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WMA Member selected among 8 new NASA astronauts
Reprinted with Permission of the Associated PressCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA has eight new astronauts — its first new batch in four years.
Among the lucky candidates: the first female fighter pilot to become an astronaut in nearly two decades. Additionally, a female helicopter pilot (and WMA member) is also in the group. In fact, four of the eight selectees are women, the highest percentage of female astronaut candidates ever selected by NASA.
Monday's announcement came on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the launch of the first American woman in space, Sally Ride., who sadly passed away last summer.
The eight — all in their 30s — were chosen from more than 6,000 applications received early last year, the second largest number ever received. They will report for duty in August at Johnson Space Center in Houston and join 49 astronauts currently working at NASA. The number has dwindled since 2011 when the shuttle program was ended and several astronauts decided to seek work elsewhere rather than get in a lengthy line for relatively few long-term mission slots aboard the International Space Station.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that these new candidates will help lead the first human mission to an asteroid in the 2020s, and then Mars, sometime in the following decade. They also may be among the first to fly to the International Space Station aboard a commercial spacecraft launched from the U.S. Russia currently ferries the astronauts.
"These new space explorers asked to join NASA because they know we're doing big, bold things here — developing missions to go farther into space than ever before," Bolden said in a statement.
The Class of 2013's Nicole Aunapu Mann, a major in the Marines, is an F/A 18 pilot serving at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Md. Army Maj. Anne McClain is a helicopter pilot, and the two other women, Christina Hammock and Jessica Meir, are scientists.
All four men have military backgrounds, including one who is a former emergency room physician, Dr. Andrew Morgan. The others are Josh Cassada, PhD. (a former Naval aviator), Navy Lt. Cmdr. Victor Glover, and Air Force Lt. Col. Tyler (Nick) Hague.
MAJOR Anne McClain, a member of Women Military Aviators, is among the eight newly selected for NASA astronaut program.
Anne is a 2002 graduate of the US Military Academy with a BS in Mechanical/Aeronautical Engineering. Awarded the Marshall Scholarship her senior year, she spent the next two years in England earning two masters degrees, one in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Bath and another in International Security from the University of Bristol.
Maj Ann McClain
She deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in July 2007 and spent 15 months as a maintenance platoon leader and Squadron intelligence officer, flying 900 flight hours as pilot in command in the Kiowa Warrior. In 2009, she graduated from the Captain's Career Course (distinguished honor graduate) and was assigned to 1-14th Aviation Regiment at Fort Rucker as an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior instructor pilot and battalion operations officer, responsible for the daily operations of all AH-64D Apache and OH-58D Kiowa Warrior aircraft and flight training activities. During this time, she also earned a spot (for the second time) on the USA Rugby Women's National Team.
She took command of C Troop, 1-14th Aviation Regiment in 2010 and oversaw the undergraduate and graduate flight training of the Kiowa Warrior and continued with her true passion, flying and teaching new pilots in the tactics and techniques of being a Scout pilot.
She attended the Command and General Staff College Intermediate Level Education (ILE) and graduated in December 2011 as the distinguished honor graduate. She was selected for and is currently attending the US Naval Test Pilot School, only the third Army female to do so and the first in over 20 years.
She has 2,000 flight hours in 11 different aircraft types and is qualified in the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, C-12 King Air, UH-60 Blackhawk, and UH-72 Lakota.
Her badges include the Combat Action Badge, Army Senior Aviator Badge, and Air Assault Badge. Her awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with Valor, Air Medal (x2), Army Commendation Medal, Iraqi Campaign Medal with 2 campaign stars, Global War on Terrorism Medal, Army Achievement Medal (x3), Overseas Service Ribbon (x3) and the National Defense Service Medal.


A few days before workers carefully unpacked transcripts, photos, prayer books and other items highlighting Pope John Paul II's special friendship with the Jewish people, Karen Falk was hopeful the collection would inspire many to live out the pope's call for interfaith understanding.
The items, on loan from Poland, Italy and Israel, will make up a landmark exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Maryland, opening Sept. 2 and running through Jan. 1.
"A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People" will be presented by the Jewish Museum, The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, the Baltimore Jewish Council and Catholic Charities.
"It's important to us to be a bridge to other communities," said Falk, curator of the Jewish Museum of Maryland, which is located at 15 Lloyd St. in Baltimore, just north of Little Italy.
Pope John Paul II holds a special place in the hearts of Jews, Falk said. The late pope grew up in the small Polish town of Wadowice, where he befriended many Jewish people.
During his pontificate, John Paul became the first pope since the first century to visit a synagogue and the first pope to establish diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Israel. He also was the first to make an official visit to Israel and the first to ask for forgiveness for the Catholic Church's past treatment of Jews.
The exhibition includes video footage and interactive displays. Special programs, including one on the role of Catholic women religious during the Holocaust, will also be offered in connection with the exhibition.
"I'm excited about the programs and the opportunities for teachers," said Ilene Dackman-Alon, program director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland. She noted that children from Catholic and Jewish schools will visit the exhibition, which was developed by Xavier University in partnership with the Hillel Center of Cincinnati and The Shtetl Foundation.
The advisory board included Cardinal William H. Keeler, retired Archbishop of Baltimore and moderator for Catholic-Jewish Relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"I've been involved in the Jewish-Catholic dialogue for a number of years," said auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden, who served in the Middle East before coming to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. "Cardinal Keeler and the pope (John Paul II) are very much alike.
William McCarthy Jr., executive director of Catholic Charities, said his outreach agency believes the exhibit recognizes the importance and relevance of the work of Pope John Paul II in reinforcing the bonds that exist between Catholics and Jews.
"Both are committed to improving lives and opportunities for people in our community because we value the dignity of all," he said.
The Baltimore Jewish Times and The Catholic Review are media sponsors of the exhibition.
Visit www.jewishmuseummd.org for more information or call 410-732-6400.


This trail was pioneered and developed by Scout Troop 317 of Canoga Park, Ca. with the support of the Tujunga District of the Angeles National Forest.
Registered Girl Scouts 11 years and older may earn this award. All participants are to Backpack all food and equipment.
Camp a minimum of one (1) night at Falls Creek Campground. Fire permits are usually required.
Each participant must perform a minimum of one (1) hour of conservation work. Check with local Ranger for approved projects. Units must leave a clean camp and must PACK OUT all their own trash. Do notuse Forest Service receptacles.


Reminding us all for next year's movie release of Star Wars Episode VII, Medicom Toy teams up with the Star Wars franchise yet again, but this time for a much larger 1000% version of the Stormtrooper. Coming in at a height of 700mm, the Bearbrick is identical to the 400% released in 2011. Slated for a release on June 21, the Stormtrooper will be priced at ¥32,000 JPY (approximately £250) and can be found at the 2014 Medicom Toy exhibition.


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European Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the presentation of the College of Commissioners and their programme at the European Parliament on November 27, 2019 in Strasbourg | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images
Von der Leyen: Innovation investment must rise to match global ambitions
The incoming Commission President said a shift was urgently needed to prevent Europe from falling behind competitors such as the US and China.
By	Jakob Hanke
11/27/19, 11:14 AM CET
Updated 11/27/19, 11:39 AM CET
Incoming Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Wednesday reiterated the importance of moving to "significantly modernize" the EU budget to ensure Europe's industry can keep up with global competitors.
At her confirmation speech in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said Europe is failing to invest sufficiently in innovation — a nod to the ongoing dispute over how to allocate spending in the bloc's long-term budget for 2021-2027.
"We are the world's trading superpower. We rank first globally in exporting manufactured goods and services. We are the largest source and destination of foreign direct investment anywhere in the world," she said. "We should harness this transformative power of the twin climate and digital transition to strengthen our own industrial base and innovation potential. This can only be done through investment."
Von der Leyen said a shift was urgently needed to prevent Europe from falling behind competitors such as the U.S. and China.
"For years, we invested less in innovation than our competitors do," she said. "This is a huge handicap to our competitiveness ... This is why we should not see the next Multiannual Financial Framework as a simple accounting exercise. The world seven years ago looks nothing like the world in seven years time. Our budget must be significantly modernized."
The Commission's blueprint for the seven-year MFF proposes spending more on innovation and cutting allocations for the traditional programs of agriculture and cohesion.
But the move to shift resources away from powerful farmers is being met with resistance from EU countries including France, Poland, Italy and Spain and from many EU parliamentarians. The European Parliament backs more spending on innovation as part of a much larger EU budget that also maintains financing for cohesion and agricultural subsidies.
Von der Leyen to change some Commission titles, social democrats claim win
Maïa de La Baume
Von der Leyen wants to boost EU foreign policy spending
Rym Momtaz and Lili Bayer
Jakob Hanke
EU Budget/MFF
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POLITICO's Spotlight at UBER's Tech for Safety Summit

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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'Weeds are as Important as Trees': Where Now for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival?
Lorin Clarke
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is at a crossroads. Its administration could continue to prioritise commercial aims and grow as an international showcase of mainstream performance comedy. On the other hand it could restructure and re-engage with participants in an effort to encourage risk-taking and invite audiences to feel part of something bigger than a corporate entertainment package. If it does not adopt the latter approach, the festival will lose its reputation as a breeding ground for edgy comedy writing and performance and will become a one-stop-shop for shows designed to attract the greatest box-office returns.
The first Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) took place in 1987. A new generation of writers and performers was emerging but there were few opportunities for them in radio or television. FM radio was not yet commercial. The shows that drove the comedy boom in commercial television, Comedy Company and Fast Forward, drew on the talent pool being developed onstage in Melbourne, but they weren't established until the following year. In 1987 the people who would become FM radio stars and would make top-rating TV shows were working for peanuts in sweaty little theatre restaurants all over the inner north; trying out material, collaborating in different combinations, experimenting with characters and voices, and taking risks in front of local audiences. The festival showcased this talent and put the electronic media on notice.
In July 1986 the Cain government approved a grant supported by the chairman of the Victorian Tourism Commission, Don Dunstan, to help establish the new festival.[1] Ten years earlier, John Pinder, the man credited with creating the festival, had established the Last Laugh Theatre, Restaurant and Zoo, a comedy venue in Collingwood.[2] The MICF emerged from the anti-establishment theatrical traditions of the Last Laugh and other venues including the Pram Factory, La Mama, university revue shows and Circus Oz.[3] A ticket to the Last Laugh in those days offered dinner and a show featuring young performers, including Wendy Harmer, Richard Stubbs, Peter Moon, Maryanne Fahey, Jane Turner, Lynda Gibson, Brian Nankervis and Ian McFadyen. Circus Oz acts appeared regularly, as did sketches by performers who had graduated from university revue shows, notably University of Melbourne's Architecture Revue starring Rod Quantock, Mary Keneally and Steve Blackburn.[4] The Last Laugh presented a weekly interactive soap opera spoof called Let the Blood Run Free. At the end of each 'episode' audience members determined the direction of the storyline for the following week's show. Others, including Max Gillies, Rod Quantock and Red Symons, also performed as part of the politically engaged ensemble-based collectives of the Pram Factory and La Mama theatre.[5]
In Shane Maloney's words, the festival was also set up to recognise 'an existing reservoir of absurdity and playfulness' in the wider Melbourne community. It was designed as a participatory community festa that tapped into a readily available pool of local talent and explored a range of comedic forms. Maloney was a cultural officer with the City of Melbourne in the first year of the festival and was placed on secondment to help plan the program. He soon became the festival's general manager. He is now best known as the author of the Murray Whelan novels, begun in 1994. He says the idea behind the festival wasn't to generate shows with 'people in Melbourne watching people telling them jokes'; it was instead a conceptual umbrella erected over the city 'giving people a licence to be silly'. Rod Quantock uses similar language when describing his famous bus tours in which audience members were supplied with Groucho Marx masks and taken on a tour of Melbourne by Quantock and his rubber chicken called Trevor. 'I just open doors to them and say, "Well, you can now be silly. Or you can misbehave or you can trespass." '[6] This spirit of public cheek was one of the key objectives around which the festival was designed.
When it was launched on April Fool's Day in 1987, the festival invited wit from across the general Melbourne community. The Age released a fake front page. The chief magistrate opened his court for a mock trial involving local performers and members of the public. The festival hired two men to wander around Melbourne dressed as Melbourne City Council workers and scavenge in rubbish bins for food. Unlike today, stand-up comedy shows were not the major component of the festival. The MICF's first international guests were Peter Cook, the UK circus troupe Ra Ra Zoo, poet Roger McGough and, as advertised in the Age, 'a stand up comic' named Peter McCarthy.[7] The MICF ran an evening of readings called 'Humourists Read Humourists', which, in its first year, featured Cook reading J.B. Morton, Barry Humphries reading from the Sandy Stone monologues, and Ernie Dingo reading from the real diaries of a colonial administrator discussing indigenous populations during settlement.
'I love them but I'm frightened'
Fast-forward into the festival eleven years and I'm watching a show I'm finding difficult to categorise. Think Mornings with Kerry Ann or Sunrise, only live onstage and hosted by two emotionally stunted plus-size women crammed into too-tight taffeta party frocks. Shockingly overbearing, they cross live to their paedophilic musical director and a cardboard weatherman called Alphonso the Room Temperature Pony. The act is Miss Itchy's Crème de Menthe Breakfast Show and the year is 1998. Its weird hosts are Miss Gerda (played by Linda Haggar) and Miss Candy Girl (Fahey Younger). Coming up next is a song from the fabulous Children without Lips Choir. There's a segment called 'Sponsor a Private School Child' that begins with a presenter declaring, 'Well, it breaks my heart to see kids like Tarquin, Myfanwy and Fleur.' There's a discussion between festival director Susan Provan and Jesus Christ, and a celebrity interview (hyped as the Queen Mother's favourite segment) called 'Fuckin' Cunt in a Cage'. The audience around me is divided into people laughing hysterically or frozen in shock. The most common response to Miss Itchy's show was, according to Haggar and Younger, 'I love them but I'm frightened'. The show won the inaugural Barry Award (then the Stella award), now the most highly sought-after award at the festival.[8] Miss Itchy's show got me hooked on the MICF.
My perspective on the festival's current status in Australian culture is shaped by my experience as a regular audience member, a participant (as a director and/or writer of several shows since 2003) and an avid consumer of comedic writing and performance. There is no substantial documented historical account of the MICF and it is not my intention to attempt one here. In my view, however, the festival administration's current approach to its participants and its potential audiences requires close analysis.
The Current Tensions: Tourism versus Performance Hub
These days the MICF is a large and commercially successful corporate institution that forms a significant part of what is now a comedy industry in Australia. The festival's general manager, Virginia Lovett, declares in the 2010 post-festival press release:
"We are looking forward to an even bigger Festival next year to celebrate our 25th anniversary. With the ongoing support of the government and corporate supporters the Melbourne International Comedy Festival will continue to be a major cultural tourism destination in Autumn as well as providing a hub for performers [sic] development."[9]
This first vision—that of an even bigger festival that will, with corporate support, develop Melbourne into a tourism destination—is, I suggest, being realised at the expense of the latter goal of providing a hub in which festival participants can develop cutting-edge, funny, interesting and relevant work.
Despite its focus on the corporate, the festival's famous grassroots beginnings continue to be idealised. Its application process, for instance, is ostensibly democratic. The festival is not curated; anybody who registers on time and pays the fee is officially part of the festival's program, and the idea that 'anyone can make a go of it' remains central to the narrative of the festival administration.[10] Festival director Susan Provan advises first-time participants to have a car they can sell if things go wrong.[11] The implication is that although getting through the comedy festival without going broke is a good outcome, the great results are obvious and can be seen by everybody on our television screens. The assumption that performers will have a car to sell in the first place is worth examining. Regardless, the idea that an independent production can rise to prominence from obscurity, as many of Australia's television comedy performers have in the past, is an appealing narrative for performers with the self-belief and financial support to rise to the challenge and make the most of a system set up to benefit competition. It is, however, as I hope to demonstrate here, an idea that runs into trouble when the application process is opaque and confusing.
The Kennett Legacy
Over the years the festival's fight for financial survival has compromised its pursuit of that original aim of encouraging communal cheek. The festival board, director and staff have fought for funding from its inception and its administration has survived several financial crises.[12] Shane Maloney remembers that, even after the success of the first festival, when the Labor state government and Melbourne City Council provided funding, it was difficult to attract corporate sponsors for what was thought to be a risky financial venture. The festival continued without the involvement of one of its founders, John Pinder, who left in the 1990s to work in Sydney. In 1994 Susan Provan was appointed festival director. Maloney remembers the precarious position the festival was in due to government pressure on arts organisations in Victoria at the time of Provan's appointment. For all its inventiveness and inspiration, the festival needed management that answered to the government's 'obsession with economic viability'. Jeff Kennett was celebrated for his support of the arts, particularly in regional areas[13], but his government's 'industry approach' has been described as shifting the perceived value of art away from an appreciation of 'cultural capital' towards a focus on economic capital.[14] The projects and companies awarded funding were 'selected according to their capacity to become self-supporting, or to generate revenue for the polity—such as encouraging tourism or providing content for communications'.[15] The Kennett government's Arts 21 policy and its focus on the commercial shaped the art that was being produced at the time. Thus Chunky Move, selected by competitive tender to become Victoria's central dance company, was seen by some as 'no longer just a contemporary dance company, but a concrete manifestation of the industry and its mutual interlocking with cultural tourism'.[16] The 'economic capital' model still permeates the MICF's approach, and its role as a tourist hub remains central to its publically stated objectives.
Similar debates are taking place in the United Kingdom at the moment as artists face funding cuts and find themselves defending their art in purely economic terms.[17] Charlotte Higgins argued in an article entitled 'In the complex ecosystem of British arts, weeds are as important as trees' that politicians should not 'underestimate the complexity and delicacy of the ecosystem' that delivers the National Theatre on the one hand and the free Forest Fringe on the other.[18] Where 'comedy' sits in this ecosystem of trees and weeds is not addressed. John Kelly, another UK journalist, suggests, however, that 'escapist' entertainment is the one form of art that survives economic rationalist funding models.[19] Just weeks before the November 2010 Victorian election, then premier John Brumby pledged an injection of $4 million into the MICF over four years. This has not, so far, been matched by Premier Ted Baillieu, who was once a member of the festival board.[20] The battle for economic survival may not be over yet.
Maloney recalls that, during the Kennett era, the festival edged away from its grassroots beginnings and became oriented towards cheap, no-frills stand-up acts. In the 1990s, stand-up comedy line-ups pushed rock'n'roll out of pubs and emerged as the dominant format for festival shows. Keen to establish itself as a commercially viable institution, the festival established relationships with the television networks. The Comedy Festival Gala, Good News Week and The Big Gig grew out of those relationships. TV-friendly formats including music acts and skit-based comedy were beamed into people's homes and local comedians became household names. According to Tony Martin, however, The Big Gig was called 'The Night of a Thousand Catchphrases' by its detractors at the time, and even today the television branding of the festival has not broken free from the comedy line-up format.[21] The results are uninspiring and do not reflect the creativity that exists in comedy-performance communities.
Risk Taking: The Possibilities Presented by the MICF
The fact that the festival continues to justify its existence in terms of its economic capital creates a competitive, industry-focused, risk-averse culture that prioritises box office over creativity. The responsive, participatory model of the inaugural festival, and the decision to embrace diverse artistic forms such as poetry, street performance and literary readings, are what made the festival unique and exciting. Today, the possible formats for comedic experimentation are expanding as technology develops and communities find new ways of connecting. In this way, says Lyn Gardner, festivals need to be
"distinctive, local and daring. That means not just work that travels from one festival to another on an international merry-go-round, but a genuine engagement with a region's artists, audiences and issues. Festivals also have to be an opportunity for risk-taking."[22]
In Australia, small comedy communities are blossoming outside the festival, where risks can be taken. Within the festival, writers and performers are experimenting too, pushing the boundaries of the established comedy festival norm, in spite of the limitations of their timeslots, venues, and budgets. If the festival focused more on nurturing those instincts and engaging directly with the two groups on whom it relies for bums on seats—the audience and the participants—the Melbourne International Comedy Festival would truly become, as its press release claims, one of the great comedy festivals in the world.
Behind the Scenes: The Experience of Festival Participants
The structure of the festival is centralised and has not changed, as far as I can tell, since I was sitting in the audience watching Miss Itchy in 1998. Susan Provan has been festival director since 1994. No guest programmers or rotating creative directors have been appointed to ensure a responsive and creatively progressive festival program. Positions on the festival board are fixed at a maximum term of eight years. Although there are usually two comedians on the board, this number has varied and the positions are not elected but appointed at the discretion of the board and senior staff (including the director) in consultation with, according to Director Susan Provan, 'senior members of the local producing comedy fraternity'. [23] This structure has not been publically examined since it was established.
The application processes for festival participants are unclear and divisive. In order to stage a show, applicants have to apply through the festival's website by the end of November. They pay a registration fee[24] and submit final show listings (including images) for printing in the program guide, which comes out about five months later. Requiring a five-month lead-time fails to take into account the probability that creative timelines—especially those involving comedy—might require revision and reinvention in order to remain relevant and topical. Most shows have not fully taken shape five months before the festival—that's exactly when writers and performers are busy honing their material. As a result, the listings in the guide often look the same: headshots of comedians doing a 'what's with that?' face with their hands on their hips next to some media quotes about their previous show. Inevitably, given the amount of work required to get the application together, those with management representation or their own producers or publicists are better off than those who are doing it all themselves.
The question of which shows get to perform in which venues is critically important to festival participants. In addition to its role as the discretionary decision-maker on this issue, however, the festival is a venue manager for some of the venues being allocated.[25] Participants who successfully apply for festival-managed venues get a booking system, venue staff[26], and, in the case of the Town Hall precinct venues, a centralised location and a listing on 'the Town Hall chalkboard'. The Melbourne Town Hall (the festival hub) has a chalkboard out the front that provides a constantly updated listing of what's on next and which shows have just sold out. The board does not list all festival shows, only those in the Town Hall precinct, almost all of which are venues managed by the festival. These festival hub venues are at the greatest advantage—Trades Hall (now managed by the festival)[27] and other satellite venues managed independently are geographically isolated. There was even a rumour that the festival would provide a bus to move punters between venues.[28] General manager Virginia Lovett has denied there was a promise to provide a bus, pointing out that, far from abandoning satellite venues, the MICF 'stepped in at the eleventh hour' to ensure Trades Hall venue's survival.[29] Yet so long as the process for procuring festival-managed venues is so mysterious and the procuring of them so profoundly affects a show's ability to promote itself, ease of access by the public and the extent of administrative support, there will be a perception that shows in non-festival-managed venues are secondclass.[30]
The festival also plays a third role in the venue allocation process: each year, the MICF 'presents' international acts for Melbourne audiences.[31] In other words, the festival acts as promoter, producer, and venue manager for the biggest acts in town. As a result, independently produced shows are in competition with the festival for venue space, press coverage and audiences. The conflicting roles of the festival create frustration and suspicion within the comedy community.[32] Matt Quartermaine wrote on the Scrivener's Fancy blog in March 2010:
"The cards are also stacked against the local acts, who must deal with the 'We can see you guys anytime, so we're going to one of the foreign acts' syndrome. Raising the level of difficulty is that the Melbourne International Comedy Festival actually pays to bring some of the overseas comedians to the city and promotes them, presumably using some of the fees paid by the local shows."
Director Susan Provan has denied the implication that the festival's support of international acts comes at the expense of local performers, claiming that it works the other way around. 'We don't subsidise the overseas artists, the overseas artists subsidise the whole comedy festival program,' she says. 'That's how we pay for Raw Comedy, Class Clowns, Jeeze Louise, Victorian regional and national tours, forums, workshops, all the programs that go into developing local comedians.'[33] Without paid international guests, says Provan, local comedians and audiences wouldn't have a festival to participate in at all. The fact that the festival plays the conflicting roles of administrator charged with discretionary decisions about venues as well as those of producer and venue manager is separate from that of whether international acts should be supported. The role of producer for these shows could be outsourced, or a grants program could be set up to encourage local producers to bring out international guests.
The capacity a show has to attract media coverage creates another division between well-resourced shows and smaller independent productions. Until late last year, the Age was a long-term media sponsor of the festival, providing its program guide free with the newspaper.[34] Perhaps as a consequence of this, the Herald Sun—Melbourne's other daily newspaper, which has a much wider readership—generally didn't review festival shows at all. So in order to get a review anywhere other than online or in the street press, a festival show needed to be reviewed in the Age. The limited review space available in the paper made the process of being reviewed highly competitive. In this context, independent producers and performers, in the face of increasing costs, simply couldn't compete with professional publicity campaigns.[35]
In an effort to combat the perceived domination of media coverage by festival-produced acts, an anonymous full-page advertisement appeared on the back cover of 'The EG' in the Age in 2007. The advertisement mentioned several independent productions that ordinary punters might not have read about and encouraged readers to 'take a chance on a new artist or a new venue'.[36] In recent years the Age reviewed a range of shows, careful not to focus too heavily on international performers or larger shows. In addition, its comedy blog has been wide-ranging and democratic, attracting heated debates and long comment threads with contributions from comedy fans and comedians alike. The relationship between the Age and the festival has secured continuous media support for the festival, but the dominance of the newspaper in presenting the festival to Victorians has sometimes meant that the priorities of the festival have been canvassed in its pages. In December last year, the festival announced a new partnership with the Herald Sun for the first time since Susan Provan's appointment as director. The nature of the partnership is not yet clear, although there has been no indication of a substantive change in approach.[37] Each of these sponsorship agreements has been between a single newspaper and the festival, with no recourse for participants who wish to challenge the paper's market domination. Sponsorship agreements like these worked well for both parties when the festival was finding its feet. Today the festival is large and expanding and participants and audiences deserve media coverage unfettered by the questions of impartiality that are inevitably raised by such corporate deals.
The infrastructure of the MICF has not adapted to its growing status as one of the central bodies associated with comedy in Australia. As a consequence, the contradictions outlined above have become more obvious. There is no other comedy festival in Australia to rival Melbourne's. There is not a well-financed comedy TV network in Australia like the US Comedy Channel that produces locally made high-quality comedy television. Nor is there a lively year-round comedy scene here to rival the festival. Last year Rod Quantock bravely came out and said something comedians have been muttering for years: the MICF killed Melbourne's comedy scene. 'It's almost impossible to get any live work now, there are no venues any more,' he said. 'The festival destroyed live comedy in Melbourne to a great degree.' Ironically, Quantock's words were printed in a glossy magazine feature article about comedians in The (Melbourne) Magazine.[38] The comedians—all of them represented by the comedy agency Token Artists—are featured in glamour shots as (legitimate) Melbourne celebrities. Most of them have appeared on national television. The media's conflation of 'comedy' with television and celebrity in this way again situates the festival at the centre of the 'comedy industry', a position the festival seems keen to occupy.
'Be Funny!': Finding the Cutting Edge within the Festival
Comedy has moved on from 1990s formats and is now responding to a different world. Performers and comedians at the festival are pushing boundaries every night. You get the feeling they might do something even more remarkable if only the festival weren't so geared towards performance-based comedy designed to get reviews, awards, television opportunities and bums-on-seats. Last year's festival program boasted many excellent shows imbued with the same inventive spirit I enjoyed so much when I first saw Miss Itchy in 1998. Asher Treleaven's show opened with him, a large-limbed fidgety blond man in a white suit manically popping pills and plunging his face into an oxygen mask to catch his breath. He delivered the most devastating deconstruction of Australian homophobia I've ever witnessed.[39] Very late at night in a tiny room below the Town Hall, a lanky man with an oily Mohawk clambered out of a refrigerator to perform, with a collection of found objects, what amounted to a gentle, witty environmental manifesto.[40] There was an interactive history lesson,[41] an awkward poet laureate[42] and a one-man play about a regional Victorian football team forced to overcome its racism when faced with an asylum-seeking team-mate.[43] There was physical comedy, puppetry, improvisation, theatre, stand-up, mime and burlesque.
Over the last fifteen years the festival has also set up programs to encourage diversity and community contribution. In 1995 a women's comedy line-up called Upfront began (with the help of Miss Itchy) and continues today alongside the Jeez Louise women in comedy workshops. In 1996 the Class Clowns program was established to encourage school-age comedians and RAW Comedy began, becoming immediately popular and introducing amateur comedians including Nelly Thomas, Hannah Gadsby, Josh Thomas and Nick Sun to the comedy stage. The Roadshow program, designed to bring the festival to regional Victorians, was set up two years later, and the Deadly Funny competition has been showcasing indigenous comics since 2004. These programs were desperately needed and have provided support to some fabulous comedians. Without them, the boom the festival has experienced (both in terms of audience and participant figures) would not have happened; nor would the festival be as diverse as it is. The festival's support for these initiatives under the leadership of Susan Provan is commendable. It would be unfortunate, however, if the existence of the programs gave the impression that the work of diversifying and expanding the reach of the festival has been done.
It's easy enough to find samples of today's burgeoning grassroots comedy communities in the darker corners of the festival. There are comedy showcases at the Festival Club, for example, which are festival-backed events featuring a range of acts doing five- to ten-minute slots. From 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday nights at the Festival Club in 2010, the Last Tuesday Society took over the HiFi Bar.[44] Usually based in inner-city Melbourne bars once a month, Last Tuesday is billed on its website as 'a Melbourne based gathering, allowing performers of all styles and persuasions to try out new and exciting pieces of work in the presence of other interested theatre practitioners'.[45] Writer-performer Thomas Henning, in a passionate piece on the singular daring of the Last Tuesday Society, quotes Glen Walton of the Suitcase Royale, saying:
"Too often a performer can be pressured into performing a 'perfect run' all the time and not allow for the natural deviations that can occur when a performance can be fluid and not locked to a preconceived notion of 'professional theatre practice'."[46]
The inventive spirit of the Last Tuesday Society was refreshing, if unexpected by festival audience members. A man in a suit holding a beer bellowed 'be funny!' to Red Bastard, a sweaty, wriggling misanthrope covered almost entirely in red lycra with a huge exercise ball as a stomach onto which he dove and bounced, shouting and wobbling about like an angry Tellytubby. His horny audience-participation session climaxed with a sixty-year-old bespectacled gentleman in the audience attempting unsuccessfully to remove his arm from Red Bastard's giant lycra anus. The audience that night was part of the atmosphere—which Henning describes as fear—that helped shape the evening. Walton considers the audience very much a part of the Last Tuesday performances. He says they create 'an environment where the audience is let in on the action and treated as a participant in an event, rather than a viewer of a spectacle'.[47] One of the best things about Last Tuesday, says Henning, is that it saves 'the audience from getting stuck in front of an unceasing, mind-numbing ordeal of limp entertainment'. In this sense, for some segments of the audience, the act was not what they expected of the festival. Perhaps it should be, or at least it shouldn't be such a surprise when it happens.
Asked about the response of the festival crowd to those Last Tuesday Society nights, Higgins told Henning, 'We're too funny to be art, and then in the comedy festival we found we were to arty to be funny.'[48]
Comedy pin-up boys Bill Hicks and Andy Kaufman, who continue to influence writers and performers, were shocking and often unpopular during the periods when they were performing what is now regarded as their best work. Not everybody will enjoy everything the Last Tuesday Society presents, just as not everybody liked Miss Itchy, but this is exactly the kind of inventive comedic performance that needs to be embraced by the festival's central program and celebrated as part of its outlook.
Connecting Comedy Communities beyond the Festival
When the festival started it was an alternative to mainstream entertainment and a place where talent and humour could be part of a workable society run by local communities rather than corporations. People were encouraged to infiltrate civic institutions such as courts, newspapers and local councils. Now the festival is itself an institution. Outside the constraints of the festival program, particularly online, comedy communities are engaged in just the kind of cheek and mischief the MICF was set up to tap into. The MICF has no significant online content. There is a capacity for participants to add videos to the online program, and the festival has an iPhone app, but no attempt has been made to embrace the various forms of online comedy that are happening in Australia and abroad.
In April 2007 American comedian Will Ferrell launched the website Funny Or Die when a video of his went viral.[49] Funny Or Die—now owned partly by HBO—presents videos including the Drunk History series. Drunk History features narrators such as comedian Jen Kirkman recounting great moments in American history while actually drunk. In one case, due to Kirkman's inebriation, the actors re-enacting her story are blighted by a persistent case of the hiccups. On YouTube, Maria Bamford's devastatingly funny portrayal of her own nervous breakdown, The Maria Bamford Show, is a TV series format made for the internet.[50] The BBC's website features videos such as the unassuming No More Women word game videos by Mark Watson, Tim Key and Alex Horne. When comedian Ross Noble joined Twitter last year, he started a tradition called Bombard Tuesday, wherein he encouraged his followers to send silly questions to targeted Twitter accounts. Hence British Labour MP Kerry McCarthy suddenly found herself answering hundreds of questions, including 'Where do you stand with regards to using armadillo shells as both a fashion accessory and safety head-gear?'[51]
There are several online comedy successes in Australia. The Beached Az viral video has edged its way onto ABC television. Lou Sanz's blog-writing and video work includes a pilot episode of a sitcom starring many MICF performers.[52] Anne Edmonds writes and performs video content both in and out of character, my personal favourite being her video about the persecution of racists in Australia starring the deeply earnest Raylene the Racist. The Bedroom Philosopher (Justin Haezelwood) has produced several popular music videos including Northcote (I'm so Hungover), which was adapted by Metlink as part of an online marketing campaign. Podcasts The Sweetest Plum, Boxcutters, and Josh Thomas and Friend have found new audiences and even corporate support.[53] There are also popular comedy blogs and review sites. Chortle, the comedy review site run out of the United Kingdom, attracts 120,000 unique visitors every month. In Melbourne, in response to the undersupply of review space in the Age, two Australian review sites—The Groggy Squirrel and The Pun—generate an impressively thorough list of reviews during the festival and beyond.
The Wheeler Centre and the Fringe Festival attract some non-stand-up comedic work. Locally produced collaborative events such as the Last Tuesday Society, the political comedy night Political Asylum, The Wrong Night, Nelly Thomas's Character Comedy line-ups, the music appreciation gigs Championship Vinyl and even the recently established Women of Letters gatherings are designed to connect to loyal audiences who appreciate comedy. At the end of the Women of Letters events—spoken-word gatherings in which performers read letters based around a theme—each guest is given an aerogram, a pen and a stamp to write their own letter. The involvement of the audience in the theme of the evening is often a feature of these events. Unfortunately, the audience that is so ready to pay money to see festival shows and to review them for the love of it on user-generated websites and blogs, does not enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the festival in the way Lyn Gardner suggests occurs with the most successful festivals.
There's still room for us to grow
Susan Provan was quoted in 2008 saying 'the Edinburgh Fringe has 2000 shows and one million ticket sales, so there's still room for us to grow'.[54] The festival's ambition to expand should be tempered by a regard for quality and an acknowledgement of its current structural inequities. Edinburgh's structure is democratic and clearly explained (there is a series of 'How to' podcasts on their website). The festival is, like Melbourne's, uncurated. It is run by an independent charity called the Festival Fringe Society. Its website declares that:
"The Festival Fringe Society does not get involved in production, run any venues or pay any fees to artists, and no single individual or committee determines who can or cannot perform at the Fringe. There are also opportunities for buskers, street performers and market traders to participate in our street events and for one-off gigs throughout August."[55]
Melbourne's decision to offer some kind of financial support to international guests makes sense in comparison to Edinburgh, given that Melbourne is a day's flight away from most international comedians and does not provide the same networking opportunities.[56] Outsourcing the role of producer for the international acts and the role of venue management to independent organisations would go some way towards overcoming participant dissatisfaction with current practices and would allow the festival to concentrate on the quality of its programs and creative partnerships. If the MICF must continue to support international guests with its own resources, it should establish clearer guidelines in consultation with participants. Otherwise these structures combined with the longevity of Provan's directorship will continue to perpetuate the sense, keenly felt by the comedy-performance community, of a closed shop. Comedic daring and creative innovation are very much part of the festival's success, but the focus on 'making it' (into a good timeslot, a good venue, getting a good review, meeting the requirements of a television gala format) is in danger of leading the festival away from its base. Audiences—whose central experience of the festival is through the program guide, the television specials and the sponsoring newspaper—will miss out.
Kate Nancarrow, 'Moments in Time—March 1987: The First Melbourne International Comedy Festival', The (Melbourne) Magazine, February 2008.
Pinder, described as the 'Sydney Greenstreet of Melbourne comedy' at the time, set up the festival with promoters Clifford Hocking, Greg Hocking, Tim Woods and others, some of whom remained in management positions until Susan Provan's appointment in 1994: Shane Maloney, 'Cook's Tour', Bulletin with Newsweek, 18 December 2007, pp. 28–32.
Shane Maloney, interview, 2010. Maloney recalls that when patrons complained about the food, Roger Evans, the manager at time, emerged from out the back and sucked up the offending meal with a vacuum cleaner.
An Architecture Revue alumnus from this era who abandoned his pursuit of a career in comedy is Victorian Premier and arts minister Ted Baillieu: Paul Austin, Farrah Tomazin and David Rood, 'Going the distance', Age, 6 November, 2010.
Reflections on the history of the Pram Factory, http://www.pramfactory.com/.
Rod Quantock, Talking Heads, ABC1, 24 October 2005. Transcript online, http://www.abc.net.au/talkingheads/txt/s1486592.htm.
'What's a nice paper like ours doing in hands like these?', Age 'Diary Column', 16 March 1987.
Miss Itchy also won the inaugural Piece of Wood Award. Known as the award for the comic's comic, the prize is a piece of wood. Given to Miss Itchy by Greg Fleet, it has been passed from comic to comic ever since. When presented with the Piece of Wood Award, tradition dictates one must bite it.
Melbourne International Comedy Festival media release, 'Record attendance for major Melbourne event', 11 June 2010.
New Zealanders and Australians with citizenship or permanent residency can apply. International guests require the approval of the festival director.
Gabriella Coslovich, 'Funny money only for jumbo acts', Age, 9 April 2006.
Daniel Ziffer, 'Laughs dry up as gloom hits festival', Age, 2 April 2008. See also the cancellation of The World's Funniest Island Festival in Sydney in 2010: Louise Hall and Samantha Selinger-Morris, 'Cockatoo Island festival of comedy falls flat', Sydney Morning Herald, 7 October 2010.
Robin Usher, 'Kennett's art legacy', Age, 12 October 1999.
Hilary Glow and Katya Johanson 'Turning Victoria into Cultural Capital: Victorian Arts Policy 1992–1999', Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 90 (2007), pp. 123–32.
Glow and Johanson, 'Turning Victoria into Cultural Capital'.
See for instance http://supportthearts.co.uk/economy.
Charlotte Higgins, 'In the complex ecosystem of British arts, weeds are as important as trees', Guardian, 28 September 2010.
John Kelly, 'Do hard times equal good art?', BBC News Magazine, 6 October 2010.
Raymond Gill, 'Labor pledges stronger creative-industry links', the Age, 26 November 2010.
On the early days of the festival, Martin has written: 'Or, as we called it, "The Night of a Thousand Catchphrases", probably because we were the only act left off the poster ("Don't worry, we're there," Tom Gleisner reassured me. "We're 'and many more' " '). Tony Martin, 'Party like it's 1991', Scrivener's Fancy, http://thescrivenersfancy.com/scarcely-relevant/2010/03/31/party-like-its-1991.aspx.
Lyn Gardner, 'Open season for the arts festival', Guardian, 19 April, 2010.
Interview with Susan Provan, December 2010.
To register to have a show in this year's festival cost local participants $500. The fee for international applicants is $650. The cost of producing a show generally runs into the thousands.
In 2011, the festival-managed venues are Melbourne Town Hall venues, Forum Theatre venues, RMIT Capitol Theatre, HiFi Bar, Victoria Hotel, Portland Hotel, Swiss House, Imperial Hotel, The Bosco, Roxanne, Arthur's Bar (at Rosati) and Trades Hall.
The agreement includes a 'Venue Guarantee fee' (25 per cent of the net box office generated by the production or a set fee per venue, whichever is greater). The production gets the use of the venue, a basic lighting rig, sound equipment, theatre infrastructure, one technical stage manager, a front of house manager, box office management, technical rehearsal time and access to high-exposure marketing opportunities. These details are available on the festival's website within the application period or afterwards, if you are registered: http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2011/registration/login/.
Mel Campbell, 'Bella Union to Surrender Comedy @ Trades', Enthusiast, 24 November, 2010, http://www.theenthusiast.com.au/archives/2009/bella-union-to-surrender-comedy-trades/.
Karl Quinn, ' "Broken promises" anger Trades Hall comedians', Age, 6 April 2010.
Karl Quinn, 'Festival rejects Trades Hall claim', Age, 7 April 2010.
Many shows in festival-managed venues are professionally managed. Almost all the acts represented by Token in 2010, for example, were in festival-managed venues.
Due to the timing of the American pilot season, procuring guests from the United States has been difficult in recent years. Daniel Kitson, the Pyjama Men and Maria Bamford are just a few previous festival guests whose influence on comedy in Australia can still be felt.
I spoke to a handful of festival participants while researching this essay. None was prepared to speak on the record.
Radio station 774 ABC Melbourne was also a sponsor, although it didn't review shows, whereas the Age did.
The cost of putting on a comedy show at a festival is rising everywhere. See Eleanor Turney, 'Who can afford to perform at the Edinburgh Festival?', the Guardian's Theatre Blog, 26 April 2010.
There was speculation the anonymous advertiser was Daniel Kitson, whose appearances at the festival were once produced by the festival but are now presented independently. Kitson has never claimed the advertisement as his own: the Age blog, http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-winners-of-the-comedy-festival-are-133/2008/04/11/1207856836953.html?page=2.
When questioned on this, Susan Provan said, 'We basically just have a new media partner', citing the broader readership of the paper as a reason for the change.
The (Melbourne) Magazine, April 2010
Treleaven has been nominated twice for the festival's Barry Award and, for Secret Door, he won the Age Critics Award.
The Birdmann (Trent Baumann), Birdmannia.
Andrew McClelland, Andrew McClelland's somewhat Accurate History of the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Poet Laureate Telia Nevile, While I'm Away.
Damian Callinan, The Merger: Sportsman's Night 2.
The Last Tuesday Society is the brain-child of Bron Batten and Richard Higgins.
http://lasttuesdaysociety.com/
Thomas Henning, 'Saturday Special: Last Tuesday Society', Spark Online, http://sparkonline.com.au/?p=2472.
Henning, 'Saturday Special'.
Jemima Kiss, 'Will Ferrell's comedy website raised $3m funding', Guardian: The Digital Content Blog, 23 December 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFHmNrxkuFU
'Ross Noble fans bombard "Twitter tsar" ', Chortle, http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2009/12/10/10164/ross_noble_fans_bombard_twitter_tsar#ixzz16jyao1bz.
These podcasts are as popular as some radio shows. Michael Lallo, 'Trawling for the best pod stars', Age 'Green Guide', 15 July 2010.
Nancarrow, 'Moments in Time'.
http://www.edfringe.com/participants/faq
The Edinburgh Festival and Just for Laughs are attended by talent scouts and television producers from across Europe and America: Gina Piccalo, 'Comedy talent scouts get the joke', Los Angeles Times, 21 March 2010; Colin Anderson, 'Comedy of errors', Guardian, 19 August 2002.


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EWI Fellows Greg Austin and Allen Collinsworth participated in the "Istanbul: Regional Hub, Global Actor Forum Series.
The first in a series of forums entitled 'Istanbul: Regional Hub, Global Actor' conceived as a part of the vision to make Istanbul a regional and international financial center took place in the USA capital Washington DC on Friday, October 11th, hosted by Borsa Istanbul in cooperation with the Istanbul Financial Center Initiative.
The forum brought together high-ranking representatives from the government, the bureaucracy and the private sector not to mention those of the international think tanks and civil society organizations.
Delivering the opening remarks at the forum, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan observed in reference to the present status of the developed and developing countries that the countries where development was in progress had far higher growth rates than the developed countries. Stressing that the developing countries afforded true opportunities for businesses, Babacan said, "We aim to make the Istanbul Financial Center one of the world's top ten financial centers in ten years."
In the first panel on the 'Istanbul: Regional Hub, Global Actor' Forum where Turkey's comparatively superior aspects were addressed, the speakers were the Akbank Chair Suzan Sabanci Dinçer, Fara Group Chairman Allen Collinsworth, Dow Chemical Government Markets Leader Dan Beattie, Citigroup Director and Senior Vice President for International Government Affairs Charles Johnston, and EastWest Institute Professorial Fellow Greg Austin.
Akbank Chair Suzan Sabanci Dinçer remarked, "The Capital Markets Board, Borsa Istanbul, and banks are engaged in various projects for the financial center. Many laws were made governing the diversification of financial products. The Istanbul Financial Center project has a realistic road map. We've kicked off the process. What we need now is time."
Dow Chemical Government Markets Leader Dan Beattie commented, "The key factor that draws us to Turkey is its being one of the most important growth markets, its powerful production base, and its proximity to major markets."
Fara Group Chairman Allen Collinsworth emphasized that Turkey would become a financial center covering three continents. Greg Austin, of the EastWest Institute, said Turkey is looking more politically stable, which is a critical pre-condition to luring foreign investment.
The speakers in the second panel entitled "Istanbul as a Financial Center" on the forum "Istanbul: Regional Hub, Global Actor" staged in Washington DC were Borsa Istanbul Chairman and CEO Dr. M. Ibrahim Turhan, Nasdaq OMX Vice Chairman Meyer Sandy Frucher, World Bank Manager for Financial Systems Global Practice Abayomi Alawode, IFSB Secretary General Jaseem Ahmed, and IIFM CEO Ijlal Ahmed Alvi.
Dr. Turhan: "We'll be doing more work on competitiveness"
Underlining the goal of seeing Turkey among the world's ten largest economies in ten years, Borsa Istanbul Chair and CEO Dr. M. Ibrahim Turhan pointed out that a formula taking capacity, capital, connectivity, and competitiveness into consideration was needed in order to become a financial center as in this goal. Turhan said, "We already have capacity and connectivity; and the steps we're taking for competitiveness are going to get faster and faster."
Noting that the main problem in countries such as Turkey was to push savings higher and that Turkey did have the necessary tools for this purpose, Turhan said, "Interest-free finance is managed very well. More instruments must be generated if savings are to be increased. Product diversity will grow as the infrastructure of the market takes shape."
Frucher: "Borsa Istanbul covered ten years' worth of ground in one year"
Nasdaq OMX Vice Chairman Meyer 'Sandy' Frucher affirmed that they were not going to be mere technology providers at Borsa Istanbul. "Infrastructures with global links must be prepared in order to create a setting for trade. The regulatory infrastructure in Istanbul is very strong and the firms coming in for trade bring the capital," he said.
Predicting that Istanbul could enjoy a key position in Central Europe and Central Asia as regards potential, Frucher said capital from different regions converged in the city.
Drawing attention to the fast-paced development Borsa Istanbul displayed, Frucher said, "Borsa Istanbul arrived at its current standing in only one year while others took ten."
Alawode: "It's a long journey to being a financial center"
World Bank Manager for Financial Systems Global Practice Abayomi Alawode commented that becoming a financial center was a marathon, a long journey. Alawode underscored the fact that the Istanbul Financial Center project was aware of the requirement to focus on the region first of all.
IFSB Secretary General Jaseem Ahmed informed that Turkey had created a very important potential with Islamic finance which could be put to use to supplement the government budget and generate resources for paying for infrastructure work.
IIFM CEO Ijlal Ahmed Alvi pointed out that the management of legal issues was important in Islamic finance, adding that the issue of product development had to be addressed.
A press conference was held on the sidelines of the "Istanbul: Regional Hub, Global Actor" forum in Washington DC on the occasion of the opening of the World Bank Global Islamic Finance Development Center in Istanbul.
Speaking at the press conference, the Undersecretary of the Turkish Treasury Ibrahim Çanakçi noted that the Global Islamic Finance Development Center was going to contribute to the global development of Islamic finance. Çanakçi said his organization attached importance to interest-free banking and the development of new investment instruments.
World Bank Financial Systems and Global Practices Director,Tunç Uyanik informed that the Global Islamic Finance Development Center was going to be opened in Istanbul at the end of this month.
Borsa Istanbul Chairman and CEO Dr. M. Ibrahim Turhan announced that Borsa Istanbul had a project in the works with the Bogaziçi University for setting up a finance technopark.
The series of forums entitled "Istanbul: Regional Hub, Global Actor" conceived as a part of the vision to make Istanbul a regional and international financial center and hosted by Borsa Istanbul in cooperation with the Istanbul Financial Center Initiative will continue to be staged in various key locations across the world.
Currently planned locations for the "Istanbul: Regional Hub, Global Actor" forums are the UK capital London, Switzerland's Davos during the World Economic Forum meetings, Singapore, and Qatar's capital Doha.


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text:
Q: Weakened jacobian conjecture for entire functions A rudin's theorem is the assertion that any polynomial injection between affine spaces of the same dimension has a polynomial inverse, and the inverse is also given by polynomials.
The jacobian conjecture gets reduced to asking injectivity of the polynomial map from the rudin's theorem if the jacobian is a nonzero constant.
I am asking if the same holds if polynomials are replaced by holomorphic. Replace polynomials with holomorphic functions, and instead of asking for invertibility ask just injectivity of the holomorphic map if the jacobian does not vanish or is a non-zero constant. Due to the existence of fatou-bieberbach domains injectivity won't imply surjectivity in case of holomorphic functions unlike the case of polynomial.

*

*link for rudin's theorem: http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/infinite-fields-finite-fields-and-the-ax-grothendieck-theorem/

*link for jacobian conjecture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobian_conjecture

*link for fatou-bieberbach domain: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatou%E2%80%93Bieberbach_domain

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text:
Q: jQuery get TEXT not value of checked radio option not working I have a JavaScript/ jQuery exercise where you selected a radio option which holds a real estate company. Once selected the listed properties return in a table. This part of the code is working fine. However, I want to state the name of the company the user selected in the header, which means I need the text of the radio option. With the code I have now it's returning the name of all the companies not just the one the user selected. I don't know why because the .text() code I used is from online sources. Can someone please help me without changing any of my other code.

Select One:

<form action="javascript-exercise-13.html" method="post">

    <input type="radio" name="realEstateName" value="clark"> Clark Real Estate

    <input type="radio" name="realEstateName" value="pinkChic"> Pink Chic Realty

    <input type="radio" name="realEstateName" value="jay"> Jay and Sons Realty

    <input type="radio" name="realEstateName" value="ocean"> Ocean Real Estate Firm

    <input type="radio" name="realEstateName" value="blackwell"> Blackwell Realty

    <button class="realEstate" onclick="selectRealEstate()">Submit</button>
</form>

A: Your html is invalid, you don't have closing label tags in html. Update your html

Select One:

<form action="javascript-exercise-13.html" method="post">

        <input type="radio"
               name="realEstateName" value="clark"> Clark Real Estate

        <input type="radio"
               name="realEstateName" value="pinkChic"> Pink Chic Realty

                <input type="radio"
                       name="realEstateName" value="jay"> Jay and Sons Realty

                <input type="radio"
                       name="realEstateName" value="ocean"> Ocean Real Estate Firm

                <input type="radio"
                       name="realEstateName" value="blackwell"> Blackwell Realty

            <button class="realEstate"
                    onclick="selectRealEstate()">
                Submit
            </button>
</form>

To get selected radio button text use
   var selText=$("input[type='radio']:checked").closest("label").text().trim();


text:
John Deere 6700 3 Wheel Sprayer For Sale
February 22, 2022 Sisley 0 Comments
If you need a sprayer, consider the 6700. It has a short wheelbase and a single front-wheel design, which can be a big advantage for turning into rows on headlands. On the other hand, it has a relatively weak rear-fold boom that tends to bend under abusive jarring. The main disadvantages of this machine are its low range of operation, a low speed of six to eight mph, and a thin-walled boom. But if you need a machine to do a few tasks, this is a solid buy. It has low maintenance costs and can last for a long time.
Compared to its predecessor, the new 6700 offers increased productivity and efficiency. It has a wider working area, enabling it to cover more acres per day. It also offers improved performance, with a more comfortable cab and better visibility for the operator. This tractor also features an improved spray quality that allows it to be more efficient in filling and applying chemicals. The new cab comes with two cab packages, updated lighting, and a new dashboard. It also features a floater canopy that can be configured as an air, liquid, or combination of both.
The 6700 sprayer has an extended wheelbase, which increases maneuverability. The extended wheelbase, which is an advantage for long distance driving, increases the comfort of the operator. This sprayer is equipped with a solid rear end, which is essential for a smooth ride. Moreover, the JCB 6700 3 wheel planter for sale is easy to operate and provides high efficiency, with lower fuel and emissions.
The 6700 3 wheel sprayer is equipped with a liquid or dry boom system, which helps you save on chemical costs. Its ExactApply nozzle-control system also reduces the amount of chemicals used. It has a preproduction model, so you can test it out before making a purchase. If it's too expensive, you can always opt for the pre-production model.
In addition to these features, the 6700 sprayer is also equipped with an optional ExactApply nozzle-control system, which will allow you to reduce chemical usage by as much as two percent. Its cab is equipped with two cab packages, which will ensure the comfort of the operator. The cab features improved lighting options. The JCB also offers an automatic solution pump.
The 6700 is equipped with a cab, which surrounds the operator in comfort and provides the necessary safety. The improved cab allows the operator to work faster with better precision. The new cab has two cab packages, and its lighting options have been upgraded. The floater canopy is also equipped with an optional ExactApply nozzle-control system, which helps you reduce chemical usage by 2 to 5 percent.
The JCB 6500 has been upgraded with thicker-walled tubing and an extended wheelbase. This makes it more comfortable to drive, but it has a rigid rear end, which is essential for the machine to perform its functions. It can spray at 8.5 to 9.5 mph and 1800 to 2000 rpm in low range. The JCB has two cab packages with improved lighting.
Unlike earlier models, this machine has improved fuel efficiency. With an increased capacity, it can cover more acres per day. Its cab provides comfort and safety for the operator. The new model includes an optional ExactApply nozzle-control system. Its cab is designed to be flexible for optimal use. It has a long, adjustable armrest and is ideal for outdoor use.
Compared to its predecessor, the 6700 has many improvements. It can cover more acres in a day. The cab is equipped with a high-end cab, which is comfortable for the operator. Its floater canopy can be configured as liquid, air or boom system. Its wheels are made from thicker and thinner tubing. You can change them as you like to match the style of your tractor.
Visit the rest of the site for more useful articles!
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text:
Peeter Järvelaid (28. studenog 1957.), estonski teoretičar i povjesničar prava, zaposlen kao profesor na Sveučilištu u Tallinu.

Djelovanje

Od 1981. počeo je predavati na Pravnom fakultetu Sveučilišta u Tartuu, a 1992. postao je profesor povijesti estonskog pravnog sustava. Godine 1997. njegova su istraživanja nagrađena stipendijom njemačke Zaklade "Alexander von Humboldt", što mu je omogućilo da između 1998. i 2000. te 2012. boravi kao istraživač na Instutu "Max Planck" za europsku povijest prava i drugim uglednim njemačkim akademskim ustanovama. Potom prelazi na Sveučilište sjever koje je 2010. postalo Pravni fakultet Sveučilišta u Tallinu, gdje predaje kao profesor pravnih znanosti. Od 1997. do 2000. godine Järvelaid je bio savjetnik estonskog Ministarstva pravosuđa, a bio je i v. d. rektora Estonske akademije sigurnosnih znanosti te Estonske pomorske akademije. Godine 2003. Järvelaid je odlikovan Ordenom zasluga Savezne republike Njemačke 1. klase (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse).

Važnija uredništva

Järvelaid je član sljedećih uredništava:

 Istoriya gosudarstva i prava (Rusija),
 Osteuropa-Recht (Njemačka),
 Latvijas Universitates Zinatnieskie Raksti (Latvija) ,
 Jog, törteneti szemle (Mađarska).

Estonski znanstvenici
Povjesničari

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
'Health disaster': Doctors hit out over Serbia's coronavirus spike
By Chris Harris & AFP • Updated: 21/07/2020
A man wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus walks in downtown Belgrade, Serbia. - Copyright AP Photos
Hundreds of doctors in Serbia have sounded the alarm after a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Labelling the situation a "health disaster", they have called for the government to sack its coronavirus management unit.
The group of 350 doctors have sent an open letter calling for a probe into the decisions they believe prompted the fresh outbreak.
"The total abandonment of measures to fight the epidemic in the pre-election period (rallies, sports matches, tournaments, celebrations) caused the loss of control of the epidemiological situation and cannot be justified by professional reasons," they wrote.
It comes after the Serbian government last week denied hiding the true impact of COVID-19 in a bid to plough ahead with a parliamentary election.
Cases began rising after the June 21 vote, which saw the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) win by a landslide.
Serbia went on a strict lockdown on March 15. It eased restrictions at the beginning of May amid public discontent over confinement and despite warnings from doctors it was too early. After a spike in cases after the election, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, announced a fresh lockdown, which he later backtracked on after protests.
According to the official tally, 491 people have died from COVID-19 in the country of seven million people, but government critics have accused it of playing down this toll.
The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) found Belgrade underreported COVID-19 deaths by nearly 400 between March 19 and June 1.
Doctors behind the open letter added they wanted to speak out "publicly because we see no other solution to the public health disaster in which our country is currently".
The crisis unit swept aside these criticisms.
"Everyone has a right to their opinion," responded epidemiologist Darija Kisic at a press conference. "Unfortunately, we do not see (in the letter) a single name of a doctor who specialises (in the fight) against contagious diseases."
The crisis unit had previously recognised the death toll was "certainly higher" than the official toll because patients may have died without having "been tested".
The Serbian health system is suffering from a massive exodus, especially to Germany, of qualified but underpaid staff. According to the economic information portal novaekonomija.rs, it is lacking 3,500 doctors and 8,000 nurses.
Serbian prosecutors: Djokovic's COVID-19 test was valid
World marks the third anniversary of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic
Wuhan three years on: fear subsides but caution remains in cradle of COVID
COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS SERBIA


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"CG - Krasnogorsk Residential Complex - Moscow - Project Profile" contains information on the scope of the project including project overview and location. The profile also details project ownership and funding, gives a full project description, as well as information on contracts, tendering and key project contacts.
The "CG - Krasnogorsk Residential Complex - Moscow - Project Profile" is part of Timetric's database of 82,000+ construction projects. Our database includes a 10+ year archive of completed projects, full coverage of all global projects with a value greater than $25 million and key contact details for project managers, owners, consultants, contractors and bidders.
The Crocus Group (CG) is constructing a residential complex on a 115,000m2 area in Krasnogorsk, Moscow oblast, Russia.
The project involves the construction of a residential building, kindergarten, schools, swimming pools, restaurants, retail facilities and parking facilities, and the installation of elevators and power facilities.
An in-house construction division of CG is undertaking the construction activities.
The construction activities are underway.
The project involves the construction of a residential building on an 115,000m2 area in Krasnogorsk, Moscow oblast, Russia.


Mark your calendars! We are pleased to our next concert! The Lee-Ouellet Trio will be performing on Saturday, April 28, 2012, 4:30pm at the Parish Center of the Arts. More detailed information can be found here.
3. And very soon, tickets will be available for purchase through our website!
Please stay tuned for more details. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us!


How do I calculate what size stove I need for my room?
You can do this by measuring your room's Length x width x Height. We recommend you take these to the store, so you can be advised which stove is best for you.


Completion of this certificate will prepare students to manage aspects of modern dive service facilities including charter operations, retail, service operations, training facility operations and overhead cost control. In addition, students will be trained to serve in a supervisory capacity in open water diving activities.
A variety of diving certifications are available through agencies such as the Professional Association of Diving.


Bonne et Heureuse Année - What do French people sing for the new year? What does it sound like? Listen to Anne and learn more French with her worksheet.
Les Français n'ont pas de « chanson pour le Nouvel An ». Je pense qu'après avoir fait la fête si longtemps, il n'y a pas plus d'énergie pour le chant. Cependant, je vous invite à écouter cette adorable chanson très gaie, chantée par « Les Enfantastiques » et écrite par Jean Nô.
The French don't have a 'song for the New Year'. I guess after partying for so long, there is no more energy for singing. However, I invite you to listen to this adorable song with a cheerful slant and a positive outlook. It's sung by 'Les Enfantastiques' – the Childrentastics, and written by Jean Nô.
Related : Les Enfantastiques . New Year Vocabulary . Expressions with numbers . Test your French command forms . Negative commands .