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First-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre which centers the gameplay around gun- or projectile weapon-based combat through the first person perspective; i.e., the action is seen through the eyes of a protagonist, and thus the player. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other shooter games, which in turn fall under the heading action game. From the genre's inception, advanced 3D or pseudo-3D graphics elements have challenged hardware development, and multiplayer gaming has been integral.
The first person shooter has since been traced as far back as Maze War, development of which began in 1973, and 1974's Spasim. 1987's MIDI Maze for the Atari ST was one of the first network multiplayer action games and also saw release on game consoles. The genre coalesced with 1992's Wolfenstein 3D, which is generally credited with redefining the genre and the basic archetype upon which subsequent titles were based. One such title, and the progenitor of the genre's wider mainstream acceptance and popularity was Doom, released the following year and perhaps the most influential first-person shooter. Half-Life, released in 1998, enhanced the narrative and puzzle elements, and along with its 2004 sequel Half-Life 2, showcases the considerable development of the genre's potential. GoldenEye 007 (1997) was the first landmark first-person shooter for home consoles, with the Halo series heightening the console's commercial and critical appeal as a platform for first-person shooter titles. In the 21st century, the first-person shooter is one of the most widely played and fastest growing video game genres.
First-person shooters are a type of 3D shooter game, featuring a first person point of view with which the player sees the action through the eyes of the player character. The primary design element is combat, mainly involving firearms. First person shooters may be considered a distinct genre in itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of the influential Doom in 1993, games in this style were commonly termed "Doom clones";in time this term has largely been replaced by "first person shooter".Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, the year before Doom, is generally credited with inventing the genre, but critics have since identified similar though less advanced games completed as far back as 1974. There is sometimes disagreement regarding exactly what design elements constitute a first-person shooter: for example, Deus Ex is sometimes considered a first person shooter, but may also be considered a role-playing game as it borrows from this genre extensively. Some commentators may extend the definition obliquely to include combat flight simulators, as opposed to characters on foot.
Like most shooter games, first person shooters involve an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. Because they take place in a 3D environment, these games tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games, and have more accurate representations of gravity, lighting, sound and collisions. First person shooters played on personal computers are controlled with a combination of a keyboard and mouse. This system is often considered superior to that found in console games, which frequently use two analog sticks, one used for running and sidestepping, the other for looking and aiming. It is common to display the character's hands and weaponry in the main view, with a head up display showing health, ammunition and location details. Often, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area.
Combat and power-ups
First person shooters often feature graphic, gory violence.
First person shooters often focus on action gameplay, with fast-paced and bloody firefights, though some place a greater emphasis on narrative, problem-solving and logic puzzles. In addition to shooting, melee combat may still be used extensively. In some games, melee weapons are especially powerful, a reward for the risk the player must take in maneuvering his character into close proximity to the enemy. In other situations, a melee weapon may be less effective, but necessary as a last resort. Tactical shooters," are more realistic, and require teamwork and strategy to succeed; the player often commands a squad of characters, which may be controlled by the game or by human teammates.
These games typically give players a choice of weapons, which have a large impact on how the player will play the game. Some have highly realistic models of real weapons, including their rate of fire, size of ammunition, and accuracy. However, they may allow players to carry many of them at the same time, with no reduction in speed or mobility. Thus, the standards of realism varies between design elements. The protagonist can generally be healed and re-armed by means of items such as first aid kits, simply by walking over them. Some games allow players to accumulate experience points similar to those found in role-playing games, which can unlock new weapons and abilities.
First person shooters may be structurally comprised of levels, or use the technique of a continuous narrative in which the game never leaves the first person perspective. Others feature large sandbox environments, which are not divided into levels and can be explored freely. In first person shooters, protagonists interact with the environment to varying degrees, from basics such as using doors, to problem solving puzzles based on a variety of interactive objects. The environment can be damaged, also to varying degrees: one common device is the use of barrels containing explosive material which the player can shoot, destroying them and harming nearby enemies. Other games feature environments which are extensively destructible, allowing for additional visual effects. The game world will often make use of science fiction, historic (particularly World War II) or modern military themes, with such antagonists as aliens, monsters, terrorists and soldiers of various types. Games feature multiple difficulty settings; in harder modes, enemies are tougher, more aggressive and do more damage, and power-ups are limited. In easier modes, the player can succeed through reaction times alone; on more difficult settings, it is necessary to memorize the levels through trial and error.
Later first person shooters utilize the internet for multiplayer features, but local area networks were more commonly used in early games.
First person shooters may feature a multiplayer mode, taking place on specialized levels. Some games are designed specifically for multiplayer gaming, and have very limited single player modes in which the player competes against game-controlled characters termed "bots". Massively multiplayer online first-person shooters allow thousands of players to compete at once in a persistent world. Large scale multiplayer games allow multiple squads, with leaders issuing commands and a commander controlling the team's overall strategy. Multiplayer games have a variety of different styles of match. The classic types are the deathmatch (there is also a team-based version) in which players score points by killing other players' characters, and capture the flag, in which teams attempt to penetrate the opposing base, capture a flag and return it to their own base whilst preventing the other team from doing the same. Other game modes may involve attempting to capture enemy bases or areas of the map, attempting to take hold of an object for as long as possible while evading other players, or deathmatch variations involving limited lives or in which players fight over a particularly potent power-up. These match types may also be customizable, allowing the players to vary weapons, health and power-ups found on the map, as well as victory criteria. Games may allow players to choose between various classes, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, equipment and roles within a team.
Early first person shooters: 1970s and 1980s
Before the popularity of first person shooters, the first person viewpoint was used in vehicle simulation games such as Battlezone.
The earliest two documented first-person shooters were Maze War and Spasim. Maze War features on-foot gameplay that evokes modern first-person shooter games. Development of the game began in 1973 and its exact date of completion, as well as release details, are unknown. Spasim had a documented debut at the University of Illinois in 1974. The game was a rudimentary space flight simulator, which featured a first-person perspective. Spasim led to more detailed combat flight simulators and eventually to a tank simulator, developed for the U.S. army, in the later 1970s. These games were not available to consumers and it was not until 1980 that a tank game, Battlezone, was released in arcades. A version was released in 1983 for home computers, the first successful mass-market game featuring a first-person viewpoint and 3D graphics.
MIDI Maze was an early first-person shooter released in 1987 for the Atari ST. It was unique in featuring network multiplayer through the MIDI interface long before mainstream Ethernet and Internet play became commonplace. It is considered the first multiplayer 3D shooter on a mainstream system and the first major network multiplayer action game, with support for as many as 16 players. It was followed up by ports to various platforms in 1991 under the title Faceball 2000, including the Game Boy and Super NES, making it possibly the first handheld and multiplatform first-person shooter and an early console example of the genre.
Id Software released Hovertank 3D in 1991, which pioneered ray casting technology to enable faster gameplay than 1980s vehicle simulators. Later developers added texture mapping with Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (by Looking Glass Technologies), a role-playing game featuring a first person viewpoint and an advanced graphics engine, released in 1992. During development, this led to Catacomb 3-D which was actually released first, in late 1991, and introduced the display of the protagonist's hand and weapon (magical spells) on the screen.
Rise in popularity: 1992–1995
Wolfenstein 3D (created by id Software and released in 1992) was an instant success and is generally credited with inventing the first person shooter genre proper. It built on the ray casting technology pioneered in earlier games to create a revolutionary template for shooter game design, which first person shooters are still based upon today. Despite the violent themes, it largely escaped the controversy generated by the later Doom, although it was banned in Germany due to the use of Nazi iconography; the Nintendo version replaced the enemy attack dogs with giant rats. Apogee Software, the publisher of Wolfenstein 3D, followed up its success with Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold in 1993. The game was initially well received but sales rapidly declined in the wake of the success of id's Doom, released a week later.
Although it was not the earliest shooter game with a first person perspective, Wolfenstein 3D is often credited with establishing the first-person shooter genre.
Doom, released as shareware in 1993, refined Wolfenstein 3D's template by adding improved textures, variations in height (such as stairs the player's character could climb) and lighting effects such as flickering lights and patches of total darkness, creating a more believable 3D environment than Wolfensteins 3D's repetitive levels. Doom allowed competitive matches between multiple players, termed "deathmatches", and the game was responsible for the word's subsequent entry into the video gaming lexicon. The game become so popular that its multiplayer features began to cause problems for companies whose networks were used to play the game. Doom has been considered the most important first person shooter ever made: it was highly influential not only on subsequent shooter games but on video gaming in general, and has been available on almost every video gaming system since. Multiplayer gaming, which is now integral to the first person shooter genre, was first achieved successfully on a large scale with Doom. While its combination of gory violence, dark humor and hellish imagery garnered acclaim from critics, these attributes also generated controversy from religious groups, with other commentators labelling the game a "murder simulator." There was further controversy when it emerged that the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre were fans of the game; the families of several victims later unsuccessfully attempted to sue id Software, among numerous other video game companies, claiming they inspired the massacre.
Star Wars: Dark Forces was released in 1995 after LucasArts decided Star Wars would make appropriate material for a game in the style of Doom; however, Star Wars: Dark Forces added several technical features that Doom lacked, such as the ability to crouch or look up and down. Descent, (released by Parallax Software in 1995) a game in which the player pilots a spacecraft around caves and factory ducts, was the first truly three dimensional first person shooter. It abandoned sprites and ray casting and introduced polygons and six degrees of freedom. Apogee's Duke Nukem 3D, released in 1996, was the last successful sprite-based first person shooter, winning acclaim for its humor based around stylised machismo as well as its gameplay; however some found the game's (and later the whole series') treatment of women to be derogatory and tasteless.
Arrival of 3D graphics: 1996–1999
Shortly after the release of Duke Nukem 3D, id Software released the much anticipated Quake, which used 3D polygons instead of sprites. Like Doom, Quake was influential and genre-defining, featuring fast paced, gory gameplay. It was centered around online gaming and featured multiple match types still found in first person shooter games today. It was the first game to have a following of clans, attracted increased modification and expanded the market for video card hardware.
Console first person shooters can be traced to MIDI Maze for SNES (1992) as well as the SNES port of Wolfenstein 3D (1993), but the graphics were notably lacking according to the power of the platform. The first landmark, best-selling console first-person shooter was Rare's GoldenEye 007, based on the James Bond film and released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997. Highly acclaimed for its atmospheric single-player levels and well designed multiplayer maps, it featured the ability to aim at a precise spot on the screen, a sniper rifle, the ability to perform headshots, and the incorporation of stealth elements.
Released in 1998, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six started a popular trend of tactical first person shooters, though it was not the first of its kind. It featured a team-based, realistic design and themes based around counter-terrorism, requiring missions to be planned before execution and in it, a single hit was enough to kill a character. 1999s well designed Medal of Honor started a long running proliferation of first person shooters set during World War II.
Valve's Half-Life was released in 1998. Initially met with only mild anticipation, it went on to become an unprecedented commercial success. While previous first person shooters had focused on visceral gameplay with comparatively weak plots, Half-Life had a strong narrative; the game featured no cut scenes but remained in the first person perspective at all times. It featured innovations such as non-enemy characters but did not employ power-ups. Half-Life was acclaimed for its artificial intelligence, set of weapons and attention to detail and, along with its sequel Half-Life 2 (released in 2004), is consistently reviewed as one of finest examples of the genre.
Starsiege: Tribes, also released in 1998, was a multiplayer online shooter allowing more than 32 players in a single match. It featured team-based gameplay with a variety of specialized roles, and an unusual jet pack feature. The game was highly popular and later imitated by games such as the Battlefield series. Id's Quake III Arena and Epic's Unreal Tournament, both released in 1999, were popular for their frenetic and accessible online multiplayer modes; both featured very limited single player gameplay. Counter-Strike was also released in 1999, a Half-Life modification with a counter-terrorism theme. The game and later versions (the latest being Counter Strike: Source, released in 2004) went on to become by far the most popular multiplayer first person shooters.
Recent milestones: 2000–present
At the E3 game show in 1999, Bungie unveiled a real-time strategy game called Halo; at the following E3, an overhauled 3rd person shooter version was displayed. Later in 2000 Bungie was bought by Microsoft, and Halo was revamped and released as a first person shooter, one of the launch titles for the Xbox console. It was a runaway critical and commercial success, and is considered a premier console first person shooter. It featured narrative and level design inspired by Half-Life and also received acclaim for its characters, both the protagonist, Master Chief and its alien antagonists. The sequel, Halo 2 (2004), brought the popularity of online-gaming to the console market through the medium of Xbox Live, on which it was the most played game for almost two years. Deus Ex, released by Ion Storm in 2000, featured a levelling system similar to that found in role-playing games; it also had multiple narratives depending on how the player completed missions and won acclaim for its serious, artistic style. Metroid Prime, released in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube, another highly praised console first person shooter, incorporated action adventure elements such as jumping puzzles and built on the Metroid series of 2D platformers.
Battlefield 1942, a World War II shooter released in 2002, featured large scale battles and allowed players to use vehicles such as airplanes and tanks. Released the following year, Planetside allowed hundreds of players at once to compete in a persistent world, and was promoted as the world's first massively multiplayer online first person shooter. Doom 3, released in 2004, placed a greater emphasis on horror and frightening the player than previous games in the series and was a critically acclaimed best seller, though some commentators felt it lacked gameplay substance and innovation, putting too much emphasis on impressive graphics. In 2005, a film based on Doom emulated the viewpoint and action of a first person shooter, but was critically derided as deliberately unintelligent and gratuitously violent. Bioshock was acclaimed by some commentators as the best game of 2007 for its artistry, narrative and innovation. Crysis (2007) and Far Cry 2 (2008) broke new ground in terms of graphics and large, open-ended level design, whereas Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), Resistance: Fall of Man (2006) and its sequel Resistance 2 (2008) presented increasingly refined linear levels and narratives. As of 2006, in terms of revenue for publishers, the first person shooter was one of the biggest and fastest growing video game genres.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Collagen protein bars. Conventional protein powders contain various stabilizers, additives, and artificial flavors.
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Here at CAH, we have lovely perks including copious supplies of caffeine, a granola breakfast bar, and Friday happy hours. In our casual office space, it's not unusual to take your food and drinks with you to your meeting or to a shared workspace. Unfortunately, it is also not unusual for people to forget to take their dirty dishes away with them after the meeting. The anonymity of a dirty communal mug or crusty plate leaves the caretakers among us to grumble, with no outlet for our frustration save posting a shaming picture to the CAH-wide Slack channel – but the forgetful offender probably won't even remember it's them that left the mess! What is an office(mate) to do?
Introduce personalized mugs for accountability and public shaming! Dan generously purchased a mug for each of our staff with our names on them. Now, if you leave your dirty mug behind, your peers can properly shame you with photos sent to the whole office with your name clearly printed on the delinquent tableware! And since all the old mugs have been taken out of circulation, you won't be able to retrieve another beverage without finding and washing the mug with your name on it.
So, how is our little social experiment going a month in? Pretty well! Anecdotally, abandoned dirty dishes are much less common – and they're always the anonymous kind, without a personal label. It appears that knowing the science behind it doesn't seem to make us any less susceptible to the intervention.
Panagopoulos, Costas. "Affect, Social Pressure and Prosocial Motivation: Field Experimental Evidence of the Mobilizing Effects of Pride, Shame and Publicizing Voting Behavior."Political Behavior 32.3 (2010): 369-86. Web.


Entrecôte & Co – French Restaurant in El Paso, TX.
Born in a family with a passion for Gastronomy and Oenology, we opened our first French Wine Bistro, Cepage[s], in Notting Hill, London in 2014. Driven by the success of Cepage[s], my father Felix Cohen, who lives in Grenoble (French Alpes), came with the idea to open an authentic french cuisine restaurant in El Paso.
Our concept is to create a cozy atmosphere, featuring delicious bistro style sharable appetizers and classic popular dishes from diverse regions in France paired with a great selection of wines and cocktails.
Our name, Entrecôte, is a very popular Ribeye Steak dish served in bistros and specialty restaurant in France. We are very exited to start this new adventure and offer a unique experience to El Pasoans and visitors from out of town.
Come and enjoy an authentic French meal in the only French restaurant in El Paso.
Ask your server for our daily specials.
half dozen Burgundy snails cooked in butter, parsley, shallot & garlic sauce served with french baguette.
Brussel Sprout, Bordeaux Wine reduction.
At Entrecôte & Co. you can find some amazing selection of wines from around the world.
We have young and old wines that will make your food taste even more delicious.
Book a table in advance to be sure that there will be a place available for you and your friends and family. You can also contact us by phone.


Once upon a time, Albus cared about a whole shitload of things. Fathers, Houses, allegiances, broken hearts.
Now, he pretty much would like two things only- 1) more than one hour warning every time there's another life-or-death emergency in the Camp 2) a way to shut Jack Dyllan's mouth permanently.
Also, he supposed it said something that the only circumstances which facilitated his rise as a 'leader' was the end of the world.


Ben Heppner has been recognized as one of the world's greatest tenors and has performed in most of the great opera houses, including the New York Metropolitan Opera, Milan's La Scala and London's Covent Garden. Even after cutting back his performance schedule, he travelled for seven months of the year. Raised on a farm in Dawson Creek, Ben's musical journey is a story of determination and raw talent. Ben and his wife Karen started the first three years their married life together in Montreal, and he is returning to co-host the 35th annual CBC Sing-In with Debra Arbec on Sunday, December 7 at The Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul.
During a recent conversation, Ben told me about his early musical life, and how after nearly a decade of study and "kind of making a living" as a singer; he became an "overnight success" in the world of opera. Last spring, at 57, he retired from his opera career and brings his wealth of knowledge to CBC's Saturday Afternoon at The Opera and Backstage With Ben Heppner immediately after.
Ben enrolled in the University of British Columbia for what became a short-lived tenure in the teaching program. "Within two weeks of arriving at UBC, I was invited to join the vocal performance program. Shortly after that I was invited to join the university's elite chamber choir." Ben's career as a music teacher was over before it started.
"While I was in Sweden, I got a call from La Scala in Milan, inviting me to audition for them. I then went on to perform in Munich, Covent Garden, New York's Metropolitan Opera, even in Australia." It was a long way from the farm in Dawson Creek. But the common sense of life on the farm and a deep-seated Christian faith kept Ben grounded.
"My friends thought I was committing careeracide; that I was going to seriously hurt my career. But interestingly, by reducing the supply of my available performance dates; the demand for those dates went up." Even though Ben reduced his performances – he was still on the road seven months a year. Hardly what you'd call a stay-at-home dad.
At 57, Ben Heppner decided to retire from his career that had established him as one of the world's leading tenors, whose voice could fill opera houses and captivate audiences the world over. His recordings with the world's greatest orchestras have won awards, he has received numerous Honorary Doctorates, performed at the Olympic Games in Torino and Vancouver; and was awarded the Order of Canada in 1999, and promoted to Officer in 2002 and Companion in 2008.
Ben now has a lot more time for one of his favourite hobbies; touring on his massive Honda Gold Wing motorcycle.
"Then along comes the CBC with the idea that I host Saturday Afternoon at the Opera and Backstage with Ben Heppner. I enjoy the radio programs and sharing my knowledge of opera with our listeners." Ben continues to be involved in opera as a judge in competitions, teaching master classes and coaching singers for specific roles. He is also in demand as a keynote speaker.


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Avoid eyes. Do not use for diaper dermatitis. Risk of HPA axis suppression with high-potency steroids, prolonged use, application to large surface area, use of occlusive dressings, altered skin barrier, liver failure, young age; discontinue gradually, or reduce dose or potency if occurs. Increased risk of posterior subcapsular cataracts and glaucoma; monitor for visual symptoms. Thinning skin. Reevaluate periodically. Pregnancy (Cat.C). Nursing mothers.
Rash, edema, secondary infections; HPA axis suppression (esp. in children), skin atrophy.


1987 Senate Bill 0153. An Act For Legislation To Require Convicted Criminals To Make Payments To Victims Of Violent Crimes Fund.
Title 1987 Senate Bill 0153. An Act For Legislation To Require Convicted Criminals To Make Payments To Victims Of Violent Crimes Fund.


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Attention Seeker
32b West Nicolson Street
The Cellar: AUG 19-25 at 11:15 (60 min) - Free
The anxiety-riddled jokewriter/doormat for a famous comedian accidentally crashes into the standup spotlight and decides to stay. Armed only with paralysing fear, blind panic and jokes the comedian didn't buy, he sets out to prove just who's really the funny one, and the rest, as they say, is history... except history is normally written by the winners.
The British-Canadian standup-storyteller invites you to experience the vicarious thrill of telling jokes on stage to tens, hundreds, even thousands of people - and then back to tens again - without the sleepless nights and crippling self-doubt in this regrettably true story of fragile egos, low impulse control, and the best worst comedy gig of all time.
Best Comedian, Buxton
Best Solo Show, Nelson
Best Comedy, Dunedin
Best of Fest, Ottawa
"Very funny, reminiscent of Woody Allen in his early-'60s stand-up years" - Pioneer Press, Minneapolis
"Ronnie Corbett with Tourettes'... If his 2nd show hadn't clashed with the next show on the list, I'd have been straight back to see it again" - Signifying Nothing, UK
"Hugely talented, a cut above most storytellers" - CBC Canada
"…doing something so unlike conventional storytelling or long-form stand-up comedy that he is dancing on the edge of a knife" - Apt613, Ottawa
★★★★★ "incredibly smart, funny" - Edmonton Journal
"beyond engaging into downright hypnosis…I loved every minute of it - Art Murmurs, NZ
"… a dizzying, exhilarating, headlong rush" - Pantograph Punch, NZ
"engaging, hyperkinetic, intelligent yet self-effacing...a riveting entertainer" - Cult Montreal
Click Here for Show Website
This Show on Facebook
This Show on Twitter


It's great! Robert, you see beauty all around you, and you make me look at everyday things in a different light!
Thanks. That's what I really like doing.
🙂 Just items set on the street to block-off an area for repaving. Probably taken from the trash.


We have created the world's best 3D Photo Souvenir and automated process to capture personalized life-like memories. With our patented 3D Stereoscopic Viewer (US Patent 9,690,111 with UK and EU patents approved) and easy to use custom software any event photographer can create personalized cherished keepsakes.
Using our unique green screen workflow your customer can be integrated into a scene from a 3D movie or into a prepared background in a fully life-like way that has never before achieved.
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3D Viewer Features: Best 3D depth possible in any 3D image, folds flat for mailing, easy to open and close, stays open on its own for display and viewing, uses standard 4"x6" prints, full resolution, no ghosting of images, large exterior area for your branding.
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Friday, January 16, 2015 (Chicago) Backstop Solutions Group – a leading provider of cloud-based solutions purpose-built to help the institutional investment industry save time, increase productivity and make better investment decisions – unveiled the new Backstop Mobile app at the company's 2014 Backstop User Conference in Chicago, and this month an updated release of the app includes additional features to make it a powerful solution for both fund managers and allocators. Available to all Backstop clients, Backstop Mobile features many of the platform's most-used CRM functions, as well as the ability to monitor funds and holdings, to help clients stay up-to-date with their business while on the go.
"The Backstop User Conference was the perfect stage to launch our new mobile application," said Clint Coghill, Chairman & CEO, Backstop Solutions Group. "It provided a unique opportunity to debut the technology to many of our clients in person, so they could see firsthand how Backstop Mobile will help them make the most of their time – whether they're on a business trip or commuting to and from the office."
The initial launch of Backstop Mobile included functionality for dictating meeting and call notes directly into the app, accessing crucial account and opportunity details, entering new contacts into the database, and more. A unique activity timeline, which operates similar to an activity feed on many social media sites, also allows users to view all the recently entered activity from their colleagues at a glance.
Backstop's development team built the app's first round features based on input from client surveys and also leveraged client feedback when developing the next round of functionality, which was released last week. The update includes the ability for users to check a fund's performance, with benchmark comparisons, and also view the current values of their holdings.
"We knew the Mobile App was an important feature for both our clients and prospective clients, so building this redesigned app was a priority for our Product Management team in 2014," said Coghill. "The end result of the team's collaborative efforts are a clean design that is consistent with the Backstop brand, and features that are geared toward maximizing productivity and helping our clients operate more efficiently."


"Detroit man is facing a choice given him by the state of Michigan. The first option is to pay $30,000 in back child support for a child that is not his. His second option? Go to prison.
But wait, it gets worse. Everything and everyone involved in this story—including a paternity test, the child's mother and the court that has given Carnell Alexander the two options—recognize that the baby isn't his.
If there's ever any doubt about the role of many child support enforcement courts around the country, this story should prove that it's all about the money, and much less about paying for your child.
Because you'll end up paying for somebody's child whether you are the father or not.
Don't believe, read the entire article HERE.
Previous Happy Father's Day CornerstoneDads!


With more than 500.000 visitors from more than 200 countries, the bauma, world's leading trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles, construction equipment and mining machines, is an event of superlatives. This year, the bauma started on April 11 in its 31. edition. Right in the middle of the exhibition: Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks.
At stand 136 in hall B4, there was hustle and bustle. Numerous international visitors took their chance of getting in touch with the power packs Unimog and Zetros. Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks presented the former with the newly developed extendible front sweeper by AS Baugeräte Bau- und Kommunaltechnik.
The Unimog U 218 with the working platform Scorpion 15E showed its capability at the Oil&Steel stand on the open-air ground FS. Whereas the Zetros presented itself in the best light at the Meiller stand on the open-air ground FN: with a rear-dumper that has a capacity of about 17m³.
Looking back at the Unimog Tour 2017.
Unimog and MB-trac of all model years in Aufhofen, Bavaria.
One meeting, two vehicle concepts.
New Unimog road-railers make for enthusiastic customers at the InnoTrans.
Twofold benefits, double the fun.
Mercedes-Benz presents pioneering vehicle solutions at the IAA Commercial Vehicles 2018.
Unimog road-railer on InnoTrans in Berlin.
InnoTrans 2018 showcases Unimog innovations.
Unimog Club China on tour with long-distance mobile home.
Off the beaten track in China.
The Unimog is voted as off-roader of the year 2018.
14 victories in a row.
Unimog-Club Gaggenau celebrates its 25th anniversary.
The world's biggest Unimog meeting.
Find out about the solution to the IFAT raffle 2018.
Bocklet Fahrzeugbau turns to off-road specialist Unimog.
Expedition vehicle for the demanding.
Unimog-Club Gaggenau e.V. celebrates its 25th anniversary from June 15th to 17th.
Abenteuer & Allrad 2018 features numerous Unimog and Zetros motorhomes.
Meeting place for off-road enthusiasts.
Vehicle concept "WISEL" presented at the RETTmobil.
Saving life in all kinds of weather.
Unimog Magazine and Unimog Club celebrate big anniversaries.
Unimog is celebrating in 2018!
Unimog Racing Team secures victory.
Deutsche Bahn recieves Unimog road-railer at the InnoTrans 2016.
Entering service with the Deutsche Bahn.
Successful Unimog Tour 2017 kick-off in Villingen-Schwenningen.
Unimog as ideal base for innovative body solutions.
Unimog highlights at interairport 2017.
The big Unimog Tour 2017 ended in June. These were the highlights.
Unimog Tour 2017: performance in action.
Unimog Runway Light De-Icer ensures ice-free countersunk runway lights at airports.
Smart de-icing of countersunk runway lighting.
Wildland fire fighting at Wipfelfeuer 2017.
Unimog fire engines at "Wipfelfeuer" in Schönau.
Unimog at Abenteuer & Allrad fair 2017.
At home on the road with the Unimog.
Looking back at the live experience of demopark 2017.
Unimog presentation at demopark 2017.
At the RKF-Bleses fire services event, the Unimog showed its strength.
Fire services love the Unimog.
At the IAA 2016, the Unimog with crewcab has its show premiere.
Show premiere at the IAA 2016.
International bodybuilders about advantages of the Econic in the waste management industry.
Five advantages being valued all around Europe.
Unimog Tour 2017: exciting live demonstrations with a practical approach.
Competitors battled to win "Alleskönner 2016" in the Unimog Challenge.
Unimog presents versatility in road-rail operations at the InnoTrans fair 2016.
Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks at IFAT 2016: vehicles for waste management.
Fair exhibits at the IFAT 2016.
Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks at the KWF conference 2016.
Unimog at the KWF Show.
In Lebring, Innsbruck and Melk about 15 Unimog displayed their abilities.
Live show in front of a mountainous backdrop.
Unimog and Mulag at the Agritechnica 2017.
In agriculture, it's always Unimog season.
Winter Tour of Unimog partners.
Unimog scores at Mining Indonesia 2017.
Fit for mining in Indonesia.
Zetros in mining industry: In operation underground Zetros shows what it can do.
150 metres under the ground.


I WAS honoured last week to open the new sensory garden at Fiennes House, in Wellington, a purpose-built residential home for adults with learning disabilities, complex needs and often challenging behaviour.
During my years working on gardening programmes, I filmed many garden projects designed to help people with learning difficulties and realised how beneficial being outside, watching the seasons, smelling the flowers and hearing the birdsong can be.
The garden at Fiennes House is also a triumph of volunteer effort, with input from the local Rotary Club, staff from the Co-op doing community hours, and offenders on their community payback scheme.
This sensory garden will be well used both by residents and the many visitors, so well done to everyone involved.
This week, I am holding a health and wellbeing event in Parliament, bringing together health and environmental stakeholders with a view to facilitating both these sectors to work together on projects such as the Fiennes House sensory garden for mutual benefit.
Still on health, the Government's commitment to an extra £600m a week in a new five year £20bn settlement for our precious NHS to mark its 70th anniversary is welcome.
In Somerset, with its ageing population and multiple health issues, getting the model right and using extra funding wisely will be the key.
The £79m already granted for the new theatres at Musgrove highlights that Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, is aware of the area's health concerns and I was pleased to play my part in securing this funding.
However, it's beholden on the health service itself to cut waste.
Additional funding for our health service is only possible through careful balancing of the books, growing the economy and creating trade opportunities.
I am delighted that the workshop I held recently for Somerset cider and beer producers is producing some potential leads. Just what we need to expand our local economy.


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In the Trump impeachment hearings, career diplomats are the unlikely stars
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15 during the second public impeachment hearing.
(Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA/Shutterstock)
By Jeffrey FleishmanForeign and National Editor
Nov. 20, 2019 5:55 PM PT
Marie Yovanovitch would make an ideal character in a mystery novel about a career diplomat who survived intrigue in dangerous capitals only to be undone by a scheming lawyer from New York and a president out to destroy a political enemy at a time when war rumbled along a distant border.
The former Ukrainian ambassador — along with other foreign service officers — have been drawn out of the world of classified communiques and secret dossiers and into the glare of the impeachment hearings against President Trump. Their testimonies have been understated and startling, as if unsung bureaucrats in a John Le Carré story battling an administration seeking favors from Ukraine to benefit Trump politically.
Echoing out on TV and social media, the drama, a cross between the HBO series "Succession" and the novel and film "Advise and Consent," have offered Americans a glimpse into the lives and calculations of State Department and foreign service officers. The etiquette and precision of diplomacy have collided with conniving politics and a media landscape whose leanings veer from rabid conservatives on Fox News to breathless liberals on MSNBC.
The hearings have put diplomats front and center in a Washington morality tale in a way they haven't been for decades — and in their own subdued manner they've become unlikely heroes in an age of recrimination and skepticism.
Revelations that Trump sought to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, have given a portrait of America's two-track system of diplomacy. One is plied by rich, well-connected donors with little government experience, such as Gordon Sondland, a hotel magnate, who Trump appointed ambassador to the European Union. The other is by career diplomats like Yovanovitch and William Taylor, acting ambassador to the Ukraine, who have shaped U.S. foreign policy for years.
William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, called it "crazy" that the U.S. would condition the release of security assistance to Ukraine. Taylor's testimony during impeachment hearings comes as a growing number of Republicans in Congress struggle to defend the president's actions over Ukraine.
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
Long second-guessed and belittled by Trump, career foreign service officers were showing themselves to be above partisanship and beholden to the truth. Where Trump is loud and boisterous, they are patient and plodding, men and women who often outlast the leaders they serve.
Hollywood's image of State Department employees is often depicted in scenes of bureaucrats running through embassy offices and burning documents as helicopters hover and enemies encroach. Or of cocktail parties in distant compounds, where what's said is calibrated and nuances are as resounding as exclamation points. They tread the line between diplomacy and intelligence gathering, such as Philip Seymour Hoffman's turn as a CIA operative in "Charlie Wilson's War" and analysts and counterterrorism officials in Showtime's "Homeland."
But reality for many is less dramatic, including for those crunching numbers on the state of Serbia's economy, deciphering the inner workings of the Kremlin or monitoring tensions between Egypt and other African countries over water rights to the Nile. Predictions by foreign service workers can be on the mark or wildly wrong. But like Yovanovitch, who has moved 13 times and lived in seven countries, they are our eyes and ears on the ground.
Diplomacy is back channels, late-night cables and sometimes foreboding images, such as blindfolded embassy workers during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Graham Greene's novel "The Quiet American" viewed U.S. foreign policy with contempt, defining it as a perilous mix of naivete and hubris. But diplomats, including the late Richard Holbrooke, who wandered battlefields and helped end the Bosnian war, have been incessant, if flawed, patriots in advancing the nation's goals.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff — evoking a Jimmy Stewart earnestness of a Frank Capra movie — told Yovanovitch that he credited "the extraordinary public servants who work all around the world in very dangerous places as you have. I'm glad they've (the American people) gotten to see you because you're often vilified as bureaucrats or diplomacy is diminished as unimportant, anything other than a military doesn't really matter, when it's your efforts that often prevent us from going to war."
Yovanovitch could have been sent from central casting. She sat before the committee last week with hands folded. She wore a scarf, necklace, glasses and dark blazer. She had navigated warlords in Somalia; survived a crossfire in Moscow. She knew the rough ways of the world order. But she looked particularly uncomfortable sitting before Congress and the public. In concise, unadorned language she explained how appalled she was that U.S. interests could be bartered — threats to delay nearly $400 million in military aide to Ukraine — for a president's political gain.
"Our Ukraine policy has been thrown into disarray and shady interests the world over have learned what little it takes to remove an American ambassador who does not give them what they want," Yovanovitch testified.
She was scorned on Twitter and Fox News. Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph Giuliani ridiculed her. She was pilloried by conservative echo chambers as being an operative of a shadowy "deep state" out to destroy the president. Trump called her "bad news" and told Zelensky: "Well, she's going to go through some things."
"It sounded like a threat," testified Yovanovitch, who appeared more perplexed than frightened that after three decades of protecting U.S. interests she had been put in the crosshairs of a volatile president with a limited grasp of and little patience for foreign policy. She stared ahead, confused, hurt. It was a surreal moment that captured a nation of seething parallel realities.
Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a military officer at the National Security Council, center, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 29 to appear before a House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Committee on Oversight and Reform joint interview, with the transcript to be part of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Taylor and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the White House's top Ukraine expert, who testified this week that "I couldn't believe what I was hearing" in Trump's phone conversation with Zelensky, experienced similar backlashes. But even Sondland, Trump's friend and ultimate political appointee, changed his story on Wednesday and gave stunning testimony, saying the White House wanted a "clear quid pro quo" if Trump agreed to meet Zelensky.
Even before his time before the microphone ended, one could sense movie scripts being written, documentaries being planned, book advances negotiated. It was history, as riveting and perhaps as consequential as when Americans gathered around TV sets in the 1970s to watch the Watergate hearings. A diplomat, even a reluctant one with questions around his veracity, had become an unexpected star in the long-running sordid saga of a reality TV star turned president.
Jeffrey Fleishman
Jeffrey Fleishman is foreign and national editor at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, he was a senior writer on film, art and culture. A 2002 Nieman fellow at Harvard University, Fleishman was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing. A longtime foreign correspondent, he served as bureau chief for The Times in Cairo and Berlin, and was previously based in Rome for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has been a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and a finalist for the Center for Public Integrity's Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. He is the author of three novels: "My Detective," "Shadow Man" and "Promised Virgins: A Novel of Jihad."


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Albavilla
Albavilla, as other towns of the area, has known the human presence since the prehistory. The evidences, found in Buco del Piombo cave, attest it. They evidences, traced back also to Roman domination, are several, like coins, tools, urns, bronzes and terracottas. In medieval age, the passing of Barbarossa has signed the locality. In Carcano, in fact, are trackable the remains of his Castle, where his soldiers barricaded. The Napoleonic domination has left traces: as Alpe del Viceré, highland that is extended from Mount Bolettone (easily to reach from the town by a driveway), and it is named so by Eugenio di Beauharnais, Viceré d'Italia and stepson of Napoleon. Always vacancy destination, today is a favourite place for Milan people. Albavilla, that has in its name the word "villa", lends itself as holiday destination in a mountain area. To-not-miss the popular culture, an old proverb, that is connected to a central element of Brianza area, the water, says that the season will be bad if the water passes through the lavatory. This is an ancient lavatory placed in the town centre, used in the past to wash clothes.
CARCANO SQUARE
Placed at the end of Via Don Carlo Belloni, from the square where is San Dionigi church is possible to admire a wonderful panorama over Alserio Lake. The route crosses rural trails, until to find Santi Cosma and Damiano ancient church, dated back to XI century. Duration of the visit: about an hour.
San Dionigi Church, located in the square of Lower Carcano, today is immersed in an oasis of peace. Surrounded by trees, it overlooks the hill where it is laid, giving to the visitor an enchanting view: observing le façade is possible to see Lake Alserio on the background.
The Church and the Lake seem to be in fight for the attention of the visitor, although both of them are a wonders for eyes. The façade of the church is in the first stage, trying to cover the Lake that hinders the view of the church with its reflexes. This peaceful fight rakes up the violent battles of the past. San Dionigi Church and its bell tower were built in XIII cent. on the remains of an ancient castle. In that time Barbarossa, emperor of Holy Roman Empire, aimed to conquest Milan. Conquered a part of Lombardy, the emperor suffered the reaction of the people of Milan, who struck back. The imperial soldiers chose to retreated to the ancient castle of Carcano, exactly on the hill where today the Church rises. The wooden upland in the past had a great strategic value: on three sides it was defence by a natural valley usually inundated by the water of the lake. People of Milan besieged the castle, but Barbarossa arrived with new soldiers to save his men. The battle of 9 August 1160 was terrible and the people from Milan won thanks to the intervention of Erba. The castle was burned and destroyed. It is difficult to image a similar scenery in the peace of today.
Moving away from the square and the echo of the battle, you can walk on the streets where there was Barbarossa's camp. Today Carcano locality is a peaceful residential area immersed in the sweet smell of jasmine that covers lots of corners of the ancient buildings. Continuing the walk till Corogna locality, following Via per Carcano, you arrive at Santi Cosma and Damiano Church (also known as San Rocco Church). A medieval church, dated back to XI cent., the stone building has got some renovations from XII to XIV cent., in particular on the circular window over the main entrance. The last original element of XI cent. is the bell tower, with two openings and the sequence of mullioned windows for each side. The interior, characterized by an ancient nave with a semi-circular apsis, contains frescos painted from XV to XVI cent., represent the saints and several illustrations about Madonna.
ALPE DEL VICERÉ PARK
From the central square of Albavilla, Piazza Roma, it is possible to reach Alpe del Viceré with its trails, getting Via Roscio and Via Partigiana. One of the most characteristic trails is that traces the banks of Cosia River, marked by the "Marmitte dei Giganti" (Giants Pots), as deep cavities polished by the water erosion, and some sedimentary rocks, where you can find old molluscs. Duration of the visit: about an hour and a half.
Albavilla is the starting point of several excursions those bring you to Mount Bollettone, and exist a route for every kind of hikers: you can walk into the woods till Alpe del Viceré, you can deal with the slopes by your bike or the less adventurous can reach Alpe locality also by car, using the accessible way and the car park. The suggestion to enjoy the nature of these marvellous places is obviously to get the trail to foot: also without hiking experience everyone can reach Alpe locality. The most characteristic trial which bring you to Alpe del Viceré winds along the banks of Cosia River. If you get it early in the morning and if you are quiet, you can appreciate the varieties of fauna those live in the wood: the gurgle of the water will cover your footsteps, and you can assist to the exciting awaking of the forest, from hyperactive squirrels to the songs of the birds. You can also admire how the flow of Cosia River has created typical "Marmitte dei Giganti", or locally named "Bottini": the water, with sand and rocks, has dug these polished caves, become for kids the glasses of the giants who lived Mount Bollettone.
Not only for the geological interest, the entire Mount is relevant for palaeontology: for more than a century there are lots of discoveries of shellfishes dated back to the Jurassic.
Ended the forest you reach Alpe del Viceré, an upland placed at about 900mt of altitude. The name comes from Eugenio di Beauharnais, stepson of Napoleon and viceroy of Italian Kingdom, who in 1810 built a large edifice for his horses, which were brought from Monza to Alpe during the summer. The upland, since 1935, hosted also a "Camp side for sons of Italian who live abroad", that in few years became in an alpine village. Used also as military district during the war, was completely destroyed during the bombing in 1945. Today Alpe del Viceré is a place to relax with family and friends, for pic-nic o sunbath on the grass. It is equipped with tables, barbeque and there are also restaurants. It is also a favourite destination for local families.
From Alpe the hikers can start their panoramic excursions to the crests of Triangolo Lariano: you can find indications to trials those bring you to Baita Patrizi, to Buco del Piombo or to Rifugio Bollettone.
LAVATOIO ALLA FOCE
From the central square of Albavilla, Piazza Roma, by the typical trails of the historic centre, it is possible to reach the Ancient Lavatory of the Mouth (Lavatoio della Foce) and Villa Giamminola Park, at Via Cavour 13. Continuing along Via Ai Crotti and via Panoramica, where you can enjoy a wonderful panorama above Lake Alserio and Lake Pusiano, you can reach, at Via Santa Maria di Loreto, Santa Maria di Loreto church, dated back to XII century. Duration of the visit: about an hour and a half.
In the heart of the historical centre of Albavilla is possible to discover a place able to bring you back to the past more than a century: Lavatoio alla Foce, for locals only "La Foce". Losing yourself though the streets, between old stone houses and small wood windows, you can find this view of the past: in a corner of the street there is the ancient stone lavatory, where the cold water flows from Mount Bollettone.
You have to stop and observe "La Foce" and image women did laundry on the smooth stone inclined towards the freeze water. Since the half of the XIX cent., the role of the laundry maid started to exist: this woman did not only wash clothes for her family, but also for rich families, to earn money or just in exchange for food. Obviously, all women in the past time were used to meet together at the public lavatory. Their voices flew through the town alleys, the oldest women beat wet clothes while the youngest girls taught during the hard work. Little girls learnt the secrets of the work observing their mothers and the other women, between splashes of water and nursery rhymes. Exactly as Pascoli's poem "Lavandare", it is easy to image how women waited their husbands came at home, with the rhythm of beats of heavy wet linen on the stone.
These women, those their stretched-out hands were easily identifiable, did not know that in 1906, in the US, the first washing machine was born. In Italy, first washing machines were confused with machines for cream, because these machines made lot of suds by the soap used for hand washing. The washing machines became common only at the end of the Fifties, but for another decade the Lavatoio alla Foce was used by the women of Albavilla, till completely abandon.
To end the tour of the town centre of Albavilla you can continue to Villa Giamminola Park. Following Via Ai Crotti and Via Panoramica, from there you can enjoy a stunning view above Lake Pusiano and Lake Alserio, you can end the tour at Santa Maria di Loreto shrine, an enchanting little church in a upper position; it was renovated but these works have maintained it similar to its original Romanic aspect of XII cent.
HOW TO REACH ALBAVILLA
C40 Como – Erba – Lecco
Trenord Railway service from Milano Nord Cadorna Regional Train R16 Asso – Seveso – Milano, stop in Erba and continue by Bus service C40
From Como: get SS 342 in direction to Lecco, at Tavernerio get SP 639 – Viale Lombardia
From Lecco: get SS 36 in direction to Milan, exit at Como/Erba and continue forward Via Provinciale in direction to Como
From Milan: get SS 36 in direction to Lecco, exit at Nibionno SS 342 in direction to Anzano del Parco. At Anzano del Parco get SP 40 in direction to Canzo


text:
package org.cyclops.cyclopscore.inventory;

import net.minecraft.nbt.CompoundTag;

import java.util.Set;

/**
 * Used for sending values from server to clients in guis.
 * Similar to Minecraft's ICrafting.
 * @see IValueNotifiable
 * @author rubensworks
 */
public interface IValueNotifier {

    /**
     * Set the value for given value id.
     * This will send a packet if it has changed.
     * If called on the client, a packet to the server will be sent.
     * If called on the server, a packet to the client will be sent.
     * @param valueId The value id.
     * @param value The new value.
     */
    void setValue(int valueId, CompoundTag value);

    /**
     * @return All available value ids.
     */
    public Set<Integer> getValueIds();

    /**
     * Get the value for the given value id.
     * @param valueId The value id.
     * @return The value or null.
     */
    CompoundTag getValue(int valueId);

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Tiger of the Week Ben Barron '13 Pairs Environmental Storytelling With Music and Film
By Nina Bahadur '12
Published online April 17, 2019
Ben Barron '13
Courtesy Ben Barron
Ben Barron '13 has always known that music can bring people together. During his undergraduate years, he sang in the Footnotes and played with two student bands, Sensemaya Afrobeat All-Stars and Funkmaster General. When Barron was a graduate student at Oxford University in 2013, studying environmental geography, a casual jam session between classmates led to much more.
Barron, who plays banjo and guitar, met three fellow student musicians — cellist James Mitchell, fiddler Sarah Noyce, and guitar and mandolin player David Carel. "We decided to play a bit one evening, and immediately clicked," Barron said. They formed an indie folk band called The Infamous Flapjack Affair, and went from jam sessions to gigs, eventually recording an eponymous EP and headlining local festivals.
"At the end of our two years in Oxford, we were on the hunt for ways to keep the band active — and for opportunities to imbue our music with purpose," Barron said. They realized that the 100th anniversary of the U.S. National Park Service was coming up in September 2016. Inspired by Mitchell's long-term hope to use music to call attention to worsening water scarcity around the Colorado River Basin, they hatched a plan to travel from the Grand Canyon to the river's headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park, write music about it, and create a film about their experiences.
"Our goal was to meet people who had crafted their lives in the River Basin, to hear their stories about the places that had shaped them and the challenges facing those places, and to write music inspired by those encounters," Barron said.
The band spent a year researching and fundraising, and hired the documentary film production company National Park Experience to work with them. Barron describes the three-week documentary shoot in September 2016 as an "absolute whirlwind," with frequent 4:30 a.m. starts, long drives between locations, and late nights composing music.
Confluence is coming to Princeton. The film will be screened April 22 at 4:30 p.m. in East Pyne Hall.
"Much of the storytelling process came after the shoot, reviewing what we had captured and doing our best to align the story we wanted to tell with the story we were able to tell with the footage we had," Barron said. "This process was as grueling as it was gratifying."
After two years, the film was complete. Confluence premiered at the Boulder Adventure Film Festival in October 2018, taking home the festival's "Make Your Own Legends" award (which honors a film that "exceeded traditional paradigms to achieve positive change in this world through the power of storytelling"). The documentary has since received awards of excellence from The IndieFEST Awards and the Impact Docs Awards, and has been screened in more than a half-dozen cities. "Our main goal is to inspire thoughtful conversation around the human relationship with land, and to help people reconsider their own relationship with the places that shaped them," Barron said.
Eventually, the film will live online and the band will seek out its next project. Barron will begin working toward a Ph.D. in geography at the University of Colorado in August. "I look forward to diving ever deeper into the intersection between people and place," he said.
Melvin McCray '74 Channels the Power of Storytelling for Youth Advocacy
Charles Wheelan *93 Explores National Emergencies Through Satire


I authored a column called: "Can You Believe This?" for over a year. Basically, the premise is that real news is ALWAYS stranger than fiction. If i used every article I come across without even trying, I would personally be dead for decades before I'd run from stories already on available.
Azhar Executive Council member for life The strident calls associated with sisters under western culture cannot help Muslim ladies who. Women in the West have, with great sacrifice, taken back their role in society, especially over the past 150 . They still have some method to use in order to enjoy full equal rights. I do not deny that winning rights and freedoms, such as those our women enjoy in the United States, can only come from sacrifice. They can be a truth that no humorous make a big change of this magnitude from outside. The change must might within.
Today, you hear Muslim calls to worship this city kind of like a new American Baghdad with hundreds of islamic mosques in Michigan, paid out for by Saudi Arabia oil money. College flunk out rates reached 76 percent last June, according to NBC's Brian Williams. Classrooms resemble more foreign countries than The us is certainly. Few speak English! The city features a 50 percent illiteracy rate and climbing.
Now the hills he was hiding in Afghanistan are at the border of Pakistan, and a lot people feel he is making his way into Pakistan. All the while she is looking to a safe haven from huge ability his brother islamic country. He's not getting plenty of of offers except from Pakistan.
A 7-day period ago, Clyde Haberman of your New York Times mocked opponents within the mosque for imprecision of wording, in calling the mosque "at" Ground Zero rather than near Ground Zero. However, the complex is near enough associated with its sponsors to explain it what i mean response to 9/11 at Ground 3.
If he's the coach in the first video, this means he went with Rifqa from Ohio to Florida. Understanding that means this kind of is most likely the guy that Lorenz is protecting when he says he doens't for you to reveal who bought her the tickets.
The question for us is what do WE achieve? Do we continue to keep our eyes closed in hope any time we find something is wrong, others won't see it, either? Should we continue to force our children who were sexually abused to be silent? Or do we take a risk and expose sexual abuse in our midst, knowing full well that it will be used by some sick individuals to advertise their agenda of hate?


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text:
Tag Archives: Toronto
NXNE photo dump 2014: Swans, St. Vincent, Speedy Ortiz, Fresh Snow, PS I Love You, & White Poppy
This year's North by North East was a pendulum experience that swung from frustrating lows to really solid sensory experiences.
Lacking the web #metrics NXNE press handlers were demanding this season, I simply didn't bother applying for accreditation, but I tried my luck and brought my camera with me anyway. That lack of credentials ultimately meant being turned away at the door at the Pissed Jeans/GOAT show at Lee's after a solid Swans/St. Vincent shoot I managed from the crowd at Yonge-Dundas, so I stashed my camera at a nearby friend's place, rushed back for the chaos, and between leaning into white-knuckled bike rides to gigs straight from my day job over the next few days, I didn't manage to get it back until today. Bonus excuse: I could have also given you photos of the Maica Mia/Circuit des Yeux/Thoughts on Air showcase at the Garrison on Wednesday, but I straight up forgot to pack my camera with an SD card. Technology!
Marking my first year not having to answer to an editor for my NXNE experience, I decided to limit the venue hopping and stick to checking out showcases, and I have to say this is the way to do the festival. Forget about the gamification and just lock in to a good lineup. While I am bummed I couldn't get shots of GOAT's kaleidoscopic costumes or the secret (technically not a NXNE show) METZ show last night, I do have to say (mark my words, Yonge-Dundas smartphone praisers) it was a relief to have a concrete excuse to put the camera down and just enjoy the experience for what it was.
Anyway, here are shots from two out of the five days I attended NXNE this year.
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Annie Clarke, Fresh Snow, Michael Gira, Mod Club, North by North East, NXNE, NXNE 2014, PS I Love You, Speedy Ortiz, St. Vincent, Swans, The Great Hall, Thor, Toronto, White Poppy, Yonge-Dundas Square on June 23, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
CMW reviews: Television @ Phoenix Concert Theatre – May 10, 2014
Television's Tom Verlaine at Phoenix Concert Theatre on May 10 for Canadian Music Week. Photo: Tom Beedham
Granting a performance attracting a crowd perhaps a little too ready to strike it from its bucket list, Television rolled into town on Saturday to give a concert I hope I'll never forget. Minus the hecklers, that is.
It only took one song (an 11-minute-long "1880 Or So," sure) before one of those particularly entitled folks yelled for "Marquee Moon." With $30 t-shirts bearing the title track's album art on sale at the back of the venue, these guys set the bar kind of low, didn't they?
What we got was so much more.
While mostly unembellished cuts from that album did account for the bulk of their set (they played all of them but "Friction" and "Torn Curtain"), Television's CMW appearance was far from a night devoted to producing an uncanny valley. Beginning with the swirling two minutes of cosmic arpeggios and china dings they tacked onto the beginning of set opener "1880 Or So," Television established from the get-go that this would be a night spent balancing preservation of their fan-favoured debut against less complimentary experimentation. There was their 1975 anti-single "Little Johnny Jewel," an 18-minute rendition of that burning middle-eastern folk epic "Persia" they've been shopping around at recent gigs, and – although Verlaine insisted that he and the rest of the band "don't really know it" – Television even played a six-minute version of "I'm Gonna Find You," a commercially unavailable song from the band's days with Richard Hell.
Fans also got some insight into the group's influences. Verlaine dedicated Marquee Moon to "our favourite singer in the world," Wong Fei (or "Faye Wong," as he accurately allowed she's "probably" recognized by here), and when the band returned to the stage after closing their set proper with "Marquee Moon," they dug into a cover of '60s garage act the Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction."
This concert was as nostalgic as it was incendiary. But it was also sobering.
As much as the band's tight, characteristically interlocking jams (as well as the buzz about a new album) impart hope for a long future, I can't get one particular moment out of my head: in the middle of a short but particularly twinkling ambient track the band transitioned into a close with right when "Psychotic Reaction" usually gets to be its noisiest, Tom Verlaine started shaking and massaging his left hand.
Television is back. But how long?
"1880 or So"
"Little Johnny Jewel"
"I'm Gonna Find You"
"Psychotic Reaction" (Count Five)
Unknown (new?) track
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged 1880 Or So, Canadian Music Week, CMW, Count Five, Marquee Moon, Persia, Phoenix Concert Theatre, Television, Tom Verlaine, Toronto on May 13, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
CMW reviews: The first night of DIANA's "DIG DEEP/GET HIGH" was the Anti-CMW – DIANA with Jennifer Castle, ASMR Buds, and Matthew "Doc" Dunn @ Drake Underground – May 8, 2014
A "band" spent an entire set making tea onstage and I assure you it was awesome
Canadian Music Week is a large-scale, heavily sponsored music industry event that could best be summed up by a philosophy toward reliable metrics – think "much dollars, very hashtag." So it goes without saying that more than a few were surprised by the news that, this year, the Toronto-based festival was allowing not one, but two nights of programming curated around community representation and distinct artistic visions from local buzz band DIANA: "DIG DEEP/GET HIGH."
The first of those events – DIG DEEP – took place last night at the Drake Underground. Promised as an evening that would mine the benefits of "solitude/looking inward," it was host to performances that were entirely antithetical to the trending topic CMW strives to be: hard left turn improv renderings of pop songs, a minimalist ASMR-catered iced tea instructional, raga drones, and stream of consciousness folk songs. That the first two of the four avant-creative performances given here were categorized as "rock" on CMW's website is all the more telling of the festival's conservative values and an operating vocabulary entirely lacking compatibility with what was going on here.
Audiences only had to look to the start of the night for reification of the latter. Before kicking off the show with a short but spiritually arresting 25-minute set, Matthew "Doc" Dunn had to entertain a festival stage manager following him around like a lost puppy, repeatedly asking if he was going to start playing as people were still filtering in.
CMW events are often toted for their ability to launch artists' careers, but in reality, wristband holders are encouraged to embrace the festival's gamification and venue hop to skip out on opening bands they've never heard of so they can (maybe) catch another band they #love halfway across the city. To wit, the liberty to jump from a performance at one venue to another elsewhere is a big appeal to obtaining a festival wristband. In these cases it can be endlessly irksome to arrive at a venue only to wait for band x to come onstage, especially if you left another performance early to do so. Stage managers that keep bands on time are essential to preventing this from happening. But it's also expected that opening bands will delay their start time to allow greater audiences a chance to catch their sets, and waiting between bands is a reality of concert attendance. At a festival like CMW, where all performances are given equal hour-long blocks in which to do their thing, as long as it doesn't interfere with the next scheduled performance, there's little harm done (even less so at a presentation like DIG DEEP, where the acts performing are all peers – in some cases appearing onstage together that night – that are sympathetic to each others' needs).
In effect, the rushed production felt from CMW just translated to a failure on the festival's part to register the immersive community experience the event aspired to be.
Some time after Dunn had finished delivering his audience to another plane of being with his juxtaposition of raga-affected slide guitars and bendy bleeps and bloops, ASMR Buds took the stage. Consisting of Bernice members Robin Dann, Felicity Williams, and Colin Fisher (also of Caribou and Not the Wind, Not the Flag) as well as Matthew Pencer (LOOM), ASMR Buds provided what was probably the most peculiarly adventurous set delivered under the CMW banner this year. In a performance that spoke to the experience of the autonomous sensory meridian response phenomenon from which the group borrowed its name (read about it), the "band" brought the room to a murmuring silence as it asked the audience to consider the relieving powers some of the lifeworld's most subtle stimuli possess.
Bracketing a whispered performance that saw them document the making, herbal effects, and consumption of different iced teas, all the while tapping the process with some sensitive mics, Dann and Williams sat seated on a pillow before an assortment of tea candles. On either side of them, Fisher elicited hushed tones and peculiar textures from the electric guitar and arsenal of effect pedals he brought in tow while Pencer played with the vocals and layered the sounds on a laptop, turning it all into a live stereo collage.
Then it was time for DIANA to take its own turn at helming this big, weird, droney beast it spirited into fruition. They kept Dann, Fisher, and Williams all on stage, also cramming sound processor Dafydd Hughes into the space for a set that promised to be their "most opiated performance ever" and aimed "to melt you into yr seats." They dug into (see what I did there?) extended studies of Perpetual Surrender's title track, "Curtains," "New House," and a loose cover of Brian Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets" that bled into a reworking of "Born Again," but the crowd that crushed towards the stage to get a close look at their performance dissipated significantly as the set went on. You can guess why. Folks directed here from the festival schedule expected the tropical pop grooves DIANA committed to wax. What they got was (relatively) indulgent experimentation and exploration.
Then broody folk songwriter Jennifer Castle took the stage to follow them. Singing and playing her electric guitar with closed eyes from her seated position on the stage floor, she had been playing to a room about as populated as (but a little less shy than) the one that came out early for Doc Dunn. But then she was told she only had one song left.
What followed was an exchange that emphasized the commitment to art that had been under the dim blue spotlights all night.
"Really? It's like one in the morning oh my god," Castle said. (To the stage manager and CMW's credit, it was actually just before midnight, when a separate CMW event was about to begin in the same space. They probably needed the time to clear people out so they could charge a second cover, which isn't ethically questionable at all.)
"I, for the record, never, ever, need anybody to tell me it's the last song," said Castle (her emphasis). "People are always like, 'Why the fuck do you play for five minutes? You suuuuck.'"
As much as Castle was speaking to her own situation, her response also conveyed the complicated relationship felt between festivals like CMW and the tightknit communities they interrupt. It was a terrific night of challenging performances, but it also came packaged with the trappings of a machine that refused compatibility.
DIANA returns to the Drake Underground tonight with the second part of its CMW showcase, "GET HIGH": a night of dance music promising to mine the benefits of extroversion and giving outward. Joined by performances from House of Monroe, Ice Cream, and Pacific High DJs, DIANA will play house interpretations of songs from Perpetual Surrender.
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged ASMR Buds, Bernice, Canadian Music Week, CMW, Colin Fisher, Dafydd Hughes, DIANA, Doc Dunn, Felicity Williams, Jennifer Castle, Matthew Doc Dunn, Matthew Dunn, Matthew Pencer, Robin Dann, Toronto on May 9, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
CMW reviews: Brody Dalle @ the Horseshoe Tavern – May 7, 2014
Brody Dalle performing at The Horseshoe Tavern on May 7, 2014 for Canadian Music Week. Photo: Tom Beedham
It's always been The Brody Dalle Show
"Another year has passed and I'm alright/ I lick the salt from my wounds and run into the night." As they appeared on their 2002 album Sing Sing Death House, these were the words that opened the Distillers' "I Am A Revenant." But when the Los Angeles punk band performed that song at the gigs leading up to its dissolution in 2006, its message never could have carried the import it has resonated with at the performances lead singer Brody Dalle has given in support of her April 28 solo album, Diploid Love.
For sure, Dalle has long played the title part of that 2002 song. In 2004, the same year in which the Distillers' Coral Fang exploded and the band embarked on a two-year tour, Dalle was dealing with the fallout of her divorce from Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong. All throughout, Dalle was addicted to crystal meth – something she wouldn't kick until learning she was pregnant with the first of two children with now-husband Josh Homme. Then Dalle started, fronted, and released an album through new band Spinnerette. But that group never really found the traction it needed.
Still, Dalle marches on, and now the defiant zeal of "I Am A Revenant" has entirely new connotations.
With a voice famous for a rasp that seems as though cultivated on a steady intake of cigarettes and liquor, you'd expect it to have degraded over time, but that was far from the case. Swaying and spitting across the stage, Dalle was at the top of her form.
Her newest album labeled a solo undertaking, it's encouraging to see that Dalle is now comfortable performing without the posturing of a more democratic body. The truth is, it's always been The Brody Dalle Show.
Everybody at her Canadian Music Week gig at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern embraced that as they packed into the sold out performance.
Dalle seemed to acknowledge it, too.
Backed by a touring band including Spinnerette and Coral Fang-era Distillers guitarist Tony Bevoilacqua, Geddy Lee-endorsed bassist Cosmo Sylvan, and Diploid Love drummer Hayden Scott, after just two songs from her new album, Dalle & co. dove unannounced into a three-song block of Distillers tunes ("I Am A Revenant," "Die on a Rope," and "Dismantle Me") and carried on with an hour-long set that balanced Distillers songs equally against new material mixed with Spinnerette's "Ghetto Love" (dedicated to Rob Ford) and a Misfits cover ("Hybrid Moments") for good measure.
"Don't Mess with Me"
"I Am a Revanant" (The Distillers)
"Die on a Rope" (The Distillers)
"Dismantle Me" (The Distillers)
"Meet the Foetus/Oh the Joy"
"Sick of it All" (The Distillers)
"Sing Sing Death House" (The Distillers)
"Ghetto Love" (Spinnerette)
"Hybrid Moments" (Misfits)
"Parties For Prostitutes"
"Coral Fang" (The Distillers)
"Blackest Years" (The Distillers)
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Brody Dalle, Canadian Music Week, CMW, Coral Fang, Diploid Love, Horseshoe Tavern, I Am A Revenant, meth, The Distillers, Toronto on May 8, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
WL14 reviews: Cousins @ The Garrison – Feb. 16, 2014
Cousins @ The Garrison for WL14 – Feb. 16, 2014. Photo: Tom Beedham
Sometimes it just takes two.
Halifax drummer Leigh Dotey and guitarist Aaron Mangle's epic drums and guitar duo Cousins closed out the festival to a crowd that took cues from preceding act Greys and moshed to the band's fuzzy indie rock all throughout the performance.
After a 40-minute set that closed with a new song about the Harper budget, fans weren't ready to call the festival quits. They cheered relentlessly for more, and after some short time, the band returned to the stage, Mangle asking, "Can we?"
Of course they could.
The reply Mangle got was a simple thumbs up from the sound technician, and the band used the opportunity to play two last songs: The Palm At The End Of The Mind's "Thunder," and "Die," topping off the festival with its first and only encore.
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Aaron Mangle, Cousins, Die, Halifax, Leigh Dotey, The Garrison, The Palm At The End Of The Mind, Thunder, Toronto, WL14 on February 17, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
WL14 reviews: Greys @ The Garrison – Feb. 16, 2014
Greys @ The Garrison for WL14 – Feb. 16, 2014. Photo: Tom Beedham
When Greys took over the stage The Wet Secrets had cleared for them, they looked like they had plenty of space to work with, though only before they started to play their music. Their own dynamic performance of beat-peppered post-hardcore saw them bouncing around the platform like heated atoms, their conduct infectious enough to stir up the festival's first mosh pit this year.
When they weren't doing that, true to the cultural spirit they address in "Drag," they managed to spend more time asking people why they were skipping a night of new episodes of shows like Girls and True Detective than they did fleshing out further details of a forthcoming album they teased (they just finished writing it, and it's coming out in June, they said), even dedicating a song to Lena Dunham (no, she wasn't present).
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Greys, new album, The Garrison, Toronto, WL14 on February 17, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
WL14 reviews: The Wet Secrets @ The Garrison – Feb. 16, 2014
The Wet Secrets @ The Garrison for WL14 – Feb. 16, 2014. Photo: Tom Beedham
Having just released Free Candy—their 3rd album and follow-up to 2007's Rock Fantasy—on Feb. 4, Edmonton indie rock outfit The Wet Secrets didn't need their marching band shtick to keep a packed audience on its toes. Though it didn't hurt. The band was reaping from the buzz of their new record, but The Wet Secrets are so much more than what's on wax. Their heavy, furry costumes in tact, they are exuberant live, their music accompanied by fully choreographed concerts. Fans ate up the new material, dancing and singing the chorus lines back to the band, and in some cases, even let out bursts of joy when backing vocalists/horn players Emma Frazier and Kim Rackel pointed them out individually as they sang the title lyrics to "Get Your Shit Together." Doesn't sound like the stuff of any other marching band you know, does it?
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Edmonton, Emma Frazier, Free Candy, Get Your Shit Together, Kim Rackel, Rock Fantasy, The Garrison, The Wet Secrets, Toronto, WL14 on February 17, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
WL14 reviews: Lido Pimienta @ The Garrison – Feb. 16, 2014
Lido Pimienta @ The Garrison for WL14 – Feb. 16, 2014. Photo: Tom Beedham
Lido Pimienta might have played The Garrison back in November for All Toronto's Parties, but the singer's live gigs are never doubles of themselves. While that show saw Pimienta poised and performing in more of a headliner capacity, resulting in an invitation to the crowd to start an onstage dance party and Pimienta herself taking a stage dive, the much earlier scheduled Wavelength gig was more about theatrics than vibe dissemination.
Bringing friends and frequent visual collaborators Tough Guy Mountain onstage to decorate the environment with an upside-down Canadian flag, streamers, and the satirical visual brand experiment's members themselves to provide some lackadaisical Canadian flag waving, at the top of her set Pimienta strolled onto the stage in a trapper hat and red sweater bearing Canada's trademarked logo, and then—posing as if to sing read lyrics off of her cellphone—Pimienta delivered her own spin on the national anthem, "O KKK Canada."
Frequently outspoken at concerts, Pimienta will often break to give rants about social and cultural issues, including Stephen Harper's control over the Canadian government. For the most part, this performance was void of such digressions, no doubt to let the opening skit speak for itself.
It's not the first time the musician has juxtaposed the country's name with that of the infamous hate group. Pimienta has made passing remarks about it at previous concerts, and recently tweeted it in a message turning followers on to a CTV news broadcast about a woman, her children, and others who were removed from a Harper visit to Blood Tribe (an Alberta First Nation 200 kilometres south of Calgary) for "tweeting" remarks that were critical of the prime minister's agenda: to discuss the First Nations Education Act, a controversial new legislation that detractors complain resulted from insufficient consultation with First Nations themselves.
"KKKANADA," the tweet began, going on to link to the YouTube video in question. "SHAME ON @PrimeMinisterH EVIL REGIME KKKANADA – Our home ON Native Land!"
The rest of the show was more about the music, although Pimienta did break to opine on "dick pics" at one point. But regardless of your position on the separation of Concert & State, the politicking Pimienta does at her Toronto shows is essential to her project. Although frequently gigging in front of white, English-speaking crowds, born in Barranquilla, Colombia, when Pimienta performs she sings entirely in Spanish. The English spoken political asides provide context and (to a degree) protect her music from exoticization. And so it goes to follow that at the very least, paying attention to the banter and respecting it at the same time that you enjoy her music is to get the full listener's experience. It will not only make you want to move in revolutionary ways, but also make you a better person.
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Canadian government, First Nations, KKK Canada, KKKanada, Lido Pimienta, Stephen Harper, The Garrison, Toronto, Tough Guy Mountain, WL14 on February 17, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
WL14 reviews: Elaquent @ The Garrison – Feb. 16, 2014
Elaquent @ The Garrison for WL14 – Feb. 16, 2014. Photo: Tom Beedham
For the most part, Wavelength reserved the initial slots at the top of each of the festival's proper concert lineups for acts that were stylistically divergent from the other performers with which they would share their stages, giving festivalgoers that turned out early a reward both refreshing and unexpected. With Guelph, ON producer Sona Elango's instrumental hip-hop beat project Elaquent, there was no exception. As audiences filtered into The Garrison's cavernous concert hall, they stumbled upon a pastiche of diverse sound references to everything from noisy mechanical processes, glitches, 8-bit video games, compressing hydraulics, and lasers, to percolating synths and twinkling atmospheres (think DJ Bucktown meeting Four Tet backstage in a particularly plush green room). And while the set wasn't a visually engaging performance—for the most part Elango stood stoically with his head down so as to manage the technical processing of his sampled material—those that did show up to realize the fullest worth of their concert passes wandered over to the front of the stage to pay the music the respect and curiosity it deserved.
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Elaquent, Sona Elango, The Garrison, Toronto, WL14 on February 17, 2014 by Tom Beedham.
WL14 reviews: U.S. Girls @ Polish Combatants Hall – Feb. 15, 2014
U.S. Girls @ Polish Combatants Hall for WL14 – Feb. 15, 2014. Photo: Tom Beedham
Meghan Remy's U.S. Girls is not unlike Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails in that they are both the reclusive undertakings of independent, isolated minds. The titles imply plural involvement where in fact there is very little (if any) input coming from outside one singular source. Also not unlike Reznor, apparently, Remy has realized the utility of having a full band on hand to bring things together on a live platform.
Although Remy rounded up an outfit to perform at 961a College Street just back in December, giving further clout to the NIN comparisons, the group that assembled as U.S. Girls this time to play spacey covers of love songs—Paul McCartney and Wings's "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" among them—for Wavelength Music Festival changed up the format again: this time consisting of Simone TB of Ell V Gore on drums, Tim Westberg of Slim Twig and Smartboys rotating through guitar, bass, and piano duties, and Biblical drummer Jay Anderson on a rattle. So while Remy seems to be open to the idea of opening the doors to other musicians, at the same time, the Feb. 15 gig made it clear she's not about to become confined to a structure that becomes dependent on a particular lineup.
This entry was posted in Burden of Salt and tagged Biblical, Ell V Gore, Jay Anderson, Meghan Remy, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five, Paul McCartney, Polish Combatants Hall, Simone TB, Slim Twig, Smartboys, Tim Westberg, Toronto, U.S. Girls, Wings, WL14 on February 16, 2014 by Tom Beedham.


An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD and the Minister for Health Simon Harris TD today officially turned the sod on two major Health capital projects, the new Children's Hospital centre at Connolly and the 120 bed redevelopment at the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
An Taoiseach and Minister Harris joined representatives from the Children's Hospital Group and National Paediatric Hospital Development Board for the official sod turning ceremony of the Paediatric Outpatients and Urgent Care Centre at Connolly Hospital, before travelling to Dun Laoghaire to turn the sod on phase one of the major redevelopment project at the National Rehabilitation Hospital.
The Taoiseach said today's sod turning events reaffirm the Government's commitment to investing in vital infrastructure, while the Minister for Health said these projects will both play a key role in the development of Ireland's health services.
The new Paediatric Outpatients and Urgent Care Centre at Connolly Hospital, together with the new children's hospital on a campus shared with St James's Hospital, and the second Paediatric Outpatients and Urgent Care Centre at Tallaght Hospital, is part of the ongoing programme of work to positively transform children's healthcare and to deliver improved clinical outcomes for Ireland's sickest children and young people for future generations to come.
The facility at Connolly Hospital will provide local access to urgent care for children in the Greater Dublin Area. The centre will support primary and community care through the provision of general community and paediatric clinics, including developmental paediatrics, multidisciplinary care for children with chronic stable conditions and other outpatient services. The centre is projected to deal with 25,000 urgent care and 15,000 outpatient attendances every year. In addition to the sod turning event today, the name for the new children's hospital and the two centres was announced – they will be called Phoenix Children's Health.
An Taoiseach said "I am delighted to mark another important milestone in the development of the new children's hospital and Paediatric Out Patient Department and Urgent Care Centres. I have been a strong supporter of this project over recent years and it is very rewarding to see us progressing to construction stage. The two new centres at Connolly and Tallaght will be an integral part of the new children's hospital and will be of significant benefit to the people living in the local area, bringing paediatric services here to the thriving communities in Blanchardstown, as well as providing urgent care for children in the Greater Dublin Area.
Major redevelopment at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire.
The new hospital development at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dun Laoghaire, will see the existing ward accommodation replaced by a new fit for purpose block of 120 single ensuite rooms. There will be integrated therapy spaces, a new sports hall, hydrotherapy unit, a temporary concourse as well as clinical and ancillary spaces. In addition, links to the existing building will ensure full integration between the new development and the existing hospital on the site.