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5 Things: Blank Makes Toughest Decision
1. Blank's Toughest Decision: Atlanta Falcons Owner and Chairman Arthur Blank held a press conference Monday to announce his decision to release Mike Smith from his contract as the head coach of the team. Blank hired Smith in 2008 and watched him go on to lead the team to record-setting numbers, unseen in the team's proud history. Blank said Monday's coaching change is the most difficult decision he's ever had to make and then identified why he chose to part ways with his good friend.
"This is about championships, rings and not only hosting a Super Bowl, which we hope to do in our new stadium, but winning a Super Bowl, whether it be played in Atlanta or any place, that's what this is about," Blank said. "That's what I signed up for, and that's what I committed to on behalf of our fans and all of our stakeholders and everybody connected to the organization either emotionally, directly or passionately, that's my job.
"Sometimes you have people you are close to personally that you care a lot about, that you go to war with, that you're in the trenches with, that you care about their family, etc. and to make those tough decisions is very challenging, and that was certainly the case with Mike Smith."
2. Falcons Staff Under Scrutiny: During his press conference, Blank was asked several times about the future of the Falcons current assistant coaches, as well as general manager Thomas Dimitroff and his staff.
"We'll go through the coaching process (and) we'll see where that takes us," Blank said. "I've said this to Thomas (Dimitroff) that every part of our football operations will be under scrutiny. This may stop, may be finished today. It may not be finished today. I don't know where we're going to end up with this. Thomas is our general manager. He will be part of our internal team that will help us look for the next coach and we'll have to see where that takes us."
3. Dimitroff Opens Up:Dimitroff was hired with Smith in 2008, serving on a team that saw remarkable success from 2008-2012. During Monday's presser, the team's current general manager was asked to comment on Smith's release and moving forward with the team.
"Smitty and I worked closely together on building this football team," Dimitroff said. "We're very proud of what we've done over the five years. The two years, obviously, have not been what we've wanted. I take a great deal of responsibility for what happens with this organization and the team building that has taken place.
"We think we have some good football players on this team. We also know that I have made mistakes, and I know that I am going to be scrutinized for it. I know that I have over the last months looked at every different aspect of our football operations as far as what needs to be adjusted as far as myself and my approach to things as well. I am responsible as much as Smitty is for this organization and the success of this organization and the downfall of this organization."
Arthur Blank Addresses Media at Press Conference
Falcons Owner and Chairman Arthur Blank, along with general manager Thomas Dimitroff and president and CEO Rich McKay, discussed the release of Mike Smith on Monday morning
4. Requirements of Next Head Coach: While Blank said early on in the press conference that he would not be discussing which coaches the team plans to contact for interviews because of the competitive nature of the business, he did define what characteristics he wants the new Falcons head coach to have:
"I think it's less important as to whether the head coach is an offensive-minded coach or defensive," Blank said. "I think the attributes for a head coach start with being a great leader, having a clear vision, being to articulate it, being able to motivate, and in every business, being able to hire the best people. In this case, coordinators, coaches, etc. and give them clear direction. This business does require creativity and flexibility, not only from year-to-year, from season-to-season but from game-to-game and within the game. So, (we want) somebody who has an adaptive mind, who can think around corners and think ahead in terms of what they may be facing."
5. The Matt Ryan Effect: Numerous times during Monday's press conference, Blank was asked about franchise quarterback Matt Ryan's play and his involvement in the search for a new head coach. Blank made it clear that while Ryan would not be involved in selecting the new head coach, his talent makes the coaching decision even more critical, hoping to maximize Ryan's talent for the next several years.
"I think the next five, six, seven years is going to be critical in terms of maximizing his (Ryan's) talent and his ability to be our franchise quarterback and be our leader on the field," Blank said. "I think this (coaching) decision is a critical one in that regard and we want to make sure we take advantage of the opportunity. He may not be a part of the interview process, but his presence in this franchise and his presence on the team and in the community is going to be very important factor for our success and in attracting what we think is an outstanding list of candidates to be potentially our head coach as we go forward."
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New Statesman Podcast
Cod squad
Film - On screen, Brown's religious thriller is still an unholy mess
<strong>The Da Vinci Code
By Victoria Segal
Forget being a member of Opus Dei: you would need to be an anchorite not to have been exposed to The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown's ludicrous ecclesiastical thriller, a blockbuster that has generated a PR-friendly furore of lawsuits, religious outrage, television documentaries and, now, Ron Howard's excitably publicised film adaptation. In keeping with its theological theorising, however, it is far from divine. In fact, if Howard's direction was any more workmanlike, it would down tools and have a cup of tea after an hour of hammering away at the plot.
As anyone who has read the novel will know, Brown is no prose stylist - descriptions of churches and dark city streets lumber past lumberingly, as he might say - but it didn't matter so much when his modern Grail quest hit upon one hell of a plot (quite literally, if you believe the little old nuns praying for his soul). For those who haven't read the book, or who are pretending that they haven't in order to cause a stir at dinner parties, The Da Vinci Code follows the "Harvard Professor of Religious Symbology", Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), and a renegade Parisian policewoman, Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), as they attempt to solve the murder of her grandfather, a curator at the Louvre charged with keeping a terrible secret. While decoding clues left by the victim in his own blood, Robert and Sophie must swerve the evil machinations of a murderous albino monk called Silas, as well as the Catholic organisation Opus Dei and the French police inspector Bezu Fache (Jean Reno). Along the way, they discover a conspiracy involving Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, the Knights Templar, a secret group called the Priory of Sion and a woman-hating Church cover-up concerning Christ's divinity, the role of Mary Magdalene and the bloodline of Jesus himself. Bits of it might as well be in Aramaic, but The Passion of the Christ it is not.
For that, at least, we should be thankful. With religious fundamentalism of every stripe resurgent, the popularity of The Da Vinci Code is a refreshing reminder that most people will need a lot more convincing before they start denying evolution and insist that female reproductive organs are public property. So it's a shame that, for all the progressive subtext, Howard's film captures more of Brown's thudding prose and less of the rip-roaring plot.
The novel wasn't exactly subtle, but on the big screen even the twists are signposted like the M1, more Highway Code than da Vinci. For all the big-budget glitz, certain scenes still look as if they have been put together on the cheap: the important parchment inside the cryptex resembles a cracker motto and the European locations have that glossy insubstantiality you associate with red-bus-heavy Rank films.
True to the spirit of Brown's prose, the script is equally lumpen. When Robert tells Sophie it's "a half-hour to Chelsea Library", the temperature in the cinema rockets as hundreds of people blush simultaneously. The idea of Tom Hanks as a professor of religious symbology is not helped by the scenes where Robert and Sophie work out the codes left by the murdered curator. Sophie seems inordinately impressed by his ability to decipher anagrams - "Can you solve it?" she asks breathlessly, as if he's cracking the Rosetta Stone with nothing but a ballpoint pen from the betting shop and the back of a cab receipt. People who finish the cryptic crossword on the train home from work every night might be forgiven for thinking that they, too, could quit the rat race for a career in religious symbology.
Amazingly, for such a high-profile film, Hanks and Tautou make an uninspiring double act. Considering that the novel makes a noble attempt to right centuries of Church-driven misogyny, it's a shame that the female lead is as weak as water. Tautou, the only surviving descendant of the royal blood- line of Bambi, does little other than look gamine and vaguely brainy, her accent more challenging than any medieval code. Hanks, meanwhile, conveys fiendish intelligence by squinting a lot.
Luckily, the smaller roles have more character. If Ian McKellen's turn as the English Grail historian Sir Leigh Teabing was any hammier, he'd be on the menu at an organic gastro-pub, but his Gloucester Old Spot stylings are entertaining and, gratifyingly, get the film's only laughs. Paul Bettany, playing Silas, the mad monk, need do nothing but look palely psychotic, and he manages it masterfully. You can't help thinking, though, that the shots of naked self-flagellation and of the flesh-chastising cilice buckled around his milky white thigh are just a little too loving. Still, a blockbuster like this needs something for everyone.
And that, perhaps, is its main failing. By the end, the film degenerates into wishy-washy relativism of the school that says "the only thing that matters is what you believe", a real cop-out after the hectic Grail quest preceding it. Not so much the Greatest Story Ever Told as the Greatest Hype Ever Generated, it puts an entirely different spin on the "con of man".
This article first appeared in the 29 May 2006 issue of the New Statesman, They can play, but they can never win
Jellyfish: exploring the sex life of a woman with Down's syndrome
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By Olivia Ashman
How proactive policymaking can speed up access to treatment and medicines, and ultimately save lives.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We are another week closer to welcoming Drs. Adriana & Tad James to Sydney, Australia for our back-to-back FasTrak™ NLP Practitioner & Master Practitioner Trainings in May 2018!
It is an extremely exciting time for the Tad James Company team and our students as this is the only time in 2018 in Australia to take these Trainings with the Master Trainers and leaders in the industry! If you are looking for your next level, there is still time to join us for this exceptional training experience! The US team is smashing it at Day 4 of the FasTrak™ NLP Practitioner Training in Orlando, Florida and we are all very excited to see the transformation that the students undergo!
If you would like to join us for a training in either the USA or Australia (US 1-888-440-4823 / AU 1-800-133-433), we would love to hear form you!
We Know Too Much – Have you ever stopped to wonder what is the intention behind the intention for the numerous social media sites being used today? What is actually happening to one's physiology while platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are being used? In a world where we have access to such huge amounts of information, why are we some of the most misinformed and lacking true knowledge? Take a look at this week's first article by Dr. Adriana James as it brings to light some very important points in our current times.
Can NLP Help Weight Loss – The age-old topic of weight loss! Most of us at some stage have wanted to improve our health and the way our body looks and feels. So have many people also more than likely tried a new diet or exercise program. Were the results long lasting? This week's second article is by Dr. Tad James explores how NLP and Time Line Therapy® can absolutely assist in weight loss and living a healthy life!
We are not suffering of lack of information. In fact, exactly the opposite. Main stream channels of television, radio shows, internet shows, email blasts coming to our inbox, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp , SnapChat, and so on tell us more than you ever want to know about "the latest" this or that greater or smaller event, with links to further information (or disinformation).
Here is an answer, one page or less, to a common question in NLP.
*Remove the blocks that prevent you from doing, having or changing what you want.
*Change limiting decisions, limiting beliefs and conflicting values.
*Clear past negative emotions such as anger, sadness, guilt and fear while retaining the learning.
*Release abundant, untapped resources you have inside.
*Be guided to the people and solutions you need to create a bright and compelling future.


It was bound to happen. After infecting our own social networking spaces with their owner-created profiles, dogs now have their very own site for meeting other tech-savvy canines.
MatchPuppy is a new site that's currently in beta, which offers "dogs" the chance to arrange playdates. Dogs are rated for their energy level so they can be perfectly matched and their favourite dog parks also offer up opportunities for meeting up.
It's currently only available in New York but we can see it spreading pretty fast.


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