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Tag Archives: Dan Feliciano
A tale of two parties
For the third weekend in a row, Vermont's top Democrats are touring the state, rallying their voters and presenting a unified front behind Sue Minter. Pat Leahy, Peter Welch, David Zuckerman, TJ Donovan, Doug Hoffer, Beth Pearce, and Jim Condos have done more than their share to help carry Minter across the finish line.
And most crucially, Bernie Sanders, who not only spent two weekends on the stump with Minter*, he gave her a tremendous infusion of campaign cash thanks to his millions of supporters across the country. It really has been a great display of unity — far beyond anything I'd hoped for when I advocated a one-weekend Bus Tour. It's also an impressive show of the Democrats' political star power, the depth of their talent and the breadth of their appeal.
*This weekend, he's campaigning for Hillary Clinton in other states.
Meanwhile, on the other side, we've got Phil Scott. And, um…
Phil Scott.
Bravely soldiering on, pretty much carrying the entire VTGOP on his broad, manly shoulders. Or trying to.
Really, who else is there? What other Vermont Republican might hope to draw a crowd or inspire the voters?
This entry was posted in 2016 election, Phil Scott, Sue Minter, Vermont Democratic Party, Vermont Republican Party and tagged Beth Pearce, Brian Dubie, Dan Feliciano, David Zuckerman, Deb Bucknam, Doug Hoffer, Jim Condos, Jim Douglas, Randy Brock, Scott Milne, TJ Donovan on November 6, 2016 by John S. Walters.
A wild Saturday night with the Windsor County GOP
Sing it with me, boys and girls: "One of these things is not like the others…"
That, my friends, is the star-studded lineup for Saturday night's "gala dinner" hosted by the Windsor County Republicans. Well, that plus a "Soap Box" for any Republican candidate who shows up and wants to charm the crowd with some campaign bumpf.
Constant Readers will recall that Windsor County GOP Chair John MacGovern had touted the event with a list of "invited speakers" featuring a whole bunch of Republican notables: at least three presidential candidates, any and all Vermont Republican hopefuls, plus VTGOP godfather Jim Douglas.
Well, apparently most of those folks declined the invitation. Instead, we get the odd quartet pictured above: three of the most conservative politicos in the VTGOP, plus wealthy gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lisman.
And don't forget the Soap Box!
This entry was posted in 2016 election, Bruce Lisman, Vermont Republican Party and tagged Dan Feliciano, gratuitous Sesame Street references, Job Tate, John MacGovern, Paul Dame, Phil Scott, Randy Brock, Windsor County Republicans on October 2, 2015 by John S. Walters.
Two Eminently Refusable Invitations from the VTGOP Social Calendar
Oh, those Republicans. They know how to liven things up, don't they?
Don't they?
Maybe they don't.
Exhibit A: An unfortunate scheduling mishap by that Master of Mishaps, Scott Milne.
Exhibit B: A "gala dinner" that promises to thoroughly underwhelm.
First, off, you've got a chance to meet 2014 gubernatorial candidate Scott Milne on Wednesday evening. Oh, pardon me, I should say Meet with SCOTT MILNE!
Which is perfectly fine, except for what else is going on Wednesday evening that might just be of greater interest to Republicans: the second Republican Presidential debate. The first one attracted some 25 million viewers; the second is likely to blow Meet with SCOTT MILNE! out of the water.
(BTW, the Vermont Young Republicans are hosting a "Debate Watch Party" at Halvorson's Cafe in Burlington. If you're thinking about attending, you might want to grab a bite beforehand; the eatery's Yelp reviews are kind of dispiriting. Lots of one- and two-star reviews, with its overall rating buoyed up to three stars thanks to a handful of suspiciously enthusiastic five-star reviews.)
For our second entry, we head down I-89 to the Upper Valley, where the Windsor County Republicans will hold a "friend-raiser" on October 3 in Norwich. "Friend-raiser" not "fundraiser" because, ha ha, they want to bring in new recruits for assimilation. They will, of course, accept donations, and entry will cost you 25 bucks.
The second-saddest thing about this announcement is the fact that John MacGovern is chair of the Windsor County Republicans. This is the same MacGovern who was a complete flameout when he challenged Bernie Sanders for Senate in 2012, and who represented the party's conservative wing in the race for party chair in 2014. (He lost to David Sunderland, who is pretty darn conservative but was Phil Scott's choice for the gig.)
Before that, he'd spent several years heading an "organization" called the Hanover Institute, a nonprofit whose goal was to bring conservative pressure to bear against the alleged liberals who'd taken over Dartmouth College. In fact, the Institute's sole employee was John MacGovern, and its funds basically paid his salary and expenses while he produced occasional newsletters and swanned about the country kissing conservative alumni ass.
So that's who you've got leading the Republican charge in Windsor County. But the saddest thing is the event itself.
MacGovern says the "friend-raiser" will "celebrate core Republican principles" and will feature a "full-course meal" (whatever that means), cash bar, raffle, and speeches from Republican worthies.
But you'd best read the fine print.
A number of prominent Republican, conservative and libertarian speakers have been invited to attend this event, including Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Bruce Lisman, Ben Carson, and former Vermont Governor Jim Douglas.
Please note the verb "invited." The only confirmed speaker is Dan Feliciano, the Libertarian candidate who drew a dismal 4% of the vote in the dismal 2014 gubernatorial election. He then became a Republican, and is now considering a second bid for Governor.
Somehow I don't see the likes of Fiorina, Kasich, Lisman, Carson, and Douglas going out of their way to answer their invitations. But hey, there'll be a "Soap Box… to all Republican candidates who show up."
Woof. That promises a long evening of tedium.
But wait, there's more! After MacGovern's press release was published on VTDigger, he posted a correction: "there is no cash bar."
Aaaarrrgh.
With friend-raisers like this, who needs enemies?
This entry was posted in 2016 election, Scott Milne, Vermont Republican Party and tagged Bernie Sanders, Dan Feliciano, Hanover Institute, John MacGovern, Vermont Young Republicans, Windsor County Republicans on September 15, 2015 by John S. Walters.
Seven Shades of Nothing
After a couple of big surprises Wednesday morning, the rest of Campaign Finance Filing Day was rather a damp squib. Nothing much was revealed. Unless, that is, the "nothing" is in itself significant.
And I wouldn't be a political blogger if I couldn't make something from nothing.
And so, theVPO presents the top seven nothings and what they might mean.
In the race for Governor, four of the five top prospective candidates did nothing. A marginal hopeful did the same. As for the potential Democratic faceoff for Attorney General, neither incumbent Bill Sorrell not declared challenger TJ Donovan reported any new activity.
None of this is terribly surprising. Among those potential gubernatorial candidates, only Matt Dunne had an existing campaign structure (dormant since 2010) to accept donations. And by Vermont standards, it's still extremely early for anyone to be beating the bushes.
The two likeliest Democratic candidates for governor not named Dunne, Shap Smith and Sue Minter, didn't seek funds for a corner-office run. Smith reported a bit of fundraising for his State House campaign kitty, easily transferable should the need arise. This leaves Dunne with a sizeable lead — but there's a lot of time to catch up. In this regard, Dunne's dollar total is less significant than his ability to quickly sign up a brace of top-tier liberal donors in Vermont and in Silicon Valley.
On the Republican side, the losing 2012 nominee, Randy Brock, didn't report anything. The putative front-runner, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, didn't do any new fundraising — but he has nearly $100,000 left over from his 2014 campaign, so he's definitely in no hurry.
And then there's Dan Feliciano, former Libertarian turned kinda Republican, who's been pondering a second run for governor.
This entry was posted in 2016 election, Campaign finance and tagged Bill Sorrell, Brandon Riker, Dan Feliciano, Darcie Johnston, Matt Dunne, Phil Scott, Randy Brock, Shap Smith, Sue Minter, TJ Donovan on July 16, 2015 by John S. Walters.
A hundred thousand interrupted dinners
Scott Milne is ready to unleash his master stroke — the Hail Mary pass that will seal his epic come-from-behind, David-beats-Goliath victory on November 4.
It's a Tele-Town Hall Meeting on the evening of November 3.
Our Man Mahatma hosted one of these events just before the August primary. And hey, it obviously worked: he beat Dan Feliciano and Emily Peyton. So why not try it again?
A Tele-Town Hall, for those just joining us, is a kinda-sorta town hall meeting by phone. This one will feature an intro by Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, which I believe is his first official appearance on Milne's behalf. Awfully nice of him to finally make time for his less well-known, less popular ticket-mate. Then, MIlne will make a few remarks. And finally, he will answer questions submitted by listeners and filtered through campaign staffers and the event's moderators — his two children, Elise and Keith Milne.
Somehow I doubt that any inconvenient or embarrassing questions will get through.
But the most notable aspect of this grand event will happen before the 7:00 pm launch. Robo-calls will go out to "the homes of over 100,000 registered voters inviting them to stay on the line as the event begins."
Peachy keen. A hundred thousand Vermonters will get cold-called at, what, 6:50, and told to hold on the line for an hour of one-sided, sanitized political chatter.
Better ger dinner ready early, Mom and Dad, so you and the kids can gather 'round the phone for this historic moment in democracy.
Seriously, how many people are going to get an unexpected call during the dinner hour and voluntarily stick around for more than an hour?
Well, to look at it the other way, if Milne gets one-half of one percent to stick around, he'll have an audience of 500. Which is probably more than he's drawn to any campaign event before now.
Besides, as Milne points out, "Vermonters deserve transparent leaders willing to listen to their concerns…"
Yes, wiling to listen to carefully selected concerns filtered through Milne's campaign apparatus.
There's a special phone number, by the way, for members of the media who want to listen in. They can't ask questions, mind you; Milne isn't that transparent. But he's happy to provide us with a toll-free number in exchange for whatever free publicity he can muster on the last night of the election.
This entry was posted in 2014 election, Phil Scott, Scott Milne and tagged Dan Feliciano, Elise Milne, Emily Peyton, Keith Milne, tele-town hall on November 3, 2014 by John S. Walters.
A rare bit o' sunshine falls on Scott Milne's shoulder
I have to admit, I didn't think he had it in him. But Scott Milne did it: he actually had a solid fundraising effort in September.
It's too little, too late to get him elected. But it's a nice solid turnaround.
Mahatma's October 1 campaign finance report shows that he raised $78,529 during September, plus $2,600 in "in-kind" contributions, for a total of $81,129.
Very respectable. And roughly double his fundraising total before September 1.
But wait, there's more good news. As many Republicans were quick to point out, the vast majority of Milne's money came from in-state donors. He also did extremely well with small donations, racking up 348 separate gifts of less than $100 each. He had a lot of donations in the $100-500 range, and relatively few top-dollar gifts. His total number of unique donors in September was almost 450, or abut 15 per day. Not bad at all.
There were a couple worms in the apple, of course. He's spending money faster than he's raising it, having laid out more than $95,000 in all. Which leaves him with a net balance of about $41,000. In terms of cash on hand, Governor Shumlin has a 26-to-1 advantage. It's still Bambi vs. Godzilla.
Also, more than $38,000 of Milne's fundraising came from himself or his immediate family. And he had earlier loaned his campaign a cool $25,000. Overall, he's much better off than he was a month ago, but he's nowhere near competitive financially.
My conclusion: This was a good month for Milne, but it's inconsequential to the Shumlin machine. The person for whom this is really bad news is Dan Feliciano, the Libertarian candidate who's hoping to steal a sizeable chunk of the Republican vote. Feliciano continued to fundraise in dribs and drabs, pulling in only about $3,500 last month.
Milne beat him handily. What that says to me is that, among Republican voters, the GOP brand still carries a lot of cachet. They will vote for the Republican candidate no matter what. And quite a few of them will give money to the Republican candidate no matter what.
It makes me think that Feliciano's upside may be more limited than us politi-geeks had thought. We heard the insider buzz for Feliciano, and party apparatchiks' palpable disdain for Milne, and projected Feliciano to take a decent chunk of conservative votes — perhaps driving him into the teens, percentage-wise. Milne's latest finance report makes me think the Feliciano buzz is mostly confined to the insider crowd, and that the Republican grassroots are likely to stick with their party's man — even if (especially if?) they don't know who he is.
Which makes me think that Feliciano won't get out of the single digits. Sure, he got into the teens in the August primary as a write-in candidate, but that was a very small, self-selected sliver of the broader electorate. He'll have a very hard time matching that performance in November.
(Note: If Feliciano's seemingly ill-considered 48-hour, $100,000 fundraising blitz actually succeeds, I'll have to eat a bunch of my words. And I'd be happy to do so. But I'm not getting out the ketchup bottle just yet.)
This entry was posted in 2014 election, Campaign finance, Dan Feliciano, Peter Shumlin, Scott Milne, Vermont Republican Party and tagged Dan Feliciano, Scott Milne on October 2, 2014 by John S. Walters.
Milne Campaign Continues to Fumble Along
Scott Milne's campaign for Governor has posted its latest campaign finance report, and it once again reflects a campaign that can't raise money.
Total donations, since the last filing deadline on August 18: $10,305. For his campaign so far: $53,000.
Total expenditures: $33,000 since August 18, and $62,000 for the campaign. In other words, it's two months until election day and the Milne campaign is in the red.
Well, it would be, except that Milne loaned his own campaign $25,000. Which enabled him to pay his bills and keep the lights on.
But wait, there's more bad news within those numbers. Of the $10,305 total, $7,350 came from people named Milne or Milne-related businesses. The breakdown:
$2,000 from Milne Travel
$2,000 from B&M Realty, the firm co-owned by Scott Milne and David Boies III
$2,000 from Donald Milne
$1,000 from George Milne
$350 from Jonathan and Nancy Milne
Aside from that, Milne managed to raise less than $3,000.
And he's apparently tapped out the Boies Family connection. Not only were there no new donations from Boieses, the Milne campaign actually refunded a $2,000 donation previously given by Robin Boies of Naples, Florida.
As for Milne's pre-primary spending, he threw almost $19,000 into TV ads. He also paid another $4,600 to campaign manager Brent Burns' firm "Pure Campaigns LLC." And he spent $2,500 on his infamous Tele-Town Meeting.
So here we are, at the launch point of Milne 2.0 — the time when he pivots from attacking Governor Shumlin's record to finally, belatedly, rolling out his own policy ideas — and he's in negative territory because he can't fundraise his way out of a wet paper bag, and he had to go into debt just to fend off a write-in effort by a little-known Libertarian.
I keep thinking it can't get any worse, and then it does.
This entry was posted in 2014 election, Scott Milne and tagged B&M Realty, Brent Burns, Dan Feliciano, Milne Travel, Robin Boies on September 2, 2014 by John S. Walters.
More on primary write-ins
A small addition to my earlier post about today's Board of Canvassers certification of the primary results.
In the Democratic race for Lieutenant Governor, Progressive Dean Corren took the nomination with 3,874 votes, or 60% of the total. Republican incumbent Phil Scott received 1,895 write-in votes on the Democratic line, or 40%*. And in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Libertarian Dan Feliciano managed to get 2,093 write-in votes in losing to Scott Milne.
*Correction: Scott received 29.6% of the Democratic write-in vote. My mistake. I should never try to do math while blindfolded.
Earning nearly 4,000 write-in votes is an impressive accomplishment for a, frankly, little-known candidate. Scott's a well-established and well-liked figure, while Corren is a former State Rep who hasn't been a candidate for any office since 1998.
This is Corren's second notable achievement in the campaign. The first, and more significant, was qualifying for public campaign financing. He must have a solid organization, and he must have some measure of appeal. We have yet to see whether a focused enthusiasm will translate into broad support from the public at large.
At first glance, his 60-40 margin of victory over Scott, who wasn't even campaigning for the Democratic nomination, doesn't look too strong. If the primary electorate was representative of the general public, I'd say Corren is in serious trouble. But the primary voters — the 9% of all registered voters who bothered to show up — is a self-selected group of people with a strong interest in politics. Strong enough to cast a ballot in a relatively inconsequential primary. Scott's 40% does not mean he can count on 40% of the Democratic votes in November; far from it. An indeterminate number of his votes were from Republicans taking advantage of (a) Vermont's open primary, and (b) the complete lack of anything worth voting for on the Republican ballot. For many Republicans, the most constructive thing they could have done last Tuesday was to get Phil Scott on the Democratic ballot. That would have ensured his re-election.
All that said, Corren remains a longshot. Phil Scott is well-known and well-liked, and the argument by people like Ed Adrian (that we need at least one Republican in a statewide office, and that Scott serves a valuable function in that role) is likely to have some resonance. Especially since Scott projects such a friendly, reasonable persona. And the Shumlin Administration's continued bungling of Vermont Health Connect won't exactly help Corren, who's committed to single-payer health care.
As for Feliciano, he took 93% of the Republican write-in votes for Governor. Or, about 13% of the total vote. It wasn't enough to challenge Scott Milne, who had 72% of the total vote. A couple thousand write-in votes is a respectable number, but it's not enough to indicate a real split among Republicans. But that could change; if Milne continues to stumble on the campaign trail and in fundraising, and it becomes clear that he poses no threat to Shumlin, then conservative voters will have nothing to lose by casting a protest vote for Feliciano. And if Feliciano finishes a solid third, he'll push Milne into laughable-loser territory, and that would encourage the true believers to carry on their fight for control of the VTGOP.
One housekeeping note. This was the first election in which town clerks were legally required to report their results on election night. Some failed to do so; 31 precincts out of 275. Secretary of State Jim Condos said, "We'll reach out to towns that didn't report on Tuesday night, and find out why they didn't." He speculated that there might have been confusion with a new reporting system, or ignorance of the new legal requirement.
Condos is hoping for complete returns on time in November, but he doesn't have a stick to go with his carrot. When the Legislature adopted the election-night requirement, it did not enact any penalties for failure to comply.
This entry was posted in 2014 election, Dean Corren, Peter Shumlin, Phil Scott, Scott Milne, Vermont Democratic Party, Vermont Republican Party and tagged Dan Feliciano, Jim Condos on September 2, 2014 by John S. Walters.
Meet Your Vermont Republican Ticket (now with lots of Democrats!)
The state Board of Canvassers has certified the results of last week's Vermont primary. We're still waiting for a couple of numbers, but the biggest surprise was a trio of write-in victories in the Republican primary.
Your GOP nominee for Auditor: Incumbent Dem/Prog Doug Hoffer.
Your GOP nominee for Secretary of State: incumbent Democrat Jim Condos.
Your GOP nominee for Treasurer: incumbent Democrat Beth Pearce.
All three received the highest number of write-in votes in their respective races — and received more than the minimum 250 needed to win as a write-in.
Yet another low-water mark for the Vermont Republican Party: fully half its statewide ticket is comprised of Democrats.
In other news: Yes indeed, Dean Corren is your Democratic nominee (and your Progressive nominee) for Lieutenant Governor. We don't yet know how many Dem write-ins were given to incumbent Republican Phil Scott; we only know it wasn't enough.
Same with Libertarian Dan Feliciano. We don't know how many write-in votes he got for the Republican gubernatorial nomination; we just know that Scott Milne won the nomination.
Otherwise, not much news. Which has got to be comforting to Jim Condos; write-ins have spelled trouble the last couple of election cycles.
This entry was posted in 2014 election, Phil Scott and tagged Beth Pearce, Dan Feliciano, Dean Corren, Doug Hoffer, Jim Condos on September 2, 2014 by John S. Walters.
Emily Peyton Stands the Gap Between Polity and Chaos
Perennial candidate Emily Peyton, fresh off losing the Republican gubernatorial primary, has some thoughts on How To Have A Fair Election, published in the August 29 Mitchell Family Organ. Unsurprisingly, her prescription involves a hell of a lot more attention devoted to the genius of Emily Peyton and her colleagues in the Fringe Brigade.
She blames the media, of course. Not just the media, but the alleged "GOP/press piracy of the election process." Yeh, me and "Super Dave" Sunderland, we're thick as thieves.
But that's not the most outrageous thing she said.
…revolution is becoming an increasingly dangerous inevitability. We are in danger of losing all peace if party/press piracy of elections continues.
Had the press been fair and impartial, Dan Feliciano might have won… I might have won in a miracle, but I'm not sleek or slick. I'm too ahead of my time and I know it, so I realistically doubt it. …I'll keep at it through November — to avert the coming revolution.
Ooof. Emily Peyton is too ahead of her time to win, but will continue her campaign for the sake of staving off chaos. Narcissistic, much?
With all due respect, Ms. Peyton, if you and your messianic worldview were better-known, you probably would have gotten fewer votes, not more. You're better off being little-known and hoping people vote for you at random.
But let's move on to the Peyton Prescription, guaranteed to ward off the coming apocalypse. She calls on the party/press cartel to adopt the following program:
Through their nonprofit, they organize and fund debates in each county during the election season with every balloted candidate of any party welcomed. Party favorite candidates that no-show are publicly busted as the corrupt 1 percent elite.
Each debate is shared through cable access, online in video, transcripted and audio formats. Each debate centers on a different topic (energy, health, education, agriculture, corrections, transportation, environment, federal policy, monetary policy, taxation, military affairs and policing, and government). Questions for candidates will be generated by the public only, and each debate will last as long as questions continue.
No idea what she means by "their nonprofit," but never mind. There's one big huge problem with Peyton's plan, and it's not party/press piracy. It's that nobody would watch these endless debates. The vast majority of voters are simply not that interested.
Which is also why the media has a lot less impact than Peyton or the media themselves believe. Most people don't follow politics. Most voters start each campaign with their minds made up, firmly committed to one party or the other. They aren't interested in learning about a whole bunch of candidates. Even true independents aren't interested in spending much more than a token amount of time researching issues and candidates.
So let's say the party/press pirates bow to Peyton's demands. Would she require people to watch? Would they have to prove that they watched all the relevant debates in order to receive a ballot? If not, then the debates would be meaningless.
Fact is, it's not that hard to gain a spot on the Vermont ballot — as the Liberty Union Party proves every other year. Getting on the ballot does not, by itself, earn you the right to demand reams of print coverage and hours of free media time and voter attention. A candidate must show some measure of public support to earn our attention. And it does happen: witness the Tea Party, and the national popularity of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Sure, there are problems with our political system. And sure, the two major parties occupy too much of the available space. But a series of twelve debates including every single candidate on the ballot? For, presumably, every office on the ballot? And each debate goes on and on "as long as questions continue"?
Nobody… and I mean nobody… would sit through that.
This entry was posted in 2014 election and tagged Dan Feliciano, Emily Peyton, the great party/press piracy on August 31, 2014 by John S. Walters.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


THE OSHIMA NOH THEATRE is based in the Kita school, one of the five main actor noh schools, and features members of the Oshima family, one of the Kita school's most active traditional noh families. Masanobu Oshima, an important intangible cultural asset as designated by the Japanese government, headed both productions along with his two adult children, Kinue Oshima—one of the few yet highly respected professional female performers in the noh world (and the only female professional performer in the Kita school), and Teruhisa Oshima—an emerging new acting voice in the Kita school in 2009 and now very well-established in the noh world.
THEATRE NOHGAKU is an international company comprised of Japan and North American-based members whose mission is to create and present English language plays in traditional noh style complete with hayashi musicians, masks, costumes and stage sets. Founded and led by Artistic Director Richard Emmert who has spent over 35 years studying, teaching and performing classical Japanese noh in Japan, Theatre Nohgaku serves as a unique cultural and artistic intermediary between Japan and the English-speaking world.
Performing as the nochishite (Act Two, main actor) in Pagoda at the Southbank Centre, London. December 2009.
2011 Asia Premiere of Takasago & Pagoda at the National Noh Theatre.
Scenes from the classical noh Takasago (han noh) - main actor (shite) performed by Masanobu Oshima; and the English-language noh, Pagoda (in two acts) - main actor (shite) Kinue Oshima, companion actor (nochitsure) Teruhisa Oshima, The Traveller (waki) Jubilith Moore, the Daughter (maetsure) Elizabeth Dowd and the Oyster Fisherman (ai kyogen) Lluis Valls.
"Noh is classical Japanese theatre which combines elements of dance, drama, music and poetry into one highly aesthetic form of art.
by the Japanese Government, and Theatre Nohgaku, led by Richard Emmert, probably the West's greatest exponent of this traditional Japanese art form.
The two theatre companies will perform Kiyotsune, a classical noh play, and Pagoda, which is a world premiere of a new play by Jannette Cheong. The latter piece is particularly notable as the performance of the first English-language text written in the noh tradition for performance by a British playwright.
I congratulate them on working hard to realise this unique production of noh performance and wish them every success on their European tour!
The Oshima Noh Theatre of Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, and Theatre Nohgaku, based in Tokyo and New York, presented, for the first time, a joint production of classical and contemporary noh theatre in the 2009 European tour of Kiyotsune & Pagoda.
This was a rare and unique performance of Japanese noh theatre featuring the classical warrior play Kiyotsune and the world premiere of Pagoda, a new English-language noh play. The production performed in London and Oxford as part of the Japan-UK 150 Festival celebrations, and in Dublin and Paris to complete this two-week tour to Europe.
Pagoda, written by Jannette Cheong, with music by Richard Emmert, founder of Theatre Nohgaku, is a multicultural theatre project that brings together a centuries' old Japanese theatre tradition and a contemporary British - Chinese story which investigates the themes of identity and migration. This was to be the first time for a strictly English-language noh play to be written by a British playwright and produced in Europe as a fully realised noh performance.
The tour also included 'Getting to Noh': a programme of public workshops, lectures, and educational activities to introduce the history, structure, dance, music, costumes and masks of noh.
The Oshima Family, through the Oshima Noh Theatre in Fukuyama, Hiroshima prefecture, has long carried out numerous activities to introduce 'noh' to a general Japanese public. Theatre Nohgaku, since 2000, has been striving to introduce English noh to international audiences.
In November 2007, Jannette Cheong went to Fukuyama with a friend, to see one of the regular Oshima Theatre noh performances and was invited to a post-performance party where she met the Oshimas. They, in turn, introduced her to Richard Emmert. Two years later, it was hard to believe that an idea discussed at that party has been realised in this unique programme. We were naturally apprehensive about this new venture because it had never been done before.
However, much more, we looked forward to seeing how this original new noh play will be received.
We are extremely grateful to the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the many companies and organisations that supported us in realising this large-scale project. And we are also convinced that this programme will contribute to the prosperity of noh.
Finally, we would like to express our thanks to everyone engaged in the production for their hard work and cooperation.
Production: Yasuko Oshima, Teruhisa Oshima, Jannette Cheong, John Oglevee. Programme, poster & leaflet design: Ken Garland, Anna Carson. The Pine Tree Backdrop: Allan West. Technical Direction: David Surtasky. Photography: Clive Barda, Jannette Cheong, Sohta Kitazawa, David Surtasky.
The Cast of Pagoda and the Chorus performing the world premiere at Southbank Centre, London. December 2009. Photography by Clive Barda.
Performed the roles of the Maeshite (Act One main actor), the Waki (the traveller) and the Tsure (the daughter) in Pagoda in both 2009 & 2011 tours.
This is a new English-language noh play rooted in the story of the author's grandmother who sent her youngest son away to sea when he was a young boy to avoid the famine that ravaged China's rural areas in the 1920s. He never returned.
After his death in London in the 1970s, the author made the journey to China to find her father's birthplace. Her experiences, at once both tragic and uplifting, are combined with an ancient Chinese legend to form the basis of the play.
A young traveller in search of her father's roots journeys to his birthplace in Southeast China. Carrying her father's treasured keepsake, she meets a distraught woman and her daughter in front of an ancient pagoda, lamenting the departure of a young son many years ago. The woman and daughter 'vanish in the mist'.
The traveller then meets a fisherman who tells her the legend of the Pagoda and of the spirit of Meilin who visits it. The traveller realises her father was the son of Meilin and it was her spirit which she had earlier encountered. As night falls Meilin and daughter appear once more and the traveller presents her father's keepsake to confirm her identity to them. Lamenting the son's death they realise that he survived into adulthood and was spared the starvation so many suffered at that time, including Meilin. The presence of the family keepsake enables his spirit to appear and they are united in the spirit world, mother and son, brother and sister. The young traveller is left alone to reflect on the ancient pagoda legend and the migrants' journey.
SCENE: Autumn 1970s, on the edge of a hamlet in Southeast China.
CATEGORY: Fourth category miscellaneous play, phantasm (mugen) noh in two acts, with taiko stick drum.
Stage attendants bring on stage a framework structure representing a pagoda.
1. WAKI ENTRANCE: A traveller enters to shidai music and tells how, after her father's death, she has decided to travel to his birthplace in China carrying her father's treasured keepsake. She sings a travel song describing her uncertain quest, the long journey to China, down through the heart of this mysterious and isolated 'middle kingdom', and her arrival in the provincial capital and then to her father's hamlet. She sees a pagoda and decides to ask two approaching women if she can take shelter inside.
2. MAETSURE/MAESHITE ENTRANCE: A peasant mother and daughter enter to issei music and sing of lost souls searching hopelessly, the lament of untold misery saying 'every grain of rice a tear', and wondering whether those departed will ever return.
3. WAKI/TSURE/SHITE DIALOGUE: The traveller asks the women if she may seek shelter in the pagoda. In turn, the mother asks her to count the boats she sees on the horizon and when the traveller reports that there are nine, the women are disappointed. The daughter explains how her mother is full of sorrow, but invites the traveller to join them to look at the moon from the top of the pagoda. The daughter tells how a noblewoman built the pagoda many years ago then narrates the story of how her mother sent her son on a boat to avoid famine but has now waited forty years for his return. The mother once again asks the traveller to count the boats, but there are still only nine.
4. MAESHITE/MAETSURE NARRATIVE: The chorus with the daughter and mother sing of the sun setting and waiting for the full moon to rise, then evoke the pain and sorrow one feels and the tears one sheds when separated from loved ones not knowing when, or if, they will return.
5. MAESHITE/MAETSURE EXIT: Again the traveller is asked to count the boats on the distant horizon, and this time, as the moon shines brightly, she counts ten. She turns to tell the mother and daughter, but they have vanished.
6. AI INTERLUDE: An oyster fisherman enters singing of the full moon and cold night. He introduces himself as being in charge of the pagoda which acts as a lighthouse. He meets the traveller and relates the story of the noblewoman who built the pagoda centuries ago after her husband was lost at sea, and how it is said that her spirit still waits for his return. In turn, the traveller tells how her father recently died and that this is his birthplace. When the fisherman in sympathy mentions the local saying "every grain of rice a tear," the traveller tells how the two women she just met had used the same expression. The fisherman suggests that the two women might have been the spirits of Meilin and her daughter who are also said to visit here. They come to realise that Meilin must be the mother of the traveller's father, Bai Li, and thus Meilin must be the traveller's own grandmother.
Pagoda and that of her grandmother separated from her father, both women waiting for a loved one to return.
8. NOCHITSURE/NOCHISHITE ENTRANCE: The spirits of Meilin and her daughter enter to deha music singing of the full moon and how the night is longest when there is fear of an empty dawn. They ask the traveller what she seeks, and she shows them an amulet, the treasured keepsake of her father. Meilin and her daughter realise it is the one Meilin gave her son when he left home and that he was indeed the traveller's father.
9. NOCHISHITE NARRATIVE: Meilin reflects on her long wait that has ended with finding out her son is dead without having returned home. As she laments, the traveller reminds her that he in fact survived to adulthood and with this knowledge, Meilin realises that her long vigil has ended.
10. FINAL DANCE AND EXIT: The presence of the family keepsake enables the spirit of Bai Li to appear. The spirits dance and are united in the spirit world - mother and son, brother and sister. Then as they exit, the traveller reflects on the many other lost souls in search of one another and wonders what will be revealed as the morning mist clears.
Composing music for new noh plays demands, in particular, an understanding of noh chant styles and their melodic structure, an understanding of the rhythmic structure and patterns of the drums of the noh ensemble, and an understanding of how sung text fits together with those rhythms. Actually, in the new noh plays being created in Japan, I have never heard of one being composed by a 'music composer' - someone trained in composing for a variety of Western or Japanese musical instruments or voice. Rather, those who compose for noh are noh performers themselves, those intimately connected to performing classical noh plays and who understand how music works in those plays.
Composing for noh in English has the added demand that one has to have a sense of how English text can be sung in general, and the imagination to bridge the gap between how a Japanese text can be sung with noh rhythms and how an English text can be sung with noh rhythms. The language characteristics of Japanese and English are different. How can English come to life with noh rhythms without just imitating Japanese?
It is a constant struggle. Certainly I have heard enough criticisms that English does not sound 'natural' when sung in noh style. I usually counter that I don't know of any Japanese speaker going to noh for the first time who thinks that Japanese is necessarily 'natural' when sung in noh style. The singing style of noh is a 'made', not natural, singing style developed over many centuries. Similarly, with a Western operatic vocal style, there are no doubt those who believe that opera is only natural to Italian and not to any other language. For better or for worse, I have always attempted to find ways for an English text to come to life with a noh score and take on some of the depth of feeling and emotion in the same way I sense happens when I hear Japanese text with the rather 'unnatural' musical style of noh.
For Pagoda then, the composing really began as I helped Jannette Cheong structure her piece. Some parts of noh which she adopted have rather straightforward textual and in turn musical structures. Others do not, and in the same way that individual classical noh plays have certain musical characteristics unique to that play and that play alone, Pagoda has certain parts which, though of the noh style, are unique to it.
Thus, having previously composed music for English noh, many of the difficulties for Pagoda in particular remain some of the same difficulties encountered in my earlier compositions. But perhaps most important for me in composing for Pagoda was the fact that Jannette came to understand those musical challenges and was willing to accommodate text changes to fit some musical demands.
Places which she found difficult to change despite my nudging also were good as they forced us both to strive to find yet another way. As these were sung in Theatre Nohgaku's summer rehearsals in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Jannette made excellent comments and sometimes text changes to make both singing and text develop a tighter and more compact and meaningful fit.
In terms of directing the performance, as I write this from the perspective of two and a half months before the opening, the difficulties are already obvious. Most of Theatre Nohgaku's members are based in the United States with only four of us in Japan. The Oshima Noh Theatre members and the musicians are all based in Japan. It is clearly a matter of directing long distance as full rehearsals with members from both will not happen until we gather in London in the days just before the December opening.
Allowing such a state might sound a bit optimistic for bringing a new work to the stage. In Japan however, it is standard in traditional performances for performers to prepare a play individually learning from teachers who have already performed it, and then gather for only one rehearsal in advance. For new plays, main performers might gather several times in advance but the practice of having one final rehearsal with all participants is much the same.
For Pagoda , I rehearsed Theatre Nohgaku members in August in the US. Those members are now learning their own parts as I rehearse the Japanese participants in Japan. For TN members used to studying both Japanese and English texts, the English text is certainly easier, but they have less experience in learning a new context of performance. For the Japanese on the other hand, learning a new performance is generally not that difficult except that this one is in English and that changes the equation considerably. Fortunately, all the musicians have worked with Theatre Nohgaku on other plays and they have some idea as to how to match noh rhythms with English. Still they have to memorize a lot of English and I will be working with them to do that.
And finally, for Kinue Oshima, who will sing in English, as an experienced noh performer, her movements will be crisp, clear and centered in the quiet intensity of noh. Learning the English and pronouncing it correctly while singing in the noh style will, however, be new for her. I have every belief that her professionalism in noh will carry her over and the meeting of these two groupson a far away European stage will be an exciting event in the long history of noh.
Participating in the education work undertaken under the auspices of the Pagoda Project, in association with the Japan Society. September 2009.
Theatre Nohgaku reflects on its first European Tour in the TN Newsletter in early 2010: Reflections on the tour are made by the author, the artistic director and Kinue Oshima in an interview with David Crandall.


This Master's programme offers a rich field of study which encompasses both emergent and historically established practices in music and the performing arts.
We highlight those phenomena which most impact the organization, experience, and creative potential of musical and theatre makers and audiences in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. MA students examine the current constitution of musical and theatrical organizations, as well as the impact of broader processes such as globalization, digitalization, urbanization, festivalisation, and mobility upon expanding forms of creativity. Because humans continue to shape creative experience within cultural fields, this specialisation aims to uncover how music and theatre remain relevant for understanding broader relations between culture, society, and the arts.
We examine these and other processes in historical contexts and in our musical and theatrical present, where economic crisis in recording and performing industries has led to vast rearrangements of musical and theatrical labour and changing conceptions of the public sphere. Because this program highlights the complexity of the contemporary popular music, art music, and theatre professional worlds, students enter arts professions with specialised knowledge and skills, which ensure that they are highly employable.
In this track you follow 30 EC in courses in the first semester (5 EC modules) related to your chosen specialisations. During the second semester you write a Master's Thesis (20 EC) under the supervision of two Arts in Society professors. You also choose between a research-related tutorial or an arts internship (10 EC).
Students enrolled in this programme are offered an interdisciplinary curriculum, which highlights the inter-related nature of contemporary arts worlds. By combining an arts specialisation with a professional framework, students gain critical knowledge about particular arts disciplines such as film, music and theatre, while also gaining skills through exposure and experience with a professional framework, which is necessary for working into today's rapidly changing professional arts worlds.
Additional requirements English: A VWO diploma or a subject certificate for VWO English (mark 6 or higher), minimum requirement of TOEFL iBT 90 (with a minimum of 21 on all items), or IELTS 6.5 (with a minimum of 6 on all items). Language Centre English Test (LCET) level C1 (B2 for no more than two components). If you have a VWO diploma a language test is not required.
There are other employment possibilities such as a position by a media company or for the advertisement and commercial field. Prior students have also begun their own successful arts organisations, advice bureaus, or research institutions in the field of arts, culture, and event organisations.
A cultural critic has a specific interest in the institutional and societal context of arts production, distribution and creation.
In recent decades, the arts have undergone radical transformations and rapidly adapted to late-capitalist phenomena such as globalisation, digitisation and the democratisation of creative channels. Due to the increasing influence of culture and the creative sphere within the world's expanding urban metropolises, notions of artistic autonomy, forcefully promoted in the 19th century, have re-emerged in philosophical and ideological discourse.
Contemporary popular music and theatre forms are often interpreted and evaluated through ideas and frameworks that were disseminated widely in contexts radically distinct from the ones those forms occupy. In light of this, the position of the arts in society demands new conceptual frameworks, definitions and modes of legitimization.
This master's track suits students who have studied one of the arts disciplines (dance, music, theater, film, literature, performance art) or arts-related perspectives (media studies, cultural studies, art history, arts sociology, arts philosophy) in their Bachelor programme.


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using TrackableEntities.Patterns;
using AIM.Service.Entities.Models;

namespace AIM.Service.Persistence.Repositories
{
    public interface IAspNetUserRepository : IRepository<AspNetUser>, IRepositoryAsync<AspNetUser>
    {
        Task<IEnumerable<AspNetUser>> GetAspNetUsers();
        Task<AspNetUser> GetAspNetUser(string id);
        Task<bool> DeleteAspNetUser(string id);
    }
}


text:
Mines ParisTech (officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris in French or Paris School of Mines in English, also known as École des mines de Paris, ENSMP, Mines Paris or simply les Mines), created in 1783 by King Louis XVI, is a French engineer school and a constituent college of Université PSL.
École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris
Motto in English
Grande école
Paris, Fontainebleau, Évry, Sophia Antipolis
Université PSL, Institut Mines-Télécom (Mines Télécom Institut of Technology), ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology), Groupe des Écoles des mines, Conférence des Grandes écoles
http://www.mines-paristech.fr
Mines ParisTech is distinguished for the outstanding performance of its research centers [1] and the quality of its international partnerships with other prestigious universities in the world, which include Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore (NUS), Novosibirsk State University, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Tokyo Tech.
The École des Mines de Paris also publishes a world university ranking based on the number of alumni holding the post of CEO in one of the 500 largest companies in the world: the Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking of World Universities. The school is a member of the ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology) alliance.
Created by decree of the French King's Counsel on March 19, 1783, the first school of Mines was located in the Hôtel de la Monnaie, in Paris.
The school disappeared at the beginning of the French Revolution but was re-established by decree of the Committee of Public Safety in 1794, the 13th Messidor Year II. It moved to Savoie, after a decree of the consuls the 23rd Pluviôse Year X (1802).
After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, the school moved to the Hôtel de Vendôme (in the 6th arrondissement near Paris' Jardin du Luxembourg). From the 1960s onwards, it created research laboratories in Fontainebleau, Évry and Sophia Antipolis (Nice).
The initial aim of the Ecole des mines de Paris, namely to train high-level mining engineers, evolved with time to adapt to the technological and structural transformations undergone by society. Mines ParisTech has now become one of the most prestigious French engineering schools with a broad variety of subjects. Its students are trained to have management positions, work in research and development departments, or as operations officers, etc. They receive a well-rounded education in a variety of subjects, ranging from the most technical (Mathematics, Physics) to economics, social sciences or even art in order to be able to tackle the managing or engineering-related issues they are to face. Exchange programs are possible during the third semester with prestigious universities around the world, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore (NUS), Tokyo Tech, Seoul National University...
Mines ParisTech provides different educational paths:
The Ingénieurs civils degree (Master of Science and Executive Engineering), ranked among the best French Grande école engineering degrees, similar to that offered at École polytechnique, École des Ponts ParisTech or École Centrale Paris.
The Corps of Mines, one of the greatest technical corps of the French state. It is a third cycle degree, lasting for three years, consisting in two long-term internships both in public and private economical institutions and courses in economics and public institutions.[2] The admission to the Corps des Mines is highly selective as only the top students from École polytechnique, École normale supérieure, Mines ParisTech and Telecom ParisTech may apply
Mastère Spécialisé degrees, post-graduate programs accredited by the Conférence des Grandes écoles, in the fields of Energy, Environment, Transport and Logistics, Informatics, Safety and management in industry and Materials engineering
Doctoral (19 schools) and Master (9 programs) studies in various fields
Admission for French and International students
For students having studied in the Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Ecoles (a two-year highly selective undergraduate program in Mathematics, Physics and Engineering, among others), admission to Civil Engineer of Mines is decided through a nationwide competitive examination. Every year, ten applications are also accepted from students around the world according to their academic achievements.
Admission to the Corps of Mines is possible for French students at the end of the studies in École polytechnique (usually 15 of the top 20 ranked European students each year), École normale supérieure, École des télécommunications de Paris and École des mines de Paris (these two later, after a specific examination), or from the other great technical corps of the French state. Admission in third year is also open to one Ph.D graduate.
Student unions and organizations
A Student Union is elected every year after a one-week campaign, and is in charge of enhancing the contact between students and various sponsoring industries as well as organizing events for the students.
Various other organizations are part of the students' lives: the Students' Sport Committee (BDS), the Junior Enterprise (JUMP), the Arts' Office (BDA), Cahier Vert (social opening and tutoring), CAV (wine-tasting club), Catholic community, Fanfare band, Entrepreneur club (Mines Genius), humanitarian organizations (Heliotopia, CEres, Zanbinou), photography club, Sailing club, among others.
Maurice Allais (1911–2010), Nobel Prize in Economics, 1988
Jean-Louis Bianco (1943–), General Secretary of President of France (1982–1991), Minister of Social Affairs (France) (1991–1992), Minister of Transport (France) (1992–1993), députy of Alpes de Haute Provence's 1st constituency (1997–)
Louis Paul Cailletet (1832–1913), physicist and inventor
Georges Charpak (1924–2010), Nobel Prize in Physics 1992
Jean-Baptiste Élie de Beaumont (1798–1874), founder of geology, Wollaston Medal 1843
Thierry Desmarest, former CEO of Total
Jean-Martin Folz, former CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën
Noël Forgeard, former CEO of Airbus and EADS
Charles de Freycinet, prime minister of France at the end of the 19th century
Tidjane Thiam (1962–), CEO of Credit Suisse
Carlos Ghosn (1954–), CEO of Nissan, CEO of Renault-Nissan
Auguste Laurent (1808–1853), chemist, precursor of Organic Chemistry modern
Anne Lauvergeon, former CEO of Areva
Albert François Lebrun (1871–1950), president of France
Alfred-Marie Liénard (1869–1958), famous for the Liénard–Wiechert potential
Didier Lombard (1942–), chairman and former CEO of France Télécom
Francis Mer, former CEO of Usinor and former Minister of Finances of France
Alain Poher (1909–1996), politician, president of Sénat, president by interim of French Republic.
Denis Ranque, CEO of Thales Group
Léon Walras (1834–1910), mathematical economist
Jean-Jacques Favier (1949–), astronaut
Jacques Aschenbroich, CEO of Valeo
Energy and Processes
CES (Energy efficiency of Systems Center)
CTP (Thermodynamics of Processes Center)
OIE (Observation, Impacts, Energy Center)
PERSEE (Processes, Renewable Energies and Energy Systems Center)
Mathematics and Systems
CAOR (Robotics Center)
CAS (Automatic Control and Systems Center)
CBIO (Computational Biology Center)
CMA (Applied Mathematics Center)
CMM (Mathematical Morphology Center)
CRI (Computer Science Center)
Earth Science and Environment
Geosciences (Geosciences and Geoengineering Center)
ISIGE (Environmental Engineering and Management Center)
Economics, Management, Society
CERNA (Industrial Economics Center)
CGS (Scientific Management Center)
CRC (Crisis and Risk Research Center)
CSI (Sociology of Innovation Center)
Mechanical and Materials Engineering
CEMEF (Material Forming Center)
Materials Center
ParisTech
École des mines d'Albi-Carmaux
École des mines d'Alès
École des mines de Douai
École nationale supérieure des mines de Nancy
École nationale supérieure des mines de Saint-Étienne
École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Rabat
Musée de Minéralogie
Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking of World Universities
Palmarès 2013 des écoles d'ingénieurs par Recherche. Usinenouvelle.com. Retrieved on 2014-06-17.
Présentation - MINES ParisTech. Mines-paristech.fr. Retrieved on 2014-06-17.
"Doctoral programme in French engineering school - MINES PARISTECH". www.mines-paristech.eu. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris.
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Old Mines Paris alumni union
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Fondation 2ie
École Hassania des travaux publics
National School of Mineral Industry
Louvain School of Engineering
Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech
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Polytechnique Montréal
École supérieure des communications de Tunis
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Accredited degrees
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Établissement public à caractère administratif
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École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées Bretagne
Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service
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Musée de l'Armée
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Minister of Social Affairs
Agence Nationale pour l'Amélioration des Conditions de Travail
Agence nationale des services à la personne
Minister of the Economy,
Finances and Industry
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4 of the 5 Groupe des écoles nationales d'ingénieurs (Groupe ENI)
École nationale d'ingénieurs de Brest
École nationale d'ingénieurs de Metz
École nationale d'ingénieurs de Tarbes
École nationale d'ingénieurs du Val de Loire
7 of the 9 Institut d'études politiques
École Nationale Supérieure de l'Électronique et de ses Applications
École nationale supérieure d'informatique pour l'industrie et l'entreprise
Institut français de mécanique avancée
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Louis Lumière College
Côte d'Azur Observatory
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Agence de services et de paiement
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Inventaire Forestier National
Ministry of Ecology,
and Energy
Agence nationale de l'habitat
École nationale de l'aviation civile
Institut Géographique National
Office national de la chasse et de la faune sauvage
Office national de l'eau et des milieux aquatiques
National parks of France
Agence des aires marines protégées et parcs naturels marins
Foreign and European Affairs
Agency for French Teaching Abroad
Minister of Culture
Bibliothèque publique d'information
Centre Georges Pompidou
National Center of Cinematography and the moving image
Centre national du livre
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Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Lyon
Écoles nationales supérieure d'architecture
École nationale supérieure d'arts de Cergy-Pontoise
École nationale supérieure de la photographie
École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs
Opérateur du patrimoine et des projets immobiliers de la culture
Palace of Fontainebleau
Guimet Museum
Musée national Jean-Jacques Henner
Sèvres – Cité de la céramique
Musée national Gustave Moreau
Musée Picasso
Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles
Ministère chargé de la
École nationale supérieure de sécurité sociale
Centre national de la
Institut national des études territoriales
Sorbonne Graduate Business School
Institut des hautes études de défense nationale
French Academy of Technologies
Agence centrale des organismes de sécurité sociale
Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail
Agence Nationale de la Recherche
AD Isère Drac Romanche
Centre d'études et de recherches sur les qualifications
National Computer Center for Higher Education
Centre national des œuvres universitaires et scolaires
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Caisse nationale de solidarité pour l'autonomie
Centre de ressources, d'expertise et de performance sportives
Île-de-France mobilités
Association syndicale allowed

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Essential Retail Magazine Home » Big Interviews » Big Interview: Jacqueline Gold, CEO, Ann Summers on Brexit
5 May 2016 Big Interview
Big Interview: Jacqueline Gold, CEO, Ann Summers on Brexit
Caroline Baldwin Editor, Essential Retail
Email Caroline
Follow @cl_baldwin
"I can't think of one thing about our membership of the EU that has impacted negatively on my business," Jacqueline Gold, CEO of Ann Summers, tells Essential Retail. "I only see it as a positive and it really scares me in terms of our growth plans that we would be going back down that road."
Gold describes how during the infancy of the Union, Ann Summers tried to take its party planning business into Germany. "We had to pull out," explains Gold. "There was just too much red tape and too many barriers. This would be taking us back to those days, and I know first hand what it was like."
A vocal Conservative businesswoman, Gold admits the Brexit debate is an emotive subject for the British people.
"There aren't many things David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn agree on, and here are two leaders we have voted in, and they and both of their chancellors are saying it would be detrimental to leave, so why aren't we listening?" she asks.
"But I think it's important for business, jobs, growth and the economy," she says, noting how the country is finally in a stronger position financially. "Why would we jeopardise that and plummet into the unknown."
Gold says the retail industry is already witnessing a dip in consumer confidence ahead of the referendum.
"Off the back of the recession, of course it takes time for the consumer confidence to grow again, and we're already seeing the period of uncertainly affecting our customer, who is not converting like they used to," explains Gold, who says Ann Summers is in the top third of performing stores on the high street. "That would only be worsened if we came out. And even the Vote to Leave Campaign acknowledges a period of negative impact to business and the economy."
She says it is only when the economy is strong that the UK can invest in critical services like the NHS, as well as provide better relief for retailers.
She also describes passionately, how improvements for women in the workplace have only occurred in the last couple of decades thanks to Britain's membership of the EU, including prohibiting discrimination, extended maternity pay and making it illegal to sack an employee when she becomes pregnant.
Gold also says leaving the EU would have a detrimental effect on hiring workers at the Ann Summers warehouse and HQ on the edge of London in Croydon.
"Two thirds of our warehouse workers are European, and they've worked for us for years and everybody is paid the same, but we struggle to attract people, for not just lower skilled jobs, but unsocial shift hours. Europeans are very adaptable and willing to work unsociable hours, so it would be devastating for our business to take that pool of talent away."
Gold also believes it would take time to set up international deals to accommodate foreign workers as well as trade deals when selling into Europe online.
"It takes time to build up trust and build up logistics, and it would take years to set up new deals and the workload these changes would make. Our business would be diverted away from trading to excessive amount of admin."
Gold explains: "If we were making a business decision here, you wouldn't be saying 'there's a new idea, I don't know what it's going to turn out like, but I'm going to go down that road with my business'. You wouldn't, would you? That's madness. If you wouldn't do it with your business, why would you do it with you country?
"Britain leads the way in challenging onerous regulations in the EU," she adds. "We need to have our say at that table."
Share this big interview…
How to secure and optimise customer experience in a digital world
Social media 2.0
21 Jun 2016 Royal Mail automates Tmall registration
Royal Mail is making it easier for British companies to sell to China through its Tmall eCommerce site.
9 Aug 2017 Comment: Brexit may be no bargain for UK retail
15 Jan 2018 NRF 2018: Elektra uses in-store education to encourage Mexican shoppers online
Mexican retailer, Grupo Elektra, shares how it is teaching its customers how to shop online in a predominantly store-based country.
8 Aug 2017 Asos invests $40 million on new US warehouse
26 Jul 2017 Astley Clarke increases international revenue by 367%
Astley Clarke upgrades its cross-border eCommerce proposition and sees significant improvements to revenue.


The International COPD Coalition (ICC) has been working to improve COPD awareness and action since it was organized in 2001. By now—in 2014—many countries' COPD leaders are tracking public awareness of COPD every year. ICC has surveyed activities of national respiratory patient organizations globally in their proposing and implementing improvements in respiratory disease prevention and treatment. However, COPD still continues to increase as a deadly and costly health menace.


text:
India's PM Modi faces big electoral test in Muslim areas
India's PM Modi faces big electoral test in Muslim areas /node/1832141/world
Bharatiya Janata Partysupporters gather for a rally addressed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of West Bengal state elections. (AP)
https://arab.news/ba645
Updated 26 March 2021
Top BJP leaders have been campaigning heavily to win West Bengal and dislodge the state's chief minister
The test for Modi is likely to be the toughest in West Bengal, analysts say
NEW DELHI: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist party are making a serious bid for electoral victories in three states that have sizeable minority Muslim populations. But the Bharatiya Janata Party has for years been accused of stoking religious polarization and discriminating against minorities, and faces stiff challenges making inroads in the local elections.
Top BJP leaders, including Modi, have been campaigning heavily to win West Bengal and dislodge the state's chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, as well as retain power in northeastern Assam and expand the party's influence in the southern states.
The BJP has soared in Hindu-dominated regions in central and northern India since Modi was elected in 2014. The upcoming state elections are seen as crucial for the party to gain a foothold in the northeast and south. The prime minister also wants to project the BJP as a national party, replacing a dynastic Congress party that governed India for more than six decades after independence from British rule in 1947.
The run-up to the elections – which begin Saturday and are spread over a month, with results declared May 2 – has been nothing short of dramatic.
In West Bengal, rival groups have attacked each other with sticks and rocks, and even set vehicles on fire. Images of the fiery and determined Banerjee, 66, who's been addressing massive crowds from a wheelchair after a leg injury, have set the tone for a tough battle.
The elections also come as tens of thousands of farmers have rattled Modi's government with monthslong protests on the fringes of the capital, New Delhi. And India's economy, which was battered by the pandemic, is still struggling to emerge out of the crisis – another pivotal challenge for Modi, who came into office partly on promises of economic development. Coronavirus cases are surging steadily nationwide, after dropping earlier this year.
Down south, experts say the BJP's chances remain low. The party is vying for a third spot in Kerala, currently ruled by a Communist Party-led government. And in legislative elections being held in Tamil Nadu in April, both the BJP and main opposition Congress party have allied with powerful regional parties as junior partners.
But in West Bengal and Assam, the BJP is banking on its strong Hindu nationalist ideology to draw votes. The party is trying to galvanize Hindu support by promising to deport hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims who fled decades ago to neighboring West Bengal and Assam. In 2018, Home Minister Amit Shah described them as "termites" eating into India's resources.
The BJP also enacted a controversial citizenship law in 2019 that provides a fast track to naturalization for some migrants who entered the country illegally while fleeing religious persecution. But it excludes Muslims, which critics say is discriminatory and a violation of India's Constitution.
Nationwide, Muslims comprise nearly 14 percent of the 1.4 billion population, while Hindus make up 80 percent.
However, across three states that are heading to the polls – Assam, Kerala and West Bengal – Muslims comprise around 30 percent of the population.
"(The BJP's) success depends on if it is able to polarize Hindu votes to a huge extent, and get half of the 70 percent of Hindu votes," said Subir Bhowmik, a political analyst.
The test for Modi is likely to be the toughest in West Bengal, analysts say, where the political discourse has shifted from issues to personalities.
And despite anti-incumbency fatigue against Banerjee, Modi is facing off against one of the state's most popular figures in history, experts say. She's been in power for 10 years after unseating more than three decades of Communist Party rule in the state.
In 2016, the BJP made history by winning power in Assam for the first time, ending the Congress party's 15-year rule there. Observers say the BJP pulled off the win by reiterating its Hindutva message, raising the issue of illegal Muslim immigration from Bangladesh to appeal to Hindu voters.
But this time around, the Congress has teamed up with a key Muslim political party. "This is expected to give a tough fight to the BJP in Assam," said Akhil Ranjan Dutta, professor of police science at Gauhati University.
"Its best hope remains in breaching West Bengal and consolidating its presence in Assam, its gateway to India's northeast,'' said analyst Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Topics: India Narendra Modi
India PM Modi holds first election rally since COVID-19 outbreak
India's Modi stuns opposition with huge election win
Sputnik V shows higher omicron-antibody levels than Pfizer in preliminary study /node/2008666/world
The joint Russian-Italian study compared the blood serum of people who had received the different vaccines
"Today the necessity of third booster vaccination is obvious," the preliminary study published on Jan. 19 said
MOSCOW: A small preliminary laboratory study has shown that levels of omicron-neutralising antibodies of people vaccinated with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine did not decline as much as of those who had Pfizer shots.
The joint Russian-Italian study — funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which markets Sputnik V abroad — compared the blood serum of people who had received the different vaccines.
Researchers said samples taken three to six months after the second dose of a vaccine have shown that the levels of antibodies in recipients of two doses of Sputnik V were more resistant to omicron than in those vaccinated with Pfizer.
It included 51 people vaccinated with Sputnik V and 17 after two shots of the Pfizer vaccine.
"Today the necessity of third booster vaccination is obvious," the preliminary study published on Jan. 19 said.
The preliminary study, that will seek certification by peer review, showed that omicron-specific neutralizing antibodies were detected in the blood serum of 74.2 percent of the people vaccinated with Sputnik and in 56.9 percent of those vaccinated with Pfizer/BioNtech.
An earlier preliminary study by the Gamaleya Institute, the developer of Sputnik V, showed that a booster shot of Sputnik Light vaccine provided a stronger antibody response against omicron than the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine alone.
omicron has pushed COVID-19 case figures to record highs in parts of western Europe and the United States. But the variant has only now began to hit Russia, where the daily nationwide new infections spiked to 38,850 on Tuesday from 33,899 the day before.
Russia has so far officially recorded more than 1,600 cases of the variant and has mobilized its health system to tackle an increase in cases but authorities said they realized that there are many more cases related to omicron.
Topics: Sputnik V vaccine COVID-19 omicron Pfizer
Russia says Sputnik Light is 70 percent effective against Delta variant
WHO still reviewing Sputnik V vaccine, as Russia presses bid
French parliament denounces China's Uyghur 'genocide' /node/2008566/world
The non-binding resolution was proposed by the opposition Socialists in the lower house of parliament
It reads that the National Assembly "officially recognises the violence perpetrated by the People's Republic of China against the Uyghurs as constituting crimes against humanity and genocide"
PARIS: France's parliament on Thursday denounced a "genocide" by China against its Uyghur Muslim population, in a resolution that risks straining ties between Paris and Beijing two weeks before the Winter Olympics.
The non-binding resolution, adopted with 169 votes in favour and just one against, was proposed by the opposition Socialists in the lower house of parliament but also backed by President Emmanuel Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) party.
It reads that the National Assembly "officially recognises the violence perpetrated by the People's Republic of China against the Uyghurs as constituting crimes against humanity and genocide".
It also calls on the French government to undertake "the necessary measures within the international community and in its foreign policy towards the People's Republic of China" to protect the minority group in the Xinjiang region.
"China is a great power. We love the Chinese people. But we refuse to submit to propaganda from a regime that is banking on our cowardice and our avarice to perpetrate a genocide in plain sight," Socialist party chief Olivier Faure said.
He recounted testimony to parliament from Uyghur survivors who told of conditions inside internment camps where men and women were unable to lie down in cells, subjected to rape and torture, as well as forced organ transplants.
French MPs were also called to applaud Uyghurs refugees who had been invited to observe the parliamentary session.
The resolution follows a similar move in Britain in April last year which led to condemnation from China.
The Netherlands and Canadian parliaments both called Chinese treatment of the Uyghurs "genocide" in February 2021, while the US government also called it genocide under former president Donald Trump.
United States, Britain, Australia and Canada have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which start on February 4.
China denies genocide or the existence of forced labour camps in Xinjiang and has accused Uyghurs testifying overseas about conditions inside the northwestern region of being paid liars.
The French parliamentary resolution comes at a time when the European Union is weighing how to respond to a Chinese blockade of Lithuania's exports, as well as Beijing's crushing of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has sought to avoid being dragged into increasingly confrontational ties between China and the United States, was asked about the Uyghurs during an appearance before the European parliament on Wednesday.
"You were right to remind us of massacres, massive deportations and forced labour," he told campaigning MEP Raphael Glucksmann.
"France raises this in a very clear fashion in all of our bilateral talks (with Beijing)."
He said he was in favour of an EU regulation that would "ban the import of goods that result from forced labour."
Speaking in parliament on Thursday to represent the government, Trade Minister Franck Riester referred to "systematic violence" and "overwhelming testimonies" from Uyghurs, but said that terming their treatment genocide was a formal decision taken by international institutions.
Beijing has turned down repeated requests from the UN High Commission for Human Rights to visit the region to investigate.
Human rights groups say they have found evidence of mass detentions, forced labour, political indoctrination, torture and forced sterilisation in Xinjiang.
After initially denying the existence of the Xinjiang camps, China later defended them as vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic extremism.
The United States has slapped sanctions on a growing list of Chinese politicians and companies over the treatment of the Uyghurs, leading to tit-for-tat measures from Beijing.
China has also sanctioned European, British and US lawmakers, as well as academics who study Xinjiang and a London law firm.
The only French MP to vote against Thursday's resolution was Buon Tan from Macron's LREM, the chairman of a Franco-Chinese "friendship group".
Topics: France Chinese Uyghur Muslims genocide
US imposes sanctions against China over abuse of Uyghurs
Uyghurs in Turkey welcome US boycott of Olympics
At least two dead, 22 wounded by bomb in Pakistan's Lahore /node/2008541/world
The attack was claimed on Twitter by a spokesman for the Baloch Nationalist Army
Officials said a nine-year-old child was one of those killed
LAHORE: At least two people were killed and 22 wounded Thursday by a bomb blast in a busy shopping district of the Pakistani megacity of Lahore, police and officials said.
The attack was claimed on Twitter by a spokesman for the Baloch Nationalist Army, one of several ethnic separatist groups that have been waging an insurgency for years in southwest Pakistan.
"Initial investigations show that it was a time-controlled device on a motorbike which was the cause of the blast," Rana Arif, spokesman for Lahore police, told AFP.
Thursday's blast happened in old Lahore's busy Anarkali shopping district, damaging several motorbikes and upturning market stalls.
Officials said a nine-year-old child was one of those killed.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed regret over the "loss of precious human lives," a spokesman for his office said.
On Twitter, a spokesman for the Baloch Nationalist Army said it was responsible.
"This attack targeted bank employees. A detailed statement will be issued soon," the tweet said.
Mineral-rich Balochistan, bordering Afghanistan and Iran, is the largest of Pakistan's four provinces, but its roughly seven million inhabitants have long complained they do not receive a fair share of its gas and mineral wealth.
China is investing in the area under a $54-billion project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), upgrading infrastructure, power and transport links between its far-western Xinjiang region and Pakistan's Gwadar port.
Baloch separatists previously claimed several attacks on CPEC projects, and thousands of Pakistani security personnel are deployed in the region to counter the violence.
Pakistan has suffered a string of blasts and attacks against police since December, when a truce between the government and Pakistan's Taliban lapsed.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — a home-grown movement that shares common roots with the Afghan Taliban — has claimed responsibility for most recent attacks.
The TTP said earlier this week it was responsible for a deadly shootout in Islamabad on Monday night — a rare attack by the militants in the heavily guarded capital.
A police officer was killed and two others injured when two TTP gunmen opened fire from a motorbike on a police checkpoint.
Police said both attackers were killed, and Pakistan's interior minister warned afterwards of the potential for further violence.
Pakistan's government announced late last year it had entered a month-long truce with the TTP, facilitated by Afghanistan's Taliban, but that expired on December 9 after peace talks failed to make progress.
The TTP has been blamed for hundreds of suicide bomb attacks and kidnappings across the country, and for a while held sway over vast tracts of the nation's rugged tribal belt, imposing a radical version of Islamic law.
But after the 2014 massacre of nearly 150 children at a Peshawar school, the Pakistan military sent huge numbers of troops into TTP strongholds and crushed the movement, forcing its fighters to retreat to Afghanistan.
Topics: Lahore Anarkali market terrorism Pakistan
Pakistan rules out COVID lockdown as cases hit 7-month high
UK police arrest 2 men over Texas synagogue hostage-taking /node/2008316/world
LONDON: British police said Thursday they have arrested two people in connection with a hostage-taking at a synagogue in Texas.
Counter Terrorism Police North West said one man was arrested Thursday in Birmingham, central England, and another in the northern English city of Manchester. They are being held for questioning and have not yet been charged.
The force said it was continuing to support US authorities with their investigation into Saturday's hostage incident. Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen, took four people hostage at a Texas synagogue in a 10-hour standoff that ended in his death. All four hostages were unharmed.
Police did not disclose details about the two people detained Thursday. British police do not release names and details of detainees until they are charged.
On Sunday, police arrested British teenagers in Manchester as part of the investigation. They were later released without charge.
Akram was from Blackburn, an industrial city in northwest England. His family said he had been "suffering from mental health issues."
Akram entered the United States on a tourist visa about two weeks earlier and spent time in Dallas-area homeless shelters before the attack at Congregation Beth Israel, in the suburb of Colleyville.
The FBI has called the incident "a terrorism-related matter" targeting the Jewish community.
British media, including the Guardian and the BBC, have reported that Akram was investigated by the domestic intelligence service MI5 as a possible "terrorist threat" in 2020, but authorities concluded he posed no danger, and the investigation was closed.
The White House said Tuesday that Akram had been checked against US law enforcement databases before entering the country but raised no red flags.
Topics: Texas Hostages Synagogue
Texas rabbi says he, 2 hostages escaped synagogue standoff
Indian court jails man in first conviction over 2020 Delhi riots /node/2008441/world
Indian court jails man in first conviction over 2020 Delhi riots
Riots followed months of protests against a citizenship law that critics say discriminates against the Muslim minority
More than 50 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in the worst such violence in the Indian capital in decades
NEW DELHI: An Indian court on Thursday jailed a man for five years in the first conviction over religious riots in New Delhi in 2020, when more than 50 people, most of them Muslims, were killed.
The riots, the worst such violence in the capital in decades, followed months of protests against a citizenship law that critics say discriminates against the Muslim minority in the mostly Hindu country.
Prosecutors and witnesses said Dinesh Yadav was part of a mob of up to 200 mostly Hindu rioters who vandalized and set fire to the house of a woman named Manori, New Delhi's Karkardooma Court heard last month.
Yadav's lawyer, Shikha Garg, said that apart from the jail term, the court on Thursday also ordered him to pay a fine of 12,000 rupees ($161).
"We will file an appeal before a higher court," Garg told Reuters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, which draws its support mainly from the majority community, changed the citizenship law in 2019 to expedite citizenship for persecuted Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who arrived in India before Dec. 31, 2014, from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Many Muslims in India have opposed the exclusion of their community. There are an estimated 200 million Muslims in India out of a population of 1.35 billion — the biggest Muslim minority in the world.
Topics: India New delhi Delhi Riots


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Q: Sample Variance and Dividing by $n-1$ In this video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHRBg6BhKjI
...and in many others, the explanation for why when calculating the sample variance we divide by $n-1$ instead of by $n$ is the following:
For any value of $\mu_x$, the sum of the squared differences of the data points in the sample from the true mean will always be greater than the sum of the squared distances of the data points in the sample from the sample mean.
That's because the sum $\sum{[(x-\bar{X})^2]}$ is minimized when $\bar{X}$ is the sample mean, instead of some other number (that is, instead of the population mean $\mu_x$).
Had we used the population mean $\mu_x$, we would've gotten a larger sum of squared distances. Since we can't possibly know the population mean, we use the sample mean and divide by $n-1$ to make the sample variance a little bigger.
But, although I understand the above, I still don't see why it implies that the sample variance will better approximate the true population variance.
Although the sum of the squared distances of the datapoints in the sample from the sample mean will always be less than the sum of the squared distances of the datapoints in the sample from the population mean, why does that imply that it will be less than the variance of the actual population, where we're not just using a sample?

A: A somewhat intuitive argument (though one that can be made rigorous):
The population variance is itself a population average. Specifically if you define a new variable to be the square of the difference of the original variable from its population mean, $Y=(X-\mu_X)^2$ (NB when using capital letters I am referring to random variables, rather than their realizations), then the expected value (population mean) of the new variable is the variance of the original one.
The n-denominator variance from the population mean is the corresponding sample average for observations from the distribution of $Y$. Sample averages are unbiased estimators of their population counterpart - that is, the expected value of a sample average IS the population mean.
So if we were able to calculate an average of samples filled with $(X_i-\mu_X)^2$ values, it would be an unbiased estimator of the variance of the $X$-distribution (that is, correct on average, over many such samples).
Let $\bar{Y}$ be the mean of a sample taken from the $Y$ distribution.
Computationally speaking, what we're saying is that $E[\bar{Y}] = \mu_Y = Var(X)$.
Written out in full, $E[\sum{(X_i-\mu_X)^2}/n] = Var(X)$. The expected value of the average of a sample from the $Y$ distribution is the variance of $X$. This is what it means for the sample average from the $Y$ distribution to be an "unbiased" estimator of $Var(X)$.
If we were to replace $\mu_X$ with the average of the $X_i$ sample, $\bar{X}$, that sum would always become smaller, and thus the overall expected value would become smaller.
Since it's smaller than something that is unbiased (the only exception is when the variance is 0), it is therefore biased (specifically, biased downward, too small on average).

A: Let $X_1, X_2, \cdots X_n$ be iid with mean $\mu$ and variance $\sigma^2$. Lets look at the class of estimators
$$S^2_j = \frac{1}{n-j}\sum_{i=1}^n(X_i- \bar X)^2$$
Using this notation, $S_1^2$ is the usual sample variance and $S_0^2$ is the variant where we divide by the sample size.

The sample variance is unbiased for $\sigma^2$
The derivation of this fact is fairly straightforward. Let's start by finding the expected value of $S_j^2$ for all $j$.
\begin{align}
E(S_j^2) &= \frac{1}{n-j}E\left(\sum_{i=1}^n(X_i- \bar X)^2 \right) \\
&= \frac{1}{n-j}E\left(\sum_{i=1}^nX_i^2 - n\bar X^2\right) && \text{"short-cut formula"} \\
&= \frac{1}{n-j}\left(\sum_{i=1}^nE(X_i^2) - nE(\bar X^2)\right) \\
&= \frac{1}{n-j}\left(\sum_{i=1}^n(Var(X_i) - E(X_i)^2) + n(Var(\bar X) + E(\bar X)^2)\right) \\
&= \frac{1}{n-j}\left(n(\sigma^2 + \mu^2) - n(\sigma^2/n + \mu^2)\right)\\[1.2ex]
&= \frac{n-1}{n-j}\sigma^2.
\end{align}
The bias for this class of estimators is therefore
$$B(S_j^2) = E(S_j^2) - \sigma^2 = \frac{j-1}{n-j}\sigma^2$$
which is clearly equal to $0$ if (and only if) $j=1$.

MSE under normality
Mean squared error is a popular criteria for evaluating estimators which considers the bias-variance tradeoff. Lets consider the case where $X_1, \cdots X_n \stackrel{\text{iid}}{\sim} N(\mu, \sigma^2)$. Under normality, we can show that
$$\frac{(n-j)S_j^2}{\sigma^2} \sim \chi^2(n-1).$$
The expected value (and hence the bias) is the same as before. The chi-square result provides an easy way of calculating the variance for this class of estimators.
Since the variance of a $\chi^2(v)$ RV is $2v$, we have that
$$\text{Var}\left(\frac{(n-j)S_j^2}{\sigma^2}\right) = 2(n-1).$$
We also have that
$$\text{Var}\left(\frac{(n-j)S_j^2}{\sigma^2}\right) = \frac{(n-j)^2}{\sigma^4}\text{Var}(S_j^2).$$
Putting these pieces together implies that $$Var(S_j^2) = \frac{2\sigma^4(n-1)}{(n-j)^2}.$$
Therefore the MSE of $S_j^2$ is
$$MSE(S_j^2) = B(S_j^2)^2 + Var(S_j^2) = \sigma^4\left(\frac{2(n-1) + (j-1)^2}{(n-j)^2} \right)$$
Here is a plot of the MSE as a function of $j$ for $\sigma = 1$ and $n=30$.
According to MSE, the method of moments (divide by $n$) estimator $S_0^2$ is preferable to the sample variance $S_1^2$. The truly surprising result here is that the "optimal" estimator according to MSE is
$$S_{-1}^2 = \frac{1}{n+1}\sum_{i=1}^n(X_i- \bar X)^2.$$
Despite this result, I've never seen anybody use this as an estimator in practice. The reason this happens, is that MSE is exchanging bias for a reduction in variance. By artificially shrinking the estimator towards zero, we get an improvement in MSE (this is an example of Stein's Paradox).

So is the sample variance a better estimator? It depends on your criteria and your underlying goals. Although dividing by $n$ (or even, strangely, by $n+1$) leads to a reduction in MSE, it is important to note that this reduction in MSE is negligible when the sample size is large.  The sample variance has some nice properties including unbiasedness which leads to its popularity in practice.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Error in Vue graphql: Missing query attribute on result I want to have multiple queries in one network request. I have put all my queries in vue Apollo but I get this error when data revived(I will get the data in network tab but I cant access it!)
error: vue-apollo.esm.js?522d:842 Missing query attribute on result

code:
apollo: {
    query: gql`
             query {
                 query1 {someValue}
                 query2 {someValue}
             }
          `
}


text:
Why Do So Many Americans Have Guns?
Wade Trimmer |
The moment we learn of another mass shooting, we know what's coming next. Within minutes the same post-massacre drill is paraded out. Gun-control activists are on the firing line with their bullet-point arguments unloaded on the viewers while they are still in a state of shock.
After the shooting in Las Vegas, "#GunControlNow" was among the top trending hashtags on Twitter in the United States on Monday. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) on NBC's "Meet the Press" called the U.S. a "gun-happy country. And I think there are many of us in growing numbers that don't want a gun-happy country," she said.
Countering the leftist's fusillade, conservative commentator Laura Ingraham tweeted: "All victims' bodies still not recovered and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren kick into typical anti-gun stance. Gross."
Reason dictates that we should disengage from this battle over firearms long enough to ask why do so many Americans have guns? And why are they so adamant in their defense of Second Amendment rights?
How many Americans have guns?
About four-in-ten Americans say they either own a gun themselves or live in a household with guns, and 48% say they grew up in a household with guns, according to a new Pew Research Center study. At least two-thirds of adults say they've lived in a household with a gun at some point in their lives. And roughly seven-in-ten – including 55% of those who have never personally owned a gun – say they have fired a gun at some point.
While many gun owners say they have more than one reason for owning a firearm, 67% cite protection as a major reason. Two-thirds (66%) of gun owners say they own more than one firearm; roughly three-in-ten (29%) say they personally have five or more guns.
The reason why Americans should have guns is long standing. A case in point: the third president of America, Thomas Jefferson, quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria, wrote in 1774: "The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
In a letter to Peter Carr, on August 19, 1785, Thomas Jefferson wrote: "A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks."
In a column entitled, The Culture of Death — and of Disdain, Peggy Noonan answers in a very articulate manner why so many Americans have so many guns:
I think a lot of Americans have guns because they're fearful –and for damn good reason. They fear a coming chaos, and know that when it happens it will be coming to a nation that no longer coheres. They think it's all collapsing — our society, our culture, the baseline competence of our leadership class. They see the cultural infrastructure giving way — illegitimacy, abused children, neglect, racial tensions, kids on opioids staring at screens — and, unlike their cultural superiors, they understand the implications.
Nuts with nukes, terrorists bent on a mission. The grid will go down. One of our foes will hit us, suddenly and hard. In the end it could be hand to hand, door to door.
Americans have so many guns because drug gangs roam the streets, because they have less trust in their neighbors, because they read Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." Because all of their personal and financial information got hacked in the latest breach, because our country's real overlords are in Silicon Valley and appear to be moral Martians who operate on some weird new postmodern ethical wavelength. And they'll be the ones programming the robots that'll soon take all the jobs! Maybe the robots will all look like Mark Zuckerberg, like those eyeless busts of Roman Emperors. Our leaders don't even think about this technological revolution. They're too busy with transgender rights.
The establishments and elites that create our political and entertainment culture have no idea how fragile it all is—how fragile it seems to people living normal, less privileged lives. That is because nothing is fragile for them. They're barricaded behind the things the influential have, from good neighborhoods to security alarms, doormen and gates. They're not dark in their imagining of the future because history has never been dark for them; it's been sunshine, which they expect to continue. They sail on, oblivious to the legitimate anxieties of their countrymen who live near the edge.
Those who create our culture feel free to lecture normal Americans—on news shows, on late night comedy shows. Why do they have such a propensity for violence? What is their love for guns? Why do they join the National Rifle Association? The influential grind away with their disdain for their fellow Americans, whom they seem less to want to help than to dominate: Give up your gun, bake my cake, free speech isn't free if what you're saying triggers us.
Would it help if we tried less censure and more cultural affiliation? Might it help if we started working on problems that are real? Sure. But why lower the temperature when there's such easy pleasure to be had in ridiculing your mindless and benighted countrymen?
Why do Americans own so many guns? Because they don't trust the protected elites to protect them.