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Something's Happening in Texas - Final 2018 Midterm Results
Congratulations Democrats and Progressives — You Won. Do not accept any narrative other than one of a big win from hard-fought campaigns.
Democrats elected an unprecedented number of women, including two Muslim women, turned at least 6 state legislatures blue, demanded the Medicaid Expansion to Obamacare in three red states, and passed referendums in favor of recreational and medical marijuana and an increased minimum wage in several states.
More than half of eligible voters in the U.S. turned out to cast a ballot in the 2018 midterm elections, a record-high in modern history. Michael McDonald, an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida, estimates that 118 million people voted in the midterms, about 50.1 percent of eligible voters. That turnout is about 11 points higher than the average for midterm turnout of 39.4 percent in at least the past three decades, since 18- to 20-year-olds became eligible to vote. In 2014, 83 million people turned out to vote. That's the highest recorded rate for the midterms since 1914 when turnout was 50.4% and women didn't have the vote.
Update: As of Friday, December 7, 2018, with only one House race not yet called — North Carolina's 9th Congressional District where the state elections board has been been investigating allegations of election fraud over mail-in absentee ballots in the November general election — Democratic candidates earned 60,721,208 votes in House seats across the country in the 2018 midterms, compared to Republicans' 50,987,044, according to raw data compiled by the Cook Political Report, an independent, non-partisan political analysis website.
Republicans lost a net of 40 House seats, losing control of that chamber of Congress by nearly 9 percentage points in popular vote, 53.4 percent to 44.9 percent; and while they gained Senate seats, Republicans go from the 52-48 majority they enjoyed at the beginning of the 2017-2018 cycle to 53-47 next year — despite one of the most favorable Senate maps in a generation.
Republicans received the same kind of "thumping"they got back in 2006, and similar to the "shellacking" Republicans gave Democrats in 2010. They midterms delivered a divided government for the 2019-2020 term.
And that divided government takes away leverage Pres. Trump and Republicans might have in any budget shutdown fight. If there's a shutdown, House Democrats under Speaker Pelosi's leadership can pass a clean continuing resolution to fund the government — and dare Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to oppose it.
Elections, after all, do have consequences.
In 2018, Democrats earned a new record turnout victory in a midterm House election, surpassing the Democratic Party's win over Republicans by more than 8.7 million votes in 1974, just months after President Richard Nixon resigned from office in disgrace. The national House vote margins in the midterm wave years of 1994, 2006 and 2010 were R+7 points, D+6.4 points and R+6.6 points, respectively. Democrats also rolled up nearly 16 million more votes in U.S. Senate races nationwide.
25 states recorded 50% turnout or higher with Colorado (62.2%), Minnesota (64.3%), Montana (62.1%), Oregon (61.3%) and Wisconsin (61.2%) exceeding 60%. Historically, the midterms have always had a weaker turnout than presidential elections — but not so much this year.
Nate Silver says media missed massive 'blue wave' while covering 'stories about Trump voters in truck stops'.
It Was A Big, Blue Wave: Democrats Pick Up Most House Seats In A Generation.
Catalist estimates of voter preference shows substancial preference shifts from the 2016 Presidential to 2018 Congressional election. These shifts go a long way in explaining the scale of Democratic wins noted through this article:
Young voters (18-29) supported Democrats by 44 points in 2018, up 18 points from 2016. Moreover, white young voters gave Democrats an impressive 26 point margin in 2018. For that matter, Democrats were also +9 on white voters 30-44. That means Democrats carried all white voters under 45 in 2018 and quite easily at that!
Young voters turned out at historic rates in 2018 and boosted Democrats nationwide
As polling sources suggest, Democrats carried white college voters in 2018 (+5) with a solid shift relative to 2016. Both white college women and men contributed to this shift but the largest contribution was by white college women. White noncollege voters, on the other hand, continued to be a problem at -26, only a slight improvement over the previous election.
Among nonwhite groups, Asians showed the largest support gains for the Democrats. But, contrary to the exit polls, Hispanics showed a slight slippage in support.
Democrats carried suburban white college voters by 7 points, representing a strong 12 point shift over 2016 in the Democrats' favor. This is more less as expected.
But by and large, the strongest shifts in the Democrats' direction were within rural areas! Comparing overall urban vs. suburban vs. rural areas, the respective pro-Democratic shifts were 1, 5 and 7 points. You see roughly the same pattern when comparing urban whites vs. suburban whites vs. rural whites. You even see a 7 point shift toward the Democrats among white noncollege rural voters!
Even more amazing, the Catalist data show a 25 point shift toward the Democrats among rural 18-29 year olds and a 17 point shift among 30-44 year olds. Most mind-blowing of all, Democrats actually carried rural 18-29 year olds in 2018 by 8 points.
A vast majority of counties showed increased Democratic support in 2018 House election
WaPo: Analysis of Texas Election Results
Research from the United States Elections Project, which tracks historical trends in turnout nationwide, reports that 46.3 percent of Texas' voting-eligible population cast ballots in the 2018 midterm. That figure, while up significantly from the 28.3 percent of the voting eligible population that voted in the last midterm election, still represents turnout far below the national average of 50.3 percent. Despite Texas' turnout growth, it lagged in total turnout, finishing 44th out of 51.
While final results from across the nation have been slow to finalize, they show that Democrats had perhaps less of a blue tsunami wave election and more of a rising blue tide that will continue to rise through the 2020 election and beyond.
It was clear on Election Night Democrats would win control of the U.S. House, but the scale of the victory was initially under reported by the mainstream media. Why did the media initially report Democratic wins were underwhelming? Mainly, several marquee Democratic candidates the media had built up in the final weeks leading to election day did not score election night victories.
Beto O'Rourke, the most hyped Democratic candidate of the cycle, lost his U.S. Senate race against the incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz. O'Rourke's loss wasn't unexpected — an O'Rourke win would have been an epochal surprise — but that loss in particular took some wind out of hopeful Democrats' sails. In Florida, polling showed the gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum and Senator Bill Nelson both with an edge, but when election night results came in, they were down. Neither race is officially called yet, and the Senate contest is headed to a hand recount, but Republicans Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott lead in those two races, for governor and Senate, respectively. In Georgia, Democrat Stacey Abrams also trailed Republican Brian Kemp in a close, and closely watched, race.
Even so, the blue tide of Democratic midterm wins keeps rising.
Democrats have gaining at least 37 U.S. House seats as of this writing, for a total of 232 seats — 14 more than is needed for a majority — with three competitive races; where Democrats lead in the ballot counts not yet called. Heading into the November 6, 2018, midterm election, Republicans held a 235-193 advantage over Democrats in the 435-member U.S. House. All 435 seats — including seven vacancies — were up for election, with Democrats needing to add 23 seats to win majority control of the chamber.
In winning control of the U.S. House, Democrats flipped congressional districts long-held by Republicans. Lucy McBath turned in a win over Republican Karen Handel — who had beaten Jon Ossoff in the heavily covered 2017 special election in Georgia's Sixth, a long held Republican district.
Texas Democrat Colin Allred, a former NFL player making his first run for elected office, stunned incumbent Republican Pete Sessions to win his long held 32nd Congressional District in Texas. In another Texas-sized flip, Texas Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher unseated 18-year-incumbent Republican Rep. John Culberson in the Houston-area race for Texas Congressional District 7, a district held by Republicans since George H. W. Bush took over the district in the November 1966 election.
The very cradle of Reagan Republican conservationism and the birthplace of Richard Nixon, California's Orange County, turned blue with Democrats wining all seven congressional districts within or that overlap into that densely populated county, including stalwart Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher's 48th District.
Republicans no longer hold any House seats in New England, Axios reports, indicating that the party's shift to the right since President Donald Trump's election has pushed out more moderate conservatives. The final GOP representative was unseated by Democrat Jared Golden in Maine's 2nd Congressional District Thursday. Golden was declared the winner by about 3,000 votes, NPR said, after taking into account Maine's new ranked-choice voting system.
Democrats could have done even better in the midterms if it weren't for gerrymandering.
Of all New England's U.S. Senate seats, Republicans hold just one: Susan Collins of Maine, who faces a reelection in 2020. Some Democrats, including Obama's former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, are already considering a run against Collins. Last month, the senator disillusioned many of her more liberal constituents when she cast a vote vital to putting conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the bench.
Arguably the biggest win for Democrats since Donald Trump was elected is Democrat Kyrsten Sinema's come-from-behind win in the Arizona race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the Republican Jeff Flake. For the past fifty years, Arizona has been the anchor of the Sun Belt pro-business, anti-tax libertarian conservatism that Barry Goldwater pioneered. Sinema is the first Democrat to be elected to the Senate from Arizona since 1988, and the first Democrat to win an open Senate seat in the state since Dennis DeConcini was elected, in 1976. The firsts don't stop there. Sinema, a forty-two-year-old congresswoman for Arizona's Ninth District, will also be the first female senator from Arizona, and the first openly bisexual senator from anywhere.
Last week, in a multi-candidate field, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith for Mississippi finished with 41.5% of the vote, to Democrat Mike Espy's 40.6 percent. Espy is an African American former congressman who just might take that Senate seat from the Republican. Because neither candidate reached the 50% threshold in the November 6th election, there will be a special election on Nov. 27, which is just a few days away. Hyde-Smith is noted for making a statement on the campaign trail that it might be a "great idea" to make it harder for some people to vote, and, in an implied reference to her African-American opponent, said, "If he [referring to a local white rancher] invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row." Mike Espy taking this Senate seat would overshadow Sinema's Arizona Senate seat win.
Democratic Party Decline 2009—2018
States With Unified Party Control 2017-2018
Nationally, Democrats lost a lot of ground in statehouses under Barack Obama's presidency, with about 1,000 legislative seats across the nation flipping to Republican control from 2009 through the 2016 election.
After the 2016 election, Republicans controlled a record 67 (68%) of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers in the nation — 36 senate chambers and 31 house chambers — more than twice the number (31) in which Democrats had majority control, according to the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
During 2017 and 2018, Republicans held more total state legislative seats in the nation, well over 4,100 of the 7,383, than they have since 1920. Democrats held total control of just 13 state legislatures. Republicans held state government trifectas — where one political party holds the governorship, a majority in the state senate, and a majority in the state house — in 26 states, and Democrats held trifectas in only 8 states, with divided partisan control in the remaining 16 states.
From 2009 through the 2016 election, Republicans had gained control of the gubernatorial office in 33 states, a record high last seen in 1922, and flipped 69 Democratic seats in the U.S. House seats to Republican control, and flipped 13 Democratic seats in the U.S. Senate to Republican control.
In the 2018 midterms, Democrats started to get some of it back — but the party still has a lot catching up to do in 2020.
It Will Take Many, Many More Blue Waves To Undo The GOP's 2010 Power Grab
States With Unified Party Control After 2018 Election
Across the nation Democrats reclaimed at least 336 state legislative seats lost during Barack Obama's presidency. Six state legislative chambers flipped to Democratic control with the 2018 midterm election, and one flipped to GOP control. With the six Democratic pickups (4 senate chambers and 2 house chambers), and the GOP capturing one house chamber, Republicans now control a total of 62 state legislative chambers (32 senate, 30 house), and Democrats control 37 state legislative chambers (18 senate, 19 house).
Democrats emerged from the 2018 midterm election with a net gain in state government trifectas, but Republicans still retain a net advantage of at least eight trifectas over Democrats. With the Georgia gubernatorial race called for the Republican Candidate, the new trifecta count stands at 14 Democratic, 23 Republican, 13 divided. The 37 total trifectas ties with 2013 and 2014 as being the most trifectas in recent history.
In addition, Democrats gained enough seats to deprive Republicans of supermajorities in Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. This will keep Republicans from having enough votes to override the vetoes of Democratic governors of those states. Democrats achieved supermajorities for themselves in seven chambers.
The 2018 midterm election set a record for the number of single-party-controlled legislatures. When the new legislators take their seats in 2019, Minnesota is the only state in the nation where the legislature is divided — the Senate remains in Republican control, and the House flipped to Democratic control. Minnesota Democrats fell one seat short of flipping the state senate. Last time there was only one divided state legislature was over 100 years ago in 1914.
A majority of the governors holding veto power over redistricting in 2021 are now Democrats. Moreover, in most states where Democrats won control of a legislative chamber on Tuesday, the legislature has a role in the congressional redistricting process — although Colorado voters took this power away from the legislature via the initiative process.
In short, Republican losses in state legislatures were typical for a midterm election, but these losses could translate into larger losses for the party in the future.
The state legislative pickups include:
In New Hampshire, both the House and Senate flipped from Republican to Democratic control. This ended the Republican state government trifecta (where one party controls both chambers of the legislature and the governor's office). Incumbent GOP. Gov. Chris Sununu (R) was re-elected.
In New York, the Senate flipped from Republican to Democratic control. This gave Democrats a trifecta, as they retained control of the House and the Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, won reelection. This is one of five trifectas Democrats won in 2018.
Colorado Democrats took control of the Senate, flipping the state from divided power to trifecta control for Democrats.
Maine Democrats won control of the Senate and the governor's office, assuming trifecta control. Democrats retained control of the state House.
Republicans took control of the Alaska House, retained control of the state Senate, and won the governor's office that is currently held by an independent. This gives the Alaska GOP trifecta control.[1]
Minnesota replaced one Democratic governor with another, and the House changed from Republican to Democratic control. But the Senate remained in GOP hands.
Republicans now have total control of 30 state legislatures — both the House and Senate — compared to just 18 by Democrats. Just two states, Minnesota and Alaska, have split chambers…The Democratic Party and DLCC flipped eight state chambers in 2018 and broke Republican supermajorities in three other states.
Arizona: Democrats are two seats away from taking a majority in the state House and three seats away from a majority in the Senate.
Florida: Democrats are 14 seats away from a majority in the state House.
Georgia: Democrats are 28 seats away from taking a majority in the state House, but they're hoping to gain seats in 2020.
Iowa: Democrats are four seats away from a majority in the Iowa state House.
Kansas: Democrats are trying to break Republican supermajorities in both chambers; Democrat Laura Kelly won the governor's seat in 2018.
Michigan: Democrats broke a Republican supermajority in the state Senate in 2018 and are four seats away from flipping the chamber.
Minnesota: Democrats are two seats away from a majority in the state Senate. They won control of the state House in 2018.
North Carolina: Democrats are six seats away from taking control of the state House.
Pennsylvania: Democrats broke a Republican supermajority in the state Senate in 2018. They are 9 seats away from a majority in the state House, and four seats away from a majority in the state Senate.
Texas: Democrats are nine seats away from a majority in the Texas state House.
Virginia: Democrats are two seats away from a majority in the state House of Delegates, and two seats away from a majority in the state Senate as well. Elections are coming up in 2019.
Wisconsin: Democrats are three seats away from a majority in the Wisconsin state Senate.
Over 8.3 million Texans turned out to cast ballots in the 2018 midterm election, yielding a turnout rate rivaling presidential election turnout rates. It's an astonishing turnout figure considering only about 4.6 million Texans cast ballots in the 2014 midterm election — a difference of almost 3.7 million.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz finished with 50.9 percent of the vote, Rep. Beto O'Rourke earned 48.3 percent of the vote, and the rest went to Neal Dikeman, a Libertarian. O'Rourke, came within 3 percentage points of defeating Sen. Ted Cruz, which is close enough to put Texas at the center of two of the big post-election questions: Is Texas a 2020 swing state? And; Will O'Rourke run for president in 2020, or challenge Sen. John Cornyn for his Senate seat in 2020?
'He's Barack Obama, but white': Beto O'Rourke blows up the 2020 Democratic primary — Top party donors and operatives are eager to see the Texas congressman jump into the presidential race.
While Beto O'Rourke lost his bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, by three percentage points, his campaign energy activated voters who were either apathetic, or thought they did not make a difference, or thought no one cared about them — the state's Latinos, Millennials, GenZs, and other typical non-voters. O'Rourke won the female vote and voters age 44 and under. O'Rourke was also more popular with women age 45 and older than with men in the same age cohort. O'Rourke was not popular with Anglo voters, but non-Ango voters were a substantial part of his voter base.
By earning 48.3 percent of the vote, O'Rourke performed better than any Democrat had in a statewide race in Texas in a long time. Even as O'Rourke fell short overall, according to the CNN exit poll, he won 58 percent of voters under 45, and 71 percent of voters under 30. Cruz won 58 percent of the votes of those 45 and older. O'Rourke, according to the exit poll, won 34 percent of white voters. Four years ago, Wendy Davis captured only a quarter of the white vote.
Even though he won just 32 of the state's 254 counties, O'Rourke's margins within the state's booming metro areas is evidence those parts of the state are trending more Democratic. O'Rourke's county wins includes six counties Hillary Clinton lost in 2016, among them Williamson and Hays counties in Central Texas and Tarrant County, known as the most reliably conservative large urban county in America. Perhaps, no longer.
O'Rourke did not activate left-leaning Texas voters single handed, says Josh Blank, manager of polling and research for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas.
"There's no doubt that Beto O'Rourke had coattails, but it is also the case that Beto benefited from strong, well-funded congressional races in and around the urban areas that he needed to turn out for him," says Blank. "This is what happens when a party actually organizes and recruits good candidates and runs good campaigns because the fact is that Beto O'Rourke couldn't be in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin at the same time."
There is no doubt O'Rourke was fundamentally buoyed by a "critical mass" of local campaign activity across Texas, like Beverly Powell's campaign success in Tarrant County in reclaiming Wendy Davis' former state Senate seat from the incumbent Republican, Konni Burton. O'Rourke won Tarrant County by about 4,000 votes. Other notable Democratic wins include:
Texas Democrats flipped 2 U.S. House Districts with the election of Lizzie Fletcher and Colin Allred.
Texas Democrats made history by sending the first two Latinas to Congress with the election of Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar.
Texas Democrats flipped two seats in the Texas State Senate.
Texas Democrats, led by a slate of female candidates, flipped 12 seats in the Texas State House of Representatives marking the biggest shift in the lower chamber since the 2010 midterm elections.
Texas Democrats swept Bexar, Fort Bend, and Harris while holding Democratic strongholds along the Rio Grande Valley, and in El Paso, Dallas, and Travis counties.
Texas Democrats made huge gains in suburban Tarrant, Hays, and Williamson Counties.
Texas Democrats flipped the DA races in Fort Bend, Bexar, and Dallas Counties.
Texas Democrats swept the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 13th, and 14th Court of Appeals, ushering a new era of fairness and justice in Texas.
Cruz beat O'Rourke by a margin of about 220,000 votes. The 2018 county by county turnout map took a familiar form, with Democrats winning in the metro and South Texas counties, and Republicans winning everywhere else. But that's the closest U.S. Senate race in Texas in 40 years. Republicans had won the last four Senate races in Texas by 1 million votes or more. Cruz hung on by running up big numbers in the Texas Panhandle, West Texas, and East Texas and by squeezing out wins in metro suburbs.
O'Rourke won 32 of the state's 254 counties, including the state's large urban areas. Texas' urban areas account for about 45 percent of the state's vote. O'Rourke beat Cruz by nearly 900,000 votes in the state's urban areas, with 61.8 percent of the vote to Cruz's 38 percent. Not only did O'Rourke dominate Cruz in and around the state's five largest urban areas of Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio, he also won a higher percentage of the vote than Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
O'Rourke revealed untapped opportunities for Democrats. Four years ago, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn won the I-35 corridor by nearly 350,000 votes over his Democratic opponent, David Alameel. But O'Rourke carried those same counties by more than 440,000 votes. That is a nearly 800,000-vote swing in just four years.
O'Rourke exposed a blue spine up the middle of Texas along the I-35 corridor from Laredo to the Oklahoma border. O'Rourke flipped counties along the corridor that had not voted for a Democrat for statewide office since Ann Richards first ran for governor in 1990. Even in the counties O'Rourke lost, his defeats were often much narrower than those of past Democratic candidates.
O'Rourke's performance along the I-35 corridor was supported by a critical mass of other Democrats running their own strong campaigns for congress and the state legislature:
Five Republican candidates for Congress in Texas, almost all of them big favorites, won with less than 51 percent of the vote. All five of their districts are along the I-35 corridor, making them all but certain to be targeted by Democrats in 2020.
In the Texas House, Democrats flipped 12 seats previously held by Republicans. Ten of those districts are along I-35.
In the Texas Senate, Democrats flipped two seats, both along I-35. And they nearly took a third seat north of Dallas, where Republican Angela Paxton won just 51 percent of the vote.
Analysis: Republicans who barely won in 2018 will be top targets in 2020
How Democrats Won In Trump Country
The success of the Democratic ticket along I-35 was supported Texas' dramatic population growth in the urban and suburban communities along I-35. In short, the Democratic Party's base of voters is expanding significantly, while the GOP's base is receding to far rural counties.
Cruz got back more than half of his core urban county losses from metro area suburb counties, like Collin and Denton counties, with Cruz getting 59 percent of the vote on average to O'Rourke's 41 percent in metro suburban counties. But O'Rourke capped Cruz's wins in most of metro suburban counties. For example, O'Rourke lost Collin and Denton counties, but by dramatically smaller margins than past statewide Democratic candidates. In Denton County, O'Rourke did 50,000 votes better than Cruz's last opponent. In Collin, he fared almost 70,000 votes better.
But it was "non-metro" area rural county Texans who really saved Cruz and the rest of the statewide Republicans — from Gov. Greg Abbott to Attorney General Ken Paxton to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller — from the rising blue tide. The 172 "non-metro" rural counties account for about 12 percent of the state's vote. Ted Cruz and the rest of the Republican ticket won largely because they pulled 73% of the vote out of the "non-metro" counties, to Beto O'Rourke's, and the other Democrats', 26.6 percent.
Texas Democrats' biggest win on election night was flipping four major state appeals court districts that serve Austin, Houston and Dallas, pushing aside 19 incumbent Republican appellate judges. Democrats now hold majorities on seven of the state's 14 appeals courts. Before Tuesday, they held seats on just three.
State appeals courts sit between Texas' scores of trial courts and its two high courts. They are intermediate courts — meaning their rulings can be review by the state's two high courts, the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which remain fully in Republican hands.
The appellate courts hear thousands of cases — the Dallas-based 5th Court of Appeals, for example, handled some 1,800 cases during the last fiscal year — while the Supreme Court takes up about 100 cases.
The new justices will generate far more decisions than the state's two high courts can overturn, even if they want to. And the state's urban-based courts are — unofficially — considered more influential in setting precedent than the smaller, rural courts.
All appellate judges are bound by the tight restrictions of the law, but the cases that come before them often fall into gray areas between corporate business interests the interests of everyday Texans. Democratic justices are generally considered to be less inclined than Republican justices to overturn jury verdicts, like in cases where victims are awarded top dollar after being harmed by large corporations.
Additionally, in Harris County alone, which is home to Houston and the third-largest county in the United States, Democrats unseated 59 Republican judges — including 23 district judges, 13 family court judges, eight county civil judges and probate judges, and 15 misdemeanor judges. Of the newly appointed Democrats, an unprecedented 17 are black women, significantly changing the face of a judiciary that had been primarily white.
Something's Happening Collin County
Collin County Democrats' biggest win on election night was the part they played in flipping Texas' 5th District Court of Appeals. For 19 uninterrupted years, all 13 elected judges on Texas' 5th District Court of Appeals were Republicans, earning a reputation for being one of the most conservative courts in the state.
But that changed dramatically, when voters elected all eight Democrats on the ballot to replace Republicans previously sitting on that appellate court's bench for six-year terms. Three more are up for re-election in 2020 and the final two will be up for re-election in 2022.
The remaking of this appellate court was the part of Texas' rising blue tide that attracted the least attention, but which yields possibly the greatest benefit to everyday Texans.
The court hears civil, criminal and family appeals cases in Dallas, Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, Grayson and Hunt counties. All 13 seats on the bench are at-large, meaning voters from Dallas, Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman, Grayson and Hunt counties vote for all of the seats.
Even though Dallas County voters have given Democrats running for this appellate court big vote margin wins for years, the margin was never enough to counter balance their vote losses in the five other conservative-leaning counties, in particular Collin County, the largest by far of the district's conservative counties. This year, the eight Democratic appellate court candidates lost Collin County by about 15 points, cutting their vote losses to half of Democratic candidate losses in past election years.
Of Texas' 15 largest counties, Collin County ranks second behind Travis County in the rate of turnout, with 61.4% (357,034) of the County's 581,684 registered voters casting ballots. The rate of voter turnout in Travis County was 62 percent. Collin County turnout for this midterm was nearly double that of past midterm election cycles, and approaches turnout levels typical for presidential election years.
In 2018, Democrats improved their performance by up to 20 points over candidates who ran in 2014 and by 8 to 10 points over candidates who ran in 2016. In 2014, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate received 28 percent of the vote to Sen. John Cornyn's 68.4 percent. This year, Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate earned 46.3 percent of the vote to Sen. Ted Cruz's 52.6 percent. In 2016, the top federal Democratic candidate on the ballot, Hillary Clinton received 38 percent of the vote to Donald Trump's 55 percent. In 2014, the Democratic candidate for Governor, Wendy Davis, received 32.6 percent of the vote to Gov. Greg Abbott's 65.7 percent. This year, the Democratic candidate for Governor, Lupe Valdez, received 39 percent of the vote to Gov. Greg Abbott's 58.8 percent. But Valdez under performed every other countywide Democratic candidate on Collin County ballots. The Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, Mike Collier, received 43.65 percent of the vote to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's 54.2 percent.
The southwest quadrant of Collin County has been trending left faster than the other three-quarters of the county, as is apparent in the performance of Democratic candidates for state house districts 66 and 67. Sharon Hirsch, the Democrat for House District 66 in the far southwestern corner of the county was only 391 votes short, out of 70,192 ballots cast, of beating her Republican opponent Matt Shaheen. Sarah Depew, the Democrat for House District 67, which is the next district east of HD66, fell only 1,672 votes short, out of 75,119 ballots cast, of beating her opponent Jeff Leach. Lorie Burch, the Democrat for Congressional District 3, which includes all of House Districts 66 and 67, plus more right-leaning areas of the county also turned in a good performance by earning 44 percent of the vote to her Republican opponent Van Taylor's 54 percent.
The eight Democrats who flipped the 5th District Court of Appeals all earned 42% to 43% percent of the vote in Collin County, which was at least a 10 point better showing than Democrats have turned in for that judicial office this century. That 10+ point better showing this year, combined with their large win margins in Dallas County gave the new Democratic Justices the edge they needed to prevail in the six county district. The eight new appellate court justices are:
Ken Molberg, who beat sitting Republican Jim Pikl
Robert Burns, who beat sitting Republican Douglas Lang for chief justice
Robbie Partida-Kipness, who beat sitting Republican David Evans
Erin Nowell, who beat sitting Republican Craig Stoddart
Bill Pedersen, who beat sitting Republican Jason Boatright
Amanda Reichek, who beat sitting Republican Molly Francis
Cory Carlyle, who beat Republican John Browning in an open seat
Leslie Lester Osborne, who beat sitting Republican Elizabeth Lang Mier
The following slider table of final results shows the relative county and district wide results for several key elected offices in the southwestern quadrant of Collin County. A precinct by precinct slider table is at the bottom of the article.
Voter Cards
Cast %
Vote %
Rep %
Dem Ted
REP Beto
DEM Greg
REP Lupe
DEM Dan
REP Mike
DEM CD
REP CD
DEM SD
REP SD
DEM HD
REP HD
581,684 357,034 61.38% 58.19% 41.30% 52.65% 46.53% 58.83% 39.35% 54.17% 43.65% 54.25% 44.23% 52.25% 47.75% 50.29% 49.71% 51.15% 48.85%
The demographic patterns of Collin County turnout for the 2018 midterm closely matched turnout patterns for the 2016 presidential election, except those patterns have continued to shift left over the past two years.
The key turnout metric to look at is the relative turnout rates among the age cohorts. The chart below shows the ratio of early turnout for 18 to 29 year old voters, compared to the other age cohorts. Turnout for this year's cohort of youngest voters is well above the cohort's share of the total vote for the entire 2014 midterm election, and is tied with the cohort's share of the 2016 vote. (The charts below do not include the final by-mail ballots received after election day. The chart will be updated when the data is available.)
It is important to understand and accurately interpret two key data points here: The percentage of registered young people who turnout to vote ballots; and the share of all votes that were cast by young voters in relationship to older voter's. Again, the percentage of registered young people who voted in 2018 closely matches this turnout pattern in the 2016 presidential election.
By earning 48.3 percent of the statewide vote, O'Rourke performed better than any Democrat had in a statewide race in Texas since at least 1994. Even though O'Rourke won just 32 of the state's 254 counties, O'Rourke's margins within the state's booming urban areas, and many suburban areas as well, provide evidence those parts of the state are left-trending.
In Ruy Teixeira's op-ed "The midterms gave Democrats clear marching orders for 2020," in The Washington Post, he shows where Democrats succeeded, how they succeeded, where they failed, and how did they fail:
"The Southwestern success formula: Carry or come close to carrying white college graduates; gain strong turnout and support from nonwhites, particularly Latinos; cap the deficits among white non-college-educated voters in the low 20s. Democrats can get away with higher deficits among white non-college-educated voters because the nonwhite share of voters in these states is much higher than in the Midwest…In 2018, this formula worked in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and in the Arizona Senate race, with notably strong Latino support, but it failed in the Texas Senate race. Why? O'Rourke also drew strong Latino support, and his performance among white college-educated voters was quite good for a Democrat in Texas. But his deficit among white non-college-educated voters was a disaster: O'Rourke lost these voters by 48 points, according to the exit polls." In the south, Teixeira notes, "Democrats need to be competitive among white college-educated voters, while avoiding deficits among white non-college-educated voters."
"Beyond the failure of moderates," writes Vann R. Newkirk in "The Democrats' Deep-South Strategy Was a Winner After All" in The Atlantic,
"the most compelling evidence for the viability of a progressive strategy comes from farther down the ballot. Across the country, progressive ballot initiatives fared surprisingly well. Indeed, measures against gerrymandering, in favor of medical marijuana, in favor of higher minimum wages, in favor of Medicaid expansion, and in favor of criminal-justice reform received broad bipartisan support in several states, and actually outperformed Democrats running for statewide office. In Florida, even as Gillum conceded early, Amendment 4—a ballot initiative restoring the right to vote to more than 1 million people in Florida who were previously disenfranchised due to felony convictions—passed a 60 percent vote threshold and will become law. Gillum championed that amendment…Medicaid expansion, the main policy foundation of Abrams's campaign, passed on ballot initiatives in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah; minimum-wage hikes—part of all three of the Democratic darlings' platforms—won in Missouri and Arkansas. Voters in Colorado, Michigan, and Missouri moved to take gerrymandering out of the hands of politicians. Other significant criminal-justice reforms passed in Florida and Louisiana…What this means is that though Gillum and O'Rourke may have lost—and Abrams may be on her way—voters across the country, even some in deep-red states, are amenable to the kinds of policies that the Democratic trio championed. And support for these policies is likely even stronger than Tuesday's results show. Medicaid expansion polls well nationally and in states that haven't adopted it, as do minimum-wage increases. The mechanisms needed to fund those programs aren't quite so beloved, but as Tuesday showed, voters are voluntarily choosing to implement progressive reforms and to pay for them."
These are the main lessons Texas Democrats must take away for the the 2018 election cycle to build upon in the 2020 election cycle that started on November 7, 2018.
As Texas Democrats continue to work to make Texas's suburban counties blue, especially Collin and Demton Counties, and rural counties swing counties in 2020, they will be helped by major population growth of more left-leaning voters in and around the state's largest urban and suburban areas. The rising population of these metro areas will build on the the record 2018 midterm turnout momentum to feed Texas' rising blue tide into 2020 and beyond.
Beto O'Rourke fell short — but Republicans fear Texas will go blue in 2020
The Collin County government GIS/Rural Addressing mapping department compiled a precinct-by-precinct tally for 22 contests, plus straight-party votes cast and overall turnout. Not ALL races are on the list, but it's a hefty sampling. Here are Voter Turnout Statistics for Collin County:
42,535: New Registered Voters since the 2016 Presidential Election
49.68%: of Registered Voters voted early
11%: of Registered Voters voted on Election Day #1:
Collin County had the highest Early Voting Turnout in Texas (Texas Secretary of State's Office – 49.39%)
61.38%: Voter Turnout
357,034: Total Ballots Cast
289,007: Voted Early
68,027: Voted on Election Day
81%: of ballots cast were cast during Early Voting
19%: of ballots cast voted on Election Day
Collin County Turnout Table
Date Total
Voters Total
Voters ED
Cast Mail
Cast EV
Nov-88 122,718 91,230 74.3% 71,012 1779 18,439 20.2% 15%
Nov-92 153,736 128,808 83.8% 83,228 2512 43,068 33.4% 28%
Nov-98 263,573 84,089 31.9% 58,030 1640 24,419 29.0% 9%
Nov-00 300,426 177,673 59.1% 100,434 1,995 75,244 42.3% 25%
Nov-02 319,236 129,792 40.7% 78,770 3,510 47,512 36.6% 15%
Nov-04 369,412 246,617 66.8% 92,636 3,980 150,001 60.8% 41%
Nov-08 425,994 298,647 70.1% 75,359 11,916 210,895 70.6% 50%
Nov-18 581,684 357,034 61.38% 66,965 18,311 271,868 76.1% 46.7%
Final Ballot Count Results for Collin County and
Districts in the Southwestern Quadrant of the County
Pct Reg
1 2,564 1,763 69% 58% 40% 49% 50% 55% 42% 51% 46% 53% 45% 53% 47% - - - -
3 2,230 876 39% 18% 82% 18% 81% 21% 77% 19% 78% 19% 80% 20% 80% - - - -
4 1,384 1,023 74% 78% 20% 68% 31% 73% 26% 68% 29% 71% 26% - - - - - -
5 1,015 761 75% 70% 28% 62% 36% 68% 28% 62% 34% 68% 30% 65% 35% - - 69% 31%
10 664 433 65% 83% 16% 78% 21% 82% 16% 77% 21% 79% 19% - - - - - -
11 3,540 2,181 62% 81% 19% 75% 24% 79% 20% 75% 23% - - - - - - - -
12 2,067 1,225 59% 68% 32% 62% 38% 68% 30% 63% 35% 64% 35% 64% 36% - - - -
14 2,688 1,656 62% 42% 58% 38% 61% 46% 52% 41% 57% 41% 58% 43% 57% 42% 58% - -
15 1,577 893 57% 51% 48% 46% 53% 51% 47% 48% 48% 48% 49% 49% 51% 49% 51% - -
16 2,617 1,656 63% 73% 27% 66% 33% 71% 27% 66% 31% 68% 30% - - - - - -
18 828 462 56% 83% 17% 79% 20% 81% 18% 78% 21% - - - - - - - -
21 4,136 2,713 66% 54% 45% 48% 51% 54% 43% 49% 48% 52% 47% 51% 50% - - 53% 47%
26 1,605 979 61% 51% 49% 47% 52% 52% 46% 49% 49% 50% 48% 49% 51% - - 49% 51%
29 1,416 971 69% 73% 26% 66% 33% 72% 26% 68% 30% - - - - - - - -
44 1,494 698 47% 49% 51% 45% 54% 50% 48% 46% 51% 48% 50% 47% 53% - - - -
93 263 151 57% 93% 7% 84% 15% 90% 10% 85% 14% - - - - - - - -
99 295 145 49% 51% 49% 46% 52% 51% 46% 49% 47% 48% 50% 52% 48% - - - -
100 30 11 37% 67% 33% 73% 27% 73% 27% 73% 27% 70% 30% - - - - - -
101 3,341 2,143 64% 57% 43% 50% 49% 57% 41% 53% 45% 53% 45% 53% 47% - - - -
103 1,285 676 53% 42% 57% 39% 60% 44% 54% 40% 57% 41% 57% 40% 60% - - - -
104 2,738 1,180 43% 29% 71% 27% 72% 32% 66% 28% 69% 29% 69% 29% 71% 30% 70% - -
105 1,181 726 61% 61% 39% 54% 46% 61% 39% 56% 42% 59% 40% 56% 44% 58% 42% - -
107 3,341 2,148 64% 51% 49% 47% 53% 54% 44% 49% 49% 50% 49% 49% 51% - - 51% 49%
114 1,337 872 65% 80% 20% 74% 26% 79% 20% 76% 22% 76% 22% - - - - - -
133 2,531 1,318 52% 54% 45% 50% 49% 56% 42% 52% 45% - - - - - - - -
138 1,240 912 74% 70% 29% 59% 40% 68% 30% 61% 37% 64% 34% 62% 38% - - 64% 36%
148 0 2 - - - 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% 0% 100% - - - -
150 921 640 69% 62% 38% 58% 42% 63% 36% 59% 39% 60% 39% - - - - - -
152 118 50 42% 21% 79% 24% 76% 31% 69% 25% 73% 26% 74% 23% 77% - - 24% 76%
153 4,274 2,986 70% 57% 42% 52% 47% 58% 40% 54% 44% - - 56% 44% - - - -
154 904 570 63% 92% 8% 85% 14% 89% 10% 85% 13% - - - - - - - -
160 316 224 71% 92% 8% 86% 13% 90% 9% 85% 14% - - - - - - - -
161 261 192 74% 75% 23% 63% 34% 66% 33% 63% 33% - - - - - - - -
165 886 618 70% 70% 30% 61% 38% 67% 31% 61% 36% 64% 35% 63% 37% - - - -
172 3,146 1,748 56% 67% 32% 63% 36% 66% 32% 64% 33% 64% 34% - - - - - -
181 1,556 864 56% 66% 34% 63% 36% 66% 32% 64% 35% - - - - - - - -
182 0 4 - 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 25% 50% - - - - - -
183 100 57 57% 86% 14% 84% 16% 81% 14% 82% 14% 84% 12% - - - - - -
184 0 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
186 109 61 56% 91% 9% 89% 11% 92% 8% 88% 10% 92% 7% - - - - - -
187 475 282 59% 92% 8% 86% 13% 90% 9% 87% 11% 87% 12% - - - - - -
189 742 425 57% 91% 9% 86% 14% 88% 11% 84% 14% 86% 12% - - - - - -
190 83 45 54% 87% 10% 79% 19% 84% 9% 82% 13% - - - - - - - -
200 0 3 - 50% 50% 67% 33% 67% 33% 67% 33% - - - - - - - -
201 0 3 - 100% 0% 67% 33% 67% 33% 67% 33% 67% 33% - - - - - -
205 34 17 50% 92% 8% 82% 18% 94% 6% 76% 18% 82% 18% 82% 18% - - - -
TL 581,684 357,034 61% 58% 41% 53% 47% 59% 39% 54% 44% 54% 44% 52% 48% 50% 50% 51% 49%
Posted by Michael Handley at 12:01 AM
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text:
How IMAX Works
by Marshall Brain
IMAX screens are sized to fill your field of vision. See more movie making pictures.
If you have ever been to an IMAX theater and seen an IMAX movie, then you know that IMAX is an experience -- a much different experience than you get in a normal theater. IMAX is so different and so unique that it is nearly a genre of its own.
In this article, we'll look at both the technology and the process of IMAX. The technology includes the theaters themselves and the projectors, while the process involves the steps that a production company must go through to create an IMAX film. We'll interview Michael Lewis, who has co-produced the IMAX film "T-REX: Back to the Cretaceous," and produced and financed "Siegfried and Roy: The Magic Box," two of the most popular IMAX films ever created, to learn about the special challenges of this amazing medium!
How Movie Screens Work
How Movie Projectors Work

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Reykjavik Guide
The Best Restaurants in Reykjavik
By Nanna Gunnarsdóttir
Verified Expert
Jump to chapter
Wining and Dining in Reykjavik
Burro Restaurant
Dill Restaurant
Fish Company Restaurant
Food Cellar Brasserie
Gallery Restaurant at Hotel Holt
Geiri Smart Restaurant
Grillid at Radisson Blu Saga Hotel
Grillmarkadurinn (The Grillmarket)
Kol Restaurant
Kopar Restaurant
Matur og Drykkur Restaurant
Messinn Restaurant
Sjavargrillid (The Seafood Grill)
Snaps Bistro (Schnapps Bistro)
Tapasbarinn (The Tapas Bar)
Von Mathus Gastropub
What are the best fine dining restaurants in Reykjavík? What's the Icelandic cuisine like? See the top places to go out for dinner and drinks in Reykjavík.
Explore a wealth of Reykjavik Tours
Intimately experience Reykjavík on a Culture Tour
Find out Where to Stay in Reykjavík
Read about the Top 10 Best Value places to Eat in Reykjavík
Reykjavík is brimming with great food and world class chefs. Traditional Icelandic food such as smoked lamb, dried fish and herring often has a place on Reykjavík city's top-notch restaurants, although often with some fusion twist.
Gone are the days of limited ingredient selection and now Iceland boasts a local food scene that's renowned for fresh ingredients and Nordic simplicity.
The vegetarian and vegan cuisine is also on the rise, with plenty of options from fine dining to greasy hangover food, and any plant-lover will find a suitable place to fulfill all their food cravings in Reykjavík.
If you're a food aficionado, don't miss out on the yearly Food and Fun festival, where acclaimed chefs from some of the best Michelin star restaurants around the world come to Iceland and take over the kitchens in some of Reykjavík's finest establishments, cooking only with fresh, Icelandic ingredients.
The fun bit is all that Iceland has to offer during the day, sightseeing in the beautiful Icelandic nature, bathing in the Blue Lagoon, exploring ice caves and going on adventure tours!
In 2018 the Food and Fun festival took place between the 28th of February and 4th of March.
The restaurants participating in the festival in 2018 were Apótek, Burro, Essensia, Geiri Smart, Grillið, Kitchen and Wine 101, Kolabrautin, Kopar, Marshall Restaurant + Bar, Matarkjallarinn, Mathús Garðabæjar, Nostra, Slippurinn, Sumac, Vox and Bjórgarðurinn - Spanish Pop Up. These establishments make up a mix of older, celebrated restaurants and some acclaimed restaurants that are newer on the food scene in Reykjavík.
There are numerous fine dining restaurants to be found in the city, with renowned chefs priding themselves on using fresh, Icelandic ingredients. Icelandic cuisine focuses on seafood, lamb and of course the Icelandic dairy product 'skyr'.
In recent years there has been a large increase in restaurants all over Reykjavík, and travellers, as well as locals, can choose from a multitude of fine dining restaurants, gastropubs, brasseries and bistros with both Icelandic, fusion and international cuisine.
In 2017 the first and only Michelin star was awarded to an Icelandic restaurant, Dill restaurant, hopefully paving the way for more to come. Four other Reykjavík based restaurants get a mention in the Michelin guide: Gallerý, Grillið, Matur og Drykkur and Vox.
Below are some of the best fine dining restaurants in the greater Reykjavík area, in alphabetical order.
Latin American restaurant Burro is situated right in the centre of Reykjavík, right underneath the popular Pablo Discobar nightclub. The restaurant and the nightclub go hand in hand, and both provide you with a colourful and fun atmosphere, and a joyful experimentation both in the kitchen and at the bar.
Expect small tapas sized plate, and a Latin fusion cuisine. You'll find Mexican dishes mixed with Brazilian and Argentinian ones here, tacos, cassava, ceviche and empanadas. If you want something a bit more experimental, why not taste the monk fish with popcorn, or the cocoa puffs cocktail?
Check out the Burro Experience or the Tasting Menu to try five or six of the restaurant's most popular dishes, including langoustine taco and chimichurro beef fillet to name but a few.
Burro is located at Veltusund 1, 101 Reykjavík.
The first and only Icelandic restaurant to receive a Michelin star. Dill has been renowned as being the best and most exclusive restaurant in Iceland for a while, so when they earned a Michelin star in early 2017 it came as no surprise.
The exclusivity is mainly due to its small size and limited opening hours, it is only open from Wednesdays until Saturdays from 18:00. Therefore bookings need to be made months in advance. The wait is worth it for the divine Nordic food focusing on quality Icelandic ingredients.
On arrival you can choose between a set menu of five or seven courses, with some tasting snacks before the meal begins, meaning that everyone will be enjoying the same dishes in the restaurant. An accompanying wine selection is available as well, but it's possible to just buy drinks by the glass if preferred.
Dill restaurant can be found at Laugavegur 59, 101 Reykjavík.
Fiskfélagið, or the Fish Company is a very eclectic restaurant in downtown Reykjavík. Icelandic, French, Malaysian, Irish, Japanese and other countries make up the varied menu, and it's possible to order a five-course meal which takes you around the world. Vegetarian options are available.
The menu is inventive, fun and extremely varied and the chefs will make small changes to your dish when they feel like it, so you never really know what to expect. Waiters are casual, laid back and fun, and you'll feel at ease at once.
Fiskfélagið can be found at Vesturgata 2a, 101 Reykjavík.
The Food Cellar, or Matarkjallarinn, presents you with a lounge-like bar and dining area, with live music being played every night on a gorgeous rosewood grand piano from 1890.
This is a brasserie where the menu is a mixture of seafood and lamb, with vegetarian options, focusing on Icelandic ingredients. Go for the surprise six-course menu or order a la carte.
Matarkjallarinn can be found at Aðalstræti 2, 101 Reykjavík.
If you're looking to step back in time and really treat yourself to a fine dining experience, then the Gallery restaurant at Hotel Holt is the place to go. Elegance and exclusivity are the key words that come to mind. Think of it as Reykjavík's answer to the Ivy in London. Walls are lined with fine art by Iceland's most notable artists, mostly by Kjarval.
The food is simply divine, with classic dishes like the smoked salmon where the recipe hasn't changed since 1966, or tortellini oozing luxury as it comes with a langoustine tail and fresh truffles. But they also have inventive dishes, such as the lamb wellington with a blueberry sponge and the warm skyr dessert.
Get your waiter to tell you about the restaurant's history and show you around if possible. And don't miss out on having a drink at the classic leather sofa bar lounge before or after dinner. This place comes with a price tag, but you won't find another like it in all of Iceland.
Gallery restaurant is found within Hotel Holt, at Bergstaðastræti 37.
The hotel restaurant for the modern and artistic Canopy hotel in downtown Reykjavík is the sophisticated but simultaneously laid-back Geiri Smart.
Known for stylish and elegant cuisine, including Icelandic classics such as langoustine, lamb, arctic char and beef tenderloin you can also find more informal and tasty dishes here such as the rib eye burger and chicken thigh salad.
The restaurant is located just opposite the National Theatre, so obviously offers a pre-theatre menu, consisting of langoustine bisque or toasted brioche with truffle remoulade and asparagus for a starter, and a choice of salmon or lamb sirloin for main. The two course menu is 5500 ISK and available before 7pm.
Three course and five course menus are also available, as well as a la carte.
Geiri Smart is located at Hverfisgata 30, 101 Reykjavík.
If you're after stunning views to accompany your delicious meal, then Grillið restaurant is where you want to go. If Gallery restaurant is Reykjavík's answer to the Ivy, then Grillið is Reykjavík's answer to the Savoy Grill. Situated on the 8th floor with unobstructed views and windows from table height to ceiling, you won't find a better view with your dinner anywhere else in town, and this is a place to be seen.
Rich in history, Grillið is known to be a very formal and classic restaurant in the minds of the locals, although the menu is inventive, modern and surprisingly affordable. The fantastic head waiter, Gísli, also makes you feel like you're meeting an old friend as he enthusiastically explains each wine to you. Do NOT skip the wine pairing, and take your time, it's easy to spend an entire evening here.
Grillið restaurant can be found on the top floor at Radisson Blu Saga Hotel, at Hagatorg, 107 Reykjavík.
Sophisticated, yet natural and raw is Reykjavík's Grillmarket. It's tucked away in a back alley from the bustling Austurstræti downtown Reykjavík, and feels a little like you just found Aladdin's secret cave when you come across it.
Obviously great for steaks but you can also get fantastic seafood, duck, mini-burgers, soups and salad and a vegetarian option. Both open for lunch and dinner. I highly recommend the eight-dish 'taster' menu and its accompanying wine selection, you will not be disappointed!
Grillmarkaðurinn can be found at Lækjargata 2a, 101 Reykjavík.
Read more about the Grillmarket restaurant in Reykjavík here
Stylish, hip and rather lively restaurant in central Reykjavík, just a stone's throw from Hallgrímskirkja church. The food is incredible and so is the cocktail selection. The menu includes seafood, meat and poultry and has vegetarian and vegan options. Dishes can be made lactose and gluten free.
One of my absolute favourite places in town, great for just a few cocktails with friends, as well as splashing out on an eight-course meal with a wine selection for a special treat with a loved one.
Kol restaurant can be found on Skólavörðustígur 40, 101 Reykjavík.
Head to the old harbour in central Reykjavík and you'll find a gem on one end: Kopar restaurant (name meaning 'Copper'). Situated right by the harbour it's no surprise that this is mainly a seafood restaurant. Meat, vegetarian and vegan options are found here as well. The duck pancakes are not to be missed.
Great combination of flavours, fantastic cocktails and professional service.
Kopar restaurant can be found at Geirsgata 3, 101 Reykjavík.
Read more about Kopar seafood restaurant here
You came to Iceland to try Icelandic food, and you want to come back with some stories, right?
Instead of telling tales of awful fermented shark, then tell the tale of the delicious, juicy, chicken-flavoured cod's head that's one of the main dishes at Matur og Drykkur (Food and Drink). For starters you can have some crispy seaweed or trout smoked with sheep dung. Wash it down with a cocktail mixed with freshly picked Icelandic herbs.
Don't be put off by the somewhat odd descriptions on the menu, this restaurant gives Icelandic traditional food a whole new meaning with its tasty and inventive twists. Vegetarian options are available; you can even enjoy a whole eight-course vegetarian menu.
Matur og Drykkur can be found at Grandagarður 2, 101 Reykjavík.
You just want nicely cooked, well made Icelandic fish and plenty of it? Then don't miss out on Messinn. Situated just across the oldest high school in town, you'll find an ocean-themed restaurant that only has fish on its menu and one vegan dish.
This place doesn't mess about, you just get tasty food with the focus on the flavour of each ingredient. Main fish dishes come on a hot pan, with potatoes and salad. Try the fish gills, they're like a cross between oyster and chicken served with juicy cherry tomatoes. Very friendly and relaxed service.
Messinn can be found at Lækjargata 6b, 101 Reykjavík.
Sjávargrillið has a sort of a luxurious alpine cabin feel. If it's seafood you're after, then you won't be disappointed with Sjávargrillið. Although I've only had dinner here once (which was a heavenly date with a catfish with lobster & date sauce as well as some slow-cooked salmon), it's become one of my regular lunch places. Their fish of the day during lunch time is always delightful, and very reasonably priced too.
Great place for a romantic dinner for seafood lovers (they also have some meat and vegetarian dishes).
Sjávargrillið can be found at Skólavörðustígur 14, 101 Reykjavík.
Read more about Sjávargrillið here
Lively French bistro located beside Hotel Óðinsvé, not far from Hallgrímskirkja church. As soon as Snaps opened it became a big hit with the locals and has remained so ever since, so expect a loud chatter and a bustling atmosphere.
The menu is pretty small but contains French, Danish and Icelandic cuisine. Go for the Danish smörrebröd, or opt for the moules mariniére. Fish of the day during lunchtime also never fails.
No bookings can be made after 18:30, just turn up and hope for the best!
Snaps can be found at Þórsgata 1, 101 Reykjavík.
Read more about the popular Snaps bistro here
Picture by Sigurjón Ragnar
If you want a bit of a Mediterranean feel to your Nordic holiday, then Sumac blends Icelandic product quality with Moroccan and Lebanese spices. A beautiful blend of exotic spices mixed with fruits and almonds provide dishes such as beef cheek tagine and grilled octopus that are sure to whet your appetite.
Also a great place for vegetarians, with delicious dips such as baba ganoush and hummus with the freshly grilled flatbread, stuffed dates, roasted cauliflower and more.
Go for the 7 course Meze for dinner, you won't regret it. There's an interesting wine list to boot, and some of the best cocktails in town.
The space is a mixture of being both raw and modern, with muted colours and soft lighting.
Open for both lunch and dinner on weekdays, but only for dinner on weekends. Book in advance since it gets popular!
Sumac can be found on Laugavegur 28, 101 Reykjavík.
Tapasbarinn is a stable in the Icelandic restaurant scene, having been around since 2000. This is a really fun and lively cellar in downtown Reykjavík, not far from the old harbour area.
The focus is on Icelandic ingredients served in a Spanish tapas style. The most popular things on the menu are the Icelandic Gourmet Feast that includes puffin, arctic char and skyr for example, and a Journey into the Unknown which is a combination of seafood, meat and vegetables. Each of those includes seven to eight dishes, that will more than fill you up.
Tapasbarinn can be found at Vesturgata 3b, 101 Reykjavík.
Read more about fun and tasty tapas at Tapasbarinn here
All the best restaurants in town aren't in central Reykjavík. If you're staying in neighbouring town Hafnarfjörður, or want to explore a little more than just postcode 101, then head to Von Mathús.
This brand new and popular gastropub is run by a young and friendly couple. It has a small menu consisting of a few fish and meat dishes, with vegetarian and vegan options. Small but good cocktail list. The ox cheek dish is worthy of a special mention.
Von Mathús can be found at Strandgata 75, 220 Hafnarfjörður.
Read more about Von Mathús gastropub here
What is your favourite restaurant in Reykjavík?
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If you have been using Little Snitch 3 before, you will soon feel comfortable with the new version because the basic concepts are the same. However, there are some subtle changes.
Silent Mode, which was a feature of Little Snitch Configuration, is now implemented in Network Monitor. This has the consequence that Silent Mode becomes almost useless if you don't have Network Monitor active.
Silent Mode is now recommended for new users during the first week because it saves annoying alerts and rules can be selectively created at process, domain or host level.
Our default settings now suppress port and protocol information in the connection alert. We think that the decision whether to allow or deny a connection should be based primarily on how much you trust the developer of the process and the owner of the remote computer. We therefore focus on process name and remote domain name.
If you want back the old behavior, change the Alert Preferences.
The connection alert does not create new rules in the current profile any more, it creates them effective in all profiles by default. There's now a new option in the alert, the Profile Button, which lets you choose to create the rule in the current profile. You can even change the default for this button in the Alert Preferences.
In Little Snitch 3, rules in profiles had higher priority than all the rules effective in all profiles. This behavior made special profiles such as a "Deny Everything" profile possible, but it led to confusion as a rule's behavior changed when it was moved to a profile.
In Little Snitch 4, increased priority can be assigned independent of profiles. Right-click the rule in Little Snitch Configuration and choose Increase Priority. We still recommend that you avoid priority rules effective in all profiles, but at least not all rules in profiles need to be prioritized.
Little Snitch 4 is much better in determining the correct server name. Consequently, it always uses a single name or no name at all. This solves problems where denying an ad-server also blocked legitimate content served from the same Internet address.
In the Connection List, there is now an intermediate level when showing connection details for a process: Servers are grouped by domain. This makes the second disclosure level clearer and the domain is often all you want to know.
Network Monitor's design is now light by default, not dark as in Little Snitch 3. If you are used to the dark design and don't want to miss it, choose View > Appearance > Dark in Network Monitor's main menu.
While Network Monitor has any windows open, it shows a Dock icon, has a menu bar at the top of the screen and can be selected when using the command+tab shortcut. The Dock icon is hidden again when you close the last window.
The new Network Monitor has Rule Management built into the Connection List. This is the most convenient way to create rules for all of your connections, although it is not possible to create rules for Any Process or rules matching only a particular port or protocol.
Try it! Just one click to make a rule! And seeing all connections made so far, it's easy to decide whether to create a server-, domain- or any-connection-rule.
Network Monitor has a Map View, showing connections with their endpoints at their geographic locations. Locations are derived from Internet addresses.
If the connection alert interrupts you in the middle of your work and your work does not depend on the connection, you can postpone your response and minimize the alert.
You probably know the Research Assistant from the connection alert in Little Snitch 3. It is now available in Network Monitor and Little Snitch Configuration as well.
Little Snitch rules are now protected against process path spoofs. If malware replaces a process with a malicious one, rules for the original process will no longer be effective. See Process identity checks for details.
Information displayed in the Research Assistant can now be shipped with every application as an Internet Access Policy. Application developers should know best what a particular connection is good for.
When a profile is activated, it can change the operation mode.


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uint8_t SendIsoTPFrame(uint8_t serial_buffer[]);
uint8_t RecvIsoTPFrame(uint8_t serial_buffer[]);

void process_isotp();
uint8_t SendIsoTPFrame(uint8_t serial_buffer[], uint16_t serial_buf_count);
uint8_t RecvIsoTPFrame(uint8_t serial_buffer[]);

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Seattle City Council Insight
Independent news and analysis of the Seattle City Council. Wordy and nerdy.
About SCC Insight
Annual homeless count report released, and it's still a mess
On 07/12/2020 By Kevin Schofield In homeless
Earlier this month King County released its annual "Point in Time" count of homeless persons in the county, as required by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a condition of receiving grant funding.
Last year, SCC Insight reported on the significant methodology issues with the count that rendered its year-over-year trend data unusable. This year those same issues exist, plus some new ones. However, that doesn't mean there's nothing to learn from the new report; we just need to dig harder.
The Point in Time count is a collection of surveys used to try to get a complete picture of the county's homeless population at a single point in time, including:
a count of individuals living unsheltered on a single night (this year it was January 24, 2020), conducted by sending volunteers and paid "guides" with lived experience of being homeless out into every part of the county in the early hours of the morning to find and count homeless people;
a count of youth and young adults living unsheltered, conducted by sending volunteers and guides out midday (also on January 24). Historically, youth have been undercounted because they are often adept at "hiding in plain sight" and crashing on friends' couches or floors overnight, so the survey method has been adapted to better find and count them;
a count of homeless individuals and families who are sheltered that night in one of the many facilities offering shelter of various forms in the county. 85% of the data is pulled directly from the county's central HMIS data system, for the agencies that use it; the other 15% of the data comes from agencies that don't participate in the HMIS system; their agency staff are surveyed directly to obtain the count data.
A post-count survey, conducted in the month following the one-night count, to gather more in-depth data on demographics, causes of homelessness, needs and issues.
In last year's survey, there were two glaring signs that the methodology was flawed. First, the number of people (volunteers and guides) sent out to look for unsheltered homeless people changed from year to year — and the 2017-2019 data shows (not surprisingly) that the number of homeless people found roughly correlates with the number of people looking.
Second, there were numerous wild swings in the post-count survey results that strongly suggest sampling bias in who was actually surveyed. For instance:
This year a new company, VN Research, took over the contract to implement the survey on behalf of the county. Fortunately, it realized the importance of maintaining consistency in methodology, and so it sought to tweak things rather than make wholesale changes (though it recommended some larger changes for the oversight board to consider). However, circumstances also conspired against it: unlike the previous three years, in the early hours of January 24th, a heavy rainstorm hit the Seattle area, dropping 1.14 inches of rain. Likely because of this, the number of volunteers who showed up to count that night was significantly lower than in past years. VN also believes that the heavy rainfall made it harder to find unsheltered homeless individuals, and may have shifted more people on that night into shelters. In addition, earlier that week there was a shooting incident in downtown Seattle and a major homeless encampment cleanup effort that may have discouraged some volunteers from participating and/or caused more unsheltered individuals to move out of the immediate area. As a result, the number of counters dropped from 602 in 2019 to 335 this year.
VN Research also made a few methodology changes that probably affected the count results. For unsheltered counts, instead of asking volunteers and guides to cover all the roads in a given sector of the county, it selected routes for them where it thought the probability was highest that homeless individuals would be found. Also, it worked to improve cooperation with homeless service provider agencies in the county to obtain better and more complete information.
Together, this means that there is no reliable year-over-year trend data on the number of unsheltered individuals in King County — and thus no reliable trend data on the total number of homeless individuals. So when VN Research shows us this chart:
They are really saying that there were at least that many homeless individuals in King County on the night the count was done. Their claim that 11,751 is an estimate of the entire homeless population is not to believed, nor is their claim that the population increased by 5% from the previous year. We really have no idea what the total size of the homeless population is, for any of these years. It could be substantially larger, and for 2020 it very likely was. If they had at least kept the methodology and the size of the counting crew consistent, we could assume that the undercount was consistent across years. But they didn't (though they were at least partially the victim of circumstances) so we have no idea what the trend really is.
The post-count survey also continues to be problematic. The good news is that they collected a large number of surveys (832), which improves reliability. Also, they pull much of the information directly from the HMIS system, which improves accuracy. The bad news is that they are reliant on homeless service providers to conduct the surveys, and they have no means to ensure consistency across providers as to who is being asked to take the survey, so the results are still at high risk for sampling bias. In fact there continues to be evidence of such bias. This year, the total number of surveys collected was much lower (VN says in the report that many of the service providers were unaware of the survey and focused their efforts on the one-night count). That increases the overall margin of error, as well as the magnitude of any sampling bias introduced. VN claims that for population-wide demographics, the margin of error is +/- 3.3% at a 95% confidence level. For subgroups, however, the margin of error will be much greater (VN Research doesn't estimated the margin of error for subgroups in its report). Getting 832 survey responses from 11,751 people is, on one hand, really great and if the sample was truly random it would have excellent statistical power.
On the other hand, there is still plenty of room for sampling bias, and we can see that there are still wild swings for several of the demographics that suggest there is indeed bias. For instance, Native Americans: 3% of the counted population in 2018, and 15% this year.
We know a bit of the story here: it was widely believed that Native Americans have been dramatically undercounted for years, and in 2019 an effort was started to ensure that the Point in Time count did better at finding and counting them by collaborating with agencies that provide services to that community. In part, it was believed that the "multiple races" category included a large number of Native Americans. The effort is clearly paying off: we can see that the Native American count is way up (now 15% of the total) and the "multiple races" category has dropped accordingly.
There are several other categories, however, where the swings don't have clear explanations. A prominent one is age, where the "under 18" population jumped from 1% to 19% in a single year, the 18-24 group dropped from 18% to 9%, and the 41-50 group dropped from 27% to 15%. The 41-50 group continues to oscillate dramatically year after year.
The under-18 numbers tie in with a dramatic increase in individuals in family households this year:
Again, this suggests changes in sampling, rather than dramatic changes in the underlying demographic.
When looking at the local where individuals were staying that night, we see a big drop in "outside" and a commensurate increase in people in abandoned buildings. That could simply be the heavy rain that night. It doesn't mean that the numbers are wrong, but it means that we can't rely on trend information. The number of people living in vehicles jumped back up again, though still well below the 2018 count; again, it should make us suspicious of the sampling methodology.
Other big swings: the number of people for whom this was their first time experiencing homelessness,
and the number of individuals fleeing domestic violence:
In a year (2019) where very little changed in the way the city responds to homelessness, it's difficult to believe that there could be this many underlying demographic changes. And remember, the count and survey were performed in January and February, before COVID-19 struck. The overall accuracy may in fact be improving, but we can't rely on that until the numbers stabilize across years.
But before we discard the report entirely, there is one group represented here that we can learn from: the sheltered population. Remember: they are counted using a completely different process than unsheltered individuals, a process that relies on the county's HMIS system to provide data on 85% of the individuals, with the rest of the data coming from the providers operating the shelters that don't participate in the HMIS system. There are no volunteer counters, and the list of providers is well-known. So year over year this is a data set that is much more consistent and reliable. It doesn't give us big insights into the homeless population as a whole — we can't assume that the people willing to enter shelters have the same demographics as the people living unsheltered — but we can learn something about who is in the shelter system and ther needs, and potentially gain some insights as to the efficacy of the county's efforts to shelter the homeless. The Point in Time report gives the raw numbers for the sheltered population, but doesn't do any analysis, so it's time to pull out that copy of Excel and go to work.
The total number of homeless individuals sheltered in King County dipped a bit in 2018, but has risen back up to the 2017 levels, and as we know from city and county reports the shelter system is mostly full to capacity.
But the interesting story is who is getting into the shelters. After two years of decline, the number of family households in shelters increased a bit again this year. The number of unaccompanied youth and young adults saw a more substantial jump up this year as well. But the big story is the dramatic increase since 2018 of the number of chronically homeless individuals in shelters — nearly doubling. That is almost certainly very good news: the chronically homeless population is the most challenging to serve, and if more of them are coming inside, then it portends well for the county's ability to address their needs and help them to get stabilized.
But since the total number of individuals in shelters is approximately flat, this raises an important question: if these groups went up, who went down? Who is there fewer of in shelters? The data in the Point in Time report doesn't break out the size of the sheltered population for all subgroups that have been the focus of attention, such as veterans and those experiencing homelessness for the first time. But it does give us other demographic information, such as race/ethnicity, age and gender:
Note: the Point in Time report includes information on transgender and non-binary homeless individuals too, but the numbers are so small that they are indistinguishable from zero if included in this graph. Transgender ranges from 29-39 over the four-year period, and non-binary from 8-15.
Unfortunately, it doesn't give us a clear answer: there are small increases and decreases, but nothing that correlates with the big increase in chronically homeless in the past two years. That suggests (but far from confirms) a couple of hypotheses: perhaps the sheltered population has remained the same but now more of them are categorized as chronically homeless; or the decrease has been among individuals who don't fall into a particular subgroup that is a special focus of attention for homeless service providers. But it also tells us that the increase in chronically homeless has not introduced new racial/ethnic biases — though by the same token, nor has it addressed any of the existing ones.
Finally, broken out by region of the county we can see some trends about where additional shelter capacity is being created and/or utilized:
The eastern part of King County is sheltering slightly fewer individuals, as is the southwest area. The northeast is building back up after a two-year drop-off, and the southeast corner is growing its share. But the biggest player by far, to no surprise, it still Seattle, providing over two-thirds of the shelter. Seattle is now back above its 2017 total as well. It will be interesting to see what impact the new regional homeless authority has on these numbers over the coming years.
What are the big take-aways?
You still shouldn't believe in the accuracy of the total homeless count, and especially not the quoted 5% increase in 2020. There were at least 11,751 homeless individuals in King County in January, and probably many more than that.
The survey as a whole still suffers from methodology issues and sampling bias, though the numbers for the sheltered population are more reliable.
The sheltered homeless population in Seattle seems to have shifted demonstrably over the past two years. Now one third of the sheltered individuals are chronically homeless.
Outside of Seattle, there continues to be wide variation in how communities are stepping up to provide for the homeless population.
I hope you found this article valuable. If you did, please take a moment to make a contribution to support my ongoing work. Thanks!
Tagged with count us in, homelessness
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Home Science Applications International Corp.
Science Applications International Corp.
SAIC wins $171M IT contract
Reston Fortune 500 contractor to perform work at Scott Air Force Base
Reston-based Fortune 500 contractor Science Applications International Corp. has received an IT contract valued up to $151 million from the U.S. Transportation Command, the Pentagon announced Thursday. Under the contract, SAIC…
SAIC receives $757M Army IT contract
Will continue work for Army Enterprise Service Desk
Published November 14, 2022 by Courtney Mabeus-Brown
Reston-based Fortune 500 contractor Science Applications International Corp. has received a $757 million contract to continue providing software development and management for the Army's Enterprise Service Desk, the company announced…
Artemis I to launch with help from Va. contractors
Northrop Grumman, SAIC, Boeing play roles in mission
Published August 28, 2022 by Courtney Mabeus-Brown
EDITOR'S NOTE: Monday's launch was scrubbed by NASA shortly after 8:33 a.m. because of an engine issue. Weather permitting, if the Artemis 1 moon mission launches from NASA's Kennedy Space…
SAIC receives $319M Air Force contract
Work includes modernizing Falconer weapons system
Reston-based Fortune 500 contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has received a $319 million contract to modernize and maintain the Air Force's Falconer weapon system, the company announced Wednesday. Under the…
SAIC wins potential $1.11B Navy contract
Reston contractor will provide submarine-launched anti-surface torpedo parts
Published November 29, 2021 by Katherine Schulte
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) won an up to $1.11 billion contract with the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Department of Defense announced last week. Under…
Biden will nominate SAIC senior VP as Army under secretary
Gabe Camarillo also served as assistant secretary for Air Force
Published July 14, 2021 by Katherine Schulte
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday his intent to nominate Gabe Camarillo, a senior vice president at Reston-based Fortune 500 federal contractor Science Applications International Corp., for under secretary of the…
SAIC appoints three initial members to new advisory board
Appointees include former Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. has formed a new Strategic Advisory Board, the company announced Tuesday, and the first three board members include former U.S. Deputy…
SAIC makes three new leadership appointments
New hires hail from Northrop Grumman, Perspecta and Leidos
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. has appointed two new senior vice presidents and a new corporate controller, the company announced Friday. SAIC appointed Heather Wilson as…
SAIC wins $126M Army task order
Reston contractor will perform R&D for ground combat systems
Published June 10, 2021 by Kate Andrews
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) was awarded a $126 million, single-award task order to research and develop modeling and simulation enhancements for the U.S. Army…
SAIC to acquire Arlington-based tech contractor
Fortune 500 federal contractor will purchase Halfaker and Associates
Published June 3, 2021 by Richard Foster
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Arlington-based Halfaker and Associates LLC, a technology solutions provider to the federal…


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Home / Press releases / Hiroshima Anniversary marked by call to UK Government – Scrap Trident, No New Nukes
Hiroshima Anniversary marked by call to UK Government – Scrap Trident, No New Nukes
8 August 2004: for immediate use
On the 59th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Japan the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament will be honouring the victims of the nuclear horror in ceremonies and events up and down the country. CND will be calling on the UK government to remember those who died by abiding by their disarmament treaty obligations and ending the nuclear hypocrisy.
Within one week two nuclear attacks were a death sentence for over 280,000 men women and children, with the long term impact of the radiation causing suffering and debilitation for countless others. The US dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on the 6th August 1945 killing 80,000 people outright and 140,000 overall in the subsequent days, weeks months and years. On the 9th August 1945 the US dropped a second bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki again killing 140, 000 people. Despite the horror we still have not learnt. Each missile-head in Britain's nuclear weapons system has an explosive power eight times the power of the atom bomb dropped in Hiroshima.
Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said,
"Rather than disarming under its commitment to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the UK is maintaining its nuclear arsenal and threatening non nuclear states with its use. If we are to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons and guarantee that there will never be another Hiroshima or Nagasaki we must scrap Trident and say No New Nukes.
The UK is looking to develop new 'usable' nuclear weapons and to replace the UK's nuclear weapons system Trident when its current service life runs out. Central to this hypocrisy is the Mutual Defence Agreement which is key to UK nuclear subservience to the US, and without it, it is extremely unlikely that the UK could remain a nuclear weapons states.
Fifty-nine years since the horror of the atomic bomb was first unleashed the UK government must actively abide by its Non Proliferation Treaty obligations and say Never Again. "
Notes to editor:
1. For further information and interviews please contact Ruth Tanner, CND's Press & Communications Officer on 0207 700 2350 or 07968 420859
2. Events to commemorate the anniversary
Hiroshima Day ceremony London
6th August 2004 From noon to 1pm, at the commemorative cherry tree in Tavistock Square, London WC1. (Euston tube). Speakers include Cllr Barbara Hughes, Deputy Mayor of Camden, Kate Hudson, CND Chair, Revd Paul Hawkins, Vicar of St Pancras Church and Ken Savage, Chair of The Gtr London Pensioners' Association.
For further info: London Region CND, 020 77607 2302.
Hiroshima Day events in the West Midlands
Birmingham, Cathedral Churchyard, vigil, 6 August, 12.30
Coventry, Chapel of Unity, Cathedral, Hiroshima Day Service, Friday 6 August, 18.00-19.00
Hereford, High Town stall, Saturday 7 August, 10.30-15.00
Malvern Churches Justice & Peace Group is holding a Hiroshima commemorative event on Saturday 7 August, at Malvern Priory, Church Street, Great Malvern. A programmed vigil in the Priory churchyard from 10:30 to 11:30 will be followed by a devotional gathering inside the Priory from 11:45 to 12:15
West Midlands CND: Vigil at St. Stephens Church, Reddictch, between 12-1.
For further info: West Midlands CND: jennywmcnd@gn.apc.org
Peace Walk between the UK's two Star Wars bases in Yorkshire –6th – 9th August 2004
Campaigners from Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament aim to link the current and new nuclear threats this weekend as they mount a peace walk between the UK's two Star Wars bases, both in Yorkshire. The walk takes place between Hiroshima day (Aug 6th) and Nagasaki day (Aug 9th), marking the 59th anniversary of the dropping of the Atomic Bombs.
The six adventurers, which include Dave Knight – a Vice-President of CND, Yorkshire CND's Campaign Worker and students from Leeds, aim to highlight the key nuclear issues and make the links between Star Wars and the nuclear bomb.
The walkers will meet at the main gate at Menwith Hill at 9.30am on August 6th and tie five cardboard figures of people on to the fence of the base – each one representing 50,000 people killed by the bombs. When they reach Fylingdales they will do the same to the Outer fence there. They also plan to hold a candlelit minute's silence at each base in remembrance of those that were killed and to display banners saying "No More Hiroshimas" and "No More Nagasakis". They will then head off on the 70 mile walk to Fylingdales, planning to arrive at 2pm on August 9th – Nagasaki Day.
Picnic for Peace
8th August 2004 – Regents Park, London from 12 noon till 4pm.
On the 59th anniversary of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, CND will be remembering the dead and saying never again as we take part in the Worldwide Picnic for Peace on Sunday 8th August. No speeches, no rally, just food and fun. It is a child-friendly event, so bring your family, friends, neighbours and your own picnic. There will be magic, stilt walking, fire juggling, competitions with prizes and a tombola.
Organised by CND, The Stop the War Coalition, and Peace Direct. Phone: CND 020 7700 2393
3. Hiroshima and Nagasaki
· The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, a Boeing B-29 bomber, at 8:15am local time on August 6, 1945.
· The population of the city of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 380,000 people earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased due to a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the atomic bombing attack the population of Hiroshima was approximately 255,000. This figure is based on the registered population, used by the Japanese in computing ration quantities, and the estimates of additional workers and troops who were brought into the city may not be highly accurate.
· The atomic bomb called "Little Boy" was dropped over the central part of the city and the bomb exploded with a blast equivalent to 12,000 tons of TNT, killing 80,000 people outright. By the end of 1945, an estimated 60,000 more people died due to nuclear fallout sickness. However, this total does not include longer term casualties from radiation exposure. .
· The bomb killed men, women, and children indiscriminately. It killed both military personnel and civilians. Although the city produced military items and housed soldiers, it was not selected as a "purely military target" as President Truman had promised. There were six civilians in Hiroshima to every soldier.
· In a radio speech to the nation on August 9, 1945, President Truman called Hiroshima "a military base." Truman delivered his speech from the White House at 10 P.M. Washington time on August 9, 1945. By this time, a second atomic bomb already had destroyed the city of Nagasaki. Because of the great length of the speech, most of which dealt with Germany, only the relevant paragraph is quoted here: "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction
Negasaki
· The second bomb, called "Fat Man," exploded over Nagasaki, Japan, at 11:02 a.m. on August 9, 1945. It exploded at 1,650 feet with a force of 22,000 tons of TNT. 70,000 people lost their lives in Nagasaki by the end of 1945 due to the bombing. A total of 140,000 died within the next five years.
4. The Mutual Defense Agreement
· EDM calling for a debate on the MDA – http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=1407
· Advice from Matrix for the British American Security Information Council –
5. The Non Proliferation Treaty
Link to content of 2000 NPT Conference agreement
Anti-War | Hiroshima | Nagasaki | Nuclear weapons | Trident | UK | USA


The first Glasgow directory was published in 1783 by John Tait. This image is taken from a facsimile reprint published in 1871 by Robert Forrester. Page 62 includes surnames from Smith to Scott.
John Smith Jnr was the eldest son of John Smith, who founded Glasgow's oldest bookshop in 1751. John Smith Jnr joined the business in 1777. John Smith & Sons was a subscriber to the 1787 Edinburgh edition of the poems of Robert Burns and was the poet's agent in Glasgow. A third John Smith, the founder's grandson, joined the business in the early 19th century. The bookshop moved to St Vincent Street in 1835.
During the 18th century, the high price of books led to the growth of circulating libraries which, for a modest subscription price, supplied readers with popular novels. In 1753, John Smith Snr opened Smith's Circulating Library, the first circulating library in Glasgow, which survived until 1828.