Earlier this month, we put out a report detailing what was at stake for Washington state -- down to the county level -- if the Affordable Care Act was thrown out by the Supreme Court.
The upshot was that more than 800,000 Washingtonians stand to get coverage through the Medicaid expansion OR to get subsidies to help them and their families pay for private insurance.
In addition, the report details the reforms, most of them largely unnoticed by the average person, that have already taken effect. Among these: Young adults can now stay on their parents' health coverage up to age 26, kids can't be denied insurance because they're sick, small businesses get tax rebates if they provide health coverage for workers, no caps on lifetime benefits, etc.
The most significant reforms will take place in 2014, including the state's new health care exchange, an online marketplace to shop for and compare insurance -- as well as a way for lower- and middle-income families to get substantial help paying for it.
The full report is at http://www.insurance.wa.gov/legislative/reports/Whats-at-stake.pdf.
OLYMPIA, Wash. – Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler expressed great relief with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Affordable Care Act and said Washington state is now well ahead of most states in reforming its health care system.
Many reforms are currently in place, but key benefits and programs take effect in 2014, including Washington's new Health Exchange, federal subsidies to help 477,000 people afford health insurance, an expansion of Medicaid for 328,000 poor childless adults and the ban on insurance companies from denying people coverage if they're sick.
Public access to health insurance rate requests.
A new marketplace in Washington state for health insurance in 2014 – called an exchange – where people can shop for health plans, compare their options and apply for subsidies.
A temporary health insurance program (PCIP-WA) for people with pre-existing health conditions.


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text:
Le Breiðafjörður est un large fjord d'Islande situé entre les fjords du nord-ouest (Vestfirðir) au nord et la péninsule de Snæfellsnes au sud.

Description
Le Breiðafjörður est ouvert sur l'océan Atlantique à l'ouest et mesure 125 kilomètres de longueur et 50 kilomètres dans sa plus grande largeur pour une superficie de .

On y trouve environ  îles, dont celle habitée de Flatey. Le ferry Baldur relie Brjánslækur, Flatey et Stykkishólmur deux fois par jour.

Sa moitié orientale constitue une aire protégée, l'aire de conservation du Breiðafjörður, en raison de la présence de nombreuses espèces de dauphins.

Références

Liens externes

  Ferry Baldur

Fjord en Islande
Fjord de l'océan Atlantique
Vestfirðir
Vesturland
Liste indicative du patrimoine mondial en Islande

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The Disappearing Girl
1:25 PM EST on November 8, 2021
Allsport
By Felix Kent
In 2005, when I was 24, I called my father's mother from a bus stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to tell her that I had broken up with my boyfriend, which is not always a sad thing, but which was in this case. My grandmother had gotten quite deaf, and cellphones weren't as good as they are now, and she couldn't understand what I was saying.
"What?" she said, "what?"
Then she said, "What?" again.
Eventually, audibly, she gave up. "Well, that's nice," she said.
My grandmother died in 2014. This year I finally did something I have been meaning to do for a long time, which is track down a short story I read at her house when I was a kid. Despite how much time I have spent thinking about this story over the years and the fact that tracking it down was more difficult than I had expected, finding it was not all that satisfying, except that I had wanted to do it and now I had.
There were a lot of things I couldn't remember about the context of the story and a certain number that I could. I remembered that it had appeared in a fashion magazine; I was moderately confident that the magazine was Mademoiselle, which hasn't existed since 2001. I was pretty sure it was an issue from the 1940s, although I didn't remember which year or month. I didn't remember the author or the title. I remembered the plot perfectly, though.
In the story, a young woman in college named Fanny feels herself to be fat and is unhappy about it. After reading a newspaper advice column, she develops the ability to walk (and swim, and play tennis) in her dreams and rapidly loses weight in real life. Eventually, she disappears entirely; a dorm-mate finds her mussed bed with nobody in it.
It is on its face a story about a woman losing weight. Weight is a topic on which we are so fucked up that I do not know how to write about it without replicating and spreading that fucked-up energy. It is like the T-1000: You think you are shredding it apart, but all you are doing is allowing it to re-form, closer now, on your side of the bars. It is obvious that we should not have opinions about other people's weight, its causes, or its consequences, not just because those opinions are almost certainly wrong, but also because other people's bodies are not our business. But like many of the things about which we are the most fucked up, the topic exerts its own force, making our best efforts at discussion just one more piece of our fucked-up weight obsession.
So, told the way I've told it here, the story sounds like a cautionary tale with liberatory intent, a warning to women about the dangers of surrendering their appetites and disappearing from the face of the earth, but in my memory the bleak airlessness of it made it less a story than a mechanism for Fanny to disappear. It left me in the mood I associate with the middle of a depressive episode, when repopulating the world with chaos and hilarity and randomness feels like the hardest work anybody could be called upon to do. I was a depressed kid, worried all the time about the possibility of the world closing itself off to me; the story held the deep fascination of my worst fears coming true.
When, in another context a few years ago, I learned that this kind of story had a name—the conte cruel— I resented it. I wasn't thinking much about this particular story at the time, but the whole genre. I wanted brutality to be a failing instead of central to the story; I wanted to believe that if the story were told properly it could be made to end happily. I wanted that because it is sometimes hard for me to refuse to believe the whisper that says the smallest, saddest version of our lives is the real truth of the world.
Telling my grandmother about my breakup is a thing that happened—how it lands depends a lot on the facts about my grandmother that I surround it with. If I say that my grandmother had cats that she doted on and a devotion to organic cleaning products, and that I lived with her for the spring after I graduated college and that in the evening we drank beer together while I smoked cigarettes and that I cooked for us and learned to drive on her car and bought her jazz records and drove us out to the country to gawk at the farm where she grew up, it exists in one kind of world. If, on the other hand, I say that my grandmother was endlessly, obsessively, preoccupied with what people looked like and once told me that she hoped I never gained weight, or that for Christmas she gave a family member who had previously expressed hurt over not getting presents from her a complimentary planner from her bank, or that she told my father, who offered to take care of a hypothetical future cat in the event of her death, that he was not responsible enough to do so, it exists in another.
Everyone has relatives, and therefore nobody is surprised that all of these things are true. I loved my grandmother a lot; I also had terrible nightmares when I stayed with her as a child. My grandmother had in many ways a very good life, and yet it felt like her desires had narrowed themselves to what she actually had in front of her—that she had ruthlessly carved away any sense of the world's possibilities.
It is probably not a coincidence that it was around the time of her death that I started thinking about finding the short story again. The entire world my grandmother carried with her was in the process of disappearing; it made me want to save the remaining shreds. The magazine was one that she had bought when she was a young woman, before she knew the shape that her life would take, and she had held onto it for 50 years; it was easy to imagine her looking at the advertisements, daydreaming a different self.
I thought finding the story would be easy. I imagined, maybe, an internet community dedicated to the short stories of Mademoiselle, complete with exegeses. If such a community exists, I couldn't find it. I bought a used collection of Mademoiselle short stories and didn't find the one I wanted. I became, temporarily, a member of the UC Berkeley alumni association in order to gain access to Berkeley's library, which is perfect. But it didn't have Mademoiselle, not even in its digital collections. I went to my local public library, which I had not even thought of at first, so great was my fixation on the dream spaceship of the Berkeley main stacks. My local reference desk told me that the main branch had all the back issues of Mademoiselle on microfilm. They called the main branch to verify this. When they called they learned that although the catalog said that they had the magazine on microfilm, the actual microfilm itself was not where it was supposed to be. They took my phone number and told me they would call me if they found it. They did not call me.
Whenever I am trying to do something and it is more difficult than I expect it to be, I become convinced that the difficulty is the result of my failure to do the thing properly. Untaken paths hover in my peripheral vision, with blinking neon signs promising immediate success. The friction of trying, rather than just being a part of the way the world is, seems like the product of my own shortcomings. In this case, of course, it was true: If I had just hung on to the magazine in the first place I would not have been put to any trouble at all. It is not helpful to think about these things in these ways, but it was impossible to stop myself from doing so. I gave up the search for a couple of years.
This year I found the story. I had a week off work and in between going to see the local tourist traps, I wanted to get this matter resolved. The pandemic had slowed the world to where that didn't seem like an impossible waste of time. I started at the main branch of my local library, which still showed Mademoiselle back issues in its catalog, but still, apparently, hadn't found the physical objects. Instead, they gave me a link to the Internet Archive, where I couldn't find it. Then they gave me the phone number for the San Francisco Public Library. San Francisco only had later back issues. The helpful man on the phone suggested that maybe Mademoiselle used to be Glamour. I was pretty sure he was wrong, but I wasn't entirely sure. I acted as if I was entirely sure, though. San Francisco suggested I email the SFMOMA library. I emailed the SFMOMA library. They didn't have it, but they gave me a link to WorldCat. WorldCat said the UC Davis library had it, but actually, Davis only had later issues. Sacramento State, a two-hour drive away, maybe had it. I called Sacramento State. They went into the stacks and verified that the microfilm was actually there. The next day I drove up.
The story is called The Little Girl Who Wasn't There. It appeared in the 1940 college issue of Mademoiselle, and it was written by Angela Wall, Barnard class of 1940. It features debonair black and white illustrations. I was a little let down to find that it wasn't written by a famous person. If a famous person had written it, my fixation could have been evidence of my unimpeachable taste. Instead, maybe, the fixation was just the product of this being The Thing That I Had Remembered. It was an instantiation of the anthropic principle of old junk. Because so many of the other pieces of the world where I was a child reading on the floor of my grandmother's farmhouse had gone from real life and were or would be going from my memory, I had concluded that this one, which remained, had to be important. We're here because we're here because we're here.
The amount of effort I put into finding the story probably amounted, all told, to a couple of days of work, which is not that much, but which felt like a lot. I know now how it ended—in success!—but the doing felt hard and gross, pointless even if I found the story, more pointless still if I didn't. And even once I got to Sacramento State, finding the story was not actually all that easy. I was given a visitor's pass that entitled me to two hours on the microfilm machine. I was cocky; I remained cocky once I realized that I didn't know how to work the microfilm machine and somebody had to come and show me how. I remained cocky, although also hungry and suffering from eye strain, for another hour and a half, at which point I realized I was running out of time. I went downstairs to see if I could get more time. I was told I could not, by a very pleasant woman behind the desk. This made me wish I had dressed more professionally for my visit; I thought she might have taken me more seriously then. I bought myself a large coffee and some kind of disgustingly sweet muffin; I glared at some undergrads who I thought were not using proper line etiquette. Then I remembered how joining the UC Berkeley alumni association gave me access to their library; I wondered if joining the Sacramento State alumni association would give me more time on the microfilm machine. I went to the alumni building. The woman in the alumni building told me that she had no idea if I could get extra library privileges that way, but that a) anybody could join the Sacramento State alumni association and b) it was free to join the Sacramento State alumni association. Armed with my alumni membership, I called the front desk of the library. The man I talked to seemed baffled about my alumni association membership. "We can give you more time," he said. "We extend the hours all the time." He turned out to be the man who had helped with the microfilm machine. I went back in. It was maybe 45 minutes after that that I found the story.
This kind of tedious detail is totally absent from the story itself, which imagines a world in which the friction of effort is entirely removed. The failure to even try to explain how Fanny's dream-walking causes her to lose weight disconcerted and delighted me as a child, but it goes farther than that. Once Fanny loses the weight, all the things she wants—to be fair, it's really only dates—come to her immediately. She doesn't have to worry about getting new clothes or suffer through talking to people. She has a wonderful time on the one date she goes on, and is proclaimed unanimously the belle of the ball. Her only concern is whether or not the weight will come back.
It's exactly this that makes the story so brutal, more brutal in the re-reading than I had even remembered. We don't know anything about Fanny's inner life before or after the weight loss except what she thinks about how she looks. She gets good grades, but that's just presented as a natural result of her datelessness and free time. If she has friends, or siblings, or anybody that she loves, the story doesn't tell us—it takes all of that away from her long before her physical disappearance. Anybody's life, told this way, can be made an exercise in the mechanical working out of our saddest expectations.
A truism of writing is that details should only be included if they will matter to the reader, that just because something happened doesn't make it important or even necessary. I believe in this, in the abstract; I struggle with it in the particular. What is the point of writing about my relationship with grandmother if I can't preserve all of her, embed her into the page completely? What is the point of saying I went to the library at Sacramento State if I leave out the man who helped me figure out the microfilm machine or the muffin or the girls in line?
This is what I know about Angela Wall, Barnard, Class of 1940. That the first couple of years after college she worked for an advertising agency and then a newspaper. That she got married after that. That her husband, when he died in 1993, rated a big obituary in the Hartford Courant, but that Angela had been dead for 23 years by then. That she had two children, and that her daughter grew up to be a reporter, who also rated a big obituary in the Hartford Courant. That Angela was active in the Barnard Alumnae Association. That she died of breast cancer. I was not able to find anything else that she wrote. I could populate those facts out from my imagination in a whole variety of ways, but she would remain just as gone as she was before I went looking for her story.
Felix Kent@fkent750
essays,

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
David Cullison - Senior Pastor
David was raised in Evansville, IN attending Vogel Grade School, North High School and the University of Southern Indiana. He graduated from Southwestern Southern Baptist Seminary in Forth Worth, TX in 1986 with a Masters of Divinity. He pastored churches in Bloomfield, IN, Pulaski, TN, and Fayette, AL. He came to First Southern in 2008. He and his wife Kim were married in 1982 after they both graduated from USI. They have two children: a son Jesse and a daughter Christine.
Reggie Haire - Music Minister
Reggie has served as Music Minister at First Southern Baptist Church since July, 2001. Before moving to Evansville, he served churches in Texas, North Carolina and Georgia. He graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor's degree in music education and from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Church Music degree. He and his wife, Alice, were married in 1980 and have a son, Joel.
Jackson Van Dyke - Student Minister
Jackson grew up riding four-wheelers and playing video games in Harrisburg, Illinois. He's been in student ministry now for fifteen years and enjoys every part of it from dodgeball to musical counseling. He's very happily married to his incredible wife Megan and they two sons named Cooper and Carter. He is a graduate of Mid-Continent University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
Marcia Baumberger - Children's Ministry Director
Beverly Gibbs - Pastoral Secretary, Senior Adult Ministry Director
Carolyn Gulick - Receptionist, Secretary
Hala Bachynsky - Housekeeping
Kim Cullison - Bookkeeper
JASON SOUTHWELL - Recreation Director
EVAN WATSON - GRAPHIC DESIGNER
CHURCH VALUES
FSBC Constitution and By-Laws, Church Officers
FSBC Constitution and By-Laws, Membership
FSBC Constitution and By-Laws, Church Finance
FSBC Constitution and By-Laws, Committees
FSBC Constitution and By-Laws, Program Organization
FSBC Constitution and By-Laws, Church Meetings / Amendments
Basic Beliefs (Link to Southern Baptist Convention Website)
First Southern Baptist Church - 25 S Cullen Ave. Evansville, Indiana 47715
FSBC EVANSVILLE FACEBOOK
BIBLE STUDY - 9:00 AM
WEDNESDAY EVENING SERVICE - 6:30 PM
FSBCYOUTHMEDIA ON YOUTUBE
SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE - 10:15 AM
CROSSOVER YOUTH SERVICE - 5:30 PM
SERMON NOTES ON CLYP.IT
SUNDAY EVENING SERVICE - 6:30 PM


Please contact KIPDADSS.procurement@kipda.org if you would like a fillable version of the document.
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text:
Mark Galvin (* 22. Juni 1955 in San Francisco) ist ein ehemaliger irischer Autorennfahrer.

Karriere als Rennfahrer

Mark Galvin kam in Kalifornien zur Welt, zog mit seinen Eltern jedoch schon im Kleinkindalter nach Irland und wuchs in der Nähe von Dublin auf. Während seiner Karriere fuhr Galvin parallel Formel-3- und Sportwagenrennen. Er ging in der Britischen Formel-3-Meisterschaft ebenso an den Start, wie im französischen wie italienischen Championat. Auch in der Euroserie war er bei einigen Rennen gemeldet. Die beste Platzierung im Endklassement einer Meisterschaft dieser Rennformel war der 12. in der britischen 1986 (Meister Andy Wallace).

Galvin fuhr Sportwagenrennen unter anderen für Spice Engineering, EMKA Racing von Steve O'Rourke und Mazdaspeed. Für Mazdaspeed feiert er seinen größten Erfolg im internationalen Motorsport. Beim 24-Stunden-Rennen von Le Mans 1987 war er Partner von Dave Kennedy und Pierre Dieudonné im Mazda 757. Das Trio steuerte der Wankelmotor-Rennwagen an die siebte Stelle der Gesamtwertung und gewann die Klasse der IMSA-GTP-Fahrzeuge. Im Ziel hatte das Team 36 Runden Rückstand auf die Sieger Hans-Joachim Stuck/Derek Bell/Al Holbert im Werks-Porsche 962C.

Statistik

Le-Mans-Ergebnisse

Weblinks

 Mark Galvin bei der Driver Database
 Mark Galvin bei Racing Sports Cars

Einzelnachweise

Rennfahrer (Irland)
Rennfahrer der 24 Stunden von Le Mans
Sportwagen-WM-Rennfahrer
Geboren 1955
Mann
Ire


text:
On 'Colbert,' Oliver Stone Has Nothing Negative… At All… to Say About Vladimir Putin
"When I have an Oliver Stone [film] on, I want to talk about politics, I want to talk about philosophy, I want to talk about what is truth, what is not truth," Stephen Colbert said on the Late Show last night, prefacing his talk with the director on his Showtime documentary series — an unprecedented collection of interviews with Vladimir Putin, held between 2015 and 2017. Though Colbert spoke that all very earnestly, he also must have known that the conversation he was about to commence would be a debate, given recent comments Stone has made to the press surrounding his Showtime documentary, The Putin Interviews. This wasn't an easy or flattering interview — not the kind, in other words, that many critics have claimed his encounters with Putin turned out to be.
As it's been hinted at in the press Stone's done for The Putin Interviews, apparently the 20 hours the director spent with Vladimir Putin were enough to gain Stone's respect for a man best known as an international bully who's famously hostile to freedom of the press and to gay rights (descriptors that could, of course, just as easily be used for a certain buffoon currently residing in the White House.) This certainly seemed to be the case in a clip Colbert from one of the interviews — in it, Stone asks Putin how he feels about the ways he's portrayed in the American media in the wake of election meddling allegations, then doesn't follow up when Putin asserts that his administration didn't meddle. (Speaking of which.)
"What do you say to the people who say this is a fawning interview of a brutal dictator?" Colbert asks Stone, after the clip finishes.
"You have to be polite because it was a two-year deal… it's politeness, it's curiosity, and it's the way you ask the questions," responds Stone. "He respected me, he respected my work, and he knew I would give him a fair hearing."
Colbert asks the very straightforward question: do you like Vladimir Putin?
Stone responds, "I'm amazed at his calmness, his courtesy, [and how] he never said anything bad about anybody. He's been through a lot. He's been insulted and abused in the press…" He pauses briefly for a moment after this, as, at this point, the audience starts laughing at him.
"[Was there] anything negative about him you found…? Anything? Or does he have your dog in a cage someplace?" asks Colbert. Stone has nothing.
T.J. Miller, who appeared later in the episode of the Late Show, published a series of tweets as he watched. "It was very much insane," he wrote, describing what was unfolding, before then seemingly going back and deleting the tweets.
The first episode of Stone's documentary aired last night, and there are three left. A lot of the early reviewers only had access to two of the episodes — the ones in which Stone emphasized on Colbert that he was trying to earn Putin's trust. (It appears Putin also earned his.) On Colbert, Stone asserted that he goes harder on the Russian President in the latter episodes. The Guardian's Mark Lawson corroborates this — to an extent — in his review of all four interviews: "Especially in the later episodes, [Stone] presses hard on issues including allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, Syria, rumors that Putin has zillions of roubles in secret Cypriot bank accounts, and the fear that his leadership — which could stretch to 24 years if he wins another presidential term next year — risks becoming a dictatorship cosmetically disguised by democratic process." Even so, he writes, "It is often said that the most vital aspect of documentary-making is access and, by that measure, Stone's project is a triumph. But, in a political film, stance also matters, and that is where Stone's many detractors will attack."
Putin is one of the most powerful people in the world, and is also elusive to the U.S. press; this kind of access, these prolonged portraits, seem like a big deal, and in order to get them, one would understand the concessions one might make in the beginning. But the very point of journalism is to give us tools with which to deconstruct the performances of the powerful. It is, indeed, in the this country's best interest to somehow manage to balance criticizing Putin when, say, he does something like annexing Crimea, or makes a new effort to suppress the free press, or potentially hacks a U.S. election. It's also in our best interest not to make total enemies with Russia, because a second Cold War doesn't sound like the loveliest.
But that compromise should be up to diplomats to figure out: there's no reason a documentarian who's not a propagandist should have such difficulty spotting any potential shortcomings in Vladimir fucking Putin. (Even, if only to, say, comment on the fact that in the interviews Putin jokingly refers to knowing "judo" if a gay man came onto him in a shower.)
Watch the clip:


text:
Intraocular lymphoma is a rare malignant form of eye cancer. Intraocular lymphoma may affect the eye secondarily from a metastasis from a non-ocular tumor or may arise within the eye primarily (primary intraocular lymphoma, PIOL). PIOL is a subset of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL). PCNSL (and PIOL) are most commonly a diffuse large B-cell immunohistologic subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of lymphomas. The most common symptoms of PIOL include blurred or decreased vision due to tumor cells in the vitreous. Most cases of PIOL eventuate to central nervous system involvement (PCNSL) while only 20% of PCNSL lead to intraocular (PIOL) involvement. PIOL and PCNSL remain enigmas because both structures are immunologically privileged sites (the brain sits behind the blood–brain barrier and the retina sits behind the blood-retinal barrier) and so do not normally have immune cells trafficking through these structures. What is more, while the vast majority of PCNSL in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is related to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the development of PCNSL and PIOL in immunocompetent patients is unknown and shows no general relation to infectious DNAs.

In immunocompetent patients, PIOL most commonly affects patients in their fifties and sixties. AIDS patients typically develop the disease earlier in their lives.

PIOL affects the sub-retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), can invade into the retina, the vitreous, and the optic nerve. Ophthalmoscopy frequently reveals creamy yellow-to-orange colored subretinal infiltrates. Fluorescein angiography may reveal "leopard spot" patterns due to sub-RPE infiltrates that stain early and progressively or mottling of the RPE due to hyper- and hypofluorescent window defects.

PIOL is known as a masquerade syndrome because it frequently simulates the signs and symptoms of uveitis. As such, PIOL is frequently treated with corticosteroids. Occasionally, PIOL has mimicked a retinitis and has been treated with antiviral medication. It is not until the supposed uveitis fails to respond to treatment, becomes recalcitrant to treatment, or shows worsening with discontinuation of corticosteroid treatment that another cause is sought out. If PIOL is suspected, it is important to first obtain a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the brain to rule out cerebral involvement (PCNSL). If MRI is negative, lumbar puncture with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology should be performed to further rule out CNS disease. Histopathologic identification of atypical lymphocytes is considered the gold standard for diagnosing PCNSL/PIOL. If CSF cytology is negative or inconclusive and PIOL is suspected, a vitrectomy is often performed with cytologic analysis. Furthermore, adjunctive testing including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification to identify monoclonal rearrangements of the immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene (for B-cell lymphomas) or T-cell receptor (TCR, for the very rare T-cell lymphomas) can be performed.

Previously, radiation therapy was the mainstay treatment for PCNSL/PIOL, but methotrexate has now become first-line.

References

Lymphoma
Ocular neoplasia
Epstein–Barr virus–associated diseases


text:
30/07/2018 Listening / Reading / Visiting / Watching
Seaside, cinema, content and concept
Star Wars Rebels Season 4 got better towards the end and provided an explanation of what the devil happened to Ahsoka when she was fighting Darth Vader in a previous season. I also stumbled across the news that they are finishing off Star Wars Clone Wars which gave me a little nerdgasm. Incidentally the bug in Battlefront II not awarding the trophy on Playstation for reaching Level 50 has been removed by patch 1.15. I knew you were worried.
On another nerdy note I've started watching Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema on BBC4. He's covered heist films and romcoms so far and basically confirmed a lot of what I knew already but in a much better presented manner than my ramblings at Siggy when we watch films. Plus he's got a good eye for old films and callbacks to classics which I don't have. Incidentally I've been invited to provide a talk to my local Rotary Club about 'what makes a good story' so watching the show is a bit like homework for me. I'll talk more about the talk once it's happened. I'm currently trying to decide what to include and how to talk about the structure of my novels (which I'm told they're actually interested in, along with answers to deep questions such as 'where do you get your ideas?'). Oh boy.
I was also pleased to find and watch Stewart Lee Content Provider on BBC iPlayer. One of the highlights was his section on Game of Thrones which was similar to audio clip on YouTube below but with pictures and no annoying woman talking over the top of him:
He did his usual thing of pretending the gig was going well and blaming the audience in the first half before settling down somewhat in the second half providing a rant against people under the age of 40 – including the section on GoT which by the time the gig was filmed he'd honed down to perfection even though all his material for the section was copied off the side of a mug in HMV.
We also watched a couple of films – Hitman: Agent 47 on Channel Four and Paddington 2 on Amazon. The hitman film was not a sequel to the original adaptation from the popular computer game and wasn't particularly good despite starring Homeland's Rupert Friend and Star Trek's Zachary Quinto. The main problem for me was the wooden performance by Hannah Ware not helped by a dire script. I remember the orignal film at least having some elements of fun about it. The Paddington film on the other hand was great fun, with some good computer animation and a stand out performance from Hugh Grant as the caddish old actor Phoenix Buchanan.
We had a little trip away to North Wales last weekend before during and after the heatwave waved goodbye. Here's Pensarn beach again, this time with the sun out and more people than I've seen in a long time:
Below is Llandudno on 'Furnace Friday' when the weather took a turn and normal service was resumed i.e. it started raining. A lot. We went to a chippy and feasted on anaemic chips watching the seagulls circling expectantly above us beneath the gathering clouds. The chips were lousy but we've had a good tip of where to go next time for some award winning potato based scram. The chippy was giving away buckets and spades with their kids portions. It made me laugh because the beach is mostly comprised of pebbles. Not much sand castle action to be had when the tide's in.
On the Saturday, between showers, we walked up to Gwrych Castle. We were too late to visit properly and stopped at the 'No Public Access' sign, but I've made a mental note to make an effort to go and see it properly when I get the chance. I used to trespass quite regularly on the grounds as a teenager and once went officially to see a jousting tournament. It's nice to see that someone is making an effort to keep it from falling down. For more information and better photos have a look at the official web page here: http://gwrychtrust.co.uk/.
While I was in North Wales I had the time to finish reading A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. I bought this from a charity shop on the basis that I had vaguely enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time. I'm not sure why the dog book won Whitbread Book of the Year, but it was certainly was thought-provoking, heart-warming and at times amusing.
A Spot of Bother to my mind was a superior book. It concerns the trials and tribulations of a recently retired father on the edge of breakdown who thinks he has cancer and discovers his wife is having an affair with an old work colleague of his, his grown-up daughter who isn't sure if she should be marrying her boyfriend and the grown-up son who's homosexual relationship is on the rocks. So a family farce which if made into a TV series would be a sight more enjoyable that Channel Four's Flowers which we once again found heavy going. The book is well worth a read by anyone at any stage in life.
And finally… what to say about the Mercury Prize nominated Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino by the Arctic Monkeys? I listened to what's been described as a concept album on Spotify last night with my headphones on, today in the car (I bought the CD – not sure if this is the first one this year) and I'm listening to it now on my computer while typing this.
I'm slightly disappointed that all the tracks are quite low-tempo but I like how joined up the album feels and it triggered thoughts of David Bowie or Mansun's epic and vastly underrated Attack of the Grey Lantern. The story isn't completely clear, even after perusing the lyric sheet, but Alex Turner's vocals are amazingly evocative and he still has a quirky turn of phrase. I miss the energy of their early stuff, but I bought this on physical media because I simply can't get enough of their music. I give it four out of five (there's a joke in there, trust me)…
What do you mean, you've never seen Blade Runner?
AmazonBBCChannel 4comedyFilmsci-fiTV
Red Arrows, Red Chillis, Churros and Chairs
Alphabetical CD Marathon: Queens of the Stone Age
I want to go to a "chippy" also….the U.S. needs these. Love the post.
couchmagpie says:
They are great British institution, but Siggy and I are very particular about our chips and difficult to please…


TTOCs must establish rapport with students quickly and use management strategies that work immediately. The workshop will explore the basics of classroom management and how TTOCs can adapt them for their work. Practical strategies for creating a positive environment and taking constructive action with individual students will be explored.


VIENNA- 6th– 8th July, the European Seniors' Union (ESU) organised, with support of the Wilfried Martens Centre (WMCES) and the Politische Akademie der ÖVP (Polak), its 9th Summer Academy concerning 'Europe's Demographics: From challenges into innovative and coordinated opportunities'.
Ingred Korosec, president of the Österreichischer Seniorenbund (ÖSB) and Member of Vienna Regional Parliament opened the Summer Academy at the Politische Akademie in Vienna. Followed by our president An Hermans who introduced this year's topics: Silver economy, cooperation between generations and the potential of seniors in economy and politics. MEP Heinz K. Becker and Mag. Andreas Prenner spoke about Silver Economy. Prenner, from the Federation of Austrian Industries, stated: "today many seniors feel younger and are travelling digitally with positive effects for their mental and physical mobility and their well-being". MEP Heinz Becker highlighted the main topics in the future European politics and introduced the agenda of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU. All speakers and participants missed the presence of Mrs Marilies Flemming, who was the leading and inspiring person of all previous Summer Academies.
Mag. Sophie Psihoda from ÖPIA; the Austrian platform for interdisciplinary ageing matters, was our youngest speaker in Vienna and ended the first day with a speech about "Vision AAL – innovative concepts for the target group of senior citizens". She said: "ageing should be seen as an interdisciplinary case and the independence of older people should be preserved as long as possible".
What followed was an open discussion; moderated by our secretary general Guido Dumon, about the questionnaire that was send to the participating organisations in preparation to the Summer Academy. The focus of these questions was on the coming EU elections. All participants had the chance to exchange their ideas and activity-plans in the run-up for the elections. They could also make recommendations for an ESU strategy. This leaded to a vivant discussion and interesting exchange of initiatives.
Economic recovery: as a precondition for social benefits and prosperity.
Murphy and Christian Kremer, the EPP deputy Secretary-General, assigned great importance to EPP-affiliated associations, the ESU among them.
On the last day we focused on: "European elections and social media" with two keynote speakers: Mr Matteo Albania, EPP Communication and Marketing Officer and Mrs. Sophie Valtiner, Social Experte of ÖVP. They answered all the questions of the participants and… encouraged them to be more active in the social media.
In her concluding notes, ESU President Prof. An Hermans thanked all those involved for their presence and participation of all kinds. The Summer Academy has become a collaborative effort and we are all looking foreword to its tenth anniversary, she said. She expressed her believe that the knowledge and experience gained in Vienna will be incorporated into the political work at home.


The Norwegian Red Deers are extremely shy and elusive creatures, due to extensive hunting. They feed during night, and move from the feeding grounds to the daytime resting places as the sun rises. I have been following them for a few years, documenting this part of their life.


The last Superpop was 26th January 1980, not 19th. I've got it somewhere. If I find it, i'll post the top 100.
I don't think I ever listened to the Network Chart in 1985 (I listened to the Radio 1 Top 40 every week in those days, and until about October 1985 still recorded every new entry to the Radio 1 top 40) so these charts are all new to me and make for a good read.
Great to have those Network Charts. Any chance to see 1987?
Robbie - I'm idly curious to know what made you cease listening to the Radio 1 Top 40 in Oct '85 having listened to it so religiously for so many years? Did you have a change in lifestyle that precluded it? I used to struggle to listen/record every Sunday in the '80s (I'm a tad younger than you so as a child I was at the behest of whatever my parents or other commitments dicated and that meant some Sundays were non-starters!). By the '90s I had more freedom to commit to a Sunday 2 (eventually 3) hour slot every week though even then it was hard to aspire to recording from it every week, even if I managed to listen.
Or did you do that most heinous of chart crimes and move to listening to the Network Chart?! If you say you never heard that in 1985 then I assume not. Do you still retain the cassettes on which you recorded every new entry? How fascinating if you do, although you must surely have missed the odd week if only owing to holiday, illness etc and so must've been kicking yourself at missing that vital week's newbies, especially if any of them dipped out after only 1 week?! I don't know of anyone that determined to track the hits; myself and everyone I knew simply recorded the entries they liked, not every one regardless!
Do you still retain the cassettes on which you recorded every new entry? How fascinating if you do, although you must surely have missed the odd week if only owing to holiday, illness etc and so must've been kicking yourself at missing that vital week's newbies, especially if any of them dipped out after only 1 week?! I don't know of anyone that determined to track the hits; myself and everyone I knew simply recorded the entries they liked, not every one regardless!
Graham - that Phil Hurtt (two t's actually) record was on the second ever Radio 1 Top 40 show on 19 November 1978 when there were 11 new entries, so there was a lot to pack in as he featured 17 records in the first hour! I checked my recording of that show and I made it 2 min 29 sec, but what is two seconds between friends, eh?!
It's a shame you guys only seemed to record the new entries from the Top 40, although I guess I was guilty of that as well as I would just record my favourite songs rather than whole shows as to me, the links and jingles are probably the most historical part!
Thankfully about 10 years ago I discovered there was a collectors' market for the old Radio 1 chart shows, and I now have over 700 part / full shows in my archive ( mainly up to the early 90s but I have some from later that decade) and this also includes not just Top 40s but also charts from the likes of Alan Freeman when he returned to Radio 1 on Pick Of The Pops in 1989 (puts Blackburn to shame in my opinion).
Thanks to all who shared their personal experiences of the chart shows of their youth. I remain impressed by anyone who created such consistent and complete archives of these shows for any period, and wish I'd done likewise now - as Top40 has remarked, with hindight the parts with the DJ's voice etc is probably just as interesting as hearing the songs; at least that is so in the days before the chart show was turned into just another tedious interactive text-a-thon for ten-year-olds and presented by inane jocks whose main role was to chat skittishly and occasionally mention a chart position.
Top40 your archive sounds like it should be better than Radio 1's own. I doubt they have as comprehensive a coverage of the early years of the full forty - I wish I could help you but all my early '80s stuff bar one or two sides of C-90 has gone, and later material has been edited to be as DJ-free as possible for chosen tracks and placed on blank CDs. And in any case it was only selected songs I liked at the time, not the full shows or even every new entry. I concur with Graham's point about TDK D-90s though; I always favoured them as the best cassette option and only once or twice out of hundreds purchased did they ever fail on me (that was probably more to do with capstan/pinch roller problems on the machine!).
We used to get them quite cheaply and in plentiful supply as TDK were based in Croydon initially, then moved to my home town (Redhill) in 1990 where they were based for almost 20 years I believe.
There have always been rumours about the accuracy of the BMRB chart but the big downside of both the Record Business and MRIB charts would be that they didn't have any returns from Woolworth. Did they even get any returns from Smiths or Boots?
Woolworth accounted for between a fifth and a quarter of the total UK singles market and they had a specific demographic. Mainstream artists such as Cliff Richard sold significantly better through them.
I don't beleiev RB or MRIB had a truly representative chart panel.
RB were better than MRIB. Infact RB had a better sample than both BMRB & MRIB. BMRB (& even early Gallup charts) only got about 220 shops a week in perhaps over usage of Woolworths, Boots, Smiths.
You had RB giving a full 300 poll each week. Only one BMRB #1, escaped RB. St Winifred's School Choir (which was probably caught up in a missed week on Sunday 28th Dec 1980). Most "other" RB extra #1s, were BMRB midweek #1s, except "Baker Street" & in February 1982, the contrast was practically unnoticeable, as BMRB were doing a Sat to Fri poll, to RB's Fri to Thurs. On one particular week, the top 15 matched in both charts.
MRIB was rather caught up in Network Chart Independant Radio airplay, in it's first couple of years. Plus it never did a complete week's sample or covered weekend sales. Stuck in a Mon to Thurs sales market & the airplay added, to account for the loss of 2 days sales. Though big business for ILR, as it lost Radio One some 3 milion listeners, over a 18 month period. With many Sunday afternoons on Radio One in 1985 - 87, giving the late Jimmy Savile, the biggest listening figures of the week.
That was a big downside of it which helped fan-based acts in the week of release as they sold relatively more copies on Monday.
I was never sure whether MRIB completely ignored end of week sales or continued to gather them and used them when compiling year end charts?
Some funny things turned up - they had Cliff Richard's Mistletoe & Wine as having sold over 1m copies - something like a third more than Gallup. In 1991 Diana Ross released When You Tell Me one week ahead of KLF and Tammy Wynette's Justified And Ancient- on their chart both entered immediately and Diana was above KLF every week but in their year end chart she was in the 30s while KLF was in the 20s so there was something kooky about their methodology.
Thank you a lot, Graham!
It's great to see those 1987 Network Charts! Absolutely fantastic!
Will post a message on this thread when they are up!
Looking forward to see your updates.
Thanks for these excellent bits of info. I just wonder didn't the network chart start on 30 September 1984? I believe this was the national launch but was on Capital Radio ONLY from 19 August 1984.
If you have any 1984 Network Charts please can we see them?
Also, is anyone able to provide Indie charts after the first week in Jan 1980?
And, Record Business from 1978 and first half of 1979? If anyone has any info, that would be most appreciated.
Did you ever find that illusive last copy of Superpop from 26 Jan 1980? Thanks.
Hi Graham Thanks very much for that.
I just wondered do you have the 1987-89 network chart scans? Thanks.


text:
Report: Sport Footwear Sales Flattish in 2008
Posted by SGB Media | Feb 16, 2009 | Uncategorized, Update
The SportsOneSource Group is projecting that Sport Footwear sales remained relatively flat in fiscal 2008. In comments made during the WSA Financial Conference managed by Susquehanna International Group, the industry market research firm and trade publisher revealed preliminary estimates that Sport Footwear sales grew just 0.3% to $18.4 billion in fiscal 2008 through January 2009, compared to $18.4 billion in the prior year.
The business grew 2.6% in fiscal 2007. "Sales declined in the low-single-digits in the first quarter, roughly in line with decreases seen at the end of fiscal 2007," said James Hartford, president, CEO and chief market analyst for The SportsOneSource Group, which also publishes this newsletter. "Sales in the second quarter inched up in the very-low-single-digits and accelerated a but in the third quarter, but posted a low– to mid-single-digit decline in the fourth quarter," said Hartford.
The final fourth quarter trend was seen as a positive against the market in general and was much better than it was expected to be in the middle of December, when sales were down in the mid-single-digits to low-teens. The consumer apparently waited until Christmas week and the week after to make their purchases.
While the recession has hit hard in every sector of retailing, Sport Footwear continues to outperform the rest of the teen market place. Given the poor comps posted for retail for January, the low-single-digit sales decline for the month in Sport Footwear was also seen as somewhat positive.
The full year results were impacted by a 3.2% decline in the women's business, reversing its trend from the prior year. The men's business moved into positive territory again after a decline in 2007. The kids' business saw positive results, but far off the trend seen in 2007. (see chart page 2)
Average selling prices at retail increased approximately 2% to $51 per pair for the full year as unit sales declined about 2% for the year. "While ASP's were certainly helped by the shift in gender mix, the men's ASP's were also up nearly 2% as well," said Hartford during his presentation.
Skate remains the hottest category in footwear. Skate footwear in the U.S. represents about $1.8 billion in volume after growing more than a third in 2008. DC was the big winner here with sales up in triple-digits as the brand expanded its presence in the Family Footwear channel. Sandals grew in the high-single-digits for the year. Market share leader adidas grew in the low-teens, while Jordan more than doubled share. Running shoes had a good 2008, improving in the mid-single-digits. Total sales of running in the U.S. is now about $5 billion. Fashion Running (two-thirds of the total market) grew about 30% for the year. Running shoes over $90 (about a quarter of the market) grew in strong double-digits.
Hunting/Field boots posted a strong double-digit gain for the year and other Utility/Heavy Boot categories also posted gains. Light Hiking also posted a double-digit increase for the year as average selling prices improved nearly 10% for the period. Outdoor Casual, Boat Shoes and Winter Boots all posted increases for the year.
Most every other major category had declines in 2008.
Family Footwear, which benefited from strong Skate Footwear sales and expanded Nike product availability and sales results, and Sport Specialty, which saw gains in Running Specialty and Outdoor Specialty challenged in the fourth quarter, were the only channels to post a sales gain in 2008. Sales at full-line sporting goods declined in the low-singe-digits, while sales at the mall were down in the mid-single-digits. Mall sales were impacted by a reduction of doors as retailers moved to right-size the store count in the market. Internet sales were flat, the first time the channel has not posted solid growth.
The estimates by SportsOneSource are based on analysis of retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanINFO from over 15,000 retail rooftops in the sporting goods, athletic specialty, sport specialty, Internet, mid-tier department stores, family footwear stores, and discount/mass retail channels, as well as data compiled by other various industry trade sources, and a survey of retailers and manufacturers conducted throughout the year.
Retail sales of Sport Footwear for the 2009 retail fiscal year are expected to decline in the low-single-digits as continued retail downsizing cuts into the overall numbers. Average selling prices are expected to decline as well for the year.
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If you like to dress comfortably without sacrificing fashion in the process, this tunic with lattice neckline detail is perfect for you! It allows you to be put together and fashionable while still feeling comfortable.
Materials: 95% viscose, 5% spandex.
It has a relaxed fit. Model is size 2 & wearing small.


Tyson grants contract chicken grower's a "Bill of Rights". Really?
A friend sent me a news article from Watt Ag Net over the weekend about Tyson Foods launching a contract grower's Bill of Rights and I had to laugh, uproariously. My first thought was that it's very presumptuous of the chicken company to imply that American citizens Bill of Rights and its guarantees come from Tyson. Wow, how much kinder can one get?
The bill of rights that Tyson is granting to the farmers the company contracts with to grow chickens is supposed to be an eight-point promise for its farmers. Supposedly other initiatives are included which are "aimed at promoting a more transparent growing process and better communication" between the company and roughly 3,600 independent contract growers.
If you've noticed that I emboldened the word "independent" it's for a reason. Many don't know that the farms that contract with companies, such as Tyson, don't belong to the company, they belong to the individual holding the mortgage payments and they are NOT employees of the company. That single fact invalidates any claim to granting a "bill of rights" to individual persons who just happen to have a contract to grow the company chickens. The relationship between those people and the chicken company is for the purpose of raising company owned chickens to a marketable age. Period!
Changing the wording from "bill of rights" to "pledge" the company goes on to say that a full copy of the "pledge" is available on the Tyson website.
The right for the poultry farmer to terminate the contract with Tyson Foods for any reason or no reason at all by giving a 90-day prior written notice for broilers and turkeys, and a 60-day written notice prior to scheduled removal of poultry from farmers housing for hens and pullets.
Sorry to burst your bubble folks, but the so called "pledge" is a nothing burger. Most of the above is anyone's rights under the law and it's not up to Tyson or any other company to decided that it will pledge these rights to the people it contracts with.
Number 4 is a tricky one and as I always say, it's all in the words, folks! Fixed length contracts have been around for a while and can be terminated for "cause". There's the word that makes it the company's decision, anytime. It's already been decided by the courts that for a contract grower to show harm (wrongful termination of contract, etc.) that person must show overall harm to the entire industry. Secondly, a fixed-length contract is not a guarantee of receiving chickens to raise from the company.
Number 5 should say that the grower can terminate the contract only for cause. Just like the company clause for contract termination. Instead there are a number of requirements for the contact grower to terminate the contract for the reason of allowing the company to make advanced preparations to place their chickens elsewhere.
The right to join an association of contract poultry farmers, number 6, is the one that I found to be so funny. For years contract growers have claimed retaliation by chicken companies for participating in "grower associations". Some have reported threats made by company personnel for even thinking about joining grower associations. Of course, chicken companies have vehemently denied retaliatory actions, but I have to wonder if this new pledge by Tyson is saying that they will NOW allow contract growers to join grower associations and no longer retaliate. For those of you not familiar how this subject works, bluntly said, historically contract growers have been bullied, threatened (sometimes not so nicely), intimidated, and had contracts terminated for being a member of any unapproved by the company, grower association. Especially if you're a vocal member. It's really, really, REALLY, benevolent of Tyson to say it's okay for contract growers to join any association they want to. Under the U.S. Bill of Rights, the First Amendment gives people the right to peaceably assemble, sorry Tyson, it's the law!
Poultry welfare standards are a CYA by the company. In order for the company to be exonerated from any allegations of animal abuse they must say that they have a poultry welfare policy. This statement in the company pledge gives Tyson an out for any wrongdoing. The company can now claim that it's the contract grower at fault because the company has a pledge of providing welfare standards and training. Most chicken companies already do this.
Number 8 is the killer of it all. The right to tell Tyson first, or freely contact the company with concerns.
There go those words again, folks! Carefully read the clause again. It means that if you have any concerns with company behavior, treatment, animal welfare, environmental and public health, or even if you have a tooth ache, etc., you tell the company first. Don't call USDA Packers and Stockyards Administration for violations of the law, don't tell the press, don't allow any camera's on the farm, don't call any environmental, public health, or animal welfare organizations, and for lord's sake don't tell your dog.
If the company makes contract growers sign this pledge, or any document related to this pledge, that contract grower will be bound by it. The pledge will be an addendum to the contract or called company policy. If the contract grower violates any of the signed pledge it will be "cause" for contract termination. However, it might be questionable as to whether this pledge or any related documents can be forcibly imposed upon a person.
Lastly, who in the hell does Tyson and its Einstein's think that they are? Telling people what their rights are and saying that the company will grant those rights. Really? Another ploy to rope people in so they will think that they are investing millions of dollars into chicken house developments so they can raise chickens for such a kindhearted chicken company.
Over the past couple of years, the chicken industry has attracted many new immigrants into the Delmarva Peninsula and encouraged the building of chicken warehouses on mega sized zero land operations. Monetary "incentive bonuses" offered by companies to those caught up in the building frenzy are an added inducement. The zero land operations are chicken warehouses, built from property line to property line, leaving no land unused to spread the exorbitant amount of waste that's produced by theses facilities.
The industry expansion is so huge that state cost share programs are broke. The cost share programs, funded by taxpayers, were supposed to clean up the industrial waste left behind by the industry and that is polluting the waters of the Chesapeake. The programs were never designed to support manure disposal from the large expansion that has been allowed to occur thusly utilizing all of the funds long before all of the mega operations can tap into them. It has gotten so bad that the Maryland Department of Environment is bypassing regulations and allowing the mega structures to be built without the normally required manure disposal plans as well as the dead chicken disposal requirements. There are no taxpayer dollars left to fund adherence of the regulations before the chicken warehouses can be built.
The warehouses, one building being as large as 43,500 square feet in size housing as many as 49,500 chickens each flock, are not the norm that we are used to seeing on the peninsula. Some of the operations contain up to 50 of these warehouses. These are not farms they are part of the mass production assembly line in order to, as the industry claims, feed the world. Unfortunately, the world only takes care of the end product, the highly processed cheap chicken meat, leaving all of the waste behind for good old American taxpayers to foot the bill for cleanup. Not only do we fund the waste cleanup, we also fund the process of dead chicken disposal.
Powers that be in counties on the peninsula have wholeheartedly welcomed the expansion in spite of loud objections voiced by residents. No consideration has been given to environmental and public health, and water and land, issues raised or to the plain ordinary fact that every U.S. citizen has the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
There are not very many happy citizens who have had these warehouses dropped into their communities denying them the right to simple enjoyment of their property. Many cannot go outside of their homes without suffering the stench, ammonia emissions, dust, flies, and many other offensive and unhealthy by-products produced from these mega operations.
Recently it was brought to my attention that the long-time contract chicken farmers in our communities are starting to feel the heat from the industry expansion. Demands of upgrades to existing chicken housing or building of new warehouses is the first step to driving these farmers out of business. It's standard operating procedure by industry to accommodate the new mega operations that are now online and quite frankly the long-time farms that have supported the industry for many years are no longer needed. Get big or get out is the usual message.
Huge investments, including putting the entire homestead on the line, were made by the long-time farmers. Many of them have been on the land for generations. Existing contract chicken farmers will either have to go back to their local lending institution for funds that will increase existing mortgages enabling them to adhere to industry demands or they can opt out of the demands and lose the contract, and in turn lose the farm. There is no recourse for promises made in the past by industry. Not much of a choice for those who've already invested millions, if not billions, in the industry. Not a very nice thank you for supporting the companies!
People in wealthy communities that have seen proposed plans for a next-door neighbor mega chicken operation stopped it in its tracks by offering a higher price for the land to be sold. Ironically a neighbor in that same community is none other than the long-time leader of the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. (DPI), a local industry trade union. I personally have seen and heard this very same fearless leader expound on the virtues of the industry expansion, convincing the powers that be to ignore the citizens objections.
What I don't understand is why this person didn't want a mega chicken warehouse community next door. Especially since part of the expounding referred to a "good neighbor policy" written by the trade union. Humorously, or maybe not, the DPI "Good Neighbor Policy" is a waste of good paper. It's not enforceable. The trade union has no business or influence in contracts made between chicken companies and independent contract farmers. Unfortunately, our illustrious officials believed that the useless policy solved any concerns and was somehow an insurance of community happiness.
It remains to be seen where the disastrous consequences from the industry expansion will end. Much ado has been made by the powers that be about dollars and cents generated. Recently I heard one of our illustrious local congressional members say it all supports a "healthy business climate in Maryland". No mention was made about supporting the existing business climate or supporting public and environmental health for our communities. I think that these types of comments pretty well sum up the fact that chickens and dollars are much more important than people.
A recent undercover video taken by Direct Action Everywhere and released on the Now This facebook page shows the worst of the worst about hens involved in egg laying.
The video made me sick and I've a message for industrial agriculture – "clean up your act". The conditions of the hens and the environment they are living in are horrific. It's actors such as this that make it hard for those of us who don't even think about animal husbandry being such as what is revealed in the video. Animal agriculture is going to have to start standing up and condemning these types of practices and behaviors. Don't make excuses, own it, and fix it!
The hard truth and what makes the point of rubber stamping for humane practices an armed weapon for those opposed to animal agriculture is that this particular farm is "Certified Humane", a project of Humane Farm Animal Care. According to the organizations website, the program certifies products from farm animals that meet program standards related to practices required in the raising of the animals. Farms and ranches are monitored annually and may use the Certified Humane Raised and Handled® logo. Charges levied are to cover inspections and program costs which include promotional materials which help promote the products of the producers that are Certified Humane®. Trust me folks, the fees applied aren't cheap and certification predominately include large numbers of animals produced.
The organization has a "Humane Farm Animal Care Scientific Committee", presumably who develop the standards that farmers and ranchers must meet for certification. The Committee has some heavy hitters participating on it and I must wonder, what in the world they were thinking when they lent their names to something that doesn't even come close to the definition of "humane practices".
I can't continue without describing the organization responsible for the undercover video, Direct Action Everywhere, is a network of animal rights activists claiming chapters in 160 cities in over 30 countries. The organization, developed in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2013. It operates on the theory of "speciesism".
I'm not big on giving out labels or definitive categories so I had to do some research on this one. The term delves deeply into the realm of philosophy. According to Wikipedia speciesism is a prejudice similar to racism or sexism, in that the treatment of individuals is predicated on group membership and morally irrelevant physical differences. Broadly speaking in the world of animal activism it means the exclusion of all nonhuman animals from the rights, freedoms, and protections afforded to humans. June 5 is considered to be World Day Against Speciesism. Who knew?
Without delving too deep into the topic of speciesism, it appears to me that it means every living thing is equal and has equal rights, no matter human or non-human. I'm assuming if you don't believe in this equality or you behave against the principal theory you are akin to a racist or sexist. I dunno, sounds good!
Of course agenda motivation is the driving force behind the video, why else would it be undercover? Was it for the purpose of exposing Humane Farm Animal Care and name lending to a rubber stamping of the "Certified Humane" label? Was it to expose the bad behavior of industrial agriculture? Or was it a push toward the public to support veganism and animal rights? I think it's all of the above.
On the other hand, what can be the excuses from industrial agriculture. Historically industry will repeat all of the things listed above and describe the people taking the video as terrorists. They'll say that the particular farm and the conditions revealed wasn't like that when it was audited for humane standards and certification. My question would be, what changed in the farming practices between the standards audit and everyday practices? Is it business as usual except when the humane farm animal standards audit is conducted?
No matter what your belief about what you eat, what is revealed in the undercover video is just plain wrong. It doesn't take a room full of philosophers or theorizers to figure it out. You decide!
Like waiting for the dust to settle I've been allowing my first gut reaction to calm over the chicken buzz about Perdue and its monumental step toward improving the lives of chickens. Perdue announced its commitment to improved animal welfare in the raising, transporting, and slaughtering of the company's chickens.
The company commitment centers around a published company document "Perdue Foods, Commitment to Animal Care 2016 and Beyond". Amongst all of the hoopla surrounding the big news, the company says that it will chart its progress based on the Five Freedoms which is claimed to be "A Global Standard For Animal Husbandry".
"The concept of sustainability must include the welfare of farm animals. Indeed, livestock agriculture cannot be considered sustainable if an animal's life is not worth living".
In my humble opinion, the "Five Freedoms" are very basic things that any human should provide for the animals they own no matter if it's livestock or pets. If this action is called monumental I hate to think about the conditions that the chickens lived in before this monumental announcement. Yes indeedy folks, it's wonderful that a multi-national chicken corporation has learned the basics of animal care however I have to say that I hope none of those Perdue folks have animals at home.
Some animal welfare organizations have lauded Perdue for its announcement but have also conveyed a "we will see" approach, and I agree. If anyone truly transforms from the status quo in the method of raising industrial chickens, they deserve to be lauded. As much as I would love to think that the day for change in industrial chicken production has finally come, I'm still a doubting Thomas.
I believe that public opinion has induced Perdue to take a step toward improved animal welfare. 2 Years ago I conducted a marketing analysis of my own customer's to identify consumer preferences in purchasing my eggs. Animal welfare (how the animals are raised) was the number one reason for product purchasing. Certification by a transparent and independent third party was at the top as well. In my case it's Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) that audits my farm annually and certifies that I meet all of the written and published standards. The standards are the most stringent in the country. Consumers have become more aware of where their food comes from and how it was produced and these concerns have risen to the top of the list of purchasing decisions.
What was a niche market for products raised humanely has now become a market to capture. This not only resonates in the United States but worldwide. The World Bank has a statement about animal welfare based on the "Five Freedoms" and looks favorably for investing in livestock production (especially pigs and chickens) with corporations that have a "Five Freedoms" animal welfare policy.
Since I'm talking about policy at the moment I'll bring us back to Perdue. Most everyone knows that the farmers that the company contracts with to raise its chickens, known as contract growers, have no control over the policies set by the company. They have to follow what the company says. For the life of me I can't ever remember receiving a policy handbook from the company in the 23 years we raised chickens as contract growers. I distinctly do remember being given a verbal edict many times from the company about how to raise the chickens followed up with "it's company policy". Although I asked for a copy of the company policy handbook, I was ignored and didn't receive it.
In the monumental announcement the company says it will listen more to the farmers it contracts with. Perdue also has finally written down on paper and published its intentions of improving the lives of chickens. Although vague, the document does say that the company will operate off of the "Five Freedoms". Since transparency is involved in the monumental announcement I'd like to see specifics from the company of exactly what it means.
A few days ago, the New York Times ran a story " Perdue Aims to Make Chickens Happier and More Comfortable" pretty much writing the same things that every other news source was saying. Ironically, a little under a year ago, the New York Times ran a story "Perdue Sharply Cuts Antibiotic Use in Chickens and Jabs at Its Rivals" talking about the company product of "no antibiotics ever". About half of the company's chickens are labeled and sold under the "no antibiotics ever" claim.
My first thought is that yesterday the company transformed into a company that gave consumers what they were asking for (no antibiotics) and today Perdue will be violating item number 3 of the "Five Freedoms" by not treating a sick animal just because it needs to be sold under the "no antibiotics ever" label.
You can't claim it both ways without violating one or the other claims. I guess whichever method "Five Freedoms" or "No Antibiotics Ever" will be decided by the profits the company reaps. So much for the monumental step the company has taken.
The challenge for consumers will be in figuring out which brand under the FPP Family Investments umbrella, owned by the Perdue Family, fits which claim the headlines are shouting.
A friend shared a news story with me that appeared in the Bay Journal "EPA sued over inaction on factory farm air pollution". Although an old story from 2015, my friend wanted me to see it because it mentions the Chesapeake watershed and Maryland CAFO's (concentrated animal feeding operations). The CAFO's in Maryland are, of course, chicken house developments on the Eastern Shore.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Environmental Integrity Project are part of a coalition of environment, animal welfare, and community health organizations bringing the suit and saying that EPA has not done its duty in protecting citizens.
It kinda ticked me off that the EPA has to be sued to do its job. Aren't they there for the purpose of protecting American citizens? Don't we pay their salaries through the many tax dollars we shell out to the federal government each year? I sat here and shook my head thinking, so what else is new.
The groups involved in the law suit filed petitions in 2009 and 2011 asking EPA to set national ambient air quality standards for ammonia, which can be harmful to farm laborers, chickens, and neighboring homes. It can also be harmful to the farmer that breathes it every day. Ammonia is at the crux of the issue which is built up in chicken houses from the concentrations of the number of animals housed. The buildup of ammonia is released into the atmosphere through huge fans that exchange the air on the inside of the chicken houses. While ammonia can't be seen with the naked eye, it's quite evident, when watching the fans come on in a CAFO, to see a huge plume of dust shoot out and drift into the atmosphere. There are many things in that plume which can be harmful however we will focus on ammonia.
A while back in 2008 and 2009, I worked on a project that measured the ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emitted from CAFO's on the Delmarva Peninsula, including Accomack County, VA up through Sussex County, DE. The farms were mapped using GPS as identification and the measured emissions noted. Some of the CAFO's in the Backbone Corridor Neighborhood Association's neck of the woods in Princess Anne, MD, I went back and quadruple checked to make sure that the readings I was recording were accurate.
In a meeting with representatives from environmental groups and a representative of EPA I showed the EPA representative a few of the findings. I remember that he was somewhat miffed at me because I wouldn't give the name of the owner of the farms only the GPS location of the readings. At that time I asked for the EPA to conduct a more in depth study to verify what I'd found. We went our separate ways and I never heard another word about the issue.
Under the Clean Water Act, CAFO's are required to have a discharge permit for runoff into our waterways. Under the Clean Air Act no permit is required for emissions. One would think that it would be common sense for any facility emitting noxious gases into the air would have to report type of gas, amounts, and have a permit to do so.
Further research reveals that avian influenza has been shown to travel on the wind after the air is exhausted from fans in poultry houses, according to information obtained from the U.S. National Library of Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH).
With all of the public health, environmental health, and animal health and welfare implications, why hasn't EPA or U.S. Department of Health and Human Services researched further to protect the public? Are the government agencies protecting industry rather than the public?
It's quite a knot to untangle the whys and wherefores of the issue and gives me a headache just thinking about it. Given history and the power involved I imagine we will be bogged down in a quagmire of hearings, excuses, and untruth and the matter will never be addressed. Knowing all of this, I still have to wonder how profits before people are more important.
Why The Need For A Farmers Rights Act?
On February 5, 2016 Maryland Senators Madaleno, Lee, Manno and Pinsky introduced legislation in the Senate known as the Farmers Rights Act (SB761). The bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
A companion bill (HB 1496) was introduced in the Maryland House of Representatives on February 12, 2016 by Delegates Washington, Carr, Frush, Gutierrez, Kelly, Lam, Moon, Morales, Melnyk, Robinson, Smith, and Tarlau. It was referred to the House Environment and Transportation Committee.
The House Committee hearing is scheduled for today and the Senate Committee hearing is scheduled for March 9, 2016.
The legislation aims to provide farmers certain measures of protection in dealing with large companies that contract with them to produce company owned livestock. Most of this country's chicken (97 percent) and hogs are raised under production contracts.
Understanding the nature of the beast, so to speak, is important to understanding the need for protections for farmers.
Most U.S. broiler (meat chicken) production is under contract with a broiler processor (chicken company). The grower (farmer) supplies the chicken house with all the necessary heating, cooling, feeding, and watering systems. The grower also supplies the labor needed in growing the birds. The broiler processor supplies the chicks, feed, and medications. The chicken company transports its chickens from the farm to the processing plant. In most cases, the company supplies the crews who catch the chickens for transportation to the company slaughter plant. This is known as vertical integration whereby the company owns everything from embryo to market shelf.
On average, off-farm income accounts for half of the total household income earned by contract growers (USDA Economic Research Service). While millions of dollars are invested by farmers in land, housing, and equipment it is not an investment with a return that can support a family. It has been said by farmers that collectively they invest at least half of the capital needed in the poultry industry. Many sources say that over 70 percent of contract farmers earn a below poverty level income from the chickens they raise for companies.
Many contract farmers feel that they don't have equal power in the relationship between company and farmer although they have huge investments. The cost of 1 new chicken house today is approximately $380,000. While contracts are clear in saying that the farmer provides a service to the company, things get confusing and muddled with the company control of that service provided. Looking further into the contract, the price paid to the farmer for his/her service is an epic conundrum.
At the heart of it all is that everything relies on "good faith". As a matter of fact the Farmers Rights Act begins by saying "For the purpose of establishing that certain contracts for the production of livestock impose a certain obligation of good faith on all parties;".
Payment to farmers relies on pounds of broiler meat moved from the farm versus costs acquired to raise the flock of chickens. Based on the "good faith" of the company that weights stated are actual and true, is a good place to start. Was the company feed truck that delivered company feed to the farm really delivering the amount of feed stated? Were the weights stated for the chickens that moved off the farm by the company truck and weighed on the company scales, actual? Many growers question this?
Part of the "good faith" related to the Maryland legislation is that many times companies demand upgrades to poultry housing and equipment. Farmers bear the burden of cost for the upgrades adding to an already extreme shortage of cash flow on the farm. The contract is used in the process with a promise from the company that the contract will be terminated if the farmer doesn't comply.
Although it's questionable as to whether a service contract can be controlled by the party receiving the service insofar as what the service provider uses to accomplish the service, which with chickens the service is to raise them to a marketable weight.
Forcing a farmer to continually add debt on top of existing debt comes with no guarantee that the company will continue to contract with the farmer. Contracts have been terminated and the service provider (farmer) is left with no way pay the debt incurred because of the inducement by the company.
It could be further argued that when poultry houses are originally built it is done so accordingly to company specifications. Those specifications change, frequently.
There exists an imbalance of power within the contract system and undue influence is held by companies over the farmer through the contract.
Good Faith is described as "an honest intent to act without taking an unfair advantage over another person".
However, contracts are nonnegotiable, designed by the company, and offered on a take it or leave it basis. The "unfair advantage" is easily seen in the take it or leave it when the farmer has to take it to have chicks delivered to the farm by the company. How else would the farmer service the debt?
Some of the imbalance in power is corrected with the Farmers Rights Act providing a mechanism for farmers to recapture capital investment and is something that will help curb company demands to spend more money based on a whim and induced by a contract.
Opponents of the legislation aren't doing the chicken companies any favors. If "Good Faith" exists as what's being argued than they have nothing to worry about over the bill and it becoming law. Unless, of course, "Good Faith" doesn't really exist.
My post from yesterday Jihadists, Beheadings? In Maryland? alluded to the tightly woven web within the State of Maryland and the chicken industry on the Delmarva Peninsula. I'm not just picking on Maryland. The Peninsula or the Eastern Shore, as it's often called, also encompasses parts of Delaware and Virginia.
I've been chastised and reminded that it's not just Maryland. For that matter I could go further and say that, in my humble experiences, I've seen the very same things across the country in any place the poultry industry sets up shop.
Yes, I admit, I do, enthusiastically, support the Poultry Litter Management Act (PLM) introduced in Maryland's House and Senate (SB 496) (HB 599). I also encourage everyone to read the PLM Fact Sheet to clear up all of the misconceptions and downright untruths floating around. Being informed and making up your own mind is the best gift you could give yourself, and it's free.
There are several reasons why I'm in favor of the PLM.
Firstly and most importantly, the Chesapeake Bay belongs to all of us. It's a National Treasure. There isn't any single one of us who has the right to continue to destroy it and, yes, this is a pet peeve of mine. All of the efforts to clean up the Bay are not working as every year we see more or expanding "dead zones" appear. Major culprits who are degrading the Bay have not owned up and said "I'm going to accept my responsibility, because I care".
The chicken companies who operate on the Delmarva Peninsula have been in denial since the very first day that disastrous consequences struck. I can go all the way back to the mid 1990's when the Eastern Shore had a horrific outbreak of Pfiesteria piscicida. Massive fish kills and human illnesses abounded. Nutrient overload mixed with the right weather conditions was identified. Upon further investigation runoff from chicken manure became part of the mix. The poultry industry immediately started pointing fingers, mostly at farmers. I might add that this was my environmental awakening as a contract farmer, and realizing that we had serious problems, in in more ways than one.
Coupled with blaming farmers, local watermen who make their living from the bounty of the Bay were the ones being most affected. Denial of responsibility by chicken companies pointing the finger at farmers and watermen affected, who by the way are neighbors to the farmers, set the stage for a wedge being driven into the community. Sides were drawn up. Does that sound familiar, folks?
Since then, millions upon millions, if not billions, of tax dollars have been thrown at the attempt to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and take care of chicken manure. Oodles of programs have been created to assist farmers with taking care of the manure simply because the chicken industry repeatedly says that the farmers can't afford it. Overabundance of chicken manure is transported out of the area. Meanwhile, billion dollar chicken companies have sat back and taken a free ride, courtesy of taxpayers.
In come the threats and intimidation. Chicken companies threaten to simply walk away. We will move out of the State and go somewhere we can get away with polluting. Thousands of jobs will be lost. It's the same old story of being held hostage by an industry that doesn't believe in being a good corporate citizen and taking care of its industrial waste as any other industry has the responsibility of doing.
I see it as not being respectful and mindful of the communities and state the industry operates in. They see it as more money in their pockets, a way of doing business. We have been made to feel beholden to an industry that doesn't give a hoot about anything other than dollars and cents.
In the volatile debate over the PLM Act in Maryland sides have been drawn up. Departments within the State appear to be hostages to the chicken industry, once again, citing "the Eastern Shore's chicken industry regarded as one of the most import aspects of the Shore's economy", according to The Star Democrat.
So okay, I'll bite! I'll pretend that I believe that. What I don't understand is that millions of tax payer dollars are supporting programs to clean up chicken companies' industrial waste. Why are taxpayers footing the bill?
I'm a common sense kind of person however I just don't get it. Maybe someone can help me out! On the one hand you have industry saying that farmers can't afford to pay for disposing of chicken manure so we need to set up taxpaying programs.
On the other hand DPI, the chicken companies trade union, trots out farmers who say they and their workers are making a good living from the chickens they raise under contract with the companies.
Add the fact of State governmental agencies and a handful of lawmakers saying how important the industry is to the Eastern Shore economy, like the economy would collapse without the industry. If there is all of this money floating around with contract farmers and within the industry, again, I ask, why are taxpayers footing the bill?
The industry has convinced government officials that "this doesn't necessarily mean the industry is growing", says Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary, Joe Barten-Felder. I underline the word necessarily because, here it comes again folks – it's all in the words! It doesn't necessarily mean that the industry is NOT growing, either!
Maintenance is also cited by government officials. Simply put, more than anything it's replacing old buildings or old facilities with new facilities. The chicken industry wants new, bigger, with all the bells and whistles chicken houses. I wonder which one of you older existing contract farms will be the ones terminated to accommodate the NOT growing chicken industry? Sounds to me like something has to go to make room for the new!
We currently have to transport manure out of the area because of the excess. Does anyone think that 200 bigger houses equals more chickens equals more manure? These chicken warehouse developments have no land to apply manure or produce any crops to take up the nutrients. Like too much icing on a cake, the Eastern Shore can't handle any more manure.
Quite frankly, I find it insulting that the chicken industry throws out vague statements and expects that we all buy it.
Everyone else in the State has to pay their way in the effort to clean up the Bay for through sewer taxes, the flush tax for septic systems, fees for the septic hauler who pumps and dumps human waste, environmental taxes, and on, and on, and on. Adding insult to injury, we have tax dollars piled on to take care of chicken manure.
I see this whole scenario as communities being ripped apart over chicken manure and companies who want others to pay for cleaning it up. If I haven't given enough reason to support the Poultry Litter Management Act, I can give you more!