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Strokkur Travel Guide
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Hot Springs, Geysers, Geothermal areas
Stop 2: Kerio Crater Lake, Iceland
Haukadalsvegur, Iceland
Monday: Open 24 hours; Tuesday: Open 24 hours; Wednesday: Open 24 hours; Thursday: Open 24 hours; Friday: Open 24 hours; Saturday: Open 24 hours; Sunday: Open 24 hours
Strokkur is Iceland's most visited active geyser. One of the three major attractions on the world-famous Golden Circle sightseeing route, it is usually visited alongside Gullfoss Waterfall and Þingvellir National Park.
This route is included in plenty of guided vacations and self-drive tours that travel around Iceland, such as this 6-Day Summer Package and this 10-Day Road Trip. Those renting a car will be able to reach it independently with ease. Alternatively, book an organised Golden Circle tour.
Strokkur is found in the Geysir Geothermal Area, titled after the Great Geysir, which lent its name to all others across the world. It is the greatest active geyser on site; Geysir itself is in a period of inactivity. Strokkur erupts more regularly than Geysir ever did, blasting water to heights of around fifteen to twenty metres every five to ten minutes, although it is known to reach up to forty metres.
Strokkur and Haukadalur Valley
Strokkur is the primary feature of the Haukadalur valley and the main reason why it is one of the most visited sites in the country. While Geysir will very occasionally still erupt to enormous heights, it is nowhere near reliable enough to justify the area's popularity.
Haukadalur valley, however, has many other features that make it worth a visit. The natural beauty of the area is shaped by the forces of the earth; fumaroles, hot-springs, mud-pits and other little geysers are littered around, and the ground itself is dyed vividly by elements such as sulfur (yellow), copper (green) and iron (red).
Opposite the main geothermal area in Haukadalur Valley is a restaurant, cafe, hotel and luxury gift shop.
Science behind Strokkur
Active geysers like Strokkur are rare around the world, due to the fact that many conditions must be met for them to form. They are thus only found in certain parts of highly geothermal areas.
The first condition that is necessary is an intense heat source; magma must be close enough to the surface of the earth for the rocks to be hot enough to boil water. Considering that Iceland is located on top of the rift valley between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, this condition is met throughout most of the country.
Secondly, you will need a source of flowing underground water. In the case of Strokkur, this comes from the second largest glacier in the country, Langjökull. Meltwater from the glacier sinks into the surrounding porous lava rock, and travels underground in all directions.
Evidence of this flowing water can be found in Þingvellir National Park, where there are many freshwater springs flowing straight from the earth.
Finally, you need a complex plumbing system that allows a geyser to erupt, rather than just steam from the ground like a fumarole. Above the intense heat source, there must be space for the flowing water to gather like a reservoir. From this basin, there must be a vent to the surface. This vent must be lined with silica so that the boiling, rising water cannot escape before the eruption.
Environmental Issues with Strokkur
One of the main reasons that Geysir entered a period of inactivity was due to the fact soap used to be pumped into the vents to make the eruptions more dramatic; it damaged the structure of the vent and prevented water building up. Strokkur, therefore, is guarded against all interference, with chains keeping visitors a good distance away.
Unfortunately, however, there have been incidents where people have meddled with its natural state. For example, an 'artist' once poured food colouring into it to make the eruption pink. He defended himself by claiming that nature was open to artists to utiltise and the fact the colouring was all-natural, but he became a pariah amongst many Icelanders, and was arrested and fined (though never paid it).
Popular Tours to Strokkur
Golden Circle Small Group Minibus Tour with Transfer from Reykjavik
Small Group 8 Hour Sightseeing Tour of the Golden Circle & Kerid Volcanic Crater
Afternoon 6 Hour Golden Circle Tour to Gullfoss, Geysir & Thingvellir with Transfer from Reykjavik
See all tours
Haukadalur
Kúalaug
Valahnúkur
Marteinslaug Hot Spring
Golden Circle Tours
Winter Tours & Packages in Iceland
Summer Self Drive Tours
Ice Cave Tours
Summer Tours & Packages


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The Homburger Hof has a history of more than 200 years.
Around 1785, horse stables were taken over by Johann Philipp Bruder and even then it was presumably been used as a tavern.
a large dance hall opened on the upper floor of the building which enjoyed increasing popularity.
The guesthouse served as a communication center with the "Stammtisch" and also witnessed the political changes of the time around 1848; Lively discussions were held about the changes that were lying ahead; Here, on 30 May 1848, Peter Bruder planted the still existing "Freedom" lime or linden tree as a symbol of a new era.
Peter Bruder filed a petition with the Hessian Provincial Government for a sign-posted inn with a permanent concession and serving drinks and food, which was approved. A great step of economic importance for the Homburger Hof.
the first Carneval meeting in Gonzenheim was held in the Homburger Hof. The choir "Liederkranz" and the Turnverein had chosen the Homburger Hof as a clubhouse.
During the First World War, not only the 1916 prohibition on the production of cider, but also increasing inflation caused problems.
the entire management of the enterprise passed into female hands; Extremely unusual for the times. After the death of the widow of Friedrich Bruder, her daughter Maria Elisabeth, Bettchen, became owner and proprietor of the Homburger Hof on May 15, 1928, to run it with her sister Pauline Rühl and her daughter Berta Rühl.
With the seizure of power by the National Socialists in 1933, the Homburger Hof was also a meeting place for the Gonzenheim Ortsgruppe of the SA, which the ladies Bruder-Rühl regarded as a business affair.
An anecdote states that shortly after the Reichskristallnacht in 1939, a Jewish tailor was threatened by a small group of SA people. He was accompanied from the restaurant to the tram stop by a brave Berta Rühl.
On 8.8.1949 a devastating fire destroyed the building completely;
Nevertheless, the Bruder-Rühl family planned and built a new building on the site of the Homburger Hof. On 21.10.1950, the great opening ceremony was held with a sign "And new life blooms from the ruins", above the entrance door.
Maria Elisabeth Bruder died in March 1955, Berta Rühl and her mother Paula continued the operation without "Bettchen".
1963, Berta Rühl sold the Homburger Hof in 1981 to Franziska Backhausen. Despite her advanced age, she continued to support the new tenant couple strongly. Berta Rühl moved to a Bad Homburg nursing home, where she died in 1995.
After a range of owners and years of vacancy, the property of Stefan and Ulrike Winter, owner of the well-known restaurant "Pinocchio Wintergarten" in Ober-Eschbach 2008, was bought, elaborately and gently nourished and reopened in 2009 under the new and old name Homburger Hof with the Pinocchio restaurant.
The Hotel Homburger Hof is being renovated with the redesigned Restaurant Pinocchios Genusswirtschaft. Under the leadership of Stefan & Ulrike Winter & Silke Winter a new meeting place for culinary experiences, celebration and dining has been created.
Source: "Gastwirtschaften in Gonzenheim" – Heft 10 Geschichtlicher Arbeitskreis Gonzenheim
In 2019 the Botica family takes over the restaurant and the hotel from the Winter family, and continues the traditional history of the Gonzenheimer Haus with love and passion.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A divorced and unemployed middle-aged pianist, OLIVER lives by himself in a small, modest studio, pushing through life even as he faces impossible financial challenges. On a day like any other, on his way to a job interview, OLIVER witnesses a minute and clever pickpocket at work on a bus. He is mesmerized by the thief and can't take his eyes off him, to learn how he does it. As his financial situation worsens, OLIVER becomes the perfect copy of the pickpocket he met on the bus.


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Lena Olin - 2015 Robert F. Kennedy Ripple Of Hope Awards - Arrivals at Hilton Midtown - New York, New York, United States - Tuesday 8th December 2015
Night Train To Lisbon Trailer
When a Latin professor, Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons), sees a young Portuguese woman in a red coat about to throw herself from a bridge, he is compelled to save her. She wrestles her way out of the coat and runs off into the rain, leaving the bemused and mystified professor pondering what it all means. When he discovers a small book in the pocket of her coat, he begins to embark on an odyssey to find her, yet very soon he becomes more interested in the novel's author, Amadeu do Prado (Jack Huston). After discovering tickets for a train to Lisbon stuffed inside the book, Gregorius hastily boards the train himself, throwing caution to the wind, along with his normal, boring life.
Continue: Night Train To Lisbon Trailer
Video - Oprah Winfrey And Steven Spielberg Pose Together At 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' NY Premiere - Part 1
The cast and crew of restaurant drama 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' were seen arriving at the New York premiere held at the Ziegfeld Theater. Among them were producers Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, director Lasse Hallstrom and his wife Lena Olin and stars Om Puri and Charlotte Le Bon who play Papa and Marguerite respectively.
Continue: Video - Oprah Winfrey And Steven Spielberg Pose Together At 'The Hundred-Foot Journey' NY Premiere - Part 1
Remember Me Review
Even before the manipulative final act, this film will get on the nerves of most viewers with its over-serious tone and sentimentalised plot. And the main problem is that all of this leaves the cast with little to do besides mope.
Tyler (Pattinson) is a 21-year-old student who still hasn't recovered from the suicide of his big brother six years ago. He devotes himself to his little sister Caroline (Jerins) and rebels against their wealthy father (Brosnan). When he's brutally arrested by a cop (Cooper), his chucklehead flatmate (Ellington) suggests that he get even by dating the cop's daughter Ally (de Ravin), a fellow student. It turns out that Ally also has a personal tragedy in her life, and of course they fall in love as they try to sort out their issues.
Continue reading: Remember Me Review
Lena Olin Thursday 9th July 2009 on the set of 'Remember Me' New York City, USA
Awake Review
By Jesse Hassenger
Surprising, really, that "anesthetic awareness" -- helpless, immobile and, it should be noted, very rare consciousness during surgery -- hasn't been explored in a thriller before. Or maybe it has and I don't remember; that would explain why Awake sounds so novel but feels so familiar. In Joby Harold's film, young millionaire Clay Beresford (Hayden Christensen) is undergoing a risky heart transplant operation when he realizes the anesthetic isn't working as it should -- he is completely and silently paralyzed, but continues to hear and feel everything around him. If the movie wanted to top itself, it could find a way for Christensen to transfer immediately from anesthetic awareness into catalepsy, and maybe knock off Poe's "Premature Burial." Unfortunately and despite its killer gimmick, Awake isn't consumed with that kind of B-movie zeal.
Clay, like so many men before him, tries to block out the pain by intense concentration on thoughts of Jessica Alba (playing his girlfriend Sam -- though oddly enough, Clay's strongest memories reveal nothing more explicit than Alba's demurely exposed back). His focus breaks down when he overhears some, shall we say, less than reassuring words from his doctors, and from there a trapped Clay races against time, desperately attempting to alert Sam and/or his possessive mother (Lena Olin) of the danger he's in.
Continue reading: Awake Review
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Review
By James Brundage
When I first watched The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I was dating a poet who had read and loved the book. Not wanting to involve myself in reading the book at that point, I rented the movie instead. I loved it then and I love it now, but, at this point in time, I can compare it to the novel by Milan Kundera. The two are both vastly similar and vastly different. As an adaptation, it succeeds in transcribing the events of the novel, but does not do as well in successfully demonstrating its points.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being focuses on Tomas (Daniel-Day Lewis), a Don Juanist terrified of commitment and a surgeon at a Prague hospital. He is trapped between his platonic and semi-erotic love of Teresa (Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche), a photographer and his wife and a erotic and semi-platonic love of Sabina (Lena Olin), a painter and his mistress.
Continue reading: The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Review
The Queen Of The Damned Review
By Joshua Tyler
Most horror movies are all flash, action, and plenty of screaming. The Queen of the Damned is no exception to the rule, despite attempts to become something more, but it still manages to deliver a fair bit of vampire fun.
The Queen of the Damned stars Stuart Townsend as the vampire Lestat, a character first made popular in film by Tom Cruise in the engaging Interview With the Vampire. This time around, Lestat has risen from his slumber again, intent on making his mark. Tired of hiding in shadows, he starts a career as a rock star, much to the ire of his maker Marius (Vincent Perez). But the anger of the world's vampire covens is the least of his problems when his music awakens the mother of all Vampires, the all-powerful Queen Akasha (Aaliyah).
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Chocolat Review
By Annette Cardwell
Take Footloose and Like Water for Chocolate, steep the combo in a heaping helping of corn syrup, and you'll come out with the sticky, sickly-sweet romantic cautionary tale Chocolat. The Cider House Rules director Lasse Hallström helms this adaptation of the best-selling novel by Joanne Harris, and delivers yet another pretty package of tempered social messages -- this time preaching about social tolerance instead of abortion.
Set against the idyllic backdrop of a quaint puritanical village in the French countryside, mysterious Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her daughter, dressed in identical Red Riding Hood outfits, literally blow into town "on the North Wind." Within days, the duo brazenly opens a magical chocolaterie across the street -- gasp -- from the church, and on the first week of Lent, no less. Vianne -- who comes off as a 50's-era Erin Brockovich sporting low-cut tops and bright red stilettos -- is turning the townsfolk on to her sweets, which a la Pleasantville miraculously inspire increased sex drives, feminist awakenings, familial reconciliation and even criminal rehabilitation. Soon, the town's prudish mayor launches a campaign to drive the sin-inducing shop out of business.
Continue reading: Chocolat Review
The Ninth Gate Review
By Rob Blackwelder
Opening like a cheap horror movie with titles that fly out of computer-animated castle facades, "The Ninth Gate" has an uphill battle to recover respectability from the very beginning.
Director Roman Polanski bounces back nicely at first though, weaving an eerie, Gothic fabric around this film featuring Johnny Depp as an unscrupulous rare book expert, hired by a cadaverous demonology collector (Frank Langella) to find and authenticate two similar copies of an ancient Satanic volume he has acquired through questionable means.
Sent to Portugal and Paris to study the other editions, Dean Corso (Depp) discovers the demonic engravings that grace each book differ slightly from copy to copy. Some of the drawings, he seems to believe, are signed by Lucifer himself.
Continue reading: The Ninth Gate Review
Lena Olin Movies
When a Latin professor, Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons), sees a young Portuguese woman in a...
Remember Me Movie Review
Even before the manipulative final act, this film will get on the nerves of most...
Awake Movie Review
Surprising, really, that "anesthetic awareness" -- helpless, immobile and, it should be noted, very rare...
The Queen of the Damned Movie Review
Most horror movies are all flash, action, and plenty of screaming. The Queen of...
Chocolat Movie Review
Take Footloose and Like Water for Chocolate, steep the combo in a heaping helping of...
The Ninth Gate Movie Review
Opening like a cheap horror movie with titles that fly out of computer-animated castle facades,...


Sitka Trail Works provides visitors and residents of Sitka with a series of well managed trail systems- offering outdoor enthusiasts the opportunity to travel at ease through some of the most beautiful and unique habitats on earth. The Sea Lion Cove hike, located on Kruzof Island, winds through an incredible diversity of habitats over a relatively short distance.
Beginning on a rocky shore, hikers scramble across rugged coast terrain stopping to admire bears grazing on distant estuaries. Next, the trail slips past a large forested lake before bending through a misty rainforest stand, streams and small waterfalls. For me, the overwhelming beauty of these areas far surpassed the annoyance of the few slips, trips, and falls I took. Keep in mind however, the importance of wearing shoes with powerful grip when attempting any trail in the Southeast. When the wood planks that make up managed trail systems become wet they become incredibly slippery too. Pack a positive attitude with your rain gear, snacks, water, and camera!
The trail also brings hikers through muskeg, an incredibly unique and almost eerie wetland habitat found throughout Southeast Alaska, beforeculminating in Sea Lion Cove. The cove boasts a truly breathtaking view- an open sand beach nestled within forest and estuary beside a dramatic ridge line. Littered with drift wood and brilliantly colored seaweeds and shells, hikers could spend hours combing the sand for treasures- pack a ziplock for collecting. Be sure to find a comfortably worn slab of driftwood to relax on and eat your packed lunch before hiking back.
All in all, if you are looking for a day hike that packs the most diversity for your effort, the Sea Lion Cove trail system is a must! Muskeg, mountains, forest, rushing streams, a lake, estuary and a sandy beach (coveted and rare to this area) Sea Lion Cove has it all. Although, finding transportation to Sitka's brilliant neighbor -Kruzof Island- can sometimes be difficult for those of us without access to a skiff, Sitka Trail Works offers transportation and company once a year on a guided hike. A great way to meet new people with similar interests, enjoy a diversity of habitats, and bring home a few beauties for the beach combing collection, Sitka Trail Work's guided Sea Lion Cove hike is a no-brainer.
Supporting organizations like Sitka Trail Works is a must for retaining recreation opportunities for a wide demographic. If one were to attempt to traverse the Sea Lion Cove route twenty years ago when the land was transferred from the US Forest Service to the state, they would have experienced impassable, eroded, boot-sucking mud pits through trampled muskeg ecosystems. Three years of hard work combined with private, foundation, and agency grant funds led to the restored beautiful plank trail system you can enjoy today.
Learn more about Sitka Trail Works, Sea Lion Cove, other trail systems, and review a schedule of guided hikes check out: sitkatrailworks.org.


A migrant services group is calling on companies to withdraw advertising from TVNZ's Breakfast show after Paul Henry's on-air slur.
Henry was suspended for two weeks after asking Prime Minister John Key if Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand was "even a New Zealander" and whether the next governor-general would "look and sound like a New Zealander".
The comment has sparked a record number of complaints to TVNZ and drawn criticism from the Race Relations Commissioner, politicians, ethnic and community organisations and thousands of people who have posted comments on websites.
Complaints have also been received about another recent Breakfast episode where Henry worked himself up into a fit of laughter over the name of Delhi Commonwealth Games Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
In between laughter, Henry last week referred to the minister as "dickshit", despite having been told her name was pronounced "dixit". He also appeared to make a slur against Indians in general.
The Times of India website reported that when asked for a reaction to the controversy, Mrs Dikshit said she was "too busy to notice".
The Auckland Regional Migrant Services (ARMS) today said Henry's "insensitive and xenophobic comments" would be viewed negatively by many migrants to New Zealand.
Acting executive director Lawton Hakaraia called on people to write to companies that advertised on Breakfast, to ask them to withdraw their advertising if Paul Henry kept his job.
"TVNZ must take full responsibility for what has happened and investigate and address the comments made by Henry, to ensure that such bigoted, ethnocentric remarks have no place on state-funded television," Mr Hakaraia said.
He said Sir Anand had been a patron of the ARMS Charitable Trust since 2005, and had generously supported and contributed towards the services it provided to migrants and refugees across the Auckland region.
"This kind of statement is demeaning to the office of the Governor-General," he said.
Meanwhile, a TVNZ public relations manager has apologised to colleagues for her response to media after Henry's comments on Monday.
In a Leaked email Andi Brotherston apologised and admitted she had "made an horrendous error of judgement".
Brotherston said Henry was prepared to say the things "we quietly think but are scared to say out loud".
In the leaked email she said, "In hindsight it seems unbelievable that I didn't seek a second opinion ... or even pause for breath but I didn't and only have myself to blame."
Brotherston said her comments were wrong and she accepted full responsibility.
She offered to resign but her boss declined to accept.
Messages streamed in to the TVNZ website yesterday, and while Henry has generally been taking a slating over his comments, there were also messages of support from people referring to complaining "do-gooders".
Some said people were being too politically correct and that they would not watch Breakfast until Henry returned, while others said they had already switched off and wouldn't tune in again if Henry returned.
Henry apologised on air after making the comment and, while he has shown some remorse, he lost his cool when he came across reporters waiting outside his North Shore property on Tuesday, directing a tirade of expletive-laden abuse at them.
Sir Anand, who was born, educated, worked and lived in Auckland, has been diplomatic about the incident, but agreed Henry had crossed the line.


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Review: All The Bright Places (15)
Film	by localbibliophile 17th Apr 2020 12th Apr 2020
It has taken me 3 days to write this review since watching the film as to actually write the review, that would mean having to think deeply about the film again which equates to tears and sadness, which really I've done enough of these past few days.
All The Bright Places is adapted from the YA novel by Jennifer Niven. Exploring two characters, Theodore Finch and Violet Markey as they discover the natural wanders of Indiana for a group project, this movie explores mental illness, finding yourself and coming to accept yourself for who you are and coming to terms with the future. It's a film about saving each other in friendship and love, giving audiences the message to grab life while you can, even if you are experiencing grief and trauma. By the time the credits are rolling, you'll have a little tear coming out of your eye but you'll also appreciate the wonders of both Indiana and this film.
I absolutely loved the book due to the way that it dealt with heavy topics in the most realistic way and while I was nervous how the adaptation would work around such topics, I genuinely believe this film did the book justice. It's tender, it's subtle in all its scenes but it is also so powerful at what it is trying to say. The end credit line where the film is dedicated to those who have been impacted by mental health concerns, suicide and grief was like a knife to the gut.
Elle Fanning takes all the beats and hits every moment perfectly while also breaking my heart in the process.
Actress Elle Fanning and Actor Justice Smith also do a brilliant job in bringing to life Finch and Violet. They're chemistry is beautiful. It's pretty rare in finding the PERFECT actors but Elle in particular and her emotional scenes – the scene at the lake? Outstanding. She takes all the beats and hits every moment perfectly while also breaking my heart in the process.
One of the things I think the film lets itself down with was the exploration of Theodore's character. They kept him pretty private with Violet as the main character revealing all her secrets. In the book, this is very different and I think the decision to omit many important things that make you understand and relate to Finch was a bad choice. A lot more depth was needed…when he goes missing – let the camera follow him!
Dignified and sensitive but also very stereotypical
Although the movie doesn't shy away from its discussion of mental illness, it's also very stereotypical in dialogue resorts – Theo's speech about how he goes blank? Dignified and sensitive but also very stereotypical. The finale in the book was also less predictable than it is in the film but it still works well. It has an emotional punch that is needed.
This film isn't perfect and the book just overall handles the material better. I had an attachment to these characters and therefore my heart still hurts. It's nothing more than what you'd expect from a Netflix teen drama which is understandable. I do think it's better than other YA adaptations so I will give it that but there's always room for improvement.
If you love the book, do give this movie a watch (the score of the film was also nice to watch). It probably won't stick with you, nor will I probably re-watch it but it's worth the initial screening.
all the bright placesbook adaptationelle fanningjennifer nivenjustice smithnetflixromancesuicideya
Review: Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7
Review: Elite Season 3


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The Way It Was; 11
The following program was originally released in 1969. The Fugitive Slave Law is not the law of Wisconsin. The Fugitive Slave Law cannot be enforced in Wisconsin. The people will not suffer it. They understand too well that Great Charter of Rights which is the birthright of every man whatever be the color of his skin. The way it was presenting eyewitness accounts of historic events. Material for this series of programs has been selected from the files and papers of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Today the rescue of Joshua Glover. Only Carina.
It's in such a position. Friends of emancipation these days in the.
Coming days when. You think about this oh. No. See the FIFO to me this holiday season. Thanks.
From the very beginning of her statehood popular sentiment against slavery had been strong in Wisconsin as in most of the other free states her citizens were active in resenting encroachments of the slave powers. When the fugitive slave law was introduced into Congress in 1850 the entire Wisconsin delegation in both houses voted against its passage. Nevertheless the Act that provided for the return of slaves that escaped to the north and the punishment of those who abetted them became law. September 18th 1850 that fall in Wisconsin the act was severely condemned by many political conventions and several people I'd only refused to aid in carrying out the provisions of the fugitive slave law but actually prevented its operation particularly in southwestern Wisconsin. Was anti slavery feeling strong. When the sun comes up the first call
follow the green men the young ladies are waiting for the universe on the green slope to follow the ring then follow the ring then. Wait. For news. They may. Let me show you. On the. Range.
Between. Things going on. But the great. Thing.
Joshua Glover was a runaway slave riding the Underground Railway out of Missouri. He got safely up north to raceme Wisconsin in 1850 to tall powerfully built. He had done odd jobs made small articles for sale and finally settled on a job at the St. Clair and rice sawmill. It earned a reputation as a good worker with well thought of in the community is owner Benjamin W. garland of St. Louis succeeding in learning of his whereabouts and on March 10th 1854 accompanied by two deputy marshals and four other men. The capture of Glover a few days later the details of the capture of appeared in a well-known abolitionist newspaper the Wisconsin daily free Democrat. Driver at the time he was kidnapped was living on Red River about four miles from her seat. The slave catcher deputy marshal carnate of Racine and a Mr. Holden living 14 miles west of Racine who was
expecting to be the next senator from that county had been in consultation for a week or two. As to the best means of capturing the deputy marshal Carney had undertaken to kidnap a small sized colored woman a day or two previous. But she presented a horse pistol to his face and told him to make quick time or she would blow his brains out whereupon Carney put out and ran for dear life. Baffled by a woman the kidnapping gentry planned a scheme to entrap lover. They got hold of a miserable colored man named Turner lifted him up supplied him with liquor and car and set him up to get clever drugs and on hand to open the door when they came at night to take him. Turner did as requested gawked lever into the house of a colored neighbor but never drank sparingly. At eight o'clock in the evening deputy Carney and Holden received the slave catcher and his confrere Marshall copy
of the city knocked at the door. The owner said Don't let's open the door until we know who they are. But Turner is a traitor. According to promise rose and opened the door and they all rushed in and Deputy CARNEY With a strong club struck the lever on the head as he was sitting at his chair and felled him to the floor. This club covered with blood and hair from Glover's head is in possession of the friends of freedom it received and will be a swift witness against the kidnappers. While they were gagging and binding to every the owner of the house leapt out it is said through the window and escaped and gave the alarm when news of the capture reached re scene the next morning. The excitement in that city ran high. Already known to supporters of the Fugitive Slave Law as an abolitionist whole the people of the city were incensed at the brutal capture of Glover without legal procedure. And those days the
courthouse meeting was the universal remedy for every ill. The use of the courthouse was free to all. Every man was an orator and resolutions of mighty sound and startling import were easily drawn and enthusiastically passed so early in the morning of Saturday March 11th the courthouse bell that raceme rang and the largest popular meeting ever held in that city assembled on the courthouse square. Fiery speeches were made and resolutions were passed whereas a colored man by the name of Joshua Glover was kidnapped about four miles from our city last night about eight o'clock. He had been and at the time of his arrest was at work for one of our citizens. Resolved That we look upon the arrest of said lover as an outrage upon the peaceful rights of this is something like it having been made without the exhibition of any papers by first clandestinely knocking him down with a club and then binding him by brute force and carrying him off. Result that we as citizens of race scene demand for said lover of fair and impartial
trial by jury in this misstated which he has been arrested. And that we will attend in person to aid him by all honorable means just a cure his unconditional release. Adopting is our motto The Golden Rule. Resolved. That in as much as the Senate of the United States has repealed all compromises here to fore adopted by the Congress of the United States we as citizens of Wisconsin are justified in declaring and do hereby declare the slave catching law of 1850. Disgraceful and also repealed it after adopting the resolutions a finance committee was appointed by the regime people to obtain means to defray the expenses of Glovers trial after which the meeting adjourned to want to clock on re-assembling at that time it was resolved to send a delegation to Milwaukee to carry into effect the resolutions passed at the morning session. About a hundred RI scene citizens boarded the afternoon boat to Milwaukee where Glover had been taken and was being held in jail. In the meantime a telegram had been sent to
Sherman M. booth abolitionist editor of the Milwaukee free Democrat telling him of the capture of the negro. While I was working in my office one morning I received a telegram from General Waterman then mayor for a scene to the effect that Marshall Carter had kidnapped a fugitive negro. Joshua Glover and was bringing him to Milwaukee. My blood began to boil for I had been writing for liberty for years. I went to the office to the clerk of courts with the paper in my hand and he disclaimed all knowledge of the plot. I then saw Judge Miller who referred me to the Fugitive Slave Law. I became matters still for I had used the damnable law as a campaign document for months. On my way down the street I overtook General Payne and together we got a writ of habeas corpus from Judge Jenkins and served on the sheriff to get hold of the negro. We knew to be in the city at this time.
He referred us to Marshall cotton and we had seen around. We knew that no good could be done by going to him. So resorted to different measures. It was decided on consultation call a public meeting by handbills in the ringing of the bells at the courthouse square at 2 o'clock. But the time being short we resolved to trust to good lungs and vocal apparatus and such means of locomotion as we could command to call the people together. At twenty minutes before two o'clock we mounted on horseback and rode up spring West water and Third Street to the foot of the hill crossed the river road down east water straight to the Fifth Ward and back through Maine and Milwaukee streets calling on all free citizens who were not willing to be made slaves or slave catchers to meet at the court house square at two o'clock. Many witnesses were later to recall booth words in calling a meeting. I saw him pass the US hotel on East Water Street
I think three Marquis made he passed the car was a free man to the rescue citizens to the courthouse and and something about the jail and kidnappers but I didn't catch the whole of the sentence. Somebody asked what they were going to do when he answered come there and we'll tell you. I saw Mr. Booth on horseback he was holing at the top of his voice. The horse was in full gallop. He said three men to the rescue. At that time the courthouse bell was ringing. He said the courthouse was on fire or Courthouse Square I don't know which. He said Give Freeman the courthouse and something of the word rescue but not in connection I can't repeat the words. He then said something about the slave catchers to come and help him catch a slave. I did not cry as was reported and sworn to freemen to the rescue of forcible rescue was never my purpose. And in calling the meeting i used
by two forms of speech. All three men and all free citizens who are opposed to being made slaves or slave catchers turn out to a meeting in the courthouse square at 2 o'clock the only variation being I sometimes use the word man and sometimes the word citizen both both Come get out of these writing are through time and crying for a man to the rescue. To many a man whose son had him. I said from the number that she's try to made an awkward appearance on horseback but he made him go to her to say at 2:30 the meeting was called to order a president and secretary of the meeting were elected. The lawyer Byron Payne made a fiery speech declaring the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 unconstitutional. Since many in the audience couldn't understand English very well. A HB felt made a rousing speech in German resolutions were produced pledging support to Glover and obtaining a fair jury trial whereas a man named Joshua Glover living in the neighborhood of Racine had his house broken
into a pistol presented to his head was knocked down and badly cut and bruised. Before any legal process was certain about him. He was fettered and brought by night to this city and incarcerated in our county jail. And where as a writ of habeas corpus has been issued by Judge Jenkins to Sheriff Page and deputy marshal caught committing them in the name of the state to bring the prisoner before him and show cause why the prisoner should not be released which Rick has not yet been obeyed therefore resolved as citizens of Milwaukee that every person has an indefeasible right to a fair and impartial trial by jury on all questions involving personal liberty. Resolved That the writ of habeas corpus is the great defense of freedom and that we demand for this prisoner as well as for our own protection that this sacred read shall be obeyed. Resolved That we pledge ourselves to stand by this prisoner and do our utmost to secure for him a fair and impartial trial by jury. More speeches were made. Sherman Booth spoke. It was not merely for the sake of Joshua Glover within these walls that this vast
assemblage has met if the writ of habeas corpus may be trampled down in the person of Glover. It may be in the persons of the song Germans Irishman Americans oh no matter what outburst or condition may be dragged into slavery to that good of a federal judge a US Commission. On the oath are there any scum group who chooses to swear that we owe service to a slaveholder if we triumph in the soil of Wisconsin is free and liberty is secured for ourselves and our posterity. If we fail now and the Slave Power triumphs over us our rights and liberties are gone. It may be for ever. The resolutions were then put to the chair and adopted a vigilance committee with power to call a meeting by the ringing of the bells was appointed. Two men were sent off to see if Sheriff Page would obey the writ of habeas corpus issued by Judge Jenkins a committee went to Judge Miller of the United States District Court of Wisconsin to determine what he would do in this case the judge had previously admitted and issuing a warrant
for a fugitive slave a few days before. About five o'clock the re seem delegation showed up armed with warrants for the arrest of Garland the slave owner and cotton the U.S. Marshal who had taken Glover Sherman booth brought them up to date on events. And then Charles E. Watkins chairman of the committee to see if Judge Miller would obey the writ of habeas corpus mounted the platform and spoke his speech was remembered by several witnesses as the cause for what followed. He reported that Judge Miller said no power on earth could take him from his jurisdiction. He expatiated on the tyranny of the judge and the hardship of imprisoning Glover over the Sabbath. Mr Watkins stated that Judge Miller refused to allow his officers to obey a writ of habeas corpus from the state court. I thought this created some excitement among the crowd I heard some of them say we'll have him out. I don't know if you heard any remarks of this kind made before the report.
Mr. Booth commenced speaking directly after this. I heard Mr. Botha say that he didn't advise any man that violate the law for himself he spit upon the law you couldn't advise the people. But if they all felt like he did he knew what they could do. I heard him advise that people not to break the law and advise the Vigilance Committee to meet at the American house. Obviously I had invited the Racine delegation to meet our committee at the American house for consultation and was about to start when I heard a shout and saw a rush for the jail and a huge timber borne aloft toward the front of the jail and anticipated to result. In the same jailer and under sheriff of this county and was sold on the eleventh of this month. It was in jail when Glover was rescued. The jail was broken open about six o'clock in the afternoon. The jail door was broken open and the walls giving way. They came in and took out the negro the bolts
of the door were broken off and by pounding with a piece of timber they got in. I was at the jail I I saw him the colored man come out. It was carried out at least I noticed a wagon when it drove up I followed it to spell myself when I was below and by a good many hundreds. I put in my best licks to keep up the lid to get a good look at the fellow. According to the report of booths newspaper the next day crowds cheered the rescue driver as he passed in the fleeing wagon although the militia had been called out earlier in the day and had refused to appear. Chauncey only the previous owner of Ruth's newspaper must remember and he did chase scene by the men. Again the jail door and out came Glover and about that time the sheriff and US Marshal made their appearances upon the scene and the rescue was attended from those that had Glover in their possession. Glover was still kept in hand by his rescuers from the jail to
Wisconsin street and about one thousand people following in the wake. Sometimes it seemed as though the marshal and sheriff's posse would arrest him from the angry populace. But on they went from Wisconsin to East Water Street and then down East Water Street to what was then called Walker's Point Bridge. While the crowd was increasing but the victory was far than ensured On arriving at the bridge John a mission driven Democrat came along and wanted to know what was up. After being told he said Here put that man in. My buddies and no quicker said than done and no way he went with the opacities wage but he had a fleet and strong arse. He took a course out of the city toward Waukesha. But DD ended on a round roads here and there so that the slave owner that was on his track gave up the game as a lobster was not. Glover was taken via the Underground Railroad back to Racine the place of his capture. This was probably done to confuse pursuers and from there he was spirited
out of the country. An announcement as to his whereabouts appeared a few days later in the receiving advocate. We regret to be obliged to inform the friends of Glover that it was deemed unsafe for him to remain in this Republican country and that by this time he is safe in Canada under the protection of a monarchy. The rescue of Joshua Glover has served to turn many wavering and indifferent Wisconsinites into militant opponents of the Fugitive Slave Law. The deed was generally approved throughout the state and in surrounding regions. Resolutions of applause were added in varying degrees of warmth were passed in many localities. The newspapers heralded this rescue each according to his own style. The Racine advocate March 20th 1854 at six o'clock the friends of law and order came to the conclusion that it would be unsafe as well as eminently wicked for a human being against whom no crime had been alleged to be locked up in a jail over the Sabbath. And as the courthouse bell rang the toxin of liberte the
writ of open sesame was enforced. The doors of the prison shook as though another picture where within the willing sayo yielded up its victim to the fresh light of day air of God's glorious earth the Milwaukee free democratic. We send greetings to the free states of the Union. That in Wisconsin the fugitive slave law is repealed. The first attempt to enforce the law in this state has signally through Laureus Lee failed. No more compromise with slavery. Perish all an act meant to stablish slavery on free cell and a walkie Sentinel. We do not justify or believe in breaking laws or jails as a general thing but neither laws or jails will stand against the people when they think their sacred rights are involved. They evidently thought so the other day the Chicago Tribune. We regret such disturbances of the public cry and quality. But slave
catchers must learn if they have not learned already that the days of kidnapping are about over and if they desire to escape the punishment that person is in gauged in that business deserve they will keep clear of northern Illinois and Wisconsin although rejoicing over the rescue was general it was not unanimous. Four days later citizens of Walkinshaw hanged booth in effigy Booth himself reported that some people favored taking the Taipan presses of his newspaper and dumping them in the river. He added that one lawyer who had never liked him anyway offered $500 to have him arrested and sent to the penitentiary booth was arrested four days after the rescue. Federal authorities charged him with eating and abetting the escape of a fugitive slave. Although he was to deny direct responsibility for the rescue booth was proud of his part and that his trial declared his joy at the Citizens open defiance of the Fugitive
Slave Law. I rejoice that it has been decided by the spontaneous uprising in sovereign voice of the people that no human being can be dragged into bondage from Milwaukee. And I am glad to say that rather than have the great constitutional rights and safeguards of the people the writ of habeas corpus and right of trial by jury stricken down by this fugitive law I would prefer to see every federal officer in Wisconsin hanged on a gallows for the six years following the rescue. Sherman M. booth was the center of legal proceedings initiated by the federal authorities under the Fugitive Slave Act. He was arrested and while in the custody of the United States Marshall was released on a writ of habeas corpus issued by a judge of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The whole court reviewed the case and on July 19th 1850 for up till the habeas corpus arrested again and tried by a federal court. Ruth
was sentenced to a month's imprisonment and a fine of a thousand dollars. He was again set at liberty by a writ of habeas corpus issuing from the state Supreme Court. At this time the full court declared the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional and void. When the Supreme Court of the United States asked for a copy of the record in order to review the case the Supreme Court of Wisconsin took no notice of the request. In March 1860 booth was again arrested by federal authorities and released by friends and rearrested. The case was finally ended when President Buchanan pardoned him in March 1861. The way it was presenting eyewitness accounts of historic events. Today the rescue of Joshua Glover. Material for this series was
selected from the files and papers of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin consultant for the series was Doris Platt Scripps by Bethel parang music by Kent Depp for production. Ralph Johnson This is the national educational radio network. Mm. Mm. Mm.
This record is featured in "National Association of Educational Broadcasters Programs."
University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland)
cpb-aacip/500-ns0kxv73
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/500-ns0kxv73).
Other Description
"The Way It Was" is a radio program which presents eye witness accounts of notable topics throughout American history. Each episode begins with a description of a specific event, person, or historical topic, followed by several dramatic readings of witness testimonies found in the files and papers of the state historical society of Wisconsin. The program was originally released in 1969, and was re-broadcast from the program library of National Public Radio.
Radio Theater
Identifier: 69-37-11 (National Association of Educational Broadcasters)
Format: 1/4 inch audio tape
Duration: 00:30:00?
Chicago: "The Way It Was; 11," University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed January 18, 2022, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-ns0kxv73.
MLA: "The Way It Was; 11." University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. January 18, 2022. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-ns0kxv73>.
APA: The Way It Was; 11. Boston, MA: University of Maryland, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500-ns0kxv73


text:
Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine
Masud Seyal, D. K. Ziegler, J. R. Couch
Two patients recovered from an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome and then had a second attack of this disease, with a shorter latent period, following monovalent influenza vaccination. These cases suggest that an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome may result in greater risk of future episodes of the syndrome in conjunction with exposure to influenza or other vaccinations.
Dive into the research topics of 'Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Guillain-Barre Syndrome Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Influenza Vaccines Medicine & Life Sciences 93%
Human Influenza Medicine & Life Sciences 75%
Vaccination Medicine & Life Sciences 65%
Seyal, M., Ziegler, D. K., & Couch, J. R. (1978). Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine. Neurology, 28(7), 725-726.
Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine. / Seyal, Masud; Ziegler, D. K.; Couch, J. R.
In: Neurology, Vol. 28, No. 7, 1978, p. 725-726.
Seyal, M, Ziegler, DK & Couch, JR 1978, 'Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine', Neurology, vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 725-726.
Seyal M, Ziegler DK, Couch JR. Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine. Neurology. 1978;28(7):725-726.
Seyal, Masud ; Ziegler, D. K. ; Couch, J. R. / Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine. In: Neurology. 1978 ; Vol. 28, No. 7. pp. 725-726.
@article{527a328270ca449da0b61343905a2b8e,
title = "Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine",
abstract = "Two patients recovered from an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome and then had a second attack of this disease, with a shorter latent period, following monovalent influenza vaccination. These cases suggest that an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome may result in greater risk of future episodes of the syndrome in conjunction with exposure to influenza or other vaccinations.",
author = "Masud Seyal and Ziegler, {D. K.} and Couch, {J. R.}",
T1 - Recurrent Guillain-Barre syndrome following influenza vaccine
AU - Seyal, Masud
AU - Ziegler, D. K.
AU - Couch, J. R.
N2 - Two patients recovered from an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome and then had a second attack of this disease, with a shorter latent period, following monovalent influenza vaccination. These cases suggest that an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome may result in greater risk of future episodes of the syndrome in conjunction with exposure to influenza or other vaccinations.
AB - Two patients recovered from an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome and then had a second attack of this disease, with a shorter latent period, following monovalent influenza vaccination. These cases suggest that an attack of Guillain-Barre syndrome may result in greater risk of future episodes of the syndrome in conjunction with exposure to influenza or other vaccinations.
C2 - 566873


Jaw crusher can be seen in many kinds of crushing line due to its compact structure, and wild appliion. Here is a demonstrated animation of ZENITH PEW series jaw crusher, how it works?
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There are days when only an eminently classic tie will suffice. And for those days, this subtly colored dark tan silk twill with a repeating pattern of blue floral icons, is a great choice. Serious, without being stodgy.


text:
Kev Reynolds
The Tour of Mont Blanc: Complete Two-Way Trekking Guide
Guidebook for walking the Tour of Mont Blanc, one of the world's classic treks. The 170km TMB route typically takes 11 days and is described in both anti-clockwise and clockwise directions, with optional variants. Includes information about refuges and facilities and a separate booklet showing the entire route on IGN 1:25,000 maps.…mehr
Hilary Sharp
Mont Blanc Walks
Hartmut Eberlein
Martin Simon
Frankreich: Jakobsweg Via Tolosana mit Camino Aragonés, Spanien
Janette Norton
Walking in the Haute Savoie: South
Hochtouren Westalpen Band 2
Paddy Dillon
The GR5 Trail
Guidebook for walking the Tour of Mont Blanc, one of the world's classic treks. The 170km TMB route typically takes 11 days and is described in both anti-clockwise and clockwise directions, with optional variants. Includes information about refuges and facilities and a separate booklet showing the entire route on IGN 1:25,000 maps.
Verlag: Cicerone Press
5 Revised edition
Erscheinungstermin: 30. Juni 2020
Kev Reynolds is a freelance writer, photojournalist and lecturer. A prolific compiler of guidebooks, his first title for Cicerone Press (Walks & Climbs in the Pyrenees) appeared in 1978; he has since produced many more titles for the same publisher, with others in the pipeline. A member of the Outdoor Writers' Guild, the Alpine Club and Austrian Alpine Club, his passion for mountains and the countryside remains undiminished after a lifetime's activity, and he regularly travels throughout Britain to share that enthusiasm through his lectures.


text:
Q: Google Speech API returns empty result for some, but not the others (C#) EMPTY result looks like this:
json[0] "{\"result\":[]}"
json[1] ""

NON-EMPTY result (desired result) looks like this:
json[0] "{\"result\":[]}"
json[1] "{\"result\":[{\"alternative\":[{\"transcript\":\"good morning Google how are you feeling today\",\"confidence\":0.987629}],\"final\":true}],\"result_index\":0}"
json[2] ""

I have this function, that is supposed to take the ".flac" file and turn it into text. For some reason, only these two sample ".flac" files return a string when passed through Google Speech API, other flac files return EMPTY result.
Same problem these guys are having: link
Here are all my flac files: link
my.flac and this_is_a_test.flac work perfectly, google speech API
 gives me a jason object with the text in it.
however, recorded.flac does NOT work with google speech API and gives
 me EMPTY json object.
DEBUGGING:

*

*i thought it was the microphone that was the problem, and i
recorded recorded.flac many times, loud and clear, and converted
it to flac using ffmpeg. But google speech API still can't recognize
recorded.flac

*I thought i got the formatting wrong in the code, so i tried

_HWR_SpeechToText.ContentType = "audio/116; rate=16000";

instead of

_HWR_SpeechToText.ContentType ="audio/x-flac; rate=44100";

Then, none of them worked, not a single flac file. so i changed it back.

Here is my google speech API code that turns FLAC files into TEXT (i don't think it is necessary, but, whatever):
public void convert_to_text()
    {
        FileStream fileStream = File.OpenRead("recorded.flac");//my.flac
        MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
        memoryStream.SetLength(fileStream.Length);
        fileStream.Read(memoryStream.GetBuffer(), 0, (int)fileStream.Length);
        byte[] BA_AudioFile = memoryStream.GetBuffer();
        HttpWebRequest _HWR_SpeechToText = null;
        _HWR_SpeechToText = (HttpWebRequest)HttpWebRequest.Create("https://www.google.com/speech-api/v2/recognize?output=json&lang=en-us&key=" + ACCESS_GOOGLE_SPEECH_KEY);
        _HWR_SpeechToText.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
        _HWR_SpeechToText.Method = "POST";
        _HWR_SpeechToText.ContentType = "audio/x-flac; rate=44100";
        _HWR_SpeechToText.ContentLength = BA_AudioFile.Length;
        Stream stream = _HWR_SpeechToText.GetRequestStream();
        stream.Write(BA_AudioFile, 0, BA_AudioFile.Length);
        stream.Close();
        HttpWebResponse HWR_Response = (HttpWebResponse)_HWR_SpeechToText.GetResponse();

        StreamReader SR_Response = new StreamReader(HWR_Response.GetResponseStream());
        string responseFromServer = (SR_Response.ReadToEnd());

        String[] jsons = responseFromServer.Split('\n');
        foreach (String j in jsons)
        {
            dynamic jsonObject = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(j);
            if (jsonObject == null || jsonObject.result.Count <= 0)
            {
                continue;
            }
            text = jsonObject.result[0].alternative[0].transcript;
            jsons = null;
        }
        label1.Content = text;
    }

A: First check that the file is 16-bit PCM Mono and not stereo. Easy to do with http://www.audacityteam.org/

Then you can use this simple code to do this:
string api_key = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";
string path = @"C:\temp\good-morning-google.flac";

byte[] bytes = System.IO.File.ReadAllBytes(path);

WebClient client = new WebClient();
client.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "audio/x-flac; rate=44100");
byte[] result = client.UploadData(string.Format(
                "https://www.google.com/speech-api/v2/recognize?client=chromium&lang=en-us&key={0}", api_key), "POST", bytes);

string s = client.Encoding.GetString(result);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
You are here: Home / Featured / The Old 52: DC's New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch & What Went Wrong
The Old 52: DC's New 52 10 Years Later – The Launch & What Went Wrong
January 19, 2021 by Vishal Gullapalli 5 Comments
In 2011, DC rebooted their universe spinning out of Flashpoint, and called the initiative the New 52. 52 as a number has had a level of significance at DC since their standout weekly series 52 , which was fantastic and ran for a whole year (52 weeks). The New 52 is pretty much unrelated to this series, but since DC loves the number they made sure it had its own significance – namely, the reboot started with 52 monthly ongoing series at launch, 13 per week.
If there's one thing that can be learned immediately from this initiative, it's that 52 monthly series all starting in the same month is just too much. For a comparison, DC Rebirth ran with a much lower 22 launch titles, with a few of them running twice a month. The upcoming DC Infinite Frontier line is starting with 2 anthology books and 17 monthly titles in March. But if there's one good thing about launching way more titles than anyone can reasonably read in a month, it's that there's an incredible variety of stories, and there's all but guaranteed to be at least some good books in there. This assumption led me to embark on a quest that some might call foolish, as I decided to read every single New 52 launch book. And now for you, dear reader, I will be revealing the results of my research. What didn't work here?
The complete New 52 reading order
Let's start at the bottom. A lot of comics are bad, it's just the way things go. But these comics were worse than bad. These were books that would have actively repulsed me from DC Comics had I tried to get into their weekly comics with them.
What's fascinating here is that all of these, with one major exception, share a major flaw – they're boring and incoherent. They're difficult to follow, and don't reward the effort put in to understand what's going on. For the most part, they're a symptom of just putting out too many books – editors can't reasonably ensure that everything coming out is quality so a lot of stuff that really should have been scrapped or changed significantly gets published because of this desire to have 52 books per month.
Hawk and Dove
Mister Terrific
O.M.A.C.
Static Shock
Red Hood and the Outlaws
Unnecessary bloat
Hawk and Dove, Mister Terrific, O.M.A.C., and Static Shock are all series that did not need to be published at all in this new initiative, and their failings are more a symptom of DC desperately trying to fill out their line than anything else. Hawk and Dove was written by Sterling Gates, who's not a bad writer by any means, but drawn by the infamous Rob Liefeld. There was really never any hope for it. Eric Wallace, who wrote the awful storyline about the murder of Ryan Choi before the New 52, helmed Mister Terrific, which suffered just as badly. O.M.A.C. felt more like a vanity project from Keith Giffen and Dan Didio than anything else – both of them just threw all their weirdest ideas at the wall, and since Didio was Publisher by that point he was seemingly not under nearly as much editorial scrutiny as a result. Scott McDaniel, normally an artist, was the writer of Static Shock and unfortunately he seemingly received little to no notes from editorial, because the book just isn't plotted or scripted well. None of these books were really primed for success – proven by the fact that they were all cancelled after 8 issues, in the first culling of the line.
Grifter and Voodoo were both parts of DC's attempt to reboot WildStorm and integrate it into the main universe, and while I personally don't think it was a good idea, the failure is different – these books needed to exist for DC's plans, not just to fill the line out to a number of imaginary importance. These books failed due to the creators DC gave them to – Nathan Edmondson's Black Widow run was carried by its art, and Ron Marz isn't exactly a draw in the 2010s. While they were definitely intended to be more successful than they ended up being, the failure of these books was fairly predictable in hindsight.
Failure to capitalize
Legion of Super-Heroes and Red Hood and the Outlaws were both series that didn't necessarily need to exist, but whose existence was at least understandable at the time. The Legion's a cult favorite franchise and has almost always had a story running, even if that waned in the modern era. Red Hood had recently been brought back to life and had an incredibly popular animated movie adaptation of his resurrection – having a book with Jason as the lead made a lot of sense. The problem is, both series were helmed by writers far past their primes, and both of whom are coincidentally pretty notable examples of terrible people working in comics.
Paul Levitz (documented racist) wrote the most acclaimed run on the Legion of all time, so his return to the franchise should have been cause for excitement. Instead, he was handed the book in one of the most confusing continuity messes they've had. They were in the middle of their "Retroboot" where their continuity was some kind of nebulous "The original continuity happened, but only the parts we like", and even more importantly, they didn't reboot with the New 52. That's right, this book, billed as a jumping on point for new readers, was actually in the most convoluted part of the team's history. It's basically unparseable.
Red Hood and the Outlaws, on the other hand, was written by Scott Lobdell (documented sexual harasser). Lobdell was best known for his work on the X-Men in the 90s, and this Red Hood series was his big return to the Big 2 after some time away. I'm not sure exactly what his intent was going into this book, but rather than give the character a solid foundation built upon the Batman mythos, Lobdell tried to create a whole new cadre of supporting characters around Jason, none of who had existed before, and all of whom the book acts as if the audience should be familiar with. Lobdell brings in Roy Harper and Starfire as the titular "Outlaws", but writes both in a way that fans of the characters before the reboot would be appalled by, and new readers would not understand the appeal of. They're deeply unlikeable and Starfire's written in such a misogynistic way that it makes the entire comic feel gross.
So, yeah, both of these books could make a case for their publication even if DC wasn't scrambling to put out 52 ongoings, but ultimately they were just colossal failures on part of the creators and editors involved. There was really not much that could be done to improve either title, as they were drawing from poisoned wells. But even these weren't the worst missteps of the reboot.
The greatest mistake
Geoff Johns (documented workplace abuser) and Jim Lee's Justice League: Origin could not have been worse if everyone at DC conspired to make it so. This wasn't just an issue of things going wrong and the people not being able to handle events out of their control, this was a consistent series of missteps and mistakes over the course of 6 issues that ruined the central title of DC Comics for 5 years.
Johns has talked about Flashpoint not originally intended as a full universe reboot, and instead just meant to set up the new status quo for the Flash comic. Had the New 52 not happened, Johns would have continued to write The Flash and Green Lantern, and taken over Aquaman and Justice League spinning out of Brightest Day. In fact, most of Johns' run on Justice League was based on his plans for the book before the reboot. The one arc that did not draw from that well at all was the first one – the origin. And this makes sense, because Johns clearly wouldn't have tried to rewrite the origin of the team had there not been a reboot. But what the reboot led to was the opportunity to rewrite the origin of the Justice League – give the team a foundation that wasn't based on mostly B-list characters like Mark Waid and Barry Kitson's JLA: Year One , and had the powerhouse combination of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee attached.
Now, I can only speculate here, based on what I've read of Geoff Johns' comics (the majority) and what I've read of Jim Lee's comics (A good portion). But this origin story reads like it was plotted and laid out by Jim Lee, and Geoff Johns just scripted on top of it. There isn't a specific way to tell whether this was the case, but there's so many cases where the dialogue clearly doesn't really match the story being told by the art that it's really the only explanation that makes sense. Because while Geoff Johns is not this amazing writer, Justice League: Origin is maybe the worst thing he's written just from a technical standpoint. The entire book feels like the writing has no control over where the story goes, and the art is just trying to draw cool stuff with some bare connective tissue. If that's not a key fixture of Jim Lee-era Marvel Method comics, I don't know what is.
Now, just being a Jim Lee-driven joint isn't what's going to make a comic book terrible. X-Men in the 90s was really fun, this creative style isn't inherently bad. But it feels like Jim Lee's idea of the Justice League is at odds with what made the Justice League popular – and Geoff Johns' idea of individual members of the Justice League is just as bad. The worst offense here is their treatment of Wonder Woman – she's depicted as naive, bloodthirsty, and an object of desire, and mostly defined by the male characters' opinions of her. The first time she meets the Justice League, Green Lantern says "Dibs." I'm not the biggest Wonder Woman fan in the world, but this just felt insulting. The rest of the team isn't written very well, either – Superman's also pretty egregious, making his debut by attacking Batman and Green Lantern. Aquaman suffers so much from the creators trying to make him "cool" that he's just unlikeable. Green Lantern tries to be quippy but comes across as gross, and both Flash and Batman are nondescript. Cyborg is the most baffling member of the team, as his presence alongside them never really makes sense.
By the end of this origin story, I was convinced that neither of the creators actually liked the characters they were writing. And I know that's not true, just based on how they've portrayed the characters elsewhere, but if I was a new reader coming into this run of Justice League and I was older than 15, I would have thought that the Justice League sucked and weren't worth reading. I don't think it's the worst book of the launch – that distinction goes to Red Hood and the Outlaws – but this is a flagship title, one of the main tentpoles of DC as a publisher. The failure here isn't because it was an experimental book or a small title no one was watching, it was because no one seemed to be able to say no to Johns and Lee. This is a comic that would not have existed without a full line-wide reboot, and it really did not justify its own existence.
These ones just weren't very good. I don't have the strongest feelings about any of them, but at the very least they're readable and didn't make me want to quit reading an entire publisher.
Now, all of these books instilled the same overall feeling while I was reading them – they're not horrendously bad, but I didn't really want to be reading them. They were all readable and comprehensible in a way the previously discussed titles weren't, but they were still draining to read. A few of them pleasantly surprised me – I was expecting them to be at the bottom of the barrel, but they ended up having some level of competence involved. But as a whole they're all still really disappointing.
Legion Lost
Men of War
One of the biggest ways DC tried to drum up excitement for this reboot was by bringing back fan favorite titles from their heyday – the 80s through the early 2000s. While most of these revitalized titles were given completely different creative teams and styles, their return was emblematic of a promise the publisher was making to their readers – that of a return to form. Unfortunately very few of these appeals to nostalgia panned out, and the ones here were some of the worst of them.
I have very little experience with the Birds of Prey as a franchise (I haven't even seen the movie yet), but I do know things about the original series. Namely that it was initially written by Chuck Dixon (documented homophobe and alt-right sympathizer) before being taken over by Gail Simone, and that it features Black Canary, Huntress, and Oracle. Simone's run especially was popular for portraying strong women in a way that allowed them to be nuanced, properly interesting characters. So it wasn't the best idea to give this relaunch to a man. I have nothing against Duane Swierczynski – his Cable run is one of my favorite comics, but he was not the right choice for a relaunch of a series focused on women striking out on their own. Jesus Saiz did a decent job on art, but he was much earlier in his career and hadn't refined his style yet.
Superboy was an incredibly popular character ever since his debut during the Death of Superman era. And it makes sense, I mean, his jacket and his attitude and just everything about him was really stylish and cool to readers in the 90s. Conner Kent quickly became a fan favorite, and giving him a solo title to start the reboot promised his fans that he'd have a level of importance. But that promise was not delivered upon, because this version of Conner was so unlike everything that garnered a fanbase for him back when he was first created. R.B. Silva did a really good job on art, but also wasn't the R.B. Silva of House of X/Powers of X , so he could only do so much on top of Scott Lobdell's really trite and tiring storytelling. Not only was this book not what fans of Superboy wanted, it wasn't what people who were getting into DC for the first time would be interested in.
Legion Lost was a 12-issue maxiseries in Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's run on the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 90s. The book had gotten stale after a few years of the reboot continuity, but when these two took over it felt fresh and like nothing we'd read before. The premise was that some members of the Legion were trapped in an unknown, unreachable space of existence, and the style they brought to the franchise kept the fandom alive into the next reboot. It was self-contained, new reader friendly, and absolutely gorgeous, drawn by the inimitable Olivier Coipel.
The New 52 iteration of the title, though, was nothing like this. I'd mentioned earlier that DC did not reboot their Legion continuity with the New 52 – this series focused on these un-rebooted Legionnaires being trapped in the new rebooted main reality. They interacted with the Teen Titans and Superboy, and generally were just another teen team. Oh, and the book was written by Fabian Nicieza, another of the main X-Men writers of the 90s. This series never really had a chance to be good – it was a mishmash of trying to appeal to the nostalgia of the readers without really understanding what made any of the things they were nostalgic about work. It was mired in crossovers, a bloated continuity mess, and artist Pete Woods just could not salvage the book.
Justice League International and Suicide Squad were both titles of similar pedigrees. Both started in 1987 to massive acclaim due to the creators' unapologetic redefinition of what superhero comics could be. JLI was Keith Giffen, JM DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire's response to Watchmen, in a sense – it made a lot of jokes and did a lot of riffs, generally being irreverent towards the book while also making its own way into the new landscape of the big 2. It was a workplace comedy, brought together in very strong fashion by three creators all at the top of their games. Suicide Squad was a really fresh take on superhero stories in general, bringing in character death as legitimate stakes and a dry, cynical sense of humor that made it feel really different from its predecessors. John Ostrander is a legendary creator even outside of his work on Suicide Squad, but this run is what makes him an all-timer. JLI ended in 1989, and was replaced by Justice League America which was replaced by JLA. It's maintained its status as a cult classic ever since then. Suicide Squad ended in 1992, with a follow up 12-issue run in the early 2000s and another 8-issue run in 2007. The book was replaced by Secret Six in the mid-00s, but the original run remained a favorite as well.
So obviously, the return of these two series was meant to invoke these series' fandoms and garner excitement. I wasn't around for them, so I don't know if this marketing ploy worked, but I can say with a lot of certainty that the actual books did not live up to their namesakes. Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti were on Justice League International, and while both creators have done some beloved work in the past, but this series was just a miss. It was dull and boring from beginning to (thankfully quick) end, with no character actually making any sort of impact. The original series' tone was really helped by Maguire's fantastic ability to draw facial expressions, but Lopresti really can't bring the same style, and Jurgens does not have the biting wit of the Giffen/DeMatteis combo. Suicide Squad was just… bad. It featured Harley Quinn fresh out of her relationship with the Joker, and it was just really gross and misogynistic all the way through. There was some fun stuff here and there, but the designs for all the characters and the actual writing of the team was just deeply unenjoyable – eventually this series would get relaunched as New Suicide Squad because they needed to get rid of any associations to this story.
Superman and Teen Titans are both series with long histories at DC Comics, albeit one longer than the other. They're series that are basically always going to exist, because why in the world would they not capitalize on the existence of a sizeable fanbase for both of these properties? Unfortunately, being constant fixtures in the publishing line does not bode well for run-to-run consistency, because there doesn't need to be a clear vision of what to do with the series for a new issue to come out. Unfortunately, this was the case with both of these series to start the New 52.
Superman was written by George Perez, with art by a lot of people including Jesus Merino, Nicola Scott, and Dan Jurgens. Perez had written a pretty iconic Wonder Woman run back in the 80s so it made some sense that he was given one of DC's flagship titles, and the artists are all pretty darn good. Unfortunately, this series was hurt the most by the reboot – Perez was not aware of what Superman's new rebooted origin was, because the story was being told in ongoing format in Action Comics. This led to Perez having to scramble pretty constantly and never really know what characters he was able to use in his own story, which meant he had to scramble to create brand new Superman villains in his very first issue – something that didn't end up going very well. Perez would leave soon after his first arc, because this book really wasn't an enjoyable experience for anyone involved.
Teen Titans got the absolute nightmare team of Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth, notable recently for their horribly planned Flash Forward . Surprisingly for me this series wasn't terrible, but it did not understand what made any of its characters popular before the reboot. Tim Drake was a completely unlikable edgelord, Kid Flash was not the fun whimsical character everyone loved, and everyone else with a pre-existing fanbase was written horribly. I have a bit of a soft spot for the characters in this series because one of them is Indian and another is a gay original character, but I hesitate to credit Lobdell with anything given how he's actually harmed people. The actual writing for these characters was pretty cliched and tropey, though, and the plot was incredibly forgettable. As a whole, this was just a mediocre team book with unrecognizable characters that happened to have the names of fan favorites, and that's never a great way to retain a fanbase through a reboot.
A new twist
The best thing this glut of titles did for the reboot was force DC to innovate titles, to try and do something that hadn't been seen for a while, and reshape existing iconography for a modern time. And that's what both Justice League Dark and Men of War both did a really good job with this – JLD took the idea of the Shadowpact and a magical team book and slapped the Justice League branding on it – turning it into a really marketable franchise. Men of War took the war story style and tried to do something modern with it. Unfortunately, neither was super successful at what it's trying to do.
Justice League Dark was written by Peter Milligan, one of the major voices in the second wave of the British Invasion, and drawn by Mikel Janin, who's gone on to do some legitimately incredible work since then. Janin was great on this, and the sole reason why the book ended up being readable, but Milligan really did not put out his best work here. The characters weren't likeable, the conflict was really contrived, and the team legitimately did not want to be a team in the text. There was nothing actually compelling within the book, and I don't understand why no one saw that before publication.
Men of War was a different beast, because it was just dull. There was nothing in this series that felt original at all, or like something that DC Comics needed to publish. It was just a boring war comic. I appreciate that DC was actively trying to bring back a style of story that became unpublishable due to the Comics Code, but Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick aren't exactly the all-star talent that you'd want to put on a genre title like this one. I can't say too much about this, because it's such a strange addition to the line just in its premise.
Now, this is just 19 of the 52 launch titles of this reboot. All of them I would classify as mistakes, and series that either should not have been published or been completely retooled. But there's plenty to learn from things that didn't go so poorly, too. Next, we'll take a look at the things that didn't exactly succeed, but definitely hold some value. I promise I'm not always this negative.
Filed Under: DC Reviews, Featured Tagged With: New 52, old 52
Martin F. says
Great stuff, looking forward to part 2. The only titles from this first slate I'd read were Justice League and Justice League Dark and I agree with your take wholeheartedly.
Martin Kralik says
I like this site very much, at reddit I'm pasting very often your orders. But this time I have disagree very strongly, about John' s Justice League.
First thing – it's not very fair when you reviewing things (and you do it now) to make allegations to persons of authors – and if I can agree with Lobdell, there is not strong documentation about tour allegations against Levitz and Johns.
But about book. I think that there is no visible proof about "the writing has no control over where the story goes, and the art is just trying to draw cool stuff with some bare connective tissue.". And totally false is " if I was a new reader coming into this run of Justice League and I was older than 15, I would have thought that the Justice League sucked and weren't worth reading. ". Lot of older fans started reading DC or whole comics with this book, and still things it' s amazing book. I really think that it is something like Morrison' s New X-men – best way to start with this publisher' s comics. I've gave it to few friends which didn't read comics and they like it all.
D. Dir says
Wow, the irrelevant "documented" character allegations are genuinely pathetic and 100% unnecessary. Lobdell is the only guilty one too, the others are complete slander.
I don't even disagree with the relevant criticism of the series but man, I can just tell you have an inability to separate the artist from the art that has affected your opinion here.
Hey, glad you dig the site, thank you. The allegations are all documented, and credibly sourced, which is the criteria I look for in reviews here. They may be uncomfortable, but they are worth mentioning in my opinion.
Otherwise, hey totally hear the disagreement on Justice League! It's certainly a popular run, so not surprised to see it will have its defenders.
Zack says
Very cool write-up! Can't wait for the next part.


text:
Five Minutes From Midnight
By Marc Ambinder
ASPEN -- I'm listening to a panel of nuclear proliferation experts and am finding it difficult to believe that my fellow audience members can hold on to their box lunches. We're all doomed. I hear the hoof beats. I mean, seriously. Bruce Blair, a former missilier who is now the president of the World Security Institute, recounted a tale form his service as an Minuteman ICBM launch control officer where he recalled securing himself in an underground bunker because he believed that Russian missiles were on their way. (He was a minute away from inputing the launch codes himself.) Joe Cirincione of the Ploughshares Fund described a 1995 instance where the only thing that stood between peace and annihilation was Boris Yeltsin's sobriety. The panelists seemed to focus on the recent developing intellectual consensus that a new US policy toward nukes is feasible (Sam Nunn, Bill Perry and George Schultz's project at Hoover) and the threat of Israel's program, which they called a potential "contagion" in the region. On Iran, the panelists agreed that Iran is effectively contained by aggressive sanctions. Al Q's pursuit of a nuclear weapon is much more likely to come from states that are willing to give them access to raw nuclear material, Cirincione said -- Argentina and Russia are as likely sources as Iran.
A poet and dancer whose goal is to "undo the mind of war" asked the room and the panelists -- "Inside of ourselves, what do you think we have to look at within our own thinking to get to this..to get the people off the trigger." The question is not as loopy as it sounds... and the answer, according to Cirincione, is that we all to get over our fear of nuclear energy -- and we must face it, control it, and combine it with a sense of awe. "We unfortunately live in a time where government has manipulated our fear to get us to support policies and wars that we never would have supported."
Since this conference is about Ideas and Solutions, the panelists seemed to believe that the following action items were good ideas:
(1) Israel hosting a regionwide conference on nuclear weapons
(2) A worldwide inventory of nuclear weapons
(3) Standing down forces and taking them off hair-trigger alerts. (This would take a day.)


The director of the film at the premiere.
The director with the trophy.
Born in Athens, Greece in 1979, she studied law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens as well as piano at the city's National Conservatory and visual arts at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In 2014 she graduated in film at Le Fresnoy. Since 2007 she has been presenting her artistic work –photographs, installations and films – in exhibitions across Europe, the USA and Japan. Her feature film debut Exotica, Erotica, Etc. screened in the 2015 Forum. She is currently studying screenwriting at La Fémis in Paris.


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Newsroom > News > Press Releases > Real Martians: Researcher talks movies, NASA and team composition
Real Martians: Researcher talks movies, NASA and team composition
Ahead of 'The Martian,' DePaul University's Suzanne Bell discusses sending teams to Mars
September 25, 2015 / Posted in: College of Science and Health / Twitter / Facebook
In the movie "The Martian," Matt Damon's character finds himself stranded alone on Mars. DePaul University researcher Suzanne Bell is studying how to best assemble teams for long-distance space expeditions. (Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox)
Fictional astronauts coping with drama in deep space make for a great movie. In real life, researchers are helping NASA better understand behavioral and psychological issues that could arise on long-distance missions, like a potential human expedition to Mars.
DePaul University's Suzanne Bell is working with a team to conduct research, funded by NASA, on how to assemble the best teams of astronauts for these missions. Bell, an associate professor and industrial and organizational psychologist, specializes in team composition and analyzes how factors like personality, age, skills and background can predict the success of a team. "I develop the science behind identifying the right mix of people for the situation," said Bell. She has studied how teams interact in extreme conditions, like those deployed to Afghanistan, as well as in more traditional office environments.
Ahead of the release of the film "The Martian," Bell is available for media interviews about how team composition could make or break a real trip to Mars. The film, starring Matt Damon, depicts an astronaut who has been separated from his team and is stranded on Mars. The drama centers on his quest to stay alive, as well as the efforts of his crew and mission control to bring him home. In this Q&A, Bell discusses her research and how the movies get it right (and wrong). Bell can be reached at SBELL11@depaul.edu.
Q. Matt Damon's character in the movie "Interstellar" had a very different reaction to deep space travel than his character seems to in previews for "The Martian." What did you think about how "Interstellar" showed team composition?
A. I liked it. I thought director Christopher Nolan's interpretation of the psychological issues that could come up on long-duration space exploration was great. What do you do when a crew is living together in a small Mars habitat, and someone isn't coping well? Which individuals should be sent on such an extreme mission, and how can we compose and support a crew so they are resilient and can face whatever challenges comes their way? These are some of the issues that the space agencies are interested in as they start to focus on deep space exploration.
Q. How are you studying team composition for a trip to Mars?
A. Starting in January of 2016, I will work with other researchers to collect data on different teams at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in the Human Exploration Research Analog environment. Crews will live and work in an isolated, small environment. Crewmembers are specifically chosen to have characteristics that are astronaut-like: similar in age, intelligence and so on. These individuals complete mission-like tasks and challenges, and we can test predictions about how we expect composition to influence teams functioning in these environments.
We will also look at research on teams in environments that share at least some of the characteristics expected of long-duration space exploration. Examples include teams that winter-over in Antarctica, or teams in chamber simulations like Mars 500, where individuals live and work together in isolation and confinement for extended periods of time. We review data collected in these environments and collect our own data to test and inform our composition models.
Q. Why are space agencies such as NASA interested in research on team composition?
A. My research looks at how to compose teams to be more effective. Team composition is focused on how the combination of team members affects a team's ability to get along, cope with challenges and perform well. Team composition is an important consideration for optimal performance in almost any team context, but the importance of team composition is heightened when you're talking about the conditions expected for deep-space travel.
On a potential trip to Mars, six or so people will live and work together for almost three years in a very small space, isolated from other people and their loved ones. There will likely be communication delays with mission control of up to 20 minutes, requiring the crew to work fairly autonomously. The crew will have to work together as a team, but may have different priorities because of their professional backgrounds, individual and cultural value systems, and differences between space agency cultures. So, who those six people are becomes really important, not only in terms of them being technically adept and having good teamwork, but that they're also the right combination of people in terms of skills, personality and values. Team composition research can inform staffing decisions, and once a crew is chosen, it can inform how a crew is trained and supported because of its unique needs.
Suzanne Bell, associate professor of psychology at DePaul University, is working on research that could help NASA assemble the best possible teams for a trip to Mars. Bell is working with a team on NASA-funded research on team composition, and she can discuss how movies like "The Martian" portray team dynamics and challenges. (Photo courtesy of Suzanne Bell)
Q. What are some of the other conditions that would affect a team going to Mars?
A. The journey out to Mars certainly has logistical challenges, but I don't think that will be the real challenge for the crew. After all, there have already been cosmonauts and astronauts who have been in space for more than the anticipated six-month transit time to Mars. But now picture getting to Mars or coming back from Mars. What a challenge! When space vehicles are launched from Earth there are hundreds of people working together for a successful launch. If you miss a launch window, you just wait for the next one. On Mars you will have the crew, mission control on a communication delay, and whatever technology support that's been created. The crew will need to live and work well together. They will rely on each other for social support. In addition, all of a sudden, there will be slam shifts that will require the crew to come together and work seamlessly as a team, for landing on Mars, for launch back to Earth, for emergencies. Flawless coordination is a challenge for most teams, let alone a space crew that's already been subjected to a year or so of less-than-ideal conditions. Interpersonal compatibility, coordination, a shared understanding of the situation will be critical for success, and are all things that are affected by a team's composition.
Q. What do you find most exciting about this research?
A. Most of us have worked on a team that didn't have the right expertise, or that had personalities that just didn't click. On the flip side, most of us have worked on a team that seemed to be able handle anything that came its way, did a great job on its assigned task, and was a pleasure to be on. My research is about not leaving the success of the team up to chance or gut feelings. I develop the science behind identifying the right mix of people for the situation. If you have the right people in place, and give them at least some organizational support or resources, they will find a way to succeed. With the wrong people in place, it will always be an uphill battle trying to get them where they need to be. I love composing teams for competitive advantage for any organization, but I'm really excited about our NASA-funded research. What our research team discovers and the algorithms we create for NASA can be used to make good staffing decisions. It can also help NASA understand where things are most likely to go wrong, and might need extra intervention, for any crew that is sent on such a mission. Deep-space exploration will surely be challenging for any team, but my hope is for a Mars crew to return, stand arm in arm, and feel proud that they met all of those challenges as a team.
Suzanne Bell
SBELL11@depaul.edu
Kristin Claes Mathews
kmathew5@depaul.edu
312-241-9856
1 E. Jackson
newsroom@depaul.edu


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