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New bill comes online to combat drug addiction
Senator Rob Portman, a co-sponsor of the bill, has been working to draw attention to the rise in opioid addiction.
Legislation would offer comprehensive new approach to improve treatment options
By Mindy Farabee –
Last month, new measures designed to address how Americans combat drug addiction took a major step forward on Capitol Hill, moving out of the Senate Judiciary Committee to be taken up for consideration on the floor of the Senate.
The ambitious bill, known as the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), is being heralded as growing evidence of a shift in national consciousness—by earmarking $78 million for treatment, prevention, overdose reversal, criminal justice reform, and other such provisions, the bill reflects a departure from the "war on drugs" mentality that's largely dictated the public discourse since Richard Nixon uttered the phrase at press conference in 1971.
Indeed, CARA comes on the heels of numerous actions designed to redirect addicts toward recovery and away from prison in recent years—from Californians voting to downgrade nonviolent felonies like drug possessions to a misdemeanor in 2014 to President Obama's February 2016 call for $1.1 billion in new treatment funding. Moreover, in a rare sighting of bipartisanship, the bill is co-sponsored by Republican Rob Portman of Ohio and Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island, a sign that many feel bodes well for its passage.
The act is still far from law, however. Receiving committee approval means that CARA still must move through both houses of congress in order to reach the president's desk. That process could take months and provides ample opportunities for derailment along the way. But significant momentum has been building behind the bill since its introduction last February, especially after Sen. Portman held a series of hearings in late January 2016, designed to spotlight addiction issues in general, but mushrooming rates of opioid addiction in particular.
It's this staggering rise in opioid abuse that appears to be driving much of the rethinking on the subject. Over the past 15-20 years, as the medical community began to treat patients with chronic pain more aggressively, rates of opioid addiction—dependence on a class of morphine-derived drugs that encompasses prescription painkillers such as OxyContin along with street drugs like heroin—began to jump precipitously, more than doubling the number of fatal overdoses for younger, white Americans, particularly in rural areas, a New York Times study found. Deaths from prescription drugs "have surpassed traumatic death," said Sean Nordt, a toxicologist, emergency room physician and associate professor at the University of Southern California. "That's the first time that's happened."
In the U.S., opioid overdoses claimed some 28,000 lives in 2014, according to a 2016 report from the Pew Research Center. Today, about 130 Americans a day die from overdoses, with 70 of those stemming from opioid use alone. Often these statistics hail from demographics—high school athletes, workers injured on the job—who began their addiction with a doctor's prescription. Once doctors cut them off or the pills become too expensive, users often turn to cheaper alternatives such as heroin, which also brings with it an increased risk of infectious diseases.
The impact is being felt across the country. "Opiate use in all our centers is on the rise," said Avery Chamlis, The Salvation Army Western Territory's director of rehabilitation for the Adult Rehabilitation Centers Command. "Even our centers that have traditionally had other drugs and alcohol as their primary addictions, have found that heroin use is on the rise."
"This is a public health crisis," said Becky Vaughn, vice president of addictions at the National Council for Behavioral Health, an umbrella organization representing 2,750 community mental health and addiction treatment centers around the country. "We use the example of Ebola [here in the U.S.]. Everyone was panicking, and we had three cases. People are dying of these overdoses ahead of every other cause of death, and yet we're not getting the same result."
Several of CARA's provisions are crafted to target opioid addiction, a problem—perhaps not uncoincidentally—most prevalent within the country's white population. But Vaughn notes that its passage would benefit more than opioid users, and its emphasis on continuum of care is key.
"The reason it's got good bipartisan support is the word 'comprehensive," Vaughn said. "We've had lots of hits and misses dealing with the problem of addiction."
That's also what makes the bill unique among recent legislative proposals, she says. CARA's numerous provisions include sections on prevention and education; law enforcement and treatment; treatment and recovery support; collateral consequences (such as barriers to community re-entry after incarceration); women and veterans; and state demonstration grants, which could open up new funding streams for community treatment centers.
One element in particular has garnered praise from several quarters. While CARA would strengthen monitoring systems that help doctors gauge whether patients are collecting multiple prescriptions, it would also make new medications more widely available, increasing funding and availability of both naltrexone, which can reverse overdose effects, as well as three, FDA-approved medications—Vivitrol, buprenorphine and methadone—that have proven effective in significantly boosting recovery rates. While not a substitute for other forms of therapy, a medication-assisted approach works to combat cravings and is capable of doubling success rates in the first year, according to the aforementioned Pew report.
"You can get to the root issues pushing substance abuse much much faster," Vaughn said. "A person can deal with the process better. I've had people say to me, 'I wasn't focused on my brain screaming for more drugs.'"
As for when all this help might arrive, cautious optimism abounds. Advocates are lobbying hard for CARA's passage under the current congressional session, so as to move its authorized funds into the federal budget for 2017. Money from the White House's independent February proposal, meanwhile, could become available even more quickly.
But just the fact that any of this is on the table is a game-changer, Vaughn said.
"When I started at this 30 years ago, it was hard to get a legislator to talk to me," she said. "Now we have hero legislators who are being very proactive. Truly, this is the first presidential race in which we've had anything like this attention [on the issue]."
In fact, two former candidates from the crowded Republican field—Carly Fiorina and Jeb Bush—have both spoken openly about addiction issues among their own relatives. On the other side of the aisle, Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders called for a "radical" redirection in American drug policy during a late 2015 debate. Out on the campaign trail, voters haven't been shy about pressing for answers, as in the lead-up to February's intensely covered primary in New Hampshire, a state struggling with one of the highest per capita rates of addiction in the country.
"I'm seeing changes I never thought I'd see in my lifetime," Vaughn said.
Overdoses from heroin, prescription drugs, and opioid pain relievers have become the leading cause of injury death in the United States, surpassing the number of deaths by motor vehicles and by firearms every year since 2008.
SOURCE: DEA
addiction, CARA, recovery, Vol 34 No 03
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A Tie so Far: Tricky Talks With Tough People in Paris
Ukraine's Police to Investigate Possible Spying on Ex-US Ambassador to Ukraine Yovanovitch
Russia's Police Tried and Failed to Silence This Journalist. Now He's Speaking Up
Inside The Frontline Village Declared Ukrainian Twice
IMF Resident Representative on Reforming Ukraine
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, attend a joint news conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday Dec. 9, 2019 EPA-EFE/LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL
"We have just started to be diplomats and would call it a draw," comments the President of Ukraine in response to the question "Who got the upper hand?" at the meeting with Vladimir Putin. It's 1 a.m. Paris time. The first Normandy Summit in over three years – and Volodymyr Zelenskyy's first chance to resolve the Donbas conflict – lasted almost 10 hours. Russian and Ukrainian leaders' meeting tête-à-tête took one hour.
Despite no breakthrough and key issues not being resolved for years – such as the revision of the Minsk agreements that would ensure Ukraine controls the border during the elections in the Donbas – both the Ukrainian side, Germany, and France choose to call the meeting "a restart of the negotiation process".
The parties agreed to make progress and concessions. Namely, an exchange of prisoners by the end of the year with the formula of "all for all" (according to the Ukrainian president, there are 72 people forcibly held in the occupied Donbas), a complete ceasefire by December 31, the disengagement of troops in three more areas, which will be determined in Minsk, continuation of the so-called "Special status" law in force, extension of the OSCE SMM mandate. The next meeting in the Normandy format is scheduled to be held in four months. So how did the parties reach these agreements?
New Ideas And Old Crises
Ukrainian president Zelenskyy arrived in Paris on the eve of the summit, on Sunday, December 8. He brought with him a notable entourage – Minister of Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystaiko, Presidential advisor Andriy Yermak, Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Ruslan Khomchak, his chief-of-staff Andriy Bohdan, his deputy chief-of-staff Kirill Timoshenko, presidential advisor Serhiy Shefir, SBU head Ivan Bakanov, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov, and Naftogaz executive director Yuriy Vitrenko. A few people even showed up "just in case" – to contribute their areas of specialty if there was to be some significant progress.
The Russian delegation wasn't anything to sneeze at either – Alexey Miller, the head of Gazprom was there, as was their energy minister, Alexander Novak, and of course, Putin's advisor Vladislav Surkov, who handles all Donbas-related questions.
Prior to the summit, representatives of Zelenskyy's administration sounded out a new idea which the Ukrainian side was intended to put forward. Specifically, the idea was to create joint Ukrainian–'People's Republic' police patrols, in order to somehow control 'that territory.'
Press waiting for the arrival of the Normandy summit participants in the courtyard of the Élysée Palace. Paris, France, December 9, 2019. Photo: Oleksandr Kokhan / Hromadske
Despite the fact that Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron have a reputation for always being late, the meeting at the Élysée started on time, at 3 p.m. Paris time. The Ukrainian president arrived on a rather humble Renault, compared to the Russian Aurus Senat, a giant armored limousine of Russian make, which was shipped as cargo to France from Russia.
Zelenskyy walked up the inner courtyard to meet Macron, ignoring the loud questions of Russian journalists about what he would consider to be a success in the talks and whether or not he'll visit Moscow for the Victory Day celebrations on May 9.
President of France Emmanuel Macron (right) meets President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Élysée Palace. Paris, France, December 9, 2019. Photo: Photo: Oleksandr Kokhan / Hromadske
Putin arrived last, walking past the military honor guard with a noticeable limp. According to the summit's program, before the four-way talks themselves, each leader was to have bilateral talks with both Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. These meetings took about two hours.
And if in Ukraine, people worried about how the 'young new president' will be able to beat the "experienced KGB man Putin", Western journalists and analysts were expressing the same concerns about Macron. He's considered to be far too arrogant and impatient.
President of France Emmanuel Macron (right) meets President of Russia Vladimir Putin at the Élysée Palace. Paris, France, December 9, 2019. Photo: Photo: Oleksandr Kokhan / Hromadske
The previous day, Macron stated that Europe cannot count on the U.S. and NATO, meaning that questions about security cannot simply ignore Russia. And taking into account just how much Macron wants to bag some quick wins, Europeans are worried that Macron may be stretching himself too far in orchestrating this meeting in Paris and forcing through progress that, in reality, does not exist – especially given a background of unrest at home.
On the very day of the Normandy summit, Paris saw wide-scale strikes against pension reform – schools and public transport have been shut down since December 5. And despite the fact that the strikes occupied French headlines, these days most of the major Western media are writing about the war in the Donbas.
The Deadlock
Hundreds of journalists, who have registered for the meeting, eagerly take pictures of two small screens in a luxurious room with gold-plating and crystal chandeliers. The video is silent and lasts a few minutes: the four leaders are sitting down at the negotiating table. This is all the information available. Whilst the conversation goes on, there are no leaks or rumors.
The media are trying to catch at least something: did the Ukrainian president shake Putin's hand? The photographers were unable to capture the moment on camera, and they entered the meeting room separately – with German Chancellor Merkel between them. But Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov reports a handshake. Subsequently, answering the question "Can one shake Putin's hand?", Zelenskyy said, "Do we want a result, because why go so far just to spit at someone?"
Reporters watching the Normandy Four appear on the screen at the Press Center, Paris, France, December 9, 2019. Photo: Nataliya Gumenyuk / Hromadske
It is at the summit, that we receive a confirmation that the head-to-head talk between Putin and Zelenskyy will take place. Everyone was intrigued. After lengthy discussions about whether the meeting would take place before or after the four-sided summit, everyone agreed for them to return to Merkel and Macron for dinner after their bilateral meeting. Thus, it would become clear whether it makes sense at all for the presidents of Ukraine and Russia to communicate with each other, but they will also inform Paris and Berlin of the matter in question.
READ MORE: Restarting the Normandy Format, 3 Years Later
The key question is, in fact, whether Putin came to reach an agreement and whether he is ready for anything at all? If the Ukrainian, French, German media were able to speak with their leaders' teams the day before, Russian journalists – both pro-Kremlin and independent – insisted that they were not briefed. All as one refer to the same material in the Russian publication Kommersant, which states that the Kremlin is most interested in maintaining the status quo and will not deviate from the Minsk Protocol.
The most contradictory point in the document signed in the winter of 2015 is the 9th point which stipulates the sequence of events: first the elections in the Donbas, and only then the restoration of Ukrainian control over the border. This dispute led all previous Normandy talks into a dead end and lasted three years, since meetings in this format had not been held since 2016. But the Élysée Palace made it clear that Zelenskyy's words about wanting to reconsider this order "have legitimacy."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday Dec. 9, 2019. Photo: Nataliya Gumenyuk / Hromadske
"The meeting will last for another five to ten minutes," – such messages are sent to the media every hour. The joint press conference and announcement of the communique with the outcome is put back from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. CET. Only one media per country is allowed to ask questions. And less than an hour before the leaders come out, information emerges that there will be no new decisions – such as regaining control of the border with the Russian Federation in the occupied Donbas territories, an actual date for elections in the Donbas or joint patrolling of territories.
"Why are you so gloomy?" we inquire of the Ukrainian delegation passing by. "Everything in order, we're just all tired" – the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Bogdan and his deputy Timoshenko both seem to force a smile. It's clear they are excited and eager to show support for the president and a longtime friend in every way possible without giving away too much.
Ukrainian delegation after the talks, Paris, December 9, 2019. Kirill Timoshenko, left, Andriy Bohdan, Vadym Prystaiko, Serhiy Shefir, and Ruslan Khomchak, right. Photo: Anastasia Stanko / Hromadske
A Renewed Plan for the Donbas
"We are re-launching this format and hope to have the prisoner exchange by the end of the year," French President Macron said during the briefing by Zelenskyy and Putin.
Putin stressed that instead of "all for all" the exchange should start with "all identified for all identified". The Ukrainian president later specified that this implies about 72 prisoners in the Donbas.
READ MORE: "People in Donbas Don't Think It's Their War" - Former OSCE Rep Hug
Hromadske sources say that during the talks, when asked about prisoners in the occupied Crimea or those who were transferred from there to Russia, Putin pretended to be amazed at the number of people and was not ready to give away those he considered "Russian citizens."
Zelenskyy said that talking about expanding the list on that day could be a hindrance even for those 72 to be freed by the New Year. But the negotiations will continue.
Merkel said calmly and thoughtfully that she is pleased with the meeting. The German Chancellor noted that the mandate of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission will be expanded – it will now operate around the clock, not 12 hours a day as it has been so far.
Other arrangements include a complete ceasefire by the end of 2019. Also, by the end of March 2020, the troops should be disengaged in three more settlements in the Donbas. What the settlements would be, should be agreed in Minsk. However, it won't be strategic points like Shchastia, Luhansk region. Merkel says it could be areas "near Stanytsia [Luhanska] and Petrivske."
Within the next 30 days, the Trilateral Contact Group must agree on new border crossing points. Finally, an updated plan for the demining of conflict-affected areas was agreed upon.
As French analysts told Hromadske, they believe Merkel's and Macron's position was to "support Zelenskyy, and predictions of some critics that the Ukrainian president will be alone against the other three at the negotiations had no grounds."
During the night, the Élysée Palace didn't give a single comment. "For the French president it was important to show that he brought Putin to Paris, and although the opportunities are very limited, and [positions of] Ukraine and Russia are still far apart, there is a cautious movement."
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday Dec. 9, 2019. Photo: Nataliya Gumenyuk / Hromadske
A separate paragraph in the final communiqué refers to the need to implement the political provisions of the Minsk agreements. In particular, "to incorporate the 'Steinmeier formula' into the Ukrainian legislation, in accordance with the version agreed upon within the N4 and the Trilateral Contact Group." Furthermore, the Ukrainian Parliament must vote in favor of the continuation of the law on the Special Order of Local Self-Government of Certain Areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions, which is still in force.
READ MORE: The Sunday Show: Ukraine Awaits the First Normandy Meeting in Three Years
Zelenskyy later explained that since the text of the law has to be agreed in Minsk, it is easier to keep its old version in order not to get stuck.
"Border control and elections were the most difficult issues, and we have differences here with the Russian president," Zelenskyy told Hromadske's correspondent.
The Ukrainian side provided examples: where elections were held without border control, conflicts usually continued. An alternative compromise could be to gain final control over the two days before the election – Ukrainian border guards would gradually establish it and complete the day before the elections.
Zelenskyy also told Putin that if "the disengagement is going at the same pace as now, it [control over the border] will happen in no less than 20 years", when Zelenskyy himself, and Putin, "will be gone".
Returning to Merkel and Macron, as if seeking support, Zelenskyy stressed that he would like to have more progress on all issues, but it is impossible to resolve everything in one go. Yet, in four months, another meeting must take place, to which the President of Russia has publicly agreed. There are no additional conditions for the meeting to happen.
The representatives of Zelenskyy's office made it clear that Putin was constantly repeating the same thing: "Ukraine did not fulfill the agreements", and therefore "it is taking time".
When asked by Hromadske why Russia is categorically opposed to Ukraine's control over its own border at the time of the elections which can help the resolution of the conflict, Putin referred again to the Minsk agreements. "Why unstitch Minsk? If we unstitch it, all the rest will fall apart."
Following the formal press conference of all four leaders, Zelenskyy gave a separate press briefing in front of the Sofitel Hotel near the Élysée Palace. The residents of the hotel had to squeeze through the Ukrainian press pool of about 70 journalists, the largest at the summit.
Informal briefing of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy with members of the Ukrainian delegation, Paris, France, December 9, 2019
During the late conversation, Zelenskyy picked up words carefully, specified that although the meeting was dedicated to the Donbas, he did mention Crimea. He did not attack Putin because of diplomacy, nor did he give an emotional assessment of his predecessor Petro Poroshenko.
However, he said that the call for "No capitulation" protests in Kyiv "was used at the negotiations by the Kremlin as an example of radicalization". Zelenskyy said again that the point about the border in the Minsk agreements is improper, but it wasn't him who signed it.
But he added that "maybe it could not have been otherwise under those circumstances".
READ MORE: Rebooting Normandy: 6 Questions About the Talks
"Putin wants to regulate every word. And I'm a quick man. Putin has other natural biomechanics. It is difficult to agree on whether we can go further – we will see, but there were moments in which we agreed and there were concessions. It was a very difficult dialogue with very tough people," the President of Ukraine summed it up.
The worst that can happen is that nothing will happen. This is how the Ukrainian government team assessed the negotiations the day before. The main thing is "at least some dynamics", Zelenskyy's team members said then. Everything went as expected, they say now.
/With the support of the Russian Language News Exchange
Thanks to the support from our readers, Hromadske International has been existing for five years. We cover hot-button political topics, high-profile corruption, and human rights issues. We report from the Donbas and annexed Crimea. If you would like to support Hromadske International, you can donate on this page.
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Living nearly off the grid in Riverdale
By Tamar HarrisStaff Reporter
Fri., Sept. 15, 2017timer4 min. read
It's hard to go off the grid on a residential Riverdale street, but Rolf Paloheimo has managed for two decades.
With no hookup to municipal water or sewage and only minimal use of Toronto Hydro electricity, Paloheimo's three-bedroom home has been making green tech livable since 1996.
"This is the most comfortable house I've ever lived in," Paloheimo said. "Absolutely, bar none."
Paloheimo, 63, pays only one utility bill a month, for electricity. Thanks to the solar panels covering the front of his home, that bill can be as little as nothing to $10 during summer months. He's not connected to, and doesn't pay for, water or gas.
His home, dubbed the Healthy House, was the result of a February 1992 competition held by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
Two winners emerged — one each in Vancouver and Toronto. The winning designs promoted resident health and environmental sustainability, while remaining affordable and accessible to the general public.
Toronto-based architect Martin Liefhebber was behind Toronto's winning bid, but couldn't find a builder until Paloheimo, a builder and project manager, volunteered.
He and Liefhebber built the duplex, near Withrow Park, from the ground up, and Paloheimo agreed to move his young family into one of the two units.
"We promised to make the house self-sufficient and not use any non-renewable fuel," Paloheimo said.
The other unit in Paloheimo and Liefhubber's creation became an environmentally-friendly attraction with thousands of people touring through. Today, it's a private residential home.
"Despite the home's high-tech appearance, most of the products and systems are simple and straightforward," said Chris Ives, CMHC project manager, said in a Toronto Healthy House report published after the house was built.
"Off-grid houses do not necessarily require hours of labour for upkeep. In fact, everything in the house is easy to maintain and available in today's marketplace."
Duncan Hill, manager of housing needs policy research at CMHC, said an off-the-grid approach appeals to some — but not all.
"To be off the grid is to be independent and to be independent means you have to install, operate, maintain and look after systems that you otherwise wouldn't have to do," Hill said, adding that most homeowners don't want to deal with sewage.
Hill said the Healthy House wasn't so much about being independent as it was about showing what was possible.
"It was more demonstrating that you could take a house to such low energy needs, water needs, produce so little sewage that it doesn't need those connections," Hill said. "So if anything, you're trying to make a point."
Much of the Healthy House remains true to how it was built and later featured on a 1998 stamp.
But those years haven't passed without some "failed ideas," Paloheimo said.
Two fridges with outdoor compressors couldn't keep food frozen in the summer and were replaced. There was also a short-lived "drying closet:" a small room with circulating air to dry clothes.
Now living alone for most of the year, Paloheimo's energy needs have decreased.
Toronto Hydro supplements power collected by solar panels — the only aspect of his house that remains on the grid.
Paloheimo recently installed an above-ground air to water heat pump that provides heat in the winter and cooling in the summer, and the steel corrugated ceilings help keep the house temperate.
Heating the house is a lot like buying the right sleeping bag for the weather, Paloheimo explained.
"You design the house so that you don't really need to heat it too much."
Under the back patio, a water tank the size of a small truck collects rainwater from the slanted roof. The water is purified by a slow sand filter.
"One of the reasons for using the rainwater is it tastes better," Paloheimo said. "Also, it cleans your dishes better. It's just way better."
The house can use approximately 120 litres of water a day, based on the size of the tank and Toronto's 25-year rainfall pattern. The average Canadian household uses about 250 litres per person daily.
"That was the reason we had to concentrate on water saving features and on recycling," Paloheimo said.
The house isn't connected to municipal sewers, either. Waste and waste water is filtered and biologically treated in a self-contained system. Purified water is recycled back into the home's toilets and washing machine. Sand, grit and indigestible waste needs to be pumped out every several years.
The Healthy House is an anomaly on the quiet Riverdale street, but the popularity of the CMHC homes demonstrated the real-world viability of environmentally-friendly homes.
"Nobody's talking about this being something from outer space or quirky or technically complicated," Hill said. "It's more just a matter of when the market is ready now, to pick it up."
The CMHC's Healthy House initiative was succeeded by an Equilibrium Sustainable Housing Demonstration Initiative. Much like the Healthy Houses, Equilibrium homes are energy-efficient and reduce environmental impacts.
Ten demonstration housing projects have been constructed in Quebec, Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, B.C. and New Brunswick.
The Equilibrium initiative ended a few years back, Hill said, adding that demonstration projects are always in the CMHC's toolbox.
Paloheimo said Toronto's Healthy House is becoming too big for him now, but he's sold on environment-friendly living.
"I actually wouldn't mind building another house," he said.


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You are here Travel guides Culture Tourist Attractions Monuments & Landmarks Timewheel
Timewheel
Listed under Monuments & Landmarks in Budapest, Hungary.
Photo by flickr user Paul Mannix
The world's largest hourglass isn't going to appeal to everyone, but for horologists and other clock lovers who aren't enthusiastic enough to know their Greek title, this is a pretty cool thing. It's made of granite, glass and steel and 60 tonnes, minus the weight of the clock, worth of sand - or more specifically glass granules. The best thing about it is that works – but not just over the course of a day, over the course of a year! As the final granules pour downwards as midnight on the 31st draws near, a team of four people are rigging up a harness and cables to turn it upside down and start again. This operation in manual labour seems the fallible element, and it takes 45 minutes, but apparently that's factored in as well. You don't have to be a geek to think that's pretty cool.
The Timewheel has been doing its thing just off Heroes Square since the 1st of May 2004, when it was launched to coincide with the enlarging of the EU.
Taj Mahal tour is not only about the seeing the mausoleum in white marble, but also its surroundings, especially the Taj Garden…
Originally built for the 1889 World Fair, this structure was designed to incorporate the advancement of metallurgy in construct…
The most famous symbol of Rome, despite the crowds and the touts still one of the world's greatest monuments.
Heroes Square
Hungary is an old, old country, so naturally has plenty of historical heroes to celebrate. This square is just one of the plac…
This park in the centre of Budapest, its main entrance just off Heroes Square, is old and rather lovely. But it's all the monu…
Szechenyi Baths
What could be more civilised than playing chess, immersed up to your armpits in water of a steady 34 degrees, summer or winter,…
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Delta Spirit Share the Origins of New Song "It Ain't Easy": Stream
Frontman Matthew Logan Vasquez discusses the inspiration for the latest single from their upcoming album What Is There
Delta Spirit Origins, photo by Alex Kweskin
Ben Kaye
July 22, 2020 | 10:59am ET
Our new music feature Origins asks bands to give listeners the inside scoop on their latest single. Today, Delta Spirit explain why "It Ain't Easy".
After barely a handful of shows, Delta Spirit had their reunion tour curtailed by the pandemic. While they've already set a course to make it up in 2021 (we hope!), fans thankfully won't have to wait that long for new music. Later this summer, the far-flung indie rockers are set to release their first album in six years, What Is There.
The record comes after the band took some very deliberate time off, having drifted apart over the course of four full-lengths. When they finally reconvened in 2018, they'd progressed enough as individuals that "the friendships got an opportunity to come back," frontman Matthew Logan Vasquez explains in a press release. In this spirit of personal and interpersonal maturation comes Delta Spirit's latest single, "It Ain't Easy".
"For the longest time I would try/ To get in line/ But it ain't easy," sings Vasquez on the track. "And I found it hard to be myself/ Without your help." While he issues an earnest mea culpa for his pride, a sturdy rhythm section keeps pace for the piano notes weaving around acoustic guitar strums. The track is built something like American pop, a looping quality to the composition aligning it as much with indie as R&B.
Delta Spirit's Matthew Logan Vasquez On Trump's America
Liza Anne Shares the Origins of New Song "Change My Mind": Stream
It grows increasingly intoxicating with each listen, as you can hear for yourself below. Underneath the stream, find Vasquez's Origins of the single.
"It Ain't Easy" follows the lead What Is There track "How Bout It". With the LP due out September 11th, Delta Spirit have rescheduled their tour for next spring, and you can find tickets here.
The Novation Circuit:
Most of the songs on our next album started from sketches using the Circuit. Not many devices are as mobile or as intuitive. I always bring it with me traveling, and it's one of the few pieces of equipment I bought twice. "It Ain't Easy" started with a groove with a pitched tom sound and Will Mclaren on piano.
Toyota 4Runners:
I wrote the lyrics while driving around in my rented Toyota 4Runner. The car rental place at LAX gave me a free upgrade. We had created an instrumental version of the song and I was driving around blasting it loud as hell, singing with a notepad nearby.
Saturn Returns:
Whatever you want to call it, in 2015 we found ourselves in a difficult place to move forward creatively and interpersonally. Something wasn't working and we didn't know if it would again. But then all of the sudden something clicked. Our lives had space for each other and the desire and faith in our band was back.
San Clemente, CA:
San Clemente CA, photo via D Ramey Logan/Wikimedia Commons
We did two sessions at The Cave West in San Clemente, California. It's been nearly a decade since we all lived in Southern California. Whenever we're together in San Clemente we tend to eat the same food (Pedro's Tacos, Billy's Deli, Taka-O sushi), we'll bodysurf at T Street beach, and catch up with old friends that live in the area. To some extent it's good to reminisce, but ultimately we decided to complete the record at a new place to us, Sonic Ranch.
Green Day Reveal Nimrod 25th Anniversary Box Set with Unreleased Music: Stream
Singer-Songwriter sombr Signs to Warner Records, Drops New Single "weak": Exclusive
Zach Bryan Taps Maggie Rogers for New Song "Dawns": Stream
Gorillaz Drop New Song "Silent Running" Featuring Adeleye Omotayo: Stream
Delta Spirit Share the Origins of New Song "It Ain't Easy": Stream


Starting in 2014, Heineken began offering Dutch students and new employees the opportunity to sign up for either the company's International Graduate Programme or it's Management Traineeship.
To clarify the differences between these two traineeships, we developed the "Explore Your Career" campaign. This gives students and employees the chance to discover for themselves which programme best matches their profile.


The high-energy cardio-fitness experience with all your favorite dance moves!
Cardio Dance Jam is a high-energy cardio dance class incorporating hip hop, jazz, and Latin moves! This unique experience offers an inspiring blend of dance, fitness, and rigorous cardio. You'll move, sweat, and enjoy every second of this fabulous class!
Clean, indoor-only dance sneakers required. Dance sneakers allow you to move/slide easily without stress to your ankles & knees. Clean sneakers keep our floors clean & sanitary for our barefoot classes. Our community thanks you!
High-energy movement with a fun-loving vibe!
Zumba is a high-energy dance party blending latin & world dance music that incorporates cardio-conditioning & low-impact movement. This whole-body aerobic exercise burns an impressive amount of calories while strengthening your core through constant movement and the challenge to maintain stability.
Dynamic exercise to sculpt, strengthen, and tone!
Yoga Barre is a dynamic fusion of yoga, body sculpting, barre work, and non impact cardio designed for developing long and lean muscles. This hour long class is packed with toning exercises that sculpt buttocks, abdominals, thighs, and arms. The class is filled with strengthening postures at the barre working legs and abdominals fused with yoga postures on the mat to release and lengthen from the barre work. It will also improve your posture and form a sculpted physique.
Pilates improves flexibility, builds strength and develops control and endurance in the entire body with controlled movements. You will become stronger, sculpted, and flexible as you focus on cultivating alignment, breathing, core strength, and coordination. The precision and control you practice here will translate to improved posture and an increased sense of well-being. Pilates is best practiced a few days a week or alternated with other strength-training classes in addition to your cardio workout for aerobic activity.
A Mind Body Barre® 60 minute class is dedicated to your mind, body and soul. This full body workout is composed of resistance training exercises that focus on the alignment & strengthening of the body using free weights, barre work and finishing on the mats for core work and seat exercises. Our signature Essential Oil Infused "Reiki Healing Cool-Down®" is a meditative 10 minutes including yoga inspired stretches and breath-work designed to improve flexibility and reduce stress.
Our "Reiki Healing Cool Down®" is a specifically designed relaxation and healing technique promoting mind/body connectedness on the leading wake of science and innovation. Through guided meditation, this cool down will help to reduce stress and increase flexibility in the mind, body & spirit. Using Reiki inspired healing, aromatherapy, assisted stretch, and touch therapy, our "Reiki Healing Cool Down®" promotes body awareness and allows each individual to sharpen their intuition, connect with their own inspiration, and most importantly discover and honor their true authentic self.


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Q Jews of St. Louis
By Shira Berkowitz/In Blog
Just over 5 years ago, I resurfaced the peer-led organization Q Jews in St. Louis with Joe Auteberry and Nate Rosenblum. We were individually seeking a queer Jewish community, a social outlet that congregated like-minded young adults identifying as both LGBTQ and Jewish. It was important to us to carve out space within the queer St. Louis community and participate as an organization from within that sphere. We began meeting monthly in local LGBTQ bars and hosting programs at venues in queer-owned businesses and neighborhoods. We strove to offer programming unique to other young adult and Jewish organizations, with an innovative approach to celebrating Jewish values and holidays, and inserting LGBTQ values into the larger Jewish community. As often as possible we wanted to invite the Jewish community into queer spaces.
Over the past couple of years we have expanded our mission from predominately social to educating, evolving, challenging, and broadening the idea of acceptance within the larger St. Louis Jewish community. We have big plans to grow over the coming years to establish ourselves more formally and become exponentially impactful within our two main communities.
Last year one of our co-founders was awarded a grant to create a unique Shabbat experience inside an unexpected venue. Our goal was to create an accessible environment to celebrate Shabbat, leveraging the ideas of creating queer safe-space, and joyfully celebrating. We hosted Shabbat Lounge in a local classy cocktail lounge and created a living room environment to musically daven (pray) and wind down from the week. Jewish music played an essential role in establishing the space for participation and foster spirituality. A Shabbat service was constructed using new melodies paired with traditional melodies and taking time to teach some of them. Our songleaders are veterans of SLBC and bring the energy established during this conference into their services.
I helped establish Q Jews at a transitional time in my life. I had just completed graduate school and wanted to find ways to participate in the larger St. Louis community. As I began participating in established young adult organizations, it started to become obvious that there was little created with the added effort of not just being inclusive, but having the space for people identifying as LGBTQIA to participate. In the world around me, it was a time when the LGBTQ community was struggling to make space for trans*, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and non-binary folks. A time when the established lesbian bars in St. Louis were closing and the communities that participated were looking for alternative spaces to congregate. A time when gay marriage was being heavily debated by our country's congress, and when the Conservative Jewish movement was writing brachot (blessings) and ceremonies for Jewish same-sex marriages, yet summer camps didn't quite know what to do with trans* identified campers. It was the first time I recognized that I desired a space I couldn't find in the established Jewish community, where I wouldn't have to struggle with feeling marginalized nor fault them for not being the space I was looking for. One solution was to create an organization that would stand out by carving a space among the other young adult programs for this specific community and bring a collaborative voice to the table. For me personally, this was the start of my passion for advocating for my community. And as such, it started me on an energizing path as an entrepreneurial and grassroots organizer I hadn't previously considered engaging with.
As Q Jews started out, it gave me and my co-founders the ability to think inventively about what was missing from the programming landscape. Having few resources gave us the ability to be incredibly intentional in creating a handful of unique and multifaceted programs which also gives each of us the opportunity to collaborate.
Q Jews created a space for young adults that didn't previously exist inside the St. Louis Jewish community. And by creating this organization we called attention to not only this missing entity, but the cruciality of bringing the LGBTQIA voice/perspective to the table when creating programming inside the organizations that already exist. Our members have individually created conferences and workshops for the community to identify the work that still needs doing. We strive to partner with other young adult organizations on many events, and participate as a community leader in celebrating the LGBTQIA community, especially in organizing the Jewish community during PrideFest.
Shira Berkowitz grew up in St. Louis, and has been enthusiastically living here since joining Washington University for grad school where she earned her MFA. She has worked for local arts institutions in many capacities, and is an actively exhibiting and social engagement artist locally and internationally. Currently she is the Director of Advocacy and Communication at CRC, and welcomes the creativity and challenge of using advocacy as the catalyst for integrating design thinking with community engagement and tikkun olam. In addition she teaches college courses in Humanities and Arts, is an entrepreneur, a current artist resident at RAC+CIC @ CET, a past fellow for the Federation's JFACE program for emerging entrepreneurs, a contract visual and technical designer, a B'nai Amoona USY advisor, a staffer for St. Louis Israel Bound, and spearheads Q Jews. Shira is passionate about strengthening and bringing inventive programming to the Jewish landscape of St. Louis. As well as for improving community and neighborhood participation around legislative action and works assiduously to raise awareness of social, civic, and equality challenges.


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19 Jan — 2 Mar 2019 at the Praz-Delavallade in Los Angeles, United States
Philippe Decrauzat. Courtesy of Praz-Delavallade
Praz-Delavallade is pleased to announce Double Exposure, Philippe Decrauzat's first solo exhibition with the gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition is comprised of new sculptures, shaped canvas paintings and a film.
In one of the gallery's spaces, Decrauzat presents Anisotropy Double Exposure (2014), a digitally transferred black and white 16mm film. The film takes one of Decrauzat's objects as it's subject, a metal sculpture that is based off of a structure used to study the movement of waves in a liquid medium. Filmed at varying speeds and camera angles while the sculpture is rotating on an axis, the resulting undulating shots and closeups are overlapped, creating a sort of visual moire where the highlights and shadows of the voids of the sculpture begin to interfere with one another. The film evokes the movement and light effects of a précinéma object like the Zoetrope or stroboscopic flicker of the Dreamachine by Brion Gysin and Ian Sommerville.
This film sets the tone for Decrauzat's exhibition, where a series of paintings and sculptures are juxtaposed across both rooms of the gallery. At first glance, both rooms appear to mirror each other with identical works positioned in facsimile, but as the viewer narrows their focus it becomes apparent that the individual works are in fact different steps and gradations of a pattern or shape.
With his shaped canvases, Decrauzat plays with the spectators gaze—the central viewpoint of the works being a shaped void that radiates it's shape outward. In two works titled No Pussyfooting (delay), Decrauzat changes the movement of color gradation from inwards to outwards and vice versa, while his Delay (penta) works are mirrored and flipped versions of the same pentagon shape.
A new series of sculptures titled Fragment after a sketch, are made after visual elements found in Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's Dynamic of the Metropolis. Moholy-Nagy used block elements as anchors throughout the book, creating voids and line elements for typography and images to be set harmonically on the page. Extracted as purely abstract shapes with the content left behind, they take on the appearance of a machine learning tool. Each sculpture is visually related to each other, with different steps and placement of the elements.
Mining a visual aesthetic rooted in science-fiction, Decrauzat's work operates in a tangent between the body and the psyche. Realizing motifs and scientific graphics into physical manifestations, his practice contributes to the thickening lexicon and discourse surrounding the eye and modern theories of vision.
Philippe Decrauzat (b. 1974, Lausanne, CH) has been the focus of numerous institutional exhibitions world wide including Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, FR (2017); Le Magasin, Grenoble FR (2014); FRAC Le Plateau, Paris FR (2011); Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn CH (2008); Secession, Vienna AT (2008); Centre d'Art Contemporain, Geneva CH (2006); Swiss Institute, New York NY (2006); MAMCO, Geneva CH (2005) amongst others. His work was most recently included in exhibitions at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, NL (2018); Marta Herford Museum, Herford DE (2018); Palais de Tokyo, Paris FR (2016); Kunsthalle, Wien AT (2016). He lives and works between Lausanne, CH and Paris, FR.
Praz-Delavallade
Praz-Delavallade has held a reputation for it's long standing relationship with both American and European artists whose work span different mediums.
Gallery profile
More from Praz-Delavallade
Claracq, Horowitz, Payani, Rougier, Sokol
6 Jun — 20 Jul 2019
30 Mar — 25 May 2019
19 Jan — 16 Feb 2019
Jwan Yosef
10 Nov 2018 — 12 Jan 2019
More in Los Angeles, United States
Nothing Cheezy
20 Jul — 25 Aug 2019 at Think Tank Gallery
Max Hooper Schneider
21 Sep 2019 — 5 Jan 2020 at Hammer Museum
Shadi Habib Allah
22 Sep — 20 Jan 2019 at Hammer Museum
No Wrong Holes
29 Sep 2019 — 26 Jan 2020 at ICA LA
More in United States
The Other Side of Now
18 Jul 2019 — 7 Jun 2020 at Pérez Art Museum in Miami
Go Down Moses
18 Jul — 29 Sep 2019 at MoCP in Chicago
Geometric Heat
18 Jul — 18 Aug 2019 at GR Gallery in New York
A Lithographic Suite by William Crutchfield
19 Jul — 4 Nov 2019 at Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena


Fans of Kaleidoscope will find more tales of wonder, adventure, diversity, and variety in this collection devoted to stories with teen protagonists.
Our goal is to uncover the best young adult short fiction of the year published in the anthologies dedicated to the form, the occasional special edition of a magazine, and individual pieces appearing in otherwise "adult" anthologies and magazines, and bring them together in one accessible collection.
Fans of Kaleidoscope will find more tales of wonder, adventure, diversity, and variety in this collection devoted to stories from 2014 with teen protagonists.
What do a disabled superhero, a time-traveling Chinese-American figure skater, and a transgender animal shifter have in common? They're all stars of Kaleidoscope stories!


There are three racing events (ranging from 5k to half marathon) that take place in Disneyland every year. There are more if you want to travel to Disney World or even Disneyland Paris. I always think about doing one, but then I remember I'm a terrible runner. I could possibly do a 5k, but I could also possibly finish dead last.
But the medals you get for finishing these races are really too cute for words! And they give medals to kids who do the special "kids races" too.
I've been lucky enough to eat at Blue Bayou a few times, but I haven't been to the Carthay Circle yet. The menu looks amazing! Thick cut pork chop and California mushroom chili and onion fondue with dried cherries? A glass of Lasseter Family wine? Yes, please!
I've never taken a tour at Disneyland before, and I'm usually not that interested - I'm pretty capable of getting myself around the park! But if you go on the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour, you actually get to go into Walt Disney's private apartment above the fire station!
It looks completely insane. People line up and camp out only to wake up at the crack of dawn and brave impossible crowds, just to say they did it...these are my kind of people!
Have you heard of these? There are 7 different themes (Adventureland, Ambassador, Big Thunger, Blue Sky, Mickey Mouse Penthouse, and Pirates of the Caribbean) and each suite can sleep 6 people. Each suite is also around $4,000 per night!!! But check out these pictures!
The Fairytale suite is only around $1500 per night. It only sleeps two. It is a corner suite and has a spectacular view. It is next door to the concierge club which is included with the suite.


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Home › Islam › Why is Islamophobia a type of racism when Muslims are not a race?
Why is Islamophobia a type of racism when Muslims are not a race?
‹ Why the commandment in Matthew 28:19 is likely unhistorical, according to a top Christian NT scholar
Whether God can forgive Europe is perhaps the greatest problem of theodicy. ›
Categories: Islam, Islamophobia
Amanothali A
November 30, 2018 • 3:15 am
Very interesting accurate statement and a comprehensive summary.
Please bear with me, and many thanks beforehand for your time. I may have a long say on this, these views are nothing unusual or unique but it is sometimes worth making the obvious more obvious here.
On specific levels I personally say Islamophobia or Anti-Islamic or Anti-Muslim rhetoric does involve race and ethnicity especially in the western world.
When we have Islamophobes in the west who typically say along the lines of "Islam's not a race, it's a religion and ideology therefore you can't be racist for hating Islam and Muzlims" my reply to them is there is still discrimination and bigotry involved and it definitely involves race and ethnicity and therefore can be considered racist or xenophobic especially in western nations.
To support the evidence on how Islamophobia involves race, we just need to take the demographics and ethnic origins from major western nations- Britain, France and USA and just on these 3 major countries examples alone we can see that Islamophobia contributes to a continuation of past major racial discriminations and / or past foreign affair tensions from those specific regions.
In the UK, according to the last census, just over two thirds (more than 66%) of British Muslims are from south Asia and Asia alone and in addition 10% of British Muslims are of black origins which shows us that over 3 quarters (over 75%) of the British Muslim population are of Asian and black origin. If we include the 7% British Muslims of Arab descent (of North African and Middle East) that is over 80% British Muslims which clearly highlights that there is more than an 8 out of 10 chance that attacking a British Muslim would also be an attack on one of the major non-white ethnic minorities. Also we can see the majority of British Muslims are from British Commonwealth backgrounds hence Islamophobia reigniting British colonial past tensions, speaking of which, this takes us to a similar case scenario in France. France does not have a census like the UK but according to Pew and Interior Ministry research there are over 4 million Muslims in France including over 1.5 million of those from Algerian origin, over a million from Moroccan origin followed by the Tunisian origin community being third highest of French Muslims, not to forget an additional various black African origin French Muslims and we can clearly see how French imperialist atrocities and racial tension are reignited and continued but this time with the anti-Islamic practice and propaganda.
In the USA, according to Department of State statistics 50% of US Muslims are from the African American and Arab communities and an additional third of US Muslims are from Asian backgrounds.
Undoubtedly, with the historical connotations and division of communities black, white and brown, things will be far from solved if we are further complicit in the issue of hatred against Muslims.
After all these demographic statistics it can be argued, and I have personally made this point on many occasions, we may never achieve or progress with racial harmony without religious harmony particularly when dealing with Islamophobia. One of the major ways we can achieve racial harmony will be through religious harmony especially in the west.
It is not just far-right nationalist supporters with their misconceptions and who openly claim Islamophobia is not racism and saying "it is not a race therefore it ok to be against Muslims" but so-called academics like Richard Dworkins has also openly stated this same far-right narrative on Bill Maher's show on a mainstream platform on US Television. All of the Islamophobes regardless of where they stand in the pecking order have ignored the racial significance and other consequences that can follow.
Regardless of whether Islamophobia involves race or not, those who are still gullible to follow far right propaganda need to know Islamophobia is still discrimination and it can still lead to community divisions and worse, fascism coming to power. Religious rights are just as important as racial rights.
After the horror that the Catholic and Jewish and other religious minority communities had to suffer on our own western soil, we can no longer take Islamophobia for granted or for it to continue as todays accepted form of discrimination.
History has taught us that fascism does not start in concentration camps but that's where it ends.


Between April and October, New York City holds over 100 street fairs and festivals. Below are a list of those street fairs occurring throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2019. Websites and information for vendors are listed along with each event. Unless otherwise noted, these festivals are free to attend.
Hit a month to quickly jump to listings for that month!
Street fair sponsored by the Women's Democratic Club located on Astor Place between Broadway & Lafayette.
This street fair takes place on Washington Square North, between 5th Ave and MacDougal St.
Street fair along 31st Street in Astoria, located between Ditmars Boulevard and 21st Ave.
Annual street fair on Queens Blvd, between 70th and Yellowstone Blvd.
Street fair in NOHO located on Broadway between 14th – 8th Streets.
Street fair on Bleecker St in Greenwich Village, between Lafayette and Broadway.
Cultural festival in Astoria Queens, between 28th Avenue – 34th Avenue on Steinway St.
Street fair sponsored by Congregation Emunath Israel, located at Herald Square in Midtown.
29th Annual festival held along Broadway between between 110th and 116th St.
Street fair in the Upper West Side, on Columbus Ave between 66th & 72nd streets.
Chelsea's annual Spring Fair, located on 8th Ave between 14th – 23rd streets.
Street fair in Queens on Myrtle Ave between Wyckoff Ave and Stephen St.
28th Annual Spring Festival located in the Upper West Side along Broadway between 96th and 106th St.
Street fair in Queens on 63rd Drive, between 63rd Dr, between Austin St and Queens Blvd.
Street Fair hosted by Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic School. Occurs on Bleecker Street between 6th and 7th Ave.
31st annual Spring Festival held along Broadway in the Upper West Side, between 86th and 93rd St.
Street fair in Flatbush, takes place along Church Ave between Coney Island Ave and Argyle Road.
Brooklyn street fair located along Court Street between Union and 9th.
Festival in the Upper East Side along 2nd Street between 86th and 66th.
Festival in Woodside Queens on Woodside Ave between 63rd and Roosevelt.
Street fair along Broadway in the Upper West Side, between 60th and 65th.
Giant street fair and food festival in Hell's Kitchen. Takes place on 9th Ave between 42nd & 57th.
Festival located on Astor Place between Broadway and Lafayette.
Festival on Graham Ave hosted by the Graham Ave BID, located between Broadway and Boerum St.
Springtime Street fair just outside of Yankee Stadium.
Festival on 5th Ave in Brooklyn between 12 St and Sterling Place.
Street fair near Washington Square Park, on 4th St between 6th Ave & MacDougal.
Festival sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Sunnyside located on Greenpoint Ave between 42nd and 48th.
Street fair held in the Upper West Side along Broadway, between 72nd and 86th St.
Memorial Day street fair located on Broadway, between Crescent & 42nd streets, in Astoria Queens.
Festival located on 3rd St in East Village, near Cooper Square, between 6th & 14th.
Street fair on Park Ave between 34th and 40th St.
Street fair in Hudson Heights on St. Nicholas Ave, between 181st and 188th Streets.
Parade & Festival held in Jackson Heights, representing The LGBTQ Community Of Queens, NY.
Street fair sponsored by the Flatbush Avenue BID. Takes place on Flatbush Ave between Parkside Ave & Cortelyou Rd.
26th annual Spring Festival held along Broadway from 65th to 72nd St.
Festival held near Joyce Kilmer Park along 161st, between Grand Concourse & Walton Ave.
Street Fair in NOHO held along Broadway, between 14th and Waverly Pl.
As part of Brooklyn Pride Day, there will be a Multicultural Festival on 5th Ave between 1st and 9th streets. along with other festivities such as the 5K Pride Run and Twilight Parade.
Arts festival in Forest Hills Queens featuring high end, hand crafted goods. The festival takes place on Austin St, between 69th and 72nd Rds.
Street fair located along Grand Ave in Queens, between 72nd and 69th Streets.
42nd annual festival held along Broadway between 73rd & 86th St in the Upper West Side.
Street fair in Brooklyn, on Church Ave between 3rd St & Beverly Rd.
Annual street fair on 7th Ave in Park Slope, between Flatbush Ave & 16th St.
Pride festival on 3rd Ave, between 149th & 156th Streets.
Annual Midwood Mardi Gras Festival, located alone Avenue M between Ocean Ave and E 13th St.
Festival held by the East Sixties Neighborhood Association, located on 60th St between 5th and Madison.
Street fair sponsored by the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, held along 6th Ave between 14th and 23rd streets.
Street fair sponsored by the Village Independent Democrats, located along Bleecker St, between Christopher and Bank Streets.
Bastille Day celebration sponsored by FIAF, located along 60th St, between 5th Ave & Lex.
Street fair located in Midtown, along Broadway between 57th & 47th Steets.
Queens street fair located along Myrtle Ave, between Fresh Pond Rd and Forest Ave.
Street fair hosted by the Vanderbilt YMCA, located along Lexington Ave, between 42nd and 52nd Streets.
Festival sponsored by Pompeii Church, located along Bleecker between 6th and 7th Ave.
Festival located along 30th Ave in Astoria, between Steinway and 29th St.
Street fair sponsored by the Congregation Beit Simchat Torah on 41st St, between Broadway and Bryant Park.
Annual arts & music festival in Jamaica, Queens. JAMS Under the Stars concert on Friday (6-9pm) and street fair & festival on Saturday (11am – 7pm).
Street fair hosted by the Junction Blvd BID, located on Junction Blvd between Roosevelt & 35th.
Street fair sponsored by the Forest Hills Jewish Center, located along Queens Blvd from 70th Rd to Yellowstone Blvd.
Street fair on University Place between Washington Square Park & Union Square Park.
Street fair along Steinway St in Queens, between 28th & 34th Aves.
Summer street fair in the Upper West Side along Amsterdam Ave, between 79th & 86th Streets.
Street fair along 63rd Drive in Rego Park, between Queens Blvd & Austin St.
August festival on Astor Place sponsored by the Village Crosstown Trolley Coalition.
Street fair along Westchester Ave, between 3rd & Bergen Aves, sponsored by the HUB 3rd Avenue BID.
Street fair in NOHO along 4th Ave, from 9th to 14th Streets.
Late summer street fair near Yankee Stadium.
Street fair next to Washington Square Park, between University & MacDougal Streets.
Street fair held along 37th Ave, between 83rd & 89th street.
Street fair sponsored by the 6th Precinct Community Council, on Bleecker between 8th & 7th Ave.
Fall festival on Austin St in Forest Hills Queens, located between 69th and 72nd street.
September edition of the Broadway Astoria Festival, located on Broadway between Crescent and 47th St.
September street fair near Joyce Kilmer Park, on 161st St between Grand Concourse and Walton Ave.
Street fair in Midtown, held along 8th Ave between 42nd and 55th Street.
Festival sponsored by the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, held along 3rd Street between 66th and 86th St.
Fall festival street fair held along Sutphin Blvd in Jamaica Queens.
Festival sponsored by the 92nd Street Y, held in the Upper East Side along Lexington Ave between 79th and 96th.
Street fair sponsored by the Flatbush Development Corp, located on Cortelyou Road between Coney Island Ave and Ocean Ave.
Food festival on Fordham Rd in the Bronx, between Creston & Grand Concourse.
Festival on LaGuardia Pl in Greenwich Village between W Houston and Bleecker, sponsored by the Friends of LaGuardia Place.
Fall street fair along 6th Ave, between 23rd & 32nd, sponsored by Congregation Emunath Israel.
Festival in Woodside, held along Woodside Ave from 60th to 65th St.
27th annual festival in the Upper West Side along Broadway between 110th and 116th St.
Street fair in College Point Queens, on College Point Blvd between 20th and 14th Aves.
Street fair in the East Village, held along 4th Ave between 9th and 14th St.
Street fair sponsored by the Jerome Avenue BID located in Fordham, held along Jerome Ave between Gun Hill Rd & Moshulu Pkwy.
Festival in the East Village on 2nd Ave between 4th and 14th St.
Festival in Forest Hills on Queens Blvd between 70th Rd and Yellowstone Blvd.
31st annual Harvest Festival on Broadway, from 96th to 106th St.
Street fair in Sunnside, alone Greenpoint Ave between 42nd and 48th St.
Festival sponsored by the Dutch Kills Civic Association, held along 36th Ave from 29th and 36th St.
28th annual fall festival located on Broadway from 86th to 96th St.
41st Annual Astoria Alive street fair, located along 31st Street between Ditmars Boulevard and 21st Ave.
Brooklyn street fair located along Court Street, from Atlantic Ave to Joralemon Street.


The Centre for Social Impact Swinburne is currently undertaking a project "Building Connections for Enterprising Women" with Good Shepherd Microfinance and colleagues at Swinburne Sarawak (Malaysia).
Funded by the Australian Government through the Australia-ASEAN Council (AAC) of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the project aims to develop a long-term collaborative relationship among practitioners and researchers with expertise in women's enterprise development. More information can be found on the Swinburne website here.
Through a series of forums, roundtables and videoconferences to share expertise, the project is mapping the enterprise development ecosystem and developing a framework for supporting enterprising women in Sarawak and Victoria.
To date, there have been three successful roundtable engagements with women entrepreneurs and support organisations: one in December 2017 and two in May 2018.
The roundtables focused on the current state of the support ecosystem for women entrepreneurs, challenges, opportunities, and what can be done to improve support for enterprising women in all of their diversity.
There will be a larger public forum later in the year; in the meantime, there are roundtables and a public forum in Sarawak, Malaysia, to enable knowledge-sharing and mutual learning across very different local contexts.


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Reconsidering the wealth of nations
Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash
Our modern view on what the wealth of nations is and what causes prosperity is primarily guided by Adam Smith, an 18th century moral philosopher and the founder of modern capitalist theory. He is a prominent figure of the Enlightenment Movement. Smith's contribution to the modern age is his theory on national wealth, considered as revolutionary at the time. He did not think that real wealth lies in gold, land or commodities. Rather, he believed what causes prosperity in a society is something that traditional religion despises and regards as vice — self-interest. The Investopedia summarized Adam Smith's main idea:
The core of Smith's thesis was that humans' natural tendency toward self-interest (or in modern terms, looking out for yourself) results in prosperity. Smith argued that by giving everyone freedom to produce and exchange goods as they pleased (free trade) and opening the markets up to domestic and foreign competition, people's natural self-interest would promote greater prosperity than with stringent government regulations.
Although Adam Smith is best known for his theory of capitalism, his biggest impact is in the moral sphere. It was Adam Smith who legitimized self-interest, turning it from a traditional vice into a new virtue. He explained that self-interest is not to be feared because when the self-interests of different individuals compete, they will counter-intuitively benefit society and serve the common good. Looking at our economy today, we can see the folly of such a belief. The self-interests of billionaires do not benefit society and many industries are not conducive to competition in the first place. This is because many industries are capital intensive and there is a substantial amount of entrance barrier. For many industries, 90% of the profit is taken by the top handful of players. They are oligopolies. I know this for a fact. I was a finance professional for some 15 years. If you are a new player in the market, how do you get financing? Even if you manage to get financing, you will have to pay a much higher cost of capital. The financial market favors big players with a long history and deep pockets. Adam Smith did not address these practical issues. Ever since the rise of the Conservative Movement, we have seen the deregulation of many big industries. Where is perfect competition to be found?
Another big flaw in Adam Smith's theory is that he totally ignored the usage of natural resources. Prior to Adam Smith, there was Bullionism, where national wealth was defined by the amount of precious metals a country held. That line of thinking is part of Mercantilism. Adam Smith's economic theory changed this old practice. Economics inspired by Adam Smith measures the wealth of nations by the production of goods and services, but without any accounting for the costs to nature. The Adam Smith Institute has the following to say about Adam Smith's new insight:
Smith's radical insight was that a nation's wealth is really the stream of goods and services that it creates. Today, we would call it gross national product. And the way to maximize it, he argued, was not to restrict the nation's productive capacity, but to set it free.
Today, we are all familiar with the concept of GDP or GNP. Such metric does not take into account the depletion of natural resources or the pollution of the environment. Adam Smith had no notion of the importance of ecology. Today, we know better. To measure a country's economic well-being solely by the GDP measure is to be totally biased — we are effectively measuring the benefits of industrial production without also measuring its costs. This way of measuring national wealth is not seriously challenged until environmentalist Rachel Carson made the following statement in a 1953 letter written to oppose the government's assault on science and nature:
The real wealth of the Nation lies in the resources of the earth — soil, water, forests, minerals, and wildlife. To utilize them for present needs while insuring their preservation for future generations requires a delicately balanced and continuing program, based on the most extensive research. Their administration is not properly, and cannot be, a matter of politics.
For the purpose of environmental protection, Rachel Carson challenged the conventional wisdom championed by Adam Smith. What is the real wealth of nations? It has much to do with its repertoire of natural resources — the land, the water, the forests, the animals, the clean air, the entire ecosystem. It is absurd to measure the well-being of a country solely by its industrial production. Without good soil, clean air, clean water and a healthy ecosystem, we can not even survive, save to enjoy various kinds of man-made goods and services. Certainly, natural wealth has to take precedence over industrial wealth, just as our health has to take precedence over our money. Without our health, how can we possibly enjoy anything?
We are already well into the 21st century. It is high time that our consideration of well-being incorporates our current ecological understanding. We owe Rachel Carson a big debt for correcting Adam Smith's 18th century shortsightedness which drives us into the abyss!
The Wealth Of Nations
Ecological Thinking
The World's Poverty Rate: Poor Countries Are Now Catching Up
Focus Economics
Millennials vote with their wallets
Ellie Daforge
How the Coronavirus Could Create a New Working Class
The Atlantic in The Atlantic
Post-pandemic, dictators are here to stay
The Biggest Winners & Losers of the U.S Stock Market in 2019
Are America's Cultural Struggles the Result of Risk-Averse Incrementalism?
Tim Ventura in Predict
The Corona Virus should accelerate a carbon transition for developing economies
Henri Kouam
A Second Front in the Trade War Opens


text:
Ome es una localidad italiana de la provincia de Brescia, región de Lombarda, en el corazón de la comarca de la Franciacorta, con 3.220 habitantes.

El municipio, de aproximadamente 9 km² de superficie, limita con los de Brione, Gussago, Monticelli Brusati, Polaveno y Rodengo-Saiano.

Lugares de interés

Entre los sitios de interés de esta localidad destacan el santuario de la Virgen dell'Avello y la iglesia de San Michele.

Evolución demográfica

Referencias

Enlaces externos

Localidades de la provincia de Brescia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Growing up with parents who never attended college, Minerva Aceves once saw a murky future after high school.
Maybe she would graduate. At most, Aceves thought she could get into a junior college — a milestone even in her family.
Then she joined Breakthrough Silicon Valley, a college readiness program that serves low-income middle and high school students who are often the first in their family to go to a university.
As Aceves navigated through the lengthy college application process, she leaned on one of the program's counselors for advice. The counselor spent evenings and even the weekend of her birthday helping Aceves decipher tax forms, apply for financial aid and fill out applications.
Eighth graders Ashley Chavez, 13, left, and Lizette Chavez, 13, right, participate in workshop during the Breakthrough Silicon Valley program at Hoover Middle School in San Jose.
Breakthrough Silicon Valley was created in 2002 through a partnership with Applied Materials and the San Jose Unified School District to help close the "widening opportunity gap" in San Jose. When the program started, it served only 25 middle school students for two years.
This year, the nonprofit is serving nearly 500 middle and high school students from San Jose Unified, the Franklin-McKinley School District and the East Side Union High School District.
In 2015, only 12 percent of dependent students from low-income families — those who made less than $37,679 — attained a bachelor's degree by age 24, according to a report released this year by the Pell Institute and PennAHEAD.
The six-year program, which runs from middle to high school, provides students tutoring, college counseling, life skills coaching and more. Parents also attend workshops about grade monitoring, college applications, how to keep their children safe online as social media is used for cyberbullying, and other topics.
"By starting the summer right after sixth grade, it's really when students are coming to their own and are able to start forming their identity," said Ariel Spector, the nonprofit's director of curriculum and programming.
When Aceves entered the program in middle school, she remembered being more shy and reserved. But giving speeches during the summer helped the student break out of her shell. She learned life skills including self-advocacy, resilience and independence.
In high school, the student visited a variety of colleges in Southern California as part of the program, which doesn't charge families any fees for its services. "It really encouraged and motivated me to put in as much effort into my applications," she said.
For Breakthrough students, their journey to college begins before high school.
Eighth grade students participate in a discovery tennis ball activity during a workshop.
On a recent sunny day at Herbert Hoover Middle School, about two dozen Breakthrough students tossed tennis balls in the air that represented school work, home, extracurricular activities, friends and studying.
Life can be a juggling act. By visualizing the process, students learned that if they wanted to get ahead in high school they needed to focus and prioritize, said Stephanny Ledezma, the nonprofit's middle school coordinator.
The game was part of a workshop meant to prepare middle school students for high school. They also learned about different high school options such public schools, boarding schools and charters.
As a 2011 Breakthrough graduate herself and a first-generation college graduate, Ledezma knows firsthand the hard work involved in finishing high school.
She's also watched the program evolve throughout the years. Learning about different high school options wasn't something Ledezma did when she was a Breakthrough student. Looking back on her college journey, the San Jose State University graduate wishes she would have explored more colleges and lived on campus in the dorms.
During the summer or after school, high school and college students also mentor and teach the program's participants.
Hearing stories from other students was not only motivational for Overfelt High senior Tommy Heng, but also made him more comfortable with advocating for himself.
"Once I got into high school, it was much more easy for me to go up to a teacher and ask questions," Heng said.
The 17-year-old wants to attend UC Berkeley, but his teachers are also encouraging him to apply to universities out of state, including MIT.
And the relationships that the students have formed with Breakthrough counselors and teaching fellows have lasted even after high school.
Estela Lozano, who completed Breakthrough in 2011, remembers adjusting to a new environment was a struggle as a freshman at Brandeis University. The daughter of Mexican immigrants who didn't attend college, Lozano thought about returning home but her Breakthrough counselor encouraged her to not give up.
The aspiring immigration attorney graduated from Brandeis in 2015 and now works as a housing paralegal and clinic coordinator at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley.
Estela Lozano who completed Breakthrough in 2011 credits the program for her success at Brandeis University.


Publisher: Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.Shipping list no.: 94-0162-P..
Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche.Shipping list no.: 94-0162-P.
The More e-Books service executes searching for the e-book "U.S. participation in United Nations peacekeeping activities" to provide you with the opportunity to download it for free. Click the appropriate button to start searching the book to get it in the format you are interested in.


The Irish Grand National odds will certainly fluctuate over the months leading up to the Fairyhouse highlight and we will keep you up to date with all the latest developments from the bookmakers.
One horse to keep an eye in the betting is Tammys Hill who was last seen winning the Foxhunter Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Also towards the head of the market is Cause Of Causes who finished second in the Kim Muir at Cheltenham last month and would have to have a big chance if his fit and well for Gordon Elliott.
Betting odds change like the wind, if a horse has had a good build up to the race he may well attract increased support and as such his odds will shorten, thus making him a market move. Conversely, it is possible that a stable might come into bad form before the race and as such, any horse from that stable is likely to see his odds lengthen, this is known as a market drifter. There will be plenty of activity of this nature so be advised to follow the Irish Grand National news and all odds changes.
We have also put together a list of Irish Grand National past winners over the last 20 years where you will note that the odds of the winners have been exceptionally generous. Also take a lot at the Irish Grand National tips page where you might find one or two pointers that will become useful.


This was my 2nd season with Hero Shot Outfitters. After last years hunt, I had very high expectations. As expected, Jason and the rest of the Hero Shot team exceeded those expectations. The deer movement started out slow and the weather was not favorable. Jason still managed to put my whole hunting group (3 hunters) on bucks. The last 3 days of my hunt, I saw numerous shooter bucks throughout each day. Jason knows these deer and it was evident as he had a good feeling about a certain tree stand. For 3 straight days, Jason said that it was a stand that the bucks would be coming by. On the last day of my hunt, Jason was right and I was able to harvest a mature 10 point (which was the biggest whitetail that I have ever harvested). I feel like it is worth mentioning that this buck made it through a creek which was 3-4 feet deep and up an 8 foot embankment before expiring. Jason saw how excited I was and did not hesitate to go through the water and climb the embankment to get to that buck with me. That speaks volumes to me. The food and accommodations in camp were also great! It really shows that Jason, Amber and the rest of the Hero Shot team are all about a quality deer hunting experience and are a quality outfitter. I am planning on going for a 3rd year next year and this will be the only outfitter that I would recommend to anyone who is looking to hunt mature whitetails. Thank you Jason, Amber and the rest of the Hero Shot Team!
Matt, words cannot express on how happy I was for you to harvest an awesome buck. Your positive attitude and trusting the process paid off!! Can't wait to do it again in 2019! Happy Holidays to you and your family!
There were a few days of rain and there was a steady wind for a majority of the trip.


Thank you to our March 2019 Sponsors for showing their support for the HLB Community! Grounded Warrior is an amazing solution for busy women that want to workout more often and more consistently! With everything you have going on you don't want things to be more complicated, you want things to be simple and straightforward.
Thank you to our February 2019 Sponsors for showing their support for the HLB Community! Grounded Warrior is an amazing solution for busy women that want to workout more often and more consistently! With everything you have going on you don't want things to be more complicated, you want things to be simple and straightforward.
Thank you to our January 2019 Sponsors for showing their support for the HLB Community! Grounded Warrior is an amazing solution for busy women that want to workout more often and more consistently! With everything you have going on you don't want things to be more complicated, you want things to be simple and straightforward.
Love Tea? Sign up for the #HLBTea Swap before October 13!


Why did 162,000 factory-farmed salmon make a jailbreak?
BELLINGHAM, Washington––Thousands of people around the Salish Sea have been talking about the Great Salmon Escape since August 20, 2017, when an estimated 162,000 hatchery-bred Atlantic salmon made a jailbreak from a ruptured sea pen at Cypress Island in the San Juan Island chain.
Native American tribes and environmentalists, among others, are using Great Salmon Escape stories to gain political leverage in conflicts against the aquaculture industry that have raged for more than 50 years.
The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife has seized upon the incident to stimulate salmon fishing.
The Great Salmon Escape produced––temporarily––the most abundant salmon population on Puget Sound since 1971-1979, when the annual recreational catch averaged more than 1.3 million salmon per year. The catch has never been that high since, and has reached even one million just four times.
Deeming the escaped Atlantic salmon "invasive," the Washington Department of Natural Resources, which has responsibility for overseeing the aquaculture industry, has also urged recreational fishers to target the escaped Atlantic salmon, irrespective of whether anyone will eat the catch.
What were the salmon thinking?
Hardly anyone seems to be talking about the fish themselves, least of all as sentient beings with an interest in their freedom.
What were the salmon thinking about when one of the three Cooke Aquaculture fish pens at Cypress Island collapsed, allowing many of them to make a clean getaway?
Why did approximately as many salmon not escape from the same ruptured nets, even though they could have?
Did the escaped salmon sense that only days later they were to be dragged from the water, killed, and butchered?
Did the salmon who did not escape simply not know they could, or did they have a false sense of security about their familiar surroundings?
All of the salmon probably did have some sense of having reached physical maturity. They may have recognized that as they all grew, they had ever less room to swim in. They might have felt an instinct to try to find spawning streams which, for them, had never existed.
Some of the escaped Atlantic salmon ran for the Canadian border, thirty miles away swimming either north or west.
"Some have swum up to 150 miles away, into the Pacific Ocean off the outer coast of Vancouver Island," reported John Ryan of the Seattle-based National Public Radio station KUOW. But some of the salmon were still dispersing further.
Whatever the escaped salmon were thinking, they were not all thinking the same thing, since they did not all flee in the same direction. Some seemed to have distinctly different notions of where they should go, and why. Some apparently tried to make their own spawning runs.
Some escaped salmon were caught "as far north as Chilliwack on the Fraser River in British Columbia and as far west [and south] as the Quinault River," on the Olympic peninsula, wrote longtime Seattle Times environment reporter Lynda V. Mapes.
Salmon reaching the Quinault River would have had to first swim the entire 100-mile length of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca, then swim south for another 120 miles before turning inland.
The escaped salmon are suspected of having hunted smaller native chinook, coho, and pink Pacific salmon along the way to wherever they went. Many of the native salmon were then returning to Salish Sea tributaries to spawn.
Cooke Aquaculture spokesperson Nell Halse initially blamed the Great Salmon Escape on "exceptionally high tides and currents coinciding with the solar eclipse," which occurred a day after the escape.
Because tides are created by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon, and change with a cyclical rhythm, tidal tables have been discovered going at least as far back in time as written projections of any natural occurrences.
The most widely accepted explanation for the Great Salmon Escape is that the 16-year-old salmon pen, at a 30-odd-year-old facility, was worn out and could no longer withstand the strong currents to which it was continually exposed.
The letter was prescient. "An explosive growth of algae near Cypress Island has killed hundreds of thousands of pounds of Atlantic salmon and other fish," the Seattle Times reported in September 1989.
This was just the first of many pollution episodes attributed to the Cypress Island sea pens, triggering frequent objections from the Lummi tribe of nearby Lummi Island.
After the Great Salmon Escape, "Cooke Aquaculture offered to pay a premium price for Atlantic salmon caught by the Lummi Nation, if the tribe would not advocate getting rid of net pen aquaculture," disclosed Lynda Mapes of the Seattle Times on October 12, 2017.
The Lummi declined the offer of much more money in exchange for silence.
In the Pacific Northwest, Cooke Aquaculture competes chiefly against the Norwegian-owned firm Marine Harvest.
Marine Harvest has also been in conflict for several decades with Native Americans, especially the several tribes who live alongside the Georgia Strait, which divides Vancouver Island from the rest of British Columbia, including the city of Vancouver itself.
Currently, six First Nations "are six weeks into occupations and protests of two Marine Harvest fish farms off northern Vancouver Island," reported Erica Gies for Hakai magazine on October 12, 2017.
"The nations say they're not moving until the fish farms do," Gies continued. "Occupation leaders from the 'Namgis, the Mamalilikulla, and the four nations of Musgamagw Dzawada'enuxw say the fish farms do not have permission to operate in their territorial waters. They, and the hereditary chiefs of the Tlowitsis and Mumtagila nations standing in solidarity with them, are calling for the eviction of fish farms throughout the Broughton Archipelago," near the northern end of the Georgia Strait.
"The activists say farmed Atlantic salmon are causing harm to nearby native Pacific salmon and other animals on which they rely," Gies wrote.
"More broadly," Gies assessed, "the stand is about who holds the legal rights to these waters. Marine Harvest operates within the territories of 24 Indigenous nations," but has formal working agreements with only about 15 of them, and in the Broughton Archipelago has none.
The First Nations argue, backed by a string of courtroom victories won since 2004, that the British Columbia and Canadian governments had no right to authorize Marine Harvest––or anyone else––to operate in First Nations waters without First Nations consent.
"North of the Broughton Archipelago," Gies noted, "the Kitasoo/Xai'xais nation in the tiny town of Klemtu has a very different relationship with Marine Harvest. The company and nation have been partners since 1998.
Protesting First Nations leaders told Gies that they have no objection to the Kitasoo/Xai'xais arrangement, which was voluntarily reached.
By implication, then, the First Nations objection to the presence of the other Marine Harvest salmon farms is therefore less to their raising Atlantic salmon, rather than native strains, than to hosting businesses from which First Nations members derive little or no economic benefit.
Do Atlantic salmon, whether escaped from Cypress Island or still in sea pens along the Georgia Strait, "represent a serious threat to the Pacific ecosystem, both fresh and saltwater? The bottom line is we don't know," University of Victoria ecologist John Volpe told Ashley Braun of Scientific American.
"His research in neighboring British Columbia—where fish farming operations dwarf those of Washington—found evidence around the turn of the 21st century that escaped Atlantic salmon could survive in the wild and even reproduce in Vancouver Island rivers," Braun wrote. "But almost two decades later Atlantic salmon are not considered established in the province, which has a wilder, more remote coastline than Washington's. A recent report finds Canadian efforts to monitor B.C. salmon populations lacking.
"Another risk," Braun mentioned, "is farmed fish transferring disease and parasites to wild salmon, a well-studied phenomenon that depends on factors including location, wild disease presence and ocean salinity.
Scottish salmon fishers at work.
Meanwhile in Scotland, reported Rob Edwards of the Scottish Herald, "The Scottish fish farming industry has admitted that it threw away up to ten million salmon last year – nearly a quarter of its stock," more than twice as many as in 2013 – "because of diseases, parasites and other problems.
Save Our Seals Fund president John F. Robins has often clashed with the Royal SPCA of Britain for nominally opposing seal-shooting by salmon farmers while allowing some of the same farmers to use the RSPCA "Freedom Foods" logo for meeting animal welfare standards.
Luxmoore urged the aquaculture industry to shift to a "closed containment system," meaning that fish would be grown exclusively in on-land tanks, never to be in wild habitat at all, even within the confinement of sea pens. Salmon & Trout Conservation Scotland has made the same demand, as have a variety of environmental and tribal organizations in the Pacific Northwest.
Scotland too has had recent Great Salmon Escapes.
"Since the beginning of 2016 over 328,000 Atlantic salmon have escaped from fish farms around Scotland," says John F. Robins of Animal Concern and the Save Our Seals Fund Scotland.
An often voiced but wholly hypothetical supposition, most often heard from mainstream conservationists, the notion of possible genetic displacement depends on the remote chance that an introduced species less well adapted to the habitat could somehow displace a better-adapted established species. Only if Scottish salmon habitat has changed in a manner making Norwegian salmon more "native" than the Scottish salmon could this occur.
Robins' focal worry, however, is "Fish who escape after being treated with toxic chemicals or powerful medicines. Escaped farmed salmon are fairly easy to catch and could be dangerous if eaten," Robins alleges. "A Scottish Government website lists details of where and when fish escapes occur but does not give any information on whether the fish have recently been treated with toxic pesticides or given medicines such as antibiotics. If fish escape soon after being treated for sea lice or illness, they are not safe to eat," including for seals, other marine mammals, and other fish, as well as humans.
But is there any actual harm to animals involved?
From a humane or animal rights perspective, though, and if the salmon are healthy, is there any actual harm to animals involved if a small fraction of the numbers of Atlantic salmon who are raised in intensive confinement every now and then get a small taste of the life in the wild?
The issue could be argued back and forth, but has not been, because––whether in Scotland or Washington––almost no one is discussing the interests of the fish as individual sentient beings.
Are sick factory-farmed salmon running amok in Puget Sound?
Washington bans Atlantic salmon sea pens––what's in it for the fish?
Why was a convicted poacher named to Scottish Wild Fisheries Reform advisory commission?
Will U.K. leaving E.U. mean leaving animal welfare behind?
Salmon are such majestic fish, and it is disgusting that some humans insist on trying to play god, thinking they know what is best for nature when nature always knows what is best for itself.


One of the arguments used by anti-masons to support their claim that Freemasonry is satanic is to refer to the masonic use of the pentagram. The short answer to this accusation is that the pentagram has no masonic significance, is not a masonic symbol, and is not mentioned in any published mnasonic ritual. It does, though, have a long history, worthy of study.