Live the "AMERICAN DREAM" in our HOLLYWOOD ROCK 'n ROLL themed Home!
Do you love Films and Rock music? Congratulations! You've discovered one of the most unusual luxury vacation homes anywhere. Our theme is "The American Dream" and we've tastefully decorated to celebrate our favourite icons, from Heroes of Rock 'n Roll to Hollywood Stars. 7 bedrooms (sleeps 16) 4.5 bathrooms, South facing (sunny all day) with private Heated Pool and Jacuzzi, at the award winning Emerald Island Gated Resort, Kissimmee.
With over 4,200 square feet (including extended deck) and plenty of loungers and shades for sun worshippers, we've put TVs and DVDs in all the bedrooms. We have Full Air Conditioning, including the Games room where children of all ages will enjoy Air Hockey, Foosball, Table Tennis, PS2 etc. Take full advantage of free International calls to phone home and tell your friends what a great time you're having! We have Cable TV, a vast open plan Family Room with 55" TV, DVD and Surround Sound (sounds awesome!) plus a library of over 100 DVD and Blu-Ray discs. Free Internet Broadband too – just bring your WiFi enabled laptop.
All linen and towels are provided and in the Laundry room you'll find a Washer, Dryer, Hair Dryers and Ironing facilities. Each bedroom has it's own unique theme, and includes two private Master en-suites with their own 40" Flatscreen Internet TV so you can surf the net from the comfort of your own bed – very cool!
And for our youngest guests we have 2 Strollers, 2 Highchairs, 2 Portable Cribs, stair safety gates, intercom and patio door Pool safety alarms.
You'll love the extensively equipped Kitchen with its' own intimate Nook area (which usually turns into a social gathering place as well as an eating area) where you can watch the underwater pool light at night – Magical!
Dine in style in the formal Dining area, eat "al fresco" round the Pool or just enjoy a well earned glass of wine in the heated Jacuzzi at midnight while you plan the next days' outings. And after all the excitement of the day if you prefer some peace and quiet, just head for the privacy of the cosy lounge at the front of the house, away from all the action. You'll find amazing original portraits, a unique mural, fascinating pictures and incredible giant sculptures throughout the home.
Finally, we're pleased to say that our low season rates apply for a full 8 months of the year - basically all the time except for Summer, Xmas / New Year, Easter & Thanksgiving!
Is this the most fun and unusual vacation home you could ever stay in?
very much, and Hope to come back once.
This amazing home made our Disney vacation even more memorable! The uniquely decorated house had plenty of living space and beds for the 13 of us! Never felt crowded. The property is very well maintained and the pool and game-room were a huge hit! We were literally minutes down the road from the Disney Parks. I hope we can get back there very soon!!! Thanks so much to Mark and Debbie! You're the best!
Thank you for letting us stay at your home. The house had everything we were looking for, location, pool,and great neighborhood. We would highly recommend your home.
Beautiful home with lots of amenities and very close to disney. We had a wonderful time and everything was as described! The pack and plays and high chairs really helped out- one last thing to try and bring on the flight!
A fantastic house with many wonderful features. Very close to Disney. The homeowners are great are quick to respond. I have stayed in the house twice in the last year and would love to stay again in the future.
Great proximity to Disney. Well maintained property. Kids loved the decor and playroom. Parents loved the space. Very responsive owners.
The house is amazing !! really big and well maintained !!.....everyone of our party of 15 loved the house and was comfortable....it's close to everything and will stay there again if in the region of Orlando !!
A beautiful and unusually interesting home. Plenty to do and loads of space for the 8 of us. Rock and Roll memorabilia is amazing. Just a pity we were only there for a short time. Would recommend to anyone!!
We all had a great time! The house was perfect. Even with 15 people we felt like we all had privacy. The kids loved the pool after being at Disney all day. We were close to everything and had no problem navigating our way to and from the parks. We all hope to make it back some day!
Thank you Mark & Debbie!!
Best vacation ever! The house made all the difference. Plenty of room for a party of 15. The kids enjoyed the pool and game room which allowed the adults time to visit. Easy access to Disney, Sea World and shopping. We'll definately come back. Thanks Mark and Debbie for sharing your house, it was a pleasure working with both of you.
Fantastic House. Perfect location and ideal for our party of 11. Loads of space for the kids and they loved the pool and games room. Would highly recommend it to anyone.
We had a great time during our stay. The house is great with plenty of room for our group of 8 adults and 9 children. The location is excellent, this is our second time staying in Emerald Isle. Communication from Mark and Debbie was excellent leading up to our stay and right after our return.
Many thanks for sharing your house with us.
House was excellent and also location was great for us. Our group consists 18 people and still enough room for all of us.
Absolutely brilliant !!! The Villa is amazing and Emerald Island Resort is perfectly situated 10 mins from Disney ! The Villa had everything we needed and much more !!
Thanks again Mark.... not just for the Villa, but the communication leading up to our stay and during was first class!!!
We will be back !!!
The house was perfect. Even with 15 people we did not feel crowded. The kids loved the gameroom, and the adults loved the spaciousness of the home. Only 10 minutes from Disney and 5 minutes for food shopping. We will definitely rent from Mark again!!!
We had such a nice stay at the rock n roll home. Being old rockers ourselves, it screamed RENT ME!!!
We had a wonderful time in your beautiful house. The ameneties were wonderful. Our children especially loved the game room,cable tv in their bedrooms and pool. We had plenty of room to spread out after a long day at the parks. Thanks again for your prompt responses to all of my questions. We will stay again!
Our family had a GREAT time at your home. We had 15 of us which included 9 children. The kids loved the game room and especially loved the pool! The house was just perfect for all of us and in a great location- Disney, groceries, restaurants were all close. It was a wonderful vacation at a wonderful home!
Had a fantastic time. Great floor plan with lots of room for our kids and family. Garage has lots of fun for kids with air hocky++. Excellent location for Disney, and gated community was nice and well managed, and quiet. Pool was warm and a hit w/ kids too. The rock'n'roll decor was fun with the various wall art of famous people. I would return and recommend this home.
Our family and guests thoroughly enjoyed our stay in your wonderful home. Even though we live close by, we rented it for a "surprise" 50th birthday celebration. Our out-of-town guests were thrilled with the amenities (especially the heated pool and spa after a long day at the theme parks). The gated community was beautiful. We would definitely recommend your property. Also, having rented other VRBO properties over the years, I would like to add that it was a pleasure renting from Mark and his wife, both of whom were very friendly via phone and e-mail and quick to respond to any questions.
We really enjoyed our stay in your very colorful and fun house. We had kids of all ages, they really found some fun things to do. I would recommend your house very highly. I hope we get the opportunity to use it again. This time however I will come down when it is cold up north.
guarded resort. The location to Disney was wonderful.
The pool was great and the kids enjoyed the play room so much.
Really having this home to stay in was the icing on our trip to Diseny World.
Mark & Debbie, thank you for sharing your house with the world. It was clean, entertaining and roomy. The pool was the icing on the cake! It took only 7 min to get to the parks. We will be back, Thank you again, you helped me make my sister's 40th special.
We really enjoyed our stay. There were 15 of us and the size of the house was great! The kids enjoyed the pool and the game room a lot! We would recommend this house to anyone traveling with a large group. Also the location was great! Close to Disney and other shopping.
What a great house! 12 of us stayed there and there was plenty of room for everyone. We used the pool everyday and had so much fun! I would definitely recommend this awesome house!
We stayed in the Rock 'n' Roll house the first week of April, 2008. Two families shared the home. We had a fabulous week! The home was plenty big enough for 4 adults and 4 teenagers. The teenage boys were able to have their own bedrooms and TVs, and the teenage girls chose to share a room (the diva room, of course). There were still two bedrooms left unused!
We enjoyed the pool, the gameroom and watching movies on the surround sound TV. The house was in a nice location. The neighborhood was pretty and nice for a morning walk or run. It was just a short drive to each of the parks. The grocery and many restaurants were also closeby.
The owners, Mark and Debbie, were very easy to work with. I was hesitant renting from someone in another country, but it really wasn't an issue. All my emails were answered immediately, and there was a manager nearby to handle any problems while we were there.
The house is awesome. When we weren't at the parks I couldn't drag my husband away from the Beetles, Queen, Who DVDs. You truly tapped into his interest. The kids loved the game room. I was told the clubhouse was good too. We enjoyed the uniqueness of your home. We have rented a lot of homes in Florida. Yours was the best.
Family trip that included persons from 8 months to 74 years old. The house was conveniently located,very clean, had something for everyone with the spa, pool and game room. The decor was fantastic with the themed rooms. So much better than any of the other generically decorated rental homes that we have stayed in in the past. Everyone in my family thought best house ever. I hope to be able to go back there again.
We had a great time at your fantastic home. There were 6 adults and 5 kids traveling in our party and the home worked out great. The house is so close to all the Disney parks that we were able to visit a park in the AM, come home for lunch, take a nap or a swim for downtime and then go visit another park in the late afternoon. I will highly recommend your home to anyone who is traveling to Disney World and look forward to visiting again sometime in the future.
What a fantastic place! We had 16 people in our party - 11 adults and 5 children. Every bedroom was full. And we still had plenty of room. The house was a comfortable haven after a busy day at the Disney Theme Parks. It had everything we needed and more. The children loved the game room. The teenagers loved the video games and DVD's on hand. We all loved the pool and especially the jacuzzi after a long day of walking at Disney. Everything was close by - shopping, restaurants, grocery store. It was an absolute pleasure doing business with Mark and Debbie. I will highly recommend this place to all our friends.
shopping were all only minutes away.
Great place! Plenty to do and everything is nearby. Many golf courses to choose from. The home exceeded all expectations. Very clean, and nicely furnished.
This house was just fantastic! I was a little nervous about reserving a house on line but it was everything that the website advertised and more. The house is spotless and in excellent condition. The pool and hot tub are wonderful. The location is very close to Disney World and Universal and there are grocery stores and restaurants right down the street from the house. The house is huge and more than enough room for the five of us. With teenagers, it was great to spread out! I was supposed to stay in a hotel for a conference and I'm so glad I rented this house instead. Very relaxing, quiet and safe. A wonderful retreat after a day at the theme parks. We would definitely rent this house again and I am recommending it to anyone I know that is heading to Orlando!
What a fabulous place and the most wonderful host/hostess! This house is pristine and has everything you need! We are a family of 7 and we had many quests that were local come over to join us in a week long sleep over party! Just 2 miles from Disney's doors and everything you want at your finger tips! Cooked in and ate out too! Swimming in the delicious and clean pool under the moon and stars, playing games provided in the house and watching the current movies on the wide screen and playing ping=pong and air hockey - made this a vacation that was fun, exciting and most memorable for all of us! The neighborhood is beautiful and quiet, wish we had the time to walk the nature walk or use the playgrounds and shared pool/clubhouse - it was so inviting! Novel decor made the atmosphere truly unique! Sit back, watch a movie, cook w/your kids, swim under the stars and enjoy a clean home away from home!
Perfect setting for a family Enjoyed everything from hot tub to games room to convenience to attractions Highly recommend!
We really enjoyed our stay in your lovely home. The kids loved the game room! The decor was a refreshing change from the normal condo decor. Thank you again for allowing us to use your home while in Orlando.
This has got to be the most unique, fun house you could ever stay in at Disney! We had a wonderful week with no hassles, problems, or anything negative! The home has everything you can imagine to make your stay go smoothly. And of course, the decorating is the most imaginative, fascinating we had ever seen. The kids LOVED it!! All they could say was "cool"!! Over and over again!
The house was incredible! It had everything we needed and was a fun, unique place to stay. The "Before They Were Stars" wall was great.
Take it from us...Floridians who have stayed at most of the Disney World Hotels...The best place to experience Orlando is the American Dream Home! Why stay in a small room when you can have a large beautiful home all to yourselves?
Everything you could hope for is right at your finger tips.The House is so spacious and beautifully decorated. We really enjoyed the gameroom and pool area too! Our teenage daugthers LOVED the Rock and Roll theme.(David Bowie Rocks) The artwork and furnishings are truly one of a kind.
Following the Rock Music theme we had a great time watching music videos and took the short drive to Universal's City Walk and had dinner at The Rock Cafe.
Thank you Mark & Debbie for sharing your Dream Home with us!
A delightful holiday made very enjoyable by a luxurious "American Dream" home. The pool, hot tub and large terrace were used a great deal during our stay.Being within easy reach of some of the attractions was an added bonus. A beautiful home, one to be recommended to those seeking unusual and comfortable accommodation.
Loved the whole experience in the American dream home. Family had great fun identifying the many star pictures. Games room is great for the kids and the pool and hot tub were real luxury after a day at the parks.
Well done on providing such a wonderful luxury family enviroment to complement the rest of the Orlando holiday experience.
We will certainly be coming again.
Not our first time in Orlando but our first time in a vacation Villa. American Dream Home certainly surpassed our expectations. Not only was the property large, well equipped for all ages and amazingly close to all the major attractions it had that WOW factor. Mark and Debbie have achieved that wonderful combination of making you feel at home and yet providing all the luxuries you need to make a holiday memorabale.
We had a wonderful time living the "American Dream" during our recent stay in Orlando. I had taken several of my graduate students to a conference that was held at a Disney hotel. My family (husband, 1 year old, 3 year old, grandma, and great-aunt) tagged along for the theme parks, of course.
We were all quite comfortable in the spacious and well-appointed home. The owners have done a great job of providing quality linens (with plenty of towels) and furnishing, as well as anticipating needs/desires. There is a collection of DVD's, plenty of furniture by the wonderfully relaxing pool and spa, a well equipped game room in the garage, and all the necessary essentials for traveling with little ones (high chair, child safety gates, electrical plug covers, pack-n-play, baby monitor). My students had a tournament one night in the game room and we had some good "bonding time". There was also plenty of common space in the home so that the students didn't have to spend time with my family if they elected.
The home was very convenient to Disney and in fact I'm pretty confident the commute time to the parks was less than it would have been from the Disney hotels. I took the Disney transportation twice from the conference hotel to the theme parks and both times it took me better than 1 hour 15 minutes to get to the parks. The drive, on the other hand, was less than 10 minutes.
I would definitely recommend the "American Dream" to others and I'll look to stay there again should I return to Orlando.
Thanks for sharing your home!
What a fantastic experience. This house has real star quality. The furnishings were completely sumptuous and made us both feel a like we were really living the movie star life. On a practical note, the house offered everything to a very high standard with an incredibly well equipped kitchen, laundry room, even a games room which I'm not ashamed to say we adults monopolised! We can honestly say that there was nothing we wanted for. This was what a holiday should truly be, great booking service, fantastic accommodation and an overall brilliant experience. I would highly recommend it.
Having spent a week staying at the "American Dream" I have to say I would thoroughly recommend it to all.
The interior is beautifully and originally decorated, very well equipped but above all great fun. The Hollywood/rock star theme works really well, and went down particularly well with my teenage children and friends, who found the whole environment very "cool".
very enjoyable holiday location. Well done Mark and Debbie.
What an amaxing house! As you go in the door you immediately start to see the woderful paintings of your favourite Hollywood Stars, and as you tour round this very large property each room is an experience in itself.
The furnishings are lovely and comfortable and the huge TV with incredible surround sound makes an evening in an absolute pleasure.
As if this weren't enough we found that even the kids had been considered with the double garage having been expertly converted into a games room. We hardly saw them once they'd found it!
This is no ordinary home and I'd recommend it to anyone.
The complete experience was an extraordinary thrill!
The whole occasion, from the time I began my search and met Mark on-line, until the time we had to say goodbye to the Dream Home, was just fantastic.
This being my first venture into securing a place in Florida, I was a little apprehensive. Mark and Debbie, with their prompt follow-ups and friendliness, quickly eased my mind.
Then, not being the first couple to arrive at the Dream Home, I still knew I was in for a treat when I received phone calls, at the airport, from two other couples telling me how great the house was. I just couldn't wait to get there. From the beautiful pool and spa, to the extremely comfortable furnishings throughout the house, you get that sense that WOW, am I glad to be here! It's a real charm, when you can sit down to eat with Elvis, or enjoy a book with Marilyn. And the kids loved all the entertainment features.
My family stayed an extra day in a hotel around Disney. We all got up the next morning complaining of backaches. Then we all agreed, Mark and Debbie's American Dream Home was the best place we've ever stayed. We will certainly recommend it to our friends and family. If we ever go back to Orlando, the American Dream Home will be the first place we will look at.
7 day minimum stay. In Low Season a 4 day minimum is OK. Usually book Saturday to Saturday.
Deposit: A deposit of $500 is due immediately when you book, and your reservation is not confirmed until we receive this. The balance is due at least 12 weeks prior to your arrival date.


Forms – Derby City Supply, Inc.
Below are links to various forms for getting your company setup with Derby City Supply, Inc. Some forms are required for all customers, while some are optional. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 502-459-8300 or send us a message via our contact us page and we will gladly assist you.
The account application is required for all accounts. This simple form gathers all required business information to get your company setup.
The credit application is only required if you are applying for an open account with us. If you are a credit card or prepay customer, you do not need to fill this out.
The Kentucky Resale Certificate form is only required if you are sales tax exempt. If you are exempt, we must have this form on file before we can remove sales tax from your invoices.


text:
Q: "off and on" vs "from time to time" Are there any differences in the meaning of or when we use the idioms 'off and on' and 'from time to time'? The definitions in the Cambridge Dictionary are:

*

*off and on: happening or existing only some of the time

*from time to time: sometimes, but not regularly

A: The idiom "off-and-on" (or on-and-off) is adjectival, in the sense it may be used attributively or as a complement

Her on-and-off boyfriend...

Their relationship was off-and-on that year.

But "from time to time" is a prepositional phrase.

He plays tennis from time to time.

Because one is an adjective, and the other is a PP, one can't be substituted by the other.
The meaning is also different. If someone "plays football on-and-off" it means that there are periods when they don't play football at all, and other periods when they do
        on                  off                    on
.   .  .    .   . ..                       .. .      .   ..

But if they play football from time to time, it means irregularly, and not often
time              time      time      time               time
.                 .           .       .                  .

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
require "json"
require "logger"
require "rest_client"
require "idigbio_client/version"
require "idigbio_client/helper"
require "idigbio_client/search"

# Ruby wrapper for iDigBio API
module IdigbioClient
  URL = "https://beta-search.idigbio.org/v2/"
  MAX_LIMIT = 100_000
  DEFAULT_LIMIT = 100
  HEADERS = { content_type: :json, accept: :json }
  extend Helper

  class << self
    def search(opts)
      Search.search(opts)
    end

    def logger
      @logger ||= Logger.new($stdout)
    end

    def show(uuid)
      query(path: "view/#{uuid}", method: :get)
    end

    def types
      %w(records mediarecords recordsets publishers)
    end

    def count(opts = {})
      opts = { type: "records", params: {} }.merge(opts)
      type = normalize_type(opts[:type])
      res = query(path: "summary/count/#{type}/", params: opts[:params])
      res ? res[:itemCount] : nil
    end

    def fields(type = nil)
      types = type ? [normalize_type(type)] : IdigbioClient.types
      types.each_with_object({}) do |t, res|
        res[t.to_sym] = query(path: "meta/fields/#{t}", method: :get)
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I've officially passed the 20-year mark of working on fisheries and ocean issues.
What I thought would be a short-term assignment as a Greenpeace campaigner has become my life's work. Not because I'm enamored with the ocean and marine animals, but because the underlying problems, issues, and threats were the same as those I had to deal with when working on other campaigns.
Last week, I posted a piece on just a few of the many myths I've encountered over the years. From "too many boats catching too few fish" to "US fisheries laws are working" - these are just a few. It seems to have resonated with people, so I wanted to share it again. What fisheries myths do you want to bust?
Talk to us about it on our Facebook page.
There will be sea shanties!
) Later in the day, join Niaz and others in a panel conversation about climate change and community fisheries. It's going to be awesome.
Watch how our friends at Sitka Salmon Shares get their fish to your door!
And here's a look at the impact a CSF ( Skipper Otto's, in this case) can have on a family and a community. Sea-to-School programs are starting to really heat up. Listen to what our partners at Farm-to-Institution New England (FINE) are up to.
"Catastrophic things open people's eyes."
And also, cash for wetlands in Florida. Food First's 10 Hunger Myths.
Thank you for all that you do. Catch you next month!


text:
HomeCasinoKent school sports activities news
Kent school sports activities news
Kent School is one of the best known co-educational private schools situated in Kent in Connecticut, America. Kent School dates back to 1906 when it was established by Reverend Fredrick Herbert Sill of the Episcopal Church. This school has students from all across the USA along with 30 other foreign countries. This school provides a curriculum which involves both academics and sports and gives equal importance to both these fields.
Kent School is one of the members of the Founders League and competes in 32 varsity sports categories. The school has 22 interscholastic sports and 56 interscholastic teams. More than one third of the student population of Kent School is known to participate in these sports activities. A number of students from Kent School have made news when they've gone on to play in Division I, II and III categories in college and University competitions.
Kent School has an established rowing team known as the Kent School Boat Club. This club was founded in 1922 and it has three varsity boats. The fourth boat participates in varsity boat https://top100sitesbetting.com races. They are also known to conduct spring training sessions that take place during the schools spring break. The Crew of this club has gone to win several challenges such as the Thames Challenge Cup.
They have been consistent in their success in this sport and also have won five times on their participation at Henley. The Kent Girls Crew was founded in 1973 and this team too has been as successful as its counterpart. They won the competition at Henley in 2002 and have also won two National Championships in addition to several New England Championships
The schools arch rival in sports is the Loomis Chaffe School. Their traditional rivalry culminates every year in the annual Kent V/S Loomis day where both the schools participate in a variety of sports challenges. Kent School has a very good football team which has been the undisputed leader for six consecutive years in this challenge. The Kent school football team is additionally one of the first private American schools that will play internationally in the fall. They have been invited and sponsored by Global Football that is affiliated to the National Football League. The Kent Football team shall compete against the Danish National Junior Squad in an event which is to occur in London in a initiative to market football.
Almost all of the success that Kent School has got in its athletic endeavors can be attributed to its excellent coaches. Most of the coaches stay on campus and also have more opportunities of interacting with the students. This familiarity helps the coach to develop coaching methods keeping students in mind. The school has great training facilities both for outdoor and indoor sports and a cutting edge fitness centre. These facilities include 13 outdoor tennis courts, 13 playing fields, a cross-country running course, a 25 yard, six lane, diving swimming pool, squash courts etc. To add to this is the 1200acre campus which includes the Appalachian Trail.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Two real 8" gold trimmed roses mounted in our custom 10" x 12" shadow box to represent him and her for a 1st anniversary gift. Choose from several rose colors and felt (background) colors. Also included is a 3" x 3" heart-shaped plate engraved with your loving message.
This shadow box has no glass covering the roses.


This is great nature trail system comprised of over 5 miles of trails. There are nice creeks to walk along side of and hop across, a cabin ruin and a couple of small waterfalls. This is a great trail to bring the doggies as it is well-marked and well maintained.


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export { Controllers, Controllers as CliControllers };


text:
FESTIVALS & COMPETITIONS NEWS
Raaga Astro Awards 2010 lauded for its fame and quality
IT WAS a grand celebration at the Raaga Astro Awards 2010 as members from the music and film fraternity were lauded for their efforts to enhance the local Tamil entertainment industry.
This year's awards saw nominations for both music and films as opposed to the inaugural awards last year held for the music industry alone.
The organisers decided to use this as a platform to raise funds for three Tamil pre-schools in the country. Tickets for the show were sold at RM10 and additional donations from private organisations were also collected.
Actor of the Year award winner Haridass, for his movie Yantra, said many people took the movies too seriously. "They should always remember that movies are only a form of escapism. Parents should always guide their children as well," he added.
Read the full list of nominees here >>
via The Star


text:
Tributes to victims on 32nd anniversary of Montreal's Polytechnique mass shooting
Virginie Ann
The Canadian Press Staff
Published Monday, December 6, 2021 6:36AM EST Last Updated Tuesday, December 7, 2021 6:29AM EST
People gathered silently in front of Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique Monday to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of what's widely believed to be Canada's worst mass shooting specifically targeting women.
The shooting took place on Dec. 6, 1989, when a gunman separated men from women students inside the engineering school before opening fire and killing 14 women and injuring others.
On a wet, gloomy morning, representatives of the school and student associations laid white roses in front of a commemorative plaque honouring the 14 lost lives.
Clementine Lesec and Gael Reynal, representatives from one of Polytechnique's student unions, stood together, reflecting quietly on the tragedy as others placed wreaths.
Lesec, a 22-year-old master's student in biomedical engineering research, said that as a woman walking the school's corridors, her mind often wanders toward the victims.
"I am not afraid of what could happen, but I am always thinking about them," Lesec said. "I am here. I am lucky and I must make the most out of it."
Sarah Dorner, a professor in the department of civil, geological and mining engineering at Polytechnique, said she vividly remembers the massacre.
"I was in high school when it happened, and I remember Nathalie Provost, a survivor who was shot four times, and I remember her words … Don't be afraid," said Dorner, who has taught at Polytechnique since 2007.
"It became an inspiration for a lot of women of my generation."
Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade was among the small crowd, saying she was there primarily as an alumnus of Polytechnique.
"I don't have my spokesperson with me today, I just came with flowers like I do every year on Dec. 6, because it's very emotional," said Anglade, who graduated in 1996.
"To think about their lives, what they could have been and you tell yourself that you have a duty to continue and to fight against violence toward women."
Later in the day, at 5 p.m., another ceremony was held on the belvedere of Mont-Royal, looking over the 14 beams of vertical light shining from downtown. Mourners read out the 14 victims' names and laid white roses before a memorial photo.
Dès 17 h 10 ce soir, nous pourront apercevoir 14 faisceaux lumineux qui jailliront du mont Royal afin de commémorer la tuerie de Polytechnique.
Chaque puits de lumière sera allumé un par un en mémoire des 14 victimes. N'oublions jamais.����
��Dario Ayala / Agence QMI pic.twitter.com/rGmVEICAgu
— Amis de la montagne (@lemontRoyal) December 6, 2021
The women killed that day were:
Anne-Marie Edward, chemical engineering student
Anne-Marie Lemay, mechanical engineering student
Annie St-Arneault, mechanical engineering student
Annie Turcotte, materials engineering student
Barbara Daigneault, mechanical engineering student
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, nursing student
Geneviève Bergeron, civil engineering student
Hélène Colgan, mechanical engineering student
Maud Haviernick, materials engineering student
Maryse Laganière, budget clerk in the École Polytechnique's finance department
Maryse Leclair, materials engineering student
Michèle Richard, materials engineering student
Nathalie Croteau, mechanical engineering student
Sonia Pelletier, mechanical engineering student
A recent spate of femicides in Quebec -- with an unofficial count putting the number at 18 since January -- has renewed discussion of the issue, but it also has some advocates lamenting a lack of progress over gun control and in the fight to end violence against women.
MPs held two moments of silence in the House of Commons Monday to mark the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women that was declared in 1991.
The first was requested by Speaker Anthony Rota, at the end of members' statements, during which MPs from all parties addressed the issue of violence against women.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland later asked all women MPs to stand for a second moment of silence after she answered the day's first query during question period on the subject.
"Violence against women is just unacceptable," she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement condemning the hatred of women that led to the 1989 killings.
"As we remember the victims of this hateful, cowardly act, we are also reminded that, for countless women, girls, and gender diverse people in Canada and around the world, violence is a daily reality," Trudeau said.
Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said the tragedy that befell the victims at Polytechnique "must never happen again."
"We must denounce unacceptable behaviour, teach our children and our loved ones to respect one another, and set an example," O'Toole said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement that violence against women has to be eliminated in all its forms. "Women and girls deserve to feel safe in their homes and communities," he said.
Fourteen beams of light representing the shooting victims will be projected into the sky Monday evening from Mount Royal, where Trudeau, Quebec Premier Francois Legault and Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante are set to be present. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers are asking crowds not to gather.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2021. With files from Erika Ibrahim and Mia Rabson in Ottawa. With files from CTV News Montreal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Quebec Premier Francois Legault, and Montreal mayor Valerie Plant stand with family members and dignitaries during a vigil in memory of the 14 victims of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique Montreal tragedy in Montreal on Monday, December 6, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
Flowers are seen at the commemorative plaque during a ceremony marking the 28th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre when a gunman shot 14 women to death and injured 14 other people Wednesday, December 6, 2017 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
As fatal shootings climb, Legault says 'I don't recognize Montreal'
Gun-control group urges Trudeau to name new minister to advance Liberal promises
Order of the White Rose awarded to Willow Dew, an Alberta grad who's following in her mother's footsteps


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Sports Cricket 07 Apr 2017 Nothing can stop me if motivation is there, says ABD
Nothing can stop me if motivation is there, says ABD
THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : Apr 7, 2017, 2:22 am IST
Updated : Apr 7, 2017, 6:33 am IST
Having conquered all its formats, cricket's most versatile player, AB de Villiers stands out amongst the top batsmen in the world.
Bengaluru: Having conquered all its formats, cricket's most versatile player, AB de Villiers stands out amongst the top batsmen in the world. A class-act on the 22-yard strip, enthralling the crowd with mind-boggling strokes the 33-year-old has stolen hearts all over the world, with a large fan base here in India.
After being named skipper of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, due to the absence of regular captain Virat Kohli, de Villiers himself was ruled out of the opening game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, owing to a back injury. With Bengaluru set to play their first home game against the Delhi Daredevils on Saturday, ABD will be putting in some net sessions to see whether he will be fit to play.
Launching his personalised fan engagement app, the AB 17 app, that will allow him to interact on a deeper level with his global fan following, Bengaluru's adopted son said he hopes to return quickly from injury.
"It's something I haven't dealt with a lot in my career, I haven't had a lot of injuries. But every single time I've had an injury I've come back stronger."
The Pretoria batsman added that he draws inspiration from how Rafael Nadal got back with a bang from injury. "I haven't played a lot, but if you look at my form coming back against New Zealand I still played alright. It's not easy, but it's a great challenge to get away from the game and then to work hard and work your way back into it.
'Inspired by Nadal's return'
"I've found inspiration through a lot of athletes who have done that in the past. I think of Nadal. The way he's come back has inspired me a lot. I'm still motivated to play for as long as possible, and as long as that motivation is there mentally, nothing is going to stop me."
The 33-year-old backed Kohli's decision of not returning to the field unless one is a 100% fit. "I think that's how it should be. No matter where you're playing or when. Even though I'm very very keen to get on the field, I'll make sure that I'm 100% fit ," he added.
Tags: ab de villiers, virat kohli


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Posts Tagged 'Campbell Live'
Ten strategic communication lessons from the Alasdair Thompson fiasco
Posted on 00:03, June 24th, 2011 by Lew
Today has been a remarkable day. Rarely do we see such an epic failure of communication as we have seen from Alasdair Thompson. Because these events have played out mostly in public, they also present an unusually transparent example.
What follows is ten specific strategic communication lessons which are clearly evident from these events. My analysis isn't political — I have political and ideological views on this matter, and I intend to write these up after some reflection, but the purpose here is to look at things dispassionately and pragmatically and consider what was done wrong, and what might have been done differently. They are framed quite generically and can be pretty widely applied. This is a long post, so I've hidden most of it below the fold.
Everything here is presented on an "in my opinion, for what it's worth" basis, and should under no circumstances be interpreted as reflecting the views of my employer, or anyone other than me personally.
Tags: Alasdair Thompson, Brian Donnelly, Campbell Live, communications strategy, Employers & Manufacturers Association, Kate Wilkinson, mansplaining, Media, media theory, Mihingarangi Forbes, Mike Hosking, National Business Review, NewsTalk ZB, NZ Herald, open government, Paula Bennett, Rachel Morton, TV3, twitter, Winston Peters
Posted in An inclusive society, Feminism, Media, Propaganda, working class politics | 36 Comments | Read More »
Put it out of its misery
Posted on 23:12, March 11th, 2011 by Lew
After defending New Zealand's broadcast news media in recent weeks, and bemoaning the lack of funding for public service broadcasting in particular, TVNZ has tonight hit rock-bottom. The so-called national broadcaster has been comprehensively shamed by TV3, and in the battle for news credibility it has capitulated having barely fired a shot.
John Campbell announced the Sendai Earthquake live on Campbell Live, and TV3 interrupted its broadcast of the high-rating Glee with micro-bulletins (leading the ad breaks) not long afterwards, and eventually ditched the show altogether to show live coverage from Japan's English-language NHK network. TV One, in contrast, let MasterChef play to the end before switching to NHK. The digital-only channel TVNZ7 was also broadcasting coverage from NHK.
Both commercial channels continued to play ads, but other than that, did a pretty good job of balancing raw foreign coverage, context provided by their local presenters, and important updates for New Zealanders (tsunami alert status, etc.). And then, after broadcasting quake coverage for about an hour, One switched back to its regular programming, showing "Pineapple Dance Studios", a reality TV show about "the larger-than-life exploits" of the dancers at said London studio. TVNZ's other channel, TV2, was broadcasting American Idol. At some point (I haven't been watching it) TVNZ 7 switched back to its regular programming: a book show of some sort. TV3, apparently without a second thought, cancelled the rest of its scheduled programming, and continues to carry the NHK feed, interspersed with relevant original content, including reports from New Zealand expats in Japan.
The contrast could not be more stark: while both One and TV3 remain general-purpose TV channels with a bolt-on news component, TV3 thinks of itself as and actually behaves like a bona fide news outlet, while for all its big talk TVNZ has revealed itself to be just another vehicle for empty escapism. TV3 demonstrated considerably better newscasting chops than TVNZ during the Canterbury earthquake of 22 February, but the comparison was unfair because TVNZ's live broadcast infrastructure was more or less destroyed in the earthquake, so they had considerably less capacity to respond, for reasons outside their control. It is true that, given the volume of disaster coverage we have had recently, there is a need for an escapist bolt-hole — not least, for the traumatised survivors of the Canterbury earthquakes. But that's what TV2 and American Idol are for. Make no mistake: given our current disaster awareness, the relatively strong links between New Zealand and Japan — including the presence of Japanese USAR teams still in Christchurch — that country's broad and deep experience of coping with events such as these, and the fact that the tsunami waves are predicted to submerge entire islands in the Pacific, including, presumably some of our protectorates — this is of legitimate news interest to New Zealanders. It is apparently the largest earthquake recorded in Japan in the past century, and one of the ten largest earthquakes ever recorded. By any meaningful metric it is an important news story worthy of our attention.
At the heart of my defence of public service broadcasting lately has been the argument that public service broadcaster raise the bar of competition, forcing commercial broadcasters to sharpen their game. To quote myself (from a comment on Red Alert the other day):
The British broadcast media are very good indeed, and the main reason for this is the BBC. Yes, the BBC itself makes up a lot of the broadcast media environment there, but more importantly, it forces commercial competitors to compete with something other than lowest-common-denominator mass-market ratings. The same dynamic exists in the two other major media markets with strong and well-provisioned PSBs: Canada and Australia, where the CBC and ABC respectively set an enormously high standard for commercial competitors to meet. This is one of the major roles of public service broadcasting, especially in news: to set a high bar for competition.
If you want to solve the problems within New Zealand's media environment, if you want to raise the bar: make the commercial media outlets compete with something that hasn't been gutted and hamstrung. Fund TVNZ and Radio NZ properly, give it freedom to hire and retain the best people, buy the best content, and generally do what it does, and let the others work to match them. Everyone wins.
To give just one tiny example of how this might have worked: TV3 may have reconsidered its decision to air advertisements for fast food and outboard motors between shots of buildings and fleeing vehicles being swept away by ten metre waves, if there had been a viable ad-free newscast in competition with it. To give another: perhaps, if there was some competition prepared to put up the NHK feed overnight for those whose family members and friends are in Japan, TV3 might not have cut to Sports Tonight after Nightline had aired. But there wasn't any competition. When governments underfund public service broadcasters or hamstring them by imposing the contradictory roles of a public service mandate and the need to return a profit to the consolidated fund, both roles are weakened. We get the worst of both worlds: as taxpayers, we pay public money to fund public service broadcasting, provision of which is undermined by the channel's need to remain obedient to market imperatives, and in exchange for putting up with ads we end up with a pale imitation of a commercial broadcaster as well. One News — and to an even greater extent TVNZ 7 — supposedly a dedicated 'factual content' channel — disgraced themselves and failed New Zealanders tonight. The tagline "New Zealand's news. Anywhere. Anytime" should perhaps be revised to "Anywhere. Anytime. Except when there's third-rate reality programming to air instead."
TVNZ, by waving the white flag tonight, has demonstrated that it's all but worthless as a public service broadcaster. The market is doing its job for it. If the government isn't going to fund it well enough to turn it into a proper public service broadcaster, they might as well sell it, if they can find anyone who'll pay anything for it. If they can't, perhaps they can just take it out behind the shed and put it out of its misery.
Tags: 3 news, ABC, American Idol, BBC, Campbell Live, Canterbury earthquake, CBC, competition, Glee, John Campbell, MasterChef, Media, media theory, natural disasters, news, NHK, One News, Privatisation, public service broadcasting, Red Alert, Sendai earthquake, TV, TV3, TVNZ, TVNZ7
Posted in Media, Public services | 9 Comments | Read More »
Underclass Redux
Posted on 02:05, February 5th, 2011 by Lew
Campbell Live tonight returned to McGehan Close (see the report, by Tony Field, here). This street in Mt Albert — on the boundary of Helen Clark's and Phil Goff's electorates — was visited by then-opposition leader John Key before Waitangi weekend 2007 for a particularly cynical stunt. This was Key's first big symbolic play as leader of the opposition, and it was a hum-dinger. He had already singled out the residents of this street in that year's State of the Nation address at a whitebread rugby club in faraway Christchurch, branding them archetypal members of the New Zealand 'underclass', and the visit saw him glad-handing and patronising a bunch of poor brown people who'd already been used as shot in the National party propaganda cannons.
The purpose of the speech, and visit, was to install one of the core planks of the National party narrative about the Clark government — that it was at best unconcerned with the plight of said underclass; and at worst, actively cultivated such a demographic, which would be permanently dependent on Labour's welfare policies and would therefore be a permanent source of electoral support for the Labour party. (So the 'bribing the bludgers to breed' theme goes, rarely uttered by anyone with authority in public but a commonplace among the usual proxies; check almost any General Debate thread on Kiwiblog from around that time for instance.) This is absurd in more ways than it's feasible to explain here, so I won't bother. Let's just leave it at 'the underclass doesn't really vote'.
Nevertheless, the visit was a roaring success. Key, bearing smiles and gifts and wearing a tiki t-shirt, charmed the residents of McGehan Close and evidently persuaded them both of his party's goodwill toward them and of its social and economic plan to lift them from their grim circumstances. The event culminated in Key taking 12 year-old Aroha to the Waitangi Day celebrations — a move full of potent symbolism, even if it was seen to be somewhat exploitative. Drawn out over a full week of coverage (at the time a rare commodity for Key, who had replaced Don Brash as leader just before the Christmas break) this was a highly successful stunt and should have been an early warning of Key's great talent for making cheesy set-piece events 'work' and feel human. The sentiment he evoked in the people of McGehan Close was certainly real.
It's just a pity the 'ambitious', 'aspirational' policy programme Key promised them wasn't.
Joan Nathan, Aroha's mother, remains on the DPB (having been let go from her hastily-arranged job working for National MP Jackie Blue) and struggles more than ever to cope, now with a sixth child. Aroha, now 16, is living in the care of Child, Youth and Family, which Joan says is the best thing for her, since she is unable to provide a decent life for her daughter. Nathan and others, although they believed in and voted for Key, are now disenchanted and universally express the sentiment that the government's policies favour the rich, not the poor, and that they haven't been helped one iota by the change of government; in fact, things have gotten worse. Not much of this is different than it was this time last year, when the Sunday Star Times visited the Close.
So far, so obvious, you might say — and it is; indeed this sort of outcome was very widely predicted at the time. But this is important because it is as strong a counter-narrative as exists for the opposition in this election year. It reframes Key as a faker, a charlatan, an opportunist who'll exploit whatever circumstances will advantage him, without loyalty or the willingness or ability to follow through on his word; as someone whose focus is on boardroom issues rather than on peoples' wellbeing. Discussing and reading around the topic on twitter this evening I've seen considerable criticism of this Campbell Live story as a cheap human-interest stunt, as opportunistic and exploitative (or moreso) than the original event. I couldn't agree less. It is a clear, unambiguous example of an investigative journalist simply revisiting a story where much was promised, and measuring it against what has actually happened. This is crucial to its narrative value: these events reframe Key by measuring his own defining stunt — his signature trick — against the objective reality of lived experience. Theory and rhetoric versus real people, living in the real world governed by the policy built from that theory and rhetoric. It is a reality check in its purest form.
There are disadvantages to this narrative line, also, and the virulent responses to the Campbell Live report this evening — I believe I saw presenter Rachel Smalley shudder a little whilst reading some of them out — hint at them. One is the obvious suggestion that Joan Nathan and the other residents of McGehan Close could have done better for themselves, but have chosen not to; the victim-blaming routinely visited upon the poor by the less-poor. A more serious and related line of critique is that there's a recession on, and everyone's hurting. Or that it's only been three years, and change takes time.
But hang on a minute — wasn't the point of the whole point of electing a Key-led National government to take advantage of the resulting step-change which would boost economic growth, job growth, provide better opportunities, an end to welfare dependency, safer communities and a general increase in general socio-economic mobility and wellbeing? Key made all these promises quite explicitly, not just in person to the residents of McGehan Close, but to the whole nation throughout the campaign and at almost every opportunity since. There are no jobs. There are no higher wages, and without these things you can't exactly buy shares in SOEs. There is no greater social mobility. The 'underclass', as exploitatively defined by Key, still exists.
Having failed McGehan Close, John Key has failed all of us. Quite apart from the fact that we were all promised these things, or things like them, and by and large have yet to receive them, a central theme of the 'underclass' policy argument was that by lifting people out of poverty and bringing then into the 'overclass' (? — this shows just how meaningless 'underclass' is except as a propaganda term), the government would make society better for everyone. This is a noble goal, and one I agree with in its idealistic entirety. I think you would go a long way to find someone in a position of any political credibility who'd publicly disagree with it. The first order of business for any opposition should be to hold John Key to those promises, and demand of Key the wealthier, more mobile, and socially healthier society we were promised.
But the most vicious response will be the one which the initial stunt in 2007 was meant to evoke — the notion that the 'underclass' are breeding in order to get more welfare from the Labour party. The core of this line of reasoning, if I may call it that, will be attacks on Nathan herself as a mother, having had a sixth baby and having had Aroha, the subject of the initial stunt, removed from her care. The attacks will be highly personalised, racist and gendered, and they will be lashed closely to Labour party policy and doctrine. But, assuming a competent and spirited opposition, that's ok — the National party aren't in opposition, 18 months out from an election; they're in government in election year. Having been elected on a moderate, sympathetic platform with strong support from women and Māori, and looking to consolidate that platform into a strong and honestly-won mandate means that the government no longer has such freedom to dog-whistle. Particularly given that an opposition counter-narrative would cast doubt on all those sympathetic characteristics, the resort to the divisive tactics of 2008, such as trying to wedge 'hard-working kiwis' against the 'underclass', and so on, would be extremely risky for the government.
In light of my last post, perhaps it is a little glib to assume a competent and spirited opposition, and in perfect truth I don't really think Labour has this fight in them (although Grant Robertson saw the Campbell Live piece and seems to have had a similar response to mine, which is heartening). But it is an argument waiting to be had, and one which must be had sooner or later. The boundaries are drawn up; media interest is already piqued, and this is a bread-and-butter social and economic justice issue for Labour. There's a wealth of symbolic material and slogans to employ — 'reality check' and 'by failing McGehan Close Key has failed us all' are two they can have for free, and if a Labour party can't base a campaign around 'underclass' then they're not worthy of the name.
Time to engage.
Tags: 2008 election, 2011 election, Aroha Ireland, campaign strategy, Campbell Live, CYF, Grant Robertson, Helen Clark, Jackie Blue, Joan Nathan, John Key, Kiwiblog, Labour, McGehan Close, media stunts, Mt Albert, narrative, National, open government, poverty, Rachel Smalley, Sunday Star Times, symbolic politics, Tony Field, underclass, Waitangi Day, Welfare
Posted in An inclusive society, Democracy, Economics, Media, Propaganda, working class politics | 32 Comments | Read More »
Hard rain's a-gonna fall
Posted on 00:14, February 3rd, 2011 by Lew
The past week has illustrated in clear terms the New Zealand Labour party's decline as an effective opposition party. In the opening moments of election year 2011, John Key has stepped up to demonstrate the full extent of the National government's apparent impunity. He has done this in three ways.
First, by fronting Morning Report, Nine to Noon, Campbell Live and other tier-1 hard-news media to outline his intention to partially privatise SOEs. Privatisation, since the Fourth Labour Government, has been a 'third rail' issue; one the NZ left is unequivocally opposed to. By going into bat for privatisation personally, and in considerable policy detail, Key confounded criticism which has been (justly) levelled at him throughout the electoral term so far that he often refuses to show up on hard media, while continuing to keep regular spots in soft formats like Breakfast, and on less rigorous media such as Newstalk ZB. He also invested his own (considerable) political capital in the enterprise, making privatisation a matter of his own judgement and credibility.
Second, he sought out and is revelling in the controversy caused by his "Liz Hurley is hot" stunt, undertaken on Radio Sport with convicted back-breaker Tony Veitch. In political terms, the first bit was no meaningful risk; Key has played the 'frankly, I'm a red-blooded Kiwi bloke' card several times before, always to good effect, and most notably when he informed a press scrum he'd had a vasectomy. The decision to undertake an interview with the disgraced Veitch was a considerably more risky proposition because of the nature of Veitch's offending against his partner, combined with the subject matter of their conversation, and the fact that Key's political appeal to women has been considerably stronger than previous National leaders. This seems clearly calculated to demonstrate what he can get away with; and the gamble has in fact paid off so well that Phil Goff today felt compelled to follow suit, suggesting a slightly sad "me too, me too" narrative.
The third of Key's big moves was today's dual announcement that the election would be held on 26 November, 10 months away and following the Rugby World Cup; and that he would not consider a coalition arrangement which included Winston Peters. Coupled with ruling out working with Hone Harawira outside his present constraints in the māori party, this declaration will provide considerable reassurance to National's traditional base, and will scotch any possibility of wavering conservatives casting a hopeful vote for Winston Peters as an each-way bet. It is a risky proposition, though — Peters remains a redoubtable political force, and it is not beyond possibility that he returns to parliament. However I think Key has read the electorate well; he knows that while a small number of people love Peters, and a small number loathe him, many of those in the middle are vaguely distrustful of him. As Danyl points out, he's managed to link Peters to Goff in a way which emphasises both leaders' worst attributes: Peters' polarising tendency, and the general unease and disdain with which voters view Goff. The decision to call the election so early is also bold. It means relinquishing the incumbent advantage of being able to control the electoral agenda; being able to determine when 'government as usual' ceases and 'campaign season' begins. This is an intangible but valuable benefit, and it has been traded off against another piece of reassurance: the sense that Key and his government are "playing it straight" with the New Zealand public; that they intend to run an open and forthright campaign and to seek an honest mandate for their second term. The choice of election date isn't entirely selfless, of course — the All Blacks are odds-on favourites to win the Rugby World Cup, and even if they don't, the tournament, its pageantry and excitement and revenue boost will bifurcate the campaign. The traditional campaign period will mostly be drowned out by this event, save for the last few frantic weeks.
In most election years, swapping agenda-setting rights for a "playing it straight" feeling would be a poor tradeoff. In most election years, a sexist stunt with a known and publicly reviled wife-beater would be a poor start. In most election years, running a campaign based on privatisation would simply be a non-starter. While the paragraphs above read somewhat like breathless praise of Key's status as a political playa, that's not my intent. I think he's good, but mostly John Key just knows what he can get away with. The reason he can get away with all of these things is because there is no credible opposition to prevent him from doing so. Anyone half-decent can look sharp when playing against amateurs.
It has been Labour's job to prevent the government from reaching the state of near-impunity they now enjoy, and their failure to do so means there is now a real danger that Key will get the genuine and sweeping mandate he seeks. To a considerable extent they were doomed in the task of preventing this from the outset, because they didn't think it was possible that he'd ever achieve it. Clark Labour throughout 2008 fundamentally misunderestimated Key, writing him off as a bumbling lightweight, and this was a crucial error. Since well before the election — this example is from July 2008 — I've been arguing to anyone who'll listen that instead of taking easy pot shots at Key based on his weaknesses, any critique should focus on his strengths. Quoting myself, from the above:
Key's strengths [per the Herald bio], which enabled him to succeed as a currency trader: Decisiveness. Determination. Patience. Ice-cold calm under fire. Willingness to risk it all. Ability to follow through. Remorselessness.
If you want to attack John Key, draw attention to what might happen under a Key government. Given his history, he's not some motley fool who won't make sweeping changes – he hasn't gotten where he is today by being timid. I think he has the wherewithal to roll out a sweeping programme of political and social change the like of which we haven't seen since Lange, but I think that, unlike Lange, he won't get cold feet. If you don't like Key's politics, I suggest you begin thinking about what might happen if the guy is given the power he seeks.
The delusion that John Key is a hapless fool who's somehow mysteriously gotten his hands on the reins of power remains very much alive within New Zealand lefties; this was the tired old line I got spun as recently as this afternoon, by one of the internet's best-known Labourites (with a nice dollop of 'if you don't praise Labour, you're a rightie' for good measure).
But this tendency to misjudge and underestimate Key is only part of the problem. Denizens of The Standard aside, anyone within the loop who has a modicum of reason has figured out that Key is not the lightweight he was — quite willingly — framed as. But now the narrative is set: it's That Nice Man John Key, who drinks beer out of the bottle while tending the barbecue with Prince Harry, and thinks Liz Hurley is hot. They don't have a credible counter-narrative, but they have to say something against the health cuts, education cuts, tax cuts, ACC cuts, pending privatisation and so on — and so they fall back on their usual tired old cliches, which, while superficially looking like what an opposition is supposed to do, lack cohesion and run counter to the established wisdom about Key and his government — wisdom laid down, in the first place, by the Labour party in its 2008 campaign.
The lack of narrative cohesion is so dire that the party claims that privatisation of SOEs is repugnant to the voting public of New Zealand; and almost simultaneously puts out a press release saying that it's a cynical ploy to "cling to power". The manifest incompatibility of these two propositions — cynically promoting an unpopular policy to retain power — speaks for itself.
If the inability to construct a viable narrative is symptomatic of a wider lack of ideas and direction within Labour. Election-year spin aside, their policy offering is weak as well. Their big blockbuster kicking-off-election-year policy of a $5000 tax-free zone was big enough to draw plenty of criticism about cost and targeting (including from people like Brian Easton), but timid enough that nobody was made to sit up and take notice for any other reason (sidenote: when Brian Easton, John Shewan, Chris Trotter and I all oppose something, I think you can be pretty sure it's not a winner).
This is just the most recent example of what we've seen throughout the past two years: Labour's vision, and its execution, simply aren't up to scratch. I have no internal knowledge of the Labour party, and I don't know whose fault this is. I guess the leadership blames the strategists, the strategists blame the policy wonks, the policy wonks blame the spin-doctors and the spin-doctors blame the MSMâ"¢. All that's just excuse-making for losers. There are no socially-just power-redistribution schemes in politics, and if there were they would be rorted. There is no fair. The job of being in opposition is to win despite the odds being stacked against you; to do and say things worthy of the news media's time, worthy of the government's concern, and worthy of the electorate's endorsement. If you're not doing that, you're not up to the task.
As the title implies, the political weather this election year is not going to be a warm drizzle. John Key wants a mandate; he wants a strong and broad mandate which will permit him to wreak widespread social, economic and political changes upon New Zealand's landscape, and he is prepared to put a lot on the line to gain it. He is playing for keeps, and my instinct is that an opposition who couldn't keep pace with 'smile and wave' is going to be crushed by the rampant beast which is currently girding for war. What's more, by all accounts Key is actually, genuinely coming to the New Zealand electorate with a transparent policy offering in good faith, keeping his promise that nothing would be privatised without his first having sought a mandate to do so, which robs Labour of their strongest symbolic weapon: the "by stealth" bit of their catchcry "privatisation by stealth". Time will tell if this holds, but at present the Key government is doing exactly what it says on the box. Labour can't claim they haven't known about this all along. Privatisation has been the bogeyman about which they've been warning the New Zealand public for at least a decade, which makes the incoherence of their recent response all the more unforgivable. That National would consider running an election campaign on this cornerstone issue, loathed and feared by so many New Zealanders, is surprising. That they can expect to do so without trying to get their agenda through on the sly is shocking. That they reasonably expect to do all that and win is unthinkable. Let there be no doubt: if Key wins this election on these grounds, it is because Labour, by failing to adequately discharge their role as a competent opposition, have permitted him to do so.
Perhaps it is not too late. Perhaps Key has overplayed his hand; perhaps Goff has a secret weapon. Perhaps a young Turk is fixing to roll Goff and his cadres and make a break for it. I do not think any of these are likely. So it may be that the one good electoral thing to emerge from 2011 is a heavy and humbling loss which would see the Labour party reduced to a meagre husk. An exodus of the lively and creative thinkers of the party to another vehicle; or the enforced retirement of the deadwood responsible for the present state of affairs; or both would clear the way for a thoroughgoing rejuvenation of the movement's principles and its praxis and its personnel. While it would be cold comfort to the generation of New Zealanders who will bear the brunt of the Key government's second and third-term policies, it would be a crucial and long overdue lesson in political hubris, never to be forgotten, and infinitely preferable to another narrow loss and the moribund hope that next time it'll be different.
Tags: ACC, All Blacks, Brian Easton, Campbell Live, Chris Trotter, Election 2011, Elizabeth Hurley, Helen Clark, Hone Harawira, John Key, John Shewan, Labour, Media, Morning Report, narrative, National, NewsTalk ZB, Nine To Noon, open government, opposition, Phil Goff, Privatisation, Radio Sport, Rugby World Cup 2011, SOEs, symbolic politics, The Standard, Tony Veitch, Winston Peters
Posted in Blogosphere, Democracy, Propaganda | 43 Comments | Read More »


Using grapes bought in and those produced on his 17 hectare holding, Olivier Leflaive puts his unique stamp on the wines he produces. As the custodian of a famous name, he is responsible for the fortunes of a great business devoted to the most magical of Bourgogne wines.
A four-star hotel close to the estate with 11 rooms and two suites is a perfect place to relax. Olivier invites you to partake of a simple meal paired with informal wine-tasting.
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Then follow Olivier and Patrick Lefliave to their winery, where they will initiate you into the secrets of making our great Bourgogne wines.


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Climate change: UK government oil and gas subsidies hit £13.6bn since Paris Agreement, campaigners say
Tax breaks for decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure in the North Sea are being challenged in the High Court in December by campaigners, backed by groups linked with Paid to Pollute.
The UK government has handed the oil and gas industry £13.6bn in subsidies since the landmark Paris climate accord was signed in 2015, according to campaign group Paid to Pollute.
Its analysis of new OECD data claims that from 2016 to 2020 companies received £9.9 billion in tax reliefs for new exploration and production and £3.7 billion in payments towards decommissioning costs.
Mikaela Loach is one of three complainants challenging oil and gas industry tax breaks in court
One of the complainants, climate activist Mikaela Loach, told Sky News: "No one's calling for the tap to be turned off tomorrow - that's just industry scaremongering.
"The UK has enough oil and gas already in production to see us through this transition. We don't need any additional fossil fuel developments."
There are 18 UK oil and gas projects in the pipeline that, if approved, could enjoy these subsides, including the Cambo oil field north-west of the Shetland Islands.
In the Glasgow climate pact from COP26, countries including the UK committed to "phasing down" inefficient fossil fuel subsidies and reaffirmed their commitment to limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
To hit that target, the world must reach net zero emissions by 2050, which means there can be no new oil and gas developments after this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned.
The financial think tank Carbon Tracker has warned that the 1.5°C target means Cambo and at least four other proposed projects risk becoming stranded assets with little or no economic value.
The group's head of oil gas and mining, Mike Coffin, told Sky News: "Any organisation that is claiming alignment with the 1.5C goals of the Paris agreement, or Net Zero 2050, cannot simultaneously be supporting new oil and gas projects going ahead.
"Many projects - including for example Cambo - are potentially uneconomic, even under slower transition scenarios which result in warming in excess of 1.5 degrees."
Paid to Pollute acknowledges that its expanded definition of tax break differs from the government's, but says it does meet the criteria as set by the World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund.
The UK Government, however, says it does not give any subsidies to fossil fuels, and follows the IEA's approach to phasing them out.
A spokesperson said: "No other significant oil and gas producing nation has gone as far as the UK in supporting sector's gradual transition to a low carbon future, as demonstrated by our North Sea Transition Deal.
"While we are backing the UK's oil and gas industry's transition to green energy, there will continue to be ongoing but diminishing need for oil and gas over the coming years while we ramp up renewable energy capacity, as recognised by the independent Climate Change Committee."


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"Regeneration is actually a default state when we're embryos," says David L. Stocum, Ph.D., a regenesis researcher and dean of the school of science at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. "We gradually lose that ability as we develop—except in certain kinds of tissues."
The holdouts? Your arteries, skin, liver, lungs, and digestive tract, and certain parts of your brain. They're all continually refreshed—if you're healthy. "It's called maintenance regeneration. It's kind of like working on your car," says Stocum. "You've got something going on—you're low on oil, you buy a quart. A taillight goes out, you replace it. The clutch is acting up, you fix it. It's the same thing with your body."
Make sure your body has all the tools and parts it needs for a tune-up. Sometimes it's as simple as revving your engine. Here's how to mend broken bones, bypass clogged arteries, sprout new brain cells, and more—by optimizing your body's regenerative powers.
The damage: Narrowing blood vessels.
The natural defense: When your pipes start to clog like I-405 at rush hour, a healthy body can handle the traffic by enlarging existing arteries and even growing new ones. It's a natural process called angiogenesis, and here's how it works.
What you can do: First, clean your pipes. Cholesterol can hinder the repair process. Researchers at Harvard medical school compared tissues from two groups of open-heart patients—one group with clogged vessels and the other with clear ones—and found that the clogged blood vessels weren't able to respond to growth signals. "Angiogenesis can't occur if the cells in the blood vessel are damaged or blocked by cholesterol," says author Roger J. Laham, M.D., director of the Angiogenesis Research Center at Harvard medical school. So keep your cholesterol low.
Make your own detours by running, swimming, shooting hoops—whatever it takes to get your blood pumping. A 2004 study published in the journal BMC Physiology found that endostatin, a factor involved in arterial growth, shot up by an average of 73 percent in healthy volunteers after about 10 minutes on a treadmill at an average of 5 mph. Even better: The effects lingered for up to 2 hours, and the harder the subjects worked, the more endostatin was released.
The damage: A broken bone.
The natural defense: "The healing response is generated by the living parts of the bone, the cells that live within the matrix," says Sherwin S.W. Ho, M.D., an associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Chicago. No, Keanu, healing faster isn't a matter of choosing the red or blue pill. The matrix Dr. Ho is talking about is the lightweight but durable calcium carbonate structure that makes up most of your bone. Inside little pockets in the matrix are living cells, including bone-building osteocytes. "When you break a bone, they're released from the pockets," explains Dr. Ho.
What you can do: Eat your greens. They'll give you loads of vitamin K, a compound that helps lock bone cells into place as they lay down new scaffolding. One serving of spinach or broccoli provides more than the recommended intake. And break out the guacamole—avocados and tomatoes are good sources of vitamin K, too. Never heard of vitamin K? No surprise: Less than 50 percent of all men ages 18 to 44 get enough of it, researchers at Tufts University found.
The damage: Years of drinking. Or just a binge.
The natural defense: Your liver is one of the only organs that can spring back after part of its tissue dies (the process is called compensatory hypertrophy). But that's only if you don't booze it to the point of cirrhosis, a chronic liver disease in which normal liver tissue is replaced with scarred, nonfunctional tissue. "People who are at risk consume more than 14 drinks a week or regularly have more than five at a time," says Mark Mailliard, M.D., director of the hepatitis C program at the University of Nebraska.
What you can do: Balance your liver. It's really just a sponge full of chemicals, and a compound called glutathione (GSH) helps keep everything in check. Not only does GSH detoxify things like Tylenol (which is why alcoholics should never pop one while drinking—the by-product is toxic), but it's also essential for liver regeneration. Rats unable to create GSH are also unable to grow back liver tissue, a University of Southern California study found.
"We're not sure how it works. That's the black box," says Shelly Lu, M.D., the lead author of the study. "We know it helps with cell growth, and we know it's involved in cell death, too." Dr. Lu also knows that popping SAM-e—a supplement that converts to glutathione in the liver—can bring your GSH levels back to normal. In Europe, where SAM-e is actually prescribed for liver disease, the standard dosage is 1.2 grams (g), or about three tablets, per day. "If you're a drinking man, you should also be taking folic acid and a B-vitamin complex, because they're essential in the formation of SAM-e and glutathione," adds Dr. Lu.
The damage: Intestinal distress—there's a five-alarm fire down below.
The natural defense: Torch your gut with booze, barbecue, or both, and the lining of the intestine will simply slough it off. Cells there have one of the fastest cellular turnover rates in the body—each one clocks out after only a couple of days of (very, very dirty) work, making room for a new one.
What you can do: Rough it and you'll speed up the changing of the intestinal guard. "Having some roughage in your diet helps knock off a few of the older cells, almost like pruning a tree," says Kenneth Koch, M.D., a professor of internal medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Wake Forest University school of medicine. Aim for 25 to 30 g fiber a day, starting with a whole-grain breakfast cereal, followed by whole-grain bread at lunch and lots of fruits and vegetables all day long. Dr. Koch recommends foods containing bran because they produce the most "stool bulk." Delicious!
The damage: You scorched your gray matter in ways you can't even remember.
The natural defense: For years, it was thought that we stopped making fresh neurons in puberty, meaning that sometime in high school a long die-off of brain cells commenced. Turns out it only seems that way. "The brain is just another organ," says Fred H. Gage, Ph.D., a professor in the laboratory of genetics at the Salk Institute and the first researcher to demonstrate new neuronal growth in mammals. "The brain is attempting to fix itself, just as skin tries to heal itself after a nick or cut."
What you can do: Work your body. Animal studies have shown that exercise can induce neurogenesis (the formation of new neurons) in two key areas of the brain: the hypothalamus, which helps form new memories and learning; and the olfactory bulb, where your sense of smell is located. The studies were done on rats, but what's good for a rodent should be good for your brain: Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise 2 or 3 days a week.
The damage: Bad air, from smoke or smog, has clogged your air-exchange system.
The natural defense: The lungs come equipped with a self-cleaning cycle, but overloading them with smoke or smog will gunk up the works. The cilia, or hairlike structures in your lungs, flagellate (that's move) upward, coaxing the bad stuff out of the alveoli (little air sacs) and into the trachea, where the gunk grows into a frightening reminder of why you should have been better to your lungs to begin with. "It's like a mucus escalator," says Norman Edelman, M.D., a scientific advisor to the American Lung Association. "That's a major form of defense. Within a few days to a week (after quitting smoking], you start feeling better, and you start coughing up all that bad mucus you have down there."
What you can do: Exercise will help loosen the large chunks after you first come clean. But you should be exercising already. Retinoic acid, or vitamin A, could actually help your lungs rebuild. Rats and mice with emphysema (they smoked tiny little cigarettes) given the compound were able to restore alveoli, which swap carbon dioxide for fresh oxygen to pre-emphysema levels, according to a recent study published in the European Respiration Journal. You'll get several times the recommended daily allowance (900 micrograms) in only one serving of carrots, sweet potatoes, or mango.


The average CEOs tell the investment community that they're going to grow by is 6 to 8%. The average growth expected in the economy is 2 to 4%. Where's the difference going to come from? We need people to go both fast and far.
This means that business is now much more collaborative than it used to be, eg managers are working longer but are spending less time with their direct reports.
For CEB, people generally have the will (unless they do't like talking to people) and the skill (millennials in particular) to collaborate. Rather than building new collaboration skills we should focus on helping apply their core skillsets in different ways.
However people often need to be helped to engage in the behaviours. Or at least we mustn't get in the way, as we do when we design our systems and processes for individual performance alone.
Brian Kropp explained PM system at Herbert Smith Freehills to us (a good example as law firms aren't always the easiest places to get people collaborating). In this, rather than getting an employee to talk about what they did, they list instead all of the people who helped them. They also get 10 points which they allocate across these people depending upon the impact of their help.
This means the organisation can add up the number of points each person has been given to quantify the amount of help they've provided. A person's review therefore provides input to these other people's ratings rather than of the person who has received the review, reflecting the way in which today's work gets performed.
HSF also look at the system to see which staff are connecting together eg if white males are only connecting with other white males it would raise warnings. But the bigger benefit is that this focus on people who have helped them helps to develop a mindset that they didn't do it all on their own.
Encouraging them to extend their strengths rather than adopt new behaviours, eg don't say be more collaborative, tell them they've been so great at something that you want them to share this with other people. Ie start with give rather than with take in the give take flywheel. Appeal to their ego!
Talking about improving processes rather than changing people. And moving from reactive to practice - solving problems before they emerge. Leaders need self realise the need to change - often when they hit rock bottom unless we can help them do this first. Eg GE at Crotonville bring in a chamber music group and by having one musician misplay helps people understand the need for everyone to play together.


Franco Vernica is a fashion designer who designs women's and men's accessories. They have men's shoes as well. For my review, the company sent me the Cristina Leather Snake Clutch. It is so pretty!
The clutch retails for $150 but is on sale for $90 right now. It is made of Italian cowhide with laser carving for a snake effect. The clutch comes with a strap in case you want to use that as well.
This bag is so perfect for me and here is why: when I go to nice events such as a wedding, New Year's Eve, etc., I like to use a small clutch. The clutches that I have seen prior to this one are always too small to hold my essentials: phone, camera, lip gloss, gum, ID, money and a couple other little things. This clutch is perfect! It can fit all of these things and is so chic.
This bag is well made. It has a small zipper in the back for extra storage. This bag comes in chocolate and black. I will be using this for all of my nice events from here on out.
Franco Vernica would make a great gift for many different people in your life. It would be great for women who love purses or shoes. They also make nice men's shoes that could be worn casually or at work. I know my husband would love a pair of these!


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This video shows Dortek doors successfully undergoing the extremely rigorous American UL 10-c test standard. First of all ensuring no passage of fire, nor allowing any through gaps to open up whilst also providing high levels of insulation, for 20 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hour durations. It must then withstand the pressure of almost a ton of water without permitting any penetration through the door set.


Home Actress Advanced Screening Celebrity Moments Celebrity Video Coco Martin Gina Pareño grandma grandmother Juan Dela Cruz lola Lola Gets Premiere Night Rocky and Gina Pareño TV series Ms. Gina Pareño: From "Lola Gets" to "Lolaine!"
Finally, I met in person the very famous "Lola Gets," the award-winning veteran actress Ms. Gina Pareño! Ms. Gina is now playing "Lolaine," the grandmother of Coco Martin in the hit Primetime superhero TV series "Juan Dela Cruz."
Actually, Ms. Gina reunited with Coco in the said teleserye. And this is now their third TV series together! They first worked together in the 2009 hit drama series "Tayong Dalawa" where Gina grabbed the title of "Lola Gets." Year after, they once more played the characters of grandma and grandson in another hit "Kung Tayo'y Magkakalayo." Now after three years, Coco and Ms. Gina reunited for this hit fantaserye.
Ms. Gina is really an ideal lola! Though they were only "mag-lola" onscreen, Gina really treats Coco as her real apo! Me too, I like Ms. Gina to be my lola! My lola already died 14 years ago. And yes, I'm also close with my grandma!


The time has come for Prime Minister Hubert lngraham to "pass the baton" to a new generation of politic, said Bamboo Town MP Branville McCartney last night.
"I have the greatest respect for the prime minister and what he has done far the country, but he has done what he has had to do and now we need new leadership to move the country forward," McCartney told The Nassau Guardian as the Free National Movement's council mulled the question of whether to hold a convention this year.
Before the end of the night, the council voted unanimously to hold the party's convention in 2011.
"It's time to move on," McCartney said in an interview earlier in the night. "And I feel that way about the leaders of both parties. This is a new generation.
McCartney, 43, said that it "is our generation, this is our time to lead".
The prime minister, who is serving his third nonconsecutive term in office, explained during a nationally televised press conference on Wednesday that he is of the opinion that the FNM should not hold a convention this year due to financial and other-concerns.
He said he planned to inform the FNM council of his viewpoint in a meeting that was scheduled for last night.
Ingraham also said he would welcome any potential challenges to his leadership and will stay on as long as he is wanted.
But McCartney said he believes that Ingraham – who said initially that the party would hold a convention, on November 5 should keep his promise.
"We don't want to wait until the last minute to call a convention," McCartney said.
McCartney has made no secret of his intention to vie for the leadership post if nominated.
McCartney resigned as minister of state for immigration earlier this year, and has since been publicly supportive of Ingraham.
However, it is unclear if McCartney can gain similar support from Ingraham's broad base in the party.
"You have a lot of people who come up to you and say things and give you advice and suggestions," he said. "Within the party, there are people who say they support me. But you know, you take a lot of things with a grain of salt and you tread carefully. And in politics it's a situation where, you watch and you will know when to move at the right time.
No, the article has it right. CHOMPING at the bit is how it goes.
Isn't it supposed to be "champing" at the bit?


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This beautiful really unique holiday apartment is located on the 1st floor and besides the terrace and a balcony with sea view it features antique furniture and a very cosy atmosphere.
At once you will feel at home in this apartment furnished with taste. The spacious living room featuring a piano, a sofa bed, SAT-TV and an open-plan kitchen with bar is the perfect place to relax.
To sniff the sea breeze and to enjoy the sea view just make your way to the large terrace.
The spacious holiday apartment is perfect for up to 6 persons. The two bedrooms with double bed respectively two single beds which can be used as a double bed as well and the sofa bed (suitable for two children) offer enough room for one big or two small families.
You will be enthusiastic about the wonderful situation directly at the sandy beach. The beach and the common pool are just some steps away. By the great position and the charming interior décor this apartment is something very special.