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EXCLUSIVE 13 REASONS WHY Scoop Shining The Spotlight On Devin Druid
by Tiffany Vogt
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JebwYGn5Z3E
In the new Nextflix drama series 13 REASONS WHY, a teen's death sparks a mystery when a set of tapes surfaces revealing ugly truths that everyone thought had died with her. Just who was Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) and why did she send the tapes to Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette), a boy she hardly knew? And what part did Tyler (Devin Druid) have in Hannah's downward spiral? In an exclusive interview, young actor Devin Druid shares a few insights to his character Tyler and also talks about being a young adult working actor in Hollywood.
What drew you to the role of Tyler in the Netflix series 13 REASONS WHY?
DEVIN: He's a complex guy with a lot going on. He's dealing with so much at once, and as an actor I'm drawn to these types characters.
How would you describe your character Tyler?
DEVIN: Tyler is a photographer for the school yearbook. He's kind of an outsider and doesn't have any friends. He tries to stay under the radar, and hides behind his camera.
What do you most admire and/or like about Tyler?
DEVIN: He shows a real vulnerability and emotional quality that's relatable.
What part does Tyler have to play in this series?
DEVIN: He fell in love with Hannah and became obsessed with her, and his obsession led him to do things…things that made him one of the 13 Reasons Why Hannah took her own life.
What was it like working with Dylan Minnette, Amy Chernikoff, Katherine Langford, Christian Navarro, Michael Sadler, Justin Prentice, Jillian Nordby? Who do you share the most screen time with so far?
DEVIN: Well, some of those folks you mentioned are background talent. All the background worked so hard and contributed so much to the series. They are unbelievable. Everyone on the cast is amazing. They are the kindest, most genuine, and hard working group you can imagine. We bonded a lot over this past year. I think I share more screen time with Dylan (who plays Clay) and Michelle (who plays Courtney) than the others.
Then who cracks you up the most off camera?
DEVIN: Ross (who plays Zach) and Katherine (who plays Hannah) are hysterical.
What has been your favorite part about working on the show so far?
DEVIN: The cast and crew! And Brian Yorkey is just amazing
As an actor, what is the one thing you have learned from working on 13 REASONS WHY?
DEVIN: How to channel real life experiences into my work. I've always tried to do that, but working on this show really gave me the opportunity to dig in deep and hone that skill
What do you hope viewers take away from watching 13 REASONS WHY?
DEVIN: I hope it's a conversation starter for people dealing with bullying or other issues that affect them. And maybe people who have bullied will recognize their behavior and it will motivate them to rethink how they treat others.
At this stage of your career, what do you think you have learned from the amazing variety of roles and projects you have worked on?
DEVIN: That as an artist, you never stop learning. If you think you know it all, you can't grow. If you can't grow, you are no longer able to be open to new experiences.
Then what are the perks of where you are in your career right now?
DEVIN: Having the ability to walk onto a set with award winning cast and crew and feel like I deserve to be there.
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Has there been any great advice you have gotten? What advice would you offer to other upcoming and aspiring actors?
DEVIN: Best advice I've received: "Don't act, BE." Advice I can give: "You have to give it everything. Be totally committed. Don't give up."
Do you have any other upcoming projects that you can share that fans should keep an eye out for?
DEVIN: Nothing that I can speak about right now.
What do you aspire to do next?
DEVIN: I'm open to play Tim Drake, if Warner Bros wants to hit me up….
To find out what part that Tyler may or may not have played in Hannah Baker's life and death, be sure to tune in for the premiere of 13 REASONS WHY when it is released on Netflix on Friday, March 31, 2017.
To see more about the series, check out this preview:
Tiffany Vogt
SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER | Tiffany covers events such as San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon and press junkets, as well as covering events at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. She has a great love for television and believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored. Tiffany is one of the newest members to the prestigious Television Critics Association and is happy to be able to share her passion for television shows with an even wider audience of fans and her fellow critics..
Tiffany Vogt March 3, 2017
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Category: Asia	(page 1 of 572)
Taiwan Calls for Quick Start to Trade Talks with EU
Taiwan's government called on the European Union to quickly begin trade talks after the bloc pledged to seek a trade deal with the tech-heavyweight island, something Taipei has long angled for.
The EU included Taiwan on its list of trade partners for a potential bilateral investment agreement in 2015, the year before President Tsai Ing-wen first became Taiwan's president but has not held talks with Taiwan on the issue since then.
Responding to the EU's newly announced strategy to boost its presence in the Indo-Pacific, including seeking a trade deal with Taiwan, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said on Friday talks should start soon. The European Parliament has already given its backing to an EU trade deal with Taiwan.
"We call on the European Union to initiate the pre-negotiation work of impact assessment, public consultation and scope definition for a Bilateral Investment Agreement with Taiwan as soon as possible in accordance with the resolutions of the European Parliament," it said.
"As a like-minded partner of the EU's with core values such as democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, Taiwan will continue to strengthen cooperation in the supply chain reorganization of semiconductors and other related strategic industries, digital economy, green energy, and post-epidemic economic recovery."
EU member states and the EU itself have no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan due to objections from China, which considers the island one of its provinces with no right to the trappings of statehood, so any investment deal could be tricky politically for the EU.
But the EU's relations with China have worsened.
In May, the European Parliament halted ratification of a new investment pact with China until Beijing lifts sanctions on EU politicians, deepening a dispute in Sino-European relations and denying EU companies greater access to the world's second-largest economy.
The EU has also been looking to boost cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductors, as a chip shortage roils supply chains and shuts some auto production lines, including in Europe.
China Targets Canada Goose, Maker of Posh Parkas
Canada Goose, the Canadian maker of parkas it claims are designed to keep wearers toasty warm in the "the coldest places on Earth," is the latest foreign brand targeted by Chinese regulators.China's state-controlled CCTV revealed that authorities fined the company's affiliated operation in Shanghai about $70,000 (450,000 RMB) for "falsely advertising goods or services, deceiving and misleading consumers."The Shanghai Huangpu District Market Supervision and Administration Department acted against the local outlet of Canada Goose Holdings Inc. of Toronto in June, a move CCTV made public on Sept. 2.The National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (Shanghai) announced that Shanghai district regulators found that Canada Goose, which was marketing its products as filled with goose down, was using mostly duck to stuff its garments.The regulators said the company advertised that it uses "Hutterite down," claiming it is the warmest down available. The Hutterites, a religious group in Canada similar to the Amish and Mennonites in the United States, enjoy a reputation for raising high-quality geese and ducks.And while the Canada Goose marketing stresses the warming quality of the down it uses, Shanghai regulators said the place of origin has nothing to do with down's warmth.On Sept. 8, other state-affiliated media outlets in China began criticizing the expensive parkas that as The New Yorker suggested, broadcast, "I earned the money, and then I spent the money. And now, here I am, warmer than you are."The Economic Daily published a commentary titled Catching the Lying Canada Goose on Sept. 8, suggesting that Canada Goose had violated China's law regarding advertising standards. It continued to accuse the company of failing to credit Chinese buyers as savvy consumers who are capable of market research.Calling on Chinese consumers to purchase goods from Chinese brands, the Economic Daily urged Chinese companies to seize the opportunity to expand market share.The newspaper also said Xiji (Shanghai) Trading Co., operator of the Canada Goose Official Flagship Store on China's online retailer Tmall, had sales of $25.9 million (167 million yuan) in 2020. On the company's U.S. website, the most expensive Canada Goose parka, the Polar Bear International, costs $1,545. The same coat on the company's Chinese website costs $1,616 (10,400 yuan).Canada Goose told Canada's CBC News on Sept. 8 that a technical error on a partner website caused confusion about the down."Earlier this year, a misalignment of text was found on a partner site, Tmall, in our (Asia-Pacific) region. The error was corrected immediately," the email to CBC said.The company told CBC that it uses both goose and duck down, depending on the garment. Although Canada Goose is best known for its parkas, it makes other down and non-down products.VOA Mandarin contacted Canada Goose but did not receive a response.Consumer nationalismCanada Goose is not the only company targeted by China's regulators. Earlier this month, Chinese regulators fined H&M, the Swedish multinational retailer, $51,000, claiming the company misrepresented that some of its products were sold exclusively in China.This came after Chinese netizens attacked H&M in April for a statement expressing concern about allegations of Uyghur forced labor in cotton production in Xinjiang, a stronghold of the Muslim minority.Major e-commerce websites removed H&M products, and dozens of Chinese celebrities ended their endorsement contracts with the company. Brands such as Nike and Adidas, which had expressed similar concerns about the situation in Xinjiang, saw China sales plummet.Experts say that the surge in China's nationalist sentiment since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with Beijing's official policy of supporting domestic brands, could lead to consumer nationalism.According to its official website, Canada Goose currently has 21 stores in China, making it one of the fastest expanding brands in the Chinese market. The company has nine stores in Canada."The campaign fits in with 'equality' themes recently emphasized by President Xi. Foreign brands are something like private schools — patronized by higher income Chinese households," Gary Hufbauer, an economist at Peterson Institute for International Economics, told VOA in an email. "Domestic brands are seen as the preference of ordinary people."Analysts believe that as tensions increase between China and the West, Chinese nationalists are equating the purchase of Western brands to approval of Western values. To reject foreign brands is to resist foreign influence, according to the nationalists.Amid the nationalists' push, Beijing is actively promoting domestic brands and promoting patriotism in the shopping decisions among Chinese consumers.In July, Chinese sports brand Erke became famous overnight after donating about $7.6 million (50 million RMB) to the flood-stricken central Henan province. Chinese netizens heralded the move, and Erke experienced its biggest single-day sales jump."Foreign companies are facing a less receptive environment in China," Hufbauer added. "Official statements are often hostile to the United States, with the result that buying foreign brands, especially U.S. brands, seems unpatriotic to ordinary Chinese."Caught in the middleCanada Goose entered the Chinese market in 2018 when the relationship between Ottawa and Beijing began to fray. Canada detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. extradition request for fraud in December 2018, and China subsequently took custody of two Canadians — Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — over espionage charges. Spavor was sentenced to 11 years in prison last month.The Chinese Consulate General in Montreal said Sept. 11 that the current Canada Goose action is related only to market regulations and disputed any "political interpretation of the case."Wang Qing, a professor of marketing and innovation at Warwick Business School in London, told VOA via email that the Chinese government has emphasized the importance of building strong Chinese brands for several years. "We have seen real improvement of domestic brands in terms of quality and brand image," she said.Yet she argued that currently, the competitive edge between Chinese and Western brands are different."In the short term, there is no real threat to high-end foreign brands, as most Chinese brands are value for money. They do not compete directly with foreign brands," she added.Reuters contributed additional reporting.
Why North Korea Launched Its Latest Missiles from a Train
North Korea said the ballistic missiles it launched Wednesday were fired from a train, the first time the nuclear-armed country has tested a railway-based launch system.Wednesday's launch is North Korea's second in less than a week, as it increases pressure on the United States over stalled nuclear talks.Pictures posted in state media Thursday showed a dark green missile emerging from a railcar parked near a tunnel in a mountainous area, which was filled with orange plumes of smoke and fire from the launch.The drill, which involved North Korea's Railway Mobile Missile Regiment, is part of a wider effort to enable the country to strike an "intensive blow to the menacing forces in many places at the same time," according to the Korean Central News Agency.The train-based launch gives North Korea yet another option for launching and protecting its rapidly expanding missile arsenal.North Korea has been pushing hard to develop more ways to launch missiles, whether from the sea, roads, or, now, railways. Analysts say the multipronged strategy is meant to make it more difficult for U.S. and other intelligence agencies to monitor, predict, and detect North Korean launches."They're trying everything they can think of," Joshua Pollack, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told VOA."It's just one more set of problems for the enemy," he said.North Korea has long test-fired missiles using a variety of road-mobile launch vehicles, which provide more of an element of surprise than do firings from its formal launch facilities.The North has also unveiled a series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Although it does not currently have a submarine capable of deploying such missiles, Pyongyang in 2019 offered its first glimpse of what appeared to be such a vessel under construction.North Korea's strategyWith its latest train-based launch system, North Korea appears to be pursuing a relatively cheap and reliable way to rapidly transport a small number of missiles in ways that are difficult to detect, said Adam Mount, a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists."Russia did it. The U.S. considered it. It makes a ton of sense for North Korea," Mount said on Twitter.There are drawbacks to such a strategy. North Korea's rail system is relatively small, old, and in bad shape."In a crisis, U.S. intelligence will be capable of monitoring this rail network closely to determine its status, chart the movement of trains, and try to distinguish between decoy trains and ones that are nuclear armed," Mount said.There are similar limitations with North Korea's other launch systems.Many of North Korea's road-mobile launchers are massive, featuring as many as 22 wheels. That makes them difficult to maneuver, especially on North Korean roads, many of which are in poor condition.While submarine-launched ballistic missiles would provide North Korea with an unpredictable new capability, some analysts say the threat is exaggerated. That is in part because North Korea apparently has yet to finish building, much less deploy, a single submarine capable of firing the missiles. The vessel being built, some analysts say, appears outdated.Although each launch system has its own vulnerabilities, analysts say the North's approach looks more dangerous when considered as a whole.By diversifying its launch systems, North Korea is "compounding the demands on a finite number of U.S. sensors," Mount said.It is not clear whether or when North Korea will deploy its new launch systems, such as the ballistic missile submarine or the train-based launch system. However, it may feel more motivation to do so, as South Korea continues to unveil new weapons.On Wednesday — the same day as the North's ballistic missile launch — South Korea announced it conducted its first underwater test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile. The test makes South Korea only the seventh country with a homegrown one.South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who observed the launch, said his country's upgraded missile capabilities can be a "sure-fire deterrent to North Korea's provocation."Kim Yo Jong, the politically powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, blasted Moon's remarks. North Korea's launches, she insisted, were not a "provocation," but "part of a normal and self-defensive action."North Korea has repeatedly cited the South Korean military buildup, as well as the presence of U.S. troops, as justification for its own weapons advancement.
Report Points to Success in Global Campaign Against Cluster Bombs
Authors of theCluster Munition Monitor 2021report say great progress toward the elimination of these lethal weapons has been made since the Cluster Ban Treaty came into force in 2010.The Monitor finds there has been no new use of cluster munitions by any of the 110 states that has joined the treaty, nor by the 13 states that have signed but not yet ratified it. The report says the remaining problems lie with countries that remain outside the convention.The most notable use of cluster munitions last year was by non-member states Armenia and Azerbaijan during their war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Monitor records 107 casualties from cluster munition attacks in Azerbaijan, the most in any country last year. Syria has continuously used cluster munitions since 2012. Human Rights Watch arms advocacy director Mary Wareham says use of the weapons in 2020 was greatly reduced compared to previous years.She says another visible example of the treaty's success is in the destruction of stockpiles."We know that at least 1.5 million cluster munitions and more than 178 million submunitions have been destroyed from stocks today," said Wareham. "That goes to show that this convention is truly lifesaving because every single one of those explosive submunitions could take a life or a limb." Globally, the monitor has recorded at least 360 new cluster munition casualties in 2020, caused either from attacks or explosive remnants. The editor of the Monitor, Loren Persi, says children are the main victims of these weapons, which kill and maim civilians indiscriminately."Almost half of all casualties, 44 percent are children. About a quarter of casualties were women and girls," said Persi. "But what we found in 2020 was that women and girls were far less likely to survive their incident with cluster munitions. This is something of concern that we will have to look into as more data becomes available." The report says many of the 16 countries outside the convention reserve the right to keep making cluster munitions, even though they currently are not doing so.Authors of the report say they are concerned that China and Russia are actively researching, testing, and developing new types of cluster munitions. China, Russia and the United States have not joined the convention. The three countries are among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Hong Kong Security Chief Demands List of Press Group Members
Hong Kong's security chief called on Wednesday for the city's main press association to disclose to the public who its members work for and how many of them are students, a day after he accused the group of infiltrating schools.
The comments by Secretary for Security Chris Tang are likely to deepen concern over a crackdown on civil society in the Asian financial hub after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the former British colony last year.
Tang, in an interview with the pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao published on Tuesday, said the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA), was infiltrating schools to recruit students as journalists.
The HKJA, responding to Tang, did not specifically mention the infiltration accusation but said that as of Wednesday it had 486 members and 56 of them were students. It does not disclose who its members work for.
Tang defended his comments on Wednesday saying he was conveying "doubts held by many in society" about the press association.
"I believe if they openly let the public know the information, it will clear their name," Tang told reporters outside the city's Legislative Council, referring to details about who the HKJA members work for.
The media industry has seen profound changes since Beijing imposed the security law last year.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a staunch critic of Beijing, is in jail and awaiting trial on national security charges. His pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily closed following police raids and the arrest of executives including its chief editor.
Scores of civic groups and opposition parties have disbanded or scaled back operations over the past year, while some of their members have been arrested and jailed.
The Professional Teachers' Union, Hong Kong's largest, disbanded this month after it was criticized by Chinese state media for "politicizing" education.
The security law, imposed after months of at times violent pro-democracy protests, punishes what Beijing broadly refers to as subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with up to life in jail.
The Hong Kong government has repeatedly said the law is only aimed at a tiny group of "troublemakers" and all law enforcement actions against individuals or groups "have nothing to do with their political stance or background."
Hong Kong's once-thriving media sector and vibrant civil society have long been features of the city that returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a promise of wide-ranging freedoms not guaranteed on the mainland.
Nine Hong Kong Activists Sentenced for Taking Part in Banned Vigil
Nine Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were sentenced to several months in jail for taking part in an unauthorized candlelight vigil in observance of the brutal 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on student protesters. The nine defendants include such figures as Albert Ho and Figo Chan, who were sentenced earlier this month to lengthy sentences for taking part in an unauthorized demonstration in October 2019 at the height of anti-government protests triggered by a controversial extradition bill that evolved into a greater demand for greater freedoms for the financial hub. The nine defendants pleaded guilty earlier this month for attending the 2020 candlelight vigil which authorities banned, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. The vigil had traditionally been held every year to commemorate the June 4,1989 crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests staged in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, where they called for an end to official corruption, political reforms and a more fair and open society. Human rights groups believe as many as several thousand people were killed when tanks rolled through Tiananmen Square to squelch the demonstrations. The nine activists were handed sentences ranging between six and 10 months in jail. Three other defendants who also pleaded guilty for taking part in last year's vigil received suspended sentences. The 2019 demonstrations prompted Beijing to approve a sweeping national security law for Hong Kong last year under which anyone believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted. Hong Kong authorities have increasingly clamped down on the city's pro-democracy forces since the law took effect last year. Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.
Central Vietnam Faces Strictest Lockdown to Date
As the delta variant of COVID-19 has surged through Vietnam over the past two months, the country's central provinces have endured the strictest lockdown measures to date. As of Tuesday, the country had recorded 624,547 confirmed cases and 15,660 deaths, according to the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Both foreigners and locals have been complaining that food and water supplies have been mishandled because of restrictions on motorbike delivery people known locally as "shippers." When the full lockdown was announced three days in advance it caused people to rush to stock up at local markets. 'Directive 16'On July 22, the government issued "Directive 16," an official notice to follow stay-at-home orders, for the coastal city of Da Nang.Under the new directive, residents couldn't leave their homes. Non-essential businesses were shut, food shipping stopped and residents were banned from exiting Da Nang without official written permission. Ward leaders were mobilized to the various neighborhoods,enforcing curfews and issuing order forms to residents for food and water deliveries.If residents were in green zones,they were allowed out during a two-hour period but only in close proximity to their homes.Some ward bosses provided free groceries consisting of a few different vegetables and instant noodles. Supermarket aisles emptied, and anxiety about a Wuhan-style lockdown was starting to collectively set in. Expatriates and locals have been panicking and venting their frustrations in online forums. "Why wasn't there a concrete plan for food supply chains if outbreaks were to get this bad, that's what I am most angry about," said Brian Edwards, a British national whose name has been changed for privacy. Because of an existing respiratory problem, Edwards was afraid to go out into crowded spaces such as supermarkets and is relying on local contacts to help him receive food.Shelves at a local minimart are nearly empty after authorities announce a lockdown in Da Nang, Vietnam. August 2021.In August, People line up to get tested for COVID-19 in a Da Nang neighborhood in September, 2021.As of Tuesday, leaving the central provinces of Vietnam requires flight tickets, a COVID-19 test, and a written letter of permission to leave from an embassy or city police authorization. Those leaving need to hire a private car to drive them to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh, depending on the departing city. The cost is roughly 7.5 million dong ($330) per person if ride-shared, and the journey itself can take up to 24 hours depending on traffic and the time required to pass through provincial checkpoints. In Facebook groups, people have been lamenting that visa agents are overcharging them for extending their visas or local immigration officials making them pay excessive overstay fines at the airport. Expatriates' main gripes include lack of communication or miscommunication between the government and foreigners residing in Vietnam and the ever-changing rules. "They (immigration officials) are so corrupt, they will try to make money from you in any way possible," wrote one foreigner on Facebook about his recent exit experience. "There is no reliable information, nobody knows what's going on and they are making it impossible to leave," said Mark Warth, an Australian national who is desperate to leave Vietnam with his wife. His name has been changed to protect his privacy. The dearth of reliable information has likely prompted Vietnamese authorities to implement a new hotline for foreigners in Da Nang; however, responses have been either slow or nonexistent. Most expatriates in Da Nang are English teachers. Due to the closure of many local schools and the recent worldwide termination of most foreign teaching contracts with online Chinese schools, many foreign teachers are struggling financially. And the situation for the poorest locals has worsened as the Vietnamese economy slows. "Many local people are starving and haven't had paid work for a long time," said Nga Hanh, a local woman working as a consultant in Da Nang whose name has been changed to protect her privacy. Hanh has a brother who works for the government. His salary has been slashed in half since last year, but he says he is one of the lucky ones to still have a job. "Some of my friends in the tourism industry haven't worked for over a year," Hanh said. Her sister, a nurse, has been forced to stay in the hospital and work 24-hour shifts since the latest lockdown began, and she isn't being paid for overtime. "It must be so terrible for the really poor people here in my country right now. Nobody takes care of the poor people adequately," said Hanh.
N.Korea Fired Possible Ballistic Missile Amid Deadlocked Nuclear Talks
North Korea fired an unidentified projectile from its east coast, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday, days after testing a long-range cruise missile. Japan's Coast Guard also said an object that could be a ballistic missile was fired from North Korea. Both the South Korean military and Japanese Coast Guard gave no details. The launch came after North Korea said it successfully tested a new long-range cruise missile last weekend, calling it "a strategic weapon of great significance." Analysts say the missile could be the country's first such weapon with a nuclear capability. Pyongyang has been steadily developing its weapons program amid a standoff over talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in return for U.S. sanctions relief. The negotiations have stalled since 2019.
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Home » World » Anti-Muslim Extremism and Dilemmas of Diversity in Sri Lanka
Anti-Muslim Extremism and Dilemmas of Diversity in Sri Lanka
Posted by: Dr Dayan Jayatilleka Tags: diversity,muslim,Politics,racism,sri lanka Posted date: February 13, 2013 | No comment
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Propaganda in the late 1970's contributed to the massive anti-Tamil pogroms of 1983, and it remains to be seen as to what extent the current anti-Muslim propaganda will influence the Sri Lankan State and its communities
Sri Lanka has just emerged from a war in which the Sri Lankan state won. Whilst being happy that the war ended with a certain outcome, we could have asked ourselves why we had the war in the first place. Why thirty years of conflict? What needs to be done to prevent such conflict? It seems to me that the answer has been that the way to prevent another cycle of conflict is to tighten up, to pre-empt, and to securitise. In certain areas it is necessary to be more vigilant in security and strategic terms, but the fundamental lesson has not been learned, and that lesson is that we have not been able to formulate, forge or construct a social contract among the constituent components of our citizenry.
This isn't a simple dilemma, because there are certain specificities and certain exceptionalities that have to be taken into account. One such specificity is that the island of Sri Lanka is indeed the only place in which there are Sinhalese, those who speak the Sinhalese language in any significantly large number. We do talk about better ordered and fairer societies such as Singapore where there are 75% of Chinese, but then there are a billion Chinese in China. As far as the Sinhalese are concerned, this island is home and this is the only place they can call home. This is a reality.
Does this mean that the island belongs solely and primarily to the Sinhalese, and that everybody else has to put up with being second class citizens, legally, constitutionally or otherwise? Is that the nature of the only social contract that can issue from the specificity that I mention? I do not think so, not only because it is wrong and undesirable, but also because it won't work.
Much depends on how diversity is viewed. This is almost a commonplace: the idea that diversity is a resource. The more variegated we are, the richer we are. Yet to be successfully propagated, this is an idea that has to be disseminated because the flip side of that, which is the attitude and practice of considering only one's own ethnic, ethno-lingual or ethno-religious community as the nation, has the same result as inbreeding has in any family. What has been going on is cultural inbreeding and an advocacy of it as some form of authenticity or purity. The consequence of this has been cycle upon cycle of conflict issuing from a sense of mutual alienation.
If one is able to recognise that diversity means richness and richness is a resource, then one would look very differently at the matrix or the mosaic that is Sri Lankan society.
So the war having ended in a victory over separatism, the spirit of separatism still lives, and I do not mean in the form of what Government spokesmen inelegantly call "the LTTE rump". What I mean is that the spirit of separating one's connectivity from The Other continues. When I came upon the propaganda against the Muslim community in recent years and months, I was reminded about that old joke "it's déjà vu all over again" because it is exactly the same as what was out there before July '83. So the comparison is not today with July '83, it is with what led to July '83, it is the run up to July '83. I refer to the years from '77 to '83, a period covered by the Sansoni Commission, the violence of '77, '79, '81 and finally the massive explosion of 1983. The road to July '83 was paved, prepared, and though perhaps not intended in that form, by anti-Tamil propaganda. At the time, it came from within the government. You had anti-Tamil propaganda with illustrations being sent out in envelopes with a stamp of the then Minister of Industry, Mr. Cyril Mathew. It is the same kind of toxic waste material that is being put out today against the Muslim community, though not officially, not from within the government.
I am particularly worried and anxious, that the current wave of the anti-Muslim propaganda is on population growth rates. Violence in such a context would not be preeminently anti-property but anti-persons, because if the name of the game is numbers, and rates of population growth, and the number of children that the other has, then any violence is bound to seek to address that particular problem. In other words, the solution would be seen as one of an ethnic cleansing or ethno-religious cleansing.
I am happy that President Rajapaksa did what he did and said what he did on the subject. Then again I also remember that in 1981, not '83 but '81, President Jayewardene condemned the violence that had taken place in the Hill country. I remember his speech in which he talked of a "crisis of civilization". This was in '81 not in '83 but it could not and did not stop the slide to violence. So as John F. Kennedy use to say "Never mind what he says, watch his hands". It can be said that there are no majority and minorities, but then watch their hands. Is that the way policy is formulated and implemented? Is it really the case that there are no majority and minorities? I am quite unconvinced of this.
Deriving from the specificity of the Sinhalese and their situation on the island of Sri Lanka, you can go either way: either an exclusionary solution that imposes itself on others or comprehension that the strategic imperative is to avoid isolation. If you start off by saying that we Sinhalese are just 15 million people and that there is nowhere else where there are such concentrations of Sinhalese, no other country but this, then certain other things have to follow. It has to be recognised that there are 70 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu and another 10 million elsewhere, there are one and a half billion adherents of the Islamic faith in the world, and there are two billion Christians around the world. Of course it is not the case that one billion Muslims or 70 million Tamils are going to invade Sri Lanka, but a shift in stance of even 0.1% of those very large numbers in the world would make Sri Lanka's situation and that of the Sinhalese, strategically untenable. This is my contention as a realist, but this reality is sadly not understood.
Domestically, those who conduct the anti-Islamic propaganda are also those who are opposed to devolution, but they do not seem to understand that if Muslim sentiments were to shift away from the Sinhalese, there would automatically be a shift to a Tamil speaking majority in the Eastern Province. The anti-Muslim elements do not seem to understand that in the diplomatic arena Sri Lanka has always counted on the support of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and that those states constitute a very important factor in many UN and multilateral fora.
We already have a problematic relationship with India to the extent that it voted against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva last year. A drive against the Muslims, perhaps not on the part of the State, but on the part of Sinhala extremists, would hardly contribute positively to our relations with Pakistan, which stood by us consistently during decades of war. I am not sure how intelligent it is to have troubled relations with two of our neighbours. Of course there is also the factor of the revenue that comes in from the Middle East job market.
Even if for pragmatic, strategic reasons, it has to be understood by the State and by society that the anti-Muslim surge is profoundly counter productive and almost suicidal. It will only lead to further isolation of the country and of the majority Sinhalese. The minorities who are seen by Sinhala extremists as Trojan horses are in fact the bridges between the Sinhalese and the outside world, given that there is no other collectivity or concentration of Sinhalese elsewhere. The Muslims, the Tamils, the Hindus, the Catholics, all of these are the points of intersection between the Sinhala Buddhist majority of Sri Lanka and the world outside. They are the bridges and if those bridges are burned the Sinhala heartland will find itself isolated, which ironically, is exactly the situation in which those hostile to Sri Lanka want to place the State and the Sinhalese.
It is not very helpful to see this as a struggle between the bad State and good civil society because the political history of Sri Lanka, certainly post independence, has been one in which elements of civil society have played a far more retrogressive and reactionary role than the State itself, and when the State has taken those positions it has been due to the pronounced and prolonged pressure from the most chauvinist elements within civil society. Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike did not advocate Sinhala only when he founded his party in 1951, nor did he do so when his party contested elections for the first time in 1952. He did so only in 1955 when the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress set up the Buddhist Commission to coincide with the Buddha Jayanthi, and put out a report ostensibly on the rights of the Buddhists but actually made pronouncements on the status of the Sinhalese Buddhists and the Sinhala language.
It is from within civil society that these ideas have sprung and it is also within civil society that the battle will have to be waged, not simply against the State, or against a political leadership. This is a battle of ideas, of consciousness, that has to be waged within the State and within civil society. Both State and civil society have to be viewed not as antipodes but as terrains of contestation.
I return once again to the reality of Sri Lanka being the only place on the planet where the Sinhala language is spoken by a large collectivity and where those who consider themselves of Sinhalese ethnicity constitute a majority. That is axiomatic. If so what are the solutions?
One is that of equal rights in every sense, constitutionally and legally. I am for it because I find it abhorrent that there should be any form of discrimination. What we have today in our constitution is structural discrimination, where one language and one religion, in a multilingual and multi-religious social formation, are given a privileged place. Would the populace be ready to level that playing field, to return —or go forward to what I call Soulbury Plus, that is the Soulbury Constitution with a stronger safeguard against discrimination?
If that is not a viable option, then we have the solution of the autonomy at the peripheries. There again, there is the fear of a centrifugal motion where by an autonomous province would or could secede over time.
I was one of those who was very sceptical about this domino theory, or this theory of an escalation ladder, until recently when the issues of Scotland and Catalan independence in Spain came up, where even within a non-federal system, devolution has over time not stopped separatism but actually fed into demands for a separate independent state. I am not saying that devolution automatically does so, but we have to recognise that there are problems, dangers & legitimate threat perceptions.
If so, then I think what we need is a hybrid or mixed solution where if we cannot guarantee absolute equality of citizenship in the constitution, we should build in very strong anti-discriminatory legislation. I think it is easier to do that than to say that we are going to remove the privileged place of Buddhism. It is easier to set up institutions which have teeth and which would be a watchdog against discrimination. We can also defend notions of provincial autonomy which are centripetal and not centrifugal. One really must have a policy mix. To me, it is the only ethically appropriate and strategically prudent way to go.
Image from: http://www.onlanka.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/lanka-president-with-muslim-leaders.jpg
Dr Dayan Jayatilleka
Dr Dayan Jayatilleka is the former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to France and the UNESCO. He is also the former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva, and the author of Fidel's Ethics of Violence (Pluto, London).
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Human Rights in Bangladesh: A Continued Legacy of Injustice »


Author(s): Slifka, A.J. ; Drexler, E.S.
The complimentary techniques of electron-beam moire and infrared microscopy were used to determine the mechanical and thermal degradation of interfaces involving electrically conductive adhesives. The infrared microscopy technique was used to examine the changes in heat transport across the interfaces in electronic packaging materials. The electron-beam moire technique is capable of measuring displacements at a spatial resolution of 50 nm and was used to measure displacements in materials due to mechanical or thermal loading. We overlaid these two techniques to achieve a more complete understanding of the degradation mechanisms in electronic packages. We made a specimen with sandwiched layers of FR4 printed wiring board, silver-filled conductive adhesive, carbon-filled conductive adhesive, and stainless steel. We thermally cycled the specimen from -55/spl deg/C to 125/spl deg/C. We paused the thermal cycling for testing with both techniques. Measurements show that after only 3 thermal cycles, there were already changes in the interfacial thermal resistance seen by the infrared microscope. SEM observations showed no detectable damage at the surface of the specimen at this number of cycles. Moire images at different temperatures showed the origins of the degradation mechanism, as images at the extreme temperatures showed how the differential thermal expansion and contraction of the different materials strain the various layers. The combination of these two techniques gives a unique perspective on analysis of interfaces in electronic packaging materials systems.
1.1 This test method establishes a procedure for comparing the elemental composition of normal surfaces with any defects found on the surfaces of metal tubing, fittings, valves, or any metal component.


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Max Price £300,000 £350,000 £400,000 £450,000 £500,000 £550,000 £600,000 £650,000 £700,000 £750,000 £800,000 £850,000 £900,000 £950,000 £1,000,000 £1,500,000 £2,000,000 £2,500,000 £3,000,000 £3,500,000 £4,000,000 £4,500,000 £5,000,000 £5,500,000 £6,000,000 £6,500,000 £7,000,000 £7,500,000 £8,000,000 £8,500,000 £9,000,000 £9,500,000 £10,000,000 £10,500,000 £11,000,000 £11,500,000 £12,000,000 £15,000,000
Min Beds 1 bed 2 beds 3 beds 4 beds 5 beds +
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Prices Grow Despite Rate Rise
Holly Kirkwood October 4, 2006
House prices rose by 1% in September, bringing the average cost of a property nationally to £181,186, according to the latest Halifax report. The figure proves that the Bank of England?s decision to increase the interest rate by 0.25% in August didn?t affect the market as the expected.
The annual rate of house price inflation, however, is down year on year to 8%, 0.2% lower than it was in August, Halifax found.
Regionally, the picture looks very uniform, with all English regions experiencing annual price gains of between 5.5% and 8.5%, the narrowest range ever recorded by Halifax. The stand-out performers nationally were Northern Ireland, which has recorded rises of 30% in the past twelve months, and Scotland, which is still performing strongly with an average increase of 14.5%.
London saw an easing of inflation, from 10.9% in Quarter 2 to 8.5% in Quarter 3, which could indicate the reopening of the north/south divide, which had previously been narrowing for almost four years.
Martin Ellis, Halifax Chief Economist, said he expects a healthy housing market in coming months with a gradual easing of house price inflation: ?House prices rose by 1% in September, but the annual rate has eased for the third successive month, to the lowest rate since April 2006,? he said.
?We expect increased utility bills and higher interest rates to curb housing demand over the coming months, causing annual house price inflation to ease between now and the end of the year.?
Property Economists Capital Economics (CE) said today that the rate increase may yet have an effect on prices, and we need to wait at least until November to know: ?We believe that the lags between taking the decision to purchase a house and actually completing the deal mean that the impact of August?s rate increase cannot be properly assessed for at least another month,? said Kelvin Davidson of CE.
?However, today?s data certainly do nothing to dispel the argument that the housing market has been largely immune to higher base rates. Indeed it looks quite possible that the Halifax index could end 2006 at around 7-8% yoy,? although his report also warned that another rate increase could lead to a slower start for 2007.
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Ye Coach & Horses fans, say hello to the Pikey
By Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times
A new British pub and restaurant called the Pikey opened on Easter in the space that used to house the more than 70-year-old dive bar Ye Coach & Horses. When that relic closed nearly two years ago due to a controversial eviction, a spirited Save the Coach & Horses campaign ensued, followed by a flutter of press. Then it was over — the bar closed and the city moved on.
When the curtain was again raised on the latest incarnation of the historic room — where famous British ex-pats Alfred Hitchcock and Richard Burton were known to tipple — it became clear that a new era had dawned for the place: A cleaner, brighter era without the questionable bathroom facilities and lager-drenched industrial carpet.
In fact, if you were a Coach & Horses fan and in possession of fond memories, including watching a besotted homeless man mumble into his beer while you sipped watery whiskey and listened to Coach & Horses regular Quentin Tarantino talk in his excited falsetto to a slightly nerdy film guy at the end of the bar, then it's important to keep in mind that the Pikey is not Ye Coach & Horses.
That's not to say that owners Jared Meisler and Sean MacPherson, who also own Roger Room, Bar Lubitsch and Jones, didn't do their all to keep the best of the smoke-stained old room. It's just that their brand is too of-the-moment to conjure up the spirit of a place that was trapped in time somewhere between the 1940s and the '70s.
"The integrity of the room is still intact," says Meisler on a recent weeknight over creamy potted chicken liver topped with butter made by former Spotted Pig chef Ralph Johnson. Meisler is sitting in the restaurant side of the bar, which has a bustling open kitchen and used to be a down-on-its-luck Indian curry house. "The layout is the same, the wood paneling is the same. I spent nearly two years shopping for paintings, photos and objects to match what was on the walls to photos I had of the old bar."
Part of the difficulty with the eviction of former owner Jane Grant was that it ended bitterly and Grant took everything inside of the bar, even the sconces. In addition, Meisler and MacPherson didn't own the name Ye Coach & Horses, so they had to give the place a new moniker, which was something they would rather not have done.
They chose the Pikey because it's slang for gypsy in England.
"I really dig that outlaw culture," says Meisler. "They live in caravans and camp. They're heavy drinkers, fighters and gamblers."
The new name is a bit ironic because the Pikey type was more likely to be found in the old Ye Coach & Horses. The new Pikey is attracting a decidedly more upscale crowd, who appreciate the fresh-squeezed juices and house-made syrups used in mixologist Damian Windsor's cocktail menu and can afford to pay $25 for a plate of mashed potatoes and braised lamb shank so tender it falls off the bone.
Although the Pikey is a British pub, the menu is more eclectic than that would imply. Fish and chips make an appearance, but Johnson says he crafted the menu to reflect good bar food as well as classic seasonal dishes that err on the indulgent side. House-cured bacon swimming in horseradish and peas, for example, or Arctic char crudo with fresh California citrus. Hype surrounding the opening and the strength of Johnson's reputation have brought in a steady stream of diners, and Meisler says that so far food and alcohol sales have kept pace with each other.
Happily, the full menu can be ordered in any one of the three rooms inside the Pikey from opening until close at 2 a.m. Besides the main bar and the restaurant, there is a cozy space called the Maharajah Room based on its preponderance of old paintings of, yes, Hindu princes.
The general vibe can easily be described as upbeat and buzzing, with popular music playing at a reasonable level and lots of pretty young people winking at each other over Manhattans. If Burton were around he would probably hit on a number of them.
At the end of the day it's that part of the bar's history that isn't going anywhere.
"I loved the Coach & Horses and so did Sean. I had a drink in here when I was in high school," says Meisler. "I love the neighborhood and I love the history."
jessica.gelt@latimes.com
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Jessica Gelt
If it's entertaining, Jessica Gelt has likely covered it. Since joining the Los Angeles Times in 2003, she has written about television, music, movies, books, art, fashion, food, cocktails and more. She once played bass in a band with an inexplicably large following in Spain, and still gets stopped by fans (OK, maybe a fan) on the streets of Barcelona. She loves dive bars and very dry martinis with olives, though never simultaneously.
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text:
La Volta a Catalunya de 1959 fou la 39a edició de la Volta a Catalunya. La prova es disputà en 9 etapes, una d'elles dividides en dos sectors, entre el 6 i el 13 de setembre de 1959, amb un total de 1.306,6 km. El vencedor final fou el valencià Salvador Botella, seguit a tan sols tres segons per Fernando Manzaneque i a dinou per José Herrero.

Recorregut
En aquesta edició el recorregut queda circumscrit a Catalunya, a diferència de les edicions precedents, alhora que és poc muntanyós. La cursa s'inicia amb les mateixes etapes que l'any anterior, en què pel matí es fa el tradicional recorregut per la muntanya de Montjuïc, al qual han de fer 10 voltes, i per la tarda es desplacen fins a Reus, tot passant pel coll de l'Ordal. L'endemà arriben fins a Tortosa, per l'interior, i d'aquí cap a Lleida, passant per Tarragona i el coll de Lilla. En la cinquena etapa hi ha dos sectors, pel matí una contrarellotge individual entre Lleida i Vilanova de Bellpuig i per la tarda una etapa en línia fins a Manresa. La sisena etapa, amb final a Palafrugell compta en el seu recorregut amb el pas per l'alt de Les Estenalles en els primers quilòmetres d'etapa. La setena etapa, amb final a Berga, és la més llarga de les etapes i la que es pot considerar com a etapa reina, en comptar amb el coll de Santigosa i uns quilòmetres finals en lleugera pujada fins a Berga. La vuitena etapa és de transició abans de finalitzar la cursa a la muntanya de Montjuïc de Barcelona.

Etapes

Etapa 1. Barcelona - Barcelona. 38,8 km

Etapa 2. Barcelona - Reus. 108,0 km

Etapa 3. Reus - Tortosa. 113,0 km

Etapa 4. Tortosa - Lleida. 186,0 km

Etapa 5. (5A Lleida - Vilanova de Bellpuig 38 km CRI) i (5B Vilanova de Bellpuig - Manresa 104 km)

Etapa 6. Manresa - Palafrugell. 206,0 km

Etapa 7. Palafrugell - Berga. 248,0 km

Etapa 8. Berga - Argentona. 147,0 km

Etapa 9. Granollers - Barcelona. 138,0 km

Classificacions finals

Classificació general

Classificacions secundàries

Bibliografia

Referències

1959
Competicions ciclistes del 1959
Competicions esportives del 1959 a Catalunya

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


February 7, 2018 by C.I.A.D.
Our good friend, Mr. Mark Bellomo, shared some very exciting news with the masses – The 3rd edition of his Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe 1982 – 1994 is now available for Pre-Order on Amazon!
This latest guide to the guts-and-glory of G.I. Joe identifies every figure with all its weapons and gear, every vehicle with all the easy-to-lose pieces and every accessory related to Hasbros stellar team of soldiers. Use The Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe to expand your knowledge about Joe and the team, or Cobra and his cronies, and to identify and assess the value of any of the series 350 action figures and 240 vehicles and accessories.
Don't wait, get in on the pre-order while you can as this title is sure to sell out quickly! After you secure yours, join us after the break for discussion already in progress on the Cobra Island Forums!


Questions in the Depression section emphasize screening, education, counseling and training available for employees.
91. Provide free or subsidized clinical assessment for depression by a provider followed by directed feedback and clinical referral when appropriate?
92. Provide access to a self-administered depression screening tool that provides a feedback report with recommendations for clinical action as needed?
93. Provide educational materials on preventing, detecting, and treating depression?
94. Provide and promote interactive educational programming on preventing, detecting, and treating depression?
95. Provide and promote free or subsidized lifestyle coaching/counseling or self-management programs that equip employees with skills and motivation to set and meet their personal goals for managing depression?
96. Provide training for managers that improves their ability to recognize depression and refer employees to company/community resources for managing depression?
97. Provide health insurance coverage with free or subsidized out-of-pocket costs for depression medications?


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GABRIELLE UNION, JULIANNE HOUGH AND TERRY CREWS JOIN SEASON 14 OF NBC'S SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER 'AMERICA'S GOT TALENT'
Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel Return to the Supercharged Judges Panel as America's Top Variety Competition Series Uncovers the Most Unique and Undiscovered Performers
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – Feb. 11, 2019 – NBC's unrivaled and beloved summer sensation "America's Got Talent" revs up the excitement for season 14 with award-winning actress, author and producer Gabrielle Union and actress, dancer, singer and Emmy Award-winning choreographer Julianne Hough joining the judging panel. In addition, Terry Crews will serve as host of the hit series, a role he currently fills on the highly rated "America's Got Talent: The Champions."
Union and Hough will now join executive producer Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel as they return to their roles as judges.
"One of the many secrets to the success and longevity of 'America's Got Talent' is its fearless drive to reinvent itself," said Meredith Ahr, President, Alternative and Reality Group, NBC Entertainment. "The next evolution of the format brings in fresh expert eyes to join Simon and Howie on the panel. Gabrielle and Julianne are two of the most aspirational women in the business, on top of being electric entertainers with talent across disciplines. I am excited to see how their knowledge, compassion and sheer joy enhance the experience for acts and viewers alike."
Ahr added, "As their partner in crime, host Terry Crews will continue to light up the stage with his quick wit and unending charm."
"Our millions of longtime viewers have already embraced Terry as the host of 'AGT: The Champions,' and we are excited to welcome Gabrielle and Julianne to the 'AGT' family," said Trish Kinane, President of Entertainment Programming, Fremantle North America. "They are ready to bring a new level of expertise, energy, entertainment and fun to our judging panel."
"America's Got Talent" has remained summer's No. 1 alternative show for 13 seasons. The series once again dominated the summer television landscape this past summer, averaging 14 million viewers per episode, with magician Shin Lim going on to win the competition. And this winter the "AGT" franchise premiered its first-ever global brand extension, "America's Got Talent: The Champions," which launched in January and established itself as the season's No. 1 most-watched alternative series.
Union, who is set to executive produce and star in the highly anticipated "Bad Boys" TV spinoff "L.A.'s Finest" on Charter's Spectrum network that is set to premiere on May 13, is well known for her roles in several high-profile films, including "Bring It On," "Bad Boys II," "Think Like a Man," and last summer's hit movie for Universal "Breaking In." Union is known for her hit show "Being Mary Jane" which will have its two-hour finale in April on BET. Her bestselling memoir, "We're Going to Need More Wine," was released in 2017.
Hough is a two-time professional dance champion and has appeared as a judge on "Dancing with the Stars" and has starred in such films as "Footloose," "Rock of Ages," "Safe Haven" and the recent "Bigger." She earned rave reviews in the Emmy-winning broadcast "Grease: Live" and will be seen in the upcoming Netflix anthology series "Dolly Parton's Heartstrings." She has produced two Miss USA broadcasts and various Disney holiday specials, has been featured in numerous high-profile campaigns and is active in a wide range of philanthropic endeavors, charities and humanitarian efforts.
Crews is an action-movie hero, sitcom star, advertising pitchman, playable video game character, high-end furniture designer and human rights activist. He co-stars in the Golden Globe Award-winning NBC series "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," co-starred in the blockbuster hit "Deadpool 2" and the hit indie film "Sorry to Bother You." Crews is also the face (and muscles) of Old Spice, a playable character in Microsoft's Xbox One game "Crackdown 3" and a force in the design and art world. Crews was also named one of Time magazine's Person of the Year as one of the "Silence Breakers," speaking out against sexual harassment following the #MeToo movement.
The "Got Talent" format has had more than 900 million global viewers since it began airing in 2006 in America, and has aired in 194 territories worldwide. "Got Talent" holds the Guinness World Records title as the Most Successful Reality Television Format in history, with 70 local versions produced across Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
Auditions for the upcoming season of "America's Got Talent" are still underway. Interested acts can submit an online audition at AGTauditions.com up until midnight EST on Monday, March 4.
"America's Got Talent" was created by Simon Cowell and is co-produced by Fremantle and Syco Entertainment. Simon Cowell, Sam Donnelly, Jason Raff, Trish Kinane and Richard Wallace are the executive producers.
ABOUT SYCO ENTERTAINMENT
Syco Entertainment, a joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music, is one of the world's leading global music, film and television production companies responsible for some of the most successful global TV and music franchises and is the world's most successful producer of international talent. In 2017, Syco Music was named Music Week's Record Label of the Year and is home to internationally successful artists who have sold more than 380 million records to date. Syco is the record label home to Labrinth, James Arthur, Camila Cabello, Louis Tomlinson, CNCO, Grace VanderWaal, Susan Boyle, and PRETTYMUCH amongst others. Syco's television assets include the global franchises The X Factor and Got Talent. Around the world, The X Factor airs in 168 countries and is watched by more than a half billion people. Artists discovered by the format have sold more than 300 million records worldwide, including 200 number ones and 380 top 10 records. The Got Talent format officially holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for highest number of adaptations, making it the "World's Most Successful Reality TV Format," having been commissioned in an impressive 70 territories worldwide. America's Got Talent airs in 186 countries around the globe and has been the #1 US summer reality series for the past decade. Syco Film produced the 2013 #1 global box office hit " One Direction: This Is Us," a 3D concert movie with Sony Pictures and have partnered with Animal Logic (The Lego Movie, Happy Feet) to produce a number of music-based live action-hybrid animated movies.
ABOUT FREMANTLE
Fremantle is one of the largest and most successful creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content in the world. A global entertainment powerhouse, Fremantle has an outstanding international network of production teams, companies, and labels in over 30 countries. Fremantle produces more than 12,000 hours of original programming, roll out more than 60 formats and air 450 programs a year worldwide. The group distributes over 20,000 hours of content in more than 200 territories. Fremantle is also a world leader in digital and branded entertainment, with more than 300 million subscribers across 1,400 social channels and over 100 billion views across all platforms. Fremantle is part of RTL Group, a global leader across broadcast, content, and digital, itself a division of the international media giant Bertelsmann. For more information, visitwww.fremantle.com, follow us @FremantleUS or visit our Facebook and Linked In pages.
Rebecca Marks, Rebecca.Marks@nbcuni.com, 818-777-3030
Traci Saulsberry, Traci.Saulsberry@nbcuni.com, 818-777-6649
© 2019 NBCUniversal


Gigliola Staffilani is the MIT Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Mathematics since 2007, and Associate Department Head as of July, 2013. She received the B.S. equivalent from the University of Bologna in 1989, and the S.M. and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago in 1991 and 1995. Carlos Kenig was her doctoral advisor. Following a Szegö Assistant Professorship at Stanford, she had faculty appointments at Stanford, Princeton and Brown (tenured at Stanford and Brown), before joining the MIT mathematics faculty in 2002 as tenured associate professor (professor in 2006). Professor Staffilani is an analyst, with a concentration on dispersive nonlinear PDEs.
At Stanford, she received the Harold M. Bacon Memorial Teaching Award in 1997, and was given the Frederick E. Terman Award for young faculty in 1998. She was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in 1995–96 and 2003–04. She was a Sloan Fellow from 2000–02 and a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard in 2009–10. Professor Staffilani served as co-chair of the Graduate Student Committee in Pure Mathematics from 2009–2013. In 2013 she became an AMS Fellow and a member of the Massachusetts Academy of Science and in 2014 she was inducted in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.


It's all about golf & muffins, but mostly golf.
This is not a current review. I posted some pictures from the last 2 golf trips, as there were none up on the site.
Aspen Lakes is one of my all-time favorite courses. When visiting the Bend area, we always play here. There is a plethora of great tracks in the area, but this course retains a special place in my heart, as it offers fantastic conditions & layout at a very moderate price. The red sand bunkers are unique & really add to the visual appeal. The staff is extremely friendly & accommodating and the 19th Hole Patio is one of the most scenic places to grab some food & a beverage.
Played an afternoon round on 2/18. Course was really wet, but the weather was sunny, although cold & windy. Our tee time was delayed about 15 minutes & PoP was awful at around 5.5 hours. It was a holiday & one of the first days in a long time that the weather was decent, so I understand why it was so crowded.
With all of the rain we've had, course conditions were extremely wet & sloppy. Lots of standing water & balls were plugging in the fairway, rough & even on the collars of the greens. The fairways offered no roll & just walking on them was an adventure. The rough was wet & nasty. It was about a 40% chance to lose a ball if you didn't hit the fairway & if you found it, advancing it was brutal. 80% of the sand traps were little lakes, with 2-3 feet of water in them. The few that weren't were surprisingly playable. The greens were nice. Soft, but rolling at medium-speed. Definitely the highlight of the course.
The course is green & beautiful, but I would suggest waiting for a couple consecutive weeks of dry weather before playing here. Late Spring/Early Summer & Peacock will be in wonderful shape. For now, I would suggest trying Rooster Run in Petaluma & Corica South in Alameda, as both are far more playable.
The course is closed yet again. Website says "Closed for the Season." I would venture that this is something more permanent.
Played early Saturday 1/26. This is by far the best draining public course in the Marin/Sonoma area. With all of the rain we have received north of the Golden Gate Bridge, this is the spot to play. Fairways had roll, no standing water on the course, no plugs & no lost balls in the rough. Had a couple of mud balls, but nothing severe. Carts were 90*, but a very easy walking course.
If you are looking to play in the North Bay during the rainy season, this course will provide the best playable conditions, hands down.


Peanut-Peanut Butter Sauce (vegan) | Yumtritious Eating!
This sauce is smooth and crunchy. The smoothness comes from the peanut butter dressing. The crunchiness comes from the peanuts and fresh vegetables that combine with the dressing to complete the sauce.
Put all the peanut butter dressing ingredients in a a food processor or blender and process until very smooth.
Put all the peanut-veggie mix ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.
Pour the dressing onto the peanut mix and stir well to coat.
Serve on your favorite nutritious noodles.
Tofu chunks sauted in olive oil and tamari sauce would be a nice addition.
The sauce is unheated so it's especially nice to eat during the warmer months.


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Photo from Fantagio
ASTRO Shows Their Global Rise By Topping iTunes Album Charts Worldwide With "GATEWAY"
By Yann | May 7, 2020
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ASTRO heralded a fantastic global success with their latest mini-album and its enchanting title track!
ASTRO has been receiving enthusiastic responses from global fans with their latest mini-album GATEWAY as it topped iTunes' overseas charts upon its release!
Unveiled last May 4, the mini-album successfully took over the number one spot on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart, showing the soaring global potential of the group.
Additionally, it dominated the top spot on the All Albums Chart for all genres on May 5 in a total of three countries—namely, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico.
Meanwhile, GATEWAY ranked at number one on iTunes' Top K-Pop Albums Chart in 15 countries including the United States, Australia, and Germany, proving the high interest of overseas fans in the group.
The addictive melody of its title track "Knock" has also caught the attention of the global K-Pop community which was seen in how it topped the K-Pop Song Chart in four countries, including the United States and Britain, while also ranking high in other countries.
Meanwhile, ASTRO's comeback mini-album GATEWAY signifies "the door connecting different worlds" as the group, who has turned into a time traveler, moves toward a new world.
Branded as "the icon of refreshing" in the K-Pop scene, the group is drawing attention by radiating their powerfully refreshing charms through the songs in their seventh mini-album.
Expectations for their future activities are currently even higher after they heated up the hearts of global fans by topping overseas charts upon their return.
ASTRO Opens Up About Preparations & Gives Insights On Their New Album "GATEWAY"
Source: News1
Related ItemsastroGATEWAYKnock널찾아가아스트로
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Home ART Picasso unearthed by 'Indiana Jones of art'
Picasso unearthed by 'Indiana Jones of art'
Posted By: Editorial Teamon: March 27, 2019 In: ART, PEOPLENo Comments
THE HAGUE, Netherlands: A Dutch art detective dubbed the "Indiana Jones of the Art World" has struck again, finding a Picasso worth 25 million euros ($28 million) stolen from a Saudi sheikh's yacht on the French Riviera in 1999. Arthur Brand said he had handed back the 1938 masterpiece, "Portrait of Dora Maar," also known as "Buste de Femme (Dora Maar)" to an insurance company earlier this month.
The discovery of the rare portrait of Maar, one of Pablo Picasso's most influential mistresses, is the culmination of a four-year investigation into the burglary on the luxury yacht Coral Island as she lay anchored in Antibes.
Two decades after its theft and with no clues to its whereabouts, the police were stumped – and the portrait, which once hung in the Spanish master's home until his death in 1973, was feared lost forever.
After a four-year hunt through the Dutch criminal underworld, two intermediaries turned up on Brand's Amsterdam doorstep 10 days ago with the missing picture.
"They had the Picasso," Brand told AFP, "now valued at 25 million euros, wrapped in a sheet and black rubbish bags with them.
Brand hit the headlines last year for returning a stolen 1,600-year-old mosaic to Cyprus.
A new book, released earlier this month, recounts his famed 2015 discovery of "Hitler's Horses," two bronze statues made by Nazi sculptor Joseph Thorak.
The theft of the Picasso, valued at around $7 million dollars at the time, baffled French police, sent the superrich scurrying to update boat security and prompted the offer of a big reward.
In 2015, Brand first got wind that a "Picasso stolen from a ship" was doing the rounds in the Netherlands, although "at that stage I didn't know which one exactly."
It turned out the painting had entered the criminal circuit, where it circulated for many years, he said, "often being used as collateral, popping up in a drug deal here, four years later in an arms deal there."
It took many years and a few dead ends before pinning down that it was actually the Picasso stolen from the yacht of Saudi billionaire Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Abdulmalik al-Sheikh, as it was being refurbished.
Brand put the word on the street that he was looking for "Buste de Femme (Dora Maar)" and struck gold in early March.
"Two representatives of a Dutch businessman contacted me, saying their client had the painting. He was at his wits' end," Brand said.
"He thought the Picasso was part of a legitimate deal. It turns out the deal was legitimate – the method of payment was not."
Brand called the Dutch and French police, who said they would not prosecute the current owner.
"Since the original theft," Brand said, "the painting must have changed hands at least 10 times," adding that he'd had to act quickly.
"I told the intermediaries, it's now or never, because the painting is probably in a very bad state. … We have to act as soon as we can."
Just over a week ago, Brand's doorbell rang at his Amsterdam apartment, and the intermediaries were there with the painting. After unwrapping it, "I hung the Picasso on my wall for a night," Brand laughed, "making my apartment one of the most expensive in Amsterdam for a day."
The following day, a Picasso expert from New York's Pace Gallery flew in to verify its authenticity at a high-security warehouse.
Also present was retired British detective Dick Ellis, founder of Scotland Yard's art and antiquities squad, representing the unnamed insurance company now holding "Buste de Femme."
"There is no doubt that this is the stolen Picasso," said Ellis, who now runs a London-based art risk consultancy business.
Ellis is himself famous for recovering many stolen artworks, including Edvard Munch's "The Scream," lifted from the National Gallery of Norway in 1994.
"It's not only the public interest to recover stolen works of art," Ellis said. "You are also reducing the amount of collateral that is circling the black market and funds criminality."
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Woody Hayes, a leader of football troops, battled to win but exhibited softer side, too
By Phil Elderkin
For a lot of people who had a stake in college football during his long tenure in the game, former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes was an acquired taste. Hayes's critics (and he had his share) didn't like his crusty veneer, his aggressiveness, his legendary temper, his macho image, his low opinion of photographers, and the importance he placed on wars and generals. They also liked to knock his offense, which resembled 11 guys laying track en route to the end zone.
Woody tolerated the forward pass, but just barely. Gimmicks he threw out with the trash. Yet only Eddie Robinson, Bear Bryant, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and Pop Warner, led teams to more major college football victories.
The success of Hayes's teams certainly influenced others (including such prot'eg'es as Michigan's Bo Schembechler) to emulate the ``three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust'' style that worked so well for the Buckeyes. But the flip side of this was that whenever Woody or one of his followers got beaten by a team with a more wide-open attack - especially in the latter part of his career - critics were quick to charge that he hadn't kept up with the modern game.
There's a place for both styles, however, and Hayes's 238-72-10 record offers a good argument for his way. Woody's teams won 13 Big Ten and three national championships and made eight Rose Bowl appearances. He was also a winner in three decades (the '50s, '60s, and '70s).
Hayes, who had been retired from coaching more than eight years when he died recently, became a popular figure on the nation's lecture circuit in his post-coaching years, often making three or four speeches a week.
This keen student of military history, whose favorite general was George S. Patton, often declared that there was nothing wrong with winning.
``Without winning, there would be no civilization,'' Hayes said. ``But winning never comes easy. You have to earn it, and in football you have to earn it as a team, which means that a lot of guys sacrifice for each other.''
When Woody was younger and did more of his own recruiting, he would go almost anywhere if reports on the player in question indicated exceptional size, multiple talents, and good character.
Once inside the door, Hayes seldom bothered the parents with football talk, preferring instead to discuss current events with the boy's father, while sharing his Eastern European recipes with mom.
Woody always mentioned Ohio State's high academic standing. One source of pride to him was that nearly 90 percent of his four-year players got their degrees. Yet you'd have to ask someone close to him to confirm the many hospital visits he made, and the fact that he once took a Vietnamese refugee family into his home.
Hayes put loyalty right next to discipline, yet said most people didn't know what he was talking about because they always assumed he meant superimposed rules when discussing the latter.
``To me, discipline implies disciples,'' Hayes said. ``If someone believes in you, and also believes what you are trying to do, and has accepted your basic integrity - to me that's important.
``Basically, it's the team-oriented boy that I'm looking for, the one who realizes the importance of being part of something good. Usually, to be successful he has to experience this feeling in his own home before we get him. Otherwise, it's slow to come, or maybe doesn't happen at all.
``In any civilization, winning is the epitome of group effort. In other words, working together and achieving. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a man who discourages individual effort or thinking. ... But a team has to move as a unit. It can't be going off in different directions.''
Once Hayes's salary at Ohio State reached a comfortable figure (for him), he suggested that all future raises meant for the head coach be split among his assistants.
On road trips, Woody would sometimes call ahead and arrange to have a professor at the other school lecture his players on a nonfootball topic.
Asked several years ago to comment on a popular statement of the day, that football is more of a coach's medium than almost any other sport, Hayes replied:
``I'm surprised you had to ask. Of course it is. Football is a much more intricate game than most other sports, and therefore has to be controlled more. .. .you've got 22 players all moving at the same time. If each man didn't have a particular assignment, it would be chaos.
``Now, I'm not saying that other sports don't also have movement. But in baseball, for example, the emphasis most of the time is on nine fielders stopping one batter. Even if the hitter makes good contact, he can still be put out instantly if the ball is a line drive and catchable. But in football, potentially every man on the field could somehow be involved in the same play.''
The manner in which Hayes's career came to a sad and abrupt end during the 1978 Gator Bowl was not the way Hollywood would have done it.
Trailing 17-15, Ohio State reached the Clemson 24 with less than two minutes to go. But Charlie Bauman, the Tigers' middle guard, intercepted a pass and was tackled near the Buckeye bench. At that point, Hayes lost control of his emotions in front of a national TV audience. He grabbed Bauman and punched him.
Worse yet, when one of Hayes's own players tried to stop him, Woody turned on him, too. Later, a still-angry Hayes would run onto the field and have to be escorted off by one of his assistants.
Twenty-four hours later, Hayes was fired as Ohio State football coach, a man shattered by his own temper - his records as impressive as ever but forever destined in almost any discussion of him to be mentioned second.
Why does success always follow Urban Meyer?
Ralph Wilson remembered as AFL pioneer, NFL 'conscience'
The Monitor's View Amid bowl game hoopla: What about education?


text:
Q: How to put data from one column in the empty row of another column - Microsoft SQL Server 2008 How do I put data from COL2 in the empty rows of COL1? (empty rows are represented by --)
COL1   COL2
6       --
5.5     --
--      4.5
1.4     --
3.75    --
7       --
--      5
7.5     --
2.25    --
1.25    --
--      5
4.5     --
3       --
1.67    --
--      7

A: please try :
   UPDATE table
SET col1 = CASE WHEN col1 ='--' THEN col2
                 ELSE col1 END,
    col2 = CASE WHEN col2='--' THEN col1
                  ELSE col2 END
WHERE col2='--'
  OR col1 ='--';

fiddle demo

A: Update tableName set COL1 = COL2 where COL1 = ''

or
Update tableName set COL1 = COL2 where isnull(COL1 , '') = ''

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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It's 'belittling' to list my name as possible replacement for Kyari —Isa Funtua
One of those allegedly listed as options to serve as President Muhammadu Buhari's new Chief of Staff (CoS), Ismaila Isa Funtua, has distanced himself from the reports.
Funtua, a multi-millionaire businessman, slammed those behind the alleged listing of his name as Buhari's possible CoS, describing their action as belittling.
Following the death of Abba Kyari, Buhari's former CoS, to Covid-19, a list of names, including that of Funtua, have been circulating on social media as possible replacement for Kyari.
However, during an interview on BBC Hausa service on Tuesday, Funtua said:
"It's ridiculing for some people to mention my name as a possible replacement for Abba Kyari.
"The story is belittling. Now I employ people, not someone to employ me.
"I had worked with government in the 80s, worked with NA, Native Authority. I was a minister of the Federal republic in 1983.
"Therefore….for someone to shortlist me for that position is ridiculing especially for a man who served as a minister about 40 years ago and out of government..
"I should be employing people now not trying to struggle for government appointment… At my level and age people should first see if am fit to serve and see if am strong enough and if am up-to-date with current realities of governance…
READ ALSO: Death deals another blow on Buhari, as President loses personal bodyguard
"At this level, appointment like that should be for our children the younger generation. Not for my type … Even if they approach the president with my name, he knows he cannot ask me to serve at this age …For Allah's sake, You mean at my age I should be waking up at 8am to go to work?
"I've surpassed that level in life… it's for people like you and other younger persons… We should stop ridiculing public offices simply because getting appointments."
Related Topics:Buhari's new CoSFuntua on being listed as Buhari's new CoSIsa FuntuaIsmaila Funtuareplacement for Kyari
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Dental implant provider Dr. Barksdale want to tell you a little about how sweets made Queen Elizabeth's smile turn sour during her reign.
America isn't the only country that has traditions for lost baby teeth. Learn about the Tooth Fairy from other places around the world.


Refer to the video, Jolt Date Code Labeling, to see how labels are printed.
Open the Jolt App, then login with your 4 digit pin.
1. Select Labels then a Category.
2. Ensure that the Printer is connected and the correct label size is available.
3. Select a product name and one label will print out.
4. To print multiple labels, hold the product name and a number pad will display.
5. Select the number of labels, then select Print.


text:
The Coloring Book
A Comedian Solves Race Relations in America
From former SNL "Weekend Update" host and legendary stand-up Colin Quinn comes a controversial and laugh-out-loud investigation into cultural and ethnic stereotypes.
Colin Quinn has noticed a trend during his decades on the road-that Americans' increasing political correctness and sensitivity have forced us to tiptoe around the subjects of race and ethnicity altogether. Colin wants to know: What are we all so afraid of? Every ethnic group has differences, everyone brings something different to the table, and this diversity should be celebrated, not denied. So why has acknowledging these cultural differences become so taboo?
In THE COLORING BOOK, Colin, a native New Yorker, tackles this issue head-on while taking us on a trip through the insane melting pot of 1970s Brooklyn, the many, many dive bars of 1980s Manhattan, the comedy scene of the 1990s, and post-9/11 America. He mixes his incredibly candid and hilarious personal experiences with no-holds-barred observations to definitively decide, at least in his own mind, which stereotypes are funny, which stereotypes are based on truths, which have become totally distorted over time, and which are actually offensive to each group, and why.
As it pokes holes in the tapestry of fear that has overtaken discussions about race, THE COLORING BOOK serves as an antidote to our paralysis when it comes to laughing at ourselves . . . and others.
heneghan pc , 06/25/2015
One of the Greats
Been looking forward to this memoir for several years. I was not disappointed. Thanks
Davibean , 06/10/2015
Wonderful book written by an underrated comedy all-time great.
Stromboli83 , 06/01/2015
Funny and charming.
Colin Quinn just get's it! The ability to analyze and have an affinity for the cultures and races and our shared differences is hilarious. It's obvious the love Mr.Quinn has for the people who inhabit his beloved New York City shows up clearly in this book. I recommend this book very highly.


SIDNEY — Brenda and Craig Langston, of Sidney, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary at an open house hosted by their children and grandchildren, Feb. 2, 2019, at 7 p.m., in the Houston Community Center.
They request that gifts be omitted.
Craig and the former Brenda DeLaet were married Jan. 31, 1969, in the Hardin United Methodist Church. The Rev. William West performed the ceremony on a cold day. Brenda's wedding dress and her maid of honor's dress were made by Brenda's grandmother. Witnesses to the wedding were maid of honor Betty (DeLaet) Blue, sister of the bride, and best man Francis "Butch" DeLaet, brother of the bride. How did the couple meet? Brenda says she was introducing Craig to a friend but he wasn't interested in the friend; he wanted to ask Brenda out. Craig says that Brenda's brother, Butch, paid him $50 to take her out. Grandma Langston says that she picked Brenda out at the FFA banquet and told Craig to ask her out.
Craig is the son of the late Bernice (Ely) and Harold Langston. He has three brothers and sisters-in-law, Darrell and Sandy Langston, of Houston, Harold Jr. and Elaine Langston, of Versailles, and Lonnie and Lynn Langston, of Carmel, Indiana, and a sister, Barbara Hughes, of Sidney. A brother-in-law, Bobby Hughes, is deceased.
Brenda is the daughter of the late Francis "Frenchie" DeLaet and the late Patricia (Vondenheuvel) DeLaet Cisco Petersimes and the stepdaughter of the late Larry Cisco. She has three brothers and a sister-in-law, Francis "Butch" and Rhonda DeLaet, of Sidney, Larry Cisco, of Minster, and Kenny DeLaet, of Springfield, and a sister and brother-in-law, Betty and Bud Blue, of Houston.
The Langstons are the parents of a son, Craig Langston Jr., of Sidney, and a daughter and son-in-law, Shelly and Paul Barhorst, of Fort Loramie. They have three grandchildren.
The couple have owned and operated Langston Pallets since 1974.
Brenda is a member of Holy Angels Catholic Church in Sidney.
Craig enjoys working on old cars and watching their granchildren's sports. Brenda enjoys traveling, shopping and volunteering at Agape Distribution in Sidney. They both enjoy spending time with family and friends.


It was a thrill to work on this portrait of the Undertaker for Topps' line of WWE trading cards. This illustration will be available during Wrestlemania in the Topps Slam app.
Steve Cup is a prolific illustrator and printmaker living and working in New York City. He combines the tradition of woodcut printmaking with digital editing techniques to create s… Show more.
Send a message directly to Steve Cup.
Steve Cup is a prolific illustrator and printmaker living and working in New York City. He combines the tradition of woodcut printmaking with digital editing techniques to create stunning works that have adorned numerous magazines, newspapers, book jackets and more! He also looks better than most in a bow tie.


Well, it's been a very long time. I was so upset when Google announced that they would no longer support the Google Blogger platform on private servers, I abandoned my blog. However, after an extremely long break I hope to start blogging on a regular basis once more.