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It was 1972 and some of the reception staff at the Hilton were talking excitedly about the famous comedian Charlie Callas who was appearing on British TV as a guest of the Welsh singer Tom Jones. He would be staying several days, of course, at the Park Lane Hilton hotel. I had never heard of the Greek American comedian who apparently was a good friend of Tom Jones and on American TV.
Eventually during the day Charlie wandered over to the Trader Travel desk to 'chat me up' and invited me for dinner in the upstairs restaurant. He was a charmer and I had no special plans after I finished work at 20.00, so I gladly accepted.
I recall I was wearing a sexy maxi purple dress with a little slit up the front so that my black lacy tights showed. My brown hair was long and parted in the middle with 2 French decorative combs. I had never seen his American TV shows nor his famous 'telephone call' comedy routine. For me, he was just a nice charming American called Charlie!
Over dinner he spoke about how he was discovered as a drummer which somehow got him on TV after a wild performance one night. He spoke about his Greek heritage having the same name as Maria Callas, the world famous opera singer. He asked about my life and my background and seemed interested in what I had to say. Charlie, with his prominent Greek nose and irregular features, was a very seductive man and I instantly fell for his charms. I began to fantasise! He told me he had f.... hundreds and hundreds of women and loved sex!
Bedtime came quite early around 22.00 and we got into the lift which accidentally went down to the ground floor to let people out. When the doors opened there was the bitchy General Manager who saw Charlie with me and knew we were heading to his bedroom up on the top floor.
About an hour later, while we were making love, the manager pounded on the bedroom door shouting that he knew I was inside and that I had to leave. No discrete phone call, just traumatic knocking on the door! I was so scared I fled like a frightened rabbit into the bathroom. Charlie was furious, opened the door and told the perpetrator to go to hell and that he would be checking out in the morning. I was crying with shame. The sexy atmosphere had been broken. He dressed and accompanied me downstairs bundling me into a waiting taxi at the back entrance of the hotel. I was distraught trying to hold back my cascading tears. At least the manager gave us an hour of lust and not just a mere 20 minutes! The 70s was a time of sexual freedom and experimentation. I was somewhat of a libertine in those long ago and far away days.
The next day Charlie rang to say he had checked into the Inn on the Park hotel next door to the Hilton and could I come over that evening. I told him I had lost my job and didn't want another possible repeat performance suggesting he come to my room at Warwick Mansions in Hampstead where I rented a cozy intimate room with a large single bed and Polish and Brazilian colourful artefacts and textile wall hangings. I recall I wanted to take his photo but he refused. How was I to know he was so famous? To me he was lovely Charlie and I had fallen for him in a big way. He was so stimulating, relaxed and open unlike the usual run of the mill men around. In fact I find the comedians I have subsequently met are very serious people.
The next morning the cold matter-of-fact General Manager sent for me when I got in to work at 14.00. I had had very little contact with him: just glares. He would see me sometimes sitting outside my long desk by the bar in the comfy chairs or sofas in the centre of the lobby and would reprimand me for sitting there. Of course the seats were for clients not Trader Travel staff. Now decades later I fully understand he was only doing his job but thought him at the time to be a miserable misogynist. He formally informed me I could no longer work at the Hilton. The rules were that staff could not enter guests' bedrooms. I pointed out I was not Hilton staff and that I was an employee of Trader Travel, not the Hilton. He would not accept that and demanded I left by the end of the week making any excuse to my boss. He agreed he would not write to my boss about my 'bad' behaviour which might have hindered me getting a good reference if I left quietly.
I was so upset because first the shame of being 'fired' and secondly I loved my exciting job, advising tourists where to go in London, what to do and see in Europe as well, meeting prominent Americans and Internationals guests some of whom asked me to dine with them. I had spoken to Shelly Winters, Jeff Korda from Canada, a nephew of Alexander Korda the film director, had chatted to Telly Savalas who played Kojak on TV in 1973 and struck up a friendship with Tom Pollock who had taken a cut in the benchmark movie 'American Graffiti' and who, a few years later, I stayed with Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. I had booked a holiday in Tunisia the following week. Thus I lied to my manager that I had to leave London and my job to go to Liverpool because my father was seriously ill and I had to help my mother. Trader Travel never paid me for my week's holiday to Sousse. The week's holiday was in lieu of my notice so they got out of paying me.
I recall calling Charlie from London airport. He had had all his calls screened but I got through. Through my tears I told him how much I missed him and how I longed to be with him again. He was very sweet and understanding on the phone knowing that I had lost my job because of my evening with him.
Was he worth it? Yes! I never saw him again but when my friend Anna Mae went to Vegas some years later, she saw his show and went backstage to meet him having heard about my fling with him. He remembered me amongst all his conquests and said nice things about me. I forgot all about him until 2016 when I saw the King of American Comedy had died aged 83 and began to look at his You Tube references like Roasting Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. I had no idea how wacky and formidable he was. Young Jilliana was so innocent in 1972 but she learned fast. That's life!
High Anxiety - Mel Brooks 1977 - as a dog
You Tube - 'phone call' sketch
You Tube Charlie Callas roasts Frank Sinatra
You Tube Carson Tonight Show 1976
You Tube Charlie Callas stand up routine - The Hunters 1969
You Tube a touch of Callasness
You Tube spinning plates
You Tube Charlie Callas (drumming) on Merv Griffin show 1978
You Tube Charlie Callas in performance 1978
Google - Charlie Callas photos and obituary
Wikipedia - Kojak 1973
Wikipedia - Tom Pollock


Thundercat's dead cool, isn't he? As distinctive a character as you're likely to find in jazz-based music at the moment, the Californian bass magician took to the stage with the house band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week, offering the grooviest of performances with an exquisite rendition of "Them Changes".
As tight as live performers get, Thundercat is a virtuoso talent, laying down complex bass arrangements under sweetly sung vocals without even the remotest indication of effort.
Decorated in sparkling shades, an elf-like red, yellow and green ensemble and an enviable six-string bass guitar, the lauded funk specialist showed exactly why he's been guest of honour on some of the trendiest albums of the last few years, with Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington among those who've enlisted his services.
Thundercat plays at The Albert Hall on Manchester on Wednesday 15th November, with tickets likely to sell out very soon.


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UN and NGOs boost support to Central America amid migrant crisis
International organisations are increasing their support to the migration crisis in Central America and will support the ongoing efforts of local civil society groups.
The United Nations Refugee Agency, the International Organisation for Migration, and the International Committee of the Red Cross have all scaled up operations in Central America and explain further support is essential to cope with the growing crisis.
However, given the complex and fast-changing nature of the situation some international organisations are struggling to understand their role.Although homicide rates in the "Northern Triangle" have declined in the last year, the impact of widespread transnational organised crime have forced Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to consistently rank as the most violent countries in the world. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), immigration routes in Central America and the Caribbean now account for 25% of the world's total immigration.
The high level of crime in some Central American countries has contributed to the large number of asylum applications from the Northern Triangle to the US. The number of people seeking asylum rose dramatically between 2011 and 2017 from 11,503 to 130,500. Of these only 39,300 achieved refugee status. According to Francesca Fontanini, UNICEF Mexico spokesperson, Mexico's annual asylum application rate has doubled each year since 2015.
Marcelo Pisani, Director of the International Organisation for the Migration of Central America, North America and the Caribbean, said that before 2014, the organisation's focus in Central America was on trafficking. However, as growing numbers flee violence, donors are increasingly interested in supporting immigration.
Mr. Piasni said:
"The issue of migration is in the agenda now everywhere. I have been working with the IOM since 1999, and at that moment when I joined IOM, migration was on the table, but not as strong as it is now. Central America is one of the most dynamic migration corridors in the world. Because of the issue of migration becoming more relevant, we as IOM have to be also at the level that is required."
The IOM is also increasing its focus on community stabilisation and assisting governments in resettling returned migrants. Pisani noted the difficulty of this as often migrants and vulnerable people remain invisible.
Similarly, UNHCR has opened four new offices in the North Triangle and southern Mexico over the past two years: two in Guatemala, one in Honduras and one in Mexico, with a total of nine offices in the region. Much of their work focuses on supporting local organisations in setting up immigration shelters along popular immigration routes.
UNHCR has also increased the level of assistance it is providing families in the region, most notably those who are seeking asylum. This reflects the growing number of children and families crossing the US-Mexico border.
Ms. Fontanini commented:
"There has definitely been an increase [in our presence], and also the level of staff capacity has, and the number of offices."
She added:
"It is necessary, because the number of people looking for international protection is increasing. We have to be able to respond to the situation. Because of the level of violence [in the region], the repercussions for people are not going to stop any time soon in Central America."
The UNHCR requested $80 million for Latin America in 2013 which increased to $160 million in 2018. However, this remains UNHCR's smallest regional budget.
Since the establishment of its first project there in 2011, the ICRC has also strengthened its humanitarian work in the region. It offers support for basic health services in Honduras and psychological counselling for minorities in Guatemala.
Similar to UNHCR, the ICRC's budget for the Americas remains relatively small making up 5% of its total budget.
lberto Cabezas Talavero, Communications Officer at ICRC Mexico noted:
"We are facing more and more situations where it is not a formal conflict, but there are high levels of violence which affect the lives of people. This is a region which has this [conflict zone] element."
In response to Trump's recent policy of separating migrant families at the US-Mexico border, Save the Children have announced a new partnership with US based organisations such as the American Immigration Council to support the legal representation of families.
John Farden, Associate Vice President of Save the Children USA's international programmes commented on the rapidly changing situation:
"For lots of groups … it has been a period of trying to figure out what are best ways we can engage. How do we not duplicate efforts, how do we make sure we are using systems already in place? Everyone feels in triage right now, trying to get a lay of the land. It still is a bit of a mystery how this is all going to be resolved."
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Add a touch of elegance to your surroundings with this pair of ornate contemporary Louis XVI style armchairs. Featuring a generously wide seat and carved faux distressed finish wood frame with details on the cresting, stiles, handhold arm, arm support, legs and seat rail. These chairs have been upholstered in a bold print tapestry style fabric displaying an arrange of large-scale flora and foliage and is outlined with a contrasting dark red trim cord.
This striking pair would be appropriate for a number of locations, from Classic and contemporary homes. They would also be great in a hospitality, retail or corporate location, such as a boutique hotel lobby, cocktail bar, members club, workspace studio, executive office or in a luxe clothing emporium.
Very good condition. Minor signs of wear commensurate with age are evident.


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99-Year-Old's Final Quilt Finished By Volunteers: #RitasQuilt
October 25, 2019 0 Comment jweeks read
A short story and request for stitching help. You know my love of estate sales and the fact that I cannot handle stumbling upon unfinished projects. I just know that the person who passed can't possibly rest easy with an unfinished project out there. I buy them and finish them as tribute. Well yesterday, fate brought me to Mount Prospect Illinois to the home of Rita Smith. Rita was clearly an astounding stitcher with a love for the US and state flowers. She was 99 when she passed according to my online research. I bought this AMAZING completed embroidery map with state flowers. It's breathtaking. I went upstairs and came across a box full of fabric. What I discovered is that Rita had just begun an epic quilting project (I mentioned she was 99 right?!). Well I went through the box and Rita had prepped, cut, all the squares and started transferring the designs onto the squares. She started stitching New Jersey. Obviously I bought the whole box. I cannot possibly stitch all this myself with all the rest of my stuff but I'm wondering if we can crowd stitch/ crowd finish this project for Rita?! Like if I mail you a square will you stitch it and send it back to me and then I will host a quilting bee to finish the thing? Anyone interested in helping me help Rita rest in craft peace?! —————————- #badasscrossstitch #craftivism #craftivist #feminism #feminist #crafting #quilting #quilt #usa #fiberart #womenhelpingwomen #communityquilt #estatesalefinds #handbroidery #RitasQuilt
A post shared by Shannon Downey (@badasscrossstitch) on Sep 8, 2019 at 2:45pm PDT
Thread by @ShannonDowney: "A story… (in proper thread form) I go estate sale shopping regularly and whenever I find an unfinished embroidery project I buy it and fin [?]" #RitasQuilt
Thread by @ShannonDowney: "A story… (in proper thread form) I go estate sale shopping regularly and whenever I find an unfinished embroider it bc there?s no way that soul is resting with an unfinished project left behind. One day I foun [?]" #RitasQuilt
threadreaderapp.com
#RitasQuilt Quilt Quilting Ritas Quilt
North Dakota's Historic Public Bank
October 2, 2019 0 Comment jweeks read
How a brief socialist takeover in North Dakota gave residents a public bank
The Bank of North Dakota, or BND, is the nation's only public bank: a government-owned and -operated entity that prioritizes public access over profit, and offers fair banking services to North Dakotans when private banks can't or won't. "It is potentially insulating you from loans, lenders, from out-of-state interests who won't or don't listen to the concerns of the local economy," Flynn said.
At the time of its creation, BND's purpose was to protect the state's farmer class by offering low-interest agriculture loans. A century later, the bank is still an active force in the state, although its function has shifted, Flynn said, "from an insulator to more of an incubator."
With $8 billion in assets, BND now offers business and student loans along with commercial services. Its purpose, however, continues to distinguish it from modern private banks. "When a US bank isn't interested in going into that type of loan or startup, or thinks it's too risky, BND would get engaged," Flynn said. "They could point to this mission and say, 'We're helping growth, the growth helps the state.'"
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/9/24/20872558/california-north-dakota-public-bank
North Dakoka public bank Public Banking
School Buses Retooled For Use By Homeless
September 7, 2019 0 Comment jweeks read
Oregon Woman Turns School Buses Into Tiny Homes for Working Homeless Families
Julie Akins, a freelance journalist based in Ashland, Oregon, began a life-changing road trip in August 2016. Off and on over the course of the next two years, she pitched her tent and lived among homeless people from Portland to Denver.
Fascinated by the working homeless, Akins asked what they needed to get off the streets as she chronicled their stories for the book she's writing, One Paycheck Away.
Then Akins noticed families living in school buses. Curious, she knocked on the door of an old blue school bus and met a family with seven children living inside. They had ripped out the seats and put down floors. There were mattresses on the floor, tubs full of clothes and a stacked bookcase.
"It was in disarray," says Akins, 58. "There was no toilet, shower or kitchen."
After meeting other families who found homes in the buses, she came up with the idea to take retired school buses and convert them into nice, livable spaces with kitchens and bathrooms for working homeless families.
people.com
homeless homelessness housing first Julie Atkins Oregon school bus school buses
Dragonfly Drone To Fly Skies of Saturn's Moon Titan
July 17, 2019 0 Comment jweeks read
NASA chose a drone-like design for Dragonfly. It will be able to fly to different locations and take samples of the organic-rich sands to analyze them. Since Titan's atmosphere is four times denser than Earth's, it is actually easier to fly on Titan than on Earth. Dragonfly will be the first such rotorcraft sent to explore another world.
https://www.americaspace.com/2019/06/27/nasas-dragonfly-mission-will-soar-the-skies-of-titan-in-search-of-lifes-origins/
Dragonfly saturn Titan
Re-integrating the elderly back into society
From housesharing to gardening.
🔎 Learn more about loneliness: https://t.co/7BBmBf9oot #loneliness #mentalhealth pic.twitter.com/Husbv8OvlY
— World Economic Forum (@wef) July 12, 2019
https://cyclingwithoutage.org/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/11/why-some-students-in-milan-are-moving-in-with-elderly-people/
http://www.phoenixcommons.com/
bike tours co housing elderly
Solein: Protein Made From Electricity + Water + Air
June 29, 2019 0 Comment jweeks read
Plan to sell 50m meals made from electricity, water and air
Solar Foods hopes wheat flour-like product will hit target in supermarkets within two years
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/29/plan-to-sell-50m-meals-electricity-water-air-solar-foods
Finland food Nordics Pasi Vainikka scandinavia Solar Foods Solein
3.5% for Change
The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts, and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.
There are, of course, many ethical reasons to use nonviolent strategies. But compelling research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, confirms that civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way.
Looking at hundreds of campaigns over the last century, Chenoweth found that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns. And although the exact dynamics will depend on many factors, she has shown it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in the protests to ensure serious political change.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world
activism non-violence nonviolence nonviolent activism
Rethinking 'economics'
The new left economics: how a network of thinkers is transforming capitalism
This ferment is beginning to solidify into a movement. The New Economy Organisers Network (Neon), a NEF spin-off based in London, runs workshops for leftwing activists, to learn how "to build support for a new economy" – for example, by telling effective "stories" about it in the mainstream media. Stir to Action, an activist organisation based in Bridport in Dorset, publishes a quarterly "magazine for the new economy", and organises advice sessions in left-leaning cities such as Bristol and Oxford: Worker Co-ops: How to Get Started, Community Ownership: What If We Ran It Ourselves?
"There's a totally new impulse to activism about the economy now," says the magazine's editor, Jonny Gordon-Farleigh, who was previously involved in anticapitalist and environmental protests. "The movement has gone from oppose to propose."
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jun/25/the-new-left-economics-how-a-network-of-thinkers-is-transforming-capitalism
Adorable Culture Economy
The Little Free Cafe For All To Start Their Day
Thread by @steveparks: "£20 for a boiled egg, one piece of toast and a mug of tea? The story of a modern London cafe… (Read to end of thread before commenting!) S […]"
Cafe Free London Wealth Inequality
The Canadian Doctor Who Prescribes Money For Poor Patients
May 6, 2019 0 Comment jweeks read
Meet the Canadian doctor who prescribes money to low-income patients
Boosting people's incomes to help boost their health outcomes. Could this model work in the US?
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/5/3/18524482/canada-health-doctor-prescribing-money-income-poverty
health health care
Society Wow Cool
One Woman, 100 Marathons, 200 Food Banks
April 21, 2019 0 Comment jweeks read
I Volunteered At 200 Food Banks Across The U.S. Here's What I Learned About Hunger In America.
I set a goal to road-trip across the country, running a marathon in all 50 states (I'd later up it to 100 marathons), volunteering at each of the 200 Feeding America food banks, and visiting friends and family as I went.
I set out in July 2014. I ran my 100th marathon last month and volunteered at my 200th food bank on April 11. Am I done? Not even close. Not while there are millions of hungry Americans. Not when there is more that I — that we all — can do.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hunger-america-food-banks-volunteer_n_5cb9e594e4b068d795cbf511
Food Bank Food Banks food wast poverty USA
Rethinking Prisons
Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind
In three decades of advocating for prison abolition, the activist and scholar has helped transform how people think about criminal justice.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/magazine/prison-abolition-ruth-wilson-gilmore.html
incarceration prison abolition prisons Ruth Wilson Gilmore


Protesters are continuing their sit-in at the Woodburn Forest site near Carrickfergus in opposition to a proposed oil drill. Picture by Hugh Russell.
Environment Minister says handling of Woodburn Forest oil drill "not textbook perfect"
DUP East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson has referred to protesters objecting to the Woodburn Forest oil drill as "professional green agitators" and "economic vandals".
PROTESTERS objecting to a proposed exploratory oil drill in Co Antrim have begun the first stages of an attempt to get a judicial review to challenge the decision.
The Stop the Drill campaign group, which is opposing the project at Woodburn Forest near Carrickfergus, said yesterday that Mid and East Antrim Borough Council had been issued with a letter as part of a "pre-action protocol for judicial review."
Those objecting to the drill are concerned about the potential impact on water supplies provided by Woodburn reservoir to thousands of homes across Co Antrim.
However, Northern Ireland Water, which leased the site to InfraStrata, the company behind the plans, insists the project will not compromise the water supply.
In a statement, the Stop the Drill group said: "This (letter), along with other interim steps, is necessary as part of the High Court process. If no action is taken by the council before 29th March 2016, an application to the High Court for relief by way of a judicial review will be made."
The protesters are no longer facing injunction proceedings over their presence at the Woodburn site, after InfraStrata withdrew its application for a court order last week.
In social media postings last week, East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson described the protesters as "economic vandals" and "professional green agitators" and claimed many were "imported from the Irish Republic."
Mr Wilson: "While they describe themselves as concerned environmentalists many are professional green agitators who...are also economic vandals trying to hurt a legitimate business and who give all the wrong signals to potential investors in Northern Ireland.
"Of course there are some who, having been fed the alarmist diet prepared by the anti- oil greens, have genuine fears about the impact on the water supply. However there are numerous conditions attached to the permission to drill to prevent any such pollution."
The East Antrim MP added: "There is no difference between the activities of these protestors, many imported from the Irish Republic, and people who would take over a petrol station and stop customers using it."
Exploratory drilling is expected to begin in May, the company has said.


The GlenAllachie range was relaunched in mid-2018, following Billy Walker (formerly of BenRiach) purchasing the distillery in 2017. This particular release is an 18 year old expression, which was aged in American oak, Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso casks.
Utterly disapointed , I can't get anything on the nose and the taste is nothing special, it certainly does not taste like an 18 yo aged in in Sherry casks for a period of time, this cost me over 90 quid and I wish I could get my money back, maybe I had a bad bottle but this is poor whisky I should have got a glendronach or balblair .


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PMC Transport acquires contract to transport Mirabel Airport to Haiti, as part of a donation of airport equipment by the Canadian government.
PMC Transport, air and ocean freight forwarders have acquired a contract to aid with the transport of materials, equipment and facilities from Montreal's Mirabel terminal to Hugo-Chavez International Airport in Haiti. PMC Transport, which specializes in the transport of goods, containers and materials to all ports in Haiti, subsequently acquired the contract to transport donated materials to the final destination of Cap Haitien, Haiti.


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Warpaint, Santigold, Kindness and more added to Latitude 2015 bill
Luke Morgan Britton Apr 30, 2015 11:43 am BST
Credit: Jordan Hughes/NME
Badly Drawn Boy, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Omar Souleyman also confirmed
More names have been confirmed for this year's Latitude Festival.
The 10th edition of Latitude will take place from July 16-19 at Henham Park in Southwold, Suffolk.
Newly announced are Warpaint, Badly Drawn Boy (performing 'Hour Of The Bewilderbeast'), Santigold, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and Kindness.
They will be joined by the Boomtown Rats, Roni Size, Reprazent, Matthew Herbert, Max Cooper, Black Rivers, Omar Souleyman, Ezra Furman, Songhoy Blues, Timber Timbre, the Tom Robinson Band, A Winged Victory For The Sullen.
The 2015 festival will be headlined by Noel Gallagher, Alt-J and Portishead, with The Vaccines, James Blake, Manic Street Preachers, Caribou, Wild Beasts, SBTRKT, Sun Kil Moon and La Roux also previously announced.
"Every year I challenge myself to build on previous summers and make each festival even better than the one before," festival organiser recently Melvin Benn said.
"With the start of a new decade for Latitude, I wanted to bring something really fresh and new to Henham and I think we've done just that. We've added a whole new spa area, Solas, offering massages and treatments alongside hot tubs and installations, which will all turn into a late night party area for festival-goers to discover after sunset."
Tickets are available from the festival website now, with a weekend ticket with camping costing £200.50.
How to live like Grimes: A guide to her training regiment
The Specials perform live Credit: Getty
Coventry councillor calls for The Specials to receive hometown honour
Lewis Capaldi Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Lewis Capaldi signed Chewbacca mask has already raised over £5,000 for Frightened Rabbit's Tiny Changes charity


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How Vegans Are Taking Over the Meat Industry
They really are.
image via Impossible Foods / Instagram
It all started as most PETA campaigns do – like a gregarious stunt. In 2008, the animal rights organization offered up one million dollars to the first scientist who could create and bring to market in vitro chicken – poultry meat created from a few chicken cells, rather than from a whole bird. They had until June 30th, 2012.
PETA's proposition wasn't a mere media stunt. If anything, it was foreshadowing the massive shift happening in our food system – a not-too-distant future where vegans are running the global meat supply.
Scientists tried. Teams at the University of Missouri and the Netherlands' University of Maastricht worked diligently, but the cost of bringing lab-grown meat, "clean meat" as its come to be known these days, was prohibitive. PETA, willing to go to any lengths to bring a viable alternative to the massive livestock industry, extended its deadline after the 2012 date came and went with no victors. The deadline moved to March 4th, 2014.
Still, no one was able to claim the prize. Research labs and for-profit businesses were tempted by the million-dollar PETA bounty; but they also saw beyond that, too – the ability to "grow" lab meat without the inherent problem of having an animal attached to it would revolutionize our food system, laying the groundwork for one of the most profound shifts humanity has ever seen. And a lucrative one at that. If successful, companies producing clean meat stand to gain far more than the promise of one million dollars. They'd be as profitable as the companies leading the near-trillion-dollar global meat industry. Quite likely even more so.
Last month, China signed a $300 million deal with SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies, and Meat the Future – three Israeli clean meat producers -- in what many are hailing as a clear sign that the days are finally numbered for factory farmed animal products.
But just how is it that ranchers and industrial farmers may soon be replaced by the work of animal rights organizations, ethical scientists, and vegan entrepreneurs?
The first step in understanding this 180-degree shift is looking at our current food system – and the flaws of industrialization, particularly in the livestock sector. Bigger, faster, cheaper has been the mantra of the last half century, but it's only proven that while it's indeed bigger and faster, it isn't better. Between the gross mistreatment of animals and misuse of natural resources, to our predilection toward a diet laden with processed meat, sugar, and fat -- it's not a stretch to say we're lucky to have made it this far. Obesity rates continue to climb, toppling 39 percent in the U.S., as do rates of type-2 diabetes, cancer, stroke, heart disease, and scores of other life-limiting illnesses. We're erasing ourselves from history one Happy Meal at a time.
And, says, Josh Tetrick, the vegan founder and CEO of Hampton Creek, "we desperately need new tools." Problems are often best solved by people looking in from the outside. Vegans, in this case, offer the meat industry perspectives to the problems it wasn't seeing and solutions it likely never imagined.
Hampton Creek made a name for itself with its Just Mayo and dressings that replace egg with pea protein. But the Bay Area company completely rocked the food industry this summer when it announced it's going to be first to market with lab-grown clean meat and fish that's price and taste competitive with its "real" counterparts.
image via Memphis Meats / Instagram
But what exactly is "clean" meat?
Clean meat's been called lab-grown meat, in vitro and test-tube meat, cultured meat, and even Frankenmeat. But the industry's parallel to clean tech – a sustainable, renewable, and ethical alternative to the conventional industry standards – seems to have cemented its new moniker, not to mention its literal definition found in the absence of raising and slaughtering billions of animals every year for meat.
While the science is certainly an innovation, the process itself is a lot less exciting than it sounds, unless you find watching yogurt ferment or kombucha brew exceptionally fascinating. While clean meat doesn't have the probiotic effects of fermented foods, it's grown in much the same process – cells are cultured from an animal, without harm, and allowed to grow. Certain cells are more prone to do that than others, Tetrick explains, and it's figuring that out that's the hard part. Everything after that is all a matter of patience and proper care.
"We start with high quality animal cells. We feed those cells nutrients (water, sugars, proteins, fats, vitamins and nutrients -- the same macronutrients that cows obtain when they eat grass)," says David Kay, Head of Mission and Business Analyst for Bay Area clean meat producer, Memphis Meats. "Once the cells grow sufficiently, we harvest them and they are ready to be cooked and prepared just like conventionally-produced meat. Essentially, we are recreating a process that naturally occurs inside an animal's body, but doing it outside that animal's body."
By removing the messiness of breeding, raising, killing, and processing animals, clean meat is also removing the most serious risks associated with meat -- which, in today's meat market aren't just the good old high cholesterol and heart disease of last century, there's also the rampant issues of foodborne illness, antibiotic resistance, avian and swine flu, to name a few. Working with meat at the cellular level also delivers the ability to include "additional functionality," Tetrick notes. Scientists can also grow meat that's lower in saturated fat, or contains more iron, for example.
Watch the story of Ian, a chicken whose cells created Hampton Creek's clean meat.
Josh Balk, senior director of food policy for The Humane Society of the United States farm animal division, co-founded Hampton Creek with Tetrick. He says it was the first food company viewed as a tech company – and that was a pivotal moment for our food supply. Hampton Creek has spent more time developing tools to identify new proteins, fats, polysaccharides and other plant components than it has on practically anything else. (And it's done a lot to revolutionize the food system in the last few years.) It has patented technology that can look at all of the 357,000 some species of plants on earth and identify new possible uses for each one of them. The technology will be used not only to produce better Hampton Creek products, but it's also a tool it can share (for a fee) with any company looking for novel ingredients.
"A plant we use for flour or animal feed may have so many more functions than what we're currently using it for," says Tetrick. The company gives secret code names to its research projects, treating something as unsuspecting as a mung bean like a protected national security secret. But these tools – and this critical understanding of all of a plant's functions -- is at the forefront of writing the future of food, not just for meat, but quite possibly all food as we know it, particularly as a changing climate changes the nutrient profile and accessibility of common foods. Plants will be used to feed cells that turn into eggs, milk, butter, and even just better-tasting plant products. But they'll also be used to create the new era of meat.
"It's the DNA of a steak without the DOA of a cow."
Balk likes to use the advent of the car to explain clean meat's potential. "It's the Model T," he says, "and factory farming, well that's the horse and carriage. How many people do you see driving around town in those these days?"
From an animal rights perspective, there's no downside to clean meat. While notable technology continues to happen on the plant side (Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat lead the charge there with their meaty plant burgers), clean meat is a step closer to satisfying everyone. It's the DNA of a steak without the DOA of a cow.
It's also that line in history that some say pulls us firmly into a new age -- the beginning of a post-speciesism era.
The future is clean
image via Hampton Creek
And the meat industry is buying into it, big time. There's China's recent commitment that made headlines last month. Hampton Creek says it's also in talks with some of the world's largest meat producers. The Bay Area's Impossible Foods recently raised $75 million. And last year, Tyson Foods, the largest producer of meat in the U.S., invested in Beyond Meat, the El Segundo, Calif., startup that spent years crafting its iconic Beyond Burger. It's a patty made from plants, but meaty enough to fool committed carnivores. While people are often quick to criticize a company like Beyond Meat for taking money from Big Meat, Beyond Meat Founder and longtime vegan Ethan Brown says it's an even bigger step for Tyson. "It's a huge moment of courage [for Tyson]," he told me last January, shortly after Tyson invested.
Clean meat technology solves a lot of problems for the meat industry – from the ethical to the logistical. And it doesn't hurt that there's a potentially new revenue stream for the meat industry in clean meat, too.
"More and more shareholders are looking for companies promoting sustainability," says Bruce Friedrich, executive director of the DC-based policy group and incubator, the Good Food Institute.
Even though sales of animal products are on the uptick, particularly in the developing world, there's no question consumers here in the U.S. are opting for alternatives. The plant-based protein market just surpassed $5 billion in sales earlier this year, and most of the people buying these products aren't vegans. They're the flexitarians, the Tom Bradys of the world who rely heavily on a predominantly plant-based diet, but still add in small amounts of animal protein.
"There needs to be a way to produce large quantities of meat that is delicious, sustainable, and better for the planet, animals and public health."
Still, the technology has its critics. One organic food expert I spoke with who wished to remain anonymous said he simply can't get past the idea of "growing" meat without it being connected to the land, "it's just too weird to be reality," he said. "I want my food to come from nature, not a laboratory. And although [clean meat producers] think they can replicate what the evolutionary process took thousands of years to develop, I'm a skeptic."
It's an understandable argument; perhaps the biggest issue with our current food system is how distanced it is from the whole foods still caked in dirt and sweat we should be eating instead of Doritos. But when it comes to animal products, save for the extremely small number of farms where animals truly live off the land, most animals raised for food never see much dirt or sky, if any, in their short lives.
iStock/SteveOehlenschlager
And, says Kay, that small family farm operation doesn't necessarily need to go away. "Family farms will likely play a role in feeding the world – but they will only be able to supply a tiny fraction of the global demand for meat, so there needs to be a way to produce large quantities of meat that is delicious, sustainable, and better for the planet, animals and public health."
Friedrich says it's also important that we recognize the human suffering in the conventional meat system as well.
"If you look at reports of industrial farming you'll see we now have a fraction of the number of pig or chicken farmers that we had ten or twenty years ago," he explains. "Even as the number of animals have gone up the number of so-called farmers producing them have plummeted. It's not the plant-based industry consolidating; its Big Ag." And that's coming at the expense of workers asked to do more work faster and for longer periods of time. It's workers brought to the U.S. illegally with nowhere to go and no one to help them find better jobs.
U.S. chicken processing facilities move 140 birds per minute, which already takes a significant toll on workers' health, with conditions like carpal tunnel or machine-related injuries on the rise. Recent legislation wants to deregulate the line speed, which many experts say could be disastrous. Factory farms and slaughterhouses have some of the highest rates of worker injuries, as Organic Authority reported last year. The 2005 Human Rights Watch report "Blood, Sweat, Fear" notes that a human rights crime occurs in slaughterhouses every twelve seconds.
"We expect our process to require up to 90% less land, water, and greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally-produced meat."
But a widespread shift to plant-based or clean meat isn't just purporting to solve our ethical dilemmas over eating animals. It takes away the very serious environmental issues connected to livestock production that have become considerably pressing in recent years. By removing the breeding of billions of animals every year, methane emissions would nearly cease. Methane is responsible for about 10 percent of gases contributing to climate change, according to the EPA, and most of it can be traced back to farm animals. But there's also the razing of rainforest in numerous countries to grow crops to feed these animals. Replacing them with monocrops dependent on herbicides is also extremely damaging to the planet, causing pollution of air and waterways, loss of native flora and fauna, and these chemicals are particularly threatening to pollinator habitats. Without honeybees, one of the most important pollinators, we'd lose nearly one-third of our current food supply.
There are also the environmental tolls of transport – both of crops and animals. There's the massive amount of water routed to animals, energy, and land. "It's a highly inefficient system," says Friedrich.
"We expect our process to be significantly better for the environment, animals and human wellbeing," says Kay. "Environmentally, we expect our process to require up to 90% less land, water, and greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally-produced meat."
Clean meat could also be part of the next wave in urban farming, with city-based operations – "meat breweries" -- producing fresh meat, poultry, or fish in warehouses, rather than rural farm lots, reducing transport time to minutes, rather than days.
"At scale our process will take place in facilities that are similar to beer breweries," Kay says. "You can imagine us providing public tours of those facilities, which would offer an unprecedented degree of transparency to meat production. When was the last time you were asked to tour a slaughterhouse?"
iStock/boogich
As more people now live in cities than rural areas, the bucolic country farm is becoming a less realistic component of the food supply – be it meat, eggs, dairy, or plants. In many cases those small family farms have been replaced by industrial megafarms. For the small farmers that do remain, the city is the new country. Farm operations that continue to move closer to or position themselves right inside city centers will not only make fresh, local food more accessible, but, in the case of growing plants, bring air-cleansing green spaces to otherwise colorless, hazy cityscapes. My Pennsylvania hometown, Pittsburgh, recently announced it's opening the gates to the nation's largest urban farm lot just across the river from a downtown blackened for decades by turn-of-the-century industrial steel mill pollution. While Pittsburgh and other large U.S. cities have brought farmers markets and urban farms closer to their communities, it's a drop in the bucket of what the cities of the future will need to look like.
"People eat meat despite how it's produced, not because of how its produced."
"The two big questions an awful lot of the companies are focused on: how do we feed 9 billion people by 2050, and how do we address climate change," says Friedrich. "Food tech and clean meat are the answer to both questions."
Chef and television host Cat Cora agrees. "It is definitely exciting that this revolutionary technology could completely change the way we produce and consume meat," she says. "Despite the current trends and research-backed medical advice of adopting a more plant-based diet, the consumption of traditional meat only seems to be increasing."
These new technologies, Friedrich says, are exponentially more efficient than conventional agriculture. And he notes that people eat meat "despite how it's produced, not because of how its produced."
And that's a critical distinction. Tetrick points to it as well – noting that he's vegan, but not because he doesn't like the taste of meat. There are many vegans like him. He doesn't like the system; he doesn't like the suffering. He's convinced that most people – even his own dad, for example – wouldn't know the difference if their normal fast food chicken sandwich or nugget was made from clean meat. And for the most part, they probably wouldn't care. Most people, he says, want to make the most ethical and responsible choice possible but "they don't want to give up their comforts."
So, why don't we just eat more plant-based foods that taste like meat?
"Vegan products and restaurants are opening up left and right and traditional chefs are offering more plant-based options as well on their menus," says Cora.
The innovations happening in that space are in some respects even more impressive than growing meat from cells. Meat is an obvious endpoint when you take chicken cells and culture them – you're going to get something quite like chicken meat. But what about taking peas, beets, and coconuts and getting them to taste convincingly meaty, like Beyond Meat has done with its Beyond Burger? Or Impossible Foods meaty soy-based patty? These aren't the crumbly veggie burgers lost to barbecue grill slats of Labor Day cookouts in the past. For all intents and purposes, this is meat, only it's made from plants. To the consumer, it's nothing short of sheer alchemy.
"The idea of a whole foods diet has been a part of the conversation for decades," says Friedrich, "yet it's still only one-fourth of one percent of the market. Meat consumption is now going back up to all-time per capita highs."
While the plant-based burgers are good enough for a lot of consumers, they may not be able to satisfy everyone. At least, not at every meal.
"Replacing industrial meat with clean meat is a colossal win for getting GMO crops [and their companion herbicides] out of the marketplace."
And clean meat delivers another victory for clean food proponents: it could bring an end to genetically modified crops like corn, soy, alfalfa, and canola. The majority of these crops are grown for livestock feed, and while there's controversy over whether or not the technology of modifying a seed is safe, what's become clear is the reason for those modifications aren't. The vast majority of GMOs are modified for one purpose: to tolerate heavy applications of herbicides and pesticides.
Use of Roundup, the best-selling herbicide made by St. Louis-based agrochemical giant Monsanto, has increased to 9.4 million tons worldwide since it was introduced in the 1970s.
Glyphosate and other agricultural chemicals have been linked to human health risks – the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as a possible human carcinogen in 2015. Its efficacy has also come into question. Weeds have developed resistance to the herbicide after just a few generations, causing farmers to have to increase applications or resort to stronger chemicals.
"Replacing industrial meat with clean meat is a colossal win for getting GMO crops [and their companion herbicides] out of the marketplace," says Friedrich.
By replacing the need to feed a 1,200-pound steer every day and just feeding the cells that produce the meat instead, clean meat also eliminates the need for antibiotics, another huge health concern. Farmers began adding antibiotics to meat around 1950 when they realized the drugs used to fight infection had an interesting side effect: they help the animals put on weight rather quickly. Today, approximately 80 percent of the nation's supply of antibiotics are routed into livestock production, and that practice is having a side effect of its own: antibiotic resistance. Routine exposure to antibiotics in our food supply has led bacteria to become resistant to common antibiotics and even some of the most potent last resort antibiotics available.
The vegans are coming
image via Beyond Meat / Instagram
In his recent book named after his animal rights organization Mercy for Animals, founder and executive director Nathan Runkle, tells the story of a history-changing victory he had with Nestlé, the world's largest food company, after MFA posted undercover video implicating a Nestlé dairy supplier on its website.
"We can run a company saying we have a strong ethical code, but if it's not upheld at even the lowest levels, we've failed."
"No corporation as big as ours should have suppliers who are breaking laws, behaving irresponsibly, or inflicting pain and suffering, and we're determined that's never going to happen again," Nestlé executives told Runkle and his team. "We can run a company saying we have a strong ethical code, but if it's not upheld at even the lowest levels, we've failed. So after we met with you ... we hired independent auditors through-out the dairy supply chain in order to find the cracks in the system. We visited dozens of farms in several states, and unfortunately, we found a lot."
The situation resulted in a huge shift -- not just for Nestlé's animals, but a ripple effect for millions of farm animals. But more than that it helped set the stage for what's become a common practice -- cage-free eggs are now the norm and suppliers are being held to higher standards every year. Just this week Nestlé announced it's withdrawing from the Grocery Manufacturers Association over "key nutrition issues." In recent years Nestlé has moved toward more transparency, supported additional nutritional labeling, and most recently, acquired plant-based company Sweet Earth Foods. It's hard to imagine Nestlé coming to this place without its relationship with Mercy for Animals.
Today, most of the nation's leading food producers in all sectors have made significant shifts to help improve the lives of the billions of farm animals. Hundreds of suppliers have moved away from controversial farming practices like gestation crates for sows or battery cages for egg-laying hens. Humane standards have also become a key component of the USDA's National Organic Program. And at the center of all of these shifts are the negotiations with animal rights groups like Mercy for Animals, the Humane Society of the U.S., and PETA -- organizations started and run by vegans.
Runkle's Mercy for Animals can be credited with much of the victories we've seen around improvements for chickens in the last decade. His undercover workers have captured some of the most-viewed videos of abuse and controversial practices in industrial farming, leading to huge shifts like he detailed with Nestlé. But it's not just on the supplier side. The organization's work to educate consumers has resulted in countless animal lives being spared and the increased inclination of millennials toward a plant-based diet. The group's Choose Veg program says it's reached more than 250,000 consumers eager to reduce their meat intake.
Balk's work with the Humane Society has recently opened up plant-based options to the nation's leading food service providers for hospitals, restaurants, colleges and universities; and there's little doubt he'll get clean meats on the menus once they're available, too. Meatless Monday has become a force of nature in the U.S. and around the world – just this week 15 Brooklyn schools announced they'd begin observing the campaign. Meatless Monday started out to promote the environmental benefits of giving up meat one day a week and has found its way into government offices, leading Fortune 500 companies' cafeterias, and some of the nation's largest school districts. Some schools, including one just on the other side of Manhattan, have gone completely vegan.
"The solution to the big global crises – that's clean meat. That's plants."
Tetrick hopes he'll be eating meat again regularly, only it will never come from an animal – at least not in the traditional sense. It'll come from a cell or two of a chicken feather, or perhaps an ear rub of a pig.
"The solution to the big global crises – that's clean meat. That's plants," Friedrich says. "Meat is just lipids, and amino acids, and minerals, and water. There is nothing in meat we can't recreate in a better way."
"People want meat," Tetrick says, "so we're going to give it to them."
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Viewer reports on Edouard
HOUSTON From Robert M. at around 8:50 AM: "Hello, I'm from La Porte, and its coming down hard here by Sylvan Beach."
From Erin at 9:02 AM: "Hi, its 8:53 AM, and I live in Pasadena. It is really raining hard here and you can hardly see at all. You can feel the wind shaking the building. The wind is going in more than one direction. Very windy! Just thought I would let y'all know. My parking lot is already flooded."
From Dee Ann H. at 9:12 AM in Texas City: "2.12 inches of rain so far. Barometric pressure is 29.77 and falling."
From Chris P. at 9:28 AM: "Current update for Cypress, TX - Louetta and Grant crossroads -- Calm wind, slight drizzle - no problems as of yet!"
From Sandi M. at 10:02 AM in Huffman: "Heavy rain and gusty winds. My rain gauge shows 2 inches since 5:30 am. While watching the coverage I noticed that the hummingbirds were still eating! At one point a hummingbird was moving towards the feeder and the wind was literally keeping him back away from it!"
From Betty K. at 10:54 AM: "It is currently 10:48 AM at my home in far NW Houston and it is now only sprinkling rain. It was raining very hard just moments ago, but we need the rain for my lawn."
From Luis G. at 11:17 AM: "Wanted to let you guys know that I work at Lyondell in Channelview and we have been getting a lot of rain here for the past 2 hours, maybe even longer. High winds as well."
From Jackie at 11:17 AM in the La Porte/Baytown area: "We have had constant wind and rain for hours now with 4 inches or more of rain in the past few hours, and it doesn't look like it is going to let up anytime soon."
From Taylor N. at 11:37 AM: "Tropical storm Edouard has already dumped more than six inches here in Baytown."
From Josh at 11:51 AM in Huffman: "15-20 mph sustained wind, gusting to 35+ mph, about 2-4 estimated inches so far."
From Jennifer L. at 12:06 PM in Downtown Houston: "Consistent rain and wind."
From Jim R. at 12:25 PM in Central Galveston: "Rain gauge showing 2.16 inches to this hour."
From Mary at 12:46 PM: "According to my rain gauge there has been over 5 inches of rain in the Fairmont West area in LaPorte, Texas."
From Charlene A. at 12:48 PM: "We live in the Lomax area on H Street. We have received over 6 inches of rain as of noon today. Still experiencing high winds and rainfall."
From Kerry P. at 1:03 PM from Oak Forest in Houston: "Rainy. Some wind."
From Martha M. at 1:04 PM in La Porte: "Rain finally stopped just after noon. We first noticed rain about 5 AM, then strong winds with rain starting about 7 AM when newly installed fiberglass panels were rolled back from our deck cover. The panels kept rolling back as wind gusts blew. Rain was constant and sporadically heavy, leaving several inches standing in the backyard at noon."
From Toby B. at 1:11 PM in Crosby: "Rain has stopped. Waiting on second band."
From Lynn H. at 2:34 PM: "It has been raining here were I live in Spring since 8 o'clock this morning. It's just now slowing down, but from the looks of it, the radar shows a lot more rain moving in...Some of my yard is already flooding..."
From Betty M. at 3:29 PM: "We are in the southwest corner of Washington County just at the border of Fayette and Austin Counties, five miles east of Round Top. No rain at all yet. Breeze just picked up, but it has been totally still all day until right now. Sun peeks through at times."
From Emily G. at 3:39 PM in Highlands, TX: "Stopped raining, but we still have a nice little breeze."
From Lee S. at 5:14 PM: "Well, nobody killed or injured is a good thing, but I've had more excitement at funerals than this storm. Rainfall total as of 5 PM is one inch as measured at the Rosehill Fire Station. Highest wind gust 22 mph @ 3:30 PM."
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Home Breaking The case of Jamal Khashoggi: Riyadh, criticised loose allegations of the US...
The case of Jamal Khashoggi: Riyadh, criticised loose allegations of the US Senate
Saudi Arabia has rejected a symbolic decision by the US Senate for the cessation of American aid to Riyadh-led military operation in Yemen categorically. The decision of the Senate is based on "content-free assertions and allegations," said the Saudi foreign Ministry on Monday night.
in Addition, the action of the Senate was a "blatant interference in the internal politics of the Kingdom," the Agency quoted SPA more from the message. "The Kingdom condemns the latest position of the US Senate."
The senators had made last week, with two resolutions frontally against the course of US President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia. They demanded to stop the U.S. aid to Saudi Arabia-led military operation in Yemen. There, Houthi rebels have been fighting for more than four years against the supporters of the internationally recognized government. Their troops are supported by one of the Riad-led coalition air attacks.
The Yemen-Resolution will, however, be little chance of, of all things, effective. To do this, the deputies would have to agree. But there are reservations, to counteract the still comparatively tolerant attitude of President Trump with the Saudi leadership.
the Riad speaks of an "ally and friendly state,"
the Background of this Resolution, of the murder of the saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. According to the findings of U.S. intelligence to the highest circles were Saudi Arabia to crown Prince Mohammed bin involved with Salman in the killing Khashoggis saudi Arabia's Consulate General in Istanbul, or did at least.
In a second decision, the U.S. Senate adopted last week a Resolution, the power, the Saudi leadership for the death of Khashoggis responsible.
The foreign Ministry in Riyadh, said now that the United States is an "ally and friendly state", and they wanted to strengthen the relations with Washington "". The resolutions of the US Senate were "worrying".
Video: U.S. Senator called Saudi crown Prince "crazy"
criticism of Riyadh came on Sunday, also from Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a TV Interview that his government was considering arms exports to Saudi-Arabia limit. It would be examined whether there is a way to provide certain armored vehicles there. Details he called.
Trudeau tightened so that the sound in question. Most recently, he had said, an exit from a 13 billion-Dollar export business, the canadian subsidiary of US defence group General Dynamics would be associated with high costs.
aar/dpa/AFP/Reuters
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Integrated Facility Services celebrates five decades in business
Bill Rundquist, Integrated Facility Services' founder, chairman and CEO, established the company in 1966. The company celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.
Mechanical engineering firm and specialty subcontractor Integrated Facility Services celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.
The company, which provides HVAC, plumbing, piping, building automation and energy conservation services to nationwide clients from its offices in St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri, was founded in 1966 by current CEO and Chairman Bill Rundquist and originally known as Air Masters. In 2016, Air Masters consolidated its four affiliated companies and was rebranded as Integrated Facility Services.
Today, IFS employs more than 250 workers in five divisions: HVAC and mechanical, plumbing, fire protection, building automation and controls, and national design build and mechanical construction. The company is led by Rundquist's son, John, who joined the company as a University of Missouri graduate and assumed the role of president in 2012.
IFS recently expanded its pipe fabrication and welding shop into a nearby facility in Fenton, Missouri. The company also purchased a 10-acre site in Columbia, Missouri, for a branch office and warehouse facilities.
KEYWORDS: building automation system energy conservation HVAC service Integrated Facility Services


There have been many developments in national and European financial markets regulation during the past month. The Financial Markets Amendment Act 2016, which provides for better protection of investors in derivatives, has been submitted to parliament. The Minister of Finance has published the levies for the continuous supervision carried out by Dutch regulators. In addition, supervisory authorities have published a large number of consultation documents, draft rules and other information since the last edition of In context.
The Act implementing the Single Supervisory Mechanism Regulation, which divides tasks and responsibilities between the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Dutch supervisory authorities, has been published and will take effect shortly.
Under the single supervisory mechanism, the ECB is in charge of the granting of licences to credit institutions in the Netherlands. It also assesses the acquisition or disposal of holdings in credit institutions in the euro zone and issues declarations of no objection in that connection. Where a bank has its seat in the Netherlands, the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) prepares the draft decision on which the ECB's final decision is based. DNB can also reject licence applications, but it cannot refuse an application for a declaration of no objection.
The Ministry of Finance has published the 2015 levies for continuous supervision. As the government contribution to the financial markets supervision budget has been abolished, many institutions will pay higher levies than before. For small and medium-sized entities, however, the increase is less substantial. Levies for a single supervisory activity, such as the review of a prospectus by the AFM, can be found in the annexes to the Act on funding of financial supervision.
Investors in derivatives are protected against bankruptcy of their intermediary.
Intervention measures apply to parent companies of insurance companies.
Claims by third parties against a distressed institution can be expropriated in cases of intervention.
Provisions on the cross-border transport of valuables are included in the existing legislation on prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing.
The AFM and DNB may withdraw the licence of institutions that do not pay the financial supervision levies.
Last year's consultation document on the bill allowed the AFM and DNB to suspend managing and supervisory directors if their suitability was in doubt. However, following the Council of State's advice, this has been removed from the bill.
The Minister of Finance has submitted a bill implementing the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive. This directive sets out the rules for resolution of banks and large investment firms in all EU Member States. The implementation deadline was 31 December 2014. The bill includes rules on the content of recovery plans, the national resolution fund, and the powers of the Dutch Central Bank. The new rules will be incorporated into the Financial Markets Supervision Act, the Civil Code and the Bankruptcy Act. In its advice on the bill, the Council of State has argued that the structure of the Financial Markets Supervision Act should be changed to make it more accessible. The Minister of Finance agrees that there is room for improvement, but prefers waiting until all major European directives have been implemented.
On 9 June 2015, the Regulation on European long-term investment funds (ELTIFs) took effect. It will apply from 9 December 2015. The regulation contains uniform rules on the composition of the portfolio of ELTIFs and the investment instruments that they are allowed to use.
The European Commission has published a delegated regulation supplementing the Capital Requirements Regulation. It contains regulatory technical standards for own funds requirements that apply to financial institutions.


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'Ridiculous and unacceptable!' Man tries to get Covid vaccine in fake silicone arm
He is believed to be a health worker suspended from duty because he was not vaccinated. Italy became the first country in Europe to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers, after its government approved an emergency decree on 1 April to contain a third wave of the virus.
He is believed to be a health worker suspended from duty because he was not vaccinated.
Italy became the first country in Europe to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for healthcare workers, after its government approved an emergency decree on 1 April to contain a third wave of the virus.
The colour and texture of the arm alerted the nurse administering the vaccine, who asked him to remove his shirt.
It then became immediately became clear that the arm was not his own.
The nurse who attempted to administer the vaccine, Filippa Bua, said: "What did I feel? Dismay…
"We're professionals, but I've never seen anything as imaginative as this before."
She added: "The episode happened last night in a vaccination centre in Biella."
Explaining how she uncovered the deception, she said: "The arm felt rubbery and cold to the touch.
"Not only that, the complexion was too pale."
However, she also said that initially she thought "that the gentleman had suffered the amputation of a limb and had lent the wrong arm for the injection."
READ MORE: Can you still get Covid after having a vaccine?
Speaking after the incident today, they said: "This case would be ridiculous if we were not talking about a gesture of enormous and unacceptable gravity in the face of the sacrifice that the pandemic has caused to our entire community in terms of human lives and social and economic costs.
"The nurse's promptness and skill ruined the plans of this person, who will now be brought to justice.
"Our thanks go, however, to all the health workers who have been working uninterruptedly for months on our vaccination campaign without ever lowering their attention and professionalism, starting with those who acted promptly this evening in Biella, one of the first local health authorities to have already virtuously reached more than 93 percent of the daily administration target that the region has given its health authorities to speed up the third doses."
The 50-year-old man attended a vaccination centre in Biella, in the northwestern region of Piedmont on Thursday evening.
According to the President of Piedmont, the man tried to convince the nurse administering the vaccine not to say anything after she had discovered the prosthetic arm.
Italy is currently facing a resurgence of COVID-19, with the country seeing almost 17,000 new cases in 24 hours on Thursday.
Almost 85 percent of people over 12 have been fully vaccinated.
From Monday, a new "super health pass" will be introduced, which will only be granted to people who have been vaccinated or cured of Covid-19.
The pass will be required for people to go to cinemas, theatres or restaurants.
This is a step up from the traditional health pass, which requires only a simple antigen test.
This pass only allows access to the workplace.
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega.
Urgent manhunt for 'creepy' doorbell knocker – mystery man striking between 2 and 4am
'Stealth Omicron' symptoms: Are the signs of the new variant different to existing Covid?


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Dreams and the Dreaming Process
'A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read' Talmud
We all dream every night and have dreams of varying intensity and meaning. In this collaborative evening we will share our dreams, explore different approaches to understanding them. Jung and Freud called dreams 'the royal road to the unconscious', the Greeks turned to dreams for divination, and Mindell, the founder of Process Oriented Psychology, found that there is always what he called a 'dreaming process' wishing to unfold in our lives and that it expresses itself through our dreams and other ways in our life.
In addition to night dreams, space will be made if wanted for other aspects of our dreaming – day dreams, synchronicities and other ways the dreaming world can call upon us.
The dream shows the inner truth and reality of the patient as it really is: not as I conjecture it to be, and not as he would like it to be, but as it is." CG Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
Peter Lloyd is in his 6th year of studying Process Oriented Psychology in the UK and has had a private practice in Hong Kong. He is also an interfaith minister, Findhorn Fellow and former editor of Positive News Hong Kong.
Process Work takes the basic premise that all disturbances have meaning, and is founded on principles from Jung, Taoism, Shamanism and Quantum Physics. It's especially well known for its work on conflict resolution, deep democracy, myths and dreams, rank and its effect on others amongst many other aspects.
For more info: www.peterlloydpsychotherapy.com
Email: peterlloyd@netvigator.com
January 9, 2016, 7-8.30pm.
Club O, 7/F, Cheong Ming Building, 86-88 Argyle St. Mongkok, Kowloon.
Translation from English to Cantonese will be provided.
Boarding Schools – not quite Hogwarts
Separation and Loss


Presentation followed by hands-on workshop.
The key to designing a successful user experience is knowing your users. Who are they? What do they need? What problems do they face? User personas are created to be the voice of those users.
This session will start with a short introduction to what personas are, why they are important, and the pitfalls to avoid. Followed by a workshop where attendees will work together and go through the process of creating a user persona.
Attendees will walk away with an introductory idea of what user personas are and how to create personas for their own projects.
StartUp Spokane at 610 W. 2nd Ave.


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Gabby Petito case example of 'missing white woman syndrome,' experts say
Katie Kindelan
In the two weeks since Gabby Petito went missing while on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend, her story has gained national attention.
Petito's case has made news headlines and gone viral online, with people everywhere trying to find clues and solve the case themselves. Adding to the intrigue in Petito's case is the large social media footprint she left behind as she documented her travels cross-country with her boyfriend, Brian Laundrie.
Officials confirmed Tuesday that a body found over the weekend near Grand Teton National Park belongs to 22-year-old Petito, but the national fascination with the case continues, as authorities search for Laundrie, currently a person of interest in the case.
It is a fascination that families of other missing people, particularly women of color, say they wish was turned to their own loved ones' cases.
"Everybody who is missing loved ones is saying, 'Why wasn't my case done that like?'" said Paula Cosey Hill. "It's very hard because it takes you back to when your child went missing."
Cosey Hill's then-16-year-old daughter, Shemika Cosey, disappeared without a trace near her home in St. Louis, Missouri, just a few days after Christmas in 2008.
She described watching the search for Petito unfold as an "emotional rollercoaster," since she has both grieved for the Petito family and reflected on what did not happen in the aftermath of her daughter's disappearance.
"All the questions that weren't answered with my daughter, I'm checking to see if they're doing in that case," said Cosey Hill. "When you report your loved one missing, you hear, 'We'll try to get someone on this,' and they act as if they don't have enough manpower to do it."
"But as you can see, they can get enough manpower to do it," she said. "They just choose which cases they want to do."
Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation, Inc., an online search agency that helps search specifically for missing Black and Hispanic children, said minority children who go missing are often classified as runaways, which can lead to less media attention and less help from law enforcement.
Minority adults who go missing are often stereotyped as being involved in crime or violence, poverty and addiction, which takes attention away from their cases too, Wilson said.
"There's frustration. There's sadness," she said of the people she works with who are searching for their missing loved ones. "We are meeting families at the worst points in their lives. They are frustrated because they're not getting help from law enforcement or they're frustrated because they're not getting media coverage."
At the end of 2020, the FBI had over 89,000 active missing person cases, and 45% of those were people of color, according to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
Only about one-fifth of missing person cases involving minorities are covered by the news, according to a 2016 analysis published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.
"I think oftentimes the media and even law enforcement can show that [minority] lives are not as important," Wilson said. "We have to remember that these are mothers and daughters and fathers and children that are missing and they are definitely needed and valued in our communities."
MORE: Gabby Petito case becomes point of interest for internet sleuths on social media
The historic tendency for national attention to gloss over cases of missing people of color was dubbed "missing white woman syndrome" by Gwen Ifill, the late PBS anchor.
Many years later, the term coined by Ifill still applies in the U.S., according to Wilson, who noted the effort to publicize missing persons of color is not meant to divert resources, but to simply "equal the playing field."
"We've been sounding the alarm for close to 14 years that this is an issue and we need to have that conversation, all of us, as to how we can change the narrative," she said. "We're not surprised by the publicity or the reaction [to Petito's disappearance] and we are also hoping and working to keep our missing in the forefront as well."
Maricris Drouaillet, of Riverside, California, said she too was not surprised by the reaction to Petito's disappearance, but said it has brought up emotions of "hurt and heartbreak."
Drouaillet and her family have spent nearly nine months searching for her sister, Maya Millete, a mother of three who disappeared from her home in Chula Vista, California, in January. Millete's husband was named a person of interest in her disappearance in July.
"Even before Gabby's case was out there, I felt that maybe if we were white or with money or had names, we probably would have gotten a different approach, more help and support," said Drouaillet, whose family moved to the U.S. from the Philippines when Millete was 12. "That's how I feel. That hurts a lot."
Drouaillet said she and her family have led searches on their own since January, and have created a website and social media accounts to organize resources and call attention to their sister's missing person case.
"Every missing person deserves to be in a headline," she said. "We have to put awareness out there and seek help from the public, because a lot of times the public are the ones who help solve the case."
In Wyoming, where Petito went missing and where her body was found, a state task force released a report in January on missing and murdered Indigenous people.
While 21% of Indigenous people, who are mostly girls, remained missing for 30 days or longer, only 11% of white people remained missing that long, according to the report.
The report also found that 30% of Indigenous missing and murdered people made the news, compared to 51% of white people. When coverage was done on Indigenous victims, it was more likely to "contain violent language, portray the victim in a negative light, and provide less information," according to the report.
Cara Boyle Chambers, director of the division of victim services in Wyoming's Attorney General office, said the Petito case has echoed the report's findings.
"It highlighted exactly what we had pointed out, the disproportionate, very positive response to Gabby's story versus a lot of other families who don't have that attention and don't have that closure that came, in the scheme of things, relatively quickly," Boyle Chambers said. "We have families that are 20, 30 years of no answers and no remains to bury and no sense of closure."
Boyle Chambers — who pointed out that two men went missing in June in the same area where Petito was last seen — said officials in Wyoming have worked since the report's release to improve the collection of missing persons and criminal justice data.
The Petito case has also confirmed the importance of galvanizing media attention, including social media, according to Boyle Chambers.
"I think that is the biggest takeaway too from Gabby's case, just how important the role of social media and people out there were in helping to locate her," she said. "The more eyes you have on it, the better, which is why we're having this whole conversation."
Wilson, of the Black and Missing Foundation, said individual people can make a difference by sharing alerts about missing people and talking about missing person cases, involving minorities, in particular.
"We all have a responsibility, and that is law enforcement, the media and the community," she said. "If you just have one tip, it can solve a case."
Photo credit: GMA
Phillip Modlin (details | poster)
Ethel Atwell (details | poster)
Mike McClain (details | poster)
Leonard Mayes, Jr. (details | poster)


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Nicolás Pérez González (Asunción, 6 de diciembre de 1927 - Asunción, 18 de mayo de 1991) fue un cantante y compositor paraguayo, integró el Coro Polifónico del Ateneo Paraguayo en 1943. Un año después obtuvo una beca en la Escuela Nacional de Canto, institución en la cual, por espacio de cinco años estudió con Sofía Mendoza.

Primeros pasos
En 1950, en Buenos Aires, estudió composición con el maestro Francisco Alvarenga, por entonces uno de los grandes nombres de la creación, la dirección y la difusión de la música paraguaya. Entre 1951 y 1953 estudió técnica vocal con Faroni Fainghaus, en São Paulo.

A comienzos de los años '60 se estableció en París donde estudió, entre 1966 y 1971, armonía, contrapunto, fuga, orquestación y composición, con Gerardo Guevara y Carlos Tuxen-Bang.

Como cantante, se inició en la lírica y, finalmente, decidió incursionar en la música popular, en la cual obtuvo sus mayores logros artísticos. Integró el trío "Los Cangrejos" con el que actuó por espacio de diez años. Ya en París, fue miembro fundador de Los Calchakis, conjunto de música popular latinoamericana establecido en Francia, con el cual trabajó como arreglador musical y vocalista, grabando más de veinte discos.

Trayectoria

Obtuvo numerosos reconocimientos y premios por su obra, entre ellos el de los Juegos Florales Marianos de Asunción (1954), el Concurso musical para el carnaval asunceno (1955) y en 1976 por su obra "Tarumá", seleccionada por el Instituto Francesco Canneti, de Vicenza (Italia).

Como cantante e instrumentista actuó en América, Europa, Asia y África, Asimismo, realizó la locución en el doblaje al español de varios filmes y, como recitante, estrenó la Cantata "Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejía", de Mauricio Ohana, sobre poesía de Federico García Lorca.

Últimos años

Luego de cuarenta años de exilio regresó al Paraguay en 1989, luego de la caída de la dictadura del general Alfredo Stroessner (1954-1989). Participó activamente del movimiento cultural y musical, dando charlas y conferencias sobre temas de su especialidad.

Falleció en Asunción el 18 de mayo de 1991. Ese mismo año, sus amigos fundaron, en su memoria, el Círculo Paraguayo de Música Contemporánea "Nicolás Pérez González".

Obras

Referencias

 Centro Cultural de la República El Cabildo

 Diccionario Biográfico "FORJADORES DEL PARAGUAY", Primera Edición enero de 2000. Distribuidora Quevedo de Ediciones. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Enlaces externos

 Música Paraguaya

Músicos de Paraguay
Cantantes en español
Cantantes en guaraní

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Northern Forest Center Gift Guide
By Lianna Lee
'Tis the season for us to help you find beautiful gifts that are as exciting to give as to receive! In the spirit of shopping local and celebrating the Northern Forest region, I gathered recommendations from my Northern Forest Center colleagues. Our staff spend hundreds of hours on the road to work with community partners, assist rural businesses, and help create bold possibilities that give rise to vibrant Northern Forest communities. Along the way they see some great gift ideas.
In the spirit of Living the New Forest Future, we hope you'll consider shopping local and supporting family-owned businesses that help connect their customers and communities with our forested landscape this year.
Beyond the Rhetoric: Wood Heat and Climate Change
By Maura Adams and Rob Riley
Climate change is scientifically complex and politically fraught, yet very clear. Long-term data combined with local observation tell us that natural cycles are changing, and with significant effect.
At the Northern Forest Center, we pay special attention to news and studies about the role forests and forest products play in mitigating climate change – and to media stories that mischaracterize the carbon impact of using wood in our context. And there are many.
For example, we would have expected a more nuanced piece from climate activist Bill McKibben when he attacked every form of biomass energy in a recent New Yorker article: "Don't Burn Trees to Fight Climate Change – Let Them Grow" (8/15/19). Like others, he fails to recognize essential lifecycle distinctions that affect the equation for carbon impact of using wood for energy in places like New England.
By condemning use of wood for energy under all circumstances, McKibben and others dismiss an important means of reducing carbon emissions: displacing fossil fuels by instead heating homes and buildings with advanced wood heating systems using regionally-produced wood pellets or chips from managed forests. In many cases these pellets are made of sawdust that is the by-product from dimensional lumber, furniture, flooring, and other wood products manufacturing.
The Center is working in Bethel, Rumford, South Paris and Norway, Maine—communities ranging in population from 2,200 to 5,800 residents each—to build new opportunities in the forest economy and enhance community well-being. Our projects have included:
Advancing high-speed internet expansion: Secured a $78,000 grant from the Connect ME Authority, to support broadband expansion across 27 communities in western Maine.
Helping establish a new Community Forest: Worked with residents for two years to identify recreational uses for the forest, set management priorities and develop a stewardship plan for the new 978-acre Community Forest, which supports destination development and outdoor recreation opportunities for residents.
Investing in wood products: Provided technical assistance to wood product manufacturers and partnered with companies related to wood pellet heat to create quality jobs, source local wood and retain dollars in the community.
Providing regional coordination: Convened and facilitated Maine West, a collaborative composed of diverse non-profit partners implementing projects to secure economic, education, health and conservation benefits.
Maine West is focused on several aspects of overall community well-being. The collaborative launched the Second Nature Adventure Challenge to introduce residents to the outdoors and promote health, quality of life, and exercise; implemented a state-sponsored broadband planning process to thoughtfully expand coverage in the region; and convened multiple school district administrators to explore opportunities to strengthen links between schools, businesses, and communities, with the goal of helping students aspire to education excellence.
The work of the Maine West collaborative is strengthened by robust community engagement across the various projects and long-term support by the Betterment Fund.
Good Beer, Stronger Communities
By Maura Adams
James Fallows of The Atlantic and his wife, Deborah, have traveled over 54,000 miles in a single-engine prop plane to explore life in small cities and towns across the United States. In 2016, they published a list of eleven signs that a city will succeed, like strong "local patriots" and exemplary public-private partnerships. And then there's this: "One final marker, perhaps the most reliable: A city on the way back will have one or more craft breweries… You may think I'm joking, but just try to find an exception.
If craft breweries are a clear sign of community revitalization – and we believe they are! – then things are looking bright for the Northern Forest. We've counted at least 50 craft breweries in the region, from Boots Brewing in Watertown, NY, on one end of the Northern Forest to Northern Maine Brewing in Caribou, Maine, on the other.


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NFL: Players Must Stand
Days ahead of Memorial Day, NFL announces new policy on national anthem. Turns out the *new* policy isn't really *new* at all.
Important Context:
NFL players didn't always come on the field for the national anthem – only since 2009.
"New policy" allows players to choose to yet again NOT go on the field for the national anthem.
*If* on the field, players must "stand and show respect" during the anthem or face a league fine & possibly a fine from the team.
NFL: "It was unfortunate that on-field protests created a false perception among many that thousands of NFL players were unpatriotic. This is not and was never the case."
Something To Consider: Americans are watching less TV overall & NFL viewership has declined by millions since 2015. Some viewers say they boycotted the NFL because of the players on-field protests.
"This is fear of a diminished bottom line. It's also fear of a president turning his base against a corporation. This is not patriotism. Don't get it confused."
Chris Long, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end, responding to the "new policy" via Twitter. Long supports players on-field protests and is an outspoken critic of President Trump.
Different sports have different policies for player etiquette during the national anthem. The NBA has a strict one - and Nascar - none at all.
NFL owners approve national anthem policy for 2018: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000933971/article/nfl-owners-approve-national-anthem-policy-for-2018
Why the NFL's Ratings Saw a Steep Decline in 2017: https://www.si.com/tech-media/2018/01/03/nfl-ratings-decline-espn-fox-nbc-network-tv
Chris Long Rips NFL's New Anthem Rules: 'This Is Not Patriotism': http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2777605-chris-long-rips-nfls-new-anthem-rules-this-is-not-patriotism
GOOD READ: How the NFL's new anthem policy compares to other sports leagues: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/05/nfl-new-anthem-policy-rule-nhl-nba-nascar-mls-ncaa
Dissent Amongst Teams: https://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/national-anthem-christopher-johnson-fines-1.18700702
Despite the NFL's approval of a revised policy that requires players on the field to stand during the national anthem, Jets chairman Christopher Johnson told Newsday on Wednesday that his players are free to take a knee or perform some other protest without fear of repercussion from the team.League owners unanimously adopted a policy that allows players who don't want to participate in the anthem to remain in the locker room. Players who do appear on the field for the anthem must stand; if they don't, their respective club faces a league-issued fine and teams can levy additional fines."I do not like imposing any club-specific rules," Johnson said. "If somebody [on the Jets] takes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organization, by me, not the players. I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players. Do I prefer that they stand? Of course. But I understand if they felt the need to protest. There are some big, complicated issues that we're all struggling with, and our players are on the front lines. I don't want to come down on them like a ton of bricks, and I won't. There will be no club fines or suspensions or any sort of repercussions. If the team gets fined, that's just something I'll have to bear."


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Korczyński – polskie nazwisko.

Osoby noszące nazwisko "Korczyński":
 Adam Korczyński (XVII w.) – polski poeta wierszopis
 Ignacy Korczyński (1948-) – polski entomolog
 Michał Korczyński (1784-1839) – biskup przemyski
 Edward Korczyński (1844-1905) – polski lekarz internista
 Ludomił Korczyński (1867—1936) – polski lekarz balneolog
 Antoni Korczyński (1879-1929) – polski chemik organik
 Antoni Marian Korczyński (1897-1940) – podpułkownik dyplomowany Wojska Polskiego
 Grzegorz Korczyński vel Stefan Kilanowicz (1915-1971) – generał broni Wojska Polskiego

Zobacz też
 Korczyńscy - postacie literackie w powieści Nad Niemnem i jej ekranizacji Nad Niemnem (film 1987).

Polskie nazwiska