vibrant and add another dimension to the character.
Whether you are looking for that perfect costume fabric for a big dress, tight and bright bodysuit or even something as simple as a tie or bow, we offer all kinds of fabrics in our online fabric collection. With the extensive collection of fabrics you can print on, we hope to offer you unlimited possibilities when you look for that perfect theatre fabric.
You decide on the colors, the prints (designs) and the fabrics you want to print on! Testprints are possible to select the perfect costume fabric or theatre fabric for you application and your printed designs.


Sheffield is a neighborhood of majestic homes in Irmo, SC. The prices for these homes are from $290,000 to $771,000. The homes can have anywhere from four to six bedrooms with square footage between 3100 feet and 7050 feet. Lexington/Richland Five is the school district for Sheffield. The neighborhood has a pool and clubhouse for its residents to use.
Sheffield is off of Irmo Drive, just two miles to downtown Irmo. Near interstates, shopping and recreation, Sheffield is very convenient to everything Irmo has to offer. Columbia is just twenty-five minutes to Columbia.


Franklin Mint Treasury of Presidential Commemorative Medals. 35 Coins From George Washington to Lyndon Johnson.
Silver coins were recently polished. A little tarnish on some coins.
Was in family storage for over 25 years. The item "39 Silver Coins, Franklin Mint Treasury of Presidential Commemorative Medals" is in sale since Saturday, September 15, 2018.
This item is in the category "Collectibles\Decorative Collectibles\Decorative Collectible Brands\Franklin Mint\Other Franklin Mint". The seller is "reedcom" and is located in Placentia, California. This item can be shipped to United States.


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Enlisted Uniforms
California Battalion Troopers
2nd Massachusetts Cavalry Regiment
Joseph H. Burke in Mounted Man's Jacket
(Courtesy: Mike Sorenson)
James N. Eby in Mounted Man's Jacket
Two unique units of the Civil War were the California Hundred and the California Battalion, which were part of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. At the outbreak of the war certain individuals in California did not wish to join California state troops, who likely were to protect the frontier against Indians. They wanted to be in the eastern theater where they believed all the action would be. Arrangements were made with the governor of Massachusetts to accept these men as a unit into Massachusetts state forces and they became Company A of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry with the nickname "California Hundred."
Following them were a second group of 400 Californians, who became Companies E, F, L, and M of the 2nd Massachusetts and were referred to as the California Battalion. In general states were given a quota of volunteers to furnish and did not like their citizen serving with troops from another state. California was never given a quota, but none-the-less furnished over 15,000 troops to the Union cause. These were organized into eight infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments and several independent battalions.
Joseph H. Burke was an Irish born miner who was 27 when he enlisted as a private on January 30, 1863. On February 22, 1864 he was part of a detachment commanded by Captain Captain J. Sewall Reed and guided by the Confederate deserter, Charlie E. Binns, formerly of Company "A" 43rd Battalion Partisan Rangers, CSA. Unfortunately, the command fell victim to a classical ambush laid by John S. Mosby near Dranesville, Virginia. The Confederates fell on the troopers with such surprise and force that they had little chance to form a coordinated defence. Captain Reed shot and severely wounded Lieutenant Robert Baron von Massow of the Prussian Army, who had only recently been forwarded to Mosby's command by J.E.B. Stuart. Captain William H. Chapman, one of Mosby's company commanders, brought Reed down soon afterwards with a nearly point blank pistol shot. The now leaderless Federals were pressed from all sides and forced to surrender. Among men captured was Joseph Burke. Charlie Binns, the turn-coat scout and object of much hatred among the Confederates, managed his escape. Burke was ultimately sent to the infamous Andersonville Prison Camp in Georgia where he died July, 4 1864.
Joseph Burke's uniform consists of a cavalry jacket with attached shoulder scales. The jacket may have yellow branch color piping visible along the closure. However, there is evidence appearing in a soldier's memoir that members of the 2nd intentionally removed the yellow trim from their jackets. The motivation for doing this is uncertain, but it may reflect the attitude many infantrymen had that cavalrymen were not serious soldiers in their fanny jackets with the all the yellow trim. Over the jacket is his sword belt and shoulder sling, and saber. His light blue trousers are covered with knee length boots, which would have been privately purchased. Burke is also wearing a cap box on his sword belt, a pair of gauntlets and holding a pistol.
James N. Eby, a native of Pennsylvania, enlisted March, 20 1863 at the age of 29. He had been a telegrapher in Horsetown, Shasta Co. California. He was promoted steadily, first to corporal and finally to Commissary Sergeant, which is a responsible position within the regimental enlisted staff. In 1880 he was a merchant at Fort Thompson Indian Reservation in Dakota Territory. In 1890 he applied for a pension and was living in Illinois at the time. In 1900 he was a resident of the National Military Home in Marion, Grant Co., Indiana. In 1910 he was in the Danville, Vermilion Co., Illinois National Home Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
James Eby's uniform is similar to Joseph H. Burke. They were in the same company and the photographer's props are the same suggesting that the photographs were taken at the same time and place. He is also wearing cavalry jacket with attached shoulder scales. The tips of the shoulder scales project out from the edge of the shoulder. This tendency of shoulder scales may have contributed to their lack of popularity. He is wearing a cavalry jacket with yellow piping visible along the closure. The inverted yellow "V" shaped trim usually seen at the base of the sleeve and the cuff buttons appear to be missing and may be another example of the 2nd Massachusetts troopers removing trim. Over the jacket is his sword belt and shoulder sling, but his saber is not present. He is wearing gloves. His boots are identical to Burke's.
Details of Burke's Kepi
Details of Eby's Kepi
Members of these California units had among the most interesting forage cap (kepi) decoration in the Union Army. The colonel at some point ordered that these letters be removed as they did not contribute to cohesiveness between the California and Massachusetts troopers in the regiment. The letters appear to be of the "Zouave" style and could be privately purchased from sutlers. The distinctive crossed sabers were not of an issued type and were also privately purchased. The kepi insignia was clearly an individual act of the soldiers since they used different letters to indicate membership in the California Battalion. A published example of a forage cap worn by a member of the California Hundred (Company A of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry) also show they wore unique numbers and letters such as "CAL 100" on their forage caps (see Charles L. Hill's Private Robert M. Parker of the California Hundred, 1963 Military Collector and Historian XXIII(2): 61, Summer 1971).
The two caps illustrate two variations of period kepi styles with respect to the visor. Burke's has a flat visor and Eby's slopes downward and is of a type commonly called a McDowell style forage cap.
Thanks to John Mattson, Mike Sorenson and Earl Robinson for their help in researching material for this page.
MORE:Information on California Hundred and Battalion
Information on Second Massachusetts Cavalry


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Jan. 5, 2019 / 10:15 AM
Britney Spears cancels 'Domination' residency
Karen Butler
Britney Spears has canceled her "Domination" residency in Las Vegas. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
Britney Spears arrives on the red carpet at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City on August 28, 2016. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Pop music star Britney Spears announced on Instagram that she is canceling her Domination residency in Las Vegas to spend time with her ailing father Jamie.
"I've been looking forward to this show and seeing all of you this year, so doing this breaks my heart," she captioned a photo of her as a child with her parents Jamie and Lynn Spears.
"However, it's important to always put your family first... and that's the decision I had to make. A couple of months ago, my father was hospitalized and almost died. We're all so grateful that he came out of it alive, but he still has a long road ahead of him," she added. "I had to make the difficult decision to put my full focus and energy on my family at this time. I hope you all can understand."
Spears was scheduled to begin the show Feb. 13 at Park MGM's Park Theater. She wrapped up her previous Vegas residency Piece of Me at Planet Hollywood Dec. 31, 2017.
Her father underwent emergency surgery two months ago when his colon spontaneously ruptured. He spent weeks in the hospital, but is now home and expected to eventually make a full recovery.
I don't even know where to start with this, because this is so tough for me to say. I will not be performing my new show Domination. I've been looking forward to this show and seeing all of you this year, so doing this breaks my heart. However, it's important to always put your family first… and that's the decision I had to make. A couple of months ago, my father was hospitalized and almost died. We're all so grateful that he came out of it alive, but he still has a long road ahead of him. I had to make the difficult decision to put my full focus and energy on my family at this time. I hope you all can understand. More information on ticket refunds is available on britneyspears.com. I appreciate your prayers and support for my family during this time. Thank you, and love you all… always.
A post shared by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Jan 4, 2019 at 9:01am PST
21 Savage's 'I Am > I Was' tops the U.S. album chart Black Pink's 'Whistle' video passes 300M views on YouTube Chris Stapleton, Cardi B, Tim McGraw to perform during RodeoHouston
Beyonce, Donald Glover attend 'The Lion King' premiere


Zhou Youguang, the main architect and early advocate of Hanyu Pinyin (the official romanized orthography for Modern Standard Mandarin), had his 108th birthday yesterday. Although I've been a close friend and admirer of Professor Zhou since 1981, I've never dedicated a Language Log post exclusively to him, so it's about time that I do so.
Today Franz Boas invited me to become his Facebook friend. Yes, that Franz Boas, the distinguished anthropologist and linguist. The Facebook profile has the facts right: hometown Minden [in Westphalia], Germany (it doesn't say that he was born there in 1858); current city New York, New York (well, that's where he died, in 1942, in Claude Lévi-Strauss's arms, at the Columbia University Faculty Club); political views socialist.
Boas's many students included anthropologists/linguists Alfred Kroeber and Edward Sapir and others well-known outside of linguistics (Ruth Benedict, Zora Neale Hurston, and Margaret Mead among them).
The Facebook account is a little academic joke, which I'm happy to take part in. Among his Facebook friends are Heidi Harley, Norma Mendoza-Denton, Bill Poser, and Ben Zimmer of this parish, plus quite a few others (Brian Joseph, Dennis Preston, Jesse Sheidlower, Tony Woodbury, for instance).
I'd imagine that Edward Sapir and Leonard Bloomfield will soon be getting accounts.
Ernie Grant, a notable elder of the Jirrbal [earlier known as Dyirbal] tribe, will be honoured by an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from James Cook University on 17 April 2010.
It is worth noting that Ernie is the son of Chloe Grant, Bob Dixon's first and great teacher of Dyirbal. He is one of the last remaining speakers of the language.
In the history of (native-speaker) language consultants (also known as informants), they have been treated as everything along the scale from experimental subjects to language teachers to research collaborators. In Grant's case, it was his mother who primarily served as a language consultant, while Grant himself grew to perform a wide range of significant services to his community — for which he's now being given this honor.
The New York Times Magazine announced today the appointment of linguist and lexicographer Ben Zimmer as the new "On Language" columnist. Mr. Zimmer succeeds William Safire who was the founding and regular columnist until his death last fall. [alas, a non-restrictive relative clause missing its comma] The column is a fixture in The Times Magazine and features commentary on the many facets – from grammar to usage – of our language. "On Language" will appear bi-weekly beginning March 21.
Yes, our very own Ben, who was proud enough to tell the rest of the LLoggers, but too modest to post the announcement himself.
Massive pleasure at Language Log Plaza and on ADS-L.
There's a "Meet the Real Professor Chomsky" site.


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New facility has been commissioned at Werra plant
K+S increases capacity for magnesium sulphate anhydrous
With the commissioning of a new facility at the Wintershall site of the Werra plant, K+S is now capable of producing significantly larger quantities of the magnesium sulphate anhydrous specialty product, which is in high demand. Over the past three years, K+S has invested about € 34 million in the new facility. Production capacity will therefore increase by considerably more than half which enables K+S to further expand its important market position for this product in Europe. This measure supports the Shaping 2030 strategy, which includes the further expansion of the specialties business.
Magnesium sulphate anhydrous is a product for numerous applications: In the Industry customer segment, for example, the pulp industry requires this product for stabilizing fibers and for bleaching. Customers in Agriculture use it in fertigation (= use of fertilizers in irrigation systems) and as a granulation aid for compound fertilizers amongst others.
"With the significantly higher product availability, we will now be in a much better position to meet the customer needs in Industry and Agriculture and win new customers," says Alexa Hergenröther, CEO of K+S's Operating Unit Europe+. "In addition, we are strengthening our portfolio of high-quality specialty products with the enhanced supply."
The new facility will not only produce magnesium sulfate anhydrous but also the animal feed product KaSa Mag 98.
By optimizing production processes and applying internal know-how, the new facility will produce significantly less wastewater and reduce the required amount of freshwater compared to the previous facility.
Printable press pictures can be found on our website.
K+S is a customer-focused, independent minerals company for the Agriculture, Industry, Consumers, and Communities segments and wants to grow the EBITDA to € 3 billion by 2030. Our approximately 15,000 employees enable farmers to provide nutrition for the world, solutions that keep industries going, improve daily life for consumers and provide safety in winter. We continually meet the growing demand for mineral products from production sites in Europe, North and South America as well as a worldwide sales network. We strive for sustainability because we are deeply committed to our responsibilities to people, environment, communities, and economy in the regions in which we operate. Learn more about K+S at www.k-plus-s.com.
Michael Wudonig
michael.wudonig@k-plus-s.com
Bertha-von-Suttner Str. 7
Lutz Grüten
lutz.grueten@k-plus-s.com
Press Release 10.07.2019 (PDF | 23 KB)


Daniel Whittle, Senior Attorney and Senior Director of the Cuba Program at the Environmental Defense Fund, is this week's guest contributor to the Cuba Central News Brief. He directs EDF's work to advance conservation of marine and coastal ecosystems in Cuba. He works with Cuban scientists, lawyers, and resource managers to identify and implement collaborative strategies for fisheries management, coral reef conservation, and sustainable coastal development in Cuba and the region.
In the '60s, we entered into this altered world through television. On June 16, after President Trump's Cuba policy speech in Miami, it is fair to say that many of us felt that we had crossed over into a particularly unclear and confusing real-world twilight zone.
The scope of President Trump's proposed regulatory changes on individual, self-directed travel and on transactions with the Cuban military is unclear and confusing to most Americans, as well as to those most likely to be adversely impacted by them—the Cuban people. It is, by all accounts, a situation that cannot easily be explained.
Onboard the University of Miami's R/V Walton Smith, and with the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's Mohawk remotely operated vehicle, Cuba's Twilight Zone Reefs Expedition circumnavigated the island, exploring Cuba's diverse deepwater mesophotic coral reefs from 30 to 150 meters below the surface. The expedition was conceived of and made possible by the so-called "Sister Sanctuaries Memorandum of Understanding," the first agreement of any kind signed by the U.S. and Cuban governments following the reestablishment of diplomatic relations in 2015 and left undisturbed by President Trump's new policy.
Organized by scientists from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University and several research centers in Havana, the team of experts explored underwater ecosystems that had never been studied before, discovering new species of marine life and collecting loads of data and images. Read the mission logs here—and don't miss the one about the sponge party.
Thanks to Cubans and Americans working together, this twilight zone has just become a little less mysterious.
Expedition scientists will get back together next week to recount their thrilling discoveries at Cubambiente, a major international environmental convention in Havana. These adventures will also be captured in a video directed by Jean Michel Cousteau.
Scientific exchange and environmental cooperation between the U.S. and Cuba have a rich history, which predates President Obama's opening with Cuba in 2014, but which his administration significantly strengthened and expanded through governmental agreements and regulatory changes.
Thankfully, President Trump's new directive on Cuba indicates that both will remain a priority.
Our hope is that, as exchanges and cooperation such as these continue, the president will come to learn the value of engagement with Cuba and the benefits accrued to the U.S., Cuba, and – in the case of our recent Twilight Zone Reefs expedition – the scientific community writ large.
URGENT APPEAL – Preserve engagement with Cuba! Click HERE to support CDA's advocacy work!
Within 12 hours of President Trump's announcement that he plans to limit travel to and trade with Cuba, Julio Álvarez and Nidialys Acosta had received three cancellations from groups of American visitors.
Julio and Nidialys founded Nostalgicar, a private taxi and classic car repair shop in Havana, in 2012, and now employ 10 drivers and 14 mechanics. In the last couple years, business – particularly from American travelers – has been very good.
When we visited the Nostalgicar repair shop last Saturday, they were worried.
Since President Obama allowed Americans to write their own itineraries and travel to the island on their own, and restored regularly scheduled commercial flights to Cuba several months later, U.S. travel to the island has skyrocketed. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of U.S. visitors increased by 74 percent, and in the first five months of 2017, Cuba saw as many U.S. visitors as it did in all of 2016.
As we've joined many others in pointing out, President Trump's claim that his impending policy changes will "support the Cuban people" just doesn't match up with the reality we know in Cuba.
Just hours after President Trump's speech, we visited Niuris Higueras. Niuris founded the popular private restaurant Atelier, and has been in Cuba's restaurant business since the 1990s. "Eighty-five percent of my clients are now Americans. For businesses like mine, it will be really hard – we will have to find other clients," she said.
Visitors from the U.S. spending dollars in Cuba have helped breathe life into the country's nascent private sector. Twenty-five percent of Cuba's working population is now employed in the private sector, up from just 12 percent in 2010. Since 2011, the Cuban government has approved 201 forms of self-employment, ranging from owning and working in restaurants to being a cobbler, from taxi services to accounting services, from party planning to being a barber. This has been life-changing for many Cubans who have been able to start their own businesses.
The Washington Post's Nick Miroff reported on Twitter this week that in March 2016, when President Obama authorized individual people-to-people travel, there were about 4,000 Airbnb listings in Cuba. As of Monday of this week, there are 22,000 listings. "They're related," wrote Miroff. Indeed, as Airbnb announced earlier this month, "in 2016, over 12 percent of all U.S. travelers to Cuba … stayed in an Airbnb." Since the company entered the Cuban market in April 2015, hosts on the island have brought in a collective $40 million, with the average annual payout for hosts at $2,700 each.
One Airbnb host we spoke with said, "It's like we take one step forward, then 20 back." That one step forward, particularly for Cubans renting out their homes to visitors using Airbnb, has been a big one.
At the end of the day Saturday, we met up with Magia López and Alexey Rodríguez of the hip-hop duo Obsesión. "Today, we're a little angry," Magia said.
"It wasn't surprising," Alexey said, to hear the President of the United States speak that way. "President Trump's actions will hurt people in Cuba and, as always, those most affected are at the bottom." If President Trump's planned restrictions on travel and trade go through, "a lot of families will be affected" – not just small business owners.
Cubans are accustomed to enduring the ebbs and flows of U.S. policy toward the island, each tide with direct impact on their lives – this is a part of the Cuban reality. And they don't like it.
These are the messages Cubans want to get to the White House. They know the people of the U.S. and Cuba stand to gain even more than they already have from continuing engagement, and they are eager to help President Trump to understand.
These are the voices of people most affected by his decisions on Cuba policy. He should hear them.
URGENT APPEAL – Keep the door to Cuba open! Click HERE to support CDA's advocacy work!
Today, President Trump – surrounded by the architects of his new policy – told the world what he thinks is a "better deal" on Cuba.
We'll get straight to the point. President Trump's partial rollback of engagement, to adopt the President's parlance, is a bad deal.
Embassies and diplomatic channels for cooperation on a range of key issues are to remain open, though President Trump's harsh rhetoric today could change the tone of the relationship. According to the Memorandum, regulations allowing unlimited remittances to Cuba will remain in place, and the President will not impose any limits on Cuban Americans' travel to visit family on the island. Based on the reports we've read so far, U.S. businesses with existing operations in Cuba – like commercial airlines, cruise lines, cell phone companies, Google, and Marriott's Starwood Hotels Inc., which manages a Four Points Sheraton in Havana – may still operate on the island.
But within just a few months, there may be a lot of empty seats on those commercial flights between the U.S. and Cuba. Hosts of private accommodations like Airbnb could find themselves short of bookings for U.S. travelers, who in the last two years have become a key source of income.
Last week, we pondered President Trump's strategic vision for any rollback of engagement, and came up empty. Now that he's made his announcement, proclaiming "I am cancelling the last administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba," we're still not seeing much strategy or vision. And, in the course of the last week, a bigger, louder, and more varied chorus of voices – from both sides of the Florida Straits, from both sides of the aisle in Washington – spoke out to tell President Trump that engagement with Cuba has not been one-sided, but rather has been and will continue to be mutually beneficial for the U.S. and Cuba, and that it would be a mistake to roll back any of the policies of engagement.
Perhaps you, like us, watched President Trump's Friday afternoon speech and read the tick-tock accounts in the Miami Herald and Politico of how the new policy came to be, shaped by a small cohort of advisors and Florida politicians. All of this gave us a pretty clear idea of who the President has listened to on Cuba policy – and it's not the people who will be most affected by it. Or, it seems, anyone who has been to Cuba in recent memory.
Speaking in Miami's Artime Theater, a venue named for one of the leaders of the Bay of Pigs invasion's Cuban-exile Brigade 2506 – whose veterans endorsed then-candidate Trump last October – President Trump was joined by several cabinet officials and a host of Florida politicians who favor the embargo.
Watching the President's speech, it was clear to us that he did not listen to the Cuban entrepreneurs who wrote him soon after he was elected to urge him to continue engagement with Cuba, or to the group of Cuban women entrepreneurs who wrote First Daughter and Assistant to the President Ivanka Trump asking her to weigh in with the President on their behalf.
Nor does he appear to have heeded the calls of young Cuban-Americans who favor engagement, U.S. businesses that have made major investments in Cuba, or leading human-rights advocacy organizations that stated publicly that any rollback of engagement with Cuba would not advance human rights. He did not even listen to a majority of his own party, which according to a recent poll, stands at 60 percent in favor of engagement with Cuba. He did not listen to agencies in his own administration, whose policy review, it's been widely reported, found that engagement with Cuba is the best policy for the U.S. and the Cuban people.
A few members of the Cuba Central Team are in Havana today, recording reactions among Cuban entrepreneurs to President Trump's policy announcement in real-time. Next week, we'll report on what they heard in Havana, with a full analysis of what's new and what's staying the same in President Trump's Cuba policy.
For now, we'll leave you with a brief overview of the week in Cuba news – including a roundup of just some of the voices we heard this week urging President Trump to continue advancing engagement with Cuba.
This afternoon, the Center for Democracy in the Americas, which produces the Cuba Central News Brief, released a statement: "Now, as ever, CDA will continue to bring people together, and we will redouble our work building relationships and fostering cooperation and dialogue on both sides of the aisle here in Washington, and on both sides of the Florida Straits. Talking to each other, sharing views and experiences, recognizing and overcoming differences—this is the way forward in U.S.-Cuba relations." The full statement is available on CDA's website, at this link.
Demand to know: What's the case for reversing the Cuba policy reforms?
Just before publication time, we learned that President Trump is set to visit Miami a week from today to reveal his administration's new policy toward Cuba.
If the President reverses the last 30 months' worth of progress produced by engagement with Cuba, the people of the United States and Cuba will deserve an explanation.
What's the strategic vision for a policy that steps backward? If the administration shifts course, it must explain the drivers behind the decision, and how it promotes U.S. interests. In sum, it must explain the rationale for reversal.
President Obama's policy of engagement certainly had its detractors – some felt it went too far, others not far enough. But President Obama had a theory of the case, a strategic vision, for why restoring diplomatic relations, easing restrictions on trade and travel, and promoting personal contact between citizens of both countries were all in the U.S. national interest – and, critically, more likely to create conditions to the ability of Cubans to determine their own future than the tired, failed policies of isolating and imposing sanctions on Cuba.
If the administration is conducting its review of Cuba policy with a seriousness of purpose, these are legitimately high bars for a new policy to clear.
Let's start with security. The idea that engagement with Cuba is good security policy is not new.
Cubans are already reengaging with Russia. Incidentally, this is about more than Russia's reemergence as a critical source of energy for the Cuban economy. As the Wall Street Journal reported this week, increasing numbers of Cuban shoppers with means are hopping aboard one of the daily 13-hour flights from Havana to Moscow to visit markets that cater to their needs. Wooed by shouts of "hola, amigo," Cuban customers are bringing back "bags of jeans, haberdashery, and car parts to a Communist island starved of consumer goods." Moscow is shrewdly winning back hearts and minds with an open trade and travel policy – more open, even, than the one the administration is threatening to close.
The decision to intensify trade and travel relations was about dollars and cents as well as a common-sense attitude about how engagement serves our diplomatic goals.
A decision to cut back travel and trade with Cuba would be consequential for U.S. economic interests. As Engage Cuba, the Center for Democracy in the Americas, and other allies reported on June 1, a reversal of the current engagement policies would cost our economy as much as $6.6 billion and put more than 12,000 U.S. jobs at risk.
It would also be bad news for Cubans working in their nation's private economy. Consider the case of Airbnb, which now has 22,000 listings in 70 different Cuban cities and towns. The company's relationships with Cubans across the island, enabled by the regulatory changes that took place due to engagement, mean that "Cubans have netted $40 million the past two years by using the online service to rent their homes and rooms to short-term visitors," as Tim Padgett reported this week.
That's a practical consequence of allowing upwards of 70,000 guests per month to check into Cuban homes.
That is exactly what is happening as a result of two-way travel policies with Cuba.
Isolating and sanctioning Cuba violates international law and norms, and violates Cuba's sovereignty.
Is this really where we are? Just like in the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, and the first dozen years of the new century, is the dog (us) still being wagged by the tail (politicians in Florida)?
So we're asking the administration: Why undo it? What's the expected value of a policy change?
This week, Reuters interviewed a woman named Meleny, a Cuban state employee, who works as a tour guide. She told the news agency that she worries about President Trump every night.
Where do your representatives in Congress stand on Cuba policy? Make your voice heard before President Trump's trip to Miami next Friday! CDA's advocacy work continues – Click HERE to support our work!
Policy debates should be decided on the merits.
But U.S. policy toward Cuba has long been held hostage by politics. We may soon see that grasp loosen. In the critical weeks before the administration's new Cuba policy is finalized, we are seeing the political winds in favor of normalization picking up as the White House's policy review has reached a stalemate.
During the early stages of the White House Cuba policy review, federal agencies assessed that policies of engagement have been positive for the U.S. Over the past two years, U.S.-Cuba cooperation on issues of mutual concern, including counter-narcotics, scientific and medical research, and combatting human trafficking have been, without question, win-win.
Take this as an example: The State Department reports the U.S. Coast Guard and Cuban authorities "share tactical information related to vessels… suspected of trafficking and coordinate responses…" Though it seems unremarkable for maritime neighbors to coordinate in these ways, it is only via policies of engagement that we are able to do so.
American farmers, security experts, and a growing number of advocates for engagement in Congress are making their voices heard, as Peter Kornbluh wrote this week in The Nation. A report released this week by Engage Cuba, and co-signed by CDA, shows that reversing course on Cuba policy could have serious economic consequences for the U.S., putting more than 12,000 jobs at risk and costing the U.S. economy $6.6 billion over 4 years.
It would be truly unfortunate if politics drove the White House to a policy decision that would have deleterious effects on people in the U.S. and in Cuba. What of the Cuban-developed lung cancer vaccine that holds promise for U.S. patients, currently undergoing clinical trials in the U.S.? What of the marine scientific cooperation that helps protect U.S. Gulf Coast fisheries and shores? Clearly, there are plenty of reasons to continue normalizing relations with Cuba.
Enter politics to muddy the waters: At least one Florida politician is reported to have been back-room dealing to trade support for the president's domestic policy agenda in exchange for imposing a host of restrictions on travel and commerce intended to strangle U.S.-Cuba ties.
But the politicking has not been decisive. The White House is undecided about Cuba policy, reports the New York Times, with many senior officials privately agreeing that the current policy of engagement has been positive. The announcement of the administration's new policy was originally slated for May, but has now been pushed back to mid-June at earliest and may be punted further, as Reuters reports.
The political clout of Florida lawmakers who oppose engagement may yet be considerable, but by the numbers it is diminishing. Members of Congress are increasingly aligned with the views of their constituents, farmers, and businesses. Last week, Senator Jeff Flake (AZ) reintroduced legislation to lift ban on travel to Cuba with a total of 55 bipartisan senators as original cosponsors. Bipartisan bills to lift the embargo entirely are pending before both chambers.
There are even budding signs of a sea change from South Florida lawmakers, a group that has historically been unwilling to entertain any type of compromise on Cuba policy. This week Rep. Carlos Curbelo (FL-26) expressed support for a compromise on Rep. Crawford's (AR-01) bill, which would allow private financing of U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba while levying a fee on such transactions to pay certified claims against Cuba's government for the confiscation of properties following the Revolution.
Creative compromises like this may not satisfy everyone, but this type of dialogue brings stakeholders to the table and advances discussion about a path forward.
Policy will never be devoid of politics, but the administration's current impasse and the growing bipartisan chorus of pro-engagement voices in Congress give us hope that the merits of normalizing relations with Cuba will be considered seriously by this White House and policy makers in years to come.
Where do your representatives in Congress stand on Cuba policy? Make your voice heard! CDA's advocacy work continues – Click HERE to support our work!
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South Carolina cruises to 78-60 win over SC Upstate
Field Level Media | Posted: Nov. 9, 2021, 10:35 p.m. | Updated: Nov. 10, 2021, 12:30 a.m. | 2 Min Read
Jermaine Couisnard and Wildens Leveque each scored 14 points to lead South Carolina to a 78-60 season-opening victory against visiting South Carolina Upstate on Tuesday night in Columbia, S.C.
James Reese V, a transfer from North Texas, and Erik Stevenson, a transfer from Washington, each scored nine points for the Southeastern Conference's Gamecocks, who won despite hitting just 4 of 19 (21.1 percent) from behind the arc.
Josh Gray, a 7-foot transfer from LSU, added eight points and eight rebounds for South Carolina, which outrebounded USC Upstate 52-34 overall and 17-3 on the offensive boards. The Gamecocks scored 16 second-chance points.
Bryson Mozone scored 20 points and Jalen Breazeale had 17 for the Big South's Spartans.
Dalvin White's 3-pointer cut Upstate's deficit to 63-55 with 6:32 remaining. Baskets by Couisnard and Leveque, however, increased South Carolina's advantage to 12 with 5:56 showing, and the Spartans never threatened after that.
Reese scored nine points and Couisnard added eight to help the Gamecocks build a 43-34 halftime lead.
Mozone had 12 points and Breazeale added 10 for the Spartans, who shot 5-of-9 from 33-point range but were outrebounded 28-17 in the first half.
The Gamecocks outscored USC Upstate 26-10 in the paint with the help of 12 first-half offensive rebounds.
Trailing by a point, South Carolina used an 11-2 run to go up 29-21 with 6:20 to go in the half. TaQuan Woodley and Gray each scored four points during the spurt.


Travis Scott is continuing to hit huge strides with his music career this year! He's been chosen to join Maroon 5 at the Super Bowl Halftime Show!
According to TMZ, other big names, including Outkast's Big Boi and Cardi B, are names being floated around to join them for the February 3 show. They also revealed that Kylie Jenner will be accompanying Travis to the big game.


The white-walled meeting room on Hong Kong Yard's second story was large enough to fit two hundred people.
It was designed much like a university lecture hall and it was indeed being used for a lecture.
A teacher and assistant stood on the stage up front where their voices could reach everyone else. Rin and Kouga wore their Yard uniforms in front of the large display they were using instead of a blackboard.
And if there was a teacher, there had to be students. About eighty percent of the meeting room's seats were filled.
The model students did not utter a word or produce any noise at all and, other than the police superintendent acting as the director, they were all from field units. There was a total of one hundred fifty eight from the Tank Force, the Custom Force, the Ninja Force, and the Hounds.
They were all prized members of the Yard and they displayed their diligence by filling the front half of the meeting room's seats.
On the other hand, Akira, Gunmal, and the General sat on the very back row.
They all silently listened to Rin and they were taking this seriously.
She then began talking about World War Two.
She went on to say that the Nein Engels were attempting to Tune Hong Kong, carry it up to the destroyed heaven, and create a new heaven.
From there, her explanation continued to build.
A map of Hong Kong appeared on the large display behind Rin and red circles expanded from three points on it.
The three red circles seemed to pin down the map and they were each about ten kilometers across. The three of them covered most of Hong Kong.
If they became dragons and suddenly ascended into the sky, the casualties would be more than just one or two hundred thousand.
Everyone gave a stiff gasp, but a voice broke that tense atmosphere.
The casual, questioning tone came from the General.
She turned toward the large display just as a new circle appeared.
It was centered on the eastern Kowloon Peninsula, near Hung Hom.
Its position created a square with the previous three circles.
The four red circles covered almost everything.
Rin turned sideways to let everyone see the screen.
"You said the element of metal is created when the other four are combined, right? We should assume the ceremonies they've completed or will complete correspond to those four elements." Lamma Island's rainforest land made it wood.
Tsing Yi Island's name meant "blue clothes", so it was water.
Beaufort Island's bare volcanic rock made it earth.
And Hung Hom's thermal power station was fire.
Symbols of the four elements had been gathered.
Rin indicated a single point on the large display.
It covered the Kowloon Peninsula from the center to the very end.
A stir ran through the audience like a wave.
Rin's shout eliminated the stir and silence returned.
But this silence was different. The audience was intentionally suppressing any noise and Rin's voice soon reached them.
As soon as she spoke, an even larger red circle appeared over northern Hong Kong Island on the map.
It encompassed the other four circles and grew even larger.
"Wait, wait, wait," said some of the Yard members, but the circle only continued to grow.
The circle did not just cover Hong Kong Island, the large Lantau Island to the west, and the Kowloon Peninsula. It also included a portion of the ocean and China.
Everyone silently listened to her and looked at the screen.
But Rin only lowered her head slightly and smiled.
With that said, she once more looked to the meeting room's back row.
No one had said anything, but the Nein Engel sitting there had stood up.
Akira scratched her head and started to leave the meeting room.
The only ones to notice this were the others in the back row and Rin. No one tried to stop her and Gunmal simply watched her go.
She was part of Cleared, so even as a participant, she wasn't part of a field unit.
Also, Rin had seen Akira's Live.
Her Live had contained a difficult color that had stopped Rin from calling out to her.
It was four in the afternoon and the sun was starting to sink.
The wind blowing in from the sea had vanished and a wind blowing in from the mainland replaced it. The scent of greenery and sand filled that thick continental wind.
The wind was stronger in elevated places and it dropped down from those heights at night.
In Hong Kong, the wind was strongest and night fell fastest on the roof of the former Archs RDC headquarters.
Someone there was experiencing the faint Live of the night with his entire body.
A six-winged Seraph stood on the railing at the edge of the roof and his shallow gaze stared into the distance.
He faced forward and he stood firm despite the wind.
He was looking to Hong Kong Cave, that great hole in Hong Kong Island across the distant ocean.
The Nein Engels lived there and no one else ever set foot inside.
Tilted shadows bordered the entrance to the hole thanks to the angled light of the sun.
Double Lee held a hand to his forehead as if the sun was getting in his eyes, but he suddenly thrust that hand forward.
He then swept the hand to the side as if scooping something up.
He closed his eyes a little and turned around just in time for another Nein Engel to descend from the sky.
The four-winged Nein Engel was Genius.
She alighted on the rooftop and looked up at Double Lee.
His emotionless tone led Genius to ask something else.
Instead, he turned his back on her, so she spoke to the six white wings spread before her eyes.
She just about said more, but something stopped her.
Double Lee spoke in a lower and calmer tone than hers, but there was much more power hidden below his words.
As he spoke, Double Lee took a step forward.
He moved as casually as someone heading out on a stroll, but in so doing, he entrusted himself to the sky.
With those words, he spread his six white wings which shined in the light of the setting sun.
The color purpled filled the sky.
Night was fast approaching. Scattered lights covered the city and the bustling movement of the streets was different from that of the daytime.
But even in Hong Kong, one area attempted to gain the stillness of night: the public graveyard of Kowloon's administrative district.
The British-style graveyard was mostly covered by grass and had no lanterns. The only lights were those in the sky.
There was some slight sound there.
It was music played in the high notes of a sanxian.
The music rang long and short from near the center of the park filled with rows of gravestones and crosses.
A girl with white wings was playing the instrument and she sang the lyrics of the Flight Song.
Akira's high-pitched voice flowed and resounded with the notes of the sanxian…but then it stopped.
Once she finished singing, she placed the sanxian in the grass.
With a sigh, she turned around to face the polished slab-shaped gravestone there.
The brown stone was engraved with two names: those of her parents.
"I can't believe this," she said quietly while touching the gravestone.
…For once, I really am not sure what to do.
Her slender fingers stroked the smooth stone surface, but she suddenly stopped.
Her fingertips wrapped around her father's name and she asked a question.
Her question led a figure to move along the grass.
The figure sighed and spoke in an exasperated tone.
Akira turned around and found Gunmal there.
She then asked him a question with her thoughts.
He smiled bitterly and sat on the grass to put him at eye level with her. His blue eyes looked down to the sanxian next to her. She could not read anything from his still gaze.
Hearing that, he looked up with a hint of surprise on his face.
…Lately, I've had a lot of opportunities to learn what level I'm on.
Gunmal sighed, let his shoulders droop a little, and looked down at the sanxian again.
…What was your mom like?
He did not answer and she sighed.
He crossed his arms to put on a show of thinking.
…When I was a child, I was separated from them.
He turned to the gravestone behind her and the Nein Engel girl nodded.
She then looked at him and eventually started laughing.
…When I was a child, I tried to Tune in a weird way and I was never able to do much.
…Am I talking too much?
She turned toward him as she asked and their gazes seemed to audibly collide.
The silence lasted three full breaths, but Gunmal finally spoke while still looking her in the eye.
Puzzlement filled his face and he waited for her to speak, so she lowered her head and did so.
…Aren't you just running away?
Akira briefly bit her lip and suppressed the Live containing the words she impulsively wanted to say. Instead, she chose her words carefully and spoke slowly.
She suddenly stopped saying the words that she seemed to want someone to hear.
Her hand touched the gravestone behind her.
She quickly looked up and at Gunmal.
…Did you read my Live and play along?
He smiled bitterly, reached out, and rubbed her head.
She closed her eyes and let him.
And at that moment, sound raced across the sky.
The two of them looked up and saw a Live.
The sound raced by again.
The sound-producing Live was a brilliant red and its Tempo was high-pitched and almost earsplitting.
As if to answer Akira's cry, her cellphone rang in her pocket.
Despite the blaring alarm, Rin's voice was perfectly clear over the phone's speaker. She seemed to be placing her Live and a powerful Message in her voice.
He gave a deep nod.
She smiled bitterly and spoke into the phone.
Rin then shouted something that truly went without saying.
This page was last edited on 14 May 2015, at 05:09.


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Cultural ReProducers presents the second in a two-part series on filmmaker Mary Trunk's documentary 'Lost in Living,' which captures the joy, exhaustion, and the many conflicts that arise as a result of being both mother and artist. Part one featured a review of the film paired with a free online screening. For part two, artist Christina LaMaster follows up with Mary for a conversation about documentary, motherhood, and making art. You can find the full, unedited version here.
Mary Trunk started as a painter, became a dancer and choreographer and has been making films for almost 20 years. She spent seven years filming four mother/artists for her most recently completed feature length documentary Lost In Living. The currently released short documentary The Past is in the Present is about the Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Gunther Schuller. Her newest hybrid documentary project focuses on memory, age and the desire to keep dancing in some form or another. Mary and her husband are founders of Ma and Pa Films, a video and film production company. Mary also teaches film and video at Art Center College of Design, Loyola Marymount University and Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles, CA. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. Find out more at www.maandpafilms.com.
Christina LaMaster: Mary, are you familiar with independent curator Susan Bright's recent traveling exhibition, "Home Truths?" If so, what was your reaction to the show - both conceptually and to the photographs included?
Mary: I saw some of Susan Bright's work on-line but did not see the actual show. I hesitate to comment on it, but I will say that a few of the photographs definitely intrigued me. I have a little bit of an issue with photos that seem staged to me. Being a documentary filmmaker, I guess I prefer more veritè type work--when one is capturing a moment. Much like what we try to do with our children as they grow. Too often we miss the moments and only have the memories that morph into something that isn't what really happened but what we hoped happened. Memory and photographs are incredibly intriguing to me. I will probably buy her book because it looks wonderful.
project,"Maternal Instincts" started with my desire to portray a more realistic idea of motherhood. These photographs are also documentary in style, and my intent was to photograph interactions between mothers and children. During the course of the project, I realized that all photographs are constructed to some degree, as I the photographer am constantly making choices influenced by my own personal experience. The body of work ultimately was as much about me as it was about motherhood and mothering. To what extent do you think the making of Lost in Living was influenced by your personal experience as a mother? Is this something you considered while you were making the film?
Mary: It's true that all photographs, all films, are constructed. As soon as you point the lens toward something you are making a decision about how you see what your are pointing at. There's no getting around that. And in many ways that is the subtext of the piece you are trying to make, which can often be more interesting than the super conscious ways we go about structuring our work. That's when real discovery and challenge takes place, at least for me. I want to be involved in my work in such a way that it asks more of me than I think I can produce. Everything in all of my films is about what I managed to capture and that is where my point of view comes through. It was often surprising to see where I directed the camera. Why there? I didn't figure that out until I was able to really watch the footage and figure out what kind of film I was going to make.
I started Lost In Living because I was immersed in my personal experience as a mother and yet I felt lonely and ill-equipped. So I sought out other women who I could relate to. I was surrounded by mothers with toddlers but I wasn't getting much out of just hanging out playing with our kids. I really wasn't. I desperately needed to focus on it in a way that made it art, and that's why making the film was so satisfactory.
Christina: Do you have any opinions about why some mother/artists make work about mothering, and some don't?
Mary: My opinions are purely based on my own experiences so I can only comment on that. I would guess that some women are so immersed in the mothering experience and possibly have such a need to create, that they have to use what they know - which is parenting and dealing with a child. I was more interested in the experiences of parents and what my peers were feeling about suddenly having the full responsibility of a person who was so helpless. I would say that the newness of becoming a parent is so intense and sometimes traumatic, that if you have the desire to express yourself you can't help but use that as material. Some use it well and some, to me, get self-indulgent. There's a difference between making art that is more like a diary entry and making art that has universal and personal impact. I loved Anne Enright's book, Making Babies. She was so successful at writing about her own particular struggles and joys and at the same time all mothers could relate. That book and Jane Lazarre's book, The Mother Knot, were some of the best artworks about motherhood I have read.
Christina: Was Lost in Living something you felt compelled to do--that you needed to express your experience as mother through your art, or was it a topic you thought would be attractive to an audience? Was it both?
will end up being: the journey is what makes it what it is. Regarding Lost In Living, I had no idea it would take seven years and I didn't know what it would end up saying, I just knew I was learning so much and my subjects were teaching me things I needed to learn.
Christina: You make the comment "most of the time, only mothers care about motherhood." For I long time I thought this myself, but now I am not so sure. In the photo world over the past few years there has been a dramatic increase in work and exhibitions pertaining to motherhood. So much so that the director of a prominent gallery showing fine art photography recently told me she was "tired of the whole mother thing." So, I guess I'm really curious about who actually is interested in work about motherhood. Is it only other mothers? If so, does this mean that there are simply more mothers that are making work and curating shows? Have you experienced this attitude about motherhood as you have promoted Lost in Living?
Mary: How could someone say that she was "tired of the whole mother thing???" That just pisses me off. We are all tired of films that blow things up, but they are still super popular and make a lot of money. I'm not even asking for money but my goodness, there will never be enough art about women, by women, and about motherhood for me. Sometimes I really think that we as women get satisfied too quickly with the exposure we are getting and we think that's okay. I'm one of those people. I don't really care that much about recognition and prefer personal connections anytime. But we live in a patriarchal society and we as women are just as biased as our opposite gender. We simply can't escape our cultural influences. I was just listening to NPR the other day where Malcolm Gladwell talked about taking a test to find out if he was prejudiced against Black people. Turns out he does think more poorly of Black people than Whites. And he's half Black. Our culture paints Black people in ways that are often terrible. That permeates our brains no matter who we are - even if we are Black. We are victims of our culture and we can't always control behavior that is so beneath the surface of our consciousness. Which is all to say that we as women and mothers shouldn't be satisfied with the meagre recognition of women's art that is out there. We are so used to getting nothing that any little bit feels like a lot. That needs to change.
Christina: I recently became acquainted with Sara Ruddick's book Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace, which is about mothering as a practice. In the book, Ruddick presents the idea that all the decisions a mother makes (not only those pertaining to child-rearing) are influenced by her practice as mother. As a visual artist, I wondered how this might apply to the concept of "gaze" and if there was such a thing as "maternal gaze." It turns out there are many interpretations of this idea of Maternal Gaze, and they are often in direct opposition to each other. It seems to me that all work made by mother/artists would be influenced directly or indirectly by the practice of mothering, and that work made by mother/artists might best be viewed with a Maternal Gaze. It's all quite complicated, and something I'm currently researching and writing about. My questions for you are: do you think that now that you are a mother, everything you do is influenced by this fact, including all the films you have made during or since the making of Lost in Living? Do you have any thoughts on Male Gaze or Maternal Gaze and how gaze might influence the perception of your films? Are these things that should be considered when making or criticizing work?
that does not exclude those people who have lived through experiences that were quite different - illness, caring for elderly parents, climbing Mt. Everest, etc. They had life changing moments that influenced everything after that experience.
by a mother or something that has a maternal gaze. I made Lost In Living because I was compelled to seek out answers, to express something I didn't know how to express without the help of the women in the film, and I knew they all had great stories that many people could relate to - mothers or not. I'd really like to know more about the different views on Maternal Gaze. Why should the Maternal be something exclusive? I honestly think we are just used to it being in the sidelines that we don't really recognize how little importance it should have in our lives.
Christina: Mary, thank you so much for your time and for sharing your thoughts with me and Cultural ReProducers. I've really enjoyed talking with you!
Mary Trunk's bio and Lost in Living trailer courtesy of Ma and Pa Films.
Christina LaMaster is a photographer, installation and video artist. A fifth-generation Nebraskan, she has spent most of her life in the Midwest, teaching and holding various program and administrative positions at museums and community arts centers. She now calls Central Illinois home, and recently earned her MA in Studio Art from Bradley University. She is particularly interested in women's issues, motherhood and the idea of the "maternal gaze." Chrissy is the mother of two college-aged children, and has spent the last 20 years attempting to find a balance between motherhood and art.


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Helen Monro Turner
Influential glass-engraver and illustrator. Born in Calcutta, Turner was raised in Edinburgh. She was educated at George Watson's Ladies College, the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh College of Art, where she studied wood-engraving. In 1938 she was awarded a fellowship which allowed her to study glass-engraving in Stuttgart (Germany). Returning to Scotland, she illustrated several books for Thomas Nelson & Sons and designed catalogues and advertisements for the Edinburgh & Leith Flint Glass Company. She went on to establish the Department of Glass Design at Edinburgh College of Art in 1943, the same year she married glass technologist Professor William E.S. Turner (1881 - 1963), wearing an unusual wedding dress, hat, handbag and shoes which had been made of glass-fibre in Glasgow. Her department gained a reputation as one of the most influential in Britain. Turner was an inspirational teacher and remained as head of department until her retirement in 1970.
She died in Edinburgh. Examples of her work can be seen in the Turner Museum of Glass at the University of Sheffield.


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