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Invoking The Power of a Rave: A Dialogue with Kampire Bahana
July 27, 2020 March 12, 2021 africaindialogue 0 Comments Africa in Dialogue, Africa Writers, african authors, African Fiction, african literary magazine, African Literature, african music, African Musician, african storytellers, African Storytelling, African Writers, DJing, Kampire Bahana, Music, Musician, Nyege Nyege
INVOKING THE POWER OF A RAVE
A DIALOGUE WITH KAMPIRE BAHANA
Kampire is one of East Africa's most exciting DJs and a core member of Kampala's Nyege Nyege collective. Her vibrant bass-heavy sets have transported her to clubs and festivals across the world. She was one of Mixmag's picks for 'Top Ten Breakthrough DJs of 2018.' Her set on Boiler Room—broadcast from Nyege Nyege festival—was a legitimate 'internet moment'; thousands of Facebook shares led to serious FOMO from electronic music fans watching online. Her DJ mixes have been featured on Resident Advisor, Dekmantel and Fact Magazine, and were chosen amongst the best mixes of 2019 on Pitchfork & Fact's end of year lists. Her Rinse FM radio residency has spotlit other East African DJs and artists, including Hibotep, Faizal Mostrixx & Catu Diosis.
BY DAVINA PHILOMENA KAWUMA
The following conversation took place between the 18th of June and the 11th of July 2020, during which time all greetings, thanksgivings and farewells befitting two modern African women were exchanged (and at appropriate times, moreover) and, thankfully, no unicorns were harmed.
Davina: I was born in Lusaka, but my family moved back to Kampala when I was very young; effectively denying me the chance to cultivate a cool second culture kid accent. (Now I'm just one of several million Ugandans that pronounce bird as bad as bard as bud! Hah!) Aside from the odd photo here and recycled story there, I have no working memory of life there. My siblings loved to tease me; they liked to 'loan' me to one or the other tribe. But I really liked that, for some reason. I liked that I could simultaneously belong to the Bemba and Ngoni and Baganda and whatever other tribe they chose for me. Because Zambia is within a pointed-mouth distance, it technically isn't as much of an outside country as, say, the UK, but I still took whatever bragging rights I could get. Maybe I just liked being different. Were you othered when you moved to Uganda?
Kampire: So, I lived in Ndola, Zambia, from the ages of 2 to 16. I haven't been back to Zambia in more than a decade and having lived quite an 'expat' existence there I no longer have much connection to the place. Despite this, it had a big impact on my identity as a Ugandan. Even though Uganda is an incredibly diverse place, we still have very singular ideas about what it means to be Ugandan. Not being able to speak a local language well, not having typical Ugandan boarding school experiences, not feeling much of a connection to my parents' villages, even having progressive ideas about gender, all of these things have led people to question my 'Ugandanness.'
And I don't want to sound like one of those 'summers' who only spend holidays here with their families and then say things like "Ugandans hate gay people", because I have lived in Uganda now for more than a decade and it has been my absolute pleasure to find a community of open-minded and radical people who were born and grew up here. I think it does a disservice to us all that we are so quick to 'un-Ugandan' people who don't fit stereotypes.
The National ID exercise of the past few years has been a real illustration of this. I once spent the early hours of a morning at Katuna border trying to convince an immigration official that I was not a Kenyan with a fake ID. She sent me to the border police post where I found young kids with 'Rwandan-sounding names' being aggressively interviewed about when their grandparents first came to Uganda. All of which is to say that I have a lot of thoughts about Ugandan identity.
Davina: As do many people! If it's not the wrong-looking face, it's either the wrong ancestors or the wrong-sounding name! The other month, I had to correct a friend who thought Okot p'Bitek was Kenyan.
"But if Ugandan, from where with such a curious name?" he asked. P'Bitek is considered THE quintessential Ugandan writer, remember. One could get sequestered just for un-Ugandaning him like that! So, I said, "You! People will come for you, if you're not careful!" Then we talked a bit more about p'Bitek, his studies on Acholi and Lango oral cultures, his poetry, and his book, 'Artist, the Ruler.'
In 'Artist the Ruler,' p'Bitek argues that "If there are two types of rulers in every society, those who use physical force to subdue men, and those that employ beautiful things, sweet songs and funny stories, rhythm, shape and colour, to keep individuals and society sane and flourishing," then it is "the artist who is the greater ruler."
Kampire: Yeah, I think that getting involved in DJing and electronic music events, particularly as a minority (in multiple ways), has shown me the 'soft' power of a rave. I believe in the power of a party to create acceptance and community in a way that is much different than passing laws or issuing decrees. Especially when you see how so many of the laws passed in Uganda end up completely ignored by policymakers and the community alike!
Davina: What, if anything, do you consider distinctly Ugandan about your favourite Ugandan art?
Kampire: Hard to say. Perhaps there is a common thread that unites artists like Wasswa Donald, Paul Ndema, Liz Kobusinge, Hellen Nabukenya, Martin Kharumwa, Ian Mwesiga and Charity Atukunda but I'm not sure I can name it.
Davina: But on second thought maybe we needn't name it, that thing that's supposed to be distinctive of Ugandanness.
Kampire: After a childhood of mostly reading books set in foreign places and seeing images that reference other cultures, there is a physical sensation involved in being met with art inspired by things you recognize. It's almost a warm shock, even today when this art is much easier to seek and find. I'm so glad that younger generations will grow up surrounded by images of themselves.
Davina: I suffered a shock the other day, incidentally, but it wasn't a warm one. It started when I logged into my Amazon account and entered 'books' into the search bar.
Apparently, 'women's fiction' now comprises sub-sub-sub-genres like 'contemporary,' 'domestic life,' 'friendship,' and 'single women.' The short version is that I suffered through a long "Oh, for heaven's sake, single women fiction? Come on!" moment. The long version is that since I'm supposed to be recovering from a tumultuous relationship with 'chick lit,' 'single women fiction' isn't the kind of rebound I'm looking for!
Have you written any domestic life or friendship fiction lately? I feel as if you owe us a collection of travel-inspired fiction and poetry, what with all the cities you've been to these last few years.
Kampire: It's been impossible to find time to write. I definitely haven't done as much writing as I would like recently but writing has always been a real labour for me, and a lifelong preoccupation of mine so I have faith that I will come back to it eventually.
"After a childhood of mostly reading books set in foreign places and seeing images that reference other cultures, there is a physical sensation involved in being met with art inspired by things you recognize."
My more recent efforts have tended towards nonfiction essays. One of the more gratifying projects I have worked on in recent years was editing a book on the experiences of Ugandan women in politics since independence. It was another demonstration of that fundamental idea that the personal is political, and that you can't untie Ugandan women's experiences at home—of being denied school fees in favour of a younger, less academically-talented brother—from their decisions to run for parliament or even become a guerrilla fighter in a revolutionary war. Obviously, we do a disservice to women's stories by ghettoizing them to 'single women fiction' and other such categories. It's just another example of the contempt that society has for women.
Davina: The experiences of Ugandan women in politics since independence. Brilliant! Where can I find a copy? And what was your editorial experience like, overall? Any highlights?
Kampire: I believe there's a copy in the Women's International Peace Centre (formerly Isis-WICCE) library, or one can be ordered from there. It's called 'Sheroes of Africa's Political Movements' and features stories from Alice Alaso, Gertrude Njuba, Margaret Dongo and Jesse Majome. There's a lot that can be said about it but mostly I'm struck by the fact that these women's stories should be taught and known much more widely.
Davina: You spoke earlier about how 'the personal is political'; for a long time, I actually actively resisted that idea. Maybe I liked to think that my resistance was an index of how apolitical, and therefore neutral, I was. I used to be the person that said, "Mmh, I'm not really into those politics things."
At some point, I took said resistance to the other side of the normal distribution curve by refusing to write about politics. I suppose that when you're enmeshed in a culture that often reduces 'politics' to 'politicking,' and to ensuring that what happens on campaign trails stays there, it's easy to pretend that there isn't more to making a political statement than running for chairperson of your village local council.
While in fact even the decision to dress a certain way, even one taken unthinkingly, can itself be a radical political statement. Because, oh, suddenly you're usurping A's claims to authority over you and lessening B's power to make decisions for you and occupying a chunk of C's space, and so on.
Kampire: Funnily enough one of the first jobs I had was working for a Ugandan women's organization that worked to increase women's participation in politics. Among other tasks we would travel to various rural districts and train women at the local council level on their roles as councilors. Many of them had not been educated past primary school, didn't know anything about the constitution, and came to trainings with babies on their breasts, toddlers at their feet and girls not much older babysitting their younger siblings. It was great for me to travel so much of the country but also to understand the reality of this country. Like when we are asking women to get into politics in Uganda and participate on equal footing with prominent men in their communities, what are we really asking them?
Davina: Exactly. And especially in the context that you described earlier, in which ultimately not even policymakers feel obliged to abide by some of the laws they pass. Every time I travel around the country, I'm shell-shocked by the magnitude of work that remains to be done. In a way, stories, reading them, listening to them, thinking about them, re-telling them, keeps me sober.
Speaking of stories, in the spirit of full disclosure, and at the risk of pride coming before a fall, I've written one or two that have got me saying "Hmmmn, not bad. Not bad at all!"
What's your favourite piece of writing by Kampire Bahana and why?
Kampire: Good question! Our relationship to our creative output can be so complicated. With both DJing and writing, it's often hard to look back on a piece with any sort of kindness, let alone objectivity. I used to write poetry some years ago and when I look back on it, I don't hate it, though I often hate other people's poetry! Maybe this is why there's so much bad poetry in the world…an inherent fondness for our own emotional ramblings.
Davina: Hah! I'm guilty of writing my fair share of bad poetry! It's a good thing most of it ends up in its rightful home, a.k.a. The Recycle Bin. I only hate another person's poetry when it's condescending. I think I can suffer through almost any kind of writing, as long as it doesn't patronize me. That's my line, often drawn with a thick, yellow highlighter.
Where do you draw your line?
Kampire: In the spirit of supporting Ugandan art I have read some truly atrocious writing. So, if I have a line, I've definitely breached it many times.
Davina: Touché! There's consensus that innovation lives at the boundaries between disciplines. Has this been your experience?—do you find innovative ideas for music mixes from your writing, for writing from your installation art, and for installation art from your music mixes, and so on?
Kampire: I don't know that this happens for me consciously, but I do like my mixes to have a flow from beginning to end, which maybe you can think of as a sort of narrative. I think life is cross-disciplinary and it's the other way of thinking about it that feels strange, trying to force things into one discipline or another.
Davina: I find it strange, too, how people somehow expect me to live my real life as if it's divided into an arts and a sciences syllabus. You can't be interested in gender studies because, wait, didn't you do a science course at the university? And, oh, what do you think you're doing reading a paper on environmental ethics, yet you studied industrial fine art?
Kampire: Yes, it's only when I'm writing a job application or bio of some kind that I'm forced to try and consider my career in a way that fits expectations and looks good on paper. In real life I've been led by opportunity and emotion before anything else.
Davina: I like to think that we all have designated routines (and related paraphernalia)—whatever it takes to shift the creative mojo into overdrive. I sit on what I think of as 'my special chair' and religiously listen to music, when I'm writing, for instance. Although I suspect that 'listen' is the wrong word since after the first few minutes I forget that there's even music on. Typically, it'll be a dancehall or alternative rock or techno mix—one song set to replay anywhere between 30 and 100 times if I need, say, 3000 – 5000 words written.
Kampire: I actually tire of songs really quickly and haven't listened to a song on repeat in the manner you describe in years. I'm the type to ration listening to a precious song because I want to hold on to the feeling I got when I first heard and loved it. One of the things I enjoy about DJing is that it extends my appreciation of a song, because you have to get to know the songs you play really well in order to do real justice to them.
Kampire Bahana © Darlyne Komukama
Davina: Having 'to get to know the songs.' Hmmmn. How do you mean, exactly? Structurally, lyrically, temporally?
Kampire: I still very much rely on my feelings and emotions when I choose the songs that I play. I trust my body and my intuition in knowing what will go down well on the dance floor, but yes, I have to know how long a song is and when would be a great part to cut out and mix it into the next song; if it has a section which is just percussion or a buildup that will fit perfectly with another song's intro or if the highs in this one will clash badly with the highs in the next.
Davina: A friend who has watched and enjoyed your performances (I like to think of DJing as a performance) had this to say: "I first met Kampire when she used to host literary and other events at the Maisha Garden. She was cool, self-effacing and intellectual. An excellent convener. I suppose at the back of my mind was surprise at the transition from convener to DJ. But is transition the right word? Perhaps she has always played both roles and her dance style somehow confirms this." He described your dance style as 'refined and mindful.'
Kampire: Oh, my goodness! I'm so thrilled that anyone has such nice things to say about my work. I am amused at the description of my dancing because I am very much an anxious introvert, overly aware of and always trying to control the way I appear in spaces. DJing I guess is my aspiration toward the opposite; I want the music to make you dance with abandon, forget yourself and be taken to places without your conscious mind being entirely aware or consenting of the journey.
Davina: How interesting to learn that you think of yourself as an introvert. I actually meant to ask earlier if a board-certified introvert like me will make a great DJ in her next life but, well, there you go.
We're often asked about people that inspire us but rarely about the people we inspire. You've toured extensively on and off the continent; there must surely be moments when people approach you to say "Kampire, you inspire me." Or something similar. How often does that happen?
Kampire: It happens often enough that I am like, I really need to have a better response to this than stuttering something awkward and trying to run away. As much as it doesn't feel like I am doing anything special, I do recognize I am one of very few Ugandans who gets to do what I do and part of a minority of female DJs. So, it's a real privilege to meet people and say to them, "If I can do it, you can do it too."
Davina: Stuttering something awkward and trying to run away?! Hah! Hard to picture that! As part of a minority of female DJs in Uganda, you ARE doing something special, trust me.
You've previously spoken about your appreciation of what other Ugandan female DJs are doing, whether they are doing it with mainstream or sidestream music. What do the above-ground and under-ground mixing scenes in Uganda sound like now? And what trends do you anticipate in the next ten years?
Kampire: The mainstream in Uganda is very much dominated by pop music (top 40), dancehall and Afrobeats. We have fantastic Ugandan pop music and great artists and songwriters who kept me on the dance floor for hours in my 20s even though it was and still is much the same playlists that can be heard from one club or bar to the next.
Recently, and I think Nyege Nyege (among other initiatives) very much both drove and benefitted from this wave, there's been an impetus towards a wider variety of genres. 10 years ago, there was only Thursday Rock night at Steak Out. Now, if you look, there are a number of other regular events (at least pre-Corona) championing house and electronic music. Part of it is that young people are exposed to a much wider variety of music through the internet, and young producers and musicians are making all kinds of interesting and strange sounds that need and deserve an audience and outlet too. So, I'm hopeful that this will continue and that different kinds of music won't just be seen as an elite or a white people thing, and that these independent spaces will be able to sustain themselves long-term.
Davina: I really LOVED the remix that you, Decay and Gan Gah made of Nyaruach's 'Gatluak,' by the way. How do you decide who to work with, and what songs to mix?
Kampire: I'm only just beginning to explore music production, so still finding my way and voice. One of the reasons I feel compelled to attempt it is because I am surrounded by so many talented and experienced producers here in Kampala around the Nyege studios and residency, and also around the world that I've been lucky enough to meet touring. So that tends to dictate the who part of your question. My DJing career has been impelled by a need to hear the African songs that I love, often from the 90s and 80s, be referenced in clubs and by young Africans today; that has dictated the what, at least so far.
Davina: I don't remember who it was that said one should write the kind of stories one wants to read but suffice to say that I'm always my first intended reader. If I don't enjoy reading something I've written, it'll never leave my desktop or get shared. So, it makes sense to me that you are your first intended listener.
Kampire: A lot of times when I make a mix I at first feel like I never want to hear it again, so I'm not sure that's true. A few weeks later though I will listen and think, "Hmmm, I don't actually hate that."
Davina: Aside from the Nyege residency, what other initiatives, fellowships, movements exist to encourage girls and women to produce and mix African music?
Kampire: One of the first spaces I participated in when I started DJing was Femme Electronique, which is run by DJ Rachel. Other young women DJs like Mdnytt Tsunami and Catu diosis have created platforms for other young women like themselves to get behind the decks and be heard. Antimass is another wonderful platform for women and queer people to get together and play the music they want to hear.
Davina: Mdnytt Tsunami? Catu diosis? Triumphant! At this rate, I must also get myself a cool DJ name. It'll have to be an elaborate pun, of course; something like 'Venus Wry-Trap!' Heh! But, meanwhile, tell me more about the freshness that is Acholitronix.
Kampire: I love Acholitronix for a number of reasons, firstly because it sounds amazing and is great to dance to. And yet 5 years ago in Kampala you would only hear it at Acholi functions. Ugandan music is so diverse but we only hear the same dancehall/Afrobeats-influenced, Luganda pop on the radio and in clubs.
One of the things I am proud of Nyege Nyege for doing is giving it an audience outside of the context of Acholi "traditional" events. Acholitronix is both entirely African and also defies outsiders' expectations of what African music sounds like. You know us Africans are always fighting Western definitions of ourselves. And then I Iove the story of how it came to be; out of necessity, following war and extreme hardship in communities in Northern Uganda, forcing them to downgrade from large troupes of musicians and dancers at weddings, to one or two dudes with a mic and a laptop.
The Acholi community have been deliberately marginalized by our current government, and subjected to the worst forms of dehumanization a people can go through, and I do not want to romanticize that, but we look for the stories of triumph and beauty where we can.
Davina: I like that—looking for the stories of triumph and beauty where we can. It seems as if with each passing day my cynicism intensifies, so I'm in constant need of such reminders. But I really should be getting out of your hair now, so I'll round this off by re-calling something you said earlier—how we are always fighting Western definitions of ourselves. That's true on so many levels. But what also interests me is how, ironically, we seem quite eager to reinforce some Western definitions of ourselves.
'Africans don't read' is still a common way for even Africans to define Africanness; I actually swore by that definition for a very long time, never mind that I've always been an African who reads. I've since repented of all that, and for a while now I've assumed that it isn't fashionable anymore to repeat that allegation in polite company. But the other day someone said the same thing to me, although she, too, is an African who reads.
Kampire: Yeah that's something I heard a lot too. But I also heard (and hear) people don't read, black people don't read. And growing up in a home where reading was considered extremely important and was probably one of the first things I remember being praised for, I guess I've always been skeptical of that take. I think the best thing we can do is to challenge and just stop repeating some of these redundant and clearly untrue stereotypes.
Davina: Well said!
Photo credit for featured image: Martin Kharumwa
This dialogue was edited by Kylie Kiunguyu.
Davina is a reader who happens to like writing. She writes in several forms (including poetry and essays) but is for some reason most drawn to the short story. Stories are how she makes sense of the world, and of her (imagined or otherwise) moral, intellectual, spiritual, and physical place in it. She's committed to the creation of a legacy that equalizes the telling of stories. Her range of interests include [eu]social media, the mothering of the tongue, and English which, despite our sincerest efforts to preserve it, keeps breaking (sometimes into more pieces than we can pick up).
DAVINA PHILOMENA KAWUMA
CONTRIBUTING INTERVIEWER FOR FICTION
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Memoirs & Diaries - The Best 500 Cockney War Stories - High Seas
Published in London in 1921, The Best 500 Cockney War Stories comprised, in the words of its newspaper publisher (The London Evening News) "a remembering and retelling of those war days when laughter sometimes saved men's reason".
The collection of short memoirs, some 500 in total, is divided into five categories - Action, Lull, Hospital, High Seas and Here and There.
Other sections within the collection can be accessed using the sidebar to the right.
Summarised below is a list of the story pages available within the fourth of these categories, High Seas:
The Skipper's Cigar and four other stories
It WAS a Collapsible Boat and four other stories
A Voice in the dark and four other stories
Urgent and Personal! and four other stories
Another Perch in the Roost and four other stories
"Spotty" the Jonah and four other stories
Three Varieties and four other stories
Water on the Watch and four other stories
Coco-nut Shies and four other stories
Five to One Against the "Tinfish" and four other stories
The All-Seeing Eye and two other stories
Saturday, 22 August, 2009 Edited by The London Evening News
'Strafing' is attacking ground troops by machine guns fired from low-flying aircraft.
Cockney War Stories
Sir Ian Hamilton

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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ASSEMBLY, No. 4069
213th LEGISLATURE
INTRODUCED JUNE 11, 2009
Assemblywoman PAMELA R. LAMPITT
District 6 (Camden)
Creates diversionary program for juveniles who are criminally charged for "sexting" or posting sexual images.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act creating a diversionary program for certain juveniles and supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.
1. a. As used in this act, "eligible offense" means an offense under N.J.S.2C:24-4 in which:
(1) the facts of the case involve the creation, exhibition or distribution without malicious intent of a photograph depicting nudity as defined in that section through the use of an interactive wireless communications device or a computer; and
(2) the creator and subject of the photograph are juveniles or were juveniles at the time of its making.
b. The Attorney General, in consultation with the Administrative Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, shall develop an educational program for juveniles who have committed an eligible offense as defined under the provisions of subsection a. of this section. The county prosecutor shall determine whether a juvenile shall be admitted to the program. A juvenile who successfully completes the program shall have the opportunity to avoid prosecution for the eligible offense.
c. Admission to the program shall be limited to juveniles who:
(1) have not previously been adjudicated delinquent for or convicted of a criminal offense under Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes or the laws of the United States;
(2) were not aware that their actions could constitute and did not have the intent to commit a criminal offense;
(3) may be harmed by the imposition of criminal sanctions; and
(4) would likely be deterred from engaging in similar conduct in the future by completing the program.
d. The educational program shall provide information concerning:
(1) the legal consequences of and penalties for sharing sexually suggestive or explicit materials, including applicable federal and State statutes;
(2) the non-legal consequences of sharing sexually suggestive or explicit materials including, but not limited to, the effect on relationships, loss of educational and employment opportunities, and being barred or removed from school programs and extracurricular activities;
(3) how the unique characteristics of cyberspace and the Internet, including searchibility, replicability, and an infinite audience, can produce long-term and unforeseen consequences for sharing sexually suggestive or explicit materials; and
(4) the connection between bullying and cyber-bullying and juveniles sharing sexually suggestive or explicit materials.
e. The Attorney General may promulgate guidelines to effectuate the provisions of this act.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the seventh month after enactment.
This bill establishes an educational program that is intended to be an alternative to prosecution for juveniles who are charged with a criminal offense for posting sexually suggestive or sexually explicit photographs, usually on the Internet. The educational program also would include juveniles who engage in the behavior commonly known as "sexting," in which sexually suggestive or explicit pictures are transmitted via cell phones.
The bill requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the Administrative Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, to develop an educational program for juveniles who commit an eligible offense as defined in the bill. The county prosecutor would determine whether a minor may be admitted into the program. A juvenile who successfully completes the program would have the opportunity to avoid prosecution.
Admission to the program would be limited to juveniles who: (1) have not previously been adjudicated delinquent for or convicted of a criminal offense; (2) were not aware that their actions could constitute and did not have the intent to commit a criminal offense; (3) may be harmed by the imposition of criminal sanctions; and (4) would likely would be deterred from engaging in similar conduct in the future by completing the program.
The educational program is to provide information concerning: the legal consequences of and penalties for sexting or posting sexual pictures online, including the applicable federal and State statutes; the non-legal consequences of sexting or posting such pictures, including, but not limited to, the effect on relationships, loss of educational and employment opportunities, and being barred or removed from school programs and extracurricular activities; how the unique characteristics of cyberspace and the Internet can produce long-term and unforeseen consequences for sexting and posting such photographs; and the connection between bullying and cyber-bullying and juveniles sexting or posting sexual images.
The teenage practices of sexting and posting sexual images online are nationwide problems that have perplexed parents, school administrators, and law enforcement officials. Prosecutors in several states have charged teenagers who have engaged in these behaviors with criminal offenses, including distribution of child pornography.


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Notes of apricot, Meyer lemon, and lychee on the nose with citrus zest on the palate. This refreshing blend has a light finish and medium acidity.
The grapes for this blend were each harvested mid-September during the cool desert nights. They were then crushed, fermented, and stored separately in stainless steel tank. Later on, blending trials were conducted in order to find the perfect balance of fruitiness, structure, and acidity.
this is an enjoyable white wine - on its own and with any food.
A very good white wine for the price. One of our favourite whites.
This wine is rich in apple, stone fruit, melon and pear notes. The wonderful aromatics are matched with a palette that is enjoyably soft, full and approachable.


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Singapore eases monetary policy for first time in 3 years
16-Oct-2019 Intellasia | Reuters | 6:02 AM
Singapore's central bank eased monetary policy for the first time in three years on Monday (October 14), as widely expected, as the city-state's bellwether economy narrowly dodged recession.
Like other trade-reliant Asian economies, Singapore's economy has been hit hard by the escalating US-China trade war and a broader global slowdown, pushing its manufacturing sector into contraction and weighing on business confidence.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) manages monetary policy through exchange rate settings, rather than through interest rates as other central banks do, letting the Singapore dollar rise or fall against the currencies of its main trading partners within an undisclosed policy band.
MAS said it would lower slightly the slope of the Singapore dollar's policy band, known as the nominal effective exchange rate or S$NEER, a shallower easing than some had expected. The width and level at which the band was centred were left unchanged.
The Singapore dollar rose slightly against the US dollar on the day.
"It's a slight reduction in the rate of appreciation. They did not say the policy was neutral so it suggests that the slope is still positive," said Barclays economist Brian Tan.
"We may be on track for further easing. Our base case is that if growth weakens, then they have to do something again," Tan added.
The last time MAS reduced the S$NEER policy band was in April 2016 when it was set at 0 per cent on cloudy growth and inflation outlook.
Singapore's economy grew less than expected in the third quarter from the previous three months on an annualised basis, but avoided slipping into a technical recession, preliminary data showed on Monday.
Eleven economists polled by Reuters had all expected Singapore would join a global trend toward policy easing as international economic uncertainties mount.
MAS increased the slope of the policy band twice last year in efforts to control rising price pressures and strengthen its currency, in its first such tightening moves in six years.
But a prolonged tariff dispute between the United States and China two of Singapore's biggest export markets has disrupted global supply chains in many trade-reliant economies, including the city state.
Manufacturing has been hit particularly hard, buffeted by the trade tensions and a cyclical downturn in the electronics sector.
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-eases-monetary-policy-first-time-3-years
Category: Singapore
« Business Briefs 15 Oct 2019
Singapore's F-15 fighter jet training programme in Idaho turns 10 years old »
Singapore's SDP loses bid for first challenge against fake news law to be heard in open court
Singapore misinformation law challenged in court for first time
Singapore Air Force refuelling plane lands in Taiwan
Singapore beat expectations, attracted $15.2b of investments in 2019
Majority of new jobs created go to Singaporeans and will continue to do so: Chan Chun Sing
Citi Singapore adjusts pay for women who do same work as men
Majority of 60k jobs from 2015 to 2018 went to S'poreans: Chan Chun Sing
Judge denies SDP application for POFMA case to be heard in open court
Unwanted no more: adoption offers pour in for baby found in Singapore bin
Singapore attracted S$15.2 billion in investments last year, beating forecast


Mister Worker™ has a wide range of hammers, levers and chisels in the catalog, available in various models: hammers with fiber or wooden handles, mallets, disarming levers, crowbars, wads and nail rails.
Hammers are used in a large number of professions and hobbies: they are hand tools that are used to beat shots on a specific material. They are available with a handle in different materials: the hammers with fiber handle are very used by mechanics, because the graphite present in the handle is high strength and allows to use it in a repeated and heavy way; the hammers with wooden handles are used in many areas, often preferred to those with a graphite handle because they are cheaper but still resistant. In the catalog there are also several models of spare handle for hammer, to meet different types of needs.
Similar to the hammer is the bribe, which however has the head made of softer materials such as wood or plastic. It is mainly used to hammer different types of hard materials without the risk of damaging them: for example, it is often used to fix the tiles. Many models of bribe are equipped with interchangeable head, so you can use it with various types of materials. Another manual tool similar to the hammer is the mallet, a small club with a wooden head or soft plastic that is used to beat on the chisel when you need to sculpt fairly delicate materials.
Also used in various fields are the wrecking bars and nail drawers: they are round or hexagonal levers specific for carpenters, mechanics and workshops, designed to be able to remove nails stuck deep. The most professional are made of chrome vanadium alloy steel, resistant to wear and corrosion, easy and comfortable to use without applying too much force. They are designed to extract the nails without damaging them excessively, even if you need to be able to calibrate the force applied to the nail remover well to perform a clean and precise job.
Hammers, levers and chisels are very common hand tools known by both professionals and private individuals: they are useful tools both to carry out demanding jobs and to carry out hobby jobs in their own small home workshop. All the hammers and levers in the Mister Worker™ catalog have been carefully selected to offer the best brands and the highest quality to our customers and satisfy even the most demanding.


DJ Katie was everything we envisioned for our October wine club party at Hilliard Bruce Vineyards. Scott was extremely helpful over the phone and communication was fabulous through the set-up. They put together a fantastic mix that perfectly suited our setting and Katie couldn't have been sweeter, more easy-going, and self-sufficient on the day-of. We were hearing compliments on the music all evening. They will be our go-to for any other event!


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Arsenal v Crystal Palace - Premier League
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 16: Arsene Wenger the Arsenal manager has a pre match interview before the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium on August 16, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) Arsene Wenger.
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 16: Arsene Wenger the Arsenal manager has a pre match interview before the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at Emirates Stadium on August 16, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images) Arsene Wenger


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Public Service .gov. mt
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The Public Service and the Public Sector
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Animal Welfare Services - Call 1717
The Animal Welfare Directorate is continuously committed to provide an efficient and effective service to the general public. Through all its services, the Directorate ensures that all Maltese and Gozitans find readily-available and easily-acccessible necessary information and assistance related to animal welfare.
Similar to much of the world, we are going through very difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this situation does not deter the Animal Welfare Directorate from doing its utmost to help those persons who are being affected directly by the difficult situation brought about by Covid-19.
Fully aware of the extraordinary circumstances we are experiencing, the Directorate has launched an initiative through which it will support dog or cat owners living on their own. In the eventuality that these persons require medical attention in hospital, the Directorate is undertaking to take care of their pets, temporarily, until they are back in the homes.
For further information, one can contact the Animal Welfare officials by calling 1717.
It is to be emphasised that the assistance rendered by the 1717 helpline will continue offering the services of a One Stop Shop to the general public. This is a 24/7 service offered by the Animal Welfare Directorate people to obtain all the necessary information, or file any reports, related to animal welfare in our country.
The One Stop Shop has received over 2,800 calls and around 250 reports. Moreover, the ambulance service was required more than 2,800 times. Between January and June 2020, then, more than 600 cats and dogs were adopted.
The Animal Welfare Directorate strives to continue offering an effective and efficient service, and to provide information and necessary assistance to further protect the well-being of animals.
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Oh Blog, how I have missed and neglected you!! If you were to look at my website, it has been a long while since anything was updated. This isn't because I've been MIA… We've finally moved into our new house as of last week!! I FINALLY have my office back in working order (for the most part) and getting back into the groove of normalcy. I can finally sit down and work on my computer with my internet. I've been shooting weddings and portraits, but haven't had a way to blog much. I'm thankful my in-laws let me set-up my computer at their house for a few weeks during the transition in order to edit images.
Since early March, we've been camped out in our new home during our renovations. As you can imagine it was a relief finally getting our own bed and belongings last week. Two and a half months (with a three year old) seems like forever when moving and updating a house. We still aren't quite finished, just a few minor things to do around the house, but it is ours, we are enjoying it, and know it won't happen overnight. I am LOVING Oklahoma and I enjoy having room to roam now. I can watch gorgeous sunsets from my back porch, listen to the trees in the wind, hear the birds sing, my child is now playing with bugs she's never known, playing in the rain, she is naming frogs "hopscotch" and neighborhood cats "monna," she just saw her first lightning bug and laughed so hard with giddy that I wanted to cry, and the best part of it all is that my husband is home every night and is no longer traveling two or three weeks out of the month. We have him home with us and that's all we need to be complete.
I've been neglecting the small moments, overcome with house stuff, that I haven't taken the time to capture the innocence of my almost four year old daughter. I cannot believe she will be four in July and start pre-k in August…where has all of the time gone? I cannot seem to stop time, but only capture a glimpse with the release of my shutter. We, as adults, get so wrapped up in "things" and "stuff" and "work" that sometimes we forget that tomorrow is never guaranteed. My goal is to stop, breathe, enjoy the moment, put down my phone, put up the iPad, turn off my computer, and enjoy my family. Sometimes enjoying my family means no cameras…I want to LIVE the moment, to capture time forever in my heart with memories, but somehow I feel sad because I haven't captured every moment in digital form. I just pray that my daughter will remember her mother interacting and playing with her instead of holding a camera in her face documenting her every move. I watched a movie the other night and as soon as I heard this line, I immediately thought of my relationship with my camera and documenting my own family's life.


Chocolate Cake with Oreo Cream Filling is a two layer-cake with a creamy Oreo filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. An Oreo lover's dream!
If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my little sneak peak of this amazing Chocolate Cake with Oreo Cream Filling that I made for my husband's birthday last week. This is the first year since I've known him that he hasn't had what we call "dot cake". The funfetti boxed cake with the rainbow chip frosting.
Please tell me you're familiar with Betty Crocker's rainbow chip frosting?! We pretty much went into depression at our house because they discontinued making it! Yes, I'm all about cooking from scratch, but seriously, that rainbow chip frosting was the best store bought frosting invented. And without warning, BAM! It's gone. So sad.
Chocolate Cake with Oreo Cream Filling is a two layer-cake with a creamy Oreo filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. An Oreo lover's dream!
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add oil, eggs, vanilla, milk and sour cream and mix until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully pour in the boiling water. Beat on high speed for 1 minute to add air to the batter.
Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 28-33 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Add vanilla and milk and mix well. For thinner frosting add a little more milk. For thicker frosting add a little more powdered sugar. Fold in chopped Oreo cookie pieces. Spread filling over the top of one of the cake rounds. Top with the second cake round. Cover the cakes with chocolate frosting.
Add cocoa powder to a bowl with the melted butter and mix well to combine. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating until your reach your desired spreading consistency.
Thank for giving a good recipe to make delicious chocolate cake. Have you ever tried to make chocolate frosting by heavy cream, butter and chocolate chips? It spends just 3-4 minutes.
I really want to make this, but can you please put the ingredients in grams!! It would be really helpful.
Salted or unsalted butter ?
Hi Jasmin. I used salted butter. If you use unsalted, you could add a tiny pinch of salt if you want!
Could I leave the cake with filling in freezer longer than 30 minutes?
Yes! It would freeze well, wrapped well in plastic wrap, for up to 2 months.
Do you think i could make this cake in a 9×13 inch pan in single layers?
This should work. I would make the cake in the 9×13 and layer both frostings on top!
I loved this recipe. The result was very rich and tasty. Some of my favourite cake shops and a couple that I am yet to try.


Senior Rashard Odomes (Copperas Cove, TX) had 14 points in the loss for the slumping Sooners.
Senior Nych Smith (Memphis, TN) had 20 points/6 assists in the win for the Eagles.
Senior Jarrell Brantley (Columbia, SC) had 22 points in the win for the Cougars.
Sophomore Colbey Ross (Aurora, CO) had 19 points/10 assists in the win for the Waves.
Junior Jonah Radebaugh (Thornton, CO) had 13 points/6 rebounds in the win for the Bears.
Senior Christian Cunningham (Albuquerque, NM) had 6 points/14 rebounds in the win for the Gamecocks.
Junior Tres Tinkle (Missoula, MT) had 19 points in the win for the Beavers.
Junior Antonio Green (Tupelo, MS) had 13 points/6 assists in the loss for the Blue Raiders.
It took overtime, but SHSU kept an unblemished conference record thanks to Cam Delaney (Harker Heights, TX) with 19 points/7 rebounds and his brother, Josh adding 10 in the win for the Bearkats.
Sophomore Gregory Bowie II (San Antonio, TX) had 11 points in the win for the Vaqueros.


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Halberstam: I'm not alone
When I broke Skippy's heart, and with many feeling like he did, I was feeling kind of alone. Now, not so much - I was just on point.
A lot of people are starting to come out of the closet, via PowerLine and New Criterion there are some links to all sorts of like minded people.
On of the best is Hilton Kramer - and he did it in '93.
Halberstam was, of course, one of the Times reporters who achieved fame as a correspondent in Vietnam. (It was for his reporting of the war in 1962-64 that he won his Pulitzer.) Indeed, he was unusual in this regard in achieving not one but two reputations as a writer on the Vietnam War. The first was as a champion of the Kennedy intervention in Vietnam, the brutal and disastrous removal of the Diem regime in Saigon, and the view that the United States had an important stake in opposing Communism in Vietnam. This was still his view in The Making of a Quagmire (1965), his first book on the subject.
I believe that Vietnam is a legitimate part of that [American] global commitment [he wrote]. A strategic country in a key area, it is perhaps one of only five or six nations in the world that is truly vital to U.S. interests.
And then on the question of American withdrawal from Vietnam:
What about withdrawal? Few Americans who have served in Vietnam can stomach this idea. It means that those Vietnamese who committed themselves fully to the United States will suffer the most under a Communist government, while we lucky few with blue passports retire unharmed; it means a drab, lifeless and controlled society for a people who deserve better. Withdrawal also means that the United States' prestige will be lowered throughout the world, and it means that the pressure of Communism on the rest of Southeast Asia will intensify. Lastly, withdrawal means that throughout the world the enemies of the West will be encouraged to try insurgencies like the one in Vietnam. Just as our commitment in Korea in 1950 has served to discourage overt Communist border crossings ever since, an anti-Communist victory in Vietnam would serve to discourage so-called wars of liberation.
This was exactly
the view of the Vietnam War in the White House in the Kennedy era—the view of "the best and the brightest" that Mr. Halberstam was soon to castigate.
It was his second reputation as a writer on Vietnam, this time as an implacable foe of the American intervention, that launched Mr. Halberstam as a best-selling author. In the voluminous pages of The Best and the Brightest (1972), he was reborn as a ferocious critic of the war and those responsible for conducting it. President Kennedy was now no longer the good guy he had once been, and his associates, who had gone on to serve under President Johnson, were even worse.
Only Bobby Kennedy, "who had been primarily responsible for the counterinsurgency enthusiasm," as Mr. Halberstam acknowledged, was absolved from the consequences of his role because of what was said to be his "capacity to grow and change and admit error." Between The Making of a Quagmire and The Best and the Brightest, Mr. Halberstam had taken time out to join the ranks of the Bobby Kennedy hagiographers by writing The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy; he also wrote Ho, an admiring little book about Ho Chi Minh. These smoothed the way for Mr. Halberstam's own re-emergence as a politically correct anti-war liberal know-it-all in The Best and the Brightest.
It is in the nature of journalism, of course, for its practitioners to be allowed to reinvent themselves as events require, and Mr. Halberstam proved to be a dab hand at negotiating the terrain separating one realm of received opinion from another. It is the one talent that has never failed him.
Labels: Media, Vietnam War
Sweden, departing
Don't play poker with Doug
Gay about Queers
Was this Rummy's blog?
Acres of diplomacy
Petraeus' September preview
Kharmah just ran over Prof. Fearon's thesis
I just like the song.
Matt: back in Iraq
What Skippy does in Japan
Hitchens tilts against the ultimate authority
POSTEX on the first Cyberwar
DogPile vs. Google on Memorial Day
Sounds like TACAIR to me
As the good people come forward
We should have listened to the Democrats
Not in my Navy
Post Card from Hell
Hypocrisy: thy name is Edwards
The Revolting Generals: calling them on the carpet
Bill Roggio and the Media War
The Navy Takes Over
A bad month for the Navy
The good Kerry
A little DC to start things off
MRAP and the Navy
Our hostages held by terrorists seen
Cue video of Obama jogging, playing ball, sump'n
McCain is dead to me
You and what military?
CAPT Ramius is burning your PQS book
British MoD gets a "F"
John Edwards - eating the dead
Keeping and eye on the long game: Part XXI
The ides of May
USS Samuel B. Roberts - "engineering difficulties"
Keep an eye on Turkey
Gen. Petraeus; values, integrity - rinse, repeat
They don't get it, do they?
Funniest Navy Picture of the Year
USS Frank Cable initial accident report in.
I not cheezburger
We need Service Dress Khaki
The Table at Damascus
A useful idiot repents
Diversity doublespeak
France returns
The Annapolis we wish we had
Noooo!!! Not my MONARC!!!
Tornado politics and the National Guard
A lie's violence takes root
Yes Virginia, there are sandstorms
Out With The Old, In With The Jew
What you leave behind
Pim Fortuyn Day
France's new dawn
N3 and the new Loop
Funny, they look pink to me
Subic Bay Saturday
Sen. Kerry & Sen. Harkin
LPD-17 INSURV
Do we need a pay raise?
Why they named a class of ships after him
Army going to shut down bloggers?
New USNA sex scandle
Koran verse of the day
The Ivory Fortress
Back to the photo requirement
They were Soviets, right?
Sandmonkey folds his tent
Sneak a peek at the hate of '08


Our resident artist here at ParkinsonsDisease.net, Peter, created a new comic in a four-part series on PD symptoms and side effects. This second installment discusses medication side effects and drug interactions.
To read the rest of the "PD Pundit" series, click here.


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4 catches with basic economy airfares
Major airlines like Delta, United, and American are adding "basic economy" seats to more and more flights, to compete with the growing threat from discount airlines.
But does basic economy really save your money, or could it be a false economy?
Sounds great, but some catches
Deep discount airlines have certainly shaken the airline industry.
Frontier, Allegiant and Spirit are taking traffic from the big carriers. Now WOW Air and Icelandair are slashing the cost of international flying, with $99 flights to Iceland and $150 flights to mainland Europe.
So Delta, United and American are fighting back with low-priced basic economy tickets.
But Consumer Reports magazine says while basic economy may save you $60 a seat over a coach seat on the same flight, you need to know about four key downsides.
Catches to know about include:
You can't bring a carry-on suitcase. Many airlines only allow you to bring a "small personal item," such as a backpack or a purse, or you will be charged extra. And if you forget and bring your carry-on suitcase to the gate, you'll pay an additional fee for that, too!
No ticket changes are allowed. And most of the time, these tickets are non-refundable.
You cannot choose your seat in advance of the departure date (so you won't sit with your traveling companions).
You can often expect to be the last to board the plane.
How it can cost more
Basic economy can actually end up costing you more in the long run.
AirfareWatchdog.com says airlines are raising their coach fares to compensate for the cheaper basic economy. They no longer have to be as competitive on a standard coach fares, now that they have a cheaper option.
So you may pay more than in the days when coach was the cheapest class. Doesn't that stink?
Even so, the new basic economy seats may not be your best deal, even if those fares are $50 or $60 less that a coach seat on the same flight. You'll have to pay for a carry-on suitcase, your checked luggage and other fees.
Before you book the cheapest seat you can find, make sure it's really the cheapest seat, once you add all the extras, and all the perks you have to give up, so you don't waste your money.
"Don't Waste Your Money" is a registered trademark of Scripps Media, Inc. ("Scripps").
For more DWYM consumer stories, go to www.dontwasteyourmoney.com
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Today I'm going to depart from my usual blogs about movies, books, writing and publishing, and write about something a little more personal.
First, I'm 67 and single, and at my age it's hard to meet single women with whom I share common interests, goals and lifestyles. I don't attend church socials, singles' groups or singles' dances. Frankly, I don't care for the music that's played at such events. While I grew up on the rock and roll and pop music (Top 40) of the 1950s and early 1960s, I prefer the music that came in 1964, ushered in by The Beatles. I still listen to them, The Rolling Stones, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, for example, and the music that followed over the course of the next 5 decades. I try to keep up with what's happening in music today, partly because of my being an ex-guitarist in rock and roll bands. I like and have seen such bands as Florence and The Machine, Muse, Mumford and Sons, and The Lumineers, to name four, and I'm usually the oldest person in the room (or concert hall) when I go see such bands and even hard-rocking local bands. I'm not really into heavy metal, but I still crank up the AC/DC, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and other really kick-arse bands.
All that being said, after a devastating break that not only shredded my heart but ended an over 5-year friendship — or what I thought was a friendship until I learned I had been played for a fool for the past year. This experience wounded me so deeply that I fell into a deep depression filled with anxiety; I started smoking again after having quit two weeks earlier, and I had to ask my doctor to prescribe something to get me past all this. So I've been on Xanax and will remain on it until the end of February. After that, if I still need something, he'll prescribe something that is not addictive.
Now the area codes of the cell phone numbers these women gave me all checked out, but the problem with cell phones is that the area code is not fixed, like a landline. I have friends who live here in Chicago who have cell phones with area codes ranging from Arizona to California; they had purchased their phones either while living or vacationing in those states. The other problem with cell phones: burner phones, used by scam artists all over the world.
Beware those who will not chat on the website and instead ask for your email address right away.
Beware those who live in states (or countries) other than your own. Stick with prospects who live in areas you're familiar with so you can question them about their neighborhood, their town, their suburb.
Beware those who will not exchange cell or landline numbers with you, who won't actually talk to you on the phone.
Beware those who come on strong, hot and heavy, and then talk about how they prayed to God that they'd meet someone like you!
Beware those whose dating profiles mysteriously vanish as soon as they make first contact with you.
Ask you to talk or chat using an outside messaging service or email account.
Vanish mysteriously from the site, often after being caught and removed.
Talk about "destiny" or "fate" when meeting you.
Claim to be recently widowed.
Ask for your address or contact info under the guise of sending flowers or gifts.
Make a lot of grammatical and spelling errors.
Say they live in the U.S. but are currently traveling abroad.
Always eventually ask you for money.
As I said, most of my Likes and Flirts come from women who do not live in my state, from gals 30 years younger to 20 years older. Apparently, the websites' computers think these people are good matches for me while totally ignoring my preferences and parameters. I don't think people even read the profiles. It's like they're just clicking on every photo that catches their eye.
The first woman I made contact with was, supposedly, from an area just south of where I live in Chicago. She had some lovely photos of herself and we corresponded via the dating site for about 2 weeks. She then told me that she was in Mexico on business and would be back in town by Thanksgiving. She even gave me her cell phone number, and the area code checked out, although as already stated, that means nothing. Well, one day she told me that she and a bus load of tourists had been stopped, held at gun point by members of a drug cartel, and robbed of cash, jewelry and credit cards. She had no one to loan her money and no way to get home. My thoughts were: if she had indeed been robbed by a drug cartel they would have killed her, too. (As my Dad always said: work alone and leave no witnesses.) So she asked me if I could send her a few hundred dollars to help her out, and she would repay me upon her return. When I casually asked how she wanted the money, she told me to send her a Gift Card for 300 dollars: scan the front and back and send the images via email. Ding! Dong! The alarm bell sounded. You never send money to anyone, and the Gift Card is an old scam because you pay for it and therefore, it's just what it is — a gift. Can't prove intent to fraud. Well, bye-bye, I told her, and that was the end of it. I then went back to the website to check out her profile, and it wasn't there: either she had deleted it or it was reported by someone and the site removed her. But about a week later, she contacted me and asked me if I was still interested in her. She was still in Mexico, of course, and once again asked me for money. Ha!
Woman #2 contacted me, claiming to be from a nearby suburb, and of course her cell number area code checked out. So we corresponded for about a week and she told me she was from Toronto, originally, and also said she was the CEO of an exterior design corporation. When I checked out the business website, there was her photo, listed as CEO. She even sent me a short "video" telling me she was in Istanbul on business and would be home December 20, but her accent sounded very middle-eastern and was quite hard to understand. Well, we corresponded for a few more days and then she said that her company had run into some tax problems and she couldn't leave Turkey until the tax situation was settled. She asked if I could help her out in any way, that she needed $6, 500 dollars. This time she sent another video, explaining the situation; she was sitting in a room surrounded by stacks and stacks of money. I figured only drug dealers or some other sort of "villains" would have that much cash lying around. Bye, bye, I told her. A few days later she had the nerve to contact me again, begging for help. When I went back to the dating site, her profile was gone. Deleted or removed? Your guess is as good as mine. Also, the corporation's website is now different: her photo is not there, although there is a photo of a different woman by the same name now listed as CEO.
Pretty interesting, right? There must be some school for scoundrels and scam artists I don't know about. I've talked with a few women who have been on or are still on dating sites, and they told me of similar encounters and experiences with men. So these scammers and all the other BS involved happens to both sexes.
Since these two experiences, there have been others.
One woman from the south side of Chicago claimed to be living in California but had a house here; she even gave me the address. She also claimed to be a widow who runs her Dad's construction business. After a number of dating site conversations, she told me she needed $244.00 dollars to fly here to meet me. I asked her if she had a credit card and she said yes. I told her to charge the airfare and once we met I'd give her the cash. Never heard back from her again. One other claimed to be in Florida and would like to come up here to meet me but could not afford it. Guess what? You got it — she asked me for money! Needless to say, both their profiles are no longer on the dating website.
Are these actually different women? Or just one woman using fake profiles? Your guess is as good as mine.
I have also talked with three women: one sounded like a witch and was of a nasty temperament. Another had a Polish accent so thick she couldn't converse well in English and had nothing to say! One other had a Russian accent that was also almost unintelligible, and she wasn't interested in any of the things that interest me. None of these women answered any of my questions regarding famous places and landmarks where they lived.
I've actually met with 2 women. One claimed to be 60, then confessed that she was actually 65, but looked like an 80-year old bag lady. She was nastily opinionated, had no sense of humor, and didn't even offer to pay for half the pizza or even leave the tip - then had the nerve to ask me to drive her home . . . 1/2 block away! She popped up on another dating site, under a different username and using a profile pic that must have been taken when she was in her 20s!
The other lives 10 minutes down the street from me: a divorcee with a 25 year-old daughter and a cat. After many conversations on the dating site and then a few phone calls, we finally met on January 6, had a nice time and, as of this writing, will probably get together again, although I don't think she's for me.
I was also conversing with a woman who lives not far from where I grew up, in the Logan Park District, near Humboldt Park. She knows the city and suburbs near me, having answered all my questions - and we even hung out at the same beach back in the 1960s and 1970s: Foster Avenue Beach. However, after a few on-site chats she ghosted me; must have decided we weren't a match. She is still on the site, so I feel good about the fact that she wasn't another scammer.
Since January 5 I have been conversing with a fashion designer who claimed to live in a suburb just west of me. Her photos were stunning and although she claims to be 61, she actually looks at least 10 years younger, if not more. She's from Poland, also a widow, and we actually have a lot in common. She told me she will be leaving for Poland on business and will return in 2 weeks. Being as suspicious as a Chicago cop questioning a suspect, I reported her to the website. A short while later her profile disappeared: did they take her down or did she remove it? I'll never know.
However, later that day I asked her why I can no longer see her profile on the dating site. She replied, "Because God answered my prayers and sent you to me." Yeah, right.
Then, just as I expected, on January 11 I heard from her. She gave me a huge song and dance about her business and all sorts of problems: her credit card had expired and she has no other way of paying the Team that packed and shipped her cloth and other material. She asked for $1800.00. I "laughed" at her and told her I was going to pull the same scam on her. She actually had the nerve to message me that it's not funny, it's not a scam, and that she's very disappointed. "Hey, lady - don't try to guilt me out," I told her. "You didn't know my Mom, who was Queen of Guilt Trips. Besides, I'm Sicilian: I have no conscience and I am well connected, if you know what I mean." Never heard back from her after that.
To date I have had eight women try to pull this exact same scam on me. I know these dating sites can't and don't do criminal background checks. But they should. At least they can charge people extra if they want a criminal check done on one or more people.
So beware and be careful out there. Online dating can be stressful, depressing and anxiety inducing. I don't like this "new tech age" we're living in and in many ways I'm glad I'm on my way out. I prefer the good old days of meeting women. Whether or not there will be a follow-up to this blog remains to be seen: depends on what kind of experiences I have and if they're worth writing about.
Oh my! I heard a few dating disaster stories but I had no idea it is so bad! I've been married for a long time and didn't know how hard it is for single people to find the right person. Scam artists take advantage of dating sites and I'm sure they find a lot of "pigeons" who pay the price for being gullible in their state of mind of searching for the right person. So sorry that you had to go through all these bad experiences, Joe! But luckily, you're smart and you can spot the scam artists in time. I wish you the best of luck to find the right person, maybe the old fashion way by bumping into her in the store or meet through friends or family members who know her.
+Joe Bonadonna Yes, it is a lot harder to date but regardless of age, it's harder to be alone. I wish you the best finding the right person!
+Erika M Szabo -- thank you. I'm not one of those people who believe there is "someone for everyone." There are just too many lonely or "solo" people out there to contradict that old axiom. I may be destined to be alone all my life, like one uncle and one cousin of mine were. It's just difficult to readjust to my former life after recent events. But what will be, will be.
Wow! It's rough out there in the online world. It's a shame there are so many scammers and so many heartless people who prey on others. Thanks for sharing your cautionary tale to warn others about the pitfalls of online dating.
Horrible experiences, all of them. Sorry to see you go through all this stuff. I think it's as you say, these date sites are prime ground for scammers, and if possible, try to meet people 'in real life,' even then there is no guarantee. Excellent blog, a great eye opener for those who might not be so experienced in life.
Joe Bonadonna shares his online dating experiences. Be ready for some jaw-dropping (and true) tales!!
Wow, Joe! Talk about some real losers!!
Sorry to hear your bad experiences. I'm sure you are a very nice person and don't deserve to be scammed.
Wow, just wow! Sorry to hear just how crazy it is out there. If something, God forbid, ever happens to my husband, I'll just stay single and raise dogs. At least, in the midst of all this craziness and scams you did meet one woman you might go out with again. If she's not the one, maybe one of her friends is (wink wink).
+Joe Bonadonna :O Oh, oh, not a good sign.
+Ruth de Jauregui -- nope, it certainly isn't!
Joe, I too think, when you least expect it, you'll meet someone in person. It sounds like these online dating sites are havens for predatory gold diggers who can switch identities as it suits them. Best wishes!
They're counting on susceptibility like any con artist.
+Eva Pasco - exactly. And because they ask for the money in the form of gift cards, well, even if found they can't really be arrested: a gift card is something given, so while intent to fraud is there, it cannot be proven.
This online dating thing can even get dangerous! Watch out, Joe- we need you safe to write more books.
+Joe Bonadonna You may have to. Lordy! BTW- there was a lady at the gym this morning who looked a lot like Glenn Close. I thought of your pic here.
+Lorraine Carey -- I hope she wasn't carrying a knife!
Having never used a dating site, your experiences seemed alien to me, Joe. The lengths some people - I say people as it would seem those posting could be any gender - would go to extract money from others staggers belief. Though I guess some mugs do get taken in and hence their bravado. the The web has given us many opportunities but, alas, it has also opened the flood gates for illegal activities. Thanks for posting and good luck for the future.
Today on #OurAuthorGang . . .


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Life as a Glasgow Medicine Student
MISS GIULIA BANKOV • May 20, 2019
Giulia is a graduate medical student at the University of Glasgow. She previously studied Neuroscience at King's College London and completed her Cognitive Neurobiology and Clinical Neurophysiology at the University of Amsterdam.
I am currently a second-year student at the University of Glasgow where I moved almost two years ago to pursue medicine after having completed a BSc and an MSc.
In this blog I will give you a brief overview of what it's like to study medicine in Glasgow in terms of the curriculum used by the medical school, the class and facilities, extracurriculars and of course the city lifestyle outside of medicine, which, as it turns out, is not a myth!
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL
I firmly believe that Glasgow, as a city, gets the best of both worlds when it comes to size and ambiance - even though it is the third largest city in the UK, after London and Birmingham, having lived in London for three years I can assure you - it feels nothing like it! Despite said size, Glasgow feels incredibly compact and cozy and its vicinity to so many amazing natural parks, hiking trails and lochs makes it feel a lot more connected to the countryside, than any other big city I have ever lived in. At the same time, the availability of fancy shopping streets, bars and loads of activities to keep you occupied if med school doesn't (or so the tale tells, I have not had the luxury of time to try the latter out yet), is overwhelming. The atmosphere and environment throughout the West End, where the school of medicine is located, is also particularly exciting, with a huge choice of restaurants and bars and is amongst the most vibrant areas of the city, both during the day and night.
Getting by in the city is pretty straightforward, the subway runs through most central areas of the city and buses and trains easily reach boroughs further out, but having a car here, especially if you're studying medicine can go a long way, unlike other big cities like London. There are only a couple of central hospitals you can have your placements at and in your fourth and fifth-year rotations, you can be placed in hospitals as far as an hour-hour and a half drive from the university, so that is definitely something worth considering when moving here.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE COURSE
One of the (many) great things about the course at Glasgow is the early exposure to clinical skills and practice. In your first two years you'll have the chance to visit both hospital and GP settings multiple times as part of your curriculum and practice taking history and do clinical examination of real patients on the system you are covering at that time, with full-time clinical attachments starting in the second half of year 3.
Whether you're coming straight out of school or you're a graduate student, the idea of problem-based learning (PBL) can be a bit vague and foreign to you in the beginning, but you'll quickly learn to adapt and appreciate the importance of finishing your PBLs on time before everything piles on. Anatomy classes start within a few weeks of your first year and include both prosection and full body dissection - they too can be intimidating at first but it is crazy just how quickly you get used to it. Dissection tip - it is not that uncommon to accidentally stab yourself with the scalpel, so if it does happen, just keep this in mind and don't panic - it can cause a bit of inconvenience and discomfort, but there's nothing to worry about and you'll be ready to go back to class in 5 minutes.
In terms of challenges faced regarding the medical school curriculum, whether you're a school leaver, have taken a gap year, or already have some academic degrees below your belt, getting used to the medical curriculum and pace and finding your ideal way of learning can be a big initial challenge. There is a lot of self-study and therefore, a lot of discipline involved in a successful academic career in medical school, the minimum grades required to fulfil all coursework assignments and final exams are typically a lot higher than for other undergraduate programmes... and the expectations from you as a student, in general, are a lot higher. Eventually, you get the hang of it and adapt to all of those things, and while you can't know until you've experienced it, it's always helpful to try and have some insight into what will be expected of you before you start, so it doesn't come as a total shock once it does.
A STRANGE WAY TO BUILD UP AN APPETITE…
Glasgow is highly regarded for the breadth of students, both from an academic and ethnic background, that it accepts every year. Medical graduates are highly welcomed at Glasgow and in my year alone, from a class of approximately 250 students, about 50 are graduates like myself, coming with a hugely diverse previous undergraduate experience and abilities - some have come straight after their BSc degree, some have taken a few years out to work or do an MSc and some even gone on to do a PhD before their entry to medicine!
The breadth of their undergraduate fields of study also vary greatly and while that can include standard higher subjects, which include Chemistry, Biology and Human Biology degrees, or maybe the occasional Mathematics or Physics, I personally know people who have started medicine after studying Arts or Law! Furthermore, there are plenty of RUK, EU and international students, though the majority of the student body is composed of Scottish students, which for me was one of the many positives when I first moved here, as it is a fantastic way to feel integrated and at home. Of course, there will likely be other students from your home country doing medicine and if not, surely a society that organises events that will help you meet fellow countrymen, but if you want to immerse yourself in the local life and embrace your inner Scotsman, this is a fantastic opportunity to do so. Scottish people are amongst the friendliest I have ever met, and in fact, all my best friends I have met in the past two years are Scottish, so as long as you're up to the challenge that is learning Scottish slang, you will be welcomed with open arms!
The University of Glasgow is a huge university with a lot of history and has tons of activities you could get involved with in your free time. There is a club and a team for every sport and physical activity imaginable and often you can choose whether you want to play on a competitive level or for leisure. As the medical school is quite big and populated, a lot of the bigger sports have a separate medic sports club that you could get involved with to get to know people from your course and other years and can go every year to SNIMS - the sports event of the year, in which you tour one of the big Scottish cities for a weekend, bond, party and, occasionally play some sports too.
There are also a huge variety of societies you could join, both in and outside of the medical school. Whether dancing, baking or Mexican food is your passion, there's a society for everything. As already mentioned the medical school culture is extremely well developed both in and outside of the lecture theatre, which means that there is a huge choice of medical societies, that run a great amount of educational talks, practical workshops, conferences and revision nights for any specialty you might find interesting and want to get further involved in.
WHY I CHOSE GLASGOW MEDICAL SCHOOL
The true reason why I chose Glasgow was in fact very practical - I am an EU student who already took a loan out to do my BSc in England, and as such, I was not entitled to anymore tuition fee loans by the English government. With tuition fees being almost five times higher in England than in Scotland, Scotland was my only viable bet - and out of the 5 Scottish medical schools, Glasgow seemed like the best fit for me in terms of my strengths weighed against their requirements, course design, city life, and everything else.
Having spent already almost two years at Glasgow, I can now safely say that even if financing my education was not priority number 1 for me at that time, I still would have chosen Glasgow any day over another med school - being the number 1 medical school in Scotland and number 2 in the UK we have some of the best learning and teaching facilities in the West of Scotland, including the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Teaching is practical, aiming to develop purpose-built learning, oriented at developing your clinical skills from early on.
Overall, Glasgow is an amazing place to spend the next 5 (or more!) years of your life and could not recommend it more!
We hope you found this information useful in helping you get a sneak peek into life as a Glasgow Medical School Student. If you have any questions or need advice don't hesitate to email us at hello@theMSAG.com.


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Drakfesten
A Scandinavian Kite Festival is coupled with the heart-felt music of Swedish composer, Björn J. Lindh.
A charming improvisational performance on the pipe organ. Gunnar Idenstam, visually accompanied by a ballerina, under the influence of Spanish rhythms. An extraordinary performance by an extraordinary artist.
Rachmaninov: Tarantella
A musical duel... An artistic masterpice... A grand piano competition between two of Scandinavia's finest pianists, Staffan Scheja and Roland Pöntinnen. A classical programme that will delight all audiences.
Glyndebourne: Claudio Monteverdi: Il Ritorno D'Ulisse In Patria
This opera is based on the Greek legend of Ulysses and his return to Ithaca after years at the Trojan wars.
Glyndebourne: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Cosi fan tutte (restored production)
The action of the opera takes place in Naples and tells the story of the cynical Don Alfonso who convinces the officers Ferrando and Guglielmo that no women can be trusted.
Glyndebourne: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni (restored production)
Mozart's 'Don Giovanni', "the opera of all operas", as E.T.A. Hoffman once called it, is a work with many meanings. Peter Hall and Bernard Haitink's interpretation of the Mozart cycle was enthusiastically received at the Glyndebourne festival.
Glyndebourne: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute (restored production)
Glyndebourne's 1978 production of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" received as much critical acclaim for the imaginative David Hockney sets as for the operatic performances. Hockney emphasised the magical and mystical qualities of one of Mozart's best…
Glyndebourne: Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio (restored production)
Sir Peter Hall's outstanding Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of "Fidelio" remains remarkably faithful to the way Beethoven intended the opera to be. He managed to inject fresh excitement and suspense into "Fidelio", providing a perfect…
Glyndebourne: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Il Seraglio (restored production)
Mozart's "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" is best loved for its memorable music and lively wit. The opera tells the story of the efforts of a Spanish nobleman to rescue his betrothed who is held captive against her will in a Turkish harem.
Rodion Shchedrin - Homage to Chopin
The starting point of Shchedrin's composition is the tune from Chopin's Prelude in C minor No.28 Op.20. Recorded in the Kongressaal in Munich, it is performed by Rodion Shchedrin himself, Nicolas Economou, Paul Gulda and the American jazz pianist…


The Board of Supervisors of Upper Nazareth Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, will conduct Public Hearing and consider adoption of the following proposed Ordinance at its Regular Meeting on Wednesday, December 19, 2018, at 7:00 PM at the Upper Nazareth Township Municipal Building, 100 Newport Avenue, Nazareth, Northampton County, Pennsylvania.
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 71, UPPER NAZARETH TOWNSHIP POLICE PENSION PLAN ORDINANCE, PROVIDING THAT PARTICIPANT CONTRIBUTIONS BE "PICKED UP" BY EMPLOYER AND TREATED AS EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS PURSUANT TO IRS CODE 414(h)(2).
Copies of the proposed Ordinance are available for public inspection at the Upper Nazareth Township Municipal Building 100, Newport Avenue, Nazareth, Pennsylvania, between the hours of 7:30 AM and 3:30 PM, Monday through Friday. Copies of the proposed Ordinance are also available for public inspection at the Northampton County Law Library, Northampton Count Courthouse, 669 Washington Street, Easton, Pennsylvania and The Express-Times, 18 Centre Square, Easton, Pennsylvania.


Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is a standard for authenticating email. It is used by ISPs to ensure that purported senders of email messages are actually the ones presenting the messages they review.
In order to ensure optimal deliverability of messages, AWeber does authenticate using SPF. While this means that you will most likely not encounter any deliverability issues when using your website's domain in your from address with AWeber (i.e. you@yoursite.com), it is still a good idea to make sure that you've added 'include:send.aweber.com' to your domain's SPF record.
This article explains how you might go about updating your SPF record. The instructions in this article are from GoDaddy as the web host. Depending on your web host, the process may differ. If you're not sure how to edit your domain's SPF records, contact your web host or DNS provider.
From within your GoDaddy account, go to the "DNS Zone File" section to update DNS files/settings.
Select the record type for SPF record which will be a "TXT (Text)" type.
Be sure to save the changes once complete.
That's it! Now your SPF record will be updated to reflect AWeber's information when email clients receive your email messages. This can help increase your deliverability.
Does AWeber use DomainKeys Authentication?


We all need a toaster in the modern home. It heats bread and other bread-based items to a high temperature, making for a delicious breakfast or just a snack whenever you want one. However, there's a couple of things that you should take into consideration when it comes to buying a toaster, and we're going to be looking at them here.
When it comes to your toaster, you need to consider carefully exactly what you want out of it before you decide to buy one. There are many factors which need to be taken into consideration when it comes to your toaster, to make sure that you make the correct choice. Do you need your toaster to be one with four holes, or just two? Do you want a more advanced model, that can perform more complex tasks such as defrosting bread or heating it for a specified period, or would you be happier with a more basic model? These are all things that you should take into consideration when it comes to buying your toaster, as well as other factors like the amount of use you're going to get from it.
This may sound like a somewhat silly notion, but there is an element of thought that goes into choosing how many toasters you'll want. If you're running a hotel or bed and breakfast, you may find that you need more than one toaster for your needs. Alternatively, those who have much more extended families may see that more than one toaster makes it a lot easier in the mornings when everyone is rushing around and doesn't have a lot of time.
Like everything, there is a range of different toasters available, all of which are different prices. What you can afford will dictate the kind of toaster that you get. A smaller budget will get you a toaster which is rather basic and doesn't have a lot of the buttons and features that other toasters will have. What you pick is of course entirely up to your budget, but it is always important to consider that you'll get whatever it is that you pay for. Make sure that you have a good look on the market, and pick something which will work for you and what you can afford.
Overall, these are just a few of the things that you should consider when it comes to picking out your toaster. Everyone will have a different need and budget, and this will reflect itself in what you pick and how much you have to spend. Making sure that you've selected the right toaster is essential, as it needs to be suitable for the life that you lead, and the people who will be using it on a regular basis. Someone who lives alone and has toast in the mornings doesn't need the same kind of toaster as a family of 5 who all are bustling around in the kitchen every morning trying to get ready.
Depending on your budget and what extras you pay for such as warranty it could increase the price on your toaster significantly. It may also not be worth taking out such extras like a warranty when there are amazing firms out there like this Los Angeles appliance repair company who can fix appliances like toasters and so with ease.