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Feature: Orion Ensemble Kicks off its 26th Season Sunday
By Louis Harris on September 19, 2018 • ( Leave a comment )
Orion Ensemble reaches the sky. Photo by Cornelia Babbitt.
One of Chicago's longest running chamber music groups will be kicking off its 26th season, The Journey Continues, with three concerts starting this Sunday. The Orion Ensemble is a quartet with Kathryne Pirtle on clarinet, Diana Schmück on piano, Florentina Ramniceanu on violin, and Judy Stone on cello. In every concert of the 2018-19 season, the ensemble will be joined by guest violist Stephen Boe.
The opening concert, Vienna, City of My Dreams, is a typical Orion Ensemble program in that it presents three less frequently performed works by mainstream composers, all of whom were based in Vienna. On the program is a quartet for clarinet and strings by Mozart that was originally written as a sonata for violin and piano, K. 378. In 1799, shortly after Mozart's death, Johann Anton Andre arranged it for clarinet and string trio, which is the version the ensemble will be playing this weekend.
Orion Ensemble with Stephen Boe played Kritz Quintet. Photo by Ed Ingold.
Also on the opening program is Franz Schubert's Adagio and Rondo Concertante for solo piano and string trio, one of only two works Schubert wrote for a four-person or larger grouping of piano and strings. It is performed far less frequently than Schubert's other such work, the Trout Quintet. Next is an early chamber work by Richard Strauss, Piano Quartet in c-minor. Strauss would go on to write several wonderful orchestral tone poems; his piano quartet is a rarely heard treat. The Orion Ensemble will be performing Vienna, City of My Dreams in Evanston, Chicago's South Loop, and Geneva, Illinois.
The Orion Ensemble has been entertaining Chicago audiences since 1992. With the traditional piano trio joined by a clarinet, it has an unusual instrumental line-up. Once it formed, the ensemble was immediately confronted with the fact that the music repertoire for this arrangement of instruments is very limited. The four members are only rarely together on-stage at once because there simply is not enough diverse material to fill a multi-concert season, much less 26 seasons.
Even so, in a lengthy interview, clarinetist and Executive Director Kathryne Pirtle pointed out that more chamber music has been written for clarinet than any other wind instrument. "We're very lucky," she averred. "There is a wealth of all the different instrumentations that includes the clarinet."
Performing all of it requires contributions from guest performers playing a variety of different instruments, a freedom the Orion Ensemble has embraced. The entire chamber music repertoire is available for their concerts. Many such works include a viola, and the ensemble at times has officially included a violist. Although Stephen Boe will be appearing as a guest artist for each concert this year, he is not an official member of the Ensemble.
Pirtle noted, "We've always had clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. And then we would have guests. There are not many pieces that use all four of us. But there are tons of configurations, like piano trio, variations of all of us working on different kinds of repertoire for us. We've had several pieces written for us."
Kathryne Pirtle had the inspiration to start Orion Ensemble. Photo by Jonathans Portraits.
Pirtle was a leading inspiration and founding member of the group. She had been attracted to chamber music in junior high school, when she was a part of a woodwind quintet. She then pursued chamber music with gusto in high school and college, where she was an overachiever in the number of performances she gave. She explained, "As I got older, I really preferred working with strings and piano. The timbre I feel with the strings and clarinet is so marvelous that it resonates with me so strongly to play with strings. I guess I focused on that repertoire with strings and piano, strings and clarinet alone."
During a stint in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in the mid 1980s, Pirtle formed an earlier version of the Orion Ensemble that included pianist Diana Schmück and colleagues from the Civic. That effort eventually fell apart, and Pirtle found herself the lead clarinetist in the Warner Brothers Orchestra, which included violinist Florentina Ramniceanu as concertmaster. One day, while touring in the Bugs Bunny on Broadway program, Pirtle and Ramniceanu sat next to one another on a Southwest Airlines flight, when they had a pivotal conversation.
Pirtle recalled, "Florentina and I talked on Southwest Airlines. We started talking about chamber, and I told her I would really love to put together a concert with her… So we played a concert together at the DePaul Concert Hall in 1991. That was the first concert of the Orion Ensemble. We added viola and cello."
For her part, in a separate interview, Florentina Ramniceanu recalled having been performing with the Consortium String Quartet. "We were known for our unique collaboration with Corky Siegel at the time, when he first created chamber blues in the '90s," she recalled. "The Consortium String Quartet had dissolved after 7 years because two of the members moved to different states."
Florentina Ramniceanu was a founding member of Orion Ensemble. Photo by Devon Cass.
Ramniceanu, who grew up in Romania, remembers that fateful plane ride with Pirtle, who had asked if she had ever played Contrasts, a trio scored for clarinet, violin, and piano by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. When Ramniceanu responded "no," Pirtle said, "You mean, you're Romanian and you haven't played Bartók?" To this, Ramniceanu replied, "Well, I have played a lot of Bartók, but not the clarinet trio." Pirtle then asked if Ramniceanu would like to perform it with pianist Diana Schmück, who Ramniceanu did not know at the time.
"We put together a program that fall that included several other pieces," Ramniceanu recalled. "I did the [Romanian composer George] Enescu violin piano sonata, and she [Pirtle] did the Prokofiev violin sonata transcribed for clarinet. And we did the Bartók at the DePaul Concert Hall. It was such a great concert, and we wanted more."
Ramniceanu recalled how the initial concert opened her eyes to forming a chamber ensemble with strings, piano, and clarinet. "Me as a string player, I would never in a million years have thought to have put together a chamber group with a clarinetist," she confessed. "It's just not something you grow up with." However, she reflected, "from the beginning, we played together so well. … We're still coming up with new sounds and colors."
One way they've gotten around the limited repertoire is by commissioning new works, although composers have written and dedicated pieces to the Ensemble that were not commissions. "Composers want to write for us," said Pirtle. "That has happened many times … more often than us giving money for a commission." She and Ramniceanu pointed to Sebastian Huydts as "having been so generous with our ensemble, he's written some very incredible works for us over the years," explained Pirtle.
Born in The Netherlands, but based in Chicago, Huydts has composed several works for the Orion Ensemble, with and without commission compensation. Last season, he wrote a work specifically to celebrate their 25th anniversary season. In January 2018, the Orion Ensemble gave the world premiere of what Pirtle called "a profound piece."
Another tool they have used is researching little known works by little known composers. "We are blessed to know colleagues who are passionate about research, people who have access to libraries of things that were never published, manuscripts," explained Ramniceanu. "So we took the time and interest to dig into this—and this was before the internet made things so easy—and sometimes even handwrite things so we can read it. It is something that is worth following up on."
Ramniceanu pointed to the Orion Ensemble CD Twilight of the Romantics, which features two works from the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries that had never previously been recorded. The first was Walter Rabl's Quartet in E-flat Major for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, op. 1; the second was Josef Labor's Quintet in D-Major for clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano, Op. 11. She noted that both composers were "contemporaries of Brahms that nobody at the time had heard of, really. And they were so gorgeous."
"That is in line with our thinking and our philosophy," reflected Ramniceanu. "It's a necessity as well, because, given our instrumentation and the limited clarinet repertoire, you kind of have to do it, but you can't really do it unless you're passionate about it. We are first and foremost performing musicians, performing artists. We are not researchers. We don't have that kind of time. … We have to do it in a way that works with our performing schedule."
Another result of their unique configuration is the performance of interesting programs that can run the chamber music gamut. Orion Ensemble programs occasionally include warhorses of classical chamber music, but they more often feature the lesser known repertoire for clarinet, piano, and strings.
Orion Ensemble members Diana Schmück, Florentina Ramniceanu, Kathryne Pirtle, and Judy Stone celebrate their 24th season, photo by Devon Cass.
"Our goal is to mix as much variety in our programming as we can," explained Pirtle. "We still work on pieces that are standards, and then have pieces that maybe not everybody knows, but they're great pieces. And that of course includes pieces from our time." She paused to reflect, and continued, "We try to bring pieces to people that would have never chosen to listen to, but they hear it and they enjoy it. I would say our contemporary programming is always based on something that we feel has substance to it. Gone are the days where pieces are played that there's no heart to them. We tend not to program pieces that we don't feel our audience will connect to. It's very helpful to have the creative output that we have to have that kind of breath and depth to it."
The upcoming Journey Continues season amply displays this. Following the initial Vienna, City of My Dreams concerts next week, The ensemble will be performing Russian Passion in November. Those concerts will include Anton Arensky's String Quartet in a-minor, a work with the unusual scoring of violin, viola, and two cellos. In addition to Boe, Russian born, Chicago based cellist Ian Maksin will also be performing the Arensky.
Besides playing cello, Maksin is also a composer. Pirtle and Ramniceanu admire his ability to mix musical influences into his work, with Pirtle noting that he has collaborated with Andrea Boccelli, Gloria Estefan, Snoop Dog, and Sting. Russian Passion includes a new Maksin composition inspired by tango nuevo, blues, and eastern European folk music.
Also to be played on the Russian Passion program is a trio for piano, clarinet and cello by Carl Frühling, a German composer straddling the turn of the 20th Century who was born in Lviv, which, at the time of its composition, was part of the Russian Empire but today is in western Ukraine.
In March 2019, the Orion Ensemble will be performing French Musical Treasure, where Pirtle will be playing clarinet on contemporary works by Stacy Garrop and Nancy Van de Vate. The ensemble will also be performing a piano trio by lesser known French composer Cecile Chaminade, who flourished in the 19th and 20th Centuries. The program concludes with an infrequently performed piano quartet by Beethoven, in E-flat major, op. 16. This work was originally a quintet for piano and winds, but Beethoven later re-scored it for a quartet of piano, violin, viola, and cello.
The final concerts in May 2019 feature the only unabashed warhorse to be performed all season. Brahms Finale will end with one of that composer's most important chamber works, Piano Quintet in f-minor, op. 34. Other works on the program are Kleines Konzert, a trio for viola, clarinet, and piano by Alfred Uhl, and Overture on Hebrew Themes, a sextet for clarinet, string quartet, and piano by Sergei Prokofiev, op. 34.
The 2014-15 season ended in a way that illustrates the programming that the Orion Ensemble brings to the stage, mixing modern and contemporary music with more traditional standards. The first half was memorialized in the video linked below. Performed at the PianoForte Studios on May 27, 2015, the concert opens with a work from the 1950s, Quartetino for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello by Hungarian composer Rezső Kókai. It concludes with a work from 2007, Tapas for violin, viola, and cello, by contemporary composer Marc Mellits. In the performances, members of the Orion Ensemble are joined by violist Stephen Boe. The second half of that concert started with contemporary works by Cuban-born, Jazz saxophonist Paquito Francisco D'Rivera and ended with a warhorse by Johannes Brahms, Piano Quartet no. 2 in A-major, op 26.
While the Orion Ensemble tours regularly, they are based in Chicago. Since its founding, it has always performed each program three times, once downtown, and one each in the western and northern suburbs. This season the Ensemble will perform every concert at the PianoForte Studios in the South Loop and Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston. Three of the four concerts will be at Chapelstreet Church in Geneva, Illinois, but the Russian Passion concert will instead be at the First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn. There will also be live broadcasts on WFMT, Monday October 1, 2018, and Monday, March 11, 2019, as well as a Fall Benefit concert in St. Charles on Saturday, October 13, 2018. In the past, the Ensemble has also performed in Batavia and Winnetka.
Two of the four members of the Orion Ensemble, Kathryne Pirtle and Judy Stone, were born and raised in Chicago. A third, Diana Schmück, was born in western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, but came to Chicago for school and eventually chose to settle here.
Orion Ensemble takes a break at Montrose Harbor. Photo by Cornelia Babbitt.
"I grew up in Addison," said Pirtle. "I've lived here my whole life, except when I went to college. This is a great city to have as template for everything you want to accomplish as a performing artist. If you're willing to work hard you can form a career here doing many different things."
While she loves her work with the Orion Ensemble, Pirtle conceded that "any clarinetist who would be a serious, professional chamber musician would also have an orchestral career in general." Among her other endeavors, she is also the principal clarinetist in the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra.
Florentina Ramniceanu is from Bucharest, Romania, where she grew up in chamber music, having a piano trio when she was nine years old. She eventually won a competition for eastern-bloc musicians and was able to study with David Oistrakh in Weimar, East Germany. She moved to Chicago from Rome in the middle of January 1981. Even though the city was in the grips of a horrible winter, she felt right here. "I'm a city girl, born and raised," she declared, adding, "[I'm] used to crowds, lots of cars, street smart." She was invited to work with Herbert Berg in New York City, but chose to stay in Chicago.
Several things about Chicago initially attracted her and today keep her here. "This city has such a rich, rich culture, cutting edge art scene, theater scene," she said. "When I moved here, the Vermeer String Quartet was here, and I loved them. Of course, the symphony, and all that. Geographically the city itself is gorgeous with the lake and the park on the lake. The architecture—coming from Europe, this modern architecture takes my breath away. And it keeps getting better and better. I think the people in Chicago are just nicer, warmer people than other cities." She loves the neighborhoods and now lives in Lakeview.
Ramniceanu has also explored Chicago's rich blues and jazz scenes. "I used to be a [classical music] purist," she conceded, "but as years have gone by, I love great music, especially great blues and great jazz." Pointing to Ian Maksin, she noted that some of the guest musicians who join the Orion Ensemble reflect their interest in crossing over to other musical forms.
When asked about the steps Orion Ensemble is taking to grow its audience, both Pirtle and Ramniceanu expressed pride in the work they do with student musicians in schools. "We have an educational partnership through schools called Janet's Stage," explained Pirtle. "We go to the schools and we coach chamber music for three periods in a high school day. We coach their chamber groups, and we go there six times a year and perform for them, and then we bring those student groups to our stages."
The Orion Ensemble's founders take the stage. Photo by Ed Ingold.
Ramniceanu was pleased that "we actually touch hundreds, up to a thousand students a year. We work with them year around." She noted that they do chamber music with students and go to two or three schools throughout the year. "We form chamber groups, we with work them, we bring them to our stages, bring their colleagues, their friends, and their parents to our concerts for free. We are really a major presence for a small group in these schools." She noted that they "work with Chicago High School for the Arts where we present chamber music concerts and master classes designed for them."
Outside of schools, Pirtle mentioned that they also coach and work with groups at the Chicago Youth Symphony and the Elgin Symphony. "Those are ways we're involved in the community and get attention. Our programs and the way we present them have always been accessible." She paused and reflected, "Could we make them even more accessible? I suppose so, but I don't feel that's a big issue."
When asked about the audience the Orion Ensemble attracts and the aging that seems to be happening to the audience for classical music, Pirtle noted, "The audience that we have has many older people in it. Like every organization, we try lots of ways to bring in new people. We really, literally, just keep putting it out there, and our marketing team helps us to get out the message about our concerts, word of mouth, we use Facebook, although I don't know that always translates into ticket sales." She also noted, "We're on the radio. We place ads on radio and other places to announce what we're doing."
Referring to chamber music in general, Pirtle observed, "Chamber music is, by and large, a smaller audience. It's not the same as putting on an orchestral concert with a big professional chorus, but if you talk to any other group, they're always trying different ways of marketing. We talk to our audience, we socialize after concerts, we have events."
Pirtle proudly noted, "Our longevity speaks for itself, and we attract people. I don't think there's a magic pill to change what we do, or whether we should. Sometimes you have a big audience, and sometimes you don't. You literally just keep putting it out."
Orion Ensemble will be performing Vienna, City of My Dreams, this Sunday, September 23, Music Institute of Chicago Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston, 3:00 pm; next Wednesday, September 26, PianoForte Studios, 1335 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, 7:30 pm; and the following Sunday, September 30,Chapelstreet Church, 2300 South St., Geneva, IL, 7:00 pm. To purchase tickets, check out this link.
Categories: Classical, Features, Music
Tagged as: chamber music, contemporary music, Florentina Ramniceanu, Kathryne Pirtle, Orion Ensemble
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The rats who sniff out tuberculosis
The long read
Illustration by Parkin Parkin Photograph: Parkin Parkin
The African giant pouched rat can be trained to sniff out tuberculosis more accurately than most lab tests. So why is the medical profession still sceptical?
by Emma Young
Main image: Illustration by Parkin Parkin Photograph: Parkin Parkin
Tue 23 Feb 2016 01.00 EST Last modified on Tue 28 Nov 2017 21.03 EST
In a small, hot room in a compound located in Tanzania's lush southern highlands, one day in mid-December, were three white-clad technicians, a glass-and-metal chamber and a large brown rat named Charles.
After being gently dropped into the chamber, Charles aimed his long snout towards the first of a series of 10 sliding metal plates in the chamber's base. A technician swiftly opened it, revealing a small hole. Charles sniffed at it … and moved on. The hole was closed, and there was a clink as the next plate was yanked back. This time, Charles was gripped. He sniffed hard, scratching at the metal, the five claws on each of his paws splayed with the pressure. The technician called out: "Two!"
Over by the window, her colleague held a chart, which he kept raised so the others could not see it. He inserted a tick. I glanced over. The chart was a grid of small boxes, 10 across by 10 down, each marked with a code. Two of the boxes in each line were shaded grey. The tick had been placed in a white box. It is highly possible that Charles had just saved a person's life.
Charles is an African giant pouched rat, a species endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. He is also a pioneer, one of 30 of his species that live and work in Morogoro, a few hundred kilometres west of Tanzania's largest city, Dar es Salaam. The rats are engaged in a programme to sniff out tuberculosis, a disease that can destroy the lungs. About nine million new cases of TB are diagnosed worldwide every year, a quarter of them in Africa. Africa also has the highest TB death rate per head of population. Antibiotics can cure the disease, but it is fatal if untreated, and many patients are never diagnosed. This is partly because the 125-year-old microscope-based test used across Tanzania (and in many other cash-strapped countries) picks up only about 60% of cases – and that figure drops as low as 20% for people also infected with HIV.
This is where Charles comes in. He and his rodent colleagues sniff cough-and-spit samples provided by suspected TB patients. The rats are not infallible, but they do detect about 70% of cases, whether or not a patient has HIV – which matters a great deal in Tanzania, where about four in every 10 people with TB are HIV-positive.
That particular morning Charles sniffed 100 samples, missing one that had been identified as positive by the public clinic – shaded grey on the chart – but identifying 12 new suspected cases, which would then go for secondary checking.
The next rat brought into the testing room, a sleeker, bigger-eared, three-and-a-half-year-old named Vladić (after a Bosnian Croat footballer; many of the rats are named after footballers), was even speedier than Charles. There was a rapid clatter of metal plates being pulled back and replaced. The two technicians manning the chamber called out numbers: "Three! … Nine!" Ticks rapidly accumulated on a fresh copy of the same chart. About 15 minutes later, Vladić had correctly identified eight out of 10 clinic-positives, and also 15 new suspected cases.
Fidelis John, the training supervisor, was looking on. The African giant pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus), unlike the standard lab rat, Rattus norvegicus, is not a species that has been bred over many generations to cooperate well with people. It is very laborious to train them to perform. "It's not easy …" John agreed, smiling. "But it's possible. When a rat does not perform well, it is usually the trainer who is to blame."
Around the world, other animals – mostly dogs – are being used experimentally to screen human samples for disease; the TB-sniffing rats of Tanzania are the only animals routinely used as disease detectives. When medics first hear about the programme, they are often sceptical about the idea of using rats rather than machines, said Christophe Cox, CEO of Apopo, the Belgian-based organisation behind the project. But then they are shown the case detection data. The rats are saving lives every day. Based on these figures, there are calls for dogs to be more widely used in disease diagnosis.
The first "Lancet letter" came in 1989. Writing in the prestigious medical journal, a pair of dermatologists reported the case of a patient whose dog constantly sniffed at a mole on her leg, and on one occasion even tried to bite it off. The woman sought medical advice. Tests showed it was a malignant melanoma, almost 2mm thick. It was removed, and she suffered no lasting effects.
The second Lancet letter (as they are known in the dog-cancer-detection community) was published in 2001. John Church, a British doctor, and his colleague reported the case of a 66-year-old man whose pet labrador, Parker, kept pushing his nose against the man's leg, sniffing at a rough patch of skin that had been diagnosed as eczema. The man went back to his doctor. The "eczema" was found to be a basal cell carcinoma, which was swiftly removed.
"This is how it started," Church told the inaugural international conference on medical biodetection, held in Cambridge, UK, in September 2015. "It was all anecdotal."
Illustration by Parkin Parkin
At least, that was how interest in using dogs to sniff out cancer began. But the idea of smelling breath, urine and stools to diagnose disease goes back millennia. In the time of Hippocrates, around 400BC, it was reportedly common for patients to cough and spit on hot coals to generate a smell that the physician would sniff to aid diagnosis.
Methods for disease diagnosis have clearly come a long way. But the Lancet letters got some people, including John Church, thinking: might animal noses be quicker, or more accurate, and cheaper – and so more widely accessible – than some high-tech cancer-screening techniques? If dogs really could sniff out cancer, what other diseases might they smell? And might the noses of other animals be useful too?
Over the past decade, there have been projects investigating the use of bees to sniff out cancer, for example, but that research has not advanced very far. The overwhelming focus in the field now is on dogs. Rats are a recent addition to the field.
Weetjens knew that African giant pouched rats are superlative sniffers. He had already used them to save lives
When someone with TB coughs, he or she exhales compounds produced by the bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. If the TB is advanced enough, the smell of these compounds can even be detected by people. In 2002, when research into the potential of using dogs in cancer diagnosis was just beginning, a former product designer from Belgium called Bart Weetjens was wondering about applying the particular skills of African giant pouched rats.
Weetjens already knew that TB had a distinctive smell. "In my native language, Dutch, the name for TB traditionally is tering, which etymologically refers to the smell of tar." Weetjens also knew that African giant pouched rats are superlative sniffers. More than that, he understood how to breed them and how to train them. He already had a strong track record of using the species to save lives, albeit in a very different setting.
As a boy, growing up in Antwerp, Weetjens had kept pet rats. "Not only rats – I was very fond of all kinds of rodents. Hamsters and mice, and then rats. I tried gerbils and squirrels as well." He bred them in his bedroom. "I learned that they smell very well, but I was not bothered with that. I was simply breeding these animals to sell offspring to the pet shops. It was a way to get pocket money. I gave up all rat breeding in my bedroom when I was 14."
After graduating and starting work as a product designer, Weetjens found himself increasingly preoccupied with the problem of landmines. "I saw a documentary about Cambodia, and also Princess Diana in Angola visiting mine-extraction operations." He began to consider landmine-detection systems: in theory, what kind of engineering solution would work best? Then he met a Dutch researcher who had come across plans to try to use cockroaches to detect TNT exuding from buried landmines. "I thought, yes – this was the way forward: using local resources, a solution based on what was available in the context. This was for me an a-ha moment."
Except that Weetjens did not think cockroaches. He thought rodents. In 1997, at a time when the local military academy in Antwerp was working on a landmine-detecting robot, he secured his first research grant, from the Belgian Development Cooperation, a government agency. "The secretary for the Development Cooperation had been a director of Doctors Without Borders. He knew the African realities much better than the army folks did, actually. He immediately said to one of the professors in our team: 'This is a stupid idea, let's do it!'"
First, Weetjens had to figure out which species to use. Ideally, he wanted an animal endemic to sub-Saharan Africa, which at the time was the region most affected by landmines: one that was not that susceptible to disease, that relied heavily on scent (because it would have to sniff TNT in tiny concentrations in the air), that was long-lived and that could be trained. Professor Ron Verhagen, head of evolutionary biology at the University of Antwerp, who had worked in Morogoro for many years, had a suggestion. "He said, well, I might have a suitable animal for you: the African giant pouched rat, which he had seen at some point in a village on a leash."
There were some early setbacks. At first, the rats did not breed well in captivity, and it took a while to work out how best to train them. But the landmine programme, which operates from a base on the campus of Sokoine University of Agriculture, has become hugely successful.
'Heroic' giant rats sniff out landmines in Tanzania | Sam Jones
At an average weight of about 1kg, the rats are too light to set off mines. They can scurry across and search 200 square metres of ground in 20 minutes, compared with 50 square metres per day for a person using a metal detector. They sniff for traces of TNT, and when they find them, they scrabble at the spot. Apopo, the organisation Weetjens founded, dispatches trained rats to areas of land known or suspected to be mined, that cannot be farmed or lived on because of the risk of explosions.
Areas that are not intensively mined can be disproportionately dangerous, because local people are more likely to take the risk of venturing into them. James Pursey, who manages communications for Apopo, tells a story: "I was just in Angola. There's an area next to a school where a landmine once went off. I was talking to the headmaster and he said if the boys kicked a football into this area they would draw straws as to who would go and get it. None of the boys had been hurt. But when the rats searched the area, they found another landmine."
The Apopo rats are trained on a practice field a short drive from the Morogoro headquarters. Early one morning, I caught the "rat bus" – a truck that transports the rats from their kennel – along a bumpy road to a kiosk at the end of a red dirt track. There, trainers were gathering to collect their blue coats with the Apopo logo, and water bottles, peanuts and bananas for the rats. When they had everything they needed, they headed down to the field.
On that site, 1,500 deactivated landmines are buried up to 30cm below grass and shrubs. The field is taped off into rectangles, varying in area from 5x3 metres up to 10x20 metres. The trainers work in pairs, each pair working a different rectangle. They start at one end. The trainee rat wears a harness with a spring attached to it. A cord runs from one trainer's boot, through this spring to one of the other trainer's boots. The rat runs freely along the cord, sniffing the ground as it goes. Tapes are also attached to each end of the spring, and the trainers hold the tapes. They use them to gently tug the rat back into position, or into action if it stops moving for too long.
Once the rat has sniffed the first half-metre's width of the rectangle, the trainers take a half-metre step to the side, and the rat sets off again. The trainers know where the landmines are. When a rat stops and sniffs and scratches in the right location, one squeezes a clicker (the kind routinely used in training dogs and dolphins) and the animal darts over for a nibble of banana or a nut.
In a real (rather than practice) field, paths for the trainers are first cleared by metal detectors. If a rat sounds the alarm, a trainer puts down a marker, and when the zone has been fully checked, someone with a metal detector goes to the spot to confirm the rat alert.
To graduate as a landmine-sniffer, a rat has to find 100% of the landmines in a test field in a single sweep. Abdullah Mchomvu heads the landmine-training team. He was out there that morning, supervising the session. "You have to be patient," he said. "Some learn quickly and others more slowly – but all in all they normally reach the goal."
Apopo rat teams have now worked in Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos – not just on landmines, but also on old ammunition, mortars and grenades. The Apopo team working in Mozambique, for example, has destroyed 13,294 landmines and returned more than 11m square metres of land to communities over seven years. This programme played a big role in the country's ability to declare, in September 2015, that it was landmine-free.
Mchomvu started working with the rats in 2002. He has 24 trainers under his supervision. It is satisfying work, he said. "To train the rats to detect landmines means we save the lives of people. To work at serving other people – I like it."
In another small, hot room at the Apopo TB centre, down the road from the landmine HQ on the Sokoine University campus, a skittish four-month-old rat dug his nose into one of three holes in a scaled-down version of the full TB testing chamber. He scraped so hard at the hole it looked as though he was trying to disappear down it. Then he heard a click, and quickly turned to gape his jaw at a small opening in the side of the chamber for his reward: a syringe-delivered slug of mashed banana, avocado and pellets.
The initial stage of training for rats, whether they're destined to smell landmines or TB, is socialisation, Fidelis John explained. Baby rats are first taken from their mothers when they are about five weeks old. They are handled every day for gradually extended periods, building up to their being carried around for the day on a trainer's person. The next stage is clicker training: they learn that the sound of the clicker means food. Rats in the landmine stream then learn to associate the scent of TNT with reward. The rats who will work on TB are given a TB-positive sample, explained John. "Once the rat sniffs the hole, I click. So the rat understands that if they smell this and the clicker comes, it means they get food. So then they understand: 'If I smell TB, I get food'."
It takes about nine months to train a rat. When an animal is thought to be ready, it is presented with 30 samples, eight of which are TB-positive. To graduate, it has to detect seven out of eight positive samples with no false indications, or eight out of eight with up to one false indication.
Rats detect mines in Tanzania – in pictures | Sam Jones
Training then continues on the job. The public clinics taking part in the programme send in half of all the cough-and-spit samples given by suspected patients, along with the results of their microscopy tests, which look for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The testing rats sniff at least 10 sets of 10 samples every weekday. Two clinic-positive samples in each set of 10 act as training reinforcers: when a rat correctly identifies one of these, it hears a click and receives a slug of mashed food. (The clinic's positive results are generally confirmed as positive by the rats, Apopo says; it's the large proportion of missed cases that constitutes the main problem with the standard microscopy technique.)
At least two (if not more) rats sniff all the clinic-negative samples sent in. Any sample indicated as positive by any of the rats then goes for checking with a more sophisticated, more accurate – and more expensive – microscope technique than the one used in the clinics. In another lab in the complex are the five LED microscopes generally used for this final diagnosis. On the day of my visit in December, two technicians were at work. One showed me what the TB bacteria look like through his microscope: tiny, bright fluorescing stripes. It is only if the LED microscope check confirms the rat indication that a positive result is sent back to the clinic.
Better ways of detecting TB are badly needed in southern Africa, the epicentre of the TB epidemic, said Helen McShane, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford and a specialist on TB in Africa. "Anything that is quicker, or more sensitive – or both – at picking up TB than current methods is to be welcomed. Particularly something like this, which is not resource-intensive."
Still, any new method for diagnosing TB needs to be both highly sensitive (to pick up all the cases) and highly specific (to avoid identifying too many samples as TB-positive when they're not), said McShane.
GeneXpert, a highly accurate DNA-based technique, which is supported by the World Health Organisation, performs strongly on both variables. And in an ideal world, most clinics would use LED microscopy or GeneXpert. But these techniques are expensive and slow. A rat, which costs $6,500 to train, can rattle through 100 samples in 20 minutes. A GeneXpert device, which costs $17,000, takes around two hours to analyse a single sample. It costs about $1 to screen a sample using a rat, compared with $10 for GeneXpert. GeneXpert requires a stable electricity supply and controlled temperatures; the rats require food and water and play cages.
It is not possible to get both very high sensitivity and accuracy with the rats, Christophe Cox told me. Sensitivity can be improved (by using more rats to sniff each sample), but then accuracy worsens, and vice versa. Still, he is convinced that the rats have a crucial role to play in diagnosis. For developing countries, he argued, the rats are a fast and affordable life-saving triage tool.
The use of dogs to sniff out cancer was initially met with scepticism, and continues, partly because no one has identified exactly which compounds the dogs are sniffing. However, there is work showing that metabolic changes brought about by cancer cause the pattern of so-called "volatile organic chemicals" produced by affected cells to alter – and dogs seem to be able to detect patterns characteristic of specific cancers. Dr Georgies Mgode, head of Apopo's TB programme in Tanzania, explained that, unlike with cancer-sniffing dogs, it is known what the rats are detecting. He did the studies himself for his PhD. His series of careful studies revealed that they respond to a combination of six volatile organic compounds produced by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogen. And the rats can detect this combination even at very low levels, which is why they do not have a problem identifying TB in someone with HIV.
Because of their weakened immune systems, people with HIV develop TB when infected with far fewer bacteria than are needed to make a healthy person sick. Relatively few bacteria in the cough-and-spit sample make it less likely that a technician using a microscope will spot them. But they still produce a smell that can be detected by the rats.
It may even be the case that the rats can sniff out the bacteria at levels so low as to be undetectable even by sophisticated laboratory techniques, Mgode suggested. "You will get a [clinic] sample that is indicated by 11 rats, but you can't confirm it's TB [with the LED microscopy]. To me …" he tapped his chest, "…to me, I know this is TB. But since we don't have a conventional method which is approved, we don't report this patient."
The rats have screened 342,341 samples. Overall, they have hiked the TB case detection rate by around 40%
If the rats can detect TB at an earlier stage of infection than any other method, this could be a huge benefit, since a patient who is treated earlier is less likely to transmit his or her infection to other people. Mgode is planning to do more research to investigate this. But the biggest aims right now with the TB programme are more practical: getting results to patients faster and expanding the programme's reach.
The programme started with four clinics in 2007. Now, 21 clinics in Dar es Salaam, about a third of the total, send samples via motorbikes and a bus to the rats. The rats also get samples from one clinic on the coast and three in Morogoro. A smaller sister programme, launched in Maputo, Mozambique, in 2013, using nine rats trained in Morogoro, receives all suspected TB samples gathered there.
In 2015, the TB rats screened over 40,000 samples. In total, since the programme began, they have screened 342,341 samples and identified 9,127 patients who had been told by the clinics that they did not have TB. Overall, the rats have hiked the TB case detection rate in the populations they are screening by around 40%. Apopo is now in talks to start a new rat TB programme in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. If impressive detection data can be gathered from a third centre, this may help to convince remaining sceptics about the usefulness of the rats.
The other main goal right now is to switch the Tanzanian TB testing from Morogoro to Dar es Salaam. That should allow the rat results to be returned to the clinics in time for them to be given to patients at the same time as the standard microscopy results, instead of many days later – a delay that currently means that just less than a third of patients diagnosed thanks to the rats do not actually receive their positive results. It would mean, Mgode said, that the programme will save even more lives.
In Dar es Salaam I met Claudi, a boy whose TB was picked up by Apopo. He was waiting for me on the crumbling concrete porch of his home in Tandale, a slum suburb, in a yellow short-sleeved school shirt and grey shorts. It is in suburbs such as this, where many people often share a house and nutrition is poor, that TB can spread relatively easily, explained Scholastica Myemba, who works for Apopo and is completing a master's in public health at the University of Dar es Salaam.
The giant rats that save lives by detecting landmines
Myemba supervises Apopo's team of outreach volunteers – people who track down patients identified by the rats and make sure they take their medication. She translated as Claudi's grandmother explained what happened. Claudi is eight now. He was six when he got sick. "He was not in a good condition," his grandmother said. "He was coughing and coughing and not feeling good."
When she took him to the TB clinic at nearby Tandale Hospital, the standard microscope test for TB came back negative. Claudi's coughing did not improve. But then, a little more than a week after the negative result, the family was contacted by an Apopo volunteer, who explained that Claudi's sample had been checked again, this time by rats. The rats had flagged Claudi's sample for further testing – and this test confirmed he had TB.
Claudi was prescribed antibiotics by the doctors to treat his TB. The volunteer came every day to make sure Claudi took his pills for the full six-month course of treatment. Now, he is healthy and able to work hard at school.
Still, Mgode explained, the benefits of a correct diagnosis go beyond access to life-saving drugs. For some patients, there is also the stigma of being suspected of having HIV.
Not long ago, with a group of Apopo donors, Mgode met a man in Morogoro whose TB had been detected by the rats. "Afterwards I asked him in Swahili: 'When you went to hospital and were diagnosed negative, how did you feel?' He said: 'Ah, my colleagues were asking me: "Man, if not TB, what else?"' That is the problem. He was feeling like even his friends were thinking he had HIV. So when he got the rats' result showing TB, he was so happy."
Weetjens and Mgode both talked about how difficult it is to get funding for the rat programme. Much of what Apopo does get consists of an assortment of relatively small donations from various governments and businesses, along with proceeds from an initiative that allows individuals to "adopt" a rat.
But whatever happens in the future in terms of expansion – and funding – "already the technique is saving a lot of people," Mgode said. "Already, the impact is huge."
Main illustration by Parkin Parkin
This is an edited version of an article that was first published in Mosaic. It is republished here under a Creative Commons licence
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2000 AD Trades
2000 Ad Pack Jun 2016
Blazing SF action from the Eisner-nominated UK anthology! In Judge Dredd: 'The Lion's Den' by Michael Carroll and PJ Holden, Judge Joyce teams up with a familiar ally before the fightback in Mega-City One begins in 'Reclamation' by Michael Carroll and Colin MacNeil. Psi-Judge Anderson returns in 'The Candidate' by Emma Beeby and Nick Dyer as a mayoral candidate becomes the target of the Citizens' Army; the habitats are going sects-mad in 'Brink' by Dan Abnett and INJ Culbard; Celtic warrior Slaine battles a zombie Trojan army in 'Psychopomp' by Pat Mills and Simon Davis; and it's the final fight against the God-Star in Grey Area by Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison!
2000 Ad Pack Oct 2016
Blazing SF action from the Eisner-nominated UK anthology! In the wake of the landmark 2000th issue, a stunning new line-up of stories start - Bill Savage is now living in Volgan-occupied Berlin under another alias, but his psychopathic hatred for the enemy that killed his family proves uncontrollable in 'The Marze Murderer' by Pat Mills and Patrick Goddard; he's the quarry that Rogue Trooper is searching for but the ruthless Traitor General always manages to stay one step ahead in 'Hunted' by Gordon Rennie and PJ Holden; I.D. thief Libra is marked for death in new cyberpunk thriller 'Counterfeit Girl' by Peter Milligan and Rufus Dayglo; the clock is ticking down to global extinction in cowboys vs. dinosaurs mash-up Flesh: 'Gorehead.'
(W/A) Various The first in a new series featuring younger versions of established 2000 AD characters, perfect for Upper Middle Grade aged readers! Join Cadet Dredd in four astonishing capers! Discover how Johnny Alpha became a teenage bounty-hunter Strontium Dog! Alien delinquents DR and Quinch hijack Free Comic Book Day! Featuring brand new comics from comics stars Alex De Campi, Alec Worley, Chris Weston, Neil Googe, Brett Parson and more, 2000 AD Regened is a thrill-powered collection for Earthlets of all ages!
All Star Future Shocks TP (MR)
These self-contained short stories from the pages of 2000 AD have been the testing ground for many of comics greatest writers and artists. From the far reaches of the galaxy to the lowest depths of hell, discover what lurks within the fevered imaginations of such luminaries as Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Kevin O'Neill, Brian Bolland, Alan Grant, Peter Milligan, John Higgins, Alan Davis, and Mark Millar to name but a few.
Art of Judge Dredd 35 Years Zarjaz CVRs HC
For over 35 years, 2000 AD has dominated the British comics' industry, delivering stories and characters which have etched their way into the cultural psyche. This book celebrates 2000 AD and Judge Dredd's joint 35th-anniversary with a compilation of the most stunning and innovative Judge Dredd-related covers, illustrated by some of the greatest talents in the industry.
Ballad of Halo Jones TP Vol 02 Color Ed
(W) Alan Moore (A) Ian Gibson Comic legend Alan Moore's highly-influential classic of British comics, presented to a new generation colored and remastered for the very first time! 'Where did she go? Out. What did she do? Everything?' Bored and frustrated with her life in 50th-century leisure-ghetto housing estate 'The Hoop,' 18-year-old everywoman Halo Jones yearns for the infinite sights and sounds of the universe. Pledging to escape on a fantastic voyage, she sets in motion events unimaginable; a spell on a luxury space-liner, a brush with an interstellar war - Halo Jones faces hardship and adventure in the name of freedom in the limitless cosmos.
Battle of Britain War Picture Library TP
(W/A) Ian Kennedy A talented pilot who never loses his determination to defend his country against immense obstacles both technical and personal. A squadron undertakes heart-stopping missions to combat the intense night-time assaults of the Axis air force. Two true stories of aviation heroism and derring-do set during the Battle of Britain in 1940, drawn by comics legend Ian Kennedy!
Battle Stations HC
(W) Don Avenell (A) Hugo Pratt Two brothers of differing rank have to make extraordinary sacrifices in the line of the toughest duty. This is a true story of courage under fire; a high-octane story of a blistering World War II naval battle. The first in a major series of new collections bringing the long lost UK war comics of Italian art maestro Hugo Pratt to the public in stunning new editions.
Billys Boots HC (Res)
(W) Fred Baker (A) Tom Kerr, Mike Western Fantasy meets football (Soccer!) in the magical story of a boy and his enchanted boots! Young Billy Dane was one of the most passionate football fans at Bingley Road Junior school... unfortunately he was also one of the worst players! Then, one afternoon, Billy's grandmother got him to clean out her attic and Billy finds a pair of old fashioned football boots that belonged to 'Dead-Shot' Keen, a famous centre forward who once played for England.
Complete Future Shocks TP Vol 01
(W) Alan Moore, Various (A) Brian Bolland, Various From Alan Moore to Al Ewing, Kevin O'Neill to Jon Davis-Hunt, Future Shocks have been a staple of the UK's best-selling comic 2000 AD! This exciting first volume takes us back to the earliest days of the strip and showcases the burgeoning, immense talents of such luminaries as Steve Moore, Alan Moore, Brett Ewins, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, John Cooper, Carlos Pino, Jesus Redondo, Steve Dillon, Peter Milligan and many, many more. The all-time greatest selection of the ground-breaking graphic short stories which were the backbone of the UKs best-selling comic 2000 AD.
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Complete Johnny Future HC
What if 'King Kong becomes Superman'? Possessing a genius mind, super-strength, enhanced senses and the ability to fly, as Johnny Future he protects mankind from such sinister beings as The Master, Disastro, Animal Man and the Secret Society of Scientists. The complete hardcover collection of breath-taking pulp adventure comics, beloved by fans and the creators it inspired, Alan Moore among them!
Complete Scarlet Traces TP Vol 01
(W) Ian Edington (A/CA) D'Israeli The celebrated comic book sequel to H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds in a brand-new omnibus edition, complete with an adaptation of the original novel. Beginning with a visionary adaptation of the seminal novel, the collection also includes the first of three stories set a decade after the Martian invasion. Great Britain has cannibalized Martian technology and now Hansom cabs scuttle along on multi-limbed crab legs, and the Martian heat-ray has become the weapon with which the British Empire dominates the world. When the bodies of several young women are found washed up on the banks of the Thames, Captain Robert Autumn and his former Sergeant-Manjor Archie Currie are drawn into a mystery that leads them from gin palaces to the corridors of power and the very Hall of the Martian King.
Complete Skizz TP
(W) Alan Moore (A/CA) Jim Baikie The ultimate illegal alien! Alan Moore's out of print classic returns in a brand new complete collection! When Interpreter Zhcchz of the Tau-Ceti Imperium crashed his ship into the small blue 'Hellworld'-classed planet, the odds of surviving were stacked against him. Stranded in the polluted, hostile British city of Birmingham, Skizz is befriended by Roxy, a plucky young local girl. But danger is ever present - from bad food to Prime Minister Thatcher's hostile government alien-hunters, this E.T. may soon be R.I.P!
Concrete Surfer TP (Res)
(W) Pat Mills (A/CA) Christine Ellingham Sent home to Britain after her parents fail to establish a new life in Australia, Jean Everidge is forced to rely on family charity, moving in with her Aunt, Uncle and cousin Carol, successful gymnast, beloved of teachers and pupils alike, and all round charming 'top girl.' Jean has one solace left to her - skateboarding, surfing the concrete pavement, while forgetting all her troubles, and feel free. But Jean's freestyling talent soon attracts attention, and if there's one thing Carol can't stand, it's being out of the spotlight. With the new skatepark freestyle contest coming up, just how far will Carol go to stay number one?
Dark Judges Fall of Deadworld HC
(W) Kek-W (A/CA) Dave Kendall Deadworld was once a planet similar to Earth, until Judge Death and his brothers Fear, Fire and Mortis deemed that as only the living could break the law, life itself should be a crime. As the Dark Judges set out to bring extinction to this parallel world, Judge Fairfax and a family of farmers attempt to escape the chaos. Is it possible for the living to evade to cold, icy grasp of Death? This chilling collection also features the Dreams of Deadworld strips, giving an extraordinary insight into the undead psyches of the internationally famous super-fiends. The never-before-collected Fall of Deadworld story-line, shining new light on internationally-beloved villains, The Dark Judges. Includes the untold origins of The Dark Judges, including Judge Dredd arch-nemesis Judge Death.
Dr Mesmers Revenge TP
(W) Don Avenell (A) Carlos Cruz Hammer Horror meets Doomlord in this 1970s supernatural comics gem! After several artefacts are stolen from his home, the mysterious Egyptologist Dr. Mesmer resurrects a five-thousand-year-old mummy called Angor, a Pharaoh possessed with great mystical power. Together they set out to retrieve the missing items, bringing terror and destruction in their wake! Featuring the work of legends of British comics Donne Avenell (The Spider, The Phantom) and illustrated by Carlos Cruz Gonzalez (M.A.S.K, The Phantom).
Dracula File GN
(W) Gerry Finlay Day (A) Eric Bradbury (CA) Chris Weston KGB officer Colonel Stakis desperately hunts for Count Dracula, who is spreading terror in 1980s Britain after escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. Blending Cold War paranoia with horror staples, Gerry Finley-Day and Eric Bradbury's strip overcame sustained attempts at censorship to become one of the most popular strips in the 1980s' best horror comics.
Dracula Files HC
(W) Gerry Finlay Day (A/CA) Eric Bradbury From the pages of Scream! and presented in a sumptuous hardback edition, this is horror comics at its best! KGB officer Colonel Stakis desperately hunts for Count Dracula, who is spreading terror in 1980s Britain after escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. Blending Cold War paranoia with horror staples, Gerry Finley-Day and Eric Bradbury's strip overcame sustained attempts at censorship to become one of the most popular strips in the 1980s' best horror comics.
Dredd Anderson the Deep End TP
(W) Arthur Wyatt, Alec Worley (A) Paul Davidson, Ben Willsher When the dust settles, the body count rises! Continuing the story of the cult 2012 movie Dredd. After the brutal day in which Ma Ma and her gang were brought down telepath-Judge Anderson is trying to adjust to the brutal life of a Street Judge. After investigating a claim of demonic possession, she finds herself at odds with a merciless drug cartel. Soon after, when lethal radioactive storms from the post-apocalyptic wasteland known as the Cursed Earth hit the city, they bring more than just dust into Mega-City One. When unexplained killings coincide with the storms, Judge Dredd is forced to hunt a mysterious mutant and take his ruthless brand of justice into the Cursed Earth. Collects Dredd: Dust #1-2 and 'Anderson: The Deep End' one-shot.
Dredd Urban Warfare HC
(W) Arthur Wyatt, Matt Smith (A) Paul Davidson, Henry Flint (CA) Jock Featuring three action-packed stories from the critically acclaimed cinematic world of Dredd. In Underbelly Ma-Ma's death has led to a power vacuum and now other criminal gangs in Mega-City One are trying to fill the gap. When a number of corpses are discovered in a rad-pit, the bodies are all revealed to be mutants. Could the dead be connected with an outfit smuggling illegal refugees into the city from the Cursed Earth? Judge Dredd once again teams up with Psi-Judge Anderson as they scour the underworld for the perps responsible!
Durham Red Bitch GN
In the far future Strontium-90 fallout has created a race of mutants, outcasts from society, despised by the 'norms' and given only the dirtiest job - bounty hunting. Johnny Alpha is one such mutant, working for the Search/Destroy Agency, hunting down the criminals for the Galactic Crime Commission. When former US president Ronald Reagan is taken prisoner by a group of alien freedom fighters, Johnny reluctantly teams up with the bloodsucking femme fatale, Durham Red, to get him back. With ten million creds on the line, this job will be more difficult than most and Johnny Alpha will have to keep his x-ray eyes peeled on friend and enemy alike if he is to complete the job in one piece!
El Mestizo HC (MR)
(W) Alan Hebden (A/CA) Carlos Ezquerra The gun-slingin' face of fury! 1862, a time of great turmoil. As the American Civil War tears a nation in two, dangerous men prosper through bloodshed. El Mestizo was once a slave who managed to escape to Mexico. Now he's come back over the border, a mercenary for hire. But is he really allied to neither side? High-octane revenge Western from the co-creator of Judge Dredd. Perfect for fans of Moebius's Blueberry and the motion picture Django Unchained.
Grey Area This Island Earth TP
(W) Dan Abnett (A) Lee Carter, Mark Harrison (CA) Lee Carter North America, 2045. The Global Exo Segregation Zone (aka the 'Grey Area') is a huge holding area in Arizona housing all manner of aliens hoping to visit earth: a melting pot for alien disputes, crime and inter-species misunderstandings! The only thing standing in the way of chaos is the Exo Transfer Control squads: heavily-armed immigration cops that keep the peace and make sure everyone has their papers in order. From contemptuous extra-terrestrial ambassadors with diplomatic immunity, to right-wing xenophobic militants and alien freeloaders disguised as luggage: new recruit Jana Birdy discovers that life in the E.T.C. might be the most interesting job on Earth - and the most dangerous!
Grey Area TP Vol 02 Long Way Home
(W) Dan Abnett (A) Mark Harrison The stunning second volume of the dystopian satire of alien immigration cops! North America, 2045. The Global Exo Segregation Zone (aka the 'Grey Area') is a huge holding area in Arizona housing aliens hoping to visit earth: The only thing standing in the way of chaos is the Exo Transfer Control squads: E.T.C. Captain Adam Bulliet has a lot on his plate; The Arakshu want revenge on humanity for their dead ambassador, increasing numbers of aliens are having rapturous visions, and his fraternisation with Officer Birdy isn't nearly as discrete as he thought. Not to mention a dizzyingly colossal god star is descending on Earth, and Bulliet's team are the ones suiting up to meet 'n' greet the second coming. But they might end up going further than they expect…
Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael TP
(W) Dom Reardon & Various (A) Dom Reardon, Dom Reardon His name was Ichabod and he was a killer. But his death was only the beginning of his story. Ichabod Azrael was the deadliest, meanest outlaw the Old West ever spat out - but his murder at the hands of hired guns takes him on a journey through the underworld as he desperately tries to return to the land of the living, and his true love Zoe, but he is haunted by the dead he left in his wake!
Hope TP
(W) Guy Adams (A/CA) Jimmy Broxton In an alternate post-war 1940s Los Angeles, where dark magic is a fact of life, Mallory Hope is a private detective haunted by his past? and by the occult forces he uses. When a new case involving a missing boy reminds him of his own lost child, Hope is determined to find him. He soon discovers all is not what it seems and dark powers lurk behind the lights of Hollywood. A stylish new supernatural detective noir mixing magic and the movies!
Judge Dredd Cape & Cowl Crimes TP
(W) John Wagner & Various (A) Eric Powell & Various Welcome to Mega-City One, a nightmarish metropolis situated along the east coast of post-apocalyptic North America. Poverty is rife, crime is rampant, and only the Judges - empowered to dispense instant justice - can stop total anarchy. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd - he is the Law! There are plenty of law-breaking freaks amongst the citizenship of the 'Big Meg.' From Futsies to Umpty-baggers, the Judges have their hands full. But the worst offenders are those who try and enforce their own brand of justice. Especially that strange strain of vigilante who chooses to hit the streets in brightly-coloured spandex!
Judge Dredd Cold Wars TP
After returning from a mission into Sov territory, Judge Dredd finds himself at odds with fellow veterans of another past conflict: The Apocalypse War. Under orders from the Justice Department, Dredd returns to the depths of Siberia where things start to go wrong… even his training and iron will might not be enough against the bitter cold, angry mutants and the echoes of past conflicts! Featuring stories from Michael Carroll, Rob Williams, and John Wagner with stunning art from Trevor Hairsine, Dan Cornwell, Paul Davidson, and Colin MacNeil.
Judge Dredd Comp Case Files TP Vol 31
(W) John Wagner (A) Cam Kennedy & Various The galaxy's number one bounty hunter, Trapper Hag, has escaped his Iso-Cube prison with only one thing on his mind - the death of Judge Dredd! Meanwhile, the miniature robotic garden guardians, the Banzai Battallion help Dredd foil a kidnapping and Hogwash College's greatest pupil - Harry Snotter - makes the mistake of visiting Mega-City One. The bestselling series continues.
(W) John Wagner (A) Ian Gibson, Duncan Fregredo The latest in the smash-hit, best-selling graphic novel series! Judge Dredd's single-minded pursuit of law comes into conflict with the more clandestine forces of the Hall of Justice, including an assassin under orders of the Chief Judge! Features action-packed stories from some of 2000 AD's very best, including Jock (Batman Who Laughs), Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy), Ian Gibson (Halo Jones) and Simon Fraser (Doctor Who).
The latest incendiary volume of Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files, collecting the adventures of the iconic British character, presented in chronological order, complete and uncut! Former foes with raw grudges pour out of the woodwork when a dimension jump gets hijacked; an assassin carries out executions under the direct orders of the Chief Judge! Featuring art by comics superstar Jock (The Batman Who Laughs)!
Judge Dredd Complete Case Files TP Vol 35 (Res)
(W) John Wagner (A) Ian Gibson & Various The floating multi-story metropolis of illegal delights known as 'Sin City' has anchored outside Mega-City One, and Dredd has seemingly been sent aboard to keep what order can be kept on a lawless floating city. His real task? Locate Ula Danser, the De-Megification terrorist determined to destroy the Mega-Cities at any cost! Features action-packed stories from some of 2000 AD's very best, including Cam Kennedy (Judge Dredd), Ian Gibson (Halo Jones) and Carlos Ezquerra (Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog).
Judge Dredd Crusade TP
The Thing meets Where Eagles Dare as two of the world's most popular comic book writers - Grant Morrison and Mark Millar - produce a high-octane thriller! The greatest future lawman of them all, Judge Dredd, joins an international cadre of judges to recover a scientist who claims he has a message from God! And in 'The Frankenstein Division,' Millar creates the ultimate judge - by stitching together pieces of the best!
Judge Dredd Cry O/T Werewolf GN (MR)
Beneath Mega-City One lies the 'Undercity,' ruined remains of what was once known as New York City. Now it is a deadly environment where only the most ruthless creatures can hope to survive. One such creature - a flesh-eating werewolf - has managed to find its way out into Mega-City One, so Judge Dredd must go down to Undercity to investigate, ensuring that no others can make their way to the surface!
Judge Dredd Daily Dredds HC Vol 01
(W) John Wagner, Alan Grant (A/CA) Ronald Smith From 1981 to 1986 the Daily Star ran a Judge Dredd comic strip written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, illustrated by Ron Smith. Appearing in collected form only haphazardly well over 20 years ago, this is the first time the entire collection has been reprinted and assembled in a single volume. This collection includes both the daily and weekend strips.
Judge Dredd Dark Justice HC
(W) John Wagner (A/CA) Greg Staples After a ten year absence, the life-hating super-fiend from Deadworld - Judge Death - returns! Having previously been destroyed by nuclear fire and dragged to hell by the vengeful spirits of those he had murdered, Death has managed to return to world, ready to resume his mission in destroying all life. On his own, Death is a devastating force of evil, but once united with his 'brothers' - Judges Fear, Fire, and Mortis - the quartet of terror are near invincible! Can Judge Dredd and Psi-Judge Anderson possibly stop the Dark Judges from attempting to destroy Mega-City One again?
Judge Dredd Digest TP Luna-1
(W) John Wagner (A) Brian Bolland & Various In 2061, an international lunar treaty divided a million square miles of the moon's surface between Mega-Cities One, Two, and Texas City. Every six months one of these cities has to supply a Judge-Marshal to govern it - enter Judge Dredd! An environment every bit as deadly as the streets of the 'Big Meg,' Judge-Marshal Dredd has his work cut out for him, especially when war breaks out during the first Lunar Olympics! Written by John Wagner and featuring some beautiful artwork by Brian Bolland, Ian Gibson, and Mick McMahon, these early Dredd stories are out of this world!
Judge Dredd Fatties GN (MR)
In the nightmarish world of Mega-City One, a majority of the citizens are unemployed. Boredom drives many of these people to invest their time in a variety of hobbies, including eating. As a result, a new subculture of gluttonous gargantuans have emerged. Nicknamed 'fatties' by the other citizens, these blubbery boys and girls compete in the Intercity Eating Championships to be the biggest and best citizens to ever use a bellywheel. This is the first time the complete set of Fatties stories have been brought together under one cover - if one cover can hold them!
Judge Dredd Megacity Masters Sc Vol 03
The book collects together the many extraordinary creators to have worked on 2000 AD, Britain's most celebrated sci-fi comic anthology. The longest-running strip is Judge Dredd, and over the years many internationally renowned artists have contributed some stunning art to the Dredd legacy. This compilation features work by Jock, Brian Bolland, Kevin O'Neill, and many more.
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We're pleased to share this latest selection of hand-painted 'Darktown Anthem' cut-out hearts by Jonny Hannah.
Produced by Jonny to raise funds for a London exhibition by students on the BA (Hons) Illustration course at Solent University Southampton, where Jonny is senior lecturer.
Every penny of the proceeds will be donated to the students.


We are PIMORONI authorized retailer!
PIMORONI design, manufacture, and sell friendly products for Makers, Educators and Creatives.
Founded in 2012 by Jon Williamson and Paul Beech, Pimoroni make tech treasure for tinkerers. If you want to learn about electronics, we'll help you to start.
Pimoroni stands for Pirate, Monkey, Robot, Ninja (Pi-Mo-Ro-Ni) and sounds like the name of an expensive Italian lager. It's pronounced Pih-mo-row-knee. You'll see the pirate (and his friends) pop up throughout our branding.
Pimoroni has authorized myArcadeConsole to resell its electronic products in Italy.
On our site you can find all the Pimoroni Picade products and everything you need to build arcade consoles (from Raspberry PI to power supply, from adapters to spare parts).


Ich reiß mir gleich mal den Screenshot- Fred unter den Nagel.
Edited once, last by Steyrtal ( Mar 1st 2019 ).
can you provide the link to the CargoServ Vectron, please?
I think it´s payware from Trainzmarket.
Edited once, last by desertrt ( Mar 1st 2019 ).
I watched these locos when I was a boy.
Ich habe diese Loks gesehen, als ich ein Junge war.


Our vision is reflected in our purpose, values, approach and aims.
• Provide a warm, safe environment in which everyone is valued and respected.
• Ensure pupils have a voice in all aspects of school life.
• Offer a curriculum which is stimulating, challenging and fun.
• Promote equality of opportunity across the wide range of needs within the school.
• Enable individuals to become informed, responsible and caring through the use of appropriate learning, teaching styles and practice.
• Prepare our pupils for adulthood in order for them to become caring, confident and responsible citizens in the community.
• Promote a climate of high expectation in which the achievements and successes are celebrated.
• Foster an inclusive practice within the school and its wider community.
• Create a partnership as a school with our parents and carers and all other professionals working with our pupils and students.
• Evaluate current working practices to ensure work-life balance, staff well-being and continuing professional development.
• Encouraging individuals to participate in the growth and development of Castle Hill School.
• Pupils – they have the right to work, play and learn and be in a friendly, safe and helpful school.
• Staff – they have a right to work in a friendly, safe and satisfying school which is supported by the school community.
• Parents and Carers – they have a right to feel welcome and to know that their children work, play and learn in a friendly, safe and helpful school.


A Chance meeting On Manhint With A Local. Initial Chemistry Was worthy But By This Second meeting It Was Luke Warm. that is Life, As A Bttm I Clean Thoroughly But Sometimes The Chocolate Goblin Appears ..ewww beefy shlong With A Slight Kink.


text:
BBC One sitcom Pandemonium makes harsh dig about Herne Bay's Reculver Towers
The star-studded line up spent plenty of time filming on the east Kent coast
Henry CollierMultimedia Journalist
Pandemonium, a one-off comedy show on BBC One set partly in Kent featured particular one jab at a Kent monument.
The show saw the Jessop family visit east Kent after the coronavirus pandemic ruined their plans for a holiday abroad.
The slightly eccentric family's visit to the seaside starts with a trip to the Reculver Towers just outside of Herne Bay, much to the disappointment of Sue Jessop and Amy Jessop.
It's fair to say the family were less than impressed with what they saw.
"What is thing please?" asked Amy
"This is Reculver Towers. An ancient roman fortification slash medieval monastery," was the reply.
Sue then said: "I have actually been to Reculver Towers...in 1971. I'll be honest, it wasn't worth it."
Remaining positive, Rachel Jessop, the mum of the family added: "They might have added stuff since then. They might have added a multimedia presentation or expanded the gift shop."
Kerry Katona's bold move after trolls accuse her of faking COVID-19
Who is Worzel Gummidge? Kent's Mackenzie Crook stars in BBC Christmas special
While Sue Jessop may not have been too impressed with the fort, the actress playing her, Alison Steadman, certainly was in real life.
Speaking about the show, Alison, who is best known for playing Pam in Gavin and Stacey said: "I loved being in Kent, although it was freezing weather.
"I didn't know about Reculver Towers and the Roman Fort which was good to learn. We had some free moments of improvising too, I loved that, even if it isn't used."
The show certainly received a warm reception online.
Pandemonium aired at 9:45pm on Wednesday (December 30) (Image: BBC)
One person on Twitter said: "Pandemonium was the best bit of telly I've watched this Christmas"
Another said: "It is so nice to watch something so funny and uplifting."
You can catch up on the show on BBC IPlayer.
It aired for the first time on BBC 1 at 9.45 pm yesterday (December 30).


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Chalabi carpet woven in Karabakh for first time since liberation
02 November 2021 [14:18] - TODAY.AZ
By Laman Ismayilova
Karabakh's Chalabi carpet has been woven within "Karabakh in patterns" project, which symbolizes Azerbaijan's victory in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.
This carpet was the first Karabakh carpet woven here after the liberation of Shusha.
The Karabakh carpet will be presented to the Shusha carpet museum, which can keep it as an exhibit in the future.
The carpet will be showcased in Shusha ahead of the Victory Day.
The first loops on the carpet were made by Azerkhalcha employees who took part in the Karabakh war.
In Sumgayit, the mother of the martyred general, National Hero Polad Hashimov, also tied a loop on the carpet.
The Chalabi carpet is considered one of the brightest and most distinctive in the Karabakh carpet group.
One of the earliest carpets Chalabi dates from the late 17th to the early 18th centuries, was woven during the reign of the Safavid dynasty.
Karabakh carpets are distinguished from other national carpet schools by their artistic and technological production and their size.
This carpet school is famous for its pileless carpets, including shadda, zili, verni, kilim and palas products. Karabakh carpets are characterized by bright colors and vegetative motives.
There are 33 compositions of Karabakh carpets. These carpets are produced in the towns Malibeyli, Muradkhanli, Dashbulag, Jabrayil, Horadiz in Karabakh in the mountainous part of Karabakh.
With its colorful patterns and manufacturing technique, Zangazur and Nakhchivan are also included in Karabakh carpet school.
These carpet compositions feature classical patterns of Karabakh carpet-weaving school, including "Aran", "Bagchadaguller", "Bal?g", "Buynuz", "Barda", "Bahmanli", "Garabag", "Goja", "Gas?mushag?", "Lambaran", "Mugan", "Tal?sh", "Lampa", "Mal?bayli ", "Khangarvand", "Khanl?g", "Khantirma", "Chalabi", and "Shabal?dbuta".
With its rich colors, this carpet school comprises all undertones of the nature of Karabakh. Besides various plants, these colors are gained from different kinds of insects. The most popular insect from which red color is produced is scale insect or red worm.
URL: http://www.today.az/news/entertainment/211628.html


Carbohydrates as Diet Food - is it Possible?
What does it do to the body? It reduces overall hunger by filling you up completely. More importantly, it increases the body's ability to burn off fat. Further studies have shown that it also boosts the immune system, reduces your risk of cancer, and improves blood sugar levels.


Looking for an opportunity to do rewarding work with a progressive organization? Volunteer or intern with us today! We're looking for passionate and talented people who are committed to ending sexual violence in LGBTQIA communities.
Form look funky? Not working?


I used to have jobs focused on marketing. I'm not in that world anymore. These are some of my thoughts on how it could be done in a less disgusting way.
I know in my day-to-day interactions with people, I talk a lot about Content being very important and a driver. Ironically, my blog has not been the best example of that. I do have a lot to say, and I will be posting here more regularly in order to say it. A lot of my musings can be found via Twitter, and there are many many links that I'd like to be able to comment on flowing through the Linkblog on the side, powered by my Delicious.com account. To start down the path, here's a video by Christopher Penn that summarizes in a remarkable manner the reason why your business should (or should not) be in the podcast world. Important points: Metrics don't matter, reaction matters. Podcasting is easy. Focus, focus, focus.
Some quick notes. Has been covered before, but whats a blog without redundancy. The music biz would do well to read.
Dont ever "protect" users, especially from themselves. Users dont need us, we need them.
A joke for one person.
See that receipt there on the left?
The online entertainment network features Natasha Bedingfield as first Artist of the Month, and offers music videos and Game with Fame sessions.
REDMOND, Wash., and NEW YORK March 16, 2006 Microsoft Corp. and music giant Epic Records today announced an agreement to make available a full year of exclusive artist content and high-definition music video downloads free for all Xbox 360 gamers. Over the next year, Xbox 360 and Epic Records will showcase 12 up-and-coming artists through the Artist of the Month (AOM) program via the Xbox Live service, the first and only unified global online entertainment network. Through the alliance, millions of Xbox Live members can enter a monthly sweepstakes with a prize of gaming against some of the hottest musicians through the Xbox Live Game with Fame" program.
"This program really taps into the passion and excitement that surround both video gaming and music," said Cory Llewellyn, vice president of Epic Records Digital Marketing and Promotion. We are excited to bring our strong roster of developing artists together with Xbox Live for a variety of great experiences for consumers.
Read more about why my friend Cory is so good at his job at microsoft.com.
Talking myself out of a job: Online Marketing is dead, and Web 2.0 killed it.
Online Marketing is dead, and Web 2.0 killed it.
Being on both sides of the fence (as both a blogger and a marketer) it's a difficult thing to mesh. On one hand, as a consumer I'd put more faith in having someone whose tastes I know mesh with mine recommend something, however on the other hand, there is ever-increasing number of blogs and other individual points-of-presence and no easy way for companies itching to spread their content around to be as relevantly ubiquitous as possible to communicate on a broad scale. This leads to the 'marketing' being run by people with no particular interest in bridging the knowledge gap that inevitably will appear when there isn't an effective way to get new music to people who aren't lucky enough to get every release a label puts out and so won't necessarily know when something they might like will appear.
I guess I just wish I had more faith in the populist approach it seems the web is turning slowly toward. As they say, when everything is important, then nothing is important, and the chance of any one thing to rise above the noise gets lower and lower as the number of myspacers and bloggers approaches infinity.
Hey, anyone want to enter to win a CD and a stereo?
Sure there are influencers, the *coff* Ultragrrls and such, those who always seem to have a handle on the Next Big Thing a year before everyone else, and though those people will always force themselves to get a seat at the table, where is there room for content providers at that pre-posting level anymore? Or is there. Everyone loves to vilify labels, but if you're a local band from Arkansas who would have been good enough to get signed to the mighty Columbia bulldozer of publicity who would have gotten you on the cover of Spin, does having a MySpace page and getting mentioned on Coolfer really end up having the equivalent impact?
I'm hardly an industry apologist (spend 5 minutes with me talking about how we're treating our consumers and you can figure that out), but…I think you guys are gonna miss us if we leave.


Deer Horn Capital reports that the rapid deployment of thin film technology is forecast to generate steady growth in the demand for tellurium, as thin film manufacturing consumes approximately 40% of the world's tellurium supply.
Today the most preferred material for thin film solar is cadmium telluride, which represents the second-most utilized solar cell material in the world behind silicon.
Some of the world's largest solar power installations employ cadmium telluride modules, partly for their physical advantages but also for environmental considerations.
According to industry studies, cadmium telluride offers the smallest carbon footprint, lowest water use and shortest energy payback time of all solar technologies.
According to a 2017 "Critical Mineral Resources" report by the United States Geological Survey, epithermal vein deposits with tellurium may offer a viable alternative for future tellurium needs.
The shares are currently trading at $0.19.


text:
Q: How to detect message that i send from one device to another with bluetoth connect I want to send message from one device to another, i send and Toast show my message. I try to do:
if(message.equals("mute")){
                if(IsAudioOn){
                    IsAudioOn = false;
                    amanager.setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, false); // for unmute

                }else{
                    IsAudioOn = true;
                    amanager.setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, true);  //for mute
                }

for making instructions for device what he should do when he gets a typical message, but this didn't work,
Here are some of my methods from one device from which I try to control another:
public void sendMessage(String message) {
    if (bBluetooth) {
        bt.send(message, true);
    } else {
        wiFiP2pService.sendData(message);
    }
}

This works, I send the string MESSAGE and it shows on another device in TOAST method.
Here is my dataReceiver is on second device
bt.setOnDataReceivedListener(new BluetoothSPP.OnDataReceivedListener() {
        public void onDataReceived(byte[] data, String message) {
            showToastMessage(message, 300);
            AudioManager amanager=(AudioManager)getSystemService(Context.AUDIO_SERVICE);
            if(message.equals("MUTE")){
                if(IsAudioOn){
                    IsAudioOn = false;
                    amanager.setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, false); // for unmute

                }else{
                    IsAudioOn = true;
                    amanager.setStreamMute(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, true);  //for mute
                }
            }else if(message.equals("VOLUME DOWN")){
                amanager.setStreamVolume(
                        AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC,
                        amanager.getStreamMaxVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC),
                        0);
            }
        }
    });

as u see I try to detect like
message.equals("string")

but this does not work, Any help appreciated..

A: As per doc, setStreamMute -

This method should only be used by applications that replace the platform-wide management of audio settings or the main telephony application.

If you need to mute all sound on device, please take a look on possible solutions for that problem.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


How do I Fundraise for my Kilimanjaro Charity Climb?
Fundraising is hard work. It demands dedication and often means a commitment of several months, so be prepared. People will want to know why they should sponsor you, so you'll need to communicate what you are doing, why you are doing it, who the charity is, how they will spend your funds and who will benefit. The more you know about the cause you are supporting, the more convincing you will be to potential sponsors. Donations and contributions will arrive when others believe in your cause, and in you. There are many ways to raise money.
Make a list of everyone you know. That includes relatives, friends, neighbors, sports team, social club contacts, school friends, colleagues, business contacts - everyone. Don't exclude anyone, because it is often the people who you least expect who support you. Then, communicate with them in person, by telephone or email. When speaking with potential donors, have a clear and concise message of why they should support you in your Kilimanjaro climb. The more personal the message, the more effective it will be. It helps to create an online fundraising page on websites such as Just Giving that can accept money rather than trying to collect donations in person or by mail.
Events are a great way to raise money and provide entertainment for all your friends and family. Fundraising events are a great way of raising significant amounts of money in a short period of time. Event provide a reason for bringing people together for a good cause. There are many ideas but some of our favorites are barbecues, dinner parties, themed evenings, auctions, pool tournaments, pub crawls, raffles, sporting events.
Corporate sponsorship can provide a vital source of funding. To secure sponsorship you need to understand what sponsors are looking for and offer benefits and value that meet their needs. Before approaching a company, think what you can offer them in return. Companies sponsor Kilimanjaro climbs to increase consumer awareness of their product and improve public image. So you can agree to get publicity for the sponsor by contacting the media (see below). You can agree to wear their logo during your training and on the climb. You can take their corporate banner to the summit and take a photo there. Approach companies well in advance, so they can budget for the costs. Keep your sponsors informed of your progress and any publicity, and be sure to thank them publicly. Sponsorship is a business relationship that does not end when you receive the money need to work hard to ensure that sponsors obtain the benefits they sought.


Marie Waldron has been a member of the California State Assembly since being elected to that position in 2012. During the past two decades, Marie has been very involved in North San Diego County. As a local business owner, she understands the economic impacts of burdensome government regulation and spending on the taxpayers and small businesses.
As an elected official since 1998, she has fought for fiscal restraint, revitalizing our neighborhoods and is a strong supporter of public safety.
Having served as Escondido's Deputy Mayor, and as a board member for the North County Transit District, she was the city's representative to the League of California Cities, the Regional Solid Waste Association Board, and Escondido's Investment subcommittee.
Her commitment to her city has been honored by the Escondido Rotary Club with their Outstanding Community Service Award.
Active in the San Diego region, Waldron was a founding member of the San Diego chapter of CWLA (California Women's Leadership Association), is a member of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and the American Legion Auxiliary.
Marie's husband, Steve, is the founder of the successful "Cruisin' Grand" hotrod event held in downtown Escondido for the past 14 years. Marie has a B.S. degree from St. John's University and has done graduate work at UCSD and SDSU. The Waldrons have a 13-year old son.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized on September 20, 2015 by Stonewall Jackson.