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Astronomers Discover Earliest Starburst Galaxy Ever Observed
TOPICS:AstronomyAstrophysicsCalifornia Institute Of TechnologyEuropean Space AgencyGalaxy EvolutionJPLNASAPopularW. M. Keck Observatory
By Marcus Woo, Caltech April 18, 2013
Artist's impression of starburst galaxy HFLS3. The galaxy appears as little more than a faint, red smudge in images from ESA's Herschel space observatory, but appearances can be deceiving for it is making stars more than 2000 times faster than our own Milky Way, one of the highest star formation rates ever seen in any galaxy. Amazingly, it is seen at a time when the Universe was less than a billion years old, challenging galaxy evolution theories. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau
A large team of astronomers has discovered the earliest starburst galaxy ever observed. Occurring just 880 million years after the Big Bang, HFLS3 is a dust-filled, massive galaxy generating the mass equivalent of 2,900 suns per year.
Pasadena, California — Smaller begets bigger.
Such is often the case for galaxies, at least: the first galaxies were small, then eventually merged together to form the behemoths we see in the present universe.
Those smaller galaxies produced stars at a modest rate; only later—when the universe was a couple of billion years old—did the vast majority of larger galaxies begin to form and accumulate enough gas and dust to become prolific star factories. Indeed, astronomers have observed that these star factories—called starburst galaxies—became prevalent a couple of billion years after the Big Bang.
But now a team of astronomers, which includes several from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has discovered a dust-filled, massive galaxy churning out stars when the cosmos was a mere 880 million years old—making it the earliest starburst galaxy ever observed.
The galaxy is about as massive as our Milky Way, but produces stars at a rate 2,000 times greater, which is a rate as high as any galaxy in the universe. Generating the mass equivalent of 2,900 suns per year, the galaxy is especially prodigious—prompting the team to call it a "maximum-starburst" galaxy.
"Massive, intense starburst galaxies are expected to only appear at later cosmic times," says Dominik Riechers, who led the research while a senior research fellow at Caltech. "Yet, we have discovered this colossal starburst just 880 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was at little more than 6 percent of its current age." Now an assistant professor at Cornell, Riechers is the first author of the paper describing the findings in the April 18 issue of the journal Nature.
While the discovery of this single galaxy isn't enough to overturn current theories of galaxy formation, finding more galaxies like this one could challenge those theories, the astronomers say. At the very least, theories will have to be modified to explain how this galaxy, dubbed HFLS3, formed, Riechers says.
"This galaxy is just one spectacular example, but it's telling us that extremely vigorous star formation was possible early in the universe," says Jamie Bock, professor of physics at Caltech and a coauthor of the paper.
The astronomers found HFLS3 chock full of molecules such as carbon monoxide, ammonia, hydroxide, and even water. Because most of the elements in the universe—other than hydrogen and helium—are fused in the nuclear furnaces of stars, such a rich and diverse chemical composition is indicative of active star formation. And indeed, Bock says, the chemical composition of HFLS3 is similar to those of other known starburst galaxies that existed later in cosmic history.
Last month, a Caltech-led team of astronomers—a few of whom are also authors on this newer work—discovered dozens of similar galaxies that were producing stars as early as 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. But none of them existed as early as HFLS3, which has been studied in much greater detail.
Those previous observations were made possible by gravitational lensing, in which large foreground galaxies act as cosmic magnifying glasses, bending the light of the starburst galaxies and making their detection easier. HFLS3, however, is only weakly lensed, if at all. The fact that it was detectable without the help of lensing means that it is intrinsically a bright galaxy in far-infrared light—nearly 30 trillion times as luminous as the sun and 2,000 times more luminous than the Milky Way.
Because the galaxy is enshrouded in dust, it's very faint in visible light. The galaxy's stars, however, heat up the dust, causing it to radiate in infrared wavelengths. The astronomers were able to find HFLS3 as they sifted through data taken by the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, which studies the infrared universe. The data was part of the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES), an effort co-coordinated by Bock to observe a large patch of the sky (roughly 1,300 times the size of the moon) with Herschel.
The galaxy HFLS3 appears as a small red dot in these Herschel submillimeter images (main image, and panels on right). Subsequent observations with ground-based telescopes, ranging from optical to millimeter wavelengths (insets), revealed two galaxies appearing very close together. The two are actually at very different distances, however, and HFLS3 (blue, in millimeter wavelengths) is so far away that we are seeing it as it was when the universe was just 880 million years old. Credit: ESA/Herschel/HerMES/IRAM/GTC/W.M. Keck Observatory
Amid the thousands of galaxies detected in the survey, HFLS3 appeared as just a faint dot—but a particularly red one. That caught the attention of Darren Dowell, a visiting associate at Caltech who was analyzing the HerMES data. The object's redness meant that its light was being substantially stretched toward longer (and redder) wavelengths by the expansion of the universe. The more distant an object, the more its light is stretched, and so a very red source would be very far away. The only other possibility would be that—because cooler objects emit light at longer wavelengths—the object might be unusually cold; the astronomers' analysis, however, ruled out that possibility. Because it takes the light billions of years to travel across space, seeing such a distant object is equivalent to looking deep into the past. "We were hoping to find a massive starburst galaxy at vast distances, but we did not expect that one would even exist that early in the universe," Riechers says.
To study HFLS3 further, the astronomers zoomed in with several other telescopes. Using the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy (CARMA)—a series of telescope dishes that Caltech helps operate in the Inyo Mountains of California—as well as the Z-Spec instrument on the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the team was able to study the chemical composition of the galaxy in detail—in particular, the presence of water and carbon monoxide—and measure its distance. The researchers also used the 10-meter telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea to determine to what extent HFLS3 was gravitationally lensed.
This galaxy is the first such object in the HerMES survey to be analyzed in detail. This type of galaxy is rare, the astronomers say, but to determine just how rare, they will pursue more follow-up studies to see if they can find more of them lurking in the HerMES data. These results also hint at what may soon be discovered with larger infrared observatories, such as the new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile and the planned Cerro Chajnantor Atacama Telescope (CCAT), of which Caltech is a partner institution.
The title of the Nature paper is "A Dust-Obscured Massive Maximum-Starburst Galaxy at a Redshift of 6.34." In addition to Riechers, Bock, and Dowell, the other Caltech authors of the paper are visiting associates in physics Matt Bradford, Asantha Cooray, and Hien Nguyen; postdoctoral scholars Carrie Bridge, Attila Kovacs, Joaquin Vieira, Marco Viero, and Michael Zemcov; staff research scientist Eric Murphy; and Jonas Zmuidzinas, the Merle Kingsley Professor of Physics and the Chief Technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). There are a total of 64 authors. Bock, Dowell, and Nguyen helped build the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) instrument on Herschel.
Publication: Dominik A. Riechers, et al., "A dust-obscured massive maximum-starburst galaxy at a redshift of 6.34," Nature 496, 329–333, (18 April 2013); doi:10.1038/nature12050
PDF Copy of the Study: A Dust-Obscured Massive Maximum-Starburst Galaxy at a Redshift of 6.34
Images: ESA–C. Carreau; ESA/Herschel/HerMES/IRAM/GTC/W.M. Keck Observatory
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ALMA Discovers Hyper-Luminous Galaxies in Extreme Starbursting Merger
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Black had led the Buffalos to a 8-0 start this season, their best start since 1997. Haltom started 11-0 in both 1996 and 1997, winning one playoff game each time.
Haltom has picked up votes in the Associated Press 6A state poll and is No. 5 in the latest Star-Telegram power rankings.
He's accounted for over 2,500 yards of total offense and 34 TDs this year. He's thrown for 19 TDs to just two interceptions.
Black passed and ran for over 100 yards and scored four times as the Buffalos upset then No. 9 Euless Trinity, 48-34, on the road during the Trojans' homecoming.
Even after the initial hand shake and school songs, Euless Trinity congratulated Haltom on the victory in a sign of respect on Friday night.
Haltom has clinched a playoff berth and sits in first place (4-0) in District 3-6A. The Buffs are coming off a 52-13 victory over Richland and plays L.D. Bell on Friday before finishing the regular season at San Angelo Central.
They can clinch at least a share of the district title against Bell.
Black, who made visits to Oklahoma State, Tulsa and others this summer, was an all-state selection last season after accounting for over 2,700 yards and 30 TDs. He has rushed for 100 or more yards in 10 games during the past two seasons.
The Buffs went 6-5 and made their first playoff appearance since 2009. It was also their first winning season since 2000.
Haltom defeated Keller Central 28-17 to earn a spot in the post season for the first time since 2009. Coach Jason Tucker addressed his team after the game.
Few area football players saw their stock rise as much as his last season. What's next?
Nominees are Rockwall's Zach Henry, Sachse's Chase Alford, Legacy's Nathan Rooney, Burleson's Blake Myers, Arlington Heights' Jack Henninge, Guyer's Jordan Beminio, Castleberry's Michael Dameron and Byron Nelson's Hudson White.


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The Tano Jones Revelry 'Little Drummer Boy' video premiere
Music-News.com is proud to host the exclusive world premiere of 'Little Drummer Boy' by The Tano Jones Revelry.
It doesn't snow on Venice Boulevard, but that doesn't mean it's not a good setting for a Christmas story. People in Southern California always know how to throw a party — and that includes a holiday party. In their clip for their funky version of the seasonal standard "Little Drummer Boy," The Tano Jones Revelry take us to the Pacific Ocean beachfront and the streets of Los Angeles. There, they make a powerful case that a Christmas in the sunshine is every bit as celebratory, and maybe every bit as reverent, too, as a holiday held under a blanket of white.
They've chosen an appropriate song to score their holiday reverie. Of all the pieces of popular Christmas music, "Little Drummer Boy" is the most aspirational, approachable, and humble. It's not narrated by an angel, a saint, or a supernatural being. Its central character is a poor kid with nothing but a drum. Yet when given a chance to play that drum, his dedication and inventiveness make a powerful impression on everyone who hears it, including the newborn King. "Little Drummer Boy" is about making the best of what you've got and creating magic with limited resources, and it's become a favorite of musicians, who recognized in the title character a kindred spirit.
Resourcefulness is one of Tano Jones's most prominent traits. His flexibility is apparent in his approach to music and the distinctive sound he's developed, which draws from R&B and soul, pop-funk, hip-hop, and classic rock in equal measure. Every track he plays is harmonically and rhythmically sophisticated, and it's all graced by his gorgeous voice, which is as crisp and invigorating as a breeze off the sea. His arrangement of "Little Drummer Boy" is a prime example of his imagination — and his daring. The song begins with little more than an acrobatic bass groove and a magnetic vocal performance. But by the second verse, he's added relentless percussion, wah-wah guitar, Stax-inspired horn bursts, finger snaps, everything going hard and digging deep, all for the King and the glory of music.
The celebrants in the "Little Drummer Boy" video don't have all that much to bring to the party. Yet they're young, they're enthusiastic, and they're lucky to live in a place as magical as Los Angeles — and they act like they know it. There's a bounce to their steps as they carry their modest gifts from their places of business to the seashore. When they get there, they find The Tano Jones Revelry set up on the sand, and when the sun sets and the bonfire roars, it's hard to imagine a more idyllic setting for a get-together, no matter what holiday that party commemorates.
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Trump: The Non-Proliferation President
http://www.conradmblack.com/1393/trump-the-non-proliferation-president
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
With the news from the always well-informed and reliable Kim Strassel and Andy McCarthy that there was probably an FBI informer in the Trump campaign, the tide in the investigative struggle turns decisively from the floundering, flailing effort to pin something grievous on the president to the rising wave of curiosity about the extent to which the Justice Department was politicized under the Obama administration in favor of the Clinton campaign. This could contain the elements of a scandal almost as great as would have occurred if there had been the slightest evidence to support the notion that a presidential candidate had concerted with a foreign power to rig an American presidential election. I place my bets with Ms. Strassel and Mr. McCarthy, and expect the current of suspicion of the Justice Department to accelerate with the FBI inspector general's next report, on official handling of the Clinton email issue.
If Mueller doesn't repurpose his mandate to focus on the conduct of the Democrats who commissioned the Steele dossier, he will probably have to be satisfied with written responses from the president to written questions relevant to Mueller's mandate, or an invitation from the president, who should not respond to a subpoena to appear before a grand jury, to indict him and show his evidence. (It is very unlikely that Mueller has any.) The old special prosecutor's game of co-opting the Congress to corner the president won't fly. Even if the Democrats win the House and vote impeachment for obstruction because Trump refuses to go before a grand jury, there is no chance of conviction without evidence, and Comey, McCabe, Clapper, Brennan, and all the rest will still have to face the music for lying under oath. The people are the jury, and Russian collusion is a clunker, unless Mueller has an intellect-transplant and starts to chase real legal problems involving Trump's enemies.
(One minor point: Alexander Downer, who had the boozy encounter with George Papadopoulos in the Kensington Wine Rooms, is not "an Australian diplomat." He is an unsuccessful leader of the opposition who was rewarded when his party came to office with representing Australia in London. Downer has no career diplomatic standing or connections, and what went on in that conversation about the Trump and Clinton campaigns was rank gossip and hearsay.)
There is nothing to do but wait for the next flaking off of real facts and findings. The anti-Trump case has been based on fantasy and smears since it started.
On to North Korea and Iran. The wails of those who warned that the two mad boys-with-toys, Kim and Trump, would blow up the world, have now turned to dire warnings that Trump is unprepared and will be hosed by the wily chief of the Hermit Kingdom. Kim is coming to the party at Singapore only because he has bought the face-saving formula of recognition, end of sanctions, and of talk of reunification and absence of nuclear weapons from South Korea (where there have never been any permanently deployed), rather than have his nuclear-relevant sites razed by U.S. conventional attack, along with cruise-missile carpet-bombing on the artillery aimed at Seoul, South Korea, from the foothills just across the DMZ. Kim will make the deal, given the alternative, but the negotiation has already happened. This Kim, who appeared so ludicrous, could be incomparably the greatest and most successful Kim of all. (Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il just festered in their penurious artificial prison-nation, completely dependent on the Chinese, who pretended to demur but enabled the Kims to irritate the West.)
Something similar can be done with Iran. That politically and economically palsied country is grossly overextended, trying to bankroll and partially fight civil wars in Yemen and Syria and underwrite the anti-Israeli skirmishing in Lebanon and Gaza. Any serious reimposition of sanctions by the United States (and it can kick the European allies into line, if not lock-step, as commerce with the U.S. is worth to them a high multiple of the value of trade with Iran), when coordinated with Israeli escalation against Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon and Gaza, and Saudi intensification of the civil war in Yemen, will force Iran to contract its grandiose play for resurrection of the ancient Persian Empire of Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes, which threatened ancient Greece. The British, French, and German leaders can play the analogous role to that of Chinese president Xi Jinping opposite North Korea, though Iran is much less dependent on them and is a substantial country of ancient standing and not just an artificial creation like North Korea, which was set up at the line where it was determined whether the Japanese occupying forces in Korea would surrender to the Russians or the Americans at the end of World War II.
The United States can force Iran to expand the ridiculous agreement negotiated by Obama and the European allies and Russia and China, to be a permanent renunciation of nuclear weapons, including missile and warhead development, and wind-down of Iranian military and terrorist meddling, by sanctions and the threat of military elimination of the Iranian military nuclear program (with the encouragement and if necessary the participation of the Egyptians, Saudis, and Israelis). Iran is less advanced in military nuclear terms than North Korea, its sites would be resistless against American attack, and Iran has nothing like the sponsorship North Korea long enjoyed from China. It is a stronger country than North Korea, but almost as friendless and with a much less docile population. The choice will be real renunciation of Iran's nuclear weapons and of its support of terrorist proxies, presented as a success and not a humiliation, or complete economic impoverishment and direct military air attack of unanswerable precision and force on its nuclear-arms program. If Kim can figure it out, the ayatollahs should. The Europeans, though they cannot be trusted for much else, can deliver that message.
The supreme irony of these issues is that contrary to conventional opinion, President Trump is the last bulwark of nuclear non-proliferation. The nuclear powers (U.S., U.K., Russia, France. China, India, Israel, and Pakistan) are a club that has pledged to try to disarm and has (wisely) ignored the pledge, as retaliation is the only reliable guarantee against another world war (though South Africa after the end of the apartheid government and Ukraine after the dissolution of the USSR commendably did disarm). None of the nuclear powers has behaved irresponsibly with its arsenals, but North Korea and Iran have both threatened to destroy other countries and are completely untrustworthy politically. In disarming them, with whatever face-saving is appropriate (and with any luck the rotten and medieval despotism in Iran could implode anyway), President Trump will at least keep nuclear non-proliferation on the rails. If North Korea and Iran become military nuclear powers, so will Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, and that will just be the beginning — the whole system for avoidance of great wars will pass from nuclear abstinence to missile defense and massive retaliation. Again, the United States is the only country (followed distantly by Israel) that has any idea of how to stop incoming missiles with nuclear warheads, but it would be a desperate extremity to retreat to that point for assurance of avoidance of nuclear war.
We are already facing the increasing possibility of terrorists' putting missiles in civil airliners or container ships or even suitcases, and enabling the nuclear weaponization of terrorist states such as Iran is an abominable practice of appeasement. The unsuspecting world will have reason to be thankful for President Trump.


A traumatic brain injury is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a major cause of disability and death in the U.S., contributing to nearly one-third of all injury-related fatalities.
All of that is assuming the affected individual recovers to the point of conscious function. Some of those suffering traumatic brain injury (or TBI for short) languish for days, weeks, months or even years in a coma. Even those who recover may endure extensive therapy to regain even basic function and movement.
Medical expenses incurred through recovery are often astronomical, and the victim may be unable to return to his or her previous line of work or contribute to the household as before. In some cases, he or she may not even be able to take care of their own basic daily needs.
According to the Mayo Clinic, TBI happens when some external, mechanical force causes dysfunction of the brain. In most cases, the brain injury attorneys at our Fort Lauderdale firm are talking about a violent jolt or blow to the head or body. It can also happen when the skull is penetrated by an object, such as a bullet or sharp device.
These are identified based on something called the Glasgow Coma Scale, which scores eye opening, verbal responses and motor responses. Someone who is in a deep coma or near death will score low on the GSC (3 is the lowest score), while someone who scores high (15 is the highest) would be fully awake.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (13-15 GSC) – Involves headache, fatigue, sleep disturbance, irritability, balance problems, nausea, memory problems, anxiety or depression, sensitivity to light or noise, decreased attention and/or concentration, decrease thinking speed, emotional mood swings, sleep disorders or difficulty swallowing or chewing.
Moderate Brain Injury (8-12 GCS) – Involves loss of consciousness varying from just a few minutes to many hours. Confusion may last days or weeks and cognitive, physical or behavioral impairments can last months or even be permanent.
Severe Brain Injury (7 or lower GCS) – Involves prolonged state of unconsciousness or coma that can last days, weeks or months. It may also be characterized by vegetative state, minimally responsive state, Akinetic Mutism (inability to move or speak) or locked-in syndrome (one is conscious but unable to move or communicate).
For some, the full extent of the brain injury is immediately apparent. For others, it may be days or even weeks or months before the total impact is realized. This is why our Fort Lauderdale brain injury attorneys strongly urge that in any situation where you may have suffered a blow or jolt to the head to undergo immediate medical evaluation. With appropriate treatment, medical professionals may be able to reduce some of the potential damage, particularly in cases where there is swelling or internal bleeding.
Plaintiff sustained injuries that are compensable under the law.
There may in some cases be situations where individuals are found "vicariously liable" for the actions of another. Most commonly, this is applied to an employer's liability for the negligence of an employee – even if the company didn't actually do anything wrong. Another legal theory we might explore is "strict liability" as applied to defective products, which allows liability for situations or products that are inherently dangerous even when there is no proof of fault or carelessness.
While the statute of limitations in Florida for personal injury actions is four years from the date of injury, that provision may be "tolled" or the clock set back if the injury was not known until a later time. This can be the case with traumatic brain injuries, which may have latent symptoms.
Because of the wide-reaching impact a brain injury can have on one's life and the lives of those closest to them, these cases tend to be more complex than the average injury lawsuit. Our lawyers can help.
For information on legal action following a catastrophic injury in Fort Lauderdale, contact The Ansara Law Firm by calling (954) 761-4011 or toll-free at (888) ANSARA-8.


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After further review, the Braves did actually win Game 2
Mark Bradley Blog | Oct 14, 2020
By Mark Bradley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I went back and checked. The Braves scored eight runs in Tuesday's Game 2. The Dodgers – (reviews scorecard, counts on fingers, hauls out abacus to be sure) – scored seven. 8>7. Ergo, the Braves won. Glad we settled that.
Because, from the tone of the Fox chatter and some postgame questions asked of the Braves, you'd have sworn the National League Championship Series is tied. It's not. The Braves have won two games. The Dodgers have won no games. 2>0.
Did the Dodgers put a late scare into the Braves. From 7-0 ahead, the Braves saw their lead reduced to 8-7 with Cody Bellinger on third base with two out in the ninth. If A.J. Pollock hits the ball 10 feet either side of Austin Riley, we're talking about a greater collapse than the one that changed the trajectory of this franchise Oct. 23, 1996.
The Braves led the Yankees 6-0 after five innings of Game 4. The Braves led that World Series 2-1. If they hold any part of a six-run lead, they're in position to clinch the championship in what was their final game at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
As the world knows, they held no part of that six-run lead. Starting pitcher Denny Neagle gave back half of it in the sixth. Jim Leyritz took back the rest of it in the eighth. Steve Avery walked Wade Boggs with the bases loaded in the 10th. The Braves would never lead in that Series again. They haven't won a Series game since.
That night the score was 6-0. This time it was 7-0. 7>6. So yes, this would have been worse. But these Braves didn't lose the totality of their lead, or the game. So: not worse. Afterward, however, closer Mark Melancon did lose his patience.
Credit: Atlanta Braves
Braves closer Mark Melancon addresses the Dodgers' attempt at a comeback in Game 2 of the NLCS.
A interrogator via Zoom: "Mark, can you look at this game as, 'Yeah, you guys almost blew the entire lead, but hey, we survived and that's all the postseason is about?' You showed something there in the end against a team like that. I mean, you're up 2-0 now, however you get there."
Melancon, who wore a half-smile when this lengthy query began, is not thrilled. He's no longer half-smiling. His eyes have narrowed. His jaw has tightened. He shakes his head and says, "I don't ..."
The questioner interrupts. "Can you take a positive out of it even though you blew most of that lead? You're still up 2-0?"
Melancon again shakes his head. Looking quizzical, he says, "Blew the lead?"
The questioner: "Huh?"
Melancon: "I don't really understand your question."
The questioner persists: "Can you still take something positive out of this? You're still up 2-0 in the series despite blowing a big lead. Can you leave this thing feeling, you know, good that you survived this game?"
Melancon tilts his eyes upward. He's no longer bemused. He's done with this. He shakes his head a third time and says, "I think that's a terrible question and I'm not even going to answer."
For his part, Braves manager Brian Snitker fielded an inquiry about Having Allowed The Dodgers To Get Going. (This was Topic A of the Fox postgame.) Snitker essentially shrugged. "I'm not concerned any more than I was yesterday when we started," he said. "It's one of those teams that, until that 27th out is made, you don't feel good because of what they're capable of doing."
Observation No. 1: The Dodgers led the majors in scoring. Through the first 15 innings of this series, they managed one run. It was amazing that the Braves held such an offense down that long. It would have been beyond belief for it to have continued forever.
Observation No. 2: I'm pretty sure we won't see Josh Tomlin in the ninth inning again. I imagine we'd see Charlie Culberson pitching the ninth before that happens.
Observation No. 3: Let's say Super Bowl 51 had played out exactly as it did, with one exception: The Falcons stopped the Patriots' 2-point conversion attempt with 57 seconds remaining. (Let's also assume the Falcons would have then had the sense to fall on the ensuing onside kick.) Let's say the Falcons had won 28-26 after leading 28-3. Would the first question from Terry Bradshaw to Dan Quinn have been, "Can you take anything positive from this, other than the Lombardi Trophy you're holding?"
You. Play. To. Win. The. Game. The Braves won 8-7. They lead 2-nil. It could well be that the Dodgers win the next four and point back to a rally that fell one run short as the catalyst. Indeed, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, "I definitely think that's some momentum we can take into tomorrow."
Observation No. 4: The greatest truth in baseball is this: Momentum is tomorrow's starting pitcher. Josh Tomlin won't start Game 3. A.J. Minter won't start Game 3. Kyle Wright will.
Mark Bradley is a sports columnist and blogger for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has been with the AJC since 1984.


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black feminism
Black History Month Interview
Lilith chatted with the new program coordinator at Carleton University's REC Hall and the person behind the various events happening during Black History Month: Kareen Onyeaju. Tune in for a discussion on the necessity for BHM, race politics today and the various exciting programming happening this month!
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Posted in Past Radio Shows and tagged activism, black feminism, black history month, Black Love, black women, Carleton University, communityradio, feminism, REC Hall on February 26, 2015 by femmefataleckcu. Leave a comment
Politics of Black Love- Interview
Lilith interviews the Program Coordinator of the Womyn's Centre at Carleton University: Debbie Owusu- Akyeeah , to speak during the last week of Black History Month on the Politics of Black Love. Love, sex, sexuality, relationships within black communities and how race can excite and complicates at times. A personal and political approach to the topic that is both informative and engaging!
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Posted in Past Radio Shows and tagged BDSM, black feminism, black history month, Black Love, black women, Carleton University, communityradio, feminism, femme talk on February 26, 2015 by femmefataleckcu. Leave a comment
Carleton University's Black History Month Calendar
http://cusaonline.com/rechall
Posted in News and tagged activism, black feminism, black history month, black women, Carleton University on January 31, 2015 by femmefataleckcu. Leave a comment
The Backlash Against African Women – NYTimes.com
The Backlash Against African Women
By SISONKE MSIMANGJAN. 10, 2015
JOHANNESBURG — A FEW weeks ago, as I was leaving my office, I stopped at a traffic light and watched a young woman cross the street in front of me. She wore a pair of jean shorts cut fashionably high, and I could see the crease of her left buttock extend each time she took a step. She wouldn't have been out of place in London or New York or Tokyo. Except that this was Johannesburg, the biggest city in a country known for its high levels of violence against women. As I pulled away, I worried that she might be assaulted.
I'm not suggesting that she was inviting trouble. I was anxious because she was walking near the spot where a young woman in a miniskirt had been attacked by a crowd of men a few years earlier. I'd also just watched footageof a crowd attacking and stripping a miniskirt-clad woman in Nairobi just days after the release of the viral video of a woman in New York being catcalled. A few weeks later, another video surfaced in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. A girl in a short dress was dragged from a minibus onto the street, where an angry crowd of men stripped her naked.
Public strippings represent the front lines of a cultural war against women's advancements in traditionally conservative but rapidly urbanizing societies. They aren't really about what women are wearing. They are much more about where women are going.
And many African women are going places quickly. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became the first female finance minister in Nigeria; Liberia's president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, is one of a handful of elected female heads of state in the world. Lupita Nyong'o's Oscar win and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's literary successes have brought attention to the artistic triumphs of a younger generation of women.
Nowhere has progress been more remarkable than in Africa's legislatures. Africans have significantly outpaced their female peers in America and Europe. In the United States, women hold less than 20 percent of the seats in Congress; similarly, in Britain, women make up just over one-fifth of the members of the House of Commons. Compare this to South Africa, where more than 40 percent of representatives in the National Assembly are women, or Rwanda, where 64 percent of all members of Parliament are women — making it the only country in the world where women outnumber men in the legislature.
Beginning in the 1980s, many African countries started to invest in girls' education and in small enterprise projects. A generation later, an equal number of girls and boys are enrolled in primary schools across the continent. Many women are successful entrepreneurs and, of course, politicians. Precisely because of these rapid changes in women's status, the backlash from churches, political parties, traditional leaders and rural officials has been forceful. Outrage at bold women is both spontaneous and organized. The mob mentality that leads to public strippings arises in urban milieus where male aggression against women is seen as acceptable. Meanwhile, many churches systematically preach female subservience, while traditional tribal leaders often blame women for dislodging men from their rightful places in modern societies.
It has taken some time for this conservative backlash to develop into a coherent and organized force, but today these churches, traditional leaders and politicians are forming powerful coalitions that are seeking to challenge decades of progress.
First, this loose men's movement developed a set of "decency bills" urging women not to undermine their African culture by dressing "inappropriately." In Uganda, an anti-pornography bill initially sought to criminalize the display of "sexual parts of a person such as breasts, thighs, buttocks or genitalia" and to ban behavior that might cause sexual excitement. Overzealous police officers began to arrest women wearing short skirts even before Parliament voted on the measure. Fierce opposition from women's groups forced changes to the final bill signed last year by President Yoweri Museveni, but it remains a vague and problematic law that gives broad discretion to state officials to define pornography and arrest those suspected of an ill-defined crime.
Second, and more pernicious, the movement against women's rights has resorted to bullying and baiting successful women in public spaces. In South Africa, one of the most popular and trusted figures in the country is Thuli Madonsela, who holds the office of public protector. Political cartoonists often depict her as a caped superhero on a mission to bust corrupt politicians. She is widely respected for her refusal to back down in the face of political pressure related to her investigation of the government's spending on a palatial personal residence for President Jacob G. Zuma.
Despite her popularity, it hasn't been an easy ride for Ms. Madonsela and other women who occupy prominent public positions. They have often been subjected to sexist verbal abuse and taunts and jeers about how they look and dress. Members of the ruling party have had to be called to order after insulting Ms. Madonsela's appearance. Last year, a pregnant member of Parliament was mocked so viciously about the outfit she was wearing that she had to be hospitalized for stress.
THESE verbal assaults in the halls of power are mirrored by the experiences of women on the streets, who don't have easy access to the constitutional or party protections that public figures enjoy. Ordinary African women, it seems, are bearing the brunt of their sisters' progress. Street harassment is often a sign of deep-seated resentment of women's changing status in society. For men who were raised to believe that they are entitled to be breadwinners and receive sexual gratification and domestic subservience from women, the shift hasn't been easy. For younger men, modern values have jostled sharply against the lessons about manhood they learned at home. With high levels of unemployment and gaping inequalities, old conceptions of masculinity die hard.
South Africa has what is considered the most progressive constitution in the world, including a bill of rights that promotes and protects women's rights. Despite this, in 2012, the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa sponsored a bill in Parliament that would have effectively made all women in rural areas legal minors, subject to the whims of traditional chiefs. Had it become law, the bill would have created a separate legal system for millions of people living in rural areas. Chiefs would have been able to force their subjects to adhere to customary laws and practices that are outmoded and unconstitutional, and it would have been a crime for those living in areas covered by traditional courts to opt out and seek justice in the formal legal system.
This attempt to disenfranchise millions of women in one of Africa's most vibrant constitutional democracies demonstrates the extent to which advances in gender equality are often met with hostility.
Fortunately, the continent is home to loud and organized women's movements that have thus far been able to repel many attempts to undermine women's progress through protests and parliamentary campaigns and the creative use of media and technology.
Their protests have been daring and their collective message has been clear: The walk from the streets to the halls of power may be long, but the goal is well within reach.
Sisonke Msimang is a columnist for the South African website The Daily Maverick and the former executive director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.
A version of this op-ed appears in print on January 11, 2015, on page SR4 of the New York edition with the headline: The Backlash Against African Women.
The Backlash Against African Women – NYTimes.com.
Posted in Community Posts, Uncategorized and tagged backlash, black feminism, black women, feminism, racism on January 13, 2015 by femmefataleckcu. 1 Comment