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2016 Episodes
THE ARTISTS SPEAK
Big Big Train, a Big Big Interview
On August 5, 2017 By James R TurnerIn Prog, Progarchy, progressive rock, progressive rock music1 Comment
Following on from their surprise release of The Second Brightest Star, and coming up to their sell out gigs in October, I managed to grab a chat with Greg Spawton and David Longdon of Big Big Train, together through the magic of Skype (eventually, my technical ineptitude aside) to talk all things secretive, live and the next stops on the line. This interview was conducted prior to the announcement of next years debut European gig at Lorelei, hence some of the secrecy!
(photo by Lorraine Poole)
Lets start with the surprise album, how did you manage to keep that one a secret?
Greg 'We don't know' laughter 'We thoroughly thought the cat would be out of the bag'
David 'We didn't think we'd be able to keep it quiet, because in this day and age it's ver4y difficult to keep this sort of thing quiet, but we did, and we were expecting the bubble to burst at any moment, thankfully it didn't and the surprise wasn't spoiled and it was released on the day that we intended, which was the summer solstice'
Greg:' It presented a few challenges for us, David and I talked about this before because other artists have done surprise albums, and they've had non-disclosure contracts for people to sign, obviously we don't have the muscle to get that thing agreed to, so we had to try to create a strategy where as few people as possible knew about. But still before the day of release 30 or 40 people across the world knew about it, and we thought any one of those could mention it, but nobody did. It was very heart-warming that we kept it secret but to be honest I don't think we'd do it again it was very stressful. It's more difficult doing it that way than having a pre-order campaign'
When did you have the album?
Greg 'To be honest we were working in parallel with the songs on Grimspound, we probably discussed it December or January, it was a long time ago'
David ' We originally thought about doing an EP, once Grimspound started to take shape, and we knew what we were dealing with we thought some songs that were part of the cycle, didn't fit on Grimspound. Grimspound has such a strong identity, as indeed did Folklore. I guess they written around the same time, whilst some of the songs on Second Brightest Star were purposefully written for this release. We knew that we'd got another album in our sights, we could have released Grimspound as a double, but we'd like the idea of a different album. We plan these things well in advance, you have to'
Greg: 'At one stage Grimspound was stretching out to 75 minutes and that's when it started to feel unwieldy. Possibly we could have dug our heels and said 'lets make it a double, do it that way'. But as I said before whenever we make an album we try to make it flow, like a proper collection of material that belongs together. However we sequenced the very long version of Grimspound it didn't quite flow how we wanted it to, so we took a few tracks off. Which enabled us to write a couple of other pieces which enabled the Second Brightest Star to flow, in fact I think it flows as well as anything we've ever done.'
It forms a loose trilogy,
David 'It forms the conclusion of the trilogy, which is what it is'
Greg 'It's a bit messier than that because the Wassail EP before all this had a couple of tracks on it Lost Rivers of London and Mudlarks, they're part of the trilogy songs, I think you know the problem is, you make a number of decisions. If we'd thought it through two years ago to the nth degree we would have done things slightly differently, but you make these calls as you go and things evolve. Grimspound evolved from a companion EP to a full-blown studio album, and a similar process happened with the Second Brightest Star.
David and I we did the bulk of the writing, but there's 4 other people writing in the band now, and so there's a lot of material. It's not a neat process, you don't start writing for an album and then stop, there's always a bit around the edges where things flow and that's where we found ourselves'
David ' Not only that, the band was changing as well, the music was developing and aside from the bands career was developing, there were lots of different drivers, lots of accelerants. Grimspound turned out to be very much it's own thing, it's a very progressive rock album for prog fans, and is very much pitched in that arena, whereas Folklore was much more subtle. They've all got their own flavour.'
I do love the fact that on the Facebook page people are trying to come up with track listings if you were to put all the albums together.
Greg 'It's interesting, I've screenshotted one of those because I wonder how we would do it if we were, we did go through that process with Full Power, which took a lot of thinking to make that a coherent release. When I look at the length of some of the play lists that these people are putting up, and it's three hours and more. It's very difficult to make something flow over that length of time. Maybe if we get some downtime we'll put a Spotify play list up which shows the album as we would have released it if that had been the plan from the start'
Now you've snuck out the Second Brightest star to surprise us all, I suspect you're working out the set list for the London gigs'
David ' We're practising at the moment aren't we Greg, so it's making songs that we've written go into our brains'
Greg 'It's learning stuff, learning songs we haven't played before, and reminding ourselves of songs we have played before if we are playing them again. It's getting them stuck in. One of the problems David and I face is that we play four or five gigs a year, if that and therefore we haven't got the muscle memory of doing 100 shows a year, so when preparing for these gigs it's a longish process, about two or three months of getting it under the fingers or into the throat. That's our plans for the next two or three months. I would love to tell you we've got another album coming out on Friday but that would be a complete fib (laughter) '
David 'the nicest thing about doing it the way we do it is that each session of shows are entirely bespoke, it makes them events. It's not a question of 'we've got a set' and we're going to wheel it out again and again and again until we can't do it anymore. We've got lots of material, there are a few things that we played last time that we'll play this time, but we've a wealth of new songs as well. There'll be things from the English Electric albums and then songs from our canon that we want to get out and air. That's exciting as well'
With the shows will there a companion Blu-Ray/CD release as well?
Greg: 'Yes we've got a full film crew, as you know we filmed the Kings Place gigs and they came out really well, we were quite surprised to be honest as we only filmed them to maybe put a few songs up on You Tube, but Pete Callow is a very clever director and he made the most of the fairly small set up in Kings Place.
It's interesting, I had a conversation with Pete a couple of weeks ago, and he was giving us the options of how grandiose we want to be. The starting point is that this is a gig. It's not a show that's being filmed with an audience there, it is a gig for the audience and they are the ones that count, so we've forbidden anything like any crazy wires across the stage, we don't want anything that we're filming for the TV to disturb the live audience, so the film crew have to be in the background, so people don't find it's getting in their way'
The plan is for it to be a more ambitious camera set up, so that we'll have plenty of shots, David and I are very similar we don't like fast editing. It gets very dizzy, but there are things we'd like to see in there, if Danny's playing a nice keyboard solo I'd like to see it. We'll just make sure we have cameras that can capture the moments so we can get a nice film out on Blu-ray'
(photo by Simon Hogg)
Of course with the size of the band, and the logistics, working this way is a better approach for the band?
David 'Logistically it's an expensive thing to organise, everything costs money'
Greg 'It is, it's all about logistics, at the moment we're doing everything ourselves. Everything is in house, and we know that can't continue because in 2019 we want to do a couple of small tours in Europe and England, so that will take things to a level where we need somebody else to blame when it all goes wrong, and at the end of the day the band members and the crew need to be focused on their jobs and if we're getting drawn into organising things the shows become very complex.
Which is why the strategy we've had, OK it's a pain for people to travel to London from up and down the UK and abroad, but this is the way that we've been able to play live and is something that will change in the nearish future, but for now it's the most sensible approach for a progressive rock band in 2017.
David 'It's amazing place to come from all over the world, it's a capital city so it's not just coming to see a band in place, it's coming to see a band in an incredible city'
Are the gigs all sold out now?
David 'yes they are'
That's pretty good going isn't it?
David 'its amazing, when we were looking at what do we do next after Kings Place, there were no guarantees, because those shows went so well. I mean we're still at the place where it could end tomorrow, it's very much belt and braces. How much is too much when it comes to capacity. The last ones were 450 seaters; these ones are 900 seaters'
Greg ' David's exactly right; there's optimists and pessimists within the band, suggesting larger venues. Pitching it is very important, we felt we'd take a step forward and it's gone really well in terms of sales. It's gone really well, who'd have thunk it really? We were excited to see Kings Place out, and to do this at the next level up, its pinch yourself tine really'
David 'We want to get out and do it, because Kings Place went so well, when we play live its very much our time, with our fans in the audience and it's there time with us, and I'm really looking forward to playing this material with them. It's sounding great in rehearsal and we're only just scratching the surface of it. I really can't wait'
(photo by Willem Klopper)
You've released three albums of fresh material in a short space of time, and you have an impressive back catalogue, how do you decide when you look at the songs, and think right, what are we going to play?
Greg 'I'm trying not to give anything away as people get upset if set lists get printed ahead of time. One of the things we started with is that the audience is a lot bigger this time, and there are a lot of people who have never seen us before. We have got a huge back catalogue now, and as David said it's quite exciting to play stuff live we've never played before so we could have started with a blank sheet, which would have been exciting. But I expect a few fans in the audience would have been thinking 'I wanted to hear that' so you start with a process where you look at the essential live tracks that Big Big Trains want to hear at this stage in career, which may change as new albums come out and then you look through albums old and recent and select stuff you think will be good live and create a balanced set list. As you know we're a band all over the world and there's lots of emails flying round with various suggestions, rejections and approvals.
Maybe David would disagree but I thought the set list came together very easily and it felt to us that the songs we play in September and October are the right ones for us to play at this time, and moving forward we will add to those'
David 'the set feels good, it's balanced, I remember speaking with fans in the foyer in Kings Place I was making a mental note of some of the things the fans were asking us to play, and when they coincide with the ideas that we've got its great. There's one track in particular that came from that angle, a lot of people mentioned it to us, and there's been a few things like that in the set'
Of course you're heavily involved with the whole fan base with the group on face book
David 'It's a two-way thing; we wouldn't be playing in places like Cadogon Hall without that support. We are there because of them; we can't afford to do it on our own. The bands grown because of the fans and it's down to them, it is a two-way thing. We're very grateful, which is how it should be'
When you look at other discussion groups online, it's a good-natured place isn't it/
David 'yeah, you've got to protect that ethos. There's some incredibly jaw dropping things going on in the world at the moment, and in society that make you scratch your head and wonder, but we try to make it what it is. A bit of haven from all that. It's not that we aren't interested in political events around the world, we are, we're very interested and in political events at home, but there's a time and a place for it. It's not for a progressive rock forum, not as far as I'm concerned and not for Big Big Train'
Do you have longer terms for the band, thinking two or three albums ahead?
Greg 'we know the next album title, we know some of the songs that are going to be on there, David and I we've discussed working those things out. We know what we're aiming for and taking the ethos of the material that we write into foreign places, literally writing about things that are moving away from England a little bit, which fits in with our career profile, certainly in terms of gigging. We've got plans through to 2019, and I have no doubt that we'll be able to bring those to fruition.
That's one of the nice things about being in Big Big Train in the last four or five years, is that whereas 7 or 8 years ago we'd talk about things and they'd feel out of reach. Now we talk about things and they feel achievable and doable and that they will happen and happen in a positive way. It's like a fulfilment machine; it enables us to get our musical material in front of people and heard by people. That's what songwriters want really and that's what its all about. You can sit in your room and write stuff but if its not getting that approval if you like of people listening to your music, liking your stuff, your music and your lyrics. But we're careful planners, we know what month and year the next album is coming out, and I suspect if we went away for a few weeks we have got about an hour of material if not more already written, and we'd get the songwriting process done to make it the best album we can'
Coming to the songwriting and structure of the albums, I know earlier you said a 75-minute Grimspound didn't feel quite right, do you have an optimum time for an album?
Greg 'that's a good question, obviously albums in the 60's/70's etcetera were defined by format, the comfortable vinyl length defined the album length and there wasn't much going beyond late 40's/50 minutes. About 45 minutes seemed the perfect album then, I think there's something in that. I know when CD's came out and albums became a bit bloated I thought. Anything around the 40-50 minutes can be a sweet spot. But if you feel as a band you have a lot of strong material and it sits together, then length is no object so we found our recent albums have been coming in at around late 50's 60 odd minutes, and that for me is where they work. It depends. I suspect our next album will have a couple of hours material to choose from, and we may decide to make that double album we've never done, or we may decided to pin it back to 40 minutes. Those decisions will be made when we have the material in front of us, sift it and see how it all fits together'
David 'the good thing about being an independent band is that we can have ideas, we can action them. Not only that is the speed of the action, the turnaround. We're not waiting for permission or going cap in hand to a record label for an advance to go and do something, we go and do it ourselves. We say wouldn't it be great if we did this, or wouldn't that be cool. We make it happen. It is an amazing position to be in. I love the fact that the ideas can flow, as they should, they are unhindered; it's a really positive thing. There's no shortage of ideas in Big Big Train, that's the nice thing about it. We're a band who have plenty of thoughts on what we do, what we're doing next and why we're doing it so, long may it continue'
I know Greg earlier you said about the difference between 2007/2008 and now where you say yes we can do it, what do you think has caused that change?
Greg 'getting the right line up was really crucial, as you know the band has a long back story, and I don't think I was writing terrible songs in the early 90's or whenever, but that I needed to be working with an equal to get those songs as strong as they could be, and deliver them in a beautiful way. In 2007 Nick came into the band and David joined in 2009, and there's no point in hiding from the fact that David brings a really high end voice, but he also brought with him songs, and an ethos which worked well with my ethos, and we found ourselves particularly the two of us as real brothers in arms in terms of working together and we decided to expand and become a full band again, David was suggesting people like Danny etcetera who came into the band and we've just been able to make sure the right people are there to do the right things, which works for the band. Then there's a momentum of its own, you get the right people in writing good stuff, then the momentum takes over. As David said having that freedom to define out own destinies has been extraordinary. I mean we have been offered many record deals, but it would have to be a stunningly beneficial deal for us to depart from being a self managed and self financed band where we are today, because I don't think we'd be able to make those decisions in the timely manner that we do today, I think it would change things. I think we're interested in Steven Wilson's move, as he feels he needs to be on a bigger label for more people to hear his music, and I'm fully behind him on that call, but for us right now, doing what we do together as a group of people feels like the right thing for us. It's been a long haul, especially for me, right now we're in a really good place and I can't wait to play for people again, and for people to hear material over the next couple of years'
Touching on Mr Wilson, he's remixing albums into 5.1, if it were viable would you want to pick an album from your back catalogue and remixing it into 5.1?
Greg 'The Underfall Yard is a very important album for us, it was the first album David was involved in, he joined the band, it was a relaunch, it's where we started writing about history and landscape and is where it all came together really, in 2019 that will be the tenth anniversary of that album, so I imagine when we play live we'll be doing a number of songs live from that album, and we'll be doing a reissue, it's never been available on vinyl, and there's definitely demand for a vinyl release and we will be doing a 5.1 release as well, 5.1 is interesting, you need that critical mass of fans to warrant the remixing and producing discs in 5.1. I'm not 100% convinced we're there yet to do it for every album, but it's something we're keeping an eye on, and as the fan base is growing its something that will happen when the time is right. We'd all love to celebrate the Underfall Yard in a couple of years and that's ripe for 5.1.'
What about a full performance of the Underfall Yard?
Greg 'There have been conversations, I know some bands go out and play full albums, and it's about 52 minutes so it wouldn't completely dominate a set, maybe do one set Underfall Yard and the other something different, but I'm not sure yet. If we do that we'll advertise it that way so people know what they're coming to see'
Have you been to the Underfall Yard recently?
David 'We've been down to the SS Great Britain, have you been to it?'
It's on my doorstep so, I had some guided tours round there before they started the renovations, and we walked round where the new bit brings you in front of the Underfall yard and the pump house,
Greg 'I will have to get back, I walked near there the last time I was in Bristol, but as David said the last time we were down there we were at the SS Great Britain that was around Far Skies Deep Time,'
David 'The first pictures with Dave Gregory'
Greg 'Of course, we picked Dave up and had some pictures done on the SS Great Britain. I love Bristol, my sons just been at the UWE, it's a very cool place as you know'
Its got plenty of great venues as well, not that I'm dropping any hints..
Greg 'there's one I looked at in a church, a 4 or 500 seater, and when we do 2019 Bristol will be on the tour'
David 'Fleece and Firkin, that what you want isn't it?
Fleece or the Thekla
Greg 'I saw the Lemon twigs on the Thekla, it's a bit sticky floors for us, we like our seated venues, our fans must concentrate when watching Big Big Train so we like them to take the weight off their feet (laughter)
David 'If it sinks while we're on board we could play Abide with Me as it goes down, or we could do the Star and Garter, that's another one'
So your talking about widening your musical horizons on the next album, and stepping away from England, are there other things inspiring you to write differently?
David 'As we said earlier we work well ahead, and there's always stuff around, you read stuff, you speak to people. There's always more to be done, the nicest thing about it is as well. Big Big Train is a band that can share the load, so it's not a mammoth task for one person to be doing. I know some bands have one person that writes everything and works on everything, at least the way our model is if you like, having multiple writers means if people are able to do stuff it liberates and takes the pressure off. There are always plenty of ideas. Plus this is progressive rock, so all the crazy ideas can be used further down the line. If we were in a more restrictive genre like deep house or something like that we'd be very limited on the ideas we could have. I'm not interested in that sort of stuff, so prog it is'
Do you find in the past few years prog has stopped being a dirty word?
David 'yes, it has, there's nothing quite like announcing you're a progressive rock musician defiantly, challenging them with your eyes and they go 'what's that then?' Some people still cling to the past about progressive rock, it got a very unfair beating and a lot of things that were upsetting people aren't in place anymore. You don't have to be a rich man to make progressive rock music, you just need access to a desktop computer, plug ins, things like that. You don't need to own a mellotron to write for one. It's been very liberating. But that's not why we do it; we do it because we love it. I'm a singer and a songwriter, Greg's a songwriter and we're all musicians and this how we choose to express ourselves'
Greg 'For us it's a very liberating genre, the boundaries are very wide, and it enables us to do things we want to do. The fact that its now no longer music that dare not speak its name, is great, Prog magazine have had a lot to do with that, websites like yours have a had a lot to do with bringing people together and celebrating it. Turns out the original wave of bands in the seventies had a sense of humour after all, they were not po-faced about it, they were doing what they wanted to do and things got out of hand a little bit. I think the good bits of the genre are worth celebrating and are celebrated. As David said music making is democratised now, you don't have to have a Hammond organ and a full mellotron to be able to make music. It's not a rich mans game. There's no reason to diss prog rock. One of the things we found before Christmas with the Classic Rock, Metal hammer, Prog magazine suddenly looked like they were going out of business, was that camaraderie in the rock community, we all stood together as rock fans, not prog fans or rock fans, just music fans. It doesn't dominate the charts like it did in the 70's in any way shape of form, I think we all agree that rock music is a form that's worth maintaining, and there's great rock music being made these days, but it doesn't have the weight or the power that it did, and it brings people together'
David 'I was reading an article the other day about the death of the electric guitar and how sales are plummeting, you won't get those stories of the kid going into the shop, getting his electric guitar and the rest being history. But sales have dropped off for the time being. Does it mean something? I don't know. Dave Gregory's got them all!'
Greg 'there's none left out there at the moment! There are cycles with it, the thing is there's an awful lot more that people do with their time now, people are into gaming, watching boxed sets. But in the seventies and indeed the early 80's there were fewer things that people could do as a creative hobby, and therefore people gravitated towards making music more easily. Now, on the one hand music's democratised and more people do it cheaply, but it seems that rock music is suffering from that. It may be an indication that there are different times ahead, or it may just be a blip.
Who'd have thought that vinyl would have come back?
When Chris Topham approached us about releasing our stuff on vinyl I think we had a bit of a giggle, it didn't seem to me in anyway to be a sensible idea, and now we would even consider a new release without factoring in the vinyl version, these things do go in cycles'
David 'The world of the hipster, I am far too folically challenged to be a hipster'
Greg 'I wish we were part of the world of the hipster. We're too old and gray around the gills. It seems to be cool again. Ironically when I went to school with a copy of a prog album under my arm on vinyl I was looked on, as a bit of a bell end, but these days a hipster would do such a thing. It's funny how things change'
Maybe the difference is they have the courage of their own convictions'
David 'The weight of their own beards'
Greg 'their convictions are the weight of their beards.
I remember going to school in the 90's with prog stuff and that was a definite no go,
Greg 'You are a man out of time'
It was dead handy growing up in Rotherham in the mid 90's though
Greg 'The classic rock society'
David 'I don't know about you, as I'm near Nottingham that you kind of ripples of the music industry, looking at Sounds or the NME at these new trends, it seemed to me that rock music sang to the soul of the midland male type of thing, it did. Its never stopped singing to me, it never stopped resonating. I still get excited by it, I think I'm a lifer'
When we write songs for Big Big Train, we're not extending them for the sheer hell of doing it, we like the extended song format, we like the ideas, the modulations, the keys, the instrumentations, the ideas, there's a lot of thought goes into that, and we're lucky in the band that there's a lot of muscle in terms of musical arrangements and people are able to bring a hell of a lot to these compositions' Its brilliant, we make the music we want to make and make the music that we love and when you asked earlier why did it work, what made it successful I like to think that hopefully its because we did what we love, and that people picked up on it and they could sense the authenticity to the intent of the music and we care about what we do'
It comes across in the artwork, the music, the sleeve notes, and the whole package, there's a level of sophistication and care,
Greg 'You're absolutely right, you've got to get it right, starting from the first bit of music we write to the moment it's realised we're trying o make people see that Big Big train does care, and you know that there is a quality threshold that we will always be above. It's not a question of me or David saying we would never want to, but we won't just walk blindly into making an album that we're not 100% behind. Its what we live and breathe for, and to find that we've got an audience for that at this stage in our lives is absolutely brilliant'
David 'We are grateful and it's a two way thing, definitely reciprocal and one thing fuels the other, its great'.
Many thanks to Greg and David for their time, and of course for taking us along on their amazing musical journey.
Tim Bowness Lost in the Ghost Light
On February 7, 2017 February 7, 2017 By James R TurnerIn art rock, post-rock, Prog, Progarchy, progressive rock, progressive rock music, psychedelic rock4 Comments
Years ago, when I was 16 I found an organization that helped with my curiosity about progressive rock, it was called the Classic Rock Society, they were based in Rotherham (a short bus ride away from the small village I lived in at the time) and they met on a Wednesday night in a pub. Beer and prog, all within a short distance from my front door, what was not to like?
One night at the pub talking about prog music in 1995 a friend lent me an album by a band I'd never heard of called No-Man, the album was Flowermouth, and it's mix of shifting sounds and emotive vocals was my first introduction to the works of Mr Steven Wilson and Mr Tim Bowness, and I was hooked.
Luckily I got to see Porcupine Tree not so longer afterwards, but despite following No-Man and Tim Bowness solo work, it took me slightly longer (nearly 20 years in fact) to see Tim live, with Henry Fool at Eppyfest in 2014, followed quickly by seeing him at the Louisiana in Bristol in 2015.
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Backstage with Iris! Interviews with Nth Ascension & Giancarlo Erra of Nosound! — Grendel HeadQuarters
On October 10, 2016 By IrisIn progressive rockLeave a comment
Ninth episode of Backstage with Iris! Not one, but two interviews! The first interview you will hear is with the band Nth Ascension. They will release a brand new studio album named In Fine Initium this month. Iris and the band talk about the making of the album, a possible tour and more! The second […]
via Backstage with Iris! Interviews with Nth Ascension & Giancarlo Erra of Nosound! — Grendel HeadQuarters
Iris Interviews: Asger Mygind of VOLA — Grendel HeadQuarters
On September 7, 2016 September 8, 2016 By IrisIn progressive rock1 Comment
The band VOLA will release their debut album named Inmazes in September 2016. They already released an EP named Homesick Machinery back in 2008, and released Inmazes digitally in 2015, but Mascot Label Group decided to give the album a proper re-release. I interviewed Asger Mygind, the guitarist and lead vocalist of VOLA, in July. We talk about their debut album, how the album was recorded, and about their upcoming tour.
Iris: You're about to release your debut album Inmazes in September 2016. Is it just me having a deja vu, or was the same album released earlier, back in the year 2015?
Asger: Yes, it was released earlier. That was because we released it ourselves the first time around 2015 because we didn't have a contract with a label. We tried to send it out to a couple of labels, but we didn't get a lot of feedback, so we decided to do it ourselves. We released it in February 2015. Later on we were approached by Mascot Label Group, and they wanted to rerelease it, and we agreed.
Continue reading "Iris Interviews: Asger Mygind of VOLA — Grendel HeadQuarters" →
Backstage with Iris! Interview with Sand Snowman! — Grendel HeadQuarters
On September 5, 2016 September 5, 2016 By IrisIn progressive rockLeave a comment
The sixth episode of Backstage with Iris! Interview with Gavan Kearney, better known as Sand Snowman! Gavan Kearney made a lot of beautiful albums under the name Sand Snowman. He's also an artist who makes wonderful artwork. Iris and Gavan talk about his music, his art, his collaboration with Steven Wilson, why he came up with the […]
via Backstage with Iris! Interview with Sand Snowman! — Grendel HeadQuarters
Backstage with Iris! Interview with Darrel Treece-Birch! — Grendel HeadQuarters
On August 28, 2016 August 28, 2016 By IrisIn progressive rockLeave a comment
The fifth episode of Backstage with Iris! Interview with Darrel Treece-Birch!! Darrel is the keyboardist of the bands Nth Ascension and Ten, but released his solo album named No More Time this month. Iris and Darrel talk about his solo album, how he joined the bands Ten & Nth Ascension, and more! A long, interesting, and also […]
via Backstage with Iris! Interview with Darrel Treece-Birch! — Grendel HeadQuarters
Backstage with Iris! Interviews with Robin Wylie of 7sleepers (Part II) and Asger Mygind of VOLA! — Grendel HeadQuarters
The third episode of Backstage with Iris! Interview with Robin Wylie of 7sleepers (Part 2) and Asger Mygind of VOLA! Iris interviewed the multitalented artist Robin Wylie, who made a wonderful album under the name 7sleepers, back in 2015. "Seven songs about 7 that might put you to sleep", according to sir Wylie himself. You […]
via Backstage with Iris! Interviews with Robin Wylie of 7sleepers (Part II) and Asger Mygind of VOLA! — Grendel HeadQuarters
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Stories of great leadership can inspire. We often think about a great person, out in front of a huge issue, taking on the whole world by themselves. Contrary to common thinking, though, leaders are not out on an island. They are part of a bigger world–one that both inspires and supports their vision.
A recent article in Harvard Business Review reminds us that great leaders are part of a community. In the post, John Coleman discusses the three ways leaders are affected and influenced by the communities they live in and serve.
While these lessons speak broadly about community, that can be defined in many ways. We speak of the broader community of people when we discuss great political leaders. But the same lessons can be applied to a corporation or business, which is also a community of people with a common goal.
Leaders are in the community: Leaders do not generally act alone, without advisors. Great leaders attract people who are willing to lend an ear–and a hand–to help sharpen ideas and plans. Barack Obama famously cited Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln as one of his favorite books. Even though he disagreed with the politics of many of his peers, Lincoln was able to acknowledge that they were working toward a common good, and found value in their advice and opinions. The lesson? Ask for advice. Whether you follow it or not, you'll learn something.
Leaders are with the community: No idea, no matter how great, can succeed without a group of people to implement. Leaders need to acknowledge the value of the community they gather to execute their plan. (The easiest place to gather resources to help the community is within that same community of individuals.) Conversely, if you can't mobilize supporters who back your idea, you're bound to fail.
Leaders are for the community: Great ideas take off when they benefit a community. While the individual may eventually reap rewards, the greater good of a broad group of people is what will inspire followers. To really excel, you should not just try and make your slice of the pie bigger–you should aim to make the whole pie bigger, so that everyone gets more.
Lincoln's quote—and Coleman's article—are great reminders that the definition of a "leader" is one who has people who follow their vision.
If you'd like to learn more ways to develop your entrepreneurial leadership skills, take a look at our Entrepreneurial Leadership Certificate, which develops skills business leaders need to launch, grow, and manage their own businesses, or to contribute creatively within their organizations.


Dual-band extenders, as their name implies, have the ability to extend both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz vs. the single-band extenders we looked at that just extend 2.4GHz. Within that category, there are differences however. The RE2000 we tested is what is called "Selectable" dual-band, which basically means you can choose either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, but not both at the same time. The RE2000 v2, which is scheduled to ship in late December, will be simultaneous dual-band. All of our other dual-band extenders in this roundup are concurrent / simultaneous dual band.
As the table shows, the five extenders use four different devices from three chipset vendors. I'm not including internal pictures of each extender, but the FCC product search links are above if you'd like to take a look for yourself.
The single band extenders we looked at were all just basic extenders, with an Ethernet port if you wanted to use it as a bridge (the D-Link DAP-1320 has no Ethernet). In the dual-band arena, we see some additional features for a bit more differentiation but with higher price tags.
For instance, the Amped Wireless SR20000G is the only extender with Gigabit ports, and five of them, no less. The NETGEAR WN2500RP has a built-in four-port 10/100 switch. And both the Amped Wireless SR20000G and the NETGEAR WN3500RP have USB ports for media and printer sharing. The Amped also supports four SSID's on each band.
The WN3500RP has an audio-out port for AirPlay music streaming, a nice touch to bring audio to a hard-to-reach area. And lastly, both the WN2500RP and WN3500RP incorporate what NETGEAR calls "Fast-Lane" technology. This essentially lets you use one band to communicate from the extender to the router and the other band to communicate from the client to the extender, getting rid of the half throughput penalty that plagues extenders.
All extenders, except for the Linksys RE2000, offer an Extender SSID. The Extender SSID lets you specify a different SSID for the extender so you can know which device you are connected to. That's important because the extender will be sitting at the edge of your wireless good zone where it can still get good throughput back to the router. You don't want to be connected to the extender and getting half the throughput that you see using an extender when you are in your good wireless coverage area.
You can see the nitty gritty details of our testing process in How We Test Wireless Extenders. An important thing to note is that we weren't going for top throughput and the test results don't represent the highest throughput you can get from these products. Instead, we focused on tests that were free of interference from neighboring networks and that provided an accurate measure of relative performance. This required that we reduce the signal from the router being extended so that we could keep our "dead spot" within the confines of my home and away from interference from the other networks in my overcrowded 2.4 GHz airspace.
On 2.4 GHz, we were working with roughly 42 Mbps downlink and 56 Mbps uplink throughput available for the extender to pass along. Note that those are throughput numbers measured using the test laptop at the extender location.
For each device, I tested performance at the Ethernet port, essentially using it as a bridge, before going on to extender testing. Let's see how the devices rank used as bridges.
You can see that on downlink, the Amped Wireless SR20000G is out front with double the throughput of the next closest extender and almost double the throughput of my laptop. The others all come in fairly close to each other, with the exception of the Edimax. Now let's look at uplink.
On uplink the Amped Wireless SR20000G is the clear winner again, with a better showing than the 56 Mbps I saw with my laptop. The NETGEAR WN3500RP does close the gap slightly. There is a rather wide variation here among extenders.


Total social-networking is for the young!
I like to think that I am an advocate of many of the so-called Web 2.0 technologies: I blog; I am a member of a number of social networks; and I don't consider my day to have properly started until I have trawled through my hundreds of feeds on Bloglines. Whilst I have to admit I am not a great Twitterer, and my status on Facebook has been known to fall silent before I change it, I can at least see how they are useful additions to the lives of many more socialable people.
Sometimes however something appears that I just don't get, and I find myself asking "why would anyone want to do it?". Today such a Facebook application came to my attention , One Minute Friend. The premise is that it connects people who want to talk about similar topics on the phone for one minute for free, after which point you are disconnected, with the choice of being reconnected if both parties request it.
Whilst I understand people wanting to talk to someone they have met online, I would presume there they want a certain amount of communication before they get to that point…at least one or two lines by way of an introduction rather than being dropped in at the deep end. This at least gives an opportunity for the would-be chatter to determine whether the person at the other end is a nutter. But I guess this is an age thing, whilst those over a certain age may have mastered the technology, and adapted to certain aspects of the lifestyle, we are not necessarily as comfortable with the social aspect as those who have never known anything different.
I wouldn't be surprised however to find that if this application is successful, which it probably will be (the masses never cease to amaze), that there will be court cases further down the line as people take little heed of the risks and connect with numerous unsavoury characters. Luckily for me it's only available in Canada and the US, so I can always claim that my refusal to use it is not just an age thing.
Starting to blog as the blogosphere starts to die?
There is a lot of talk around at the moment about the death of blogging in favour of shinier newer things. As such it may be thought to be a bit of a strange time to start a blog, especially one which primarily posts thoughts about those newer shinier things. It is my belief however that the blogosphere is far from dead, and if anything it may benefit from the exodus of certain parties who add little more to the blogosphere than an insight into their own personal lives. That is not to say that such blogs are bad, but rather the blogosphere will not overly suffer as a result as their departure…would anyone really miss the occassional updates about my long-suffering allotment?
Social-networking and micro-blogging may compete for the time of the blogger, but their uses are fundamentally different and the blog is likely to continue to hold a place for more extended (and discerning?) discourse. At the moment there is little room in social networking sites for the inclusion of extensive well thought out arguements, and their inclusion is likely to be skipped over in favour of pithy one-liners. Even more importantly the blogosphere is a far more open platform for discussion; it means nothing to me if there is an important discussion on a subject close to my heart if it is on a network I am not a member of. For the forseeable future at least, the blog still has an important role, and as I want to start my commentary now it is the natural place for me to start.


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Author(s): Samuel Beckett
'Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful.' This line, from the play, was adopted by Jean Anouilh, to characterize the first production of "Waiting For Godot" at the Theatre de Babylone, in 1953. He went on to predict that the play would, in time, represent the most important premiere to be staged in Paris for forty years. Nobody acquainted with Beckett's masterly black comedy would now question this prescient recognition of a classic of twentieth-century literature.
Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts by Samuel Beckett is a wonderfully surreal and thought provoking black comedy from the winner of the Nobel Prize and author of plays such as Murphy and Endgame.
Samuel Beckett was born in Dublin in 1906 and graduated from Trinity College. He settled in Paris in 1937, after travels in Germany and periods of residence in London and Dublin. He remained in France during the Second World War and was active in the French Resistance. From the spring of 1946 his plays, novels, short fiction, poetry and criticism were largely written in French. With the production of En attendant Godot in Paris in 1953, Beckett's work began to achieve widespread recognition. During his subsequent career as a playwright and novelist in both French and English he redefined the possibilities of prose fiction and writing for the theatre. Samuel Beckett won the Prix Formentor in 1961 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. He died in Paris in December 1989.
Publisher : Faber & Faber, Limited
Imprint : Faber & Faber, Limited
Author : Samuel Beckett
Language : French; English

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text:
Oulipo staat voor Ouvroir de littérature potentielle ("Werkplaats voor potentiële literatuur"). Het is een los verband van Franstalige schrijvers en wiskundigen, en heeft als doel literaire werken te maken die aan bepaalde voorwaarden of beperkingen onderhevig zijn: littérature sous contraintes. Het kan daarbij gaan om beperkingen inzake het gebruik van letters, woorden, klanken, stijlen, enz. Deze beperkingen zijn niet alleen bedoeld als woord- en taalspelletjes, maar ook om de inspiratie en het vakmanschap van de auteurs aan te scherpen.

Oulipo werd in 1960 opgericht door Raymond Queneau en François Le Lionnais, samen met een twaalftal geestverwanten. Enkele andere bekende Oulipianen zijn de schrijvers Georges Perec en Italo Calvino. Tegenwoordig heeft Oulipo ook een officiële website.

Enkele voorbeelden van oulipiaanse beperkingen:
 monovocalisme  Schrijf een tekst waarin slechts één klinker is toegelaten; dit is dus een lipogram waarin alle klinkers zijn verboden behalve die ene. Een variant is het "monophonisme", een tekst waarin slechts één klank is toegelaten, bv. de "au" (ook geschreven als "ou").
 littérature définitionnelle  Werd in 1966 door Raymond Queneau, Marcel Bénabou en Georges Perec ontworpen: vervang in een zin elk betekeniswoord (substantief, adjectief, werkwoord, bijwoord) door een van de definities ervan uit een bepaald woordenboek. Herhaal dit op de aldus verkregen zin, enz. De zin "de kat krabt de krollen van de trap" zou aldus met behulp van de Dikke Van Dale in eerste instantie omgezet kunnen worden in:
"de hijscabine van een brugkraan scharrelt de kraagstenen die in consolevorm zijn afgewerkt van de vaste constructie van opeenvolgende treden, waardoor men lopende naar een hoger of lager gelegen plaats, vooral in een gebouw of schip, van verdieping naar verdieping kan komen"(of hoe het gebruik van een werk dat bedoeld is om de betekenis van woorden te verduidelijken, kan resulteren in precies het tegenovergestelde).
 homosyntaxisme  Schrijf een nieuwe tekst met precies dezelfde syntaxis als een bestaande tekst, maar waarin de woorden naar eigen keuze door andere woorden zijn vervangen.
 Schrijf ...  Schrijf een tekst of gedicht waarin alle woorden even lang zijn, of uit evenveel lettergrepen bestaan.
 Schrijf een tekst waarin elk woord één letter langer is dan het vorige ("sneeuwbal").
 Schrijf een gedicht waarin elke regel één letter korter (of langer) is dan de volgende, enzovoort.

Voorbeelden
Enkele bekende voorbeelden van "oulipiaanse" literatuur:
 Exercices de style van Raymond Queneau, waarin hij een korte anekdote (eigenlijk een banale, alledaagse gebeurtenis) in 99 verschillende stijlen vertelt. Rudy Kousbroek heeft hiervan een Nederlandse vertaling gemaakt, "Stijloefeningen".
 La Disparition van Georges Perec, een complete roman waarin de letter e ontbreekt en van dezelfde schrijver Les Revenentes waarin slechts één klinker voorkomt, de e.
 Cent mille milliards de poèmes van Queneau ("Honderdduizend miljard gedichten"), een boekje met tien sonnetten, elk op een apart blad. Elk blad is in veertien horizontale reepjes versneden, met daarop telkens één sonnetregel. Zo kan de lezer alle regels naar eigen goeddunken combineren tot steeds andere sonnetten. De schrijver schat dat het ongeveer dan 200 miljoen jaar zou duren om alle (1014 = honderdduizend miljard) mogelijke combinaties van deze "potentiële literatuur" te lezen. Overigens valt niet uit te sluiten dat Queneau de bundel als een goede grap zag.
 L'Anomalie (2020) van Hervé Le Tellier, een nabije-toekomstroman waarin elk personage in een eigen stijl wordt beschreven.

Het Nederlandse equivalent van oulipiaanse literatuur werd door Battus "Opperlandse letterkunde" genoemd; zie Opperlandse taal- & letterkunde.

Franse literatuur
Literair genootschap
Patafysica

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But the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts office website has a notice that a mandatory fine is still owed for a 2006 felony case for which Office plead guilty. A few days after registering to vote, the unpaid fine of over $1,000 was brought to his attention by WLRN.
"This is for an old, old charge," he said in frustration after calling for information. After years spent getting back on his feet, Office has a steady job now, with house and car payments due monthly.
"This is ridiculous," said Office. "I mean come on, man."
The situation is emblematic of something some proponents of Florida's Amendment 4 are worried about: that under a certain interpretation of the Amendment, hefty fines associated with felony charges will need to be paid before someone registers to vote.
Amendment 4, which went into effect on January 8 after being approved by more than 60 percent of votes last November, says most people convicted of felonies in the state will have their right to vote restored "after they complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation." But in several state criminal statutes, specific fines are explicitly attached to the sentencing for a crime. In others, fines are tacked on as "orders" from the court.
The charge Office plead guilty to is one of them.
Office says he's not worried about the outstanding fines impacting his right to vote. "It's not like you committed another crime," he said.
If fines are considered part of a criminal sentence, Florida residents could have to pay at minimum hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding fines related to felony charges before they are able to vote, according to a WLRN analysis of state law and records.
In many cases, paying off the fines could also mean funneling money to private debt collection agencies, which under state law can assess up to an additional 40 percent rate on the amount owed.
Clarence Office registered to vote in Miami-Dade County the day Amendment 4 went into effect.
The intention of Amendment 4 is clear. But the vagaries of the word "sentence" are being bounced around the state legislature, which appears likely to take up "implementing legislation" that seeks to define the term.
County clerk of courts offices hold records that could be used to verify if someone's sentence is complete. At least one Florida office is explicitly advising people trying to get their right to vote restored that the verification process can be tricky.
"Please note that even if the case status may indicate 'closed', that does not guarantee all terms of your sentence have been completed," reads a notice posted on the Orange County Clerk of Courts website. The site then directs users to search for the balance they owe on a case.
"If a fine is determined to be part of the sentence, the argument can be made: Well, a person's rights are not restored until the person is able to pay off the entire fine," said David Barksdale, a criminal attorney in Jacksonville and current chair of the Criminal Law Section of the Florida Bar.
Several clerk of courts offices told WLRN that fines owed stay on file for decades, something that can cause confusion especially for older cases.
"You could have committed a felony in 1940, and think you've paid all your fines, but you didn't pay a fine," said Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Joyce Griffin. That can technically be used against someone who registers to vote, unaware that they haven't completed the full terms of punishment ordered by the court.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle acknowledged the "gray area" of when a sentence is completed. But her office has pledged not to prosecute anyone who registers to vote during the roll-out of Amendment 4, who later learns they are not eligible to do so because they haven't paid restitution or fines associated with the charge.
"This should not become a fear factor," said Fernandez-Rundle.
The sheer amount of outstanding fines stemming from felony convictions is staggering.
Other counties, like Broward, Monroe and Collier, did not immediately have total numbers available.
Across the state, over $1 billion in felony fines were issued between 2013 and 2018 alone, according to annual reports from the Florida Clerks and Comptrollers, a statewide association. Over that five year period, an average of only 19 percent of that money was paid back per year.
The amount left unpaid per year stays on the books, and carries on to the following fiscal year.
Outstanding court fines put a disproportionate burden on impact lower-income residents.
Between 2014 and 2018, an average 83 percent of the money levied per year by the courts is labeled by the state Clerk of Courts association as having "minimal collections expectations," meaning the courts know they are likely to never receive payment on the debt because the defendant is too poor to pay.
Ashley Thomas, the Florida State Director of Fines and Fees Justice Center, a non-profit advocacy group, said the current funding system for Florida courts is an injustice, even more so now that it could be tied to someone's right to vote.
Since the mid-1990s, the Florida legislature has created "more than 20 new categories of financial obligations for criminal defendants," according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice. These fines are financial penalties for crimes, that stand apart from court costs and restitution, or compensation to a victim of a crime. At the same time, Florida lawmakers have eliminated almost all exemptions for defendants who can't pay those fines.
Fines are attached to criminal charges for everything from money laundering to driving under the influence, writing graffiti and soliciting prostitution. The fines are often mandatory.
For instance, if someone is found guilty of the theft of agricultural animals, they face a mandatory $10,000 fine per count. Drug trafficking is a major moneymaker for the state, at least on paper. Upon conviction for drug trafficking, defendants face a mandatory fine of $25,000 to $500,000 per count. As a result, anyone convicted of the crime could likely owe thousands of dollars before they gain the right to vote.
State and county governments are aware they are simply never going to get that money, said Thomas. The people who end up in the justice system are already disproportionately poor, and that's before they get convicted of a felony and serve possible jail time, further impacting their ability to find a well-paying job.
"No one should be precluded from voting simply because they're poor and unable to pay the high cost that Florida charges individuals convicted of a crime," she said. She called voting a "fundamental" right.
Inflating the raw number of how much in fines is owed is a 2004 law that allows County Clerk of Courts offices to enter into agreements with debt collection agencies to service outstanding debt. Once a debt goes unpaid for 90-days, counties can allow private collection agencies to assess up to an additional 40 percent fee onto whatever was initially owed to the courts.
Some counties allow for less: Clay and Brevard Counties allow collection agencies to tack on an additional 25 percent, for instance. But others, like Duval and Miami-Dade, allow for the full 40 percent. Seminole County does not use collection agencies.
A WLRN review of county agreements across the state found four collection agencies that currently operate here: Texas-based Linebarger Goggan, Blair & Sampson; Texas-based Municipal Services Bureau; Pennsylvania-based Penn Credit; and Pennsylvania-based AllianceOne.
AllianceOne has spent an estimated $305,000 lobbying the state legislature since 2014, according to state records, while Linebarger Goggan, Blair & Sampson has spent an estimated $670,000 over that time frame.
None of the other collection agencies responded to requests for comment.
Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin said his office played a role in advocating for the use of collection agencies in the early 2000s. "We got a lobbyist and we got a bill passed," he said.
Ruvin said outstanding debt from felony convictions cannot be easily written off or sold, since it often involves separate municipalities within the county. "All I care about is getting a full face value so I can distribute it according to the inter-local agreements," he said.
"There was no way for us to budget out for something like Amendment 4, it was an unknown factor," said Dian Diaz, the chief operating officer for the Broward County Clerk of Courts office.
But Diaz said her office offers what could be a partial solution for people looking to pay the fines related to felony charges. The Broward County Clerk's office allows companies to charge up to 35 percent for fines that go into collections, but once a year (this year is in March) the clerk's office offers what it calls "Operation Green Light," as a kind of amnesty.
"If you come during that week, we'll withdraw it from the collection agency, so you won't have to pay the extra 35 percent," said Diaz.
Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Citrus, and Orange Counties have instituted similar amnesty programs.
Fernandez-Rundle, the Miami-Dade state attorney, offered another possible solution. Some jurisdictions over time change some criminal fines and fees into civil fines. The same could be done on a larger, more directed scale.
Following a messy election, a fresh political season is set to begin in Florida. New state leaders will be sworn in Jan. 8, including incoming Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Although he still has a few decisions to make on key positions, DeSantis and his team have worked to fill hundreds of jobs in the administration, including for some of the state's most prominent posts.
Meanwhile, state lawmakers are filing bills for the 2019 Legislative session that begins in March.


text:
Today In History-Franz Ferdinand Was Assasinated, Former President Yar'Adua Declares Assets
Mejabi Loyalty 28 June 2015
On This Day 1914, Arch duke Franz Ferdinand and Wife were assassinated, Which Triggered World War I
Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria as the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria.
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary. He was the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne until his death on June 28th 1914.
On Sunday, 28 June 1914,a day that was also the couple's wedding anniversary day, at approximately 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were killed by Gavrilo Princip, 19 at the time, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina while they were there to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This led to many events. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination. Russia supported Serbia in this case, Germany backed Austria-Hungary. In just few weeks Russia, Serbia, and the likes of Great Britain, Belgium and France had lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and that was the beginning of one of the greatest warfare the world has ever know; the World War I.
On This Day 2011, The United Nations Officially Announced That Rinderpest Disease Has Been Totally Eradicated
The rinderpest virus (RPV) is closely related to the measles. The disease was mainly spread by direct contact and by drinking contaminated water, although it could also be transmitted by air. The disease is believed to have originated in Asia, later spreading through the transport of cattle. It is a viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and some other species of even-toed ungulates, including buffaloes, large antelope and deer.
Death rates during outbreaks were usually extremely high.
Despite the fact that there has been numerous outbreaks of this virus at time past, the last confirmed case of rinderpest was reported in Kenya in 2001. Since then, while there have been no confirmed cases, the disease is believed to have been present in parts of Somalia past that date. The final vaccinations were administered in 2006, and the last surveillance operations took place in 2009, failing to find any evidence of the disease.
After years of careful tests and examinations, On 28th of June 2011, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization Officially confirmed the rinderpest disease has been totally eradicated on the surface of the planet earth, making it the second to attain that status after smallpox.
On This Day 1820, Tomatoes Were Proven Edible
There was a time people believed tomatoes were poisonous, and rightly so. For one thing, they belong to the family Solanaceae, which has many plants of poisonous nature.
On june 28th 1820 though, a man named Col. Robert Gibbon Johnson from Salem County, NJ, consumed a quantity of ripe tomatoes before an audience, to prove that tomatoes were both edible and delicious.
Thanks to this discovery, a great number of people now consume tomatoes on a daily basis the world all over.
On This Day 1926, Mercedes Benz Was Established
On 28 June 1926, Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft formally merged becoming Daimler-Benz AG (Aktiengesellschaft) and agreed that thereafter, all of the factories would use the brand name of "Mercedes-Benz" on their automobiles.
Mercedes-Benz sales in Europe have increased slowly but steadily from 2009 through 2014. And today its one of the most popular car brands in the world.
On This Day 2007, Former President Umaru Yar'Adua Declares Assets
It was on the 28th of June 2007, a month after he was sworn in, Former Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua declared his assets, becoming the first Nigerian President to do so.
This is in fulfillment of his pre-election promise of a corruption free administration. This was also in line with the conditions of the law which states that you cannot act as President until you have sent the assets to the code of conduct bureau (CCB).
The declaration showed that he had N856,452,892 in assets, N19 million belonging to his wife, and N88,793,269 in liabilities as at that time.
It is to be recalled that newly elected President Gen Muhammadu Buhari also followed suit when he declared his assets immediately he was sworn-in on May 2015 according to the law.
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The Croatian Chess Championship for men for the year 2013 was held on 3-13th February at the Valamar Diamant Hotel in Poreč. Twelve players competed in the round robin tournament.
Grandmaster Ivan Saric, winner of the recent Tata Steel B tournament, emerged national champion after concluding the tournament with 7/11 points.
The average elo of the players was 2569 and the arbiters were IA Denis Rosandić and IA Eduard Piacun.


Famous "Barretta" TV star Robert Blake died of heart disease this week. He died on September 19th at 63. He was the last known surviving member of The Little Rascal's gang.
"I met Robert Blake many times and he always seemed to have a heavy heart. I think it's because his childhood was stolen from him," said Paul Petersen, who formed a support group for child actors: Smart Toddlers Are Respectable, Seriously (STARS). Blake was one of the few that made the transition from childhood star to adult stardom.
Robert Blake's character, Micky Gubitosi, was a whinny kid who always complained and was probably the only unhappy, pessimistic character on the show, which was characterized by happy, fun-loving kids.
"I hated being in Our Gang," Blake said once. "It was a very unhappy time in my life. You lose all perspective when you're a kid in show business."
Most of The Little Rascal/Our Gang Team did not go any further in their careers, but Blake was one of the exceptions.
Blake went on to star in the long-running TV series "Barretta". TV cops had gimmicks those days. Kojak was balled and sucked a lollipop. Cannon was obeise. Barretta was the cop with the parrot on his shoulder. His slogan was "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
He was awarded the Emmy for best actor for his portrayal of Barretta in 1973. Last month he sold it on eBay.
Friend remember him as a drinker and smoker, but not a drug taker.
"I never saw him without a cigarette or a drink in his hands," said longtime friend, Patty Duff."But at least he never did drugs."
Blake was also a peace activist who played a vital role in helping re-juvinate The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament when in stalled in the Mojave Desert on its way to Washington D.C.
With biceps the size of canteloupes and a sometimes tough guy disposition, he wasn't accepted by all. He was later criticized for doing too much.
Blake was born in Los Angeles and died in Milpitas. After Barretta went off the air, he raised parrots for a living. He was married five times and had seven children.


In the City of Casey, Financial and Insurance Services had the highest productivity by industry, generating $255,648 per worker in 2017/18.
In comparison, the same 3 industries in Victoria were for $318,090 in Financial and Insurance Services; $304,743 in Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services; and $234,039 in Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services.
The total worker productivity by industry in the City of Casey increased by $1,543 between 2012/13 and 2017/18.


'Weird West is a subgenre that combines elements of the Western with another genre, usually horror, occult, fantasy or science fiction.
Here are some concept pictures I drew for the Sky Fire Chronicles.
Please note, I'm not an artist.


Hi. I have a 72 slide´s presentation; but only need 20 titles. It is possible to group/combine slides in one title?
thanks for your post. the above link describes how to arrange your slides into a heirarchy using the Presentation Explorer, which can be found in most of our products.


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Learning Collaboration from a Small Water Project on the West Bank
Martin Levine
By Own work (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
May 14, 2016; New York Times
Peace seems so far away when a small, start-up nonprofit organization's effort to power water pumps for a small date orchard in a West Bank village becomes international news. The date trees are owned by farmers who live in Auja, a village of 5,000 located in the Jordan Valley surrounded by Israeli settlements built since the area was occupied following the 1967 Six-Day War. And water is a growing issue in the seemingly intractable situation.
Deeb Abdelghafour, a senior official at the Palestinian Water Authority, told the New York Times, "In the valley, the underlying aquifer is relatively shallow and has been under pressure from drought for as much as a decade. Electricity is also expensive, and service can be unreliable."
A 2009 Amnesty International report described the overall water situation in stark terms.
Access to water resources by Palestinians in the OPT is controlled by Israel and the amount of water available to Palestinians is restricted to a level which does not meet their needs and does not constitute a fair and equitable share of the shared water resources. Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, the only source of underground water in the OPT, as well as all of the surface water available from the Jordan River of which Palestinians are denied any share.
Enter Build Israel Palestine, a new U.S.-based organization. Founded in 2014 by Mark Jablonski and Tarek Elgawhary, BIP describes itself as "a community of Muslims, Jews and Christians in the United States committed to helping people on the ground in Israel and Palestine through cross-border water projects by partnering with locals in Israel and Palestine." The project in Auja is its first effort and is quite small in scale. The power generated by the new solar panels still provides only a portion of the electricity needed to dependably pump water to the thirsty trees. The total investment is only about $100,000.
Beyond the number of gallons that can be pumped every day, Build Israel Palestine's effort is important because it is one of a very few projects bringing its diverse supporter base together to solve problems in the midst of the political standoff that has made peace seem so very far away. Jablonski recognized that the political reality on the ground was toxic and that distrust between Palestinians and Israelis was very high. Existing organizations that might be seen as a part of the solution were no longer trusted by area residents.
To get the project off the ground, Build Israel Palestine agreed with Auja leaders' demand that the collection of donors and engineers be "free of any connection to the Israeli settlements scattered across the West Bank on land Palestinians consider their own." For Jablonski personally, this meant resigning from the board of the Jewish National Fund, which was involved in projects in the West Bank.
Clive Lipchin, the director of a water-management center at the Arava Institute, BIP's fiscal agent, said the Auja project worked "because it had been done on private land, the details worked out directly with [village leaders] rather than with the Palestinian local or national government." They didn't have to seek permission from any political entity.
The first phase of the project is now complete. Build Israel Palestine's effort was able to separate itself from the fallout of the larger conflict and demonstrate that Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians can work together to improve lives. But they recognize their effort "is not a substitute for a political solution for the Israeli / Palestinian conflict. We are doing what we can to help people which is needed regardless of the political climate."
BIP's willingness to approach the toxic climate on the West Bank from a very different perspective may be more reflective of changes in the American Jewish community than in Israel itself. Peter Beinart, a professor at the City University of New York and a leading American Jewish critic of Israel's occupation, told the Times that "Mr. Jablonski's initiative is a sign that younger American Jews are less comfortable with Israeli control of the West Bank than traditional philanthropic groups and their members have been. […] To be willing to take a stand in opposing settlements as part of it…makes it unusual."
Forty-five date farmers are happy that BIP was ready to see their lives from a new perspective. Will the headlines it has received give their efforts increased support and allow them to expand their scope? Given how frozen the situation seems as governments try to talk to governments, we can only hope so.—Martin Levine
Martin Levine is a Principal at Levine Partners LLP, a consulting group focusing on organizational change and improvement, realigning service system to allow them to be more responsive and effective.Prior to forming Levine Partners, Mr. Levine served the CEO of JCC Chicago creating a purpose driven organization, continuously realigning service and management systems to responsively and effectively fulfill JCC Chicago's mission.Over the past 35 years Mr. Levine made major contributions to the transformation of JCC Chicago to its present position as a pre-eminent JCC in North America. Mr. Levine focused on strengthening the JCC's effectiveness as a Jewish Community Building and Jewish Educational organization dedicated to "Bringing Jewish Values to Life" in all aspects of JCC programs and services.Mr. Levine was been responsible for the development of new facilities as part of JCC Chicago's response to the changing demography of the Metropolitan Jewish Community. In addition, Mr. Levine had responsibility for guiding the Chicago JCC's integration of its service and business strategies into a holistic approach.In addition to his JCC responsibilities, Mr. Levine served as a consultant on organizational change and improvement to school districts and community organizations.Mr. Levine has published several articles on change and has presented at numerous conferences on this subject.Mr. Levine held membership in many professional organizations including the Association of Jewish Center Professionals (Board member), Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups, Association for Quality and Participation, and the Future Search Alliance.A native of New York City, Mr. Levine is a graduate of City College of New York (BS in Biology) and Columbia University (MSW). He has trained with the Future Search and the Deming Institute.Mr. Levine served as President of the Gan Project, an organization committed to engaging communities in locally and ethically produced food.
Water Scarcity a Boon for Financial Investors and the Nonprofit Sector Alike
By Niduk D'Souza
Berlin Jewish Museum Director Forced Out over Citing Scholars' BDS Letter
False Charges of Anti-Semitism Harm Jewish Community
By Martin Levine
Agribusiness and Nonprofit Partnerships: Good-Faith Effort or PR Stunt?
By Sheela Nimishakavi
3 Board Members Resign at Civil Rights Institute in Wake of Davis Award Retraction
The Ugly Anti-BDS Smear Campaign versus Angela Davis
The Nonprofit Sector's Problems with Race
No Time for Gradualism: New Climate Emergency Fund to...
Berlin's Jewish Museum at a Crossroads


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Remove This Item Author/s: Dr. Max Euwe
Remove This Item Author/s: Endre Vegh
Remove This Item Author/s: Ghenrikh M. Kasparyan
Remove This Item Author/s: Vsevolod Kostrov Sakaev
Remove This Item Author/s: Zenon Franco
Remove This Item Author/s: Erik Zude
Everyman Chess (11)
Ishi Press (2)
New in Chess (1)
Russian Chess House (1)
Popular Book Series
Move by Move (6)
Chess Explained (1)
Starting Out (1)
FAN - Figurine (12)
DN - Descriptive (1)
2000 Chess Exercises - 4 Books
Catalog Code: B0024RCH
These are the best chess books for children in our country today!
A Complete Guide to Benoni Systems and Structuresz
Two Great Books Brought Together in One Volume!
Catalog Code: B0500EM
Two great books from the Everyman Chess Library, Starting Out: Benoni Systems by Alexander Raetsky and Maxim Chetverik and Starting Out: The Modern Benoni by Endre Vegh, brought together in one volume.
Lasker - Move by Move
Emanuel Lasker was world champion for a remarkable 27 years (1894-1921) and is generally regarded as having been way ahead of his time in his understanding of chess. He primarily regarded chess as a fight and considered that the strongest move in a position was the one that created greatest problems for the opponent and not necessarily the one that was objectively best. The Move by Move series provides an ideal format for the keen chessplayer to improve their game. While reading you are continually challenged to answer probing questions – a method that greatly encourages the learning and practicing of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of chess knowledge.
Play 1... d6 Against Everything
A Compact and Ready-to-Use Black Repertoire for Club Players
Catalog Code: B0191NIC
Renowned German chess trainers Erik Zude and Jörg Hickl have created an ideal club player's repertoire for Black. This compact manual presents a set of lines that is conveniently limited in scope, yet varied, solid and complete. If you have an Elo rating between 1400 and 2200, you don't need to look further because you can Play 1..d6 Against Everything!
Keres - Move by Move
Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres is one of the greatest players in chess history. Along with Viktor Korchnoi he is one of the best never to have gained the ultimate title of world champion. He was numbered among the very top players in the world for more than three decades. He was an unusually well-rounded chessplayer, writing numerous books and, additionally, also composing problems and endgame studies. Paraguay grandmaster, Zenón Franco has long been a fan of Paul Keres and has now collected together 38 of his finest games, along with numerous extracts from other encounters.
Morphy - Move by Move
Paul Morphy is a chess legend and without doubt one of the greatest players in the history of the game. His understanding of the game was years ahead of his time and in his era he was easily the best player in the world. In this book, Grandmaster Zenón Franco examines in detail Morphy's chess style, selects and studies his favourite Morphy games, and demonstrates how we can all improve our chess by learning from Morphy's masterpieces.
Rubinstein - Move by Move
Rubinstein was an exceptionally talented player whose legacy includes many truly brilliant games. He helped to develop several chess openings and is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest endgame players of all time. In this book, Grandmaster Zenón Franco selects and examines his favorite Rubinstein games, and demonstrates how we can all learn and improve our chess by studying Rubinstein's masterpieces
Spassky - Move by Move
Boris Spassky is one of the greatest chess players in the history of the game. He was the World Champion for three years, after winning the title by beating Tigran Petrosian. His name is forever linked with his great rival Bobby Fischer and their epic 1972 'Match of the Century', which did so much to popularize the game throughout the world. In this book, Grandmaster Zenón Franco examines in detail Spassky's chess style, selects and studies his favorite Spassky games, and demonstrates how we can all improve our chess by learning from Spassky's play.
E-BOOK Anand - Move by Move
Catalog Code: E-B0396EM
In this book, Grandmaster Zenón Franco examines in detail Anand's chess career to date. He selects and studies his favourite Anand games, and demonstrates clearly how we can all improve our chess by learning from Anand's play.
Anand - Move by Move
SHOPWORN - Test Your Chess
Catalog Code: SWB0387EM
Grandmaster and renowned chess coach Zenon Franco provides a training course designed to help all aspiring players to improve their chess. During each lesson, you are invited to play a 'game' in which you try to find the best moves at all the important moments.
Test Your Chess
The Development of Chess Style
This is essentially a book on chess history, showing how different styles of chess play became popular and flourished and then faded in popularity, such as for example the Hyper-Modern Style of play that became ''All the Rage'' in the 1920s and 1930s.
Domination in 2,545 Endgame Studies
Ghenrikh M. Kasparyan (1910-1995) is considered to have been without doubt the greatest composer and analyst of chess endgame studies ever. He was so great that when a great new chess star named Kasparyan appeared on the scene, the Soviet authorities decided to change the name of the second Kasparyan to Kasparov to avoid confusion. In this book, his master work, Kasparyan first classifies endgame studies into the analytic as opposed to artistic. Analytic studies are those likely to arise in an actual game.
CLEARANCE - Chess Explained - The English Opening
A New Approach to Understanding the Chess Openings
Chess Explained is a new series of books about chess openings. They are not theoretical works in the traditional sense, but more a series of lessons from a chess expert with extensive over-the-board experience with an opening. You will gain an understanding of the opening and the middlegames to which it leads, enabling you to find the right moves and plans in your own games. It is as if you were sitting at the board with a chess coach answering your questions about the plans for both sides, the ideas behind particular moves, and what specific knowledge you need to have.
EBOOK - Starting Out - Modern Benoni
The Modern Benoni is one of Blacks most ambitious and audacious defences to the queens pawn opening, and it has been used with devastating effect by such legends as Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. From the very start Black creates an exceptional imbalance in the position, one which leads to dynamic play and gives Black real chances to seize the initiative.


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HGF have been ranked in Tier 1 for Trade mark filing & prosecution in Scotland and Tier 2 for Trade mark prosecution in the United Kingdom. Head of Trade marks David Potter and Partner Lee Curtis have also been recognised and published in the directory as 2017 Trade Mark Stars.
This achievement comes on the back of a successful year for the firm with new office openings in Basel and Amsterdam, including the arrival of 3 heavyweight trade mark partners; Alexander Hagen, Pieter de Ruijter and Kasper Radstake. This gives the firm a total of 3 offices in mainland Europe and ensuring we are well positioned for the opportunities in post Brexit Britain.
MIP Trade Mark and Copyright analysis of HGF – UK and Scotland
In addition to 11 offices dotted across the UK, HGF is present in Amsterdam, Basel and The Hague. Its expertise in prosecution work is never in doubt. The firm has continued to grow with new lateral hires and internal promotions. David Potter is head of trade marks. Lee Curtis, Claire Hutchinson and Jonathan Thurgood are among the experienced trade mark attorneys in the firm. According to one client, Curtis "always provides practical solutions to issues". HGF's operations in Scotland remain solid under the leadership of IP Star Gary Wilson. Consultant Neil Mckechnie is in charge of trade marks there. Clients include Rawlplug, The a2 Milk Company, FW Medical and Aker Subsea.
This fast-growing outfit also offers legal services through its sister law firm HGF Law, which is led by Martyn Fish. The law firm welcomed IP litigator Marie McMorrow as a partner in 2016. Other notable lawyers in the group include Antony Gold and IP transactions specialist Janet Knowles who, according to a client, is "very responsive, well-informed and [gets] work done within promised timescales". Gold is a "commercially minded trusted advisor". Tom Nener and Richard Wylie are two rising stars to watch. "They are competitively priced and always offer sound and simple to digest commercial legal advice," one client concludes.
About MIP
Managing Intellectual Property was founded in 1990. They have been researching and ranking IP firms since 1996. As a well-respected publisher in the IP industry, the legal directory, IP STARS, is considered to be the most authoritative and comprehensive. For more information on MIP STARS 2017 please click here


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Announcement: GyanSys announces acquisition of Vancouver-based Salesforce Partner Groundswell Cloud Solutions. Read the press release here.
Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)
People & HR Management
Security and GRC
Salesforce-SAP Connector
GyanSys Products
Speedy Solutions
Inspiring Women in Tech
Nedhi Panse, IT Tech Veteran Thought Leader
#WomensPoV #ThoughtLeader #InspiringWomen #CareersatGyanSys
Nedhi, a technology leader at GyanSys, has over 19 years of IT and business experience as well as a strong reputation for building innovation and driving change through technology.
In this interview she shares what it is like to be a woman working in the IT industry.
Read her inspiring interview below.
What first sparked your interest in working in the tech industry?
I think it was more of an intuitive choice for me. Even before high school, I simply came to realize that I was more comfortable with pure sciences. Science and math were always my favorite subjects. During high school, I realized how broadly applicable scientific foundations are to real life, and then I made STEM my main point of interest. As an undergrad, I majored in computer science. In graduate school, I completed a master's in business administration (MBA), specializing in marketing and finance. A tech related career path was a natural choice for me.
Why do you think it is important for more women to join the tech industry?
Our world faces a wide array of challenges, and we need sophisticated tools to understand them and craft workable solutions. Science, technology, engineering, and the math fields are at the forefront in crafting tools and creating innovative solutions to achieve the best possible outcomes for our clients.
Diversity is necessary and needed; this includes the inclusion of women. Lack of equality stalls progression. When different voices, viewpoints, expertise, and life experiences are brought together, we naturally become more effective problem solvers.
Having women involved as innovators, decision makers, and community actors will lead to developing better solutions for the ever-changing challenges we face. There should be more women in executive positions so that the perspectives of women are sufficiently represented in decision making.
Inclusion of more women can result in diversity of thought, leading to a boost in performance at the business unit level.
How much do you think the industry has changed since you've joined?
The industry has certainly changed since the start of my career almost 19 years ago. I've seen an increase in the number of women employees, but this shift is just the beginning, and there's always room for growth.
What advice would you give yourself just starting out in the industry?
Great question! The advice that I would share with myself just starting out would be to embrace change and ambiguity and always be open to new possibilities. My advice would be to not be scared, especially of the lack of representation of women in the industry. Just go for it.
If you have an interest in technology, keep learning and increasing your knowledge base and skillset. If you put your mind to it, nothing can stop you from succeeding.
Do you think enough has been done to help women to get into the tech industry?
Organizations have been putting in great amounts of effort to help women get involved in the tech industry. I have seen improvements in these efforts from when I began my career, but I feel like there is still room for growth.
Having more women in management roles can and will create a safe place for other women to flourish.
Hiring managers, HR teams, and CEO's should be trained to recognize that diversity adds so much to a company's culture and output.
How does working at GyanSys help your career?
I think GyanSys is a very caring company. Gyansys presents opportunities without a gender bias. They value individual competency. In my opinion, GyanSys is truly an equal opportunity employer. In my work I am at the forefront of cutting edge technologies.
The projects which have been entrusted to me have been both challenging and rewarding personally as well as for my career development.
What advice would you pass on to other women to help them progress in the industry?
I have eight points that have been very helpful to me. The advice I would pass on to other women to aid progress in the tech industry are as follows.
First, find a mentor. While we still have a long way to go, female leaders and women in tech have come a long way and I think that women supporting each other has been key to this. I strongly advise women to seek a mentor to learn from, to freely ask questions of and gain guidance from.
There are many great mentor programs out there to help you find the right person to support you. Learn from their experiences and let them help in bolstering your confidence, knowledge and career progression. Recognize that career advancement happens through professional and personal ties that are developed within a network both inside and outside the workplace.
Second, keep learning and lean into a tech industry that is constantly and rapidly evolving. Stay up to date with the latest technology advancements in our industry. This will really help your confidence in speaking about various topics in conversation.
Third, do not be afraid to take more risks and responsibility for your success and do not hold yourself back.
Fourth, listen and ask questions. Learn from people's knowledge and experience but be conscious of the fact that not everything should be taken as an absolute truth. You will be better off asking questions and knowing more than a person who didn't. So don't be afraid to ask.
Fifth, be prepared. Preparation and practice builds your confidence. Lack of confidence can be a great challenge in a male dominated industry. Go to meetings fully prepared and don't be afraid to stand firm in your opinions and make your voice heard. I know this is tough at first, but it will get easier with practice.
Sixth, learn to negotiate. Women are paid in on average 61% less than men. Learn to speak confidently to earn what you deserve. Do your research so that you know industry salary benchmarks and have a clear view of your expectations. This will enable you to go into a salary or career discussion with a strong business case built on facts.
Seventh, speak up when you do well and are proud of the successes you have achieved. Let it be known. Be proud of yourself and share your wins as it is important in a male dominated industry. Celebrate the successes of women.
You never know who needs to hear it and you yourself can become a role model to inspire others.
Finally, to those women who are leaders in the industry, become a mentor. If you are a tech leader, recommend other women for stretch assignments or high visibility opportunities. Give deserving women a public shout out or a signal boost or an endorsement. This raises their credibility and in turn, their confidence. Go out there and rock it. I believe women empowerment.
Your Global Partner from Implementation through Support
Our work does not stop at implementations.
Our managed support services encompass on-premise and cloud solutions leveraging our follow-the-sun support model, flexible engagement, and value-added services strategy.
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Jan 28, 2016 The best Tinder client universally available on phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops running Windows! Timber is a premium Tinder client for Windows devices. Tinder is an online dating service which helps you find people nearby!


"Made with Love" - our desserts are this way. Enjoy!
A classic dessert in our kitchen. Soft and delicious egg custard with caramel and crem.
Sponge cake soaked in liqueur with cream and chocolate.
Choose the flavors you love. Cream, vanilla, strawberry or chocolate ... be delighted with the more traditional flavor.
Dessert with very long history. Paradoxically it is not English but Italian.
Choux pastry filled with tasty sauce of black and white chocolate. For true gourmands.
Fresh, natural, sweet and delicious. Order natural pineapple and cool off.
Incredible homemade chocolate mousse . Cold and accompanied by cream with caramel sauce.


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Prosecution Suspected Of Helping YG Entertainment Hide B.I's Drug Accusation Case
New details discovered about the 2016 drug case.
MBN News released an exclusive report that arose suspicions that the national prosecution office may have helped YG Entertainment hide B.I's initial drug case back in 2016.
Han Seo Hee revealed that she confessed everything about her association with B.I and his alleged drug use back in 2016 when she was first arrested for using marijuana. Despite her evidence and initial testimony, no investigation was launched on B.I after she was forced to change her statement by Yang Hyun Suk.
When the police began to receive backlash for allegedly getting rid of evidence and police files related to B.I, they responded that they only stopped because the prosecution office demanded that the investigations be stopped and handed over.
MBN News discovered that the prosecution office specifically pointed out B.I's case and requested all files as it "pertains to another investigation that they are currently processing about YG."
Although the police handed over the files, the prosecution office did not start any investigation on B.I's case and stopped Han Seo Hee's as well.
When the prosecution office was questioned about why nothing was done about B.I and Han Seo Hee, they claimed that they never requested the documents from the police. They did confirm that they were investigating into YG at the time but could not reveal any details about it.
It's not true that we requested [the police] to hand over the case about B.I or Han Seo Hee's drug case.
It's true that we were investigating YG Entertainment, but we can't confirm what we were investigating them about.
— Prosecution Office
As the police and the prosecution are telling two different stories, netizens began to suspect that the prosecution was also corrupt as they allegedly helped YG Entertainment hide B.I's drug case.
Source: MBN TV
B.I's Drug Scandal
B.I Officially Sentenced To 4 Years Probation For His Drug Case
Prosecution Demands B.I Serve 3 Years In Prison For His Drug Case
B.I's Company Releases An Official Statement Regarding His Charges Of Drug Purchase
YG Entertainment Founder, Yang Hyun Suk, Has Been Charged For Attempting To Cover Up His Artist's Use Of Drugs