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Posted on August 26, 2017 August 26, 2017 by dtrend
By David Trend
"The more I became immersed in the study of stigmatized mental illness, the more it astonishing to me that any such phenomenon should exist at all," writes Robert Lundin, a member of the Chicago Consortium for Stigma Research. "I believe that serious and persistent mental illnesses, like the one I live with, are clearly an inexorably no-fault phenomena that fully warrant being treated with the same gentleness and respect as multiple-sclerosis, testicular cancer or sickle-cell anemia."[i] Here Lundin names a central of problem in the social construction of mental illness: the misunderstanding of conditions affecting the mind as somehow different from other biological illness. The misrecognition renders mental illness prone to the judgmental attributions discussed by Susan Sontag in her 1973 book Illness as Metaphor. To Sontag, contemporary society reverses ancient views of sickness as a reflection of the inner self. In this new view, the inner self is seen as actively causing sickness––through smoking, overeating, addictive behavior, and bad habits: "The romantic idea that disease expresses the character is invariably extended to exert that the character causes the disease–because it is not expressed itself. Passion moves inward, striking within the deepest cellular recesses."[ii] But as before, the sick person is to blame for the illness.
Such sentiments are especially vindictive when a mentally ill person commits a crime. Understandably perhaps, clinical terms like "mental illness" quickly acquire malevolent meanings in the public mind––even though the mentally ill statistically are no more prone to criminality than anyone else. Sometimes this semiotic slippage causes public panic over commonplace disorders. Consider the case of Adam Lanza, the young man who in 2013 shot 26 children and adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Massachusetts. While mental health analysts speculate that an acute psychotic episode prompted his violence, Lanza never had been diagnosed with a serious mental illness. As reporters scrambled for a story, much was made of Lanza's childhood symptoms of Asperger's syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism. The repeated mention of this disorder in news coverage triggered wrong-headed fears nationally of the murderous potential in other autistic kids. According the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), approximately 1 in 50 people (1.5-million) fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum, 80 percent of whom are boys.[iii] This has prompted improved diagnostic measures, which in turn have resulted in an apparent rise in autism cases in recent years––up 78 percent from a decade ago––and made autism a source of acute anxiety for many new parents.
No link between autism and violent behavior has ever been shown. National crime data place autistics at precisely the same rates (1.6 percent) as the general population, with many experts stating that autistic people are, in fact, less likely to commit violence than the average person.[v] Ironically in this context, because of their social difficulties autistic children are far more likely to be the victims of bullying and assault than others. One study found that autistic children are 49% more likely to wander from safe settings due to "social referencing" impairments.[vi] Also, because autistic kids are taught compliance from an early age, they are more often victimized by domestic violence and sexual abuse than the general population. The Sandy Hook autism story shows how a psychiatric condition––in this case a non-threatening developmental disorder––is vilified in the sensationalizing dynamics of moral panic.[vii] Simple as this process sounds, it raises a host of secondary questions, not the least of which concerns the actual risks of the mentally ill to the rest of us and by what criteria a non-professional makes such an assessment in our current culture of fear.
Here is what statics show: less than five percent of people with serious mental health problems commit violence against others.[viii] Almost none who do so have developmental disabilities like autism. Violent offenders usually fall within narrower diagnostic categories like schizophrenia, which at best only partially accounts for their anti-social behavior. This is not to deny the legitimate threats posed by delusional psychotics. One's instincts about the person muttering on the subway are not always unfounded. But often such impressions are based more on perceived unpredictability of behavior rather than on a rational assessment of risk. Statistically speaking, the likelihood of a violent episode is surprisingly low––even as public fear of individuals with mental illness has increased in recent decades.[ix] Also, the interplay of alcohol and drug use with psychiatric conditions is a major factor violence and crime. The National Institutes of Mental Health estimate that 4.6 percent of the population falls under the classification of having a "serious" mental illness––of whom half also have a substance abuse disorder. [x]
In today's America there are more mentally ill people in prisons than in a hospitals. In fact, the nation's largest psychiatric ward is the Los Angeles County Jail.[xi] By current Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), more than 50 percent of all jail inmates in the US have a psychiatric disorder, with major depression and psychotic conditions topping the list. Over the past two decades, government budget cutbacks have put more formerly institutionalized people with mental illness on the streets, resulting in a 154 percent increase of mentally ill people in the criminal justice system.[xii] According the Patrick W. Corrigan, a well-known advocate for the mentally ill, "Criminalizing mental illness is a way in which the criminal justice system reacts to people with mental illness, contributing to the increasing prevalence of serious mental illness in jail." As a result, those with psychiatric diagnose are "more likely than others to be arrested by police" and can be expected "to spend more time incarcerated than persons without mental illness."[xiii] Women with mental illness are 50 percent more likely than men to land in jail, with many female inmates reporting histories of abuse as children.[xiv] Looking at the mentally ill who commit violent acts, a MacArthur Foundation study pointed to the pivotal role of social context. Typical targets of such violence were family members––87 percent––with most assaults occurring in the home and characterized by "mutual threat, hostility, or financial dependence." Less than 10 percent of attacks were against strangers.[xv]
Mentally ill people do more violent harm to themselves than they do to others, according the National Institutes of Mental Health. Suicides occur at more than twice the rate of murders nationally, with the mentally ill accounting for the vast majority of self-inflicted deaths.[xvi] Self harm isn't the only way that mentally ill or developmentally disabled are at risk. Although murders committed by mentally ill are widely reported and studied, less attention has been afforded to murders of them. One study by American and Swedish researchers found that as many as 20 percent of homicides are committed against people with psychiatric diagnoses. The risk of being murdered was highest among the mentally ill who also abused drugs, although its also increased among those with personality disorders, depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. Analytists think that these high rates of murder result in part from common fear that the mentally ill are "unpredictable" or "dangerous." This creates "feelings of uneasiness, fear and a desire for social distance and may increase the risk of victimization."[xvii] Here again, social context matters––but in a broader sense. Mentally ill people are more likely than the general population to live in risky neighborhoods or to be homeless, which in itself can make them more likely to be victimized. Many of America's 2-million "long-term mentally ill" in live in inadequate housing and without social support.[xviii] Making matters worse, some psychiatric disorders cause people to be less cognizant of their surroundings and therefore less cautious about personal safety.
Socioeconomic status matters a lot in mental illness. For people with a psychiatric diagnosis, work can be a key factor in promoting health and social inclusion, as well as financial independence. Most people with mental illness want to work and are among the largest cohort served by the federal Vocational Rehabilitation system. But employment discrimination can make this difficult. When steady jobs can be found, they have proven to be one of the best therapies for reducing the symptoms of mental illness. Nevertheless, unemployment rate for adults with a major psychiatric diagnosis is three to five time higher than the general population. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that 60 to 80 percent of the mentally ill are unemployed, with rates running as high as 90 percent for those with severe impairments.[xix] Half of the latter group lives at the national poverty level of $11,490 for a single person. The costs of such unemployment are huge, with an estimated $25-bilion paid annually in the U.S. in disability payments to the mentally ill.
While the stigma of mental illness directly influences how an individual is treated by others, the effect the label on a person's self-image creates one of the biggest challenges to the mental health field. As a group, the mentally ill are highly prone to hiding their conditions, avoiding treatment, and deferring support options. A 2007 study conducted by the journal Psychiatric Services found that two-third of patients believed their problems "would get better on their own" and that 71 percent were convinced they could cure themselves without help.[xx] These tendencies are most pronounced with those in the grips of substance abuse. Often the problem starts at home, as the mentally ill struggle to hide their conditions from family members, or to minimize them. Studies have shown that 30 percent of those with a psychiatric condition try to conceal it from family members.[xxi] In addition to the individual's belief that he or she can somehow "manage" an illness perceived as a personal failing, there is an additional tragic rationale for this––as the "associated" stigma of having a "disturbed" child or parent can affect the way an entire family is treated. Approximately 25 percent of families with a mentally ill member report instances of avoidance from others. This means that some families will collude in maintaining the illness as a "private" matter, often exacerbating the individual's reluctance to seek professional care. This can be a deadly move, especially considering that many common conditions like depression and bi-polar disease become progressively worse over time.
In one national study, less than 40 percent of those with serious mental health conditions received stable treatment during the prior year.[xxii] According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 89.3 million Americans live in federally-designated Professional Mental Health Shortage areas––nearly twice the number in areas with similar shortages for general health care.[xxiii] During the past 20 years, the ways mental illnesses are treated has changed significantly as well, with inpatient care dropping from 42 to 19 percent of expenditures and prescription drugs jumping from 7 percent to 27 percent.[xxiv] Worries persist among the mentally ill over the consequence of being labeled, channeled into counseling, or obliged to take prescription medications. But resistance to mental health treatment is but part of the problem, since it seems that people with psychiatric diagnoses are less likely to receive health care of all kinds. Until the passage of the Affordable Care Act, a psychiatric diagnosis was the kind of "preexisting condition" that could preclude an individual's eligibility for health insurance. With new regulation, many in the mental health field say that communication difficulties, resistance to treatment, and subtle biases among health care providers lessen the likelihood of people with psychiatric illness receiving routine health screenings and care.
Some populations resist care more than others. The health risks and reduction in life opportunities related to mental illness are intersectional problems, more heavily affecting the economically disadvantaged and those affected by other forms of social stigma and discrimination. Mental illness among military personnel and veterans is especially problematic in this way. In general terms, public attitudes toward returning members of the military are mixed. While Vietnam-era resentment of returning military is now a relic of history, misperceptions and misunderstandings of the veteran experience persist. For every scene of flag-waving heroic celebration there is a matching image in many people's minds of violent unpredictability, possibly induced by war trauma. And military culture discourages mental health care. Unlike in civilian life, the privacy firewall between employer and employee medical knowledge is largely missing in the military chain of command, where supervisors often have responsibility for assessing troop readiness. The omniscient character of the military chain-of-command has recently come to public attention in the area of sexual abuse, where supervisors sometimes are both perpetuators and adjudicators of such offenses. The film The Invisible War brought this issue to light in noting that since 2006 over 95,000 such instances had been documented, with less than 14 percent reported and 5 percent brought to prosecution.[xxv] Add to this military social pressures involving toughness, which often persists after service ends, and the stage is set for widespread denial of mental health conditions, the most common of which is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is now documented that few service personnel return from active duty without being affected by the stress of war, with as many as 20 percent showing PTSD symptoms.[xxvi]
[i] Robert Lundin, "Foreword," in Patrick W. Corrigan, ed., On the Stigma of Mental Illness: Practical Strategies for Research and Social Change (Washington, DC: 2005) p. xi
[ii] Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor (New York; Vintage, 1977) p. 45.
[iii] Autistic kids often have language delays, obsessive traits, concrete thinking, and difficulty making friends––with diagnoses made by observations of children's behavior. Early recognition of autism is important to its remediation, since much of the impairment associated with the disorder can be corrected. Many autistics are gifted, including such figures as Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, Amadeus Mozart, and Michelangelo. See, "Autistic Spectrum Disorders," Centers for Disease Control, (n.d.) http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html (accessed Feb. 3, 2015).
[iv] Miriam Falco, "CDC: U.S. Kids with Autism Up 78% in Past Decade," CNN News (March 29, 2012) http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/29/health/autism (accessed Jan 12, 2015).
[v] "Are Autistics Natural Born Criminals?" The Autism Crisis (Oct 10, 2010) http://autismcrisis.blogspot.com/2010/10/are-autistic-people-natural-born.html (accessed Jan 1, 2015).
[vi] April Choulat, "Why Do Autistic Children Wander?" Autism Remediation for Our Children (Aug 11, 2013) http://autismremediationforourchildren.blogspot.com/ (Accessed Aug. 22, 2014).
[vii] Sociologists have mapped such progressions: from signs ("The person muttering in the subway must be crazy"), to stereotypes ("Crazy people can be dangerous"), to discrimination ("I won't hire a crazy person").
[viii] "Violence and Mental Illness," U.S. National Institute of Medicine from World Psychiatry, June 2003 Vol 2, no. 2 (June 2003) pp. 121-124. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1525086/ (Accessed Jan. 12, 2015).
[ix] Patrick W. Corrigan, in Patrick W. Corrigan, ed, On the Stigma of Mental Illness (Washington, DC: AP 2005) p. 20.
[x] "Prevalence of Serious Mental Health Illnesses among U.S. Adults by Age, Sex, and Age" (2010) http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/SMI_AASR.shtml (Accessed Oct. 15, 2014).
[xi] Dina Demetrius, "Exclusive: Inside the US's Largest psychiatric ward, the LA County Jail," (July 28, 2014) Aljazeera America http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/articles/2014/7/25/l-a-county-jail-psychiatricward.html (accessed May 1, 2015).
[xii] On the Stigma of Mental Illness, p. 20.
[xiii] Ibid.
[xiv] "Study finds that half of all prison and jail inmates have mental health problems," Bureau of Justice Statistics (2010) http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/mhppjipr.cfm (accessed Oct. 10, 2014).
[xv] "Violence and Mental Health: An Overview," National Institutes of Health (2003) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1525086/ (Accessed Jan. 9, 2015).
[xvi] Tom Insel, "Understanding Severe Mental Illness," (n.d.) http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2011/understanding-severe-mental-illness.shtml (accessed Dec. 15, 2014).
[xvii] Jeremy Laurence, "Mentally ill people nearly five times more likely to be victims of murder than general population," The Independent, (March 6, 2013) http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/mentally-ill-people-nearly-five-times-more-likely-to-be-victims-of-murder-than-general-population-8521493.html (accessed Feb 4, 2015).
[xviii] On the Stigma of Mental Illness, p. 18.
[xix] "Unemployment," The High Costs of Mental Health, National Alliance of Mental Illness (Jan. 2010) http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=About_the_Issue&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=114540 (Accessed Dec. 20, 2014).
[xx] Sarah Kliff, "Seven Facts about America's mental-health care system," Washington Post (Dec 17, 2012) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/17/seven-facts-about-americas-mental-health-care-system/ (accessed. Jan. 4, 2015).
[xxi] On the Stigma of Mental Illness, p. 23.
[xxii] The number in treatment for schizophrenia, one of the most problematic conditions, was somewhat higher at 60 percent. See, On The Stigma of Mental Illness, p. 28.
[xxiii] "Seven Facts about America's mental-health care system," (Dec. 17, 2012) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/17/seven-facts-about-americas-mental-health-care-system/ (accessed Oct. 14, 2014).
[xxiv] Ibid.
[xxv] The Invisible War, http://www.notinvisible.org/about (accessed Jan. 5, 2015).
[xxvi] Sarah Peters, "Veterans groups encourage returning service members to seek mental health care early" Express Times (July 30, 2013) http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2013/07/veterans_groups_encourage_retu.html (accessed Aug. 20, 2014).
CategoriesEssays Tagsadam, autism, health, illness, lanza, Lundin, mental, robert, Sontag, stigma
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Transfer-pricing is the new word for money laundering. The Treasury department says trade-based money laundering is the new frontier in international money laundering. What is surprising, is how easy it is. Here is how it is done.
To get money into a country (such as Mexico at the behest of drug lords), you simply undervalue imports and overvalue exports. The way to do this is through the use of a 're-invoicing firm.' First you create a shell corporation in a tax haven country with strict secrecy rules (Luxembourg, Andorra, Singapore and formerly Switzerland). Second, you hire an off-shore re-invoicing firm (such as AA-Panama). The front company for a drug lord might sell $1 million of oranges to an American importer while the re-invoicing company creates paperwork for $3 million worth of oranges effectively repatriating $2 million back into the Mexican banking system.
Recently, one group of launderers was caught exporting from the Czech Republic to America plastic buckets that cost $970 each.
Another interesting use of the technique is by Iran to circumvent sanctions. Food and medicine are not restricted under U.S. sanctions so a Turkish front company sells sugar to Iran through a Dubai money-exchanger at $240 per pound giving Iran the hard currency (money such as USD that can be used anywhere in the world) that sanctions specifically proscribe.
Re-invoicing firms are teams of tax attorneys who insist 'tax-arbitrage' is legal and it essentially is because countries that are tax havens typically have little to their economy in terms of natural resources or exports and therefore cannot afford to apply stringent tax reform allowing and even encouraging graft.


The Bendigo Food Truck Festival is back for its 3rd instalment boasting its biggest and best line up yet. 20 new food truck vendors with an expanded licensed bar serving beer, wine, cider and spirits.
Kids entertainment is on again with the kids cinema and jumping castle running all weekend, while the petting zoo is open set hours daily. Live entertainment for the 3 days.
Capped off by a live Eagles tribute concert on the Sunday night (7pm-9pm) that's not to be missed.


Book: Matthew (1), Mark (1), 2 Corinthians (1).
Matthew 5:1-14 (Part of the misc. series).
Preached by Bro. John Dougherty on August 4, 2013 (Sunday Evening).
Preached by Bro. John Dougherty on June 9, 2013 (Sunday Evening).
Mark 9:28-29 (Part of the misc. series).
Preached by Bro. John Dougherty on April 14, 2013 (Midweek Meeting).


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Beckham signs for Milan
Liverpool kept up the pressure at the top of the table with a win over Pompey. See all the latest BestPrice outright betting here.
Milan have confirmed that England midfielder David Beckham will join the club on loan from 7 January.
The 33-year-old's representatives flew into Milan on Thursday for talks with the Italian club on Thursday and reached agreement on a deal that will see Beckham stay in Italy until March.
Beckham, who plays for US side LA Galaxy, wants to stay fit during the MLS close-season to maintain his place in Fabio Capello's England set-up.
"Milan have made a good addition," said Capello, who coached the Rossoneri from 1991-96 and 1997-98.
"At Madrid I left him out of the squad because he had signed a contract with Los Angeles but he continued to come on the field and train and I put him back in the team.
"He is a very serious lad, very sensible, a professional. People think he is a playboy off the field, it's not true at all."
Former England captain Beckham had been a target of Milan before, in January 2007, but opted instead to move to Los Angeles from Real Madrid.
Milan director Umberto Gandini told Sky Sports News: "Only David knows his future, but for sure he has a commitment to go back to the MLS and I think he will fulfil that."
Earlier this week LA Galaxy announced they have postponed their December tour of Australia because of Beckham's move to Italy.
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena gave Beckham his blessing, despite the risk of returning to American with an injury or suffering fatigue later in the MLS season.
"I think when players don't go 100% they get hurt, so I'm not going to give him any advice about pulling out of tackles," said Arena.
"David's a very experienced player and he understands when to go into challenges and when not to.
"Once in a while it doesn't always work out that way but if he goes and can play and train in that environment against players of that quality, it can't be at 50%.
"He needs to play at 100% and he needs to position himself to get on the field for first-team minutes.
"Players can get injured whether they are in training camp or playing games and there's no method you can create that can prevent injury."

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Parenting is the most rewarding job I have ever had, but also the hardest job. Ever. Because not only is it mentally and physically exhausting with the day to day tasks, but it's also hard in the fact that you are teaching, enriching, modeling, and planning for your child's future, which is a stress in and of itself.
We all eventually get through it, the stress and the joys of parenting. But what I forget and take for granted sometimes, is the support group of moms that I have to help make life as a mom easier. And all I have to say is I don't know where I would be without them!! They make me feel more grounded and I know how normal mom stressors can be. I met most of them in my neighborhood and in my area Early Childhood PTA.
I forget how great they are, because I will be talking to a friend on the phone that is also a mom but may live out of town or I don't see as often, and she will tell me about her crazy day with her kids and ask, "is that normal for my child to....?" and I will think she is crazy for asking, because we have all already talked about fighting that battle with our kids in my mom support group, and so thankful for that!
My friends that struggle and don't have a support group of moms will call and tell me things like "my husband walked in from work and asked what was for dinner, and after having a rough day of my kids demanding a lot of attention and 20 questions, I could not handle one.more.question, and lost it." I wanted to tell her, "girl, you have no idea how normal that is."
Having my support group, we will text each other with questions like, "My child just pooped on the floor, what do I do? " and we all help the poor mom out.
Or the group text asking us all if it's normal to take your kids out to eat at the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru every night for dinner one week, because their husband is out of town and can't deal with cooking dinner. Normal? Check. (And one of those things you probably swore you'd never do before kids).
We also get together for playdates weekly and sometimes daily, and talk about potty training strategies, preschool choices, TV as a babysitter? what to do when our child says, "no!" and we start to feel sooo normal and not so isolated out there.
As a mom, whether you are working (which can be even harder to find mom supports at work), or staying at home, you need that female support because feeling isolated can cause depression and even more stress.
Where to find a support group?
LOOK for that support group in your area, because it's such an important part of being a mother. They have working mom groups, single mom groups and area early childhood PTA's. There are groups you can find on meetup.com and if you don't see one that fits what you are looking for, form your own!
If you want to find a preschool PTA group, go to this PTA link to search for an 'early childhood' PTA or 'preschool PTA'.
Another support that has helped me is being a member of a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group in my town, where we meet twice a month. It's a church sponsored program that provides free childcare so we can have a break :) We eat brunch, talk to other moms (socialize, what's that?) and listen to speakers teach us about discipline, child nutrition, and how to be a stress-less mom. We especially love the speakers that are the seasoned moms telling us, "it's okay to NOT have your house clean every day! Leave the laundry on the sofa, the dishes in the sink, and don't feel you have to do it all!"
When my day is busy, and my house is a mess, my kids are screaming and I want to scream right there with them like a 2 year old, and throw myself on the floor, I think about those speakers and the moms in my MOPS group and remember that it's normal, and I am not alone.
Other great supports for me have been living in a family friendly neighborhood, finding a great preschool for my daughter and of course my family. You can also meet other moms at various children activities like storytime at your local library/bookstore, indoor play gyms, and mommy and me classes like Kindermusik, and Little Gym.
Thanks for posting, I feel the same way exactly. I was worried when I was pregnant about meeting some moms as some of my friends had kids but were older or weren't married yet. I am so glad I found a mom group and so helpful, because my still single girlfriends are great but just don't get it at my daily struggles as a mom.


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The White Egrets of Taylor County
Author Jay PackerPosted on Published: June 20, 2019 July 10, 2019 at 11:08 pmCategories In: About Our Birds
I've written about herons before, like the common Great Blue Heron and the not-so-common Little Blue Heron. These long-legged wading birds also come in white, if that's your preferred color. We call them egrets, and there's really not any difference between a heron and an egret. We just gave a different name to the white ones.
Across America, there are three white egrets that are common at lakes and wetlands. Taylor County gets all three. Let's explore the group.
Great Egrets are the biggest white egret, with black legs and a yellow bill.
The largest white egret is the Great Egret. At just over three feet tall, it's a little smaller than a Great Blue Heron but much larger than the other two egrets. The birds are identified by their large size and long legs, neck, and bill. For all the white egrets, pay special attention to the unique color combination of the bill and legs. In Great Egret, the legs are black and the bill is yellow.
In Taylor County, this species is present year-round at our largest lakes to our smallest ponds. The birds eat mainly small fish, and forage in deeper water than the other egrets, thanks to their longer legs and necks. They have a wide diet though and will consume almost everything that's available and appropriately sized to fit down their throats. Prey includes reptiles, amphibians, mice and rats, small birds, crustaceans like crawdads and shrimp, and a wide diversity of insects from grasshoppers to dragonflies to beetles. The birds are ambush hunters, standing still with the neck coiled until they strike.
Snowy Egrets are only slightly larger than Cattle Egrets with black bills, black legs, and yellow feet.
The Snowy Egret is the next largest egret, but at two feet is best described as a small bird. It's only a little bigger than a Cattle Egret. They are the only white egret (in the U.S. at least) that has a black bill. The legs are also black and the feet are bright yellow, especially in the breeding season. Birders often refer to the feet as "golden slippers." It's a good mark to identify the species, especially in flight.
Snowy Egrets are more active than Great Egrets, often running around in the water and striking at small minnows like they're on a game show racing the clock to see how much they can grab before the buzzer sounds. Prey is mostly minnows, but like Great Egrets, they'll take other animals and insects. They usually forage at the shallow edge of the water or on shore next to water. Snowy Egrets are in Taylor County year round but become much less common in winter when many seem to leave.
Snowy Egrets can be extremely aggressive towards each other. Here's a few more of my pictures, including a sequence of one bird seemingly trying to murder another. It was a little difficult to watch, so my apologies if the pictures are a little disturbing.
Nelson Park, Abilene, Taylor County, TX
I witnessed a brutal fight between these two Snowy Egrets. Estero Llano Grande State Park, Hidalgo County, TX
Cattle Egret
Cattle Egrets are the smallest of the group with yellow or orange bills and legs.
The last of our white egrets is the Cattle Egret. At about a foot and a half tall, it's also our smallest egret with a shorter neck and legs than the others. Both the bill and the legs are yellow or, in the breeding season, orange. Speaking of breeding, this species gains orange feathers to the crown, back, and chest. The bird on the left in the photo above shows these features growing in, while the bird on the right is not in breeding plumage yet. In winter, the legs can be black, making the bird resemble a Great Egret. The size and shape of the birds is so different, however, it's usually not too hard to tell them apart.
Cattle Egrets are also the most migratory of our white egrets. Seeing one in winter would be rare. The birds show up in spring, hang around for the summer, and then leave by the end of fall.
When it comes to habitat, Cattle Egrets are the least aquatic of the group. They happily forage away from water, walking through fields in search of insects like grasshoppers. Their name comes from their habit of following cows around to feast on the insects stirred up by the large beasts. This species is also noteworthy for being one of two birds that occurs across the world, on every continent except Antarctica. (The other bird is the Barn Swallow.) This is the same species that you've see pictures of, riding around on the backs of rhinoceroses in Africa.
Cattle Egrets are also new to the New World. The birds naturally colonized the Americas by crossing the Atlantic Ocean on their own. They reached the northeast coast of South America in 1877, spread north to the U.S. in 1941 and were recorded nesting here by 1953. They've since become common across the continent. Pretty cool that we know this history.
So there you have it. You now know something about the three white egrets found in Taylor County and how to identify them.
All Articles About Herons, Egrets, and Relatives
American Bittern – Phantom of the Marsh
Least Bittern – Diminutive is Too Big a Word
Great Blue Heron – Please, Don't Call Them Cranes
Great Egret – The White Egrets of Taylor County
Snowy Egret – The White Egrets of Taylor County
Little Blue Heron – Where are the Little Blue Herons?
Tricolored Heron – Day 238: A Tricolored Heron Comes to Taylor County
Reddish Egret – Strictly Coastal, Except When It Isn't
Cattle Egret – The White Egrets of Taylor County
Green Heron – The Tiny Heron of Summer
Black-crowned Night-Heron – Mr. Worldwide
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – Crab-loving & Crawdad-crunching
White Ibis – I'm Sorry You've Been Treated So Unfairly
Glossy Ibis and White-faced Ibis – How Do You Like Your Ibis?
Roseate Spoonbill – No, They're Not Flamingos!
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I'm happy to write down that my mind is going blank.
I'm going to Paris tomorrow, returning Saturday. I'd be in the city four days. One day would be spent in preparation for two days' business, and a day is free for roaming the city. The temperatures are about 5°/0°. I'll go to the Picasso Museum, and, of course, the Apple Store in the Louvre. I can't take the rainy windy cold so much anymore.
I'd be making a day trip to Brussels. That's on one of the two business days I mentioned. I'd be taking the high-speed train, but my customer's plant is by the airport, so I won't get to spend a half-hour in a downtown Brussels cafe. I'll enjoy the ride out and back. I'll read. I'll look out the window. I'll quarrel with my wife. We always pack a fight for a train ride, and a quick-acting making-up kit as well.
I'm travelling very light. How I love that!
A week has gone by. There's greater honesty in his silence, I'm afraid.
I'm resolving to keep my posts to four-hundred words or less. You're nodding, I can see that.
Unless otherwise mentioned, photographs on this site are mine.


Yoga is a holistic science of wellbeing that brings healing from within. The three-layered approach of yoga therapy-relaxing the muscles, slowing the breathing, and calming the mind-restores inner harmony and counteracts the stress that underlies many common diseases. Yoga for Common Ailments shows you how to use yogic ideas and practices to reduce these inner tensions and heal yourself naturally.
The yoga therapy system used in this book was developed at the Vivekananda yoga Therapy and Research Foundation. Dr. Nagendra is the director and founder of the Foundation and Dr. Nagarathna is a consulting yoga therapist there.
In 1975 Dr H R Nagendra gave up a prestigious and successful career in engineering in NASA and as consultant at Harvard in order to work for the Vivekanadna Yoga Centre in India. Shortly in 1986 he established the Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation (VYASA) in Bangalore. South India, of which he became full-time President. The aim of VYASA is to bring the benefits of Yoga into daily life and to carry out critical research into the effectiveness of Yoga therapy. With his nearly 100 research publications in Yoga and its applications, he is a member of the Planning commission of Govt. of India, member of NIMHANS society and the Chancellor of S-VYASA a unique and only Yoga University having his HQ in Prashanti Kutiram, Bengaluru, India.
Dr Nagendra was helped in this task by Dr R Nagarathna, who qualified in internal medicine and is a member of Royal college of Physicians in Edinburgh getting, FRCP later for her research contributions in yoga therapy. Authoring and co-authoring over 100 research publications, she has been awarded DLitt by Tumkur and Kuvempu Universities, She has provided the medical knowledge to develop the Vivekananda system of Integrated Approach of Yoga therapy, which is the basis used in this book. She has brought solace to hundreds of thousands of Patients suffering from modern NCDs. Now she is the Chief of the 250 beds 'Arogyadhama' a holistic health centre in Prashanti Kutiram campus and is spear heading a nationwide movement called Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM).
VYASA has trained thousands of Yoga therapists all over the world in nearly 30 countries, helped more than millions people with chronic disorders, and has carried out critical research into the effectiveness of Yoga therapy for bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus, and several other ailments. It has published nearly 250 research papers in the British Medical Journal and such other journals of repute. It continues to carries out training and research programmes in the USA, the UK, and the Japan.


text:
To affiliate or not to affiliate
Md Shahnawaz Khan Chandan
Fri Aug 9, 2019 12:00 AM Last update on: Fri Aug 9, 2019 12:00 AM
Students of Dhaka University demonstrating to cancel the affiliation of seven colleges. Photo: Prabir Das
Manira Akhter Mitu was a second-year student at the department of economics at Begum Badrunnesa Women's College, one of the seven graduate and post-graduate level colleges affiliated with Dhaka University (DU). According to her classmates and teachers, she was a studious, attentive, and friendly person. She used to help her classmates by sharing books and class-notes.
Manira was with her friends when they joined the demonstration to reform the academic process of the seven colleges affiliated with DU. One of their demands was the publication of exam results within 90 days of the exam. Manira had to wait almost eight months to know the result of her second-year final exam. However, when she learned after eight months that despite all her efforts, she had failed in three subjects, she was mentally shattered. She had already completed many third-year courses over the past eight months, but now she would have to re-admit with second-year students. Failing to bear the shock and the shame, Manira committed suicide on July 16 this year.
Her tragic death sparked outrage among more than 250,000 students of seven colleges who have been demanding overhaul of the slow, ineffective, and faulty academic processes for more than two years. They blocked streets in different places of the Dhaka University campus several times in 2017, 2018, and twice this year on April 23 and on July 17 after Manira's death. According to the protesting students, Manira's death is not an isolated incident. Rate of failure in these colleges is 80-100 percent. For instance, 25 students of Begum Badrunnesa Women's College appeared before the 4th year final exam and all of them failed. Sabbirul Islam, a student of Dhaka College says, "How can such a large number of students fail? Our exam copies are assessed at the whim of the DU teachers. We have to wait for months for our results. When we take to the streets in protest, they hastily examine our copies and publish such a bogus result. Every year we have to hold these protests to speed up our academic activities. Nothing happens according to the regular procedure if we don't demand classes, exams, and results."
DU students locked academic and administrative buildings of the university in protest of the authority's indifference to solve the crisis.
To understand what Sabbir and his fellow protesters has been saying for two years, we need to go two years back. On February 16, 2017, seven renowned graduate and post-graduate level colleges of Dhaka city, namely, Dhaka College, Eden Women's College, Government Shahid Suhrawardi College, Kabi Nazrul College, Begum Badrunnesa Women's College, Government Bangla College, and Government Titumir College, all became affiliated with Dhaka University. The then vice chancellor of DU Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique said at that time, "From now on, Dhaka University will manage the admission process and examinations of these colleges. Students of these colleges will study according to the curriculum of Dhaka University. This would improve the quality of their academic activities."
Ironically, this controversial step was taken in the name of improving the academic quality of the colleges. Before 2017, these institutions, along with 2,300 post-graduate colleges and professional institutions all over the country, used to be run by National University (NU). It was founded in 1992 to oversee the academic activities of the post-graduate colleges and other professional institutions. Before 1992, these colleges were run by Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Mymensingh Agricultural Universities. However, NU, burdened with overseeing the academic activities of more than two million students of thousands of institutions, could not ensure quality education at all. As a result, students of these colleges had to suffer from three-year-long session jams.
The current administration of NU has sought to reduce the session jam by taking exams regularly, which, ironically, had an adverse impact on students' result. Students of NU now have to sit for exams despite not being able to attend any classes for that course. Abu Bakar, a student of Dhaka College and coordinator of the platform of students of the seven colleges, says, "The academic quality of NU is even worse than many coaching centres. Coaching centres at least teach students in exchange of money. NU does not teach students, but takes money and just gives out certificates. This is why we want to remain affiliated with DU instead, but in a more effective way."
Students of seven colleges affiliated with DU blocked the Nilkhet intersection to press home their five point demands. Photo: Star
DU, however, could not perform any better than NU. Already burdened with more than 30,000 students and a faculty member deficit, DU has been struggling to run these institutions from the very beginning. Professor Dr Akhteruzzaman, current vice chancellor of Dhaka University, blames former vice chancellor Professor Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique and says, "These seven colleges were affiliated without any prior plan and in an 'unscientific' manner. This impulsive decision has created a deadlock situation in the university and also in the colleges."
Immediately after the affiliation, not a single class was held in these seven colleges for nine months at a stretch. Most of the students are now in more than a year-long session jam. As a result, students of seven colleges have been demonstrating with five demands. The university must: publish errorless result within 90 days of an exam, re-examine the copies and clarify why such large number of students failed in the recent exams, establish a separate academic building to run the seven colleges, have the college teachers prepare question papers according to the syllabus, and form an academic calendar to eliminate the session jam.
These demonstrations by students of the seven colleges met with other similar protests staged by DU students, but with the opposite demand. These other DU students want to cancel the affiliation with the seven colleges. Shaila Sultana, a student of DU's sociology department, says, "Our regular classes are getting hampered because our teachers remain occupied with these seven colleges. They visit those colleges for inspection and viva exams, and stay busy checking copies while postponing our regular classes. We are forced to sit for exams without attending enough classes. Our results are not published on time. Also, we have to wait for weeks and months to complete a simple task at the registrar's building, such as getting certificates or grade sheets."
An officer of DU's registrar's building supports this claim and says anonymously, "We are in severe dearth of manpower. There are several sections which oversee the academic processes of those seven colleges but those officials also have to work for DU's academic activities simultaneously. In this way, the colleges and the university are both suffering losses."
Students put up a poster on the locked door of a building which read, "what is our administration doing? Only eating and sleeping?" Photo: Prabir Das
Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) supported the agitated students of DU, and, during the recent demonstration, DU's academic activities remain stalled for four days as the protesters locked all academic and administrative buildings of the university. They demanded immediate cancellation of affiliation with the seven colleges. Nurul Huq Nur, vice president of DUCSU, says, "We shall continue our movement to cancel the affiliation. Our movement will benefit both the students of the seven colleges and the students of DU. Our university is not prepared to take the responsibility of these colleges. Due to shortage of teachers and officials, it cannot even run its own departments properly. This affiliation will further deteriorate the academic environment."
On the other hand, on August 7, 2019, students of the seven colleges organised a press conference where Abu Bakar states, "If the affiliation is cancelled, we shall block the entire city from Sadarghat to Mohakhali. We want reformation not cancellation. Due to cancellation of classes and frequent postponement of exams, we are now far behind NU. If the affiliation is cancelled, we will not be able to cope with NU students as well."
More than 300,000 students of Dhaka University and seven renowned colleges of the city have become engaged in an existential crisis due to a hectic, unworkable decision taken by the authorities. Professor Dr Akhteruzzaman says, "We want a positive and credible solution. Our students are our first priority. We have formed committees to look into this matter. And we have asked for two weeks to reach a solution."
Two weeks from the day when the vice chancellor made this promise, DU will be closed for more than three weeks due to Eid holidays. Such strategy to buy time will only increase tension among students; their academic performance and future careers will become more uncertain. At present, the fate of more than 300,000 students who live and study in Dhaka city is hanging in the balance. If a pragmatic and prudent step is not taken immediately to ensure quality education for the students of the seven colleges and DU, Bangladesh should await another student agitation in the future.
The writer can be contacted at [email protected].
৯ মিনিট আগে|অর্থনীতি
পদ্মা অয়েলের মুনাফা বেড়েছে ৫০ শতাংশ
পুঁজিবাজারে রাষ্ট্রায়ত্ত পদ্মা অয়েল কোম্পানির মুনাফা ২০২২ সালের অক্টোবর-ডিসেম্বর সময়কালে আগের বছরের একই সময়ের তুলনায় প্রায় ৫০ শতাংশ বেড়েছে।


In between all the exciting film festivals taking place over the Summer in the South-Eastern Europe area, there's definitely one you shouldn't miss: FeKK – Ljubljana Short Film Festival is the largest international short film festival in Slovenia, dedicated to film-makers from all over the place but especially from Slovenia and countries of Ex-Yugoslavia who compete for the FeKK SLO and FeKK YU awards, respectively.
This year the festival runs between August 20th and 25th and we're happy to announce that our newest short film 'PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE' (GOVORILNE URE), written and directed by Gašper Antauer of 'SCHUPAKFACE' fame, will have its worldwide premiere there! The screening will take place on Tuesday, August 21st at 22:15 at the open air cinema on Museum Platform near Metelkova in Ljubljana.


BankSearch attends the SDMX Global Conference in Paris - BankSearch Information Consultancy Ltd.
Over 200 statistical and IT experts from around the world attended the latest three day SDMX Global Conference from the 11 – 13 September 2013. The event was hosted by the OECD, one of the original sponsors of the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) framework, at their prestigious headquarters in the centre of Paris.
A veritable 'Who's Who' of international bodies, national statistical offices, central banks, other agencies and private firms were represented including the IMF, United Nations, Bank for International Settlements, Eurostat, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, to name but a few.
A landmark was broadcast at the conference; SDMX has been recognised internationally, achieving the status of an ISO International Standard; ISO 17369. This seal of approval should help to extend awareness among experts, globally, that an international standard exists for statistical data and metadata exchange, leading to more implementations.
Other notable announcements included the completion of Balance of Payments and National Accounts Data Structure Definitions (DSDs), the imminent implementation of the SDMX Global Registry and additional SDMX IT tools are being made available.
SDMX has come a long way since we first applied the standard to disseminate monetary and financial data in XML format back in 2003. The SDMX sponsors and user community are commended for all of their hard work and commitment, which has rightly been recognised by ISO standards committee. We look forward to continue working with Central Banks, National Statistics Offices and other statistical agencies and to implementing SDMX in the coming months and years.


Are you the kind of person who jumps at every creak in your house? Do you have nightmares about your home being haunted? If you do, then you might want to read The Waiting by Hunter Shea in the daylight.
On Brian and Cassandra's wedding day, the unimaginable happens. Brian is forced to watch helplessly as his new bride collapses and is hospitalized with an intestinal rupture. Brian takes his wife to their home and cares for her himself, with the help of his mother-in-law and a visiting nurse. Although her doctors say her brain is working properly, Cassandra is trapped in a state between life and death — unconscious most of the time and unable to communicate.
Soon, items start be moved around the house and Brian and his mother-in-law start seeing a mysterious boy appearing out of nowhere, running silently down the hallway and standing next to Cassie's bed. The mystery drives Brian to the breaking point, afraid to be in his own home and afraid for his wife's safety.
As a rare hurricane slams New York City, The Waiting reaches its climax, and apparent conclusion. That is until the final chapter jumps forward one year and totally shocked me with its terrifying revelation.
I love ghost stories. When I was younger, I was terrified of ghost stories and things that go bump in the night. Now, I am just very intrigued by them. A well-told ghost story can draw you in and pull you along down its dark, spooky hallway before jolting you with its terrifying conclusion. Shea definitely knows how to tell a spooky story.
The Waiting is a quick read, but Shea still is able to develop the characters and make you care about them. He slowly and gently builds the suspense and carefully unpeels the layers of terror. You'll be jumping at every little creak in your house after you read this novella.
The most terrifying part is that the story is based on actual events from Shea's life. I have heard the real-life stories of what Shea and his family have encountered in their home and I don't think I would ever be able to get a good night's sleep in my house if I had experienced those things.
What will you do when push comes to shove? When everything is on the line, what choices will you make? Who will you choose to trust? Where will you put your faith?
These questions are at the heart of the new supernatural suspense novel Afloat by Christian author Erin Healy. I had already read The Baker's Wife and The Promise She Keeps by Healy and the description of Afloat grabbed my eye, so I was excited to jump into Afloat when it arrived on my doorstep.


We need a left footed left back.
While Ebeuhi and Idowu performed admirably given the dearth of options we need to seek a left back.
As it stands there is only one left footed left back playing regularly at a decent club in Europe: Stanley Amuzie at Lugano (Switzerland). Not a top club, but he's 22 and a regular for his side, plus he has a more than decent cross to him.
That's yesterday's question, originating from the same textbook as "is Darren Eadie the answer to the left wing woes?". A more current question would be, why bother with a left back at all????
Let us hope one of them comes through over the coming season. None of them is yet ready for the Super Eagles but a year is a long time in football!


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Couriering the area this week in 1997 – Jan Eric Strohl, of Clemmons, joined Bowman Gray/Baptist Hospital Medical Center as marketing manager for the Office of Public Relations and Marketing.
Andrea Lehrer, a junior at West Forsyth High School, traveled to Washington, D.C., as a participant in the Presidential Classroom Scholars Program. Lehrer is the daughter of Robert and Lynne Lehrer of Clemmons and was the first student from West Forsyth to attend the Presidential classroom.
Jeffrey Casimir Matuszak, of Clemmons, was named to the dean's list at the University of South Carolina for the fall semester. He is the son of Casimir J. Matuazak.
Joseph Matamoros, as senior at Forsyth Country Day School, was designated a finalist in competition for the Presidential Scholarship at Georgia Institute of Technology. He was also the finalist for the Caldwell Merit Scholarship program at North Carolina State University and a semi-finalist for the Park Scholarship to N.C. State. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald A. Matamoros of Advance.
Appalachian State University graduate Joseph Dickson, of Lewisville, was appointed to the university's alumni council.
Jenifer Moore Gibson, daughter of Bill and Dorothy Moore of Lewisville and a 1990 graduate of West Forsyth High School, accepted a position as an instructor/teacher in the Medical Assistant Program at Central Piedmont College in Charlotte.
The new Elders ordination and installation service was held at Clemmons Presbyterian Church. Those installed included Mac Criso. J. D. Rooney, Carole Kausch, Paul Welty and Youth Elder, Jennifer Ring.
Clemmons resident Don Cardwell was named to the inaugural class of the Greater Winston-Salem Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. Cardwell was a veteran of 14 seasons in the major leagues. His career was with five different teams including the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs. Pittsburgh Pirates and Atlanta Braves. His impressive resumé includes pitching in the 1969 World Series for the world champion Mets and hurling a no-hitter for the Cubs against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 15, 1960. His career record was 102 wins, 138 losses and a 3.92 earned run average.
The Clemmons business community was preparing to become larger, as a Raleigh developer announced plans to build a Holiday Inn Express in Clemmons.
Winston-Salem Symphony presents a free 'Concert for Community' on Jan. 25


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Since 1990, focusing on the Michigan influence in Ernest Hemingway's work, especially the Nick Adams Stories. Annual Hemingway Weekend in Petoskey features speakers, readings, exhibits, and tours
of northern Michigan sites where the
Nobel Prize-winning author
spent his boyhood years.
Dates for 2010 weekend: Oct. 15-17
Theme: Dining at Hemingway's Table
featuring Valarie Hemingway
2010 Conference Headquarters:
Odawa Hotel
Eighty-five people attended the 20th annual Hemingway weekend in Petoskey, eighteen of them first-timers. The sun shone on visitors from Connecticut to California Oct. 16, 17, and 18, adding its good cheer to an agenda of talks, tours, and renewed friendships.
Conference headquarters was the Odawa Hotel, and conferees reported all A's on generous buffet meals, comfortable conference facilities, helpful staff, convenient parking, and shuttle service to downtown Petoskey.
A 20th birthday cake was cut on Friday, commemorating the years of Hemingway weekends in Petoskey since the Perry Hotel hosted the first event in 1990. Founders Ken Marek, Fred Svoboda, and Audrey McMullen were recognized for their ongoing contributions to what has become the Michigan Hemingway Society. Nancy Nicholson read a list of some of the conference themes developed over the two decades.
President Mike Federspiel introduced Robert Trogden, Hemingway Society and Foundation Board member, who announced that MHS has been chosen to host the 2012 International Hemingway Conference in the Petoskey area. Dr. Trogdon will be program chair for the event. The conference will take place from Sunday, June 17, through Friday, June 22, 2012, with the possibility of an add-on tour to the Upper Peninsula on Saturday, the 23rd. We are very enthusiastic about this conference and hope to see many of our annual participants at this event. Federspiel also acknowledged MHS members who will be organizing local arrangements and fund raising for the prestigious conference.
Friday's speaker was Ken Marek, who had planned to share the podium with artist Jerry Gates. Gates was unable to attend due to last minute health issues, so Ken filled both sides of the ticket. He set four criteria for someone to be considered an artist, one of which was the ability to invent and imagine. Marek read portions of "Big Two Hearted River" and illustrated where Hemingway's prose took creative liberty with the facts of the landscape. He then showed slides of fine art selected by Gates, speculating on what Hemingway might have liked or disliked about each. Each conferee was given a note card featuring a reproduction of one of Gates' paintings.
Saturday afternoon conferees attended a special reception at the Little Traverse History Museum to view the newly expanded Hemingway exhibit that MHS helped fund. Artifacts and new interpretive text help the visitor to a better understanding of Michigan's influence on Hemingway's life.
Saturday the audience was treated to presentations by Hemingway family members. John and Judy Sanford spoke about the relationship between Grace Hall Hemingway's paintings and Ernest's literary art.
Sean Hemingway told about his efforts to create a "restored edition" of Hemingway's posthumous A Moveable Feast, to which he added entries based on a typed manuscript with original notations in Hemingway's own hand. Saturday afternoon Sean was present for a book signing at the McLean & Eakin bookstore, which sold out of his books early. Sean then autographed book plates which will be placed in books ordered online (www. mcleanandeakin.com).
Keynote speaker Colette Hemingway, author of in his time: Ernest Hemingway's Collection of Paintings and the Artists He Knew, showed slides of the artwork acquired by Hemingway and discussed its importance in his own creative process. During her presentation, she said Hemingway believed that painters were essential in learning how to see, hear, think and write. She said Hemingway learned to write landscapes by studying Cézanne, who "broke things down into swatches of pure color that together give a true feeling for his subjects." Hemingway acquired much of his collection from contemporaries and friends, as Gertrude Stein recommended. His writing and their art alike reflected how work by the "lost generation" sought to reach beyond traditional means of expression.
Patricia Innes, who holds her master's degree in fine arts, judged the entries in MHS's first photography contest which was on exhibition Sunday morning. Nearly 30 photos were entered, evoking the spirit of Hemingway's art. First prize went to first time conferee Harry Gordon of California for his portrait of Gregorio Fuentes. Second and third prizes went to Audrey McMullen and Cecil Ponder. Innes then told about her 15 years' work on the Michigan Legacy Art Park at Crystal Mountain, which focuses on Michigan arts and culture and has a strong Hemingway representation.
2010 CONFERENCE HEADQUARTERS: ODAWA HOTEL
This year's conference will once again be held at the The Odawa Hotel, located on Route 131 South. The conference will be from Friday, Oct 15, 2010 to Sunday, Oct 17, 2010.
The Odawa is holding a block of 33 rooms and 4 suites from Thursday October 14 to Monday October 18 so you may come early or stay late to enjoy Hemingway country. All rooms are non smoking.
The rates for the rooms are Sunday thru Thursday $68, Friday and Saturday $77. The rates for the suites are Sunday thru Thursday $98, Friday and Saturday $107. These rates are based on single/double occupancy with a $15 charge for additional adults.
The Odawa will hold these rooms until September 15, 2010, one month before the conference begins.
To book your room now, call 1-877-442-6464 and ask for the Michigan Hemingway Society special conference rate. Accommodations may also be available at nearby hotels; for information, call 1-800-845-2828 or see www.boynecountry.com
DVD available: Ernest Hemingway, A Life in Michigan, created by Central Michigan University, Michigan Council for the Humanities, and the Michigan Hemingway Society. Includes Michigan sites of his stories and life, interviews with scholars and family, historical photos. A CMU/WCMU-TV/PBS production. To order, please send $25 (includes shipping and handling) to:
Nancy Nicholson - P.O. Box 922 - Petoskey, Michigan 49770
Coming to northern Michigan? Want to tour historic Hemingway haunts?
MHS offers this guide with suggested readings.
Michigan Hemingway Society is proud to support the Ernest Hemingway collection and endowment
at CMU's Clarke Historical Library.
• Learn about MHS goals
• Join MHS
Current MHS Newsletter • Previous MHS newsletters
Publications by MHS scholars
For more Hemingway resources, see:
The Hemingway Society
Hemingway Filmography
The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park
Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center
Ernest Hemingway biography and bibliography
Timeless Hemingway (includes quote finder, FAQ, wiki and blog)
Copyright © 2010. Michigan Hemingway Society. All rights reserved.


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Mutations in Essential Genes Often Cause Rare Diseases
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CINCINNATI – Mutations in genes essential to survival are behind so-called orphan diseases, explaining in part why these diseases are rare and often deadly, according to a study appearing in The American Journal of Human Genetics.
The new finding contrasts sharply with what is known about mutations in non-essential genes being the drivers of common diseases having higher prevalence rates, according to scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who conducted the research.
The bioinformatics study – which used computer technology to link diseases with causative genes, interacting proteins, and shared molecular pathways – produced a global network map involving 1,772 orphan diseases caused by gene mutations. The map gives scientists a precise starting point to launch innovative research into developing new therapies or repositioning existing drugs for diseases that lack effective treatments, said Anil Jegga, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Biomedical Informatics and the study's senior investigator.
An orphan or rare disease is defined as one affecting less than 200,000 Americans. There are 8,000 orphan diseases that together impact more than 25 million people in the United States, Dr. Jegga explained. A number of orphan diseases start early in life, are influenced by genetics and the immune system, and include diseases like cystic fibrosis and various forms of childhood cancer.
"Only about 300 of these 8,000 diseases have effective drug therapy, so collectively orphan diseases pose a formidable challenge for public health authorities," Dr. Jegga said. "Previous studies on disease networks have not separated out these rare diseases, many of which are fatal while others induce chronic and debilitating illnesses."
By analyzing networks that offer a natural representation of orphan diseases – including the interactive links between causative genes, protein functions and pathways – researchers get a systems-level view of the complex associations that underlie these diseases, according to Minlu Zhang and Cheng Zhu, the study's co-first authors and members of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Cincinnati.
One of the study's key findings is that orphan disease genes encode hub proteins, which have multiple protein-to-protein interactions vital to cell function. Previous studies have shown that non-essential genes causing common diseases do not encode hub proteins. In fact, researchers report that deleting about 43 percent of orphan disease causing gene homologs in mice (which are similar to human genes) is lethal or cause premature death, indicating the essential survival role of the genes and related biological processes.
Researchers said the 1772 orphan diseases analyzed in their study are linked to a total of 2,124 mutant genes. Sixty-nine percent of the diseases have one implicated gene and the rest are caused by two or more genes. In fact, of the 2,124 orphan disease-causing genes, 1,393 are linked to only one disease, while the remaining 731 genes are causative for two or more diseases. An example noted in the study involves mutations of the gene LMNA, which are implicated in 17 orphan diseases. And the orphan disease, nonsyndromic genetic deafness, has the highest number of causative genes at 43.
Dr. Jegga and his colleagues say the study also shows that it is critical to go beyond taking a gene-based approach to diagramming interactive orphan disease maps.
"Our findings indicate that the wiring of the gene-based and function-based networks of orphan diseases is different," he said. "By considering the shared functions among causal genes, molecular targets for the treatment of orphan diseases can be revealed. These maps of molecular targets can then be used to create novel hypotheses and guide treatment strategies for orphan diseases."
In the 10 years prior to passage of the U.S. Orphan Drug Act in 1983, only 10 new drugs for rare diseases were approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In the 28 years since the act passed, more than 300 orphan disease drugs have been approved.
Data used in the study was provided by Orphanet, an online reference portal for information on rare diseases and orphan drugs. Funding support for the current study came in part from the Cincinnati Digestive Health Sciences Center and from Cincinnati Children's.
Jim Feuer, 513-636-4656


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The sack of Palermo is the popular term for the construction boom from the 1950s through the mid-1980s in Palermo, Italy, that led to the destruction of the city's green belt and historic villas to make way for characterless and shoddily-constructed apartment blocks. In the meantime, Palermo's historic centre, severely damaged by Allied bombing raids in 1943, was allowed to decay. The bombing condemned nearly 150,000 people to live in crowded slums, shantytowns, and even caves.

Background

Between 1951 and 1961, the population of Palermo had risen by 100,000, caused by a rapid urbanization of Sicily after World War II as land reform and mechanization of agriculture created a massive peasant exodus and rural landlords moved their investment  into urban real estate. This led to an unregulated and undercapitalised construction boom from the 1950s through the mid-1980s that was characterised by the aggressive involvement of the Sicilian Mafia in real estate speculation and construction. The years 1957 to 1963 were the high point in private construction, followed in the 1970s and 1980s by a greater emphasis on public works. The population of Palermo grew from 503,000 in 1951 to 709,000 in 1981, an increase of 41 percent.

More significant than the wartime destruction of the old city was the political decision against its restoration in favor of building a "new Palermo", at first concentrated at the northern end, beyond the Art Nouveau neighborhood of 19th century expansion. Subsequently, in other zones to the west and the south spreading over, and destroying, the Conca d'Oro orchards, villas, and hamlets, accelerating the cementification of what had been green.

Real estate developers ran wild, pushing the center of the city out along Viale della Liberta toward the new Punta Raisi Airport. With hastily-drafted zoning variances or in wanton violation of the law, builders tore down countless Art Nouveau palaces and asphalted many of the city's parks, transforming one of the most beautiful cities in Europe into a dense, unappealing landscape of cement condominia. Villa Deliella, one of the most important works of Sicilian architect Ernesto Basile was completely demolished in the middle of the night, hours before it would have come under the protection of historic preservation laws.

Mafia involvement
The high point of the sack happened when the Christian Democrat Salvo Lima was mayor of Palermo (1958-1963 and 1965-1968) and Vito Ciancimino the assessor for public works. They supported Mafia-allied building contractors such as Palermo's leading construction entrepreneur Francesco Vassallo – a former cart driver hauling sand and stone in a poor district of Palermo. Vassallo was connected to mafiosi like Angelo La Barbera and Tommaso Buscetta. In five years, over 4,000 building licences were signed, some 2,500 in the names of three pensioners who had no connection with construction at all.

Developers with close ties to the Mafia were not afraid to use strong-arm tactics to intimidate owners into selling or to clear the way for their projects. The Parliamentary Antimafia Commission noted:
It was in Palermo in particular that the phenomenon [of illegal construction] took on dimensions such as not to leave any doubts about the insidious penetration by the Mafia of public administration. The administrative management of Palermo City Council reached unprecedented heights of deliberate non-observation of the law around 1960.

References

Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia, London: Coronet,
Jamieson, Alison (2000), The Antimafia. Italy's Fight Against Organized Crime, London: MacMillan Press
Schneider, Jane T. & Peter T. Schneider (2003). Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo, Berkeley: University of California Press
Servadio, Gaia (1976), Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day, London: Secker & Warburg
Stille, Alexander (1995). Excellent Cadavers. The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic, New York: Vintage

History of the Sicilian Mafia
History of Palermo
20th century in Italy
1951 in Italy
1950s in Italy
1960s in Italy
1970s in Italy
1980s in Italy

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Midstate businesses share lasting pandemic impacts
by: Hannah Brandt
Posted: Nov 29, 2021 / 10:58 PM EST
Updated: Nov 29, 2021 / 11:10 PM EST
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Although pandemic shutdowns are in the past, some businesses are still dealing with their impacts.
The spread of the coronavirus changed customers' habits, including where and how they spend their money.
Cumberland County's Park Inn Hotel to become a retail shopping center
For many places it was a challenge getting business back once they reopened.
Rose Fiegl and Barb Hoffman, with Central Penn Fitness & Aquatics say many people took their fitness into their own hands.
"I've heard some people have bought their own equipment and they're doing that. Some people do online classes," Fiegl said.
"Some people are used to just not exercising and it's a bad habit that they've formed," Hoffman said.
Small Business Saturday helps local businesses stay afloat
Barber Tate Yohe, who owns Neibert's Barbershop, had a similar experience.
"A lot of people realized that they could, they could somewhat do their own haircuts at home," Yohe said. "Honestly bottom line, it's cheaper for them to cut hair at home than it is for them to come in and spend that on a haircut."
Members 1st : Helping Small Businesses
That left the businesses struggling at first, but they adjusted.
For Yohe, new clients helped offset the loss of those who didn't return.
"We did a lot of fixing of haircuts when guys came back to the barbershop. They were letting their wives cut their hair or they were just hacking at it," Yohe said.
Dems fan out across US to tout Build Back Better Act
At Central Penn Fitness, older members helped them fill the gaps.
"Seniors I think are more likely to come back into the environment here again for what we said about the socialization and the camaraderie. Whereas the younger people are making other arrangements," Hoffman said.
They aren't quite up to their pre-pandemic numbers but are hoping they'll get there soon.
New restaurant in Hanover creates jobs; chamber of commerce hopeful for future
"We hope it's not forever," Fiegl and Hoffman said.
Neibert's Barbershop has fully recovered and is getting even busier from the holiday rush.
"You don't realize how important a barber is in a guy's life until you take him away for three months," Yohe said.
Banks says City of Harrisburg needs to create more opportunity for women and minority businesses
Both businesses are still doing a ton of cleaning, which is likely a permanent pandemic change.
Neibert's Barbershop is now appointment only, something they don't plan to change any time soon.


text:
Maya Hawke, daughter of Hollywood royalty, on scaring men and making Little Women
At 19, the rising star still heeds the advice of parents Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke.
By Jane Mulkerrins
December 14, 2017 — 1.55pm
"Both of my parents think being a professional child actor is poisonous," Maya Hawke is telling me, with an expression that strongly suggests she shares their disdain. "They came to my plays, read the poems I wrote and would listen to me sing, but they kept me out of the spotlight. They were cautious about public exposure while you're very young."
Her parents would know: her father, Ethan Hawke, made his film debut aged 15 in Explorers, alongside the late River Phoenix, while her mother, Uma Thurman, also began working at 15, first as a model, then an actress; one of her first movies was the multi-Oscar-winning Dangerous Liaisons.
''Jo was a literary heroine of mine, especially when I was struggling with my dyslexia growing up,'' says Maya Hawke.
And although their eldest daughter, now an impressively well-adjusted 19-year-old, doesn't really seem the sort to court the spotlight, it may well soon be thrust upon her regardless as she makes her professional acting debut this month in BBC Christmas drama Little Women.
The three-part serial, based on Louisa May Alcott's classic novel, has been adapted by Call the Midwife's Heidi Thomas, and also stars Emily Watson, Michael Gambon and Angela Lansbury.
Maya Hawke plays the headstrong Jo March in Little Women. Credit:patrick redmond
But the plum role, that of feisty, strong-willed tomboy Jo March, belongs to Hawke, whose determination to secure the part would no doubt have made her alter ego proud. "Jo was a literary heroine of mine, especially when I was struggling with my dyslexia growing up," Hawke says. "Her ambition, courage and drive to overcome her obstacles really inspired me. And I always related to her clumsiness, her curiosity, her stubbornness, her always putting her foot in her mouth. When I heard the BBC was making Little Women, I rushed to audition."
The similarities between actor and fictitious character are impossible to deny. During our time together, Hawke is energetic and engaged, with fervent opinions and observations tumbling out in a great, unstoppable torrent. And there's an unselfconscious tomboy element, too; she's beautiful, but wears it so lightly you almost don't notice.
Though written in 1868 and set in the American Civil War, Alcott's tale of the four March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy – feels highly relevant today, with America bitterly divided and gender roles and dynamics being challenged and re-evaluated. "It's a different time, but there are explorations of sex, love, creativity and ambition. Those are all very current and familiar themes – in my life, at least," she says.
We're in a makeshift nook in the corner of a photography studio on the west side of Manhattan. Long-limbed, with blue eyes and freckles, it's not hard to see why she was selected as the face of high-street brand All Saints for its spring/summer 2017 collection. So closely does she resemble her parents, it's almost disconcerting; one second she is a teen incarnation of Thurman, the next, pure Hawke.
Maya Hawke in Little Women. Credit:patrick redmond
Post-shoot, she's changed into a short black velvet dress and dark-red patent heels, but, much to my amusement, won't tell me who they are by.
"This isn't how I normally dress. I'm going to a birthday party, so I'm kind of dressed up," she insists. "These are my mum's clothes – I stole them. And I don't want to be written about as this girl who's wearing this ridiculously expensive outfit."
Maya Hawke with her mother, Uma Thurman, in 2014. Credit:Everett Collection Inc / Alamy Stock Photo
Hawke's everyday style is more what she describes as "an attempt at a contemporary Annie Hall. Jeans, a tight, stripy T-shirt and a cool jean jacket". She breaks off to eat some roasted vegetables with her fingers. "I do care a lot about what I wear, but in a way that is about comfort and practicality, and I always want to look like me."
In the weeks before we meet, Hollywood has been in meltdown as a seemingly endless list of powerful men have been accused of sexual misconduct and abuse, including the hotelier Andre Balazs, whom her mother dated for three years. At first, Thurman said she was "waiting to feel less angry" before making a statement. But then, a week after this interview, she posted an image of herself in Kill Bill: Volume 2 (a film in which she played a woman who takes bloodthirsty revenge against her mortal enemy) on Instagram, declaring: "I am grateful today, to be alive, for all those I love, and for all those who have the courage to stand up for others... Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! (Except you Harvey [Weinstein], and all your wicked conspirators – I'm glad it's going slowly – you don't deserve a bullet.)" The message ended with the words "stay tuned" and included the #metoo hashtag, implying Thurman has also been a victim of sexual abuse.
Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke in 2002. Credit:AP
"I've made a very educated decision about going into the industry," says her daughter. "I know what I'm getting into and I was raised to be very strong-willed and outspoken, and to not take shit from anybody. I feel very lucky, with everything my mother's generation went through and all the generations before, that right as I am having my debut, people are being held accountable for their actions. A certain sexuality involved in the power dynamic is being slowly cleansed from this industry."
Hawke was born in New York, two months after her parents married, and a little over a year after they met on the set of the sci-fi film Gattaca in 1997. Her brother, Levon, was born in 2002, but Thurman and Hawke separated a year later, when Maya was five.
She grew up between her mother's home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and her father's in Brooklyn. "There are things that are hard about coming from a divorced family, but having two houses is not one of those things. It's about the dynamic," she says, sagely.
Her father went on to marry the family's former nanny, Ryan Shawhughes, with whom he has two daughters, Clementine, nine, and Indiana, six, while Thurman was twice engaged to French financier Arpad Busson, with whom she has five-year-old daughter Luna, before the couple finally broke up in 2014. In January this year, Thurman and Busson became embroiled in a vicious custody battle over Luna, which saw him accuse his former partner of having mental-health issues, and medicating with prescription drugs and alcohol. Thurman eventually won primary custody.
Though Hawke, like Jo, has three sisters, she says the large age difference renders their relationships free of the rivalry that Little Women depicts between the Marches. "I'm really more of an aunt to them," she says. "I feel a responsibility to be present in their life, and to show them a healthy way to grow up in the world that I grew up in. I made a ton of mistakes, but I still have all my 10 fingers and toes, and a sturdy clean nose." She grins. "And I made my mistakes out of the spotlight; I hope they will be able to as well."
Her dyslexia, however, was more challenging than the potential pitfalls of being born into fame. "I went from school to school to school, looking for the right place for me," she recalls. Eventually, she found Saint Ann's, the bohemian, arts-focused school in Brooklyn Heights, whose former pupils include Lena Dunham, Jemima Kirke, Zac Posen and Jean-Michel Basquiat. With fees up to $US42,000 ($54,000) a year (Basquiat won a scholarship there at the age of seven), students are encouraged to express themselves creatively and work is not graded. Encouraged by the freestyle environment, Hawke developed a passion for drama. "Acting is like the blood of language," she declares.
After Saint Ann's, she won a place at another prestigious New York establishment, the performing arts school Juilliard, whose notable alumni include Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac and Christopher Reeve.
But this year she was forced to choose between taking the role in Little Women and returning for her second year of college. "Juilliard has a zero-tolerance policy for absences due to work," she says. "I only would have missed five days, and I wrote them a really nice letter asking them please to take me back, but I was ready to accept the repercussions of my choice.
"I wanted to be independent. I wanted my own apartment and job, and I wanted to move on to the next chapter of what my life was going to be." She doesn't think that comes from nowhere. "Both my parents were supporting themselves when they were 15. There's something scrappy in all of us." Beyond Little Women, she is looking at "film and theatre primarily". "I'm interested in television in short stints, but if I wanted to do the same thing every day I would have picked a different job."
Hawke has nothing else booked in, but recently spent a fortnight going to auditions and meetings in Los Angeles. "I felt totally castrated by the fact that I had to drive everywhere," she laments. "For me, the subway system in New York stands for independence."
I ask if she's dating anyone. "No," she replies, with a small sigh. "I had a wonderful, loving relationship that lasted a year. It just ended and I'm single." She puts her hand to her eyes, and, for just a brief second, slightly loses her self-possession. "I think I scare men," she confesses. "I was given the impression that being 19 and single in the world means you'll be fending off the wolves, but I can't find a wolf to save my life."
Unlike most of her peers, she refuses to engage with dating apps to remedy this. "I'm not particularly interested in my phone," she shrugs; there is a private Instagram account only for friends. "I'm interested in human contact. I think phones have created a certain social incapacity; it's made people socially deficient. And if it's fun to spend time alone, then there's not the incentive to go out and meet people and make yourself vulnerable."
And with that parting observation, Hawke heads out to go apartment-hunting, see a play and then hit a party.
Telegraph Magazine
Little Women is on Stan from December 27.
Most Viewed in Entertainment


text:
The WIld, WIld Westchester Week 6
Sean Dockery
Leagues, Westchester
With the calendar saying we are a week away from Christmas, the semester should be over by now. However, due to hurricane sandy and other weather related issues, we are heading into the final match tonight for most teams. Week 6 continued to point toward who is going up who is going down, who is safe, and who is not. As usual, all the stats can be found HERE.
Manursing Island Club 1 now sits atop division 1 alone thanks in large part to Greenburgh 1's sweep of New York Athletic Club 1. M1 had a sweep of their own with a 5-0 victory over Flint Park 1. All matches were pretty one sided for M1, with the exception of the 4 line going 3 sets. GB1 has gotten themselves back near the top with their sweep after fielding their strongest team all year. Speaking of sweeps, it appears Bronxville 1 did not like another Bronxville team in d1 with them and promptly swept Bronxville 3, 5-0. In the final match in d1, The Country Club of Westchester 1 beat Orienta Beach Club 1, 4-1, with OBC1's only win coming at the 5 line.
So with M1 leading GB1 by 2 games, but M1 having a tougher last match, this could go either way. BV1 also could sneak in there if they were to sweep OBC1, which is very possible. At the other end, BV3 looks like the favorite to be going down in d1. With 5 points, they would need to sweep GB1, also very possible(I may be biased, delusional or delirious here) and have BV1 sweep OBC1.
It appears Fox Meadow 1 has already wrapped this division up with 24 points after 6 matches. Siwanoy Country Club 1 has 22 points, but they have already completed their 7th and last match. Last week, FM1 beat SCC1 by a score of 3-2 to secure the win. Bronxville 2 is in third place and faces FM1 tonight. BV2 beat Scarsdale Golf Club 3-2 last week with a mysterious ending at the 1 line, where BV2 got the victory after the match was called. Elsewhere, Scarsdale Village 1 beat Sleepy Hollow Village by a score of 3-2, and the final match score was not entered. In a real turn around story, Pelham Country Club 1 looks to be headed to d3, after last year almost making it to d1. Where is that Ben Stein guy when you need him?
Just like FM1 in d2, Shenorock also has already sewn up the promotion in d3. After sweeping Century Country Club 1, they have 27 points with still one match to play. New York Athletic Club 2 is in second place with 22 points, but has already played their final match. The 4-1 loss to Greenburgh 2 last week took them out of contention for the division crown. Wykagyl Country Club 1 scored a 4-1 victory over Larchmont Shore Club 1 and faces Larchmont Yacht Club 2 in their final match. LYC2 swept Pelham Country Club 2, 5-0, and PCC2 looks to be headed down in the division, just like their brethren in d2, PCC1.
Beach Point Club 1 has a slim lead in division 4 over Manursing Island Club 2. BPC1 has completed all their matches, while MIC2 still has one match left. BPC1 swept Bronxville Field Club 1, while MIC2 swept Orienta Beach Club 2 with two defaults going their way. MIC2 faces White Plains in their final match. White Plains beat New York Athletic Club 3, 3-2 last week and it looks as though NYAC 3 will be going down to d5, as they have completed all their matches and are last in the division with 8 points. In the final match of d4 last week, Ardsley Country Club 1 beat Bronxville Village 4 by a score of 4-1.
Ben Stein
Changes To President's Cup, A Huge Improvement
Kansas City Open NRT/PCQ - Sign-Up Now!


One of the fun things about Christmas is all the family traditions that grow up around the holiday. When I was a child, one of the local television stations would broadcast the old black-and-white version of A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim late on Christmas Eve, and Mom and I would snuggle up on the couch to watch. When the movie finished, it would be midnight and officially Christmas. Mom and I would hug each other, and saying a heartfelt "Merry Christmas!" go to our beds for some sleep before my grandparents would show up in the morning to open presents.
When we moved away, that Christmas Eve tradition faded away until the advent of VCRs and then DVDs. I have copies of both the Alistair Sim version and the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol, and that tradition is going strong once more.
Perhaps it's just me, but Dickens' timeless Christmas story doesn't seem quite as prevalent as it was when I was a child. When I think of what's going on in the world today, I hear a ghostly voice asking, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" But these are thoughts for another day. The different film versions of A Christmas Carol turned my mind to all the different book covers there have to be for this classic, and I thought I would visit a few. I hope you'll come along with me. I seem to have found a cornucopia of differing styles!
How about this very old leatherbound edition?
Or one illustrated by one of my favorites, Arthur Rackham?
This one definitely gives me the creeps!
And this one makes me laugh and think of Mr. Fezziwig.
This cover definitely brings out the ghostly aspects of the tale.
And who on earth could forget Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim?
I love this cover for the snow falling on those fabulous old buildings!
And this one reminds me of George C. Scott portraying Scrooge.
There are many comic book versions of Dickens' story.
I had this one when I was a child.
And this one, too. I loved Mr. Magoo!
Of all the covers, this 2015 version is pretty, but it's certainly not Dickens!
I hope you enjoyed visiting A Christmas Carol with me. You should've seen the smile on my face when I found the Mr. Magoo cover. Dickens' story will be celebrating its 200th birthday in 2043, and we need the lessons it is trying to teach us today every bit as much as they were needed then.
I couldn't agree more, Cathy, about what A Christmas Carol could still teach us. As you say, that's a conversation for another day. But for today, thanks for sharing all of these covers. So much personality in each one, I think.
When I visited the children next door and saw their decorated tree, I asked the 5 1/2-year-old what he wanted as a gift. He said to me, "a book about Christmas," and he pointed to four copies of Christmas books at his feet, mostly Twas the Night before Christmas. I ordered "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," figured it was about time for the Dr. Seuss side of the story.


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This is your chance to have a say in the laws governing the Yarra River. Submissions on the Yarra River Protection Act are now being taken. Submissions close on 5 August 2016.
The Yarra Protection Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) has recently released its discussion paper on ideas and options for a Yarra River Protection Act. This piece of work is the latest stage in the process toward enactment of this legislation, which was committed to by the Victorian ALP Government in 2014. The MAC's role is to provide advice to Government on issues affecting the Yarra River and preferred outcomes for management and governance of the river. The MAC role is also to engage with the community and stakeholders.
The Discussion Paper lays out key issues and themes in river management, certain options and preferred directions, and questions on which it is seeking feedback. The MAC is taking feedback until 5 August 2016. Information about how to make a submission is contained in the Discussion Paper.
Environmental Justice Australia and the Yarra Riverkeeper published our own report, The future of the Yarra: Proposals for a Yarra River Protection Act, based on our consultation with community groups and individuals. Our report contains our detailed vision for a Yarra Act and may assist you further in making a submission.
This guide from Environmental Justice Australia and Yarra Riverkeeper Association to submitters highlights principal issues and themes raised by the MAC, notes points that we think submitters should be aware of in particular, and suggests matters on which submitters may want to comment.
We concur that these matters are important grounds for change. You may have views on these particular considerations for change. Additionally, if you feel there are other factors contributing to the case for change make note of those as well.
Clear funding and infrastructure and service delivery arrangements.
The need for reform of governance, including institutional arrangements, and including an 'auditing' and monitoring function.
The MAC has identified a series of 10 questions around which it is seeking feedback. These are contained on page 5. Submitters may simply want to direct their attention and responses to each and/or all of those questions.
How might the MAC's themes, issues and proposals apply to local circumstances or with particular interests in mind? Including your visions and ambitions for the Yarra River Protection Act is important, especially as they might apply to your area of interest or locality.
The need for vision is emphasised in the Discussion Paper. You may wish to turn your mind to the timeframe over which that vision should extend. The timeframes we are dealing with here can extend out to decades (eg 50-100 years). By comparison, the decision to close the upper catchment in late 19th century had a 'visionary', century-plus impact. Given this context, the vision will need to be ambitious. This type of long-term thinking is important to actual achievement of good outcomes but also in establishing models for river governance elsewhere.
The timeframe for a Yarra Strategic Plan is proposed as 10-15 years. We suggest that both medium- (eg 5 year) and long-term (eg 20 year+) planning is required. Greater detail on timeframes would be a useful point for submitters to consider.
An important point on the effectiveness of any Yarra Strategic Plan will be the legal status of that instrument. Currently, there is some ambiguity in the Discussion Paper about the status of that Plan – in particular, whether it will merely guide decision-makers, such as council planners, or provide a legally binding framework with which government and public agencies have to comply. The former approach seems to be suggested at section 5.2, the latter at section 5.3. We strongly believe the plan should be a legally binding document in order to provide consistent and clear obligations on councils and government agencies.
Further details and ideas around public participation in decision-making and governance would be a valuable point of feedback. The MAC proposes a standing 'community forum'. Suggestions around its particular roles, membership, and how it might operate would be useful contributions. EJA/YRKA have proposed a 'Yarra River Panel' as a key means for public participation. There is further detail of this proposal in our report The Future of the Yarra River.
The MAC proposes options for governing and for 'service delivery' bodies under the Act (see Table 10). It is important to provide feedback on these issues. [NR1] Our preference is for new bodies (institutions) within the Yarra River's governing framework, although it would be essential for these to have close working relationships with existing bodies such as Melbourne Water, Councils and public agencies.
While we strongly agree with the need for 'vision' for the Yarra River and its incorporation into the legislative framework, feedback and greater detail on the content of that 'vision' would be useful. In our view, 'vision' likely would be invested in number of instruments under the Act, including the objects of the Act, long-term targets, and more specific elements in a 'strategic plan' or similar instrument. In this way, 'vision' can be translated into different scales and different levels of detail.
The MAC states that options for a Yarra Strategic Plan should, among other things, be evaluated in the 'context of its tributary requirements, whole-of-catchment management and effects on Port Phillip Bay' (Table 9, p 50). Acknowledgement of the role of tributaries, the catchment and Bay in river management is important but clarification will be needed on how a Yarra River Protection Act will protect tributaries and apply to them. For example, management of the tributaries could be considered in the Yarra Strategic Plan, or there may be other ways of including the tributaries in planning and management. Which tributaries of to be included in the legislative framework would also be an important point to resolve.
How Aboriginal perspectives are to be included in the legislative framework is not resolved in the Discussion Paper. Aboriginal perspective might be included, for example, through requirements to act consistently with and protect Wurundjeri uses and values or develop 'Country Plan' as part of planning processes. Your views on how Aboriginal interests and perspectives can be best incorporated into the legislation would be useful.
We suggest that the focus of this legislative exercise should not just be 'protection' or 'enhancement', but restoration of ecological functions and maximisation of human benefits in a manner consistent with restorative processes.
Restoration works and actions require funding and revenues. The operation of the Act, such as the preparation and implementation of plans, also requires funding. The sources of funding and the management of investment needed to achieve the ambitions of a Yarra River Protection Act are crucial considerations and we suggest you turn your minds to this question in feedback to the MAC.
The challenge of stormwater management and urban runoff is recognised as the main pollution control issue for the Yarra River now, rather than 'point source' pollution, such as factories (Table 6, p 37). Do you think this is the case? How do you think we can best tackle either source of pollution through this legislation? And how can we best drive innovation in terms of pollution control, whether through regulation, technology, behavioural change, or urban or landscape design?
The highly modified character of the Yarra River includes flows that depart significantly from natural flows. Environmental flows are noted in the Discussion Paper (eg Table 6, p 35). Long-term outcomes for the Yarra will depend greatly on the management of river flows for river health outcomes and public benefits. What are the main issues in relation to flows in the Yarra and how should they be tackled?
This list of considerations is not intended to be exhaustive. We urge everyone thinking of making a submission to read the Discussion Paper closely and to put in a submission.