¡Bienvenidos to our meetup Washington DC Conversational Spanish Club "El Quijote en DC"!
Have you ever wanted to improve your Spanish, make new friends and find out more about a fascinating culture while having a coffee or a beer? Spanish learners and speakers of all ages and abilities are welcome to join us at "El Quijote en DC" for free! You can meet native Spanish speakers, learn from experienced tutors, and practice with other people who love Spanish. Whether you're looking for a cultural exchange, conversational practice to brush up on your Spanish skills or are just getting started, our meetup group is the perfect place for you!
We run a whole series of interesting events, including Seminars and workshops (gratis for current students!) $10 for non-students, coffee and cake sessions, picnics, happy hours, Spanish book clubs, movie nights, cultural events, dinners, dancing and more. Our events are an excellent way to improve your Spanish, connect with like-minded locals and have a great time. Join our meetup group to stay up-to-date with all these excellent opportunities to practice your Spanish and make new friends. We look forward to seeing you at one of our events.
Also, if you prefer not to sign in with meetup, you can always see our calendar of events right below.
Buffalo Billards1330 19th St Nw Washington , Washington, DC.
Friday, May 8th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
cosi 1350 Connecticut Avenue, Washington, DC 20036.
Wednesday, May 20th from 6:15 pm to 7:45 pm.
Friday, April 3rd from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
Friday, March 13th 16th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
Friday, January 16th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
Friday, December 19th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
Wednesday, December 3rd from 6:15 pm to 7:45 pm.
Happy hour "en español" ¡Hora feliz!
Friday, November 7th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
Conversation "en español" for beginners!
Wednesday, October 29th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm.
Wednesday, October 8th from 6:15 pm to 7:45 pm.
¡Happy hour en español! ¡Hora feliz!
Friday September 19th from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.


INGREDIENTS: Dark Chocolate (chocolate liquor*, sugar*, cocoa butter*, vanilla), Cranberries (cranberries, sugar, sunflower oil), Dry Roasted Almonds, Pink Himalayan Salt.
CONTAINS: Dairy and Tree Nuts.
manufactured on shared equipment that also processes eggs, peanuts, soy and wheat.


text:
Dr. Gagan Gautam has been recognized at numerous forums for his contribution in the development of uro oncology and robotic surgery in the country. Here are some of his recent accomplishments:
Urology Gold Medal - All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
CKP Menon Award - Urological Society of India
Chandigarh Prize - Urological Society of India
Agra Urology Award - North Zone Chapter of the Urological Society of India (awarded thrice)
Best Reviewer Award - Indian Journal of Urology, official journal of the Urological Society of India
Dr. Gautam has contributed extensively to the academic development of the field of robotic surgery and uro oncology and has over 75 scientific publications to his credit. In recognition, he has been appointed a peer reviewer for a number of leading urological scientific journals such as the Journal of Urology (official publication of the American Urological Association), the Journal of Endourology (Endourological Society), the International Journal of Urology (Japanese Urological Association and Urological Association of Asia) and the Indian Journal of Urology (Urological Society of India). In addition, he is also a member of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Urology - the only indexed and recognised publication in this field from India. He is an active member of prominent medical fraternities such as the American Urological Association and the Urological Society of India, which are dedicated to the promotion and expansion of latest scientific knowledge in this discipline.
24 Hours hospital call center
Uro Oncology Program Coordinator- Abhishek Mahaver
Write to us Dr. Gagan Gautam
Uro Oncology Program Coordinator
Abhishek2@maxhealthcare.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
A Convincing And Compelling World: An Interview With Vu Tran, Author of Dragonfish
Andrea Arnold
LA-based fiction & nonfiction writer. JD/MFA. See www.andrea-arnold.com & follow @drearnold.
Vu Tran's debut novel Dragonfish (W.W. Norton & Co. 2015) is more than a crime novel. It's a story of displaced Vietnamese refugees who fled after the fall of Saigon and ended up in Las Vegas. When Robert, a white cop living in Oakland, is visited by two Vietnamese gangsters and ordered to Vegas to help them find Robert's ex-wife, Suzy, he goes. Sonny, their boss and the book's "villain", is also her new husband. Through letters Suzy left behind, the reader learns of the ghosts that still linger from her past and the reasons she was never Sonny's or Robert's to lose.
Tran was the Fiction Fellow assigned to my workshop (led by Helen Schulman) at the 2015 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. He also teaches creative writing at the University of Chicago. Along with his abilities on the page and in the classroom, I can attest that Tran also manages easily on a dance floor. See: The Worm. I saw him again weeks later on the Los Angeles stop of his current book tour, but it wasn't until the next day, when he was already parked in a rental car four miles from the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV, where he'd earned his PhD in literature, that I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about Dragonfish.
Andrea Arnold: I loved this novel and how smooth your writing is. I finished it in a few hours. I had to find out what the hell happened to Suzy. How did you come to the story?
Vu Tran: Jarret Keene, a writer in Vegas, asked me to write a crime story for an anthology he was editing called Las Vegas Noir. My assignment was Chinatown. I've always loved the noir genre in literature and film, so I said yes, absolutely. I was also working on another book that was painfully going nowhere, so I was more than happy to put that aside. That's how I came to write "This Or Any Desert." I wrote it really fast and had a lot of fun doing it. Then it got into the 2009 Best American Mystery Stories, and since I was desperately looking for something else to write at the time, I thought maybe I should turn this short story into a novel. The characters still felt nascent to me, like there were layers to them that I hadn't yet found, that I still wanted to excavate. They felt like the kind of characters that could flourish in a novel and open it up in exciting ways.
AA: I've heard you talk about your experience coming to the US as a refugee. Can you explain the journey your family took and how it led to the novel?
…we left on a small boat with ninety people…We spent over six days at sea, headed at first for Singapore until the captain got lost and we ended up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We were very lucky.
VT: I didn't really find the novel until I reached into the backstory of one of the characters in "This Or Any Desert," who talks about escaping Vietnam with his father by boat and being on a refugee island. That came from my own experience. When I expanded the short story and brought this same backstory to my protagonist, Suzy, it provided an emotional foundation for the rest of the novel, connecting the main characters to each other emotionally as well as literally. I was born in Vietnam in 1975, four months after Saigon fell and four months after my father, a captain in the South Vietnamese Air Force, fled the country. He had to leave the very day the communists took over Saigon and the South. He was going to take my mother, who was pregnant with me, and my sister, who was two at the time, but he ended up having to escape without us. For a year, my mother had no idea where he was, what had happened to him, or if he was even alive. She finally found out that he had settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a Catholic priest had sponsored him. Five years later, in 1980, my mother bought passage for herself and my sister and me, and just like in the book we left on a small boat with ninety people. There was really only room for about twenty. We spent over six days at sea, headed at first for Singapore until the captain got lost and we ended up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We were very lucky. Thousands of Vietnamese were attacked by Thai pirates, drowned at sea, died of hunger and illness. I'm sure it was all terrifying and difficult for my mother at the time, but I'm always amazed by how lucky we were ultimately. The Malaysian and US government had established a refugee camp on Pulau Bidong, an island off the coast of Malaysia. We lived there for four months. Then my father sponsored us, and that was how I came to grow up Tulsa, Oklahoma. It's where I met my dad for the first time and where I lived for twenty years.
AA: There are a lot of details about that island in Suzy's letters. Did you remember all those details or did your mom fill in the gaps or did you have to look it up?
VT: I remember very little, only small details. Like the smell of the ocean. Or standing in the water up to my neck. I remember lying on thatch beds made of palm leaves and cardboard, which was how we slept at night in our huts. I also remember — and this is a weird detail — when you go to the bathroom you take a newspaper and squat under a palm tree. Everything else about the time I had to ask my mom or invent or research on my own.
AA: Was that experience something constantly talked about in your family or was it something purposely forgotten and avoided in conversation?
VT: My mom talked about it a lot when I was growing up and had a lot of stories, which I drew from for the book. I would call her all the time when I was writing and ask for more detailed accounts of everything. As a writer, you take some of those concrete facts and you run with them. You invent out of them. I'd say 99% of what's in the book is invented, but their foundation is built on these facts from my life.
AA: Suzy's letters are full of longing for Vietnam. Does your mom talk with the same type of longing when she tells you stories about Vietnam?
VT: My mom rarely spoke about it with melancholy or longing, at least not outwardly. She certainly missed Vietnam and her family, especially before she returned for the first time in 1992. We returned as a family twice in the late 90s, and she and my father have visited several times over the last decade, so maybe the melancholy has evolved over the years. I'm glad you ask this question because I haven't thought enough about how my mom must have felt all these years, recounting this other life she had before we came here. It's weird, but sometimes, as a writer, you value the material more than you value how that material is given to you, particularly by those who are very close to you. Even though the US is my mother's home and she's become used to the life she's led here for 35 years, I imagine there will always be some melancholy in her for Vietnam. I don't think you can ever shake the homeland, especially if you left it under such dramatic circumstances.
AA: For you, was it just super cool, exotic and fun to travel abroad, or did you feel a connection to Vietnam even then?
VT: When I first came back, yes, it was just really cool and exotic. I was twenty and hadn't gone abroad until then. I was just an American traveling to a strange new place for the first time, even though it was the place of my birth. The experience was very fun and exciting for me, but I don't think the emotional connection came until afterwards, when I got back to the States and had time to feel the impact of such an experience. I think the most significant thing was meeting — and I guess reuniting with — my extended family, who'd remained in Vietnam and had all these memories of me up to the time I was five. That reminded me that I'd actually had a life in Vietnam, even if I didn't remember it, which gave me an emotional connection to my family and therefore to the country. That's when I started writing about Vietnam, and writing about it solidified and deepened the connection.
AA: Is it typical in Vietnamese culture for people to believe in ghosts or were you simply using a noir trope?
You're not just living for your immediate family; you're living also for your extended and ancestral family.
VT: Ghosts are very much a part of many Asian cultures, whether you're Buddhist or Christian or whatever. I was raised Catholic and taught not to believe in ghosts and demons, but my mother has always been a superstitious person, which is true of many Vietnamese. I don't think you can escape that in the culture, especially when it's been dominated for centuries by a Buddhist belief in the spirits of one's ancestors, lingering in the reality of one's present life. It's one reason the family is so important in the culture, because of that connection to the past and to past lives. You're not just living for your immediate family; you're living also for your extended and ancestral family. American culture, it seems to me, is one of the least superstitious cultures in the world, which is why ghosts are usually the purview of pop culture instead of our everyday lives. Ghosts are alive in South American culture, in African culture, in European culture, but Americans generally don't take the idea very seriously, and I've always thought this contributes to how the family is viewed here.
AA: So what was your research process like? Did you interview people in the Vietnamese community in Las Vegas?
VT: Not really. First of all, I'm a very lazy person. [Laughs] I try to do as little research as possible. Too much information can distract me from the true pulse and direction of a story. I also don't think a book necessarily comes to life because of the concrete facts that come from hard research. It comes to life because of the emotional vibrancy and complexity of your characters, and that's something that comes more from the imagination, personal experience, and observation. But of course, some research was necessary for Dragonfish, especially on the Vietnamese boat people and life in the refugee camps. So I did a lot of reading on that. I also talked a great deal to my parents, asking them as many questions as I could think of. For all the procedural, cop stuff in the crime narrative, I went to my sister and her boyfriend. They're both police officers in Texas. She's also a negotiator and he's on the SWAT team. They were always at the ready with stories and information for me. But again, I didn't want to clog my brain with extraneous material, so I was always looking for specific details and answers to very specific questions and scenarios.
AA: Were there any concerns about making Asian characters likable? Are you worried about stereotypes and being stereotyped? I'm thinking specifically about Happy's dialogue and her affectations.
VT: That's a good question. Happy was very difficult. The thing is, that's how Vietnamese-Americans with a heavy accent speak. But the problem is that that accent, the Asian accent in general, especially on paper, can sound very cartoonish, and the scenes with Happy were serious scenes. So one of the difficulties of writing her was keeping her speech realistic while also making her sound serious without sounding cartoonish and making the scene unintentionally amusing.
AA: I thought you did a wonderful job, but there are Asian characters in my novel and I think if I did it that way someone would tell me I was being racist.
VT: [Laughs] I was concerned about that too, in many ways, but I also realized that focusing too much on that aspect could distract me from the more important question, which is whether the characters were convincing. The world you create in your fiction will only be convincing and compelling if the characters are convincing and compelling. A character who is cliché is cliché not because they're too Asian or too whatever, but because they have no depth and aren't convincing in the world you've created for them. I kept thinking that with my characters who were potentially stereotypical or maybe even offensive, like Happy or Sonny, that if I gave them depth and I made their behavior believable and utterly convincing and, most importantly, interesting, those concerns about cliché or racist representations would fall away. Hopefully they did.
AA: Were there any concerns about making Asian characters such bad guys
I don't really care if my Vietnamese characters are "bad" or "immoral". I only care about whether they're believable and interesting.
VT: My editor posed this same question to me, not because it was an issue for me but because she was just curious how I would answer it. She asked me why the white protagonist is the good guy — the virtuous and heroic cop — and most of the Vietnamese men in the novel are gangsters and immoral characters. This becomes, I think, a question about likability as much as moral representation, and frankly I think that's the wrong question to ask yourself while you're writing. That's how your characters become one-dimensional. I like the idea of readers constantly changing their minds about characters. That's when you're creating interesting people on the page. Sonny is the prototypical bad guy in a crime narrative. He commits violent acts and speaks in an aggressive way, so the reader is forced to think of him initially as a villain. But if you keep complicating a character like him, giving him more and more layers of depth, the reader will keep changing their mind about him. Think about the most interesting people in your life: they're the kind of people you can't fucking decide on. You can't decide if you like or hate them, if you want to be friends or enemies with them. Those are usually the most interesting people you know, and those were the kinds of characters I wanted in the world of my book. So I don't really care if my Vietnamese characters are "bad" or "immoral". I only care about whether they're believable and interesting.
AA: My favorite parts of the novel are Suzy's letters. The writing is beautiful, emotional and full of longing. To me, it felt like Suzy probably had an MFA from Iowa! Can you speak to writing in the first person from a female perspective as a male author?
VT: [Laughs] First of all, that's really funny. Thank you. I'm glad you like it. When I devised the letters that Suzy is writing to her daughter, I felt like I found the novel. And weirdly enough, I found that voice fairly quickly, and it was easy to maintain. I was obviously very aware that I was writing from a woman's point of view, but it never felt difficult. I think when you understand what a character wants, what a character is afraid of, and what a character is confused by, that character will come alive on the page, even if you personally bear no similarities to them. They could be completely different from you — a different ethnicity, a different gender, a different age — but if you understand those three things about them on a deep level, you'll find them. For example, I knew very early on that Suzy was a woman who regretted abandoning her child and at the same time knew that that was what she needed to do. She did not want to be a mother. But the emotional consequences of that act of abandonment never left her. Her motive in writing the letters is to explain her actions, not just to her daughter but also to herself, because they have always confused her. And I think that confusion has been a source of fear for her in the world, which she inevitably brings to her relationships — her marriage to Sonny and Robert, her relationships with other people. If I wrote her convincingly as a woman, it all comes out of me understanding those aspects of her character throughout my writing of her part of the novel.
AA: Vegas is an additional character in the novel. How long did you live in Las Vegas and did you begin writing the novel while you were still there?
There are few cities in the country that give you this moment, where you can see so many sides of it from one single view.
VT: When I was working on the novel, I had seven years' worth of Vegas memories. I wrote the short story in 2008 and started turning it into a novel in 2009, which was when I sold it. Then I left in 2010 and didn't return until after I finished the book four years later. I was very concerned when I first got to Chicago because I only had sixty pages and I kept worrying that I couldn't write about Vegas well if I wasn't there. And sometimes it did feel frustrating that I just couldn't drive down to the Stratosphere and check on certain details. But I realize now that the distance was an advantage. I think a lot of writers will say this — that distance often allows you write with more insight and clarity about a place, a situation, or a people. The benefit for me in this novel was that I was not relying on concrete facts. I was relying on my emotional memory of the city. If I got Vegas right in Dragonfish, I got Vegas right emotionally. I could get all the concrete facts right about the Stratosphere Hotel, but I still might not be able to make that place come alive. But an emotional fact will. If you drive west of the Vegas Strip, on Highway 215 toward Summerlin, you'll get to a point on the highway where you can look back and see the entire valley and the Strip right down the middle of it, and you can see the column of light that beams up from the Luxor like a guidepost in the sky. You feel like you can wrap your arms around the whole city and it kind of makes you feel safe. There are few cities in the country that give you this moment, where you can see so many sides of it from one single view. I also remember the mountains that surround the city, which are brown in the day, but at twilight, if you look at them at a certain angle, with palm trees in the foreground, the city almost feels like a tropical island. Things like that are unique to Vegas and can give you a more vivid sense of the city than concrete facts about the streets and casinos can.
AA: Did you write your way in until you found the story or did you outline the plot? Did you know the ending?
VT: I always had a vague direction of where I was going in the novel, but I didn't know the ending until the last week before my deadline. This was different from how I worked on short stories. With stories, I always had an idea of the ending and the major plot points. The story wouldn't always turn out as planned, but at least I had some idea of where I was going. With the novel, though, every time I tried to map out the specifics of the plot, I would slow down. I kept a word count every month and my lowest word counts were during the months I was trying to figure out the rest of the novel's plot. So it ended up that I literally had to write the book word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence, scene-by-scene. I found that was the only way for me to find the story. That approach might change with my next novel. I don't know. I have a feeling that each book will require a different approach.
AA: You earned your MFA from Iowa. Was there someone there you emulated?
VT: I really admired Marilynne Robinson. I'm honestly not sure how much I learned from her in workshop, but I learned a great deal from reading her novels, especially Housekeeping. Gilead was actually a big influence on Suzy's letters. When I was writing the letters, I'd open up Gilead to a random page so that I could appropriate the voice of the narrator. I did learn a lot from my other workshop teachers: Chris Offutt, Ethan Canin, and Frank Conroy, who directed the program for 18 years. He passed away ten years ago. He probably changed me the most. I came to the workshop with a maximalist style. I wanted to be Faulkner. I wanted to be experimental. So I overwrote. My first workshop with Frank was a good one, and it was a story I was basically writing for him, which is never a good idea. And since that workshop went well, I thought, I'll just be Vu now. And he totally destroyed me in my second workshop. It was the most important workshop I had at Iowa because I realized that I really had to work on my prose and be in control of it, whether I was writing in a spare style or an ornate style. I had to make sure that everything was meaningful and clear, that I wasn't just hoping for meaning, that I was actually melding my form with my content. Frank taught me that. His lessons on language really burrowed into me as a writer. I am indebted to him for my sentences.
AA: What was the best advice an author ever gave you?
My best advice to any young writer is to be wary of all good advice, especially the kind that sounds universally and earth-shatteringly true.
VT: Dave Hickey at UNLV told me to "write fast." [Laughs]. He meant it literally. Write intuitively and then go back and revise intellectually, deliberately. That's actually the opposite of how I work, so I didn't really listen to him there. But he also meant something else. What he really wanted me to do was know what I was saying and make sure I was saying it well, and just get to the interesting stuff and not be bogged down by less interesting concerns. He saw that extraneous things were slowing me down. Like my focus on making my language pretty. Or my focus on landscape details. He wanted me to cut all that shit out and write faster. So that, I think, was good advice. But honestly, I'm not sure if I've really gotten that much good advice over the years. My best advice to any young writer is to be wary of all good advice, especially the kind that sounds universally and earth-shatteringly true. Because there's always an exception. Everyone writes differently just as everyone reads differently, so you don't want to fall into the trap of following great advice to the point where you're not seeing the exceptions to the rule, or the truth that might only be true for you.
AA: How does teaching affect your writing?
VT: I love teaching. It does affect my writing because I have the luxury at the University of Chicago of teaching what I want, and that inevitably becomes a way for me to work out things that are most on my mind. For example, for the last few years, I've been very interested in plot-driven narratives, in plot not only as a dramatic structure but also as a philosophical structure, a way of approaching our ideas in a work of fiction. So I taught a class on that and learned a great deal. I was also very interested in the love story last year because I was going through a breakup and had also just written a book about a relationship. So I taught a class on love stories, which was about, among many things, how we define what a love story is. And since I always learn a great deal from my students, it was particularly educational for me to observe how my students engaged with this topic. That's when teaching really becomes an interesting part of my life — when it merges with my personal life and my artistic life.
AA: You said you wrote a first novel that you put in the proverbial drawer. Do you think you'll go back to it and how did you decide that it was time to quit?
VT: When I was still working on that novel, a friend of mine asked me to describe it to her. She was German professor of American Literature. When I described it, she said, "No no, that's sounds too much like every immigrant novel out there. Don't write that." And she was absolutely right! [Laughs] It was about a first-generation Vietnamese-American who travels to Vietnam for the first time to uncover a mystery about his family — a standard narrative, I realized. It's weird how you fall into certain clichés without even reading the sources for those clichés. It's like it's in the literary ether and you just absorb it. Anyway, it was very much a first novel. The writing was good, I think, but I didn't know what I was trying to say or where I was going. It'll stay in the drawer.
AA: What are you working on next?
VT: I'm not sure. Two weeks ago I had an idea for another novel as I was driving on a long road trip, and I was so excited that I started singing. I'm not sure I want to talk about it yet though. I might also bring out my short story collection at some point, but I think I'd first have to rethink some of the stories. Maybe even toss out one or two. I'm such a different person and a different writer now.
Like Drilling For Water: Finding The Universal With Ron Rash, Author Of Above the Waterfall
Oct 8 - Catherine LaSota Read
The Strange Connection Between Detective Fiction and Union Busting
The Pinkerton agency exerted a strong pull on crime novelists from Victorian England to Soviet Russia—but who were the Pinkertons really?
Jul 9 - Erica Eisen
7 Novels That Take You Inside Truly Messed-Up Minds
Lauren Acampora, author of "The Paper Wasp," recommends darkly captivating narrators in fiction
Jun 10 - Lauren Acampora
8 Shocking Heel Turns in Fiction
What happens when good characters go bad


Brad Pitt suffered a hit to the face by a Ukrainian serial prankster on the red carpet last night.
The actor was attending the Los Angeles premiere of partner Angelina Jolie's new film Maleficent when Vitalii Sediuk jumped over a crowd barrier and struck him, breaking the star's sunglasses.
Security instantly intervened as a violent scuffle broke out outside the El Capitan theatre and Sediuk was dragged to the floor and arrested.
An emergency restraining order has been issued against Sediuk as it is now being reported that he broke the glasses that Pitt was wearing to the Wednesday evening premiere.
TMZ reports that Sediuk struck Pitt in the face and 'destroyed' the sunglasses he was wearing.
In the footage from the scene, Pitt is seen wearing sunglasses when the gate crasher lunges at him, and Pitt bends down amid the scuffle. Moments later when security guards step in, Pitt re-emerges without the glasses on his face.
Pitt, 50, who took the unusual step of attending the premiere with his five of his children, is understood not to have been seriously injured in the altercation.
That hasn't stopped a judge from taking legal precautions, however, as Sediuk has been ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from Pitt for the next five days.
The actor was not standing near Jolie when the attack happened - she was in another section greeting her fans.
Pitt was signing autographs when Sediuk, 25, rushed past barriers and hit him in the face.
Whether exactly this kind of attack had been the intention or not, is not clear.
Within seconds six to seven security men wrestled him to the ground and Pitt was pulled back against the wall.
Sediuk was thrown to the ground and cuffed as he struggled, his red trousers were nearly pulled down in the fray.
Pitt kept greeting fans and walked into the theater.
Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Gus Villanueva said Pitt was not seriously hurt and authorities quickly subdued Sediuk, who was arrested for misdemeanor battery and remained in police custody on Wednesday night.
Sediuk is now being held pending payment of $20,000 bail.
'The officers who were handling him said it looked like it was intentional, but at this point, it remains to be determined,' said Sergeant Leonard Calderon for LAPD Hollywood.
Before the incident, Jolie said that the El Capitan is like a local theatre for herself, Pitt and their children who usually do not attend her premieres but did Wednesday night.
Maleficent is Disney's modern reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale, and Jolie stars as its villain.
Sediuk is a serial red carpet pest and only last week tried to put his head up America Ferrera's skirt at the Cannes premiere of How To Train Your Dragon 2.
In 2012, Hollywood's nice guy Will Smith angrily slapped Sediuk on the face after he tried to kiss him on the lips on the red carpet at the Men In Black 3 premiere.
Will managed to dodge two lunges, with each kiss landing on his cheek, before he pushed the professional fool away and gave him a limp tap on the face.
At the 2013 Grammys, he was arrested after crashing the stage just as Adele was about to receive her award.
Sediuk ran to the podium to accept the accolade from Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull before the Skyfall singer could get up the stairs and later spent the night in a police cell.
In January of this year, Bradley Cooper was surprised at the SAG awards when the journalist lunged at him.
He knelt and hugged the actor around his waist, putting his face in Bradley's crotch to the star's discomfort and embarrassment.
And at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, in February, Leonardo DiCaprio became the latest A-lister to fall victim to red carpet prankster. Sediuk, also grabbed the star around the waist in a similar move to what he did to Cooper.
However, DiCaprio did crack a nervous smile at the gag.
Paramedics arrived at 8am in two ambulances at his North London home, following a 999 call made by a friend.
George Michael was dramatically rushed to hospital after he fell ill at his home, it emerged last night.
They spent four hours there with the former Wham! star, 50, before leaving four hours later at around noon with George on board. He was then taken to hospital for further treatment.
George, who nearly died of pneumonia in 2011 and has battled depression and drug addiction, fell ill at home in Highgate, North London, last Thursday.
PHILADELPHIA -- Josh Beckett is not the superstitious sort. Any doubt in that arena was quashed throughout Sunday's game with the Phillies in Philadelphia, as he talked about the potential of a no-hitter from the sixth inning on with catcher Drew Butera and just about anyone else willing to talk.
He is, however, willing to collect souvenirs -- including the rubber from the Citizens Bank Park mound, which made its way through the clubhouse to a stunned veteran pitcher.
"Is that for me?" Beckett said to an attendant.
It is when you make history.
Beckett, who has one career one-hitter, entered elite territory, as he threw the first no-hitter of his career in a 6-0 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday. He struck out six and walked only three. The last no-hitter for the Dodgers came on Sept. 17, 1996, in a 9-0 win at Colorado for Hideo Nomo. In that game, Nomo walked struck out eight and walked four on 110 pitches.
Beckett's masterpiece was the 24th in Dodgers franchise history, and the 11th since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1958.
"I'm really touched by that," said Beckett, who threw 80 strikes in his 128-pitch gem. "The Phillies showed what a class organization they are by getting that to me. I thought maybe they would send it to L.A. But to get it that quickly really meant something. I have a pretty big ranch, I'll figure out some place to put it."
Beckett, whose previous closest call to a no-hitter was 6 2/3 innings against Detroit when he was with Boston on June 3, 2009, struggled to find the plate early. His first three pitches of the afternoon were balls, but he was effectively wild, as he survived the first inning with just one walk on 24 pitches. A walk to Marlon Byrd opened the second inning, and then Beckett zoned in as he retired the next 23 batters before a walk to Jimmy Rollins in the ninth with two out.
"I didn't think about the no-hitter," said Beckett, who took a deep breath before No. 3 hitter Chase Utley. "I thought, 'Chase Utley is up next. I have to deal with him.'"
Beckett fell behind Utley 2-0 -- and then 3-1 -- but struck out the Phillies second baseman on the next two pitches, much to Utley's dismay. Utley felt strike two was a ball and actually started on his way down to first.
"That was a lot of fun," manager Don Mattingly said. "Josh has been throwing the ball good all year. For him to be able to do that today is nice, for everything he's been through with us -- the surgery last year, missing the whole season. Changing himself as a pitcher, using the breaking ball more and everything else -- it was fun to watch."
"Despite [the game being] against us, it was pretty cool to throw a no-hitter, but you never want to see it done against your team," said former Marlins teammate and friend A.J. Burnett, who fell to 3-4 with the Phillies this year. "He was strike one from the get-go."
Beckett, who had a rib removed a year ago to relieve pressure on his nerves due to thoracic outlet syndrome, benefited from the Dodgers striking quickly, as Dee Gordon led off the game with a single into right-center. Gordon stole second and then moved around to third on a flyout to center by Carl Crawford. After a lineout, Adrian Gonzalez drove the ball into right-center; the ball landed and then glanced off Byrd's glove, resulting in an RBI double and a 1-0 lead.
In the second, it took just one pitch to pad the lead, as third baseman Justin Turner hit a home run to dead center for a 2-0 advantage. The home run was just Turner's second of the season.
If anything, the second could have loomed as a wasted opportunity for the Dodgers, who got consecutive singles by Butera and Erisbel Arruebarrena along with a sacrifice by Beckett to put runners on second and third with one out. Instead, Gordon hit a ground ball to Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who came home with the throw to get Butera. Crawford lined out to left to end the threat.
In the sixth, the Dodgers added a third run, as Turner hit a one-out single into center. After a groundout moved him up a base, Arruebarrena -- playing in his third Major League game in place of Hanley Ramirez (injured right calf) -- singled Turner home for the rookie's first career RBI.
By the time the Dodgers pushed three more across the plate in the seventh, the game was all in Beckett's hands.
"I took a moment in the ninth while I was warming up," Beckett said. "It was what it was -- and if I threw one, great. If not, I have healthy kids and a healthy wife -- and that's the main goal."
In the end, the sign on the clubhouse wall summed it up the best, as the Dodgers prepared to head for the airport after a big series win: "Buses Together Whenever Beckett Is Ready To Leave."
Michael Radano is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
Eric Hill, a Bachelorette contestant in the upcoming season featuring Andi Dorfman, has died after a paragliding accident Sunday, his sister Karen Tracy confirmed on her Facebook.
"Eric shared his final journey with us this morning as all his immediate family were able to be at his side when he passed away," she wrote Wednesday. "Thank you to all of your love and support and prayers and fasting. It was amazing to be with so many of his friends and family yesterday in the hospital who came to express their love for Eric."
Hill, 30, was in a medically induced coma and in critical condition after part of his parachute collapsed when he was paragliding in Utah Sunday, April 20.
According to Reality Steve, Hill was no longer part of the hit ABC show at the time of the accident -- he had reportedly already been eliminated. Though UsWeekly reports that Hill was actually chosen for the coveted first one-on-one date with Dorfman.
"He gave us such a gift of a life fully lived and fully shared, and allowed us all to be a part of his last adventure here on earth. It is hard to think of life without his bright spark, but we know he is on to new adventures," Tracy added. "We look forward to carrying on his legacy here and greeting him joyfully again someday. I love you so much, little brother!"


text:
4Anime: Best Free Anime Websites Like 4Anime | Top 4Anime Alternatives
The anime culture has become popular in the last few years and straight out of Japan, it is reaching western countries, Asia, and America as well. They can be watched on a number of legal platforms like Netflix and Crunchyroll. But why pay, when you can all these amazing for free on the internet. There are a number of free anime streaming sites where users can watch some high-quality anime videos for free. 4anime is one of the most trusted and reliable anime sites right now. It is considered even better than AnimePlanet and Kiss-Anime.
4anime has got everything that an anime fan would need. It has a clean UI so, you know exactly where you're clicking whether it is the episode number, the name, and it has a lot of good stuff on it. Old shows to popular new shows are available on this website and that is why you don't really need other anime websites to use as the alternative to 4anime.
4Anime has no advertising. It is an awesome website high-quality anime videos and nothing can beat this. This free anime website is really amazing and can be accessed through the mobile phone as well as the PC. But why you need alternatives to 4Anime? The answer is clear that there are number anime websites and they are free but illegal and that is why they can go down without warning. So, it is a smart move to keep a list of some more anime sites like 4anime on your device.
Top Anime Streaming Sites like 4Anime
AnimeUltima
Now, this website is really cool. This anime website is also free just like 4anime and it uses some high-quality servers that are used by popular anime apps and websites to provide a seamless streaming experience. AnimeUltima has a lot of anime to watch and explore. Sometimes it gives me a weird error that the host is not able to respond or something and I don't get but it is working fine when I checked it last time. I clicked on a couple of videos and the buffering speed and quality of anime over here are really good.
In the past, there were a number of errors that used to appear while trying to load any anime title but it is fixed now. However, usually, this site is one of the best websites to watch anime series online for free.
AnimePahe
The UI of this 4Anime alternative is really clean on the other hand there is a lot to look at when it comes to exploring huge content on the site. If I take a look at older stuff, which can be done right through the search bar option, I found numerous anime shows and movies along with manga to read. So, it's a good website as everything loads quicker. I am not sure about the number of ads here.
They host high-quality video content which can be watched with several servers available online. This free anime site has all the genre you are looking for and the anime collection is available in English dubbed and subbed as well. I really recommend this site as an alternative to 4anime.
AniMixPlay
AniMixPlay is one of the best 4Anime websites out there and is actually an awesome website it doesn't have dubbed anime. It does have like a very large amount of anime especially on-going ones. I did also check older ones and it has a huge library. Most of the anime available on the site is with English subtitles but I didn't see any kind of dubbed versions of the animes.
To me, that doesn't matter I just need subtitles so I don't really care about whether there are dubbed or not like the anime website with high streaming speed and an HD quality. This website is awesome it's clean and the UI is great. Plus, if you use any kind of Adblocker then, no ads pop up will appear but if you don't use anything then there might be some ads. I really recommend this site as one of the best and free anime streaming websites.
Animekisa
This is one of the best anime websites and an alternative to 4anime. Let me first talk a little bit about this website. AnimeKisa has a lot of options, you can watch subbed anime, you can watch dubbed anime, and you can even read manga on this website. So, the website itself is really good like it's a very awesome website just like it says "it's fast, free and HD anime" and they are right. However, I have even I have noticed that this website has pop-up ads, and actually it has a lot of them. Even though I'm using you AdBlock on the browser, it still has tons of pop-up ads they won't load because I have a very powerful adblocker but nonetheless, they pop up and it's annoying.
If these small advertised advertisements don't bother you then this website is truly amazing because of its massive collection of anime and high-quality streaming. It is completely free but sometimes it takes much time in loading content due to high popup ads. So, awesome website but this isn't for at least for me but you can use it as an alternative to 4anime.
Different Types of RNGs Compared
Things To Consider When Choosing A Blogging Platform
MathPapa – The Best Algebra Calculator and Guide
How Does a Solar Power Generator Work?
GoStream.is Changed Domain to Bypass Google's Ban – 123Movies New Site
Digital Risk Management: The Key to Online Business Safety
CardActivation.Citi.Com: How to Activate Citibank Credit/Debit Card …
Best 6 Live TV Streaming Sites – …
1Movies: 15+ Free Mirror Sites To Unblock …
Top 6 Sites like ChatRoulette [2021]
Iomovies.to: Watch HD Movies and TV Shows …
GBA4iOS: Download and Install Retro Games on iOS Without Jailbreak
If you are a fan of retro Nintendo games and want to experience those good old days on your latest...
Narutoget: What Happened to Narutoget.com? Top Alternative Narutoget to Watch Anime Online
I mean if you are an anime fan then you must be familiar with Naruto Shippuden anime series. Now if...


text:
Armchair Travel: Drop the Book and Go
Miscellany Jun 19, 2017
Ed Hewitt
Ed Hewitt started traveling with his family at the age of 10 and has since visited dozens of countries on six continents. He wrote for IndependentTraveler.com for more than 20 years, producing hundreds of columns on travel and offering his expertise on radio and television. He is now a regular contributor to SmarterTravel.
An avid surfer and rower, Ed has written about and photographed rowing competitions around the world, including the last five Olympic Games.
He's passing his love of travel on to the next generation; his 10-year-old son has flown some 200,000 miles already.
See recent posts by Ed Hewitt
ehewitt@smartertravel.com
When we think of so-called armchair travel books, an image of an interesting if somewhat dry travelogue usually comes to mind first — maybe a "deep history" by William Least Heat-Moon, or Paul Theroux trekking cantankerously through some remote terrain on a train (or maybe a mule if it will make things slightly more uncomfortable), or, somewhat more pleasantly, perhaps Steinbeck traveling in a campervan named Rocinante with his dog.
In my own decades of traveling and writing about travel, I have naturally read many such travelogues. However, I have to admit I sometimes found myself disinclined to finish them. Instead, I frequently dropped them on the spot to go dig up a guidebook (back in the heyday of print travel guidebooks) or, more recently, to pull up websites with fares and destination information. This happened repeatedly over several years until I started giving up on travelogues, and ultimately came to the conclusion that armchair travel is almost a ruse — there are other reasons to read these books, but it might not be to see the world from your reading chair.
In fact, it seems more likely that many traditional examples of "armchair travel" will inspire you to ditch the armchair, almost immediately. The notion that reading these books lets you skip traveling because you're doing it all in your imagination doesn't seem to me to be the measure of a good travel book — in fact, serious travelers might argue that the measure of success is not just where it takes you in your imagination, but where it inspires you to take yourself.
Works of Imagination Remain Inspiring
If you do a search for "armchair travel" on the literary review and recommendation site Goodreads.com, all manner of books, even a few blockbusters, show up. Certainly many of the usual suspects appear, such as Bill Bryson and the aforementioned Theroux, but alongside them are the massive best-seller "Eat, Pray, Love," as well as the first book in the popular "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series, which takes place in Botswana and is sometimes thought to be as much a paean to Africa as it is a mystery story.
Novels and short stories can often be a deep well of inspiration for travelers. Witness a book like Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," perhaps the quintessential American road trip book, which despite its unconventional and somewhat scattershot approach took on immense significance in pre-1960s America. When folks think of an "armchair travel" book, they rarely think first of "On the Road," but it is undeniably just that, and it inspired an entire generation to stretch their wings. The book arguably usheredin a golden age of travel that ultimately included the so-called hippie trails, potentially inspired many folks to work hard for the Peace Corps and made travel for personal discovery a truly American habit.
9 Great Authors and the Places That Shaped Them
Such inspiration need not come from "road books" per se; perhaps even "Catcher in the Rye," a similar "cult" book with a far more static setting, could be considered this type of "armchair travel" book, as its powerful sense of place drew countless young readers to explore Manhattan. For a more highbrow example, try "Ulysses," the Dublin map that thousands of literary partiers follow every June 16. And short stories can lend themselves exceptionally well to a travelogue format; witness Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories," or many of the stories in Douglas Coupland's "Life After God," to stretch a bit for a more contemporary example.
Movies can be just as powerful a draw; see I'll Take a Large Popcorn and a Ticket to Paris. "Endless Summer" inspired many of my own travels, and, like "On the Road," it definitely played a part in the American wanderlust of the 1960s.
New Sources of Inspiration
Of course we no longer need to rely on publishing houses and movie producers to share travel experiences — today the Web offers an almost bottomless resource for ideas, inspiration and travel eye candy. Depending on how your pleasures tend, you can find almost any type of travel blog you want; start with a generic search for "best travel blogs," and your Web perambulations are under way.
There is no reason to restrict yourself to narrative forms like fiction, blogs or movies — creative photos can work just as well. A recent favorite is Murad Osmann's #followmeto series, featuring photos on Instagram of his girlfriend leading him around the world by the hand. The series is ambitious, often beautiful, creative and somehow touching as well; making it into a photo project gives some hints not only about where but also how to travel.
3 Secrets for Traveling Like a Local
Certainly the Web has any number of individuals sharing their travels very nearly in real time. The most ambitious of these must be Karl Bushby, who started walking around the world in 1998 from Puntas Arenas, Chile, and now 15 years and 20,000 miles later has a website that is tracking his location by GPS as he makes his way across the United States, with 16,000 miles (and a Russian visa) left to go on the journey. At this writing he is near Taos, New Mexico, hopefully keeping warm.
What all the strongest examples of successful armchair travel (and there are countless more) have in common is that they inspire actual action — that is, these stories involving road trips have inspired folks actually to get up and leave the armchair, in some cases on a regular basis for the rest of their lives. A colleague who read "Eat, Pray, Love" notes that she wasn't a fan of the book for reasons having nothing to do with travel, but that it was very inspirational in encouraging women to travel — seems like job done.
Today we are beset almost hourly by newsletters and emails and websites insisting on travel we will never complete — bucket lists and more bucket lists; lists of the X places you need to visit in your 20s, the XX places you need to visit before you die and the XXX places your kids need to visit before they are 10; and friends on Facebook humble-bragging about their latest exotic trip. It is enough to send you off to read a book instead.
But in the aggregate, our own internal filters figure out the stuff that resonates for each of us, and we will drop the book, or pause the movie, or open a new webpage, inspiring the cycle of happiness, departure, exploration and return that seems to be an innate urge of our nomadic yet homebound species, always looking for home, and a home away from home.
Expert Travel Tips


What can be better than shopping in the comfort of your home? Shopping to support the AWL and the animals in need! Proceeds from each of the quality items you see in our shop benefit the environmental enrichment and behaviour programs we have established for each animal in our care. These programs are vital to the successful rehoming of thousands of animals each year.


text:
Lou Pelletier: Justina dying under care of Massachusetts
http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/25070872/permanent-custody-of-justina-pelletier-awarded-to-mass
BOSTON, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) –Lou Pelletier, the father of 15-year-old teenager Justina Pelletier is speaking out against a Tuesday ruling in which a judge gave permanent custody to Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
A juvenile court judge ruled that the Department of Children and Families has "permanent" custody of Justina, until May 25, according to the Pelletier family's attorney, Matt Staver.
"She needs to be home," Lou told FOX 25's Maria Stephanos. "She is mentally, and more importantly physically, dying under the care of the state of Massachusetts."
On May 25, the judge will then revisit the issue of who is granted custody of Justina in another follow-up court hearing.
Staver said the Pelletier family will now pursue an appeal to send the case to a higher court.
"This is not justice for Justina, or the family," Staver said.
The Connecticut teen was treated at Children's Hospital in Boston for almost a year and was previously in Children's locked psychiatric unit for treatment.
Pelletier was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease years ago – a condition causing muscle pain and weakness. Then, almost a year ago, she was admitted to Children's with the flu.
At the hospital, her parents say a different set of doctors diagnosed her with "somatoform disorder," in short, saying she suffered from a mental illness, not mitochondrial disease, and that her symptoms were psychologically induced. The hospital took her off all of her medications, Lou Pelletier said.
When her parents reportedly disagreed and asked for a second opinion, they lost custody of their daughter. DCF was called in after just four days. The parents haven't had custody since last February.
"Based on credible psychiatric and medical evidence this court has found that Justina suffers from a persistent and severe Somatic Symptom Disorder," the judge stated.
In December, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families determined that Justina's parents, Linda and Lou, neglected Justina, and that "return of custody of Justina to her parents was not in her best interest."
Justina's parents, the judge continued, "engage in very concerning conduct that does not give this court any confidence they will comply with conditions of custody."
The decision finished by stating that the judge is ready to help return Justina to her "home state of Connecticut," but did not specify whether that meant her home, or a placement in a Conn. DCF facility.
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families released a statement on the judge's ruling on Tuesday evening.
"DCF's primary goal has always been the health and well being of Justina, and finding a solution that would allow her to return to Connecticut. That has not changed in the face of this ruling," the statement read. "The Department is exploring all options that will allow Justina to return to her home state where she has the support of her friends, family, school and community."
Posted in abuse, child abuse, Child Protection Services, children, constitutional rights, corruption, CPS, crime, DCF, DCF abuse, DCF corruption, human rights, parental rights
Tagged with child abuse, child custody, Child Protective Services, children's rights, constitutional rights, corruption, court abuse, court corruption, crime, DCF, DCF abuse, DCF corruption, family, human rights, Juvenile court, Juvenile court corruption, parental rights, police state
« When Does Parenting Cross the Line Into Psychological Abuse?
PMA INTERNATIONAL's" NO ABUSE ZONE" Policy »


It's almost time folks! The nation's Largest FREE Comic Con, Medford Comic Con, is less than two weeks away and we are beyond excited! We are so overwhelmed with gratitude that we are on our second year of being a part of such an amazing group of community members and businesses that are working hard to bring this whole event together. Get ready for two days of awesomeness!
At the heart of it all is Laura Kimberly our Project Manager. She is the one that keeps us all focused on the main event on Saturday & Sunday, April 28th & 29th. She says, "There's so much energy and excitement around this event, and for good reason. Whether you've attended comic cons before or are considering coming for the first time, this family-friendly, FREE event have something for everyone. We are fortunate to have sponsorship from so many local businesses," Laura Kimberly said. "This event would not be possible without our community's support." We couldn't agree more!
Many of the events like the Costume Contests, Workshops, and a lot of the vendors will be in the Medford Library and RCC's buildings. Also, 9th and Bartlett Street between RCC and the library will be shutdown to provide room for more vendors, food trucks, and live action role play going on throughout the day!
So, onto the good stuff! Which Vendors, Workshops and Food Trucks will be at Medford Comic-Con?
We are almost doubling the amount of vendors this year with more than 70 artists, makers, comic book sellers, and retailers. They are from all over the west coast with something for everyone! Here is a list of most of the vendors that will be there.
1. Get sorted by the sorting hat and receive your House I.D. Badge with a lanyard.
2. Create your own magic wands at Ollivanders.
3. Attend one potions class where you learn how to make liquid luck and take some home some in a vial.
6. One piece of candy at Honeydukes.
There will also be raffles people can enter by the Portrait of the Fat Lady and our Harry Potter I Spy Case. There will be a scavenger hunt for magical creatures that are loose in Hogwarts. The best dobby selfies will be on display. Those that see their selfies on display will win a prize. Lastly, there will be computer stations set up for the patronus test, patronus coloring sheets, and a board game table with HP board games.
Upcoming Features in the RCC Space Lab in the Medford Library.
ROGUE HACK LAB in Medford Library staff parking lot.
THE ALTERATION CENTER will be generously volunteering their time.
Arcade and International Board Game Demos.
A machine that receives texts sent from anyone and turns it into a physical telegraph to be delivered with steampunk neo-victorian actors with great fanfare.
1969 VW Type III Squareback as the Ghostbusters car.
How To Choose Your Own Adventure' Video games created with and displayed using Raspberry Pi computers.
When you get to Medford Comic Con you can pickup a program that will give you all of the details of where and what time events will be held. There will also be a passport to get stamped by vendors to be entered into a drawing for awesome prizes!
1115-1215 - THE DUDE CREW - Anyone Can Be A Cartoonist, or Better Cartoonist. Presentation emphasizing using simple shapes to create cartoons.
1115am-1215pm - SOUTHERN OREGON GEOCACHING - Southern Oregon Geocaching will teach you how to use GPS technology to find real life treasures hidden in plain sight all around the world - even in your own back yard!
Noon-1245 - ROGUE FX CREATIONS - Behind the Scenes,The Magic of FX - Discover how Hollywood artist make monsters come to life on the big screen.
1230-130pm - VISIONS OF WONDERLAND - Paint and Sip at Comic Con! Painting class and (non-acoholic) sips for ages 10+. 1 hour lesson on an 11x14 canvas, step-by-step instructions and all the supplies are inlcuded!
1230-130pm - J.R.R. Tolkien and His Middle Earth: One Fantasy To Rule Them All. Explore the sournces of Tolkien's epic Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Similarion. We will be looking briefly at such diverse sources as the legend of Atlantis, Macbeth, and the Story of Sigurd among others.
1230-130pm - YUKI THE DESTROYER COMIC - Introduction to Online Comic Publishing.
1-145pm - ROGUE FX CREATIONS - Behind the Scenes,The Magic of FX - Discover how Hollywood artist make monsters come to life on the big screen.
130-230pm - SCA ANTIR - SCA: Historical garb, costume, armor, crafts, combat and swordplay.
145-245pm - SOARING DRAGON - Creating A World That Makes Sense: Exploring biology, psychology, and medicinal requirements to make your imagined character and world make sense.
1215-115pm - KNIGHTINGALE STUDIOS - Discussion on the fascinating and innovative process of creating props and costumes, along with techniques, tools and physical examples.
1215-115pm - THE DUDE CREW - Anyone Can Be A Cartoonist, or Better Cartoonist. Presentation emphasizing using simple shapes to create cartoons.
1215-115pm - SOUTHERN OREGON GEOCACHING - 🎨 Southern Oregon Geocaching will teach you how to use GPS technology to find real life treasures hidden in plain sight all around the world - even in your own back yard!
130-230pm - VISIONS OF WONDERLAND - Paint and Sip at Comic Con! Painting class and (non-acoholic) sips for ages 10+. 1 hour lesson on an 11x14 canvas, step-by-step instructions and all the supplies are inlcuded!
130-230pm - VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER COSPLAY GROUP - Panel discussion.
130-230pm - OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL - Discussion on the intersecation between cosplay and costuming professional and transferrable skills therein.
FIRED UP - Tacos & Burrito's always with a gourmet twist.
NORTHWEST PINE APPLE - Real fruit smoothies, Acai and Pitaya Bowls!
PERUVIAN POINT - Authentic Peruvian food including chicken sandwiches, beef dishes, and salads.
SUGARPLUM'S MOBILE BAKESHOP - Cupcakes, cookies, ice-cream sandwiches, sundaes, and fresh beignets.
SULTAN'S DELIGHT - Greek food including gyro's and falafal.
WOKSTAR - Asian fusion. Tacos, kimchi friend rice, curry and more!
KDELICIOUS - Scratchmade cakes & sweet treats.
PAPA TERALL'S BBQ - Bringing the love of real BBQ to your event.
To capture the whole experience Mary WilkinsKelly Photography will be there along with What to do in Southern Oregon! Volunteer if you would like to!
Jackson County Library Services is offering limited edition Medford Comic-Con library cards. If you currently have a library card, for the two days of comic con you can trade yours in for FREE instead of paying the $2 fee.
Also, new this year! Southern Oregon Geocaching will be leading a special two day cache with limited edition Medford Comic-Con coins as the prize. There will be only 150 coins available so don't miss out.
This is just a glimpse of what will be happening at Medford Comic-Con. Last year there were over 12000 people that visited throughout the day and our main organizers feel that we will have 15000-20000 people this year. We are so excited! We hope you already have your costumes ready because time is a-tickin'! We can't wait to see you there!
VISIONS OF WONDERLAND - PAINT & SIP, KID'S WORKSHOPS & MORE!


text:
Wanakaya is een bestuurslaag in het regentschap Cirebon van de provincie West-Java, Indonesië. Wanakaya telt 4950 inwoners (volkstelling 2010).

Plaats in West-Java

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Get early access to The Balloon Room by booking a 1-hour time slot before the general public event. There is limited availability so book early to ensure you get the time you want! One ticket admits one person.
Enter your zip code to see if we deliver in your area.


Why does pg_last_xact_replay_timestamp() sometimes return extremely old timestamps?
How exactly does one configure master-slave replication for PostgreSQL 9.6?
PostgreSQL full text search: How to change what classifies as a "word separator"?
Inconsistent equality checking of Unicode text in Postgres 9.5?
Can PostgreSQL's COPY create CSV with Locale-specific number formatting?
What can cause slow planning times for "select 1"?
Best way to cast array (text) to record-type?
How can I determine why a concurrent Postgres index was marked as INVALID?
Does PostgreSQL support `unnest` as a column?


text:
Q: Wordpress theme and PHPMailer class Can I use a theme specific(a separate copy in my theme's folder) PHPMailer Class for sending emails?
I am asking this because I have some issue on using wp_mail(), It's not taking header, I have searched and got many infos related to use Filters for header name and mail, but its not working, might be because of some plugin activated.
So is it possible to add PHPMailer class, and use it in ajax callback functions?
I tried but site goes blank.

A: WP already uses PHPMailer in its implementation of wp_mail... You may have to do a little digging to get at it, but you should be able to either make use of wp_mail's PHPMailer instance, or at least load it from WP's default libraries without having to bundle another copy.
That you can even contemplate adding a functional library like PHPMailer to a wordpress theme shows what a disaster the design of WP's themes is! Repeat after me: "separation of concerns!"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Find the County Times
Courts & Cops
Home Commentary Health Dept. warns residents of carbon monoxide dangers
Health Dept. warns residents of carbon monoxide dangers
Apr 14th, 2015 · by Christie Abbott · Comments:
WESTOVER — The Somerset County Health Department advises Somerset County residents to avoid carbon monoxide (CO) exposure by taking precautions with gas-powered appliances and charcoal or gas grills.
Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless, tasteless gas, and is highly poisonous. Depending on the level of exposure, CO may cause fatigue, weakness, chest pains for those with heart disease, shortness of breath upon exertion, nausea, vomiting, headaches, confusion, lack of coordination, impaired vision, loss of consciousness, and in severe cases, death.
DHMH recommends the following precautions to help prevent carbon monoxide poisoning:
Do not burn charcoal or gas grills inside a house, garage, vehicle, tent or fireplace.
NEVER use a generator indoors, including in homes, garages, basements, crawl spaces, and other enclosed or partially enclosed areas, even with ventilation. Opening doors and windows or using fans will not prevent CO build-up in the home.
ALWAYS locate the unit outdoors on a dry surface, away from doors, windows, vents, and air conditioning equipment that could allow CO to come indoors.
Follow the instructions that come with your generator. Always locate the unit outdoors.
Install battery-operated CO alarms or plug-in CO alarms with battery back-up in your home, according to the manufacturer's installation instructions. The CO alarms should be certified to the requirements of the latest safety standards for CO alarms (UL 2034, IAS 6-96, or CSA 6.19.01).
Test your CO alarms frequently and replace dead batteries.
Remember that you cannot see or smell CO and portable generators can produce high levels of CO very quickly.
If you start to feel sick, dizzy, or weak while using a generator, get to fresh air RIGHT AWAY. DO NOT DELAY.
If you have a poisoning emergency, call your nearest Poison Information Center. The toll free number is
1-800-222- 1222.
If a person has collapsed or is not breathing, call 911 immediately.
For further information, contact the health department at 443-523-1700 or the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/co/guidelines.htm
Tags:Featured
Subscribe to the County Times weekly email newsletter
The Crisfield-Somerset County Times is published every Wednesday. You can find it in retail outlets throughout the Crisfield area, or subscribe to our print newspaper or our e-newspaper, a digital replica of the print edition.
Crisfield Weather


Fanari, villa 430sq.m, beautiful architectural style on plot of land 4.000sq.m, built in three levels. The upper level consists of a big master bedroom 65sq.m with a big bathroom with two washbasins and bathtub, dressing room and a very big verandah with fantastic unobstructed, panoramic view to the Aegean Sea. The middle level consists of a sitting area, open-plan dining/kitchen area, two bedrooms and a bathroom. The lower level consists of 2 bedrooms, each with its bathroom, a smaller bedroom with its bathroom, suitable for children's or maid's room, big sitting area and playroom, WC, dining/kitchen area. Garage with possibility of converting the room into another bedroom with its bathroom. Full electri cal installation with the possibility of connection to air-condition, internet, alarm, HI FI, WI FI etc. The lower level can be converted into an independent house.
Big verandahs, swimming pool with a beautiful lay-out of the surrounding space, garden, parking.
Concerning the finishing of the villa some tasks have not been completed like the laying-out of some outdoor spaces, the equipment of the bathrooms, some electrical items etc., the total of which amounts to €300.000 approx. The price of the villa is €1.300.000.


A strong, durable, Oval Head flush cutter capable of cutting soft wire up to 18 ga. (1 mm). This cutter features a unique wire retaining clip that holds cut-off pieces of wire allowing for a neater workspace and a convenient way to collect and reclaim precious metal scraps. The clip is also excellent for trimming prongs during stone setting! Manufactured from high carbon steel and heat treated to a Rockwell hardness of 56-58C. A built-in return spring and cushioned, non-slip soft rubber hand grips provide comfort and control.
All Xuron cutters employ Xuron's Micro-Shear® technology. When compared to traditional cutters this produces a cleaner cut, reduced cutting effort and longer blade life, because the sharp edges are not meeting edge to edge.
Jaw size: 9 x 12.2mm.


text:
Irish Famine Women – a challenge or three
This entry was posted on March 6, 2014 by Tintean Editorial Team/fdg, in Features, History and tagged Famine, famine and women, migration. Bookmark the permalink.	3 Comments
A FEATURE by Trevor McClaughlin
This is the text of a paper delivered to the seminar held as part of the International Irish Famine Commemoration in Sydney 23-25 August 2013.
Sul a gcuirfidh mé tús leis an léach seo, ba maith liom a chur in iúl an meas mór atá agam ar muintir na Cadigal don náisiún Eora, agus na shinsear a thánaig rompu a bhí i bhfeighil an dúthaigh seo.
(Before I begin I would like to show my respect and acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land, the Cadigal people of the Eora nation, of elders past and present, on which this event takes place.)
One of the most striking achievements in Irish scholarship during the last eighteen years or so is the sheer range and depth of works on the Great Irish Famine. After years of relative neglect the sesquicentenary of that tragic event seems to have opened the scholarly floodgates. Yet surprisingly, there seems to be no major study of women during the famine. It's as if a big piece of the jigsaw is missing. There are a number of excellent small pieces but no comprehensive study of Irish Famine women. An exemplary work, the closest yet to what I have in mind, is in fact a work in comparative literature; Margaret Kelleher's The Feminization of Famine: Expressions of the inexpressible (1997).
Professor Kelleher claims that 'where the individual spectacle of a hungry body is created, this occurs predominantly (tho' not exclusively) through images of women' (p 8). Think about that for a moment. If I say 'Famine' to you, what mental image comes to mind?…..
For me, it's an image of Sudanese and Somali women who appeared on our television screens last year. Victims of famine and drought, those women decided to take their hungry and sick children and walk for miles and miles in search of help.
It is an image that is echoed in the very moving stream of consciousness essay by Connell Foley at the end of that brilliant Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, (Cork University Press, 2012, p 678)
…and if you are a woman subsistence farmer in a remote part of the Congo or Niger and you have five extra mouths to feed because your brother died of HIV and you are looking at the sky and you are looking at your land and you are calculating if there will be too little rain too late or too much so that your basic crop will be ruined and you do not know how you will feed your children or pay for some medicines but you get up every day and you do what you can… [quoting Beckett] ' You must go on…I can't go on…I'll go on.'
And for the Irish Famine, it's James Mahony's London Illustrated News' images of women. You probably know 'A Woman Begging at Clonakilty', for money to bury her dead child (February 1847), or 'Bridget O'Donnell and her children' recently evicted from their holding near Kilrush. (December 1849).
Yet looking at my own research notes, what struck me is not women's victimisation –but their agency, their stoicism and determination in the face of catastrophe –and the variety of their coping strategies. Women were the leaders in workhouse riots and protests in Cork, Limerick and Tipperary (Board of Guardians Minute Book records) asserting their entitlement to better treatment and better food. In 1848, 600 women rose en masse in Cork workhouse and attacked the visiting Poor Law Inspector, 'having armed themselves with stones, tins and bottles.' In Nenagh, women were the 'leading characters…dashing saucepans, tins and pints of stirabout to the ground and smashing windows.' In Limerick, in April 1849, there was a riot of women screaming and throwing pints of ale at workhouse officers. These women were probably in the second of Professor Lawrence Geary 's three famine phases, the protracted period of 'Resistance' which came after the initial 'Alarm' phase and before the final phase he calls 'Exhaustion'. The second phase, according to Professor Geary, saw the slow disappearance of community generosity and focus shifting away from 'family' to personal survival.
Women have always been given due/proper attention by historical demographers. Women's age at marriage, their marital fertility rate and their mortality rate are crucial to any study of famine demography.
Of particular interest here is that more men than women perished during the famine. Women had what Kate McIntyre calls 'a female mortality advantage'. An interesting twist to this is David Fitzpatrick's suggestion, that – since women were in effect the principal guardians of comfort and succour, the primary suppliers of care and affection, they became the holders of the only entitlement, love, that may have been inflated by famine (p 67). The mere thought of trying to examine the history of affection during the famine will no doubt be the stuff of nightmares for traditional historians.
If the evidence collected by the Irish Folklore Commission is to be valued, it should be valued on its own terms. There is some debate about the reliability of that evidence, since it was collected long after the event itself. It is all too easy to dismiss. But I think we should learn to appreciate the skills of oral historians and the sophisticated ways they assess their source material. Such evidence can tell us something of what it was like to have been there (see O'Gráda, Black '47). Why were women in the oral tradition perceived as suffering the worst of consequences? If the folklore evidence is to believed, women during the famine had a good reputation as providers of charity. The renowned Peig Sayers recounted to the Commissioners the story of a Kerry woman, Bridie Shehan, who tied her dead daughter to her back with ropes, and carried her to the local graveyard where two men helped her bury her daughter. When Bridie made her way back home, her neighbour, Nora Landers, called her in and gave her seven of her own precious seed potatoes. [ O'Grada's Black '47, 200-01]
A female outsider, an American visitor, Asenath Nicholson, a widow, who wrote about her travels through Ireland, also has a well deserved reputation for charitable good works. It is from her that we learn of an Irish Famine woman's task of closing the door on her family's grave. If I may quote from her work, Annals of the Famine in Ireland,
A cabin was seen closed one day…when a man had the curiosity to open it, and in a dark corner he found a family of the father, mother and two children, lying in close compact. The father was considerably decomposed; the mother, it appeared, had died last, and probably fastened the door, which was always the custom when all hope was extinguished, to get in to the darkest corner and die, where passers-by could not see them. Such family scenes were quite common, and the cabin was generally pulled down upon them for a grave (p 85).
Clearly then women were very much present in famine times. They were there in the workhouse, rioting against their treatment and poor quality food. They were there inside the cottier's cottage, their domestic domain, when the pile of potatoes on the table grew smaller and smaller and decisions had to be taken as to who got what, and how much. They were there around the family hearth when the decision was made to send their sons and daughters abroad, or to decide if the whole family should emigrate. And women were most probably there, at the very end when they could still close the door to their cottage, their family grave.
This then is our first challenge: a full blown study of Irish women's role during the famine.
What part did women play in Irish society and economy? What work did they do in the fields, at sowing or at harvest time? Did they help dig ditches, gather sticks, dig turf, feed cattle, pigs and poultry or groom horses by lantern, late on a winter's night? Was their work confined to a kitchen garden, washing, weaving, cooking, sweeping the yard and cleaning the house? How did all this differ from class to class or region to region before, during and after the Famine?
What exactly was women's role in family life? Were women the chief providers of affection? What was their sense of moral value? Were they protectors and promoters of religious belief? Did they act as guardians of oral tradition and transmitters of language and culture? Did the Famine overturn traditional family structures and throw traditional mores into disarray? Did women have to find and procure food for themselves and their desperately hungry children by whatever means, travelling miles, begging, and stealing if needs be. Without an understanding of women's role, may I suggest to you, our knowledge of the famine will always remain incomplete?
Our second challenge then is a full-scale, comprehensive study of Irish-Australian Famine women. The important thing, as before, is that we view these women through the lens of the Famine.
When I was preparing Barefoot & Pregnant? in the 1980s I was concerned about identifying people who knew an driochsheal, people who had first hand experience of the 'bad life', the 'bitter time' of the Famine. The young women who came here as part of the Earl Grey scheme were exactly what I was looking for. These young women obviously are essential to any study of Irish-Australian famine women.
But I think it is now time to cast the net more widely –to include, perhaps, some of the landlord assisted immigrants from the Monteagle estates in Limerick or the Shirley estate in Monaghan, for example. Or at least, the young women who came from workhouses in Clare and Cork to Hobart on the Beulah and Calcutta in 1851, or to Sydney, on the Lady Kennaway from Cork workhouses in 1854. These Lady Kennaway women were the occasion of a fascinating political brouhaha here in NSW from the mid to late 1850s. The untoward remarks of the NSW Immigration Agent in 1855 so aroused the ire of the Irish community that they petitioned for a government enquiry into 'Irish Female Immigrants'. The report of that enquiry along with minutes of evidence was printed by the Legislative Assembly in 1859.
Let me give three examples to show what can be done—first, Irish female convicts transported to Tasmania, second, government assisted family migrants to NSW and Victoria, and thirdly, the immigration of between four and five thousand single females to South Australia in the 1850s.
At the beginning of the 1840s, about 1,000 Irish convicts were transported to Van Diemen's Land each year. By the famine years, the annual intake had risen to 3,000. The transportation of female convicts, unlike that of males, did not stop during those years. 'Tasmania thus bore the brunt of Irish famine misery', says Professor Richard Davis (p 9). Not everyone would agree. Rena Lohan, a postgraduate student, in her study of Grangegorman, the women's prison in Dublin, for example, found that most of the prisoners were already hardened criminals. Any link between Irish female convicts and the famine is tenuous, she argued. As always, the issue is complex and open to debate.
Were Irish judges more lenient in their sentencing during the famine? Knowing the difficult circumstances people were in, were they more prepared to accept as a defence, that crimes were committed 'on grounds of want'? One such was the Exchequer Baron, John Richards who was willing to send convicts to Tasmania especially when he learned they had nowhere to go and would be without support when their prison term expired. Needless to say, not all judges and juries agreed on this matter. There was no consistent policy.
Did more women commit more crimes in order to be transported? Can we establish a strong link between the famine and the types of crimes they committed? Among the crimes recorded against the names of Irish women arriving in 1849 and 1850, for example, we note, 'stealing a turkey', 'stealing a sheep', 'stealing a cow', 'stealing fowls', 'killed her child by a bandage, a little girl one month old', 'house burning', which in itself carried a life sentence. Do we really need to distinguish between 'intention' and crimes born of desperation? Yet what of those women with criminal records stretching before the famine years?
Assuming we can identify female Famine convicts, what became of them in Tasmania? Were they different from other convicts? Were they less likely to re-offend? Were they less likely to be rebellious or to 'resist' the convict system, more likely to be 'accommodationist', and willing to accept their lot? Or did Australian conditions rather than their Irish famine background determine what became of them? The issues are complex. Yet Tasmanian convict records are so rich it should be possible to answer many of these questions.
A second category of Irish-Australian famine women might include those who came here as part of their family's emigration strategy. Richard Reid's excellent work, Farewell my Children (Anchor, 2011), draws attention to the quite elaborate ways families in Ireland used Government assisted schemes to come to Australia during the famine years and the years immediately after. Maneuvering the intricacies of bureaucratic regulations, filling out forms, collecting the required references from householders, from their local priest or magistrate or doctor, waiting for notification and arranging to join a ship in England, required skill, patience and detailed planning. Working the system, bending the rules, required a different kind of skill.
As family members discussed their emigration prospects around the hearth, in the domestic sphere, I am sure Irish women made their voices heard. One can surmise how influential women's strength and determination and emotional clout was, in deciding how the family's emigration strategy would be played out. Strikingly, Irish emigration to Australia in the nineteenth century was to achieve a gender balance. But in the famine, and years immediately following, many more women than men arrived as government-assisted immigrants.
Dr Reid emphasises that it is a mistake to think of these young women, or the young sons and daughters in a family, being thrust into the unknown. They were often supported by an extensive and intricate network of family, friends and neighbours, sometimes stretching back to earlier convict days or bounty emigration schemes, sometimes needing a network to be established anew, set-up from scratch. We might ask did daughters play as important a role as sons in establishing these networks, not just for their own nuclear family but for their extended family and other members of their local community as well? Or were they less likely than men to nominate family and friends or manipulate Remittance regulations to their own advantage?
If I might illustrate the complications of this family emigration planning further, with an example form the work of an excellent family historian in Victoria, Anne Tosolini. (I've used this example before in an article published in Descent in September 1999 (p.137).)
Siblings and cousins (sons and daughters) of the Frehan and Gorman families came here from the parish of Lorrha in Tipperary between 1849 and 1854, some of them to Port Jackson and some to Port Phillip. They were to regroup in Melbourne during those years, the men renting and purchasing properties in neighbouring streets in Richmond, close to people who had been their neighbours in Lorrha. The women, however, settled some distance away, in Geelong. When they married, and their husbands later selected land, they were scattered throughout different parts of Victoria, – their strong bonds of kinship thus becoming slowly and perhaps more easily weakened. Was there a 'gendered' difference in the colonial experience of the first generation of migrants? Did the women adapt more readily? Were women more willingly acculturated? Were they more independent in their choice of marriage partners? Was the regrouping of their family more likely to be 'transitional' than that of Irish men? These are questions about women's role in their family emigration strategy that can, and still need to be addressed.
My third example of Irish-Australian Famine women is the four to five thousand young women who sailed into Port Adelaide in 1854, 1855 and 1856. Boatload after boatload of young single Irish females — by the Europa, the Grand Trianon, the Nashwauk, Aliquis and Admiral Boxer, for example — came to South Australia in the mid 1850s as part of what I would call ' their flight from famine and its aftermath'. The Famine had opened the floodgates. Like the Earl Grey female orphans, they too might be considered famine refugees.
So many came in such a short time, so many were allegedly ill-suited to the work required of them, so many demanded food and accommodation in immigrant depots, and so many had been sent to Adelaide under false pretences (they had been told in London they could easily walk to Melbourne and Sydney) that South Australian government authorities established a government enquiry into what they called 'Excessive Female Immigration'. Luckily for us they did so. In the minutes of evidence to their report we hear the voice of some of the young women themselves. The women called before the enquiry were asked why they came here. Their answers were what we would expect: ambitious, independent, hopeful, banal.
When on 15 February 1855, Frances McDowell was called in and examined, the interrogation went like this:
What induced you to come out here?—I do not know.
Had you received letters from friends? –I have no friends in Australia.
Did you think you would benefit yourself by coming to this Colony?–I was induced by the published statements to think that I might do well here. (p 32)
Some of these women were part of a network already here, and soon left South Australia to join their family and friends in Sydney and Melbourne. But my general impression is that the majority did not belong to such a network. Until there is an in-depth and thorough study of these women, our conclusions should remain tentative. This surely is a tempting research project for someone living in Adelaide.
Some excellent work has already been done on aspects of this so-called 'Excessive' female immigration – by Cherry Parkin, Eric Richards, Ann Herraman, Stephanie James, Marie Steiner, to name a few. After acknowledging the initial troubles these young women had, – some walking 16 miles in the heat of the day, barefoot, to go to a situation, others returning to depot sunburnt, blistered, overworked and cast out after harvest was finished, some found crying, disappointed, despondent and depressed at their prospects—the view of most Australian writers is that these Irish women were generally well cared for and absorbed successfully into South Australian society. Areas of thickest Irish settlement …such as Paddy Gleeson's Clare Valley were the first to accept and absorb them. The Seven Hills marriage registers demonstrate just how quickly they were accepted.
Other writers, outside Australia, are less upbeat. To quote from two: 'The young women settled in badly and most left as soon as they could'(Donal Nolan 'Celtic-Irish' / '[t]hose sent into the outback as agricultural labourers barely survived.'(D Akenson, Irish Diaspora: A primer, p.175).
Who exactly were these young women? Which parts of Ireland did they come from? Where did their confidence, – or desperation, come from? What became of them? Were they being realistic in their expectations? Were they disillusioned? In fact, the same sort of questions may be asked of all of our Irish-Australian famine women, whether family emigrants, workhouse women, foundling orphans, convicts or convict families.
Is it possible to view them through the lens of their famine experience? Or at least try to view them from their own perspective? Look at their history through their own eyes, follow in their footsteps? This is my third challenge.
It's not an easy thing to do. Finding out about the famine in our subject's locality and even surmising the impact it might have had on our subject's psyche, and subsequent life, are approaches we may need to take. It especially means our not accepting official sources at face value. They provide only a limited and slanted view of things –which is not that of the women themselves. Dig deeper. Read the sources 'against the grain'. If necessary, we may have to rearrange the mental furniture we normally use in studying the past.
In the end, our sources may never allow us to get 'inside the head' of individual women. We may never get close enough to know them 'in the round'–except perhaps through intelligent creative fiction, like Evelyn Conlon's Not the same sky (Wakefield Press, 2013).
Finally, our challenge is also about taking care with the language we use. Language is a loaded gun. If I may explain this by means of a few phrases: 'the Atlantic slave trade', the 'Holocaust' and 'pauper immigration'.
My first full-time university appointment in the 1960s was in the West Indies. For me, a phrase such as 'the Atlantic Slave trade' is a Pandora's box, full of memories and meanings. But at its core is the 12 million people bought and sold like chattels, bought and sold like pieces of farm machinery or livestock, people denied their humanity.
One of the last courses I taught at Macquarie University before I retired included the Holocaust, the industrial mass murder of 6 million Jewish people and millions of others. It was a subject that troubled me greatly. I found myself insisting upon saying Jewish people as a means of recognising the victims' humanity. Without that recognition of our common humanity, it can happen again and again, as it did in Cambodia, in Rwanda and in the former Yugoslavia.
Even a seemingly innocent phrase such as 'pauper immigration', still current in some quarters when writing about the Earl Grey famine orphans — has different layers of meaning. It carries a class interpretation. It implies that some immigrants are of less value than others, and hence, as human beings. Many of the young famine orphan girls who came here were bilingual, especially those from the west of Ireland. They spoke both Irish and English. The Irish word bochtán (poor person)– contains within it recognition of the poor person's humanity in a way that the phrase, 'pauper immigration' (Madgwick, chapter X) does not. As those young women accommodated themselves to their new Australian circumstances they lost that language, and that world view; they lost that way of looking at the world. I recommend an essay on this very subject by Mairead Nic Craith, Legacy and Loss, towards the end of that brilliant work, Atlas of the Great Irish Famine. p.580.
Is minic a ghearr teanga duine a scornach (it's often a person's tongue/language cuts his throat)
Careful as you go. Mind your language.
John Crowley, William J. Smyth and Mike Murphy (eds.),Atlas of the Great Irish Famine, Cork University Press, Cork, 2012.
Margaret Kelleher, The Feminization of Famine. Expressions of the Inexpressible, Cork University Press, Cork, 1997.
Patricia Lysaght, "Perspectives on women during the Great irish Famine from the Oral Tradition", Bealoideas, 1996-7, pp.63-130
Cormac O'Gráda, Black '47 and Beyond: the Great Irish Famine in History, Economy and Memory, Princeton UP., 1999
Trevor McClaughlin August 2013
Trevor is the author of Barefoot & Pregnant? Irish Famine orphans in Australia (1999 and 2001). He taught History at the University of the West Indies, Essex University and Macquarie University for many years. He is now retired and tries to emulate Geraldine Doyle's husband, affectionately known as 'Horizontal'.
3 thoughts on "Irish Famine Women – a challenge or three"
Deósamh MacUasal says:
The term,the Irish Famine and varients of the same are as repugnant to me as would be reference paid to the Jewish Holocaust as "the Jewish Oxygen Famine"!
Incidently,Oliver Cromwell condemned and delivered thousands of both Scots and Irish men and women and children to the 'Atlantic Slave trade'.
Tintean Editorial Team/FA says:
Indeed he did and it's very little known. There is some fascinating, and terrible, history about the Irish in Barbados. Would you be the man to write about that for us?
« Unanswered Questions About Dr Mannix
Celtic Club Program – March 2014 »


text:
Seadrill's Ultra-Deepwater Rig Starts Work for PEMEX
In April 2011, Seadrill signed a contract with Pemex through its subsidiary, Sea Dragon de México, to provide its West Pegasus ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig for a five-year period. The terms of the deal provide for a fixed operating day rate for the first two years of the contract, and subsequently fixed according to market conditions. Assuming a constant day rate over the five-year term, and excluding the mobilization fee, the contract is valued at approximately US$850 million, corresponding to a US$465,750 day rate; this amount is comparable to the company's existing ultra deepwater semi-submersible rigs' day rates in other parts of the world.
Seadrill is the world's second-largest offshore driller when measured by enterprise value. The company has operations in 50 different countries spanning four continents. The company primarily operates off the coasts of Norway, Brazil and some Asian countries, and has very little exposure to the Gulf of Mexico, unlike its competitor Transocean, the drilling company involved in the ill-fated Macondo well. Seadrill has been going from strength to strength in recent months, and analysts predict that the company's revenues will grow by 6.4% in 2011 to US$4.6 billion. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 154.7; this is reflective of the need to take on debt in order to build the company's assets. The company seems to have had few problems financing its latest infrastructure acquisitions.
Ultra-deepwater rigs command the highest day rates in the offshore drilling industry by a rather large margin: the cash break-even cost per day for each rig including cost, tax and interest expenses and scheduled debt instalments is around US$385,000. Seadrill acquired two rigs, Seadragon I (later renamed West Pegasus) and Seadragon II, from an unnamed bank in January 2011, in a deal valued at US$1.2 billion. Seadrill carried out the acquisition by raising new bank debt, with the rigs themselves serving as security. This debt has a seven-year tenor and a 13-year repayment profile.
The amount Seadrill paid includes project management for the remaining construction period, drilling and handling tools, spares, operations preparations and capitalized interest. Construction of the West Pegasus took place at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore, and finished in January 2011. West Pegasus began its journey to Mexico on April 1st 2011 after a period of testing and training, and after the final elements of the deal between the two companies were decided. Operations commenced in the third quarter of 2011.
The West Pegasus is based on the Moss Maritime CS50 MkII design, and is a high-specification, new generation drilling unit. It is equipped with NOV drilling equipment and has capacity to drill in water depths exceeding 3,000m, and total vertical drilling capacity of over 10,000m. It features a single derrick with a dual pipe handling and offline stand building capabilities for increased efficiency.
The West Pegasus contract is advantageous for both parties. Seadrill's bid for deepwater drilling services was the most-cost efficient and comprehensive, and therefore the most desirable, Pemex said. For Seadrill's part, in addition to finding a customer to pay the day rate for a full five years only a few weeks after the semi-submersible came out of the shipyard, the deal also allows the company to diversify its revenue streams. Seadrill has not focused on the Gulf of Mexico in the past, and this first foray into the region will hopefully serve as a foot in the door and the start of a fruitful and long-lasting relationship with Pemex.
Pemex expects to spend around US$1 billion on the exploration of deepwater assets located in the Perdido folded belt in 2012, drilling three wells in the area during the course of the year. Pemex was due to start drilling these wells in late 2011, but was delayed by the late arrival of the Bicentenario deepwater semi-submersible rig. It is believed that the West Pegasus rig will also be used at Perdido this year.
The Perdido folded belt is located adjacent to the US- Mexican maritime border. Any cross-border reservoirs have yet to be discovered, but in February 2012 Mexico and the US signed the Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreement that put in place guidelines in case any shared reservoirs are discovered. The agreement also put in place a framework for conducting joint inspections of infrastructure on both sides of the border.
MOGR2012