Tiny, talented and tipped for the top. PlanetSKI meets Mia Brookes and Kirsty Muir, the freestylers who have what it takes to be the best in the world.
It is hard to explain just how good these two kids are.
Mia Brookes is 11 and a snowboarder.
Kirsty Muir is 13 and a skier.
Olympians in waiting? Quite possibly.
They are both on the development programme for GB Park and Pipe, the freestyle arm of the sport's governing body, British Ski and Snowboard.
The programme provides coaching and support to the brightest freestyle talents in the country throughout the winter in Laax.
PlanetSKI has been following the girls' progress for the past two years and met up with them and their mums at the BRITS - the British Snowboard and Freeski Championships in Laax, where both picked up a haul of medals.
She's landing tricks way beyond her years and keeps getting better and better.
Have a look at her season edit from 2016/17 when she was 12.
At the BRITS 2018 she dominated the under-16 age category in which she competes.
She also won the overall Open category in all three contests in which she competed - slopestyle, big air and halfpipe.
Yes, there was a smaller field this year and the athletes from the main GB Park & Pipe Squad who beat her last year, Olympians Katie Summerhayes and Rowan Cheshire, were absent so she had a clearer shot at the British titles.
But that shouldn't take away from what she's achieved.
Great Britain's top male slopestyle and big air skier, James 'Woodsy' Woods, who was watching on at the BRITS, identifies Kirsty as the outstanding up-and-coming athlete.
"It's great to see so much talent coming through," he told us, "but if I had to pick one person, this is the one.. this is one talent."
We spoke to Kirsty and her little sister, 11-year-old Fiona, who's also a mean skier with a couple of age category golds from the BRITS.
In May 2017 Kirsty was accepted into the high-performance Sport Scotland Institute of Sport, where the very best sporting talent is developed and nurtured.
She still spends most of her time learning her craft at the Aberdeen Snowsports centre dry slope, on the trampoline at Banchory and, when snow conditions allow, in the Scottish mountains at the Lecht.
But she has managed to spend seven weeks in the Alps this season, most of it in Laax and all of it centred around the main holidays so she has to take the minimum amount of time away from her schooling.
Her mum, Kim, travels with her and Fiona.
Dad Jim is unable to be in Laax this year as the girls' 16-year-old brother Jimmy has important exams coming up.
"It's lovely to be able to see what they're doing and be a support for them," Kim says.
"I think what they are learning is life skills - trying to do the best you can is good in anything you do in life."
Mia Brookes is the snowboarding equivalent of Kirsty but, at 11, two years younger.
A year ago she became the youngest athlete to be taken on by the GB Park and Pipe development programme.
She's proved herself not just on the British stage. This season she has competed in the World Rookie Tour for the first time.
In her first slopestyle event she came third. In her second she topped the podium.
This week, it's the finals in Kaprun in Austria, and you sense that Mia will be going all out for another win.
Update: Mia made it onto the podium for the third time in a row in Kaprun, finishing third.
At the BRITS this year she won the under-12 category in big air, halfpipe and snowboard cross.
She also made it onto the overall podium twice, with bronze in the halfpipe and gold in big air. It's her first overall title at the BRITS.
In her early years, Mia was coached by her parents Vicky & Nige - fanatical snowboarders who spent five winters living in a camper van in Chamonix.
They planned Mia around their seasons and introduced her to snowboarding before she could walk.
"I said to Nige 'what happens if she doesn't like snowboarding?' and he said that she'd have a lot of boring holidays staying with the grandparents while we went away, Vicky tells us.
"The aim was to be riding as a family and if we could get her linking turns by the time she was 10-years-old and enjoying the family holiday and able to ride the whole mountain, we would be happy."
In the event, Mia was outriding her parents in the park by the time she was six or seven.
Now they are all back living in a camper van, which is parked in Laax for the winter, to give Mia access to the top British coaches whenever she can be here.
"There is a difference between supporting (Mia) and being pushy," Vicky says.
"We've told her that if this is what she wants she's got to work hard but we would never push her beyond the limits."
The level at which Mia is competing means she's had to take about four weeks out of school for competitions and training.
She's had six weeks in total in Laax this winter.
"We take work away and her school exams and results are all good," Vicky says.
The Pyeongchang Winter Olympic bronze medallist, Billy Morgan, spent some time riding with the youngsters at the BRITS and says Mia is a big talent.
"It's always good to see the small ones shredding around," he told us, "super talent, she looks like she's having a really good time, so epic."
Both Mia and Kirsty may be supremely talented but they're still just kids having fun and that's the way their coaches want it.
They're not solely focused on their snowsports either.
Mia, for example, loves cross-country running, plays electric guitar and is thinking about spending some of her winnings from the BRITS on Lego.
GB Park and Pipe is keen to provide more training and support for young athletes at the level of Kirsty and Mia.
How much will depend on the funding it receives from UK Sport in the next four-year round, which is not expected to be announced until June at the earliest.
Lesley McKenna, the GB Park and Pipe programme manager hopes there'll be a bigger pot of money following the successful Pyeongchang Winter Olympics at which the freestylers picked up two bronze medals.
Extra funding came in after Jenny Jones won her bronze in the snowboard slopestyle at Sochi in 2014.
More money for Kirsty & Mia?
"We hope to provide a full-time programme down to development level if we get the funding," Lesley McKenna says.
She says that doesn't mean removing the youngest athletes from full-time education to live in the mountains. But it could involve more time spent in training camps in the Alps and extra help with studying and homework when they're out of school.
In the meantime there are plans to make use of the new Greystone indoor freesports training facility that is due to open in Manchester this autumn and other similar centres in the pipeline.
"As well as these types of facilities we will continue to work with the indoor and artificial facilities providers to try and get the best possible parks up more often in these facilities and also continue to work with the Scottish Ski areas so that we get the best possible parks out there too," Lesley McKenna says.
"Projects like the Lecht Winter Games show what is possible and we want more of that!"
Here at PlanetSKI, we'll be keeping an eye on all the developments and continuing to watch the the progress of Kirsty Muir and Mia Brookes.


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Date of Web Publication 16-Dec-2014
Keywords: Computer-assisted planning, condylar osteochondroma, condylectomy, mandible deformity
Lim W, Weng LK, Tin GB. Osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle: Report of two surgical approaches. Ann Maxillofac Surg 2014;4:215-9
Lim W, Weng LK, Tin GB. Osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle: Report of two surgical approaches. Ann Maxillofac Surg [serial online] 2014 [cited 2019 Jul 16];4:215-9. Available from: http://www.amsjournal.com/text.asp?2014/4/2/215/147151
Osteochondroma, also known as osteocartilaginous exostosis makes up 35.8% of all benign bone tumors. [1] An osteochondroma of the craniofacial region is a rare finding, the incidence of which is around 0.6%. [1] The mean patient age is 39.7 years, with a peak in the fourth decade. [2] The male to female ratio is 1:1.28. [3] In the facial skeleton, it is generally associated with the coronoid process and the mandibular condyle, [4] although cases involving other facial bones have also been reported. [5]
Facial asymmetry and accompanying malocclusion are the most common presentations. Clinical appearances include transverse maxillary canting, a prognathic deviation of the chin to the contralateral side, open bite on the ipsilateral side, and a crossbite on the contralateral side.
Osteochondromas may arise on different aspects of the mandibular condyle. Meng et al. [6] reported 34 cases of osteochondromas. In that series, the tumor arose from the medial aspect in 55.9% of the cases, the anterior-superior in 11.8%, the posterior-superior in 11.8%, the lateral in 8.8%, and the generally enlarged in 11.8% of cases.
In terms of surgical treatment, the conventional approach has been to undertake a condylectomy. [5] A conservative approach by excision of the tumor and preservation of some or all of the condylar head has also been reported. [4],[5],[7] In a review of 70 cases, only four reported recurrence after local excision of the lesion at the mandibular condyle. [8]
In this series, we are reporting two cases of surgical removal of an osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle with simultaneous orthognathic surgery to correct the secondary jaw deformities. This was done with the aid of three-dimensional (3D) imaging and computer-assisted planning.
A 24-year-old Chinese female undergoing orthodontic treatment was referred to the National Dental Center Singapore for orthognathic surgery. She presented with a Class III skeletal profile with an asymmetry of the mandible and a maxillary cant. The right side of her mandible appeared broader than the left side although her chin point was coincidental with her facial midline. She had a Class III malocclusion with a left posterior open bite and a right crossbite. The inter-incisal opening was 32 mm. An orthopantomogram taken showed an incidental finding of a large bony growth at the left temporomandibular joint. The only symptom she had was an occasional left earache.
Computed tomography scans showed a bony mass 2 × 2 cm arising from the lateral part of the left condyle, resulting in a downward displacement of the left condyle and facial asymmetry from a clockwise rotation of mandible when viewed from the superior and anterior aspect. The diagnosis based on the clinical presentation and radiographic appearance was an osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle. The patient was planned for a conservative excision of the lesion with simultaneous orthognathic surgery. The surgery was planned using the SimPlant Pro 2011 from Materialise Dental program and the lesion was removed digitally. The surgery was simulated achieving good occlusal relationship with correction of the facial deformity. Together with the 3dMD system simulation of soft tissue contours, 3D facial profile prediction was made of the surgical outcome.
The patient was operated on under general anesthesia through nasoendotracheal intubation. A Le Fort 1 osteotomy was first performed through a circumvestibular incision. The maxilla was advanced and the cant was corrected, as guided by an intermediate wafer. The maxilla was then fixed with 4 miniplates (Medicon 2.0 miniplates, Germany). After that, an endaural incision was made, followed by an anterograde blunt dissection to access the bony lesion at the left temporomandibular joint. Care was taken to preserve the neurovascular structures at the region. The mandible was retracted inferiorly, and the mass superior and lateral to the condyle was excised in pieces together with a margin of healthy bone, but preserving the medial pole of the condyle. Bilateral sagittal split osteotomies were then carried out through vestibular incisions at the posterior mandible. The mandible was setback and the asymmetry corrected, as guided by the final wafer. The remnant condylar head was repositioned into the glenoid fossa of the temporal bone. The mandible was fixed with 1 miniplate bilaterally (Medicon 2.0 miniplates, Germany) and she was placed into intermaxillary fixation. The recovery postoperation was uneventful and the patient was discharged on the second postoperative day. The intermaxillary fixation was maintained for 14 days and subsequently converted to light training elastics for one more week. Jaw exercise was implemented after 3 weeks. Histology of the lesion confirmed the diagnosis of an osteochondroma.
At 7 months postoperation, mouth opening of 29 mm was achieved with no signs of recurrence. The decrease in mouth opening might be due to fibrosis at the operated condyle site as the patient was not very compliant with her jaw exercises [Figure 1]a-g.
A 25-year-old Chinese male was referred for the management of a complaint of mandibular asymmetry with the right jaw being longer than the left. The patient first noticed the jaw unevenness 6 years ago and expressed increasing difficulty in mastication and speech. He presented with a Class III skeletal relationship and a Class III malocclusion with a pronounced asymmetry of the mandible and a maxillary cant. His chin point was deviated 2 cm to the left side. He also complained of right temporomandibular joint clicking on mouth opening. Intraorally, there was an open bite on the right and crossbite on the left side.
Computed tomography showed an expansion of the right mandibular condyle, and there was an abnormal bird beak like tapering in the anterior aspect due to the lesion. The articular surface of the right condyle was irregular, and there was a subchondral cyst seen in the medial aspect. The lesion was reported as an osteochondroma of the right mandibular condyle associated with remodeling deformities and degenerative change in the right temporomandibular joint. The patient was planned for a condylectomy to resect the lesion and correct the right mandibular ramus height and simultaneous orthognathic surgery to resolve the other asymmetry problems. In this case, a 3D stereolithographic model was printed using the Z Printer 450 system. The surgery was simulated on the model to achieve the optimal treatment plan for the patient.
The patient was operated on under general anesthesia through nasoendotracheal intubation. A two-piece Le Fort 1 osteotomy with a midline split was first performed through a circumvestibular incision. The maxilla was fixed with 4 miniplates (Medicon 2.0 miniplates, Germany) under the guidance of an intermediate wafer. Next, an attempt was made to perform the right mandibular condylectomy through an intraoral approach. An ipsilateral coronoidectomy was done to gain access. The condylectomy was successfully done at the level of the condylar neck, but there was difficulty in delivering the lesion. A preauricular incision was then made and blunt dissection to the right temporomandibular joint was carried out. The lesion was delivered en bloc and the subcondylar stump was shaped to fit the glenoid fossa. Closure of the site was done with special attention to reattachment of the disc and closure of the joint capsule. An intraoral vertical subsigmoid osteotomy was performed at the left mandible in order to correct the asymmetry through decanting and rotation of the mandible to the right. The patient was kept on intermaxillary fixation for 1 month followed by light elastics placed for another month. Subsequently, jaw exercises were implemented together with the elastics. He had a mouth opening of 33 mm with deviation to the right on opening at 2 months. This gradually improved to 40 mm at 2-year follow-up, but there was still a deviation of the mandible to the right on opening. He started on orthodontics at 3 months postsurgically. Histology of the lesion confirmed the diagnosis of osteochondroma with features of a polypoid osteo-cartilagenous projection from the condyle. The patient subsequently completed orthodontic treatment and showed no recurrence after 3 years [Figure 2]a-e.
Both condylectomy and conservative excision have been described in the literature for the management of osteochondromas of the mandibular condyle.
In 2002, Wolford et al. [7] proposed removal of the condylar osteochondroma with preservation of the remaining bone since it is an exophytic growth and not an invasive lesion. Conservative surgical approach, however, seems to be limited by technical difficulties to achieve an adequate exposure to enable a selective yet radical tumor resection. The argument against a conservative approach is the possibility of inadequate removal that may result in a recurrence of the lesion. The four cases of recurrence reported by Mikel et al. [8] gave a recurrence rate comparable to that of a long bone after treatment.
The two cases presented in this article were managed through different treatment modalities based on the different locations and presentation of the osteochondroma. Case 1 was managed conservatively as the CT scan showed the lesion to be in a lateral position in relation to the condylar head of the mandible. This location allowed good surgical access and visibility. The medial pole of the condyle was preserved thereby maintaining the ramus height. The tumor in case 2 presented as a general enlargement of the condylar head with an increase in the ipsilateral vertical height of the ramus. The condylectomy done for this case not only served to remove the lesion, it also corrected the downward displacement and rotation of the mandible resulting from the lesion. If the osteochondroma is removed without simultaneous orthognathic surgery, the jaw deformity secondary to the osteochondroma will still be present after surgery. As the maxilla is often canted, if the cant is not corrected by osteotomy, it prevents the mandible from being repositioned after the osteochondroma removal.
The use of computer tomography allows precise information on the lesion and these findings may then help a surgeon decide on the best treatment modality for the case.
In addition, commercially available 3D software aids in presurgical planning and simulation of the soft tissue changes after the planned TMJ and orthognathic surgery. The use of 3D computerized planning seems to be especially useful as simulation in the frontal aspect is otherwise not possible with 2D simulation programs.
Wolford [9] had previously reported that temporomandibular joint and orthognathic surgery can be safely and predictably performed simultaneously. The benefits are that it decreases treatment time, avoids temporomandibular joint sequelae associated with orthognathic surgery only and avoids malocclusion arising from temporomandibular joint surgery only. His series of six patients with osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle treated with concomitant orthognathic surgery had stable outcome with no recurrence at 4 years postoperatively. [7] Similarly, the two cases reported in this article of simultaneous temporomandibular joint and orthognathic surgery for the management of mandibular condylar osteochondroma had good functional and esthetic results. Cases 1 and 2 showed no recurrence at 7 months and 3 years postoperatively, respectively.
We reported two cases of concomitant temporomandibular joint and orthognathic surgery for the management of osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle and 3D imaging aided in the presurgical examination of the location and spatial orientation of the lesion, which influenced the surgeon's choice between condylectomy and conservative excision. Both cases reported using the two different treatment modalities had good functional and esthetic results.
Dahlin DC. Bone Tumors. 3 rd ed. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas; 1978. p. 17-7.
Saito T, Utsunomiya T, Furutani M, Yamamoto H. Osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle: A case report and review of the literature. J Oral Sci 2001;43:293-7.
Ord RA, Warburton G, Caccamese JF. Osteochondroma of the condyle: Review of 8 cases. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2010;39:523-8.
Koole R, Steenks MH, Witkamp TD, Slootweg PJ, Shaefer J. Osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle. A case report. Int J Oral Maxillofac Surg 1996;25:203-5.
Vezeau PJ, Fridrich KL, Vincent SD. Osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle: Literature review and report of two atypical cases. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 1995;53:954-63.
Meng Q, Chen S, Long X, Cheng Y, Deng M, Cai H. The clinical and radiographic characteristics of condylar osteochondroma. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2012;114:e66-74.
Wolford LM, Mehra P, Franco P. Use of conservative condylectomy for treatment of osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2002;60:262-8.
Ramos-Murguialday M, Morey-Mas MÁ, Janeiro-Barrera S, García-Sánchez A, Molina-Barraguer I, Iriarte-Ortabe JI. Osteochondroma of the temporomandibular joint: Report of 2 cases emphasizing the importance of personalizing the surgical treatment. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol 2012;113:e41-7.
Wolford LM. Concomitant temporomandibular joint and orthognathic surgery. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2003;61:1198-204.
[Figure 1], [Figure 2]
1 Autogenous abdominal fat transplantation into temporomandibular joint following removal of osteochondroma
Umut Tekin,Mustafa Ercument Onder,Ismail Eser Bolat,Fethi Atil,Ismail Doruk Kocyigit,Emre Baris
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Cases. 2018;
2 From ideal occlusion to dentofacial deformity and back to ideal: an osteochondroma treatment with lingual orthodontics
Renato Parsekian Martins,Tatyane Ribeiro Mesquita,Ana Patrícia Sousa Pereira,Isabela Parsekian Martins,Daniel Serra Cassano,João Roberto Gonçalves
Journal of Orthodontics. 2017; : 1
3 An unusually large osteochondroma of the mandibular angle: a case report
Ryosuke Abe,Ikuya Miyamoto,Hirotaka Sato,Daishi Saitou,Genki Yamaya,Hiroyuki Yamada
World Journal of Surgical Oncology. 2017; 15(1)
4 Transzygomatic approach for the resection of large condylar osteochondromas using computer-assisted preoperative planning
Z.-X. Ye,C. Yang,M.-J. Chen
International Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. 2016;
5 Repeated otalgia at mealtimes: osteochondroma of the mandibular condyle
Chan Il Song,Ju Wan Kang,Jeong Hong Kim,Se-Hyung Kim
British Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. 2016;
6 Endoscopic Excision of Osteochondroma of the Mandibular Angle
Yeseul Moon,Jai-Kyong Pyon
Archives of Plastic Surgery. 2015; 42(5): 663

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Caroline Wozniacki is the new World No. 1 in womens tennis.
The media has already taken a big bite out of the No. 1 seed, Caroline Wozniacki, finding her lacking in seasoning, flavor and a coup d'etat at any major.
Previously, the pundits did the same thing to Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina, hounding these ladies, driving them out of range of reaching that ranking again.
Wozniacki, however, is not quite as fragile or as susceptible to harsh, self-centered commentator remarks. Of course, the No. 1 seed wants to capture this title and will do everything in her power to win her first slam.
What everyone seems to overlook is that Wozniacki is 20 years old and her game is still evolving. Just as Nadal starting winning on one surface then improved his game to win on all surfaces over time––Wozniacki has not yet perfected her game.
The No. 1 seed is certainly not the favorite to win. Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin are.
Most feel Venus Williams has not played enough good tennis in preparation for the Australian Open to win. Maria Sharapova, they feel, is also not in top form and perhaps never will be again.
Many look at Samantha Stosur to break through at home and win her first major. That would, indeed, please the natives.
In order for Wozniacki to win, she would have to play perfect tennis for two weeks, serving well plus out-hustling any player standing across the net. The question is––can Wozniacki do it?
Nadal prepares another run at Federer records in 2011.
The 2011 tennis season is under way, and already the tennis world has zeroed in on the biggest game in town—potential showdowns between the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked players in the world, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer respectively.
They are both facing some stiff competition in Doha at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open as the final eight head into quarterfinal action.
With the return to action of Juan Martin del Potro and the constant presence of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the rampant speculation about 2011 continues for the men.
For the ladies, the strange absence of the Williams sisters on tour leaves many questions about who will rise up and seize this season by the throat early on.
New No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki has yet to win a major. Will she this year? If she falters and fails, who might secure the No. 1 ranking?
The women's game remains wide open until or if the Williams sisters return.
This brings us to 2011 and our top 10 predictions for the upcoming season.
No. 1: Someone other than Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer will win a major this year.
Will Novak Djokovic capture his second Slam trophy?
It is time for one of the top 10 to break the stranglehold and take away a major trophy.
Marat Safin won one in 2005 at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic also won at the Australian Open in 2008 and Juan Martin del Potro denied Federer his sixth consecutive US Open title by taking it for himself in 2009.
But either Federer or Nadal has won the Wimbledon championship since 2003. Similarly, either Nadal or Federer has won the French Open since 2005.
The Serb won the Australian Open in 2008, defeating Federer in the semifinals and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the finals. Since then, Djokovic has appeared in the semifinals of the French in 2007 and 2008, the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2007 and 2010 and the finals of the US Open in 2007 and 2010. Hard courts seem to be his best surface. A repeat down under?
Caroline Wozniacki at the China Open, the new women's World No. 1.
While the cat's away, the rest of the women's tour will play. And the biggest reward has come to the beaming Caroline Wozniacki.
With 25 tournaments under her belt, six of them reaping titles, it was only a matter of time before she overtook Serena Williams to take the No 1 ranking and, in doing so, Wozniacki has become the first player from Denmark ever to hold the top ranking.
But what of the woman who seemed able dominate the tour with the minimum of effort, who played just six events this year, yet still managed to win two Grand Slam titles?
With so little preparation time before Doha in a fortnight's time, her chances of defending the title she won there last year began to look increasingly slim. More, though, was to come.
On her website on Sunday, she announced that her foot was injured again, and that she would be unlikely to return to play this year.
Meanwhile, sister Venus, who played Serena in last year's final, had already withdrawn for the rest of the season with a recurrent knee injury.
The Williams sisters are not the only mature players struggling with injury. Kim Clijsters was due to play in Beijing but a long-planned minor operation on her foot did not heal in time, and she withdrew.
She still plans to make the trip to Doha, but is far from a certainty. However fellow Belgian Justine Henin, has been unable to play since Wimbledon because of an elbow injury, and her website suggests she will not be going to Doha.
There are few, therefore, who seem able to keep pace with Wozniacki except perhaps the woman who has tracked her all year, Zvonareva.
The day after the Dane secured the No 1 ranking, the Russian ensured the No 3 position. They stand at three all in their head-to-head, and stand two apiece in meetings this year—two in semi-finals and two in finals.
It seems likely, therefore, that they will also contest the Tour Championships.
Clijsters wins her second consecutive trophy at the U.S. Open.
It seems that after the last slam of the year in New York City, the tennis world slows down a bit for the top ranked women.
There are a few International Tournaments going on now but most of the top 20 players will not pick up a racket in competition until Tokyo, the China Open in Beijing or later at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
Serena Williams is still the No. 1 ranked player in the world, although she was in slight danger of losing that spot if Caroline Wozniacki had won the U.S. Open.
Kim Clijsters, however, repeated her championship run in Flushing Meadows, adding a third U.S. Open Trophy to her mantle. Clijsters has now won the U.S. Open back to back in 2009 and 2010––looking to expand her major trophy count in 2011.
The power rankings reflect the most recent results on the women's tour with most of the emphasis centered on U.S. Open results.
The women's tour will shut down at the end of October with the WTA Tour Championships which are held annually in Doha.
Last year's winner was Serena Williams who is expected to be on hand to defend her championship.
The Queen of England visits Wimbledon and meets the Queen of the Court, Serena Williams.
Wimbledon is over––the year 2010 tucked away in the record books. Centre Court now sports a roof and artificial lights, an abrupt departure from tradition in favor of increased revenue and pressure from major television outlets.
Most of the traditions, however, stay intact like bowing to the Queen, strawberries and cream and no tiebreak in the final set.
While the elongated fifth set has been an issue from time to time, in 2010 it became historically significant as Nicolas Mahut and John Isner battled over three days in their first round match which finally concluded after 11 hours of match play, 70-68 in the fifth set.
Neither player could play on after that match even though both tried, Mahut in doubles and Isner in singles. For that reason alone, some sort of limit needs to be established.
Most of the talk was of the men. Without a "suggestive" outfit from Venus, the women seemed invisible throughout the tournament. U.S. coverage focused almost entirely on the Williams sisters––what there was of that. As usual, the men stole the headlines and the regular television coverage.
So Serena's amazing win, with her sizzling serve-breaking records, received less attention than usual as all the world continued the Rafa-Roger debate. Too bad because the ladies put on quite a show!


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Home / Current Affairs / When nations perished for harming Muslim women
When nations perished for harming Muslim women
Posted by: Z A Rahman in Current Affairs, History, Islamic Thought, Middle East, Palestine, Politics 28/09/2015 14 Comments
Sister Hadeel – How many more murdered will it take?
On 22 September 2015, a teenage Palestinian Muslimah, Hadeel al-Hashlamun (rahimahallāh) who was 18 years of age, was targeted and unlawfully executed by Israeli troops in the illegally occupied Hebron, West Bank.
https://www.islam21c.com/wp-content/uploads/11062769_10152988168331829_3445124532247595323_n.jpg
Whilst we all viewed images, footage and remembered the house of Allāh much in this blessed month where many made Hajj, it is apparent that the Ka'ba is perhaps the greatest Islamic symbol present, with Muslims all over the world turning their faces towards it five times daily. Though the prayer near it has more reward than anywhere else, the sanctity of the blood of a single believer is worth more to Allāh than the sanctity of this first house built to worship Him. This was made clear by the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) in the following account, as Abdullāh b. 'Umar (radiy Allāhu 'anhu) said:
"I saw the Prophet (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) doing tawāf around the Ka'ba saying, 'How sweet/good are you and how sweet is your scent. How great are you and how great is your sanctity. By the One in whose Hand the soul of Mohammad is, the sanctity of a believer is greater with Allāh than your sanctity'." [1]
Although the hadith makes no distinction as to the gender of the believer, it is clear that the honour and sanctity of women in all societies, is paramount. History bares testimony that many wars have been fought over the dishonouring of women. Islam too places women in an exalted status and as we shall now see, their denigration, has prompted similar responses in Islamic history.
The Prophet and Banu Qainuqa'
The Battle of Badr in the year 2 AH, forced the other Arabs to regard the Muslims as challengers and potential inheritors to the prestige and the political role of the Quraish. Many became agitated by the growing political and military force of the Muslim community including many of the tribes in Madīnah such as Banu Qainuqa', who publicly began a process of provocation and trouble making, jeering at Muslims who frequented their bazaars.
On one occasion, a Muslim woman arrived at one of their bazaars while she sat a goldsmith's. To mock this muslimah, they wanted to expose her face from her niqāb and so the goldsmith fastened the end of her garment to an object without her knowing it. When she stood to leave, part of her garment became uncovered revealing her body and the men of Banu Qainuqa' who were in attendance began laughing. As the woman cried out, a Muslim man attacked the goldsmith and killed him. The Banu Qainuqa' then attacked the Muslim man and killed him [2].
When news of this reached the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam), he marched out with his soldiers with Hamzah b. 'Abd al-Muttalib (radiy Allāhu 'anhu) carrying the standard of the Muslims and they then lay siege to the forts of Banu Qainuqa' for 15 days. Allāh casted fear into their hearts and they eventually surrendered to the Muslims, now with their fate left in the hands of the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam). Despite their open aggression and violation of the Treaty of Madinah (a treaty which the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) drew up with the various tribes of Madīnah), the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) listened to their pleas and showed mercy and restraint by agreeing that they hand over all their materials, wealth, armour and weapons and they be expelled out of Arabia. They travelled to Syria and over a period of time, they faded into the pages of history [3].
Hajjāj b. Yūsuf, Muhammad b. Qāsim and the ruler of India
In 85 AH (707 CE), the ruler of the area known as Sindh (in present day Pakistan) was Raja Dahir. Up to this date, although there had been some skirmishes with the rulers of India at sea, there was never any real attempt to conquer any land in India. But one incident was to change all of that.
Some pirates operating out of Indian harbours kidnapped a number of Muslim women and children travelling from Sri Lanka to Arabia [7]. There are different reports as to how the Umayyad Governor of Iraq, Hajjāj b. Yūsuf came to know of the incident but one account was that one of the captured women managed to get a letter out to him. When Hajjāj learned of the incident, he immediately sent a letter to Dahir demanding that the captives be released and the responsible pirates punished. Dahir refused. Hajjāj considered the reply as a further insult and sent two punitive forces to against Dahir which were defeated by Dahir and his forces.
In 88 AH (710 CE) Hajjāj then sent, with Caliph al-Walīd b. 'Abd al-Malik's permission, a fully-fledged army to invade Sindh. The command of this campaign was given to Muhammad b. Qāsim, the nephew and son-in-law of Hajjāj, who was the governor of Shiraz in Persia. Muhammad was only seventeen years old at this time but was one of the most capable generals of his time. Such was the importance placed in this campaign that a strong army of 6,000 picked Syrian cavalry—the flower of the Muslim armies at the time—was to be sent [8].
The young Muhammad took Sind by storm. After capturing Panjgore and Armabel, Muhammed advanced towards the port of Debal, which was located near the modern city of Karachi where Dahir was based. The army of Islam routed Dahir's army and Dahir himself was killed in the battle and the Muslim women who were detained by Dahir were released.
Mu'tasim and the Romans
In 211 AH (833 CE), al-Mu'tasim-billāh became the Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate. By this time, the centre of power in the Islamic world had moved from Arabia to Syria and then to Iraq, where the Abbasid dynasty built its capital, first in Baghdad and then to the north of Baghdad in Samarra.
In 837 CE, Theophilos set out from Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) with an army of 100,000 and crossed into Muslim territory in northern Mesopotamia, where he attacked and destroyed the Muslim city of Zibatrah and Malatya, where they mutilated a number of the men by pulling out their eyes and cutting off their noses. Fleeing refugees made their way to Samarra where they spoke of the horror of the attack and that on the day the Byzantines conquered Zibatrah, a Muslim woman who was taken captive cried out:
"Wā Mu'tsimā!" (Help, O Mu'tasim!)
It is stated that when the news reached Mu'tasim, he was drinking water from a cup and he immediately put the cup down and ordered the adhān to be called to signify an emergency. When all the people assembled, Mu'tasim asked:
"Which place in the Byzantine lands is the most impregnable and securely fortified?"
He was told:
"Ammuriyyah (Amorium), no Muslim has ever made an attempt upon it since the coming of Islam; it is the very heart and core of Byzantium. In the view of the Byzantines, it is even more exalted than Constantinople" [4].
And so Mu'tasim decided that he would attack Ammuriyyah and it has been mentioned that he equipped himself in a manner that no previous caliph had done before. So large was the army which he assembled for this task that when the head of the army reached Ammuriyyah, the tail end of the army was still in Samarra.
Mu'tasim and his army entered Ammuriyyah on the 17th of Ramadān, 223 AH (August 12th, 838 CE), the city was razed to the ground and the Muslim prisoners including the woman who cried out for Mu'tasim were freed by Mu'tasim himself [5]. The Byzantine chronicler Theophanes Continuatus mentions 70,000 dead. Among the spoils taken were the massive iron doors of the city, which Mu'tasim transported to Samarra, where they were installed at the entrance of his palace [6].
What about today?
The purpose of elucidating the above examples was to demonstrate the fact that outrages against women is not to be taken lightly. That which can be done within one's ability concordant to rules of justice and laws should be done with vigour. Today however, our responses seem mute to the point of indifference.
Sister Hadeel was a first year university student in Hebron. The Guardian and a report by Amnesty report that she had just come through a metal detector at a checkpoint when an Israeli soldier asked to search her. There were a further 6 soldiers in close proximity. Sister Hadeel did not want to be searched by a male soldier and went back to exit from the checkpoint and attempted to walk back out of the exit and at this point, one soldier in a kippa covered her with his rifle while another – with a radio on his back – moved towards her. She was then asked to open her bag for inspection. When she was opening her bag, the soldier questioning her began shouting: "Stop! Stop! Stop! Don't move! Don't move!"
Not understanding Hebrew, she was trying to show him what was inside her bag, but the soldier shot her once, and then shot her again. Witness accounts state that she was shot multiple times as she lay wounded on the ground. Sister Hadeel was dragged across the floor and left to bleed for an hour before being taken to hospital where she later died.
The Israeli occupying force have, as expected, created a fictitious story stating that Hadeel had a gun and then later, this changed to her allegedly brandishing a knife. It goes without saying that there are no images corroborating the claims of the occupying Israeli army.
Amnesty International say that the evidence obtained by them indicates that the killing was an extrajudicial execution and constituted a crime under international law. In addition, they stated that the extrajudicial execution would also constitute a wilful killing, which is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which applies to Israel's long-standing military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a war crime. [9][10]
Many times we hear the phrase from the lips of Muslims, "Imagine if the Messenger of Allāh were here today." Of course, we cannot speak for the Prophet but what we can be certain of from the life of the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) is that their worry and concern was such that for the sake of one woman and one man, it is clear that he gathered all the Muslims bringing them together, risking their own lives by going to war against an entire tribe for their grave violations. Such was the Messenger of Allāh (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) and the greatest generation of Muslims in how they regarded the honour of the innocent Muslims.
Such too was Mu'tasim in how he regarded the honour of the Muslims that he gathered an army so large that made the lands shake and with it. What should be noted when considering Mu'tasim is that he is not even regarded amongst the greatest of Muslim leaders but such is his legacy through this act that today, 1,177 years later he is still remembered. Mu'tasim's stance immortalised the helpless woman's plea of "Wā Mu'tasimā!" the echoes of which reverberate with us still to this very day. And so too we find with Hajjāj, who again is not regarded amongst the greatest Muslim leaders but such was his response to the Muslim women being taken captive, that the landscape of South East Asia was transformed forever.
Contrast this consideration with the mute responses when our sister Hadeel was set upon by cowardly vultures in the guise of the occupying Israeli force. Not a single Muslim leader spoke out against this killing which comes off the back of the recent violation of Masjid al-Aqsa by the occupying apartheid army. Indeed it is a testament to the greatness of the Muslim women, that Palestinian women in their groups protect the third holiest site mainly due to the severe restrictions on men praying there. Here it is worth reflecting that the restrictions on men has not created a perception amongst the women that they are now absolved of a duty which shows us the level of Tarbiyyah and entrenched love for Al-Aqsa – remembering that they are mothers of the future of Palestine and those whom the occupiers fear knowing that—like the Pharaohs before them—one day there will rise from them the liberators of this blessed land and its people, with the permission of Allāh[11].
Despite being numerous in number today, our reality is more akin to the Muslim minority community in Makkah during the period where another Muslim woman was killed, thus becoming the first martyr in the history of Islam, Sumayyah (radiy Allāhu 'anha). Her family went through great torture but the Prophet (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) would instruct them to patience knowing full well that a time would come when the power of the Muslim community could not be resisted. And so, too must we bear this situation with patience. However, this does not mean we remain indifferent to the crimes perpetrated by oppressors, but rather, we challenge them using whatever legitimate, legal and democratic means one can muster in order to hold them to account and halt the aggression.
More importantly, we ask Allāh to hasten truly-guided leaders on the method of the Prophet (sallAllāhu 'alayhi wasallam) implementing His Guidance and unifying the Muslim declaration. Those who will defend the Muslims from their oppressors, liberate the Muslim holy sites and come to the rescue of the countless Hadeels (may Allāh be pleased with her).
Source: www.islam21c.com
[1] Ibn. Mājah
[2] Ibn Hisham
[3] Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri – The Sealed Nectar
[5] Ibn Atheer – al-Kamil
[6] Tabari
[6] Meinecke, Michael – The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume VIII
[7] Alexander Berzin – Part I: The Umayyad Caliphate (661 – 750 CE), The First Muslim Incursion into the Indian Subcontinent
[8] Wink, Andre – Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World
[9] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/23/dispute-arises-over-circumstances-of-death-of-woman-at-israeli-checkpoint-hadeel-al-hashlamon
[10] https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/2529/2015/en/
[11] http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/women-al-aqsa-meet-murabitats-2039073489
APARTHEID CALIPH HADEEL HAJJAJ HEBRON HISTORY IDF ISLAMOPHOBIA ISRAEL ISRAELI MU'TASIM MUHAMMAD PALESTINE PALESTINIAN QASIM RACISM RACIST SEERA SEERAH SIRAH WEST BANK WOMAN ZIONISM ZIONIST 2015-09-28
Z A Rahman
Tagged with: APARTHEID CALIPH HADEEL HAJJAJ HEBRON HISTORY IDF ISLAMOPHOBIA ISRAEL ISRAELI MU'TASIM MUHAMMAD PALESTINE PALESTINIAN QASIM RACISM RACIST SEERA SEERAH SIRAH WEST BANK WOMAN ZIONISM ZIONIST
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About Z A Rahman
Z.A Rahman is a community activist and a member of a large Mosque in the UK. He graduated in Law, specialising in discrimination law and now works for a leading national company. He has a keen interest in politics and history, particularly Islamic history. He also enjoys traveling and has visited numerous countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Lord Dufus
Maybe the Israeli soldiers thought the woman had a suicide bomb under her burkha. Yeah Hamas is such a fun loving bunch. They never send women or children on suicide missions.
What's the reference for end note #4? It's missing in the end notes.
p4rv3zkh4n
Soon Allah (SWT) will send Imam Mahdi and he will liberate Palestine from the zionist yahood.
Abu Dawud, Nu'aym ibn Hammad and al-Hakim narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri [radhiyallahu 'anhu] that he said: "The Messenger of Allah [sallallahu 'alayhi wa-sallam] said:
"The Mahdi is from me, memeber of ahlul bayt, highly intellectual and noble. He will fill the earth with equity and justice, as it had been filled with tyranny and oppression. He will rule for seven years."
Disgusting inflammatory headline. Using the death of this poor misguided girl as an excuse for hate mongering. But don't be fooled, supremacists really love it when innocents die because they know it will encourage idiots to their cause. Say what you like about Israeli authorities, but they do everything they can to protect their people. Palestinian authorities on the other hand do everything they can to get their people killed because 'martyrs' make great pr. Islamic supremacism is the greatest obstacle to peace in Palestine.
Muslim Bro
Salaam/Peace
marriya
"Salaam/Peace" @ Muslim Bro
What kind of nonsense is that…??
A sis is murdered and you say Salaam/Peace. Get a life.
Mazin
Stay calm… and pick up the Daily Mail
You seem to be under some delusion. Once you wake up from your drug enduced hallucination you will realise that Israeli occupation of Palestine with its brutality towards the occupied people is the obstacle to peace.
However this article is just not helpful. Condemn the murder of this young lady and let's all work for Palestinian rights, but don't entwine random bits of history into this strange narrative as if you know Allah's plans for when a nation is punished.
ibnMuhammad
@Adam, instead of spending time on this site with your hateful comments, and of filling yourself with hate and hardening your heart, have you actually talked to any intelligent Muslims?
… Those who contribute so much of their wealth in tax, which is sadly then used to incite war against Muslims and butcher Muslims all over the world in the name of "fighting terrorism".
And better yet, why don't you use your commute/spare time to read the interpretation of the Qur'aan and see what it says? And I don't mean read it with hate and only for the purpose of picking out bits and pieces out of context to incite further hate and flame against Muslims, but rather, just simply out of curiosity to evaluate the text?
… Just like Professor Jeffrey Lang did: –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifllgTA2pmY
Oh Allah Help Palestinean From The Calamity Of Israhel.
Md. Shahlal Khan
Enjoy few more days zionist Jews, It's all part of Allah's plan to accumulate the zionists pigs & snakes from different countries into one place and then you all will be slaughtered by the Muslims………………………Quran 17:104 says …..And We said after Pharaoh to the Children of Israel, "Dwell in the land, and when there comes the promise of the Hereafter, We will bring you forth in [one] gathering."………………………………..Sahih Muslim, Book 041, Number 6984:……………….Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: The Jews will fight against you and you will gain victory over them until the stone would say: Muslim, here is a Jew behind me; kill him…………………..Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, Number 177: Allah's Apostle(saw) said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."
Nusrat Shaikh
JazakaAllah khair for this wake up call. Truly we are not Believers unless we wish for our brothers and sisters what we wish for ourselves. SubhaanAllah
Another outrage, from the so called "Jewish State". Everyone knows their history is written in the blood of innocent men, women and children. The friend of America and the friend of Britain is NEVER held accountable….
Sharon Allah Curse him was a war criminal responsible for Shabrah and Shatillah but was never tried. Netanyahu is war criminal but he is untouchable, just like Blair and Bush.
@Muslima – inshaAllah, they will one day be brought to the Court of the most High, the most Powerful, Irresistible Allah jalla wa'ala where for a surety they will not be untouchable and justice will be restored in full measure.
Emotions are running high as tensions between Iran and the US escalate. In these circumstances, let us return to reason and composure
India is at a Crossroads
Ustadh Tariq Huq says India is at a critical juncture


Im trying to use AirDroid at work, and my PC is connected to a private domain network, while my phone connects to a public wifi. I was able to get a connection by teathering my phone to my PC, but then i cannot acccess any of my companies internal sites as the computer uses the network from my phone rather than the domain network. So that is not an option.
Not sure if i explained that well, but either way I'm signed in on my phone, but cannot connect to the web.airdroid.com site, nor the desktop app. Any ideas?


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Why Google doesn't care about your education, and neither should you
One of the most common concerns I hear when talking to people about writing their bio is this: "I don't have a college degree, will that work against me?"
My answer has always been no, it won't. We will a): not mention or apologize for it; and b): make sure your experience tells your story.
That's why I was interested to come across this article: "Why Google doesn't care about hiring top college graduates".
Some of the article's conclusions, from Laszlo Bock, Google's head of people operations:
Successful young graduates have been taught to rely on talent, which makes them unable to fail gracefully.
Successful bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don't learn how to learn from that failure.
Top graduates often commit the fundamental attribution error, which is that is something good happens, it's because I'm a genius. If something bad happens, it's because someone's an idiot or I didn't get the resources, or...
On the other hand:
People who make it without college are often the most exceptional.
When you look at people who don't go to school and make their way in the world, those are exceptional human beings.
For every job the No. 1 thing we look for is general cognitive ability, and it's not IQ. It's learning ability. It's the ability to process on the fly. It's the ability to pull together disparate bits of information.
It's not about leading a club at school, or an impressive prior title, Bock says, but the ability to step up and learn when it's necessary.
Read the entire article, Why Google doesn't care about hiring top college graduates, here.
So, if you're worried about how your education will impact how you write your bio - don't. If it's good enough for Google, you're good to go!


Dr. Mik Kersten, CEO of Tasktop, recently published a book titled Project to Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework. In his book Dr. Kersten discusses The Flow Framework – a new approach for connecting the business to technology, which bridges the gap between business strategy and technology delivery.
Dr. Kersten discusses three vital epiphanies he had that revolutionized how he thinks about software delivery. In this excerpt, he discusses these epiphanies and how his revised angle of attack benefited his business.
Epiphany 1: Productivity declines and waste increases as soft- ware scales due to disconnects between the architecture and the value stream.
Epiphany 2: Disconnected software value streams are the bottleneck to software productivity at scale. These value stream disconnects are caused by the misapplication of the project management model.
Epiphany 3: Software value streams are not linear manufacturing processes but complex collaboration networks that need to be aligned to products.


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Practicing what it preaches: House announces closed discussion of pension reform in spite of open meetings mandate
Transparency and AccountabilityBy Jim Waters August 24, 2017
The L exington-Herald Leader reports that "all House [of Representative] members will meet Tuesday in closed session at the Capitol to discuss pension reform." This is not an auspicious beginning to the legislature's latest effort to address Kentucky's pension crisis.
The reasons are as clear as the law the General Assembly enacted more than forty years ago widely known as the Kentucky Open Meetings Act, KRS 61.800 to KRS 61.850.
In the legislative statement of policy that governs the open meetings act, " The General Assembly finds and declares that the basic policy of KRS 61.805 to 61.850 is that the formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret." This unambiguous statement, along with KRS 61.810(1), clearly establishes that "[a]ll meetings of a quorum of the members of any public agency at which any public business is discussed or at which any action is taken by the agency, shall be public meetings, open to the public at all times" unless the public business to be discussed falls within one or more of the 13 exceptions recognized by the General Assembly and enacted into law.
Under the broadly worded definition of the term "meeting" adopted into law by the General Assembly, this includes "informational or casual gatherings held in anticipation of or in conjunction with a regular or special meeting."
There is no specific exception to the open meetings act for discussion of pension reform. Nor is there a general exception to the open meetings act under which discussion of pension reform falls, even if the exceptions are liberally construed.
And, the General Assembly declares in the legislative statement of policy, "the exceptions provided for by KRS 61.810 or otherwise provided for by law shall be strictly construed."
Under what legal authority, then, does a quorum of the members of the House of Representatives propose to meet in closed session to discuss pension reform? Shouldn't the members of the General Assembly be required to play by the rules that they made for themselves and others?
The stated reason for the closed session is to permit House members to "express themselves freely." Assurances are given that "[n]o straw vote will be taken to determine how members feel on the issue."
A similar argument was advanced by the House of Representatives in 1993 when its members proposed to meet in closed session to obtain information about then Governor Brereton Jones's health care reform proposal. In 93-OMD-63 and 93-OMD-64, open meetings decisions issued by the Kentucky Attorney General based on appeals arising from the same facts, the attorney general determined that as a state legislative body the House of Representatives is a public agency pursuant to KRS 61.805(2)(b) and its meetings are subject to the open meetings act.
Moreover, the attorney general reasoned, KRS 61.810(1)(i) creates an exception for closed session discussions of "Committees of the General Assembly other than standing committees." If the House of Representatives was, he concluded, "excluded from the coverage of the Open Meetings Act, then the law would not make a distinction as to what kinds of House Committees are excluded from the provisions of the Act."
The only defense raised by the House in 1993 was the fact that a quorum of its members was not present for the closed door discussion of public business.
In both 93-OMD-63 and 93-OMD-64, the attorney general held that but for the absence of a quorum of the members of the House of Representatives at the closed session meetings to discuss health care reform, the meetings would have constituted a violation of the open meetings act.
The Herald-Leader reports that "all House members will meet" on Tuesday behind closed doors to discuss pension reform. Under these 1993 open meetings decisions, the proposed meeting of a quorum of the members of the House of Representatives at which public business will be discussed will violate the open meetings act if not conducted in open session.
The fact that no action is anticipated, and no straw vote will be taken, does not alter this conclusion. The open meetings act is premised on the statement that the "formation of public policy is public business and shall not be conducted in secret." The requirements of the act are triggered if a quorum is present and public business is discussed regardless of whether action is taken. The public is, of course, entitled to know what the final policy is, but it is also entitled to know what information was considered in formulating the policy and how its elected representatives voiced their concerns and positions on the policy.
Certainly no one wants to impede the House of Representatives in the daunting undertaking of pension reform, but the open meetings act must be applied even handedly to those at the highest level of government who enacted it as well as to those for whom it was otherwise enacted. What message does the House of Representatives send to public agencies across the state if it does not practice what it preaches?
Fighting 'Fake News' in the Classroom
Education, News, Transparency and AccountabilityBy Richard Innes August 23, 2017
I don't follow the Atlantic, but one of their writers, Alia Wong, has a very interesting article up in the Education Writers Association site about the problems of teaching school kids about fake news.
Unfortunately, Wong's article makes a lot of sense.
Wong begins by posing a very interesting question:
"During and after the 2016 presidential campaign, questions arose about whether shortcomings in civics instruction had exacerbated polarization in the electorate and influenced the election's outcome. The questions on civics education were soon accompanied by a related one: What if schools are contributing to a breakdown in democracy by failing to ensure kids are media literate?"
The article then answers that question, expressing concern that a recent study by the Stanford History Education Group found that students identified a web site "as a credible source of information — even though the website is maintained by a lobbying firm for the food and beverage industry."
The article additionally laments that students decided one news article was more credible that another solely because the first article had an "attractive infographic."
The Atlantic's writer also points out that "media illiteracy is in large part symptomatic of a systemic flaw: schools' failure to instill these skills amid an increasingly convoluted world of information."
This reminded me of another kids-believe-all-sorts-of-stuff-on-the-web study that I learned about years ago regarding the fictitious "tree octopus." Kids were directed to a bogus web site that had been created to fool them and then wouldn't believe this fabrication didn't exist even after researchers explained the web site was a plant created to test student credibility about anything found online.
Back in the present, the worry may be about fake news and our kids' ability to detect it, but Wong's take on the issue sounds all too much like solid – and scary – news to me.
Which school types educate best?
Gallup just polled the American public about which schools do the best job of educating students. The results show a clear win for school choice options.
This interesting table from the new Gallup Report makes an important case.
It is interesting that just about every school choice option listed, including charter schools, is favored by a majority of Americans.
Home schooling's rather low rating comes as a surprise, with somewhat less than a majority saying they believe home schools provide an excellent or good education. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there really isn't a lot of good comparison data about home school performance. Still, even home schooling is held in higher public regard than the regular public school system.
This poll exposes some clear image problems for public schools. Only five percent of the public think they provide an excellent education, while a majority of Americans, 54 percent, believes public schools provide only a fair to poor education.
Gallup has some interesting comments of their own concerning their poll such as this one:
"Americans as a whole believe private and parochial schools do a better job of educating students than public schools do, something that might be remedied with the right federal or state public school education policies. Another remedy may be expanding charter schools so that parents of children in failing public schools who can't afford private school have other options for their children."
This poll certainly adds more insight into how rank and file Americans really feel about the performance of various school choice options. Kentucky's policy makers would do well to keep this in mind as they oversee the introduction of charter schools in the Bluegrass State and continue to contemplate fostering more access to other school options, as well.
Error or arrogance: open meetings violations come in all varieties
To its great credit, the Nelson County Board of Education recently acknowledged that its failure to observe the requirements for going into closed session at its August 3 meeting violated the open meetings law.
On August 12, the Nelson County Gazette reported that it had filed an open meetings complaint with board chair Diane Breeding in which it alleged that the board's failure to give public notice of the general nature of the business to be discussed in closed session, the reason for the closed session and the statutory exception authorizing the closed session violated the law. As required by statute, the newspaper proposed several remedies, most of them aimed at improving the board members' understanding of their legal obligations under the law.
On August 17, the newspaper reported that the board's attorney admitted that its members "inadvertently failed to follow the proper procedure as prescribed by the Open Meetings Act." While school board members are afforded ample opportunity to learn — or to educate themselves — about the legal requirements for open meetings compliance, mistakes are made. The board's prompt acknowledgement of error suggests that it was, indeed, inadvertent.
Mistake made and acknowledged. Lesson learned.
Unfortunately, not all public agencies are willing to acknowledge open meetings error. Their "holier than thou" rhetoric suggests that they are entirely incapable of any error.
Witness the Jefferson County Board of Education's reaction to 17-OMD-161, an open meetings decision issued by the Kentucky Attorney General on August 14 following the submission of an appeal by the Bluegrass Institute Center for Open Government. That appeal focused on the board's decision to conduct a public meeting in a private law office located on the 28th floor of a downtown Louisville building – on a Sunday afternoon – and alleged that the location was not convenient to the public as required by law
The attorney general agreed that a private law office was not a place convenient to the public. He observed, "A public meeting must be held in 'a place from which no part of the citizens … may be excluded by reason of not feeling they may freely attend.' The standard here is one of reasonableness. In this case, the Board met in a private law office . . . . [Based on] common experience as well as the specific experience of the [representatives of the Bluegrass Institute] when [unsuccessfully] attempting to access the office of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs on a Sunday, we believe it reasonable to suppose that an ordinary member of the public might have been discouraged from trying to attend a meeting there."
Kentucky's open meetings law requires that public agencies conduct their meetings at times and places convenient to the public. It makes no reference to places designed to minimize agency cost. Most importantly, it makes no reference to the convenience of the public agency.
WDRB reports that in responding to the open meetings decision, the board chair "criticized as 'ludicrous' the Bluegrass Institute's claim that it found the doors of PNC Plaza locked when it tried to access the building on Sunday, July 9. 'The only thing this group has done has guaranteed that any time there is a special meeting, even on weekends, that there will be a cost incurred by the taxpayers of Jefferson County.'"
Mistake made but deflected. Lesson not learned.
Again, we marvel that public officials uniquely positioned to appreciate the value of education refuse to be educated about a law that governs every aspect of their public service. That law obligates the board to consider the right of the public to be informed even at a cost — albeit a conspicuously unspecified cost — to the agency whose past spending practices could hardly be described as parsimonious.
Like the Nelson County Board of Education, the Jefferson County Board of Education would do well to prioritize the public's statutory rights above its own convenience and, yes, unspecified costs.
"What is the harm" when an agency conducts the public's business privately?
Nearly five years after the Advocate-Messenger issued an open meetings challenge to the Danville Board of Commissioner's actions in purchasing a building to house its public works department, the Kentucky Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on August 16, 2017.
So much for "proceedings arising under [the judicial enforcement provision of the open meetings law] tak[ing] precedence on the docket over all other causes." Five years seems a long time to wait for finality.
The issue before the Court in Board of Commissioners of the City of Danville, Kentucky v. Advocate Communications, Inc., D/B/A The Advocate-Messenger is the propriety of the board's closed session discussion of the building's purchase under KRS 61.810(1)(b), its failure to take final action on the purchase in open session, and its failure to respond to the Advocate-Messenger's open meetings complaint.
This is not a typical case arising under the exception authorizing closed session "deliberations on the future acquisition or sale of real property by a public agency, but only when publicity would be likely to affect the value of a specific piece of property to be acquired for public use or sold by a public agency." Given the unusual circumstances surrounding the purchase and the Advocate-Messenger's decision to withdraw its proposed remedy to nullify the contract to purchase the building, the Court questioned how it could develop a precedent for other cases.
At one point Justice David Venters asked the attorney for the Advocate-Messenger, veteran open records and meetings champion Jon Fleischaker, to identify the injury to the public resulting from the execution of the contract to purchase the building.
Without missing a beat Fleischaker responded, "It is the violation of the open meetings law."
He is, of course, right. It is the act of depriving the public of its right to know how its elected officials conduct its business.
The backstory in the case of this $1.23 million purchase is a complicated one. It begins with the city's lease of the building for its public works department in 2004, the expiration of that lease in 2011, a subsequent month to month lease, and the later approval by the board of a search for a new facility at a budgeted amount of $2 million.
On July 17, 2012, the building's owner announced an absolute auction of the building to be conducted on August 10. Anticipating that auction, at a July 23 public meeting the board went into closed session to discuss the purchase of the building, which had been appraised for $1.5 million.
The facts and law become murky at this point. It is not disputed that the board privately authorized the city manager to engage a bidding agent, a local realtor, to bid on the property at the auction and set a maximum bid of $1.5 million. At the August 10 auction, the city's agent made the winning bid. The city manager thereafter signed a contract to purchase the building and tendered a $123,750 down payment.
None of these events were discussed in any open session at any public meeting.
On August 13, the board held another meeting. It emerged from another closed session and approved the purchase contract and the already executed down payment. It was at this point that Danville's residents first learned that their officials had purchased the building.
The Advocate- Messenger subsequently challenged the board's actions under the open meetings laws to the attorney general. In 12-OMD-179 that office ruled that, "The public was entitled to know each [Board] members' position on the purchase of the [building]at the time the agreement was reached to extend a bid and not after the purchase was consummated. Although its intent in failing to conduct a public vote on the purchase may have been prompted by a desire to acquire the building at the least cost and in the most fiscally responsible way, the [Board] did not enjoy the privilege of cloaking its final action in secrecy, and its decision to do so" violated the open meetings law.
To paraphrase Fleischaker in his argument to the Court, the city's position is premised on the belief that it was permitted to violate the open meetings law if there was a "good fiscal reason." Its position is flawed. Even if public discussions put the city at a disadvantage, its elected officials did not have the authority to abridge the open meetings law and the public's right to know.
The Boyle Circuit Court endorsed this reasoning as did the Kentucky Court of Appeals. The ball is now in the hands of the Kentucky Supreme Court.
I learned long ago not to try to predict the likely outcome of a case based on the Court's interaction with counsel. This much is clear: the legislature has fixed the scope of permissible closed session discussion, and public agencies have no authority to exceed the permissible scope. The injury to the public lies in the violation of the law and – ultimately — the breach of the public trust.
More from Kentucky's Office of Education Accountability regarding school attendance
The Kentucky Legislature's Office of Education Accountability (OEA) presented an interesting report to the Education Assessment and Accountability Review Subcommittee on August 15, 2017 with some really attention getting information.
I already discussed one stunning OEA finding that a majority of Kentucky's public school students meet the legal definition of being truants.
Today, I briefly touch on results from an OEA survey of the state's school superintendents on the issue of changing the state's mandatory minimum dropout age to 18. This change in the minimum dropout age was set in motion in 2013 by Senate Bill 97. The bill was heavily pushed by former Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear and was heralded as a way to improve graduation rates even though research at the time indicated most states that had raised their dropout age were not reaping much in benefits.
The OEA says by January 2015 all districts had adopted an Age 18 minimum dropout requirement.
So, OEA asked some questions in its superintendent survey about what has happened since SB-97 came along, and, not surprisingly, there were unintended consequences.
OEA reports that:
"The majority (52 percent) of survey respondents indicated that SB 97 (2013) had increased the number of truant students and nearly two-thirds (65 percent) said it increased the number of students entering home school."
OEA provided some numbers to back this up, as well, as Table 1 below shows.
Notice in the upper left corner of Table 1 that 46.8 percent of the superintendents in the OEA's survey said they saw a decrease in their dropouts after this legislation became effective, but there is much more to this story.
Most surprising, despite the legislation's intent, the bottom line in Table 1 shows a solid majority of the superintendents said that either there was no improvement in the high school graduation rate (47.8 percent) or the rate actually declined (add another 11.5 percent).
Furthermore, over half of the superintendents, 51.6 percent, said they also saw a rise in their truancy rates.
Also significant, well over half of the superintendents, 65.4 percent, said they saw an increase in students leaving the public school system to supposedly home school. Legislators at the EAARS meeting latched onto that because there are concerns that some students might be claiming to go to home school but really are just using this as a dodge to get around the minimum age of 18 to dropout. Some other data in the OEA's presentation bears on this issue.
Table 2 primarily comes from Slide 37 in the OEA's presentation, but I added some additional items in the yellow-shaded area at the bottom of the table.
As you can see, while dropouts decreased between 2012 and 2016, there has been a notable rise in the number of high school students moving to homeschool compared to the transfers to homeschool for students in elementary and middle school grades. That is already cause for concern, but I looked at something additional the OEA didn't consider.
Since all districts didn't adopt the Age 18 rule until 2015, I added a set of calculations for the one-year change from 2015 to 2016. Here the difference in high school versus lower grades transition to homeschool is much more pronounced. In fact, the change in the percentage of transfers in high schools is more than three times the change for elementary and middle school grades, 18.6 percent versus only 5.8 percent.
Also quite notable, the increase in high school transfers to homeschool between 2015 and 2016 of 531 students is much larger than the decrease in the number of dropouts of only 64 students between those years. If the supposed transfers to home school are really just a dodge to work around the Age 18 dropout restriction, then the real dropout situation might be much worse than the official numbers indicate.
During the meeting the OEA team mentioned that Kentucky's rules for home schooling are fairly loose, and it isn't really possible to investigate the veracity of the supposed home school transfers due to restrictions found in the Kentucky constitution that severely limit the legislature's ability to pass laws regarding home schools.
So, the real impact of Kentucky's Age 18 to drop out law is not as clear as you might suspect. A lot fewer kids might really be getting an education than the drop out data would suggest.
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By Joseph C. Harsch. Joseph C. Harsch is a longtime newspaper reporter and former columnist for the Monitor.
THE recent affair of the two travel agents who were fired from the White House and then had to be rehired provides the useful key to the misfortunes of the early weeks of the Clinton presidency. It shows that Mr. Clinton and his associates came to Washington not realizing that there were two Washingtons and that for a new president to be successful, he must come to amicable terms with the second as well as the first.
The first Washington is the community of elected and appointed officials. This is the official Washington where a president has statutory authority.
The second Washington is made up of people who influence policy without any official or statutory position but who must be won by a new president at least to a neutral, preferably a supportive, role if his presidency is to be relatively smooth and successful.
Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy understood this. Jimmy Carter did not, and the Clintons have yet to show that they have learned how to manage it.
The second Washington is made up of many different types of people who have one thing in common: They all have some ability to influence policy decisions. They include the representatives of the great trade unions, of the associations of business and industry, of the important churches, of individuals like Eleanor Roosevelt who are, or were, widely respected in their own right; and most important of all, the Washington press corps and newspaper columnists and broadcasting commentators whose words are rea d or heard all over the country.
The White House travel agents are known personally to the White House press corps. The agents arrange travel for reporters traveling with the president. If a president fires a travel agent unfairly (which is admitted in this case) the reporters resent it.
It is a small thing in itself, but it is the kind of thing that builds up an unfavorable feeling about the president among the reporters who cover him daily. It gets passed along to the columnists and commentators. It is the sort of thing a wise president who understands the Washington system would never do.
Travel agents are not part of the public, official Washington. They are like White House ushers and White House switchboard operators, people who have served succeeding presidents of both parties. They belong to a large body of nonpolitical people who serve impersonally. The apparent motive in this case was to clear the way for political friends. That is not done to those who serve impersonally in the second Washington.
President Carter in his fourth year finally hired a prominent lawyer who belonged to the second Washington. It was too late. Too much damage had been done. Clinton has hired David Gergen. His public relations have improved.
That second Washington, which he must cultivate and at least in part neutralize, is a marvelous world. I will give you an example from my own earlier days as a White House reporter.
Cardinal Spellman was at that time the chief Roman Catholic spokesman in Washington. Eleanor Roosevelt was a popular figure in the Democratic Party and a person widely respected. The cardinal commented unfavorably one day on her qualifications as a mother. Mrs. Roosevelt replied that she would leave the judgment in that matter to the Deity.
That night, the cardinal telephoned Arthur Dean Sr., partner of Sullivan and Cromwell, a top New York law firm, to come and see him. Mr. Dean drove at once to the cardinal's summer residence on Long Island. A few days later the cardinal "happened" to be driving through Hyde Park. He stopped off at Mrs. Roosevelt's little cottage. They had tea together. The episode was closed and the rift between the two important members of the second Washington had been bandaged.
The second or unofficial Washington is filled with today's equivalents of Cardinal Spellman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the senior partners of Sullivan and Cromwell - all of whom are in constant association with others of their kind.
They can be used for private curative missions, like Arthur Dean's late night summons by the cardinal to get him out of trouble. They can be called in for decisions, such as the withdrawal from Vietnam, as Arthur Dean was. Often their words influence policy from outside. Clinton needs the goodwill of such.
Obama, Hillary Clinton top Gallup's most admired: Who else is on the list?


Miguel and Paulina are inspiring, training and encouraging youth pastors & leaders in over 20 countries on four continents.
Miguel and Paulina Faundez are a young couple from Chile. They are married and have two children: Benjamin and Florencia. They decided to invest their lives to serve new generations alongside YouthHOPE. Miguel is graduated from Dallas Baptist University with an MBA - Master Business Administration and Paulina is a Lawyer graduated from University of Concepcion in Chile.
Today, Miguel and Paulina are inspiring, training and encouraging youth pastors and leaders in over 10 countries across the globe. Through honest dialogue, powerful questions and a listening ear, they come alongside these youth pastors to design creative solutions to the real time issues they face in life and ministry. Miguel is a remote YouthHOPE team member. Miguel and Paulina live in Dallas, TX.


text:
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 * Qc API
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 * Qc API
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 * API version: 3.0.0
 * Contact: cloudsupport@telestream.net
 * Generated by: OpenAPI Generator (https://openapi-generator.tech)
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package qc

type AudioTracksTest struct {
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Is maximum of increasing concave functions quasi-concave? It seems to me that the maximum of increasing concave functions is at least quasi-concave, but I have difficulty to prove it. Anyone can  help? Or give a counter-example?

A: You do not need the hypothesis of concavity.
Monotone functions are quasi-concave, the maximum of monotone functions is monotone as soon as they are all decreasing or increasing.
Let $f$ and $g$ two increasing function on $I \subset \mathbb{R}$. Then $\forall x,y$ s.t. $x < y$, we have $f(x) \le f(y)$ and $g(x) \le g(y)$. Thus :
$$\max(f(x),g(x))\le \max(f(y),g(y)).$$
That means that the function $x \mapsto \max(f(x),g(x))$ is also increasing, hence quasi-concave by monotonicity.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The crushed stones are what is known as ballast. Sidebar for the truly geeky, with fun facts about railroad ties Related QuestionsMore Answers Below.
Most crushed stone is used in highway construction and building construction. . to incorporate information about aggregate resources in their planning efforts.
Crushed stone or angular rock is a form of construction aggregate, typically produced by mining a suitable rock deposit and breaking the removed rock down to the desired size using crushers. It is distinct from gravel which is produced by natural processes of weathering and erosion, and typically has a more rounded shape. . United States Geological Survey minerals information for crushed stone.
or crushed stone with most particles smaller than 5 mm (0.2 in.). most of the remainder are crushed stones. Naturally aggregates—sand, gravel, crushed stone, and air-cooled more information refer to Chapter 15 for temperature-.
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text:
Discordia (2016)
Discordia (original title)
Main Crew
Ion Indolean
Scriptwriter
Horatiu Curutiu
Marius M. Bogdan
Calin Bocian
Adrian Enescu
Anda Ionescu
Cezar Enache
Sound Re-recording Mixer
Ilinca Harnut
Ilinca
Rares Hantiu
Pacient 1
Hola Media: Production
2 Votes (1.5)
Discordia (title with latin characters)
Fiction, 71 min
Production country Romania
Language Romanian
Director Ion Indolean
Scriptwriter Ion Indolean
Producer Horatiu Curutiu
Three strange days in the life of two young people. They live together under the same roof, sleep in separate rooms, eat at regular times, following a routine they had transformed into a ritual. They seem to be out of touch with reality and bored, but they love it. But any unexpected change of their schedule can affect them deeply...
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