text:
Listing refusal raises fears over future of another Madin building
24 March, 2016 By Colin Marrs
Picture taken in 1961
Source:RIBA Collections
Listing refused
Historic England has granted an application for a certificate of immunity (COI) from listing on John Madin's 1958 Birmingham Chamber of Commerce building, raising questions about its survival.
Conservation group the Twentieth Century Society criticised the heritage watchdog's move, which follows the recent loss of other Madin buildings in the city including the Birmingham Central Library, the Post and Mail building and 103 Colmore Row.
But a report by Historic England listing officers said that alterations to the building had undermined its architectural value.
Deborah Williams, listing team leader at Historic England, said: 'Although the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce was clearly a showpiece of Madin's early flair for imposing commercial buildings which married design quality with high quality materials and attention to detail, over time it has been much altered which has diluted the coherence of its design.
'Although some elements of real quality survive, the building as a whole lacks the necessary special interest for listing so we recommended a certificate of immunity from listing should be issued.'
A report into the building following the COI application said that Madin had believed in a system of 'complete design', where many internal features were designed by the architect, but that 'this has now been irreversibly lost due to alterations and losses'.
It said that two examples where Madin's designs have survived better – a private house at Juniper Hill in Warwickshire and office block St James's House in Edgbaston – have both been listed previously at Grade II.
However, Tess Pinto, conservation adviser at the Twentieth Century Society, said the decision 'sounded the death knell for yet another of Madin's undervalued masterpieces.'
She said: 'Much of the original fabric does remain intact, and the alterations are of minimal consequence in the wider importance of the building as an architectural landmark within the historic Calthorpe Estate.'
Pinto also criticised HE's decision not to separately list the John Piper mosaic mural in the building's entrance hall as 'incongruous with their commitment to the protection of post-war public art'.
In 2011, the city council approved the renewal of a 2004 application from the chamber to demolish the building and replace it with a new office block with restaurants and bars.
1960 John Piper John Piper Mural Birmingham Chamber of Commerce
Foster + Partners' Mayfair luxury hotel approved
3 July 2019Greg Pitcher
Westminster councillors have backed Foster + Partners' plans for an 11-storey luxury hotel scheme in London's exclusive Mayfair, which includes relocating a Grade II-listed 1970s jewellers' shopfront
IMAX cinema and 12-year-old British Library addition among at-risk buildings
Two buildings completed in the past two decades have been named among the UK's most valued endangered modern structures
Reading Uni shelves Hawkins\Brown's 'Lego Building' overhaul
8 July 2019Tom de Castella
A much-delayed major overhaul by Hawkins\Brown of the University of Reading's 'Lego Building' has been put on hold indefinitely in favour of a light-touch revamp following heritage concerns
Dannatt's 1970s Blackheath Quaker Meeting House among new listings
A 1970s concrete Quaker meeting house in south-east London is among 11 to be awarded listed status
Newly Qualified Architect – Listed Commercial Refurbishment Project
Architectural Technician/Technologist to work with Collaborative team in Idyllic Historic Town


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The Independents
Sharing pastors, staying alive
KAXE thrives as an independent radio station
The last suit-seller
Unchained newspaper
Beer maker stays independent
Co-ops help keep rural towns alive
Organic partners
Ruminator bookstore loses battle to stay open
Whither the indie record store?
Small business, big changes
Starbuck may lose hospital in effort to save health care in rural area (story audio)
Minnesota's smallest hospital
Looking for a brighter future
Starbuck hospital
Starbuck may lose hospital in effort to save health care in rural area
by Tim Post, Minnesota Public Radio
Minnesota's smallest hospital is located in Starbuck. It may be transformed into a clinic. (Photo courtesy of Starbuck Hospital)
Residents of the west-central Minnesota town of Starbuck have always considered themselves lucky when it comes to health care. They have their own primary care hospital, which is unusual in a town of only 1,200. But the hospital has lost money for years. And now, officials say they need to merge with a nearby facility to keep health care available in Starbuck.
Starbuck, Minn. — Starbuck is a world-record town. About 20 years ago residents made 100 square feet of lefse; they claim that's a record for the Norwegian staple. But the town has another distinction -- it's home to Minnesota's smallest hospital.
It doesn't take long for hospital CEO Tom Theroult to give a tour. The facility,which is owned by the city, has only 19 beds, and today only two patients are staying here. That makes hospital officials cringe.
A recent financial audit shows losses of nearly $3 million over the last 12 years. Tom Theroult says those figures spell out a dark future.
"Whether it's one year from now, or three years from now, it'll be a tremendous struggle to keep health care here in this part of the county if we don't do something, and I would just emphasize more sooner than later," Theroult says.
The solution hospital officials have developed is a merger with the hospital in nearby Glenwood, eight miles to the east. That hospital is struggling too. In fact, because patient numbers are low in Starbuck and Glenwood, the two hospitals aren't able to bring in specialists or new equipment to attract patients.
Theroult says the two hospitals would be much stronger as one. They'd finally be able to afford equipment that local residents have to travel to St. Cloud or Alexandria to find.
"I think we would have enough patient volume to get a CAT scan, and get some of the more modern equipment that is really required now, that we haven't looked at in the past," Theroult says.
In a merger, the Starbuck hospital would become a clinic, and Glenwood would house the main hospital. That talk of change stirs up emotions for people who've relied on the Starbuck hospital over the years.
"They were fantastic," says Nancy Barsness, who lives near Cyrus, about 13 miles west of Starbuck.
There's a picture of her husband, Ron, hanging in her living room. He died of cancer three years ago. He spent his last few days in the Starbuck Hospital.
"He got wonderful care at the Starbuck Hospital," his wife says. "I was so impressed. They let me stay with him the whole time, they were very good, and I'm very glad we were there." But Barness says the hospital has changed in recent years. Her favorite nurses and doctors have left. She thinks they may have been worried about the hospital's future.
It's likely the Starbuck hospital will become a specialty medical clinic, with oncology, dermatology or even dental care made available. Once that happens, Nancy Barsness say the tax burden on local residents should change too.
Barsness pays $200 in taxes every year to support the Starbuck hospital. She says if it's a clinic, they shouldn't have to pay at all.
"I could see it if we were sitting out in the middle of nowhere, and had to be travelling 50 to 100 miles for medical services because we didn't have any. That isn't the situation, we shouldn't be subsidizing a saturation," she says.
Nancy Barsness feels so strongly about what's happening, that she ran for and was elected to the board of the Starbuck hospital in November. She starts serving after Jan. 1, 2005.
The boards at both hospitals have already voted to pursue the merger. And at this point it looks like residents will continue to pay, whether Starbuck has a hospital or a clinic. But hospital officials say down the line, they hope a clinic in Starbuck will be self-supporting.
EPA asked to reconsider use of dangerous chemical
How spending more time in nature can benefit your health

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Scabal Group is a company built on expertise. Founded in 1938, it designs, creates, manufactures and markets menswear fabrics and made-to-measure suits. Headquartered in Brussels, the company is represented in over 60 countries and its fabrics are worn by globally recognisable figures including Barack Obama, Daniel Craig, Tom Cruise, David Beckham and Robbie Williams.
Scabal sells only the finest fabrics, with a specialist at every stage of its fully owned production process ensuring a consistently high level of quality, from the sourcing of its raw materials up.
When relocating to a new office in Brussels Scabal needed to either replace its entire infrastructure or to find a flexible, cost effective, cloud based alternative tailored to its needs. After working closely with the Interoute team Scabal chose to migrate to Interoute's high performance cloud platform. The hybrid solution includes dedicated virtual servers and a physical server for Scabal's demanding Oracle database.
Scabal is a business built around quality. Since 1938 it has sold only the finest fabrics made from the best raw materials. These same high standards are evident in the company's selection of Interoute for its cloud based storage and security measures. Interoute's state of the art monitoring system enables Scabal to make a back-up every day or every hour without any disruption to its business functions.
Internal communications across multiple geographic locations in an instant.
With flagship stores in Brussels and London along with a presence in Milan, Basel and Paris it's vital for Scabal's design and marketing team to be able to share data-heavy files and collaborate quickly with all areas of the business regardless of their location.
We believe that strong, long term partnerships are built on trust, we are supporting Scabal with a broad range of technology services across its growing business and are able to scale our solutions as Scabal grows.
This ranges from the delivery of its cloud-based telephony, video communication, system integration and the centralisation of its internal helpdesk to the exapnsion of its corporate WAN.


Neora Body Contouring Cream is a skin-tightening cream developed from the patented NAE-8 extract of the Neora oleander plant. It is a powerful antioxidant formula that has been clinically proven to reduce the appearance of cellulite and dimpling and to help smooth, tighten and firm the appearance of loose skin! Neora Body Contouring Cream also helps restore the appearance of youthful contour, tone and texture.
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This serum helps consumers better address the eye area, which ages more quickly that the rest of the face. This includes fine lines, puffiness and dark circles.
These and other Nerium products are available at Dr. Kelley's office. They can also be purchased online through this link.


In 2018 we rebooted Macbeth. Watch the highlights here.
The month of March saw the continued success of four Year 12 students in the German debating arena. The team of Harry Brandon, Noami Kaplunov, Ollie Powell and Matt Levine managed to uphold their winning streak in the Goethe-Institut's competition, eventually coming out as national winners wielding the glimmering trophy.
In the semi-final on the 12th March, Challoner's were pitted against Wellington College. After thorough preparation, we were ready to argue against the proposal that "Only electric cars should be allowed in Europe by 2025." We explored flaws in the practicality of the proposition: the current lack of renewable energy sources to generate enough electricity for the cars and the need for new infrastructure to be installed. Strong speeches, convincing counter-arguments and exciting idiomatic expressions ensured a Challoner's victory in this round. We had confidently made it into the final of the competition.
With little time for recovery, the new topic for the final was announced shortly after the semi-final; DCGS was to present views in support of the statement "A subject called Europe should be introduced in schools." Due to face Hampton School, we knew we would be up against very capable opposition and we delved into researching and composing our speeches without hesitation.
When the long-awaited day came around on the 27th March the Challoner's team made their way to the British Council near Trafalgar Square. Fellow pupils, parents and teachers including the Headmaster came to spectate on the day of debating. Both sides performed with enthusiasm and spontaneity, all whilst speaking in German.
Undoubtedly, this was going to be a close round. Facing our strongest opposition yet, we managed to maintain composure and gained valuable points with some entertaining German jokes and pertinent references to European cuisine. Although debating for the statement was no easy feat, we focused on the need for new generations to be educated about Europe's politics, geography, history, and culture. We share so much with Europe - how could school pupils not be informed of this?
After the judges discussed the two teams' performances, they reached their verdict and Challoner's emerged victorious. The Goethe-Institut rewarded us with excellent prizes which included a travel voucher for each member of the winning team alongside the coveted trophy.
Debating in this competition has been very rewarding for all students involved. Thanks must go to Mrs Whittle and the German team for their support.


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40% off total bill for University of Waikato Tauranga students and staff.
Despite our name, The Coffee Club is about so much more than just Excellent Coffee.
Open daily for breakfast, lunch, a snack or just coffee and cake, at The Coffee Club you'll always find Good Food, Great Service and Excellent Coffee in an upmarket and stylish yet casual and welcoming atmosphere.
Choose from a wide range of delicious meals from our all-day menu - a moreish mix of classic favourites and new age delights.
Try our popular Chicken and Bacon Club Sandwich, Lemon Pepper Calamari, Salmon and Avocado Stack or our famous Eggs Benedict with your choice of Bacon, Smoked Salmon, BBQ Pulled Pork or Mushrooms and Spinach.
There's also a variety of irresistible sweets including cakes, slices, muffins and biscuits. We're also Fully Licensed.
Where Will I Meet You? At The Coffee Club Elizabeth Street, Tauranga of course! Find us opposite Farmers.
New menu including these vegan meals!


I know, I know . . . who goes to an animated film and looks for the business lesson? Me, me, me, me. As a parent and as a business leader I could kiss the producers of these fabulous children's movies. They are captivating, entertaining, enjoyable for all ages, and, if you pay attention there are great lessons in them.
A Bug's Life – never give up on your inventions.
Meet the Robinsons – never give up on yourself.
Even Shrek- look for the inner beauty.
Robots, is one of my all time favorites – "find a need; fill a need". Look for what the world needs, what is missing or needs to be complete and fill the need. If we all looked for just one need to be filled, it can be as simple as picking up the little piece of trash instead of walking past it, imagine the sense of accomplishment we would all carry with us.
We decided to start a new tradition this Christmas and we joined millions of people at the movie theater. Who knew so many people enjoyed movies Christmas day and where were the Walmart people screaming that theater employees have to work on the holiday (we'll save that for another discussion).
We chose Rise of the Guardians.
Super movie with two great lessons. Earlier this week I posted that one step to reaching your goals is to find your "why". Your purpose for wanting to achieve your goal. In the movie each of the Guardians is driven to keep doing what they do by their why. North, who we would call Santa Claus, is driven by wonder. He is trying to convince Jack Frost that he is destined to be a Guardian and urges him to search for his why so that he can understand his destiny. Jon Gordon recently published a book "One Word That Will Change Your Life". If you can get your "why" described in one word you will find more success in achieving your goals. With business goals, financial goals, fitness goals, personal goals; you will find it to be easier to stick to your plan if you are driven by your one word.
Here was the second lesson. This one really struck me. In the clip from the movie attached you see a brief moment when the guardians face a child. Their job, their purpose, is to protect all children on Earth yet when they meet this little girl they don't know what to do with her. They have found that they were so busy working for the children that they forgot to work WITH the children. As I relate to this as a leader, I think are we so busy working on the policies and procedures for the business that we forget to work with the people on the front line of the business? The workers, in my case the sales team. As leaders it is important to not only work on the business, but to work IN the business.
How will you make sure to work IN the business?


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Home Spotlight So you think you know the Mini
So you think you know the Mini
British Motor Heritage offers 'quiz' to test your knowledge
Do you know why engineer/designer Alec Issigonis made the door pockets in the Mini so large?
Although it is labeled as a "quiz," what the British Motor Heritage has done as part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Mini is to compile 60 "Mini facts and figures" to see if you know as much about the iconic car as you think you do.
You can download the entire list from a special website. And to spark your interest, the heritage team offers a dozen fun facts, which we're presenting in quiz format:
What was 10x4x4 feet in dimensions?
The box into which Leonard Lord, the head of BMC, insisted the Mini should fit. It ultimately exceeded the prescribed length by a quarter of an inch!
What was the "Orange Box"?
The first Mini prototype Mini was nicknamed the "Orange Box" because of its paint color. The second prototype was more sedate, though its camouflage included the grille from an Austin A35.
Why were the original Mini's door pockets so large?
To accommodate the ingredients of designer Alec Issigonis' favorite drink of dry martini – bottles of Gordon's gin and vermouth.
Where was the famous scene from the original The Italian Job, of Mini Coopers outrunning police in Alfa Romeos, filmed?
It wasn't filmed in Italy but in Coventry, England.
Duckhams turned Mini into rolling oil can
Identify two of the many "weird and wonderful" versions of the Mini used for corporate marketing.
Outspan oranges and Duckhams oil cans were among the companies that turned Minis into rolling billboards for their products.
Mary Quant and her Mini
What item of clothing was named for the car?
The miniskirt, and designer Mary Quant noted that "neither (the car nor the skirt) is any longer than necessary.
Paul McCartney and his Mini
Why has the Mini been described as being "classless"?
Though clearly aimed at the lower end of the market, the Mini found favor with film stars, sports idols and pop icons, including the four Beatles.
The CV joints on the driveshafts of the original Mini trace to what object?
They were adapted from a Czech design used in submarine periscopes.
Issigonis wasn't his family's only famous automotive engineer. Who was the other one?
Alexander Arnold Constantine Issigonis was born in 1906 in Smyrna, Asia Minor, of a Greek father and German mother. His first cousin, Bernd Pischetsrieder, would become a key executive first at BMW and then at Volkswagen. Born in 1948, Pischetsrieder was chairman of BMW in 1994 when it purchased Rover Group, which included Mini and Land Rover.
What pop icon's mirror-plated Mini was entered in the London Design Museum's Celebrity Design Contest in 1999?
It was David Bowie's.
What was the original purpose of the Mini Moke?
It was designed for military use but proved unsuitable. However, around 50,000 were produced and became popular as recreational vehicles for use at resorts and on beaches.
Mini on track
Surely, a car such as the Mini could never be successful in racing, right?
Wrong. Minis won 5 British touring car championships, 2 European touring car titles, 3 British rally championships and twice were crowned European Rally champions.
The British Motor Heritage was founded in 1975 to provide "genuine components" for historic British vehicles, using the original tools whenever possible. It has produced more than 6,000 replacement body shells for such vehicles as the MGB and Midget, Austin Healey Sprite, Triumph TR6, and the original Mini.
For more information, visit the BMH website.
Nelson Venezia July 7, 2020	At	10:24 AM
I own a 2009 Mini Clubman Base with the performance and appearance package. This has to be my favorite vehicle of all I've owned.To won a Mini is to love a Mini.
Ian Plumb July 7, 2020	At	5:37 PM
The Mini that Paul is standing by is not a UK market mini.
Note door hinges external type plus wind up side window
plus 1/4 vent. This is like Australian market mini
Paul Hunt July 11, 2020	At	6:31 AM
UK Minis had external hinges. Whilst I can see the logic behind putting wind-up windows in a more luxurious export model, I cannot see why they would make the hinges external when they were concealed on a cheaper model.
Pete Perea July 12, 2020	At	3:12 PM
Internal hinges did not appear 'til the Mklll. Or should I say: "disappear"? The Mini in the photo was heavily modified at Harold Radford Coachbuilders, Ltd. That's where it got the electrically-operated roll-up windows.
Hans Unstuck July 11, 2020	At	6:47 AM
Hey Guys…you talk about a quiz and that it's on a special website…How about a link…Already went to BMH and there's nothing there.
Larry Edsall July 11, 2020	At	7:36 AM
In the second paragraph, the words "a special website" should appear to be in a different color. Click on them and you get the link to the website with the quiz, which will download to your computer.


text:
Heather Whaley
New Year's Letter from Connecticut
by heatherwhaley
On the Monday after our country, and the world, were still reeling from the horrific events in Newtown, I walked my daughter to the end of the driveway, hugged her too hard, and put her on the school bus. The driver and I exchanged a solemn nod. After the bus pulled away I cried deeply but silently in the driveway before going inside to get my son ready for middle school. It was an act of faith on my part, and courage on hers to get on that bus.
The previous Friday I arrived very early to pick her up from school. I wasn't the only one. More than one parent ran to the school the moment they heard of the attack. Sandy Hook Elementary is about ten miles from my daughter's school, and it was a struggle to wait until dismissal. I watched as one by one the kids came into the gym, where they meet their parents. They rushed, backpacks heavy, artwork in hand, to their waiting parents who each in turn picked up their child and held them closely. It was overwhelmingly sad, knowing that a few miles down the road there were parents who would never again feel that mundane joy. We were informed that the kids didn't know what had happened. I knew that would not be the case with my son, because so many middle schoolers have cell phones and iPads. Sure enough he got off the bus informing me that someone had shot a whole bunch of people at a school in Newtown and now there were two gunmen on the loose.
I told him that wasn't true. That a man had gone to a school and a lot of people were hurt, but that he was dead and nobody ever had to worry about him again, and please don't tell your sister because she doesn't know. He understood. But it was Friday, and she's allowed to play on the computer on Fridays. I didn't remember in time that our home screen is CNN.com. She would have seen the coverage on her way to Club Penguin. When I asked about it, she said she hadn't seen anything. But later, as my son was working on a project to organize a field trip for the fifth grade, she said, "You could go to Newtown. That would be depressing." My heart sank.
That weekend was rough. My daughter, who is normally very independent, didn't leave my side, showering me with kisses and hugs. She slept in her brother's room all weekend. Then came Monday.
I was glad to be going to a meeting at the elementary school, because I didn't want to be far from my children. The meeting was at 9:30 in the cafeteria, and we were to discuss the best way to talk about the tragedy with our kids. My husband and I had just arrived, our nerves still frazzled, our eyes still red from crying, when an alarm came over the P.A. system and the principal's voice, tight with fear, said, "We are in lockdown. This is not a drill." It was as if my entire body had become hollow. A strong breeze could have turned me to dust. A door opened and the custodian said, "This way."
We were ushered into the computer room, the lights were turned off, windows covered, we were told to sit on the floor and be absolutely quiet. Parents started crying. I might have been first. I thought of my daughter. She's eight years old. Her class was having a China Festival and she was so excited to wear the Chinese dress we ordered for her online. She had picked out the outfit a week before, and it was all she talked about for days. I pictured her hiding in the closet of her classroom in her Chinese dress. It was lavender. Of course I pictured those kids in Newtown hiding in their schoolroom closets. I couldn't breathe, and when I tried, the tears just came.
We are new to the school and I didn't know any of the other parents I was with, but they grabbed my arm in the dark and told me it was going to be okay. I felt overwhelming guilt that I had moved my children to this place, assuring them that it would be a better life, that it was a better place to be a kid. In New York City they had never gone into "lockdown." I felt I had lied to them. Across the room my husband was talking to another father whose tears ran freely down his face. I wanted to know what was going on. I found the teacher in the dark. She said they had been told that morning there would definitely not be a drill of any kind that week. Then I stared to listen to what was happening in the halls. It was eerily quiet. I was expecting, really honestly waiting, to hear gunfire. I knew it was coming. I just wanted to know what part of the building it was going to be in, and if I could run to get my daughter. But it didn't come.
A while later we learned that a suspicious man had been spotted carrying what looked to be a rifle at a nearby train station. In reality it was a man with an umbrella. It was raining. Because of that man, schools in at least five districts had gone on lockdown on the one day when that was the second worst thing that could happen. It brought the horror of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary right into those schools.
Later I asked my daughter if she had been scared. I told her that I was scared, because I had never been in a lockdown before. She said that she was but she didn't tell anyone. "When we were hiding Alice said, 'I keep looking at the crack of light under the door and thinking someone is going to put a gun under there,' and I was thinking the same thing." Across town my son had been pushed into a different closet. He said that he was "a bit" frightened because it went on for so long that he thought maybe "something bad was happening." When you think about it, hiding from someone who has broken in and is looking to kill you is just about the scariest thing you can go through. Our children do that as routine. It is part of their reality to know that some people are going to try to shoot them in the places they feel the most safe.
I don't think we will ever be able to imagine the toll this massacre has taken on my neighbors in Newtown, and our country as a whole. I can only measure it against the toll on my own children. About a month ago I ordered fire safety ladders for the upstairs bedrooms in my house. When they arrived I showed my son how to use them and he said, "Is this only for fires, or for if there is… something bad happening in the house?" Something bad. Those are the words he has chosen to describe the most frightening and awful thing possible.
Perhaps out of guilt, or the constant reminder of how lucky we are that we have our children, my husband and I went totally overboard on the Christmas presents. They got a foosball table. We gave my son a cell phone. I thought that if he'd had one when he was stuck in that closet I could have texted him to let him know it was just a precaution. My daughter has been desperate to get her ears pierced, knowing full well that I've told her she wasn't allowed until she was in middle school. But on Christmas morning, she opened a big box and inside she found a pair of earrings. We went the next day to get them pierced. I was worried that every time I looked at her earrings I would remember the kids who died in that school, but what I remember is how fortunate I am to have her, and to treasure every moment I have with my children. When my son asks me to play foosball, I say yes. Every time.
I don't know much about mental illness. I don't know about what drives a person to commit mass murder. I do know that those people have one thing in common. They have high-powered weapons. The second amendment was written by men who never conceived of the weapons available today. Their intention was to enable citizens to fight against an oppressive government. With muskets. As our weapons have evolved, so must our laws pertaining to them. In spite of what the NRA claims, nobody needs a Bushmaster rifle to shoot a deer. The only thing you hunt with an assault rifle is people, specifically a lot of people in a short amount of time. There is a lot of talk about making it harder for people to buy guns, but that's not going to work. Connecticut, I am told, has fairly strict regulations, and in any case, the weapons used in Sandy Hook Elementary belonged to someone else. We need to get rid of the guns. Period.
Our children are hiding in closets at school. That is too high a price to pay for someone's supposed "right" to own whatever weapon they choose. Where is the line drawn? In the U.S. an average citizen can own a grenade launcher. Why? I can go into a nearby Walmart and buy an assault rifle designed for military use. Why? The NRA argues that anything can be a weapon – a fork can be a weapon. But on the same day as the shooting in Sandy Hook, a man went on a stabbing spree at a school in China. The difference is nobody was killed.
I've been thinking a great deal about what kind of people want to own assault rifles. Perhaps they would be a good pool from which to begin mental health screenings. I can't imagine there are all that many of them. Certainly there are more people in America who want assault rifles off the streets than want them in their homes, so why are they so hard to regulate? There is only one answer. Money. The NRA has a lot of money, and is a powerful voice in Washington. It's time to scream louder than the NRA.
This New Year I resolve to do everything I possibly can to protect my children, to make this world a place where my children can feel safe. I will not allow the rights of some gun nut to come before the basic rights of happiness and security for my children. I will not stand down, or grow discouraged because an old man thinks I am just hysterical and will eventually get over my knee jerk reaction to a tragedy. What Wayne La Pierre doesn't realize is that nothing infuriates a woman more than a man being dismissive of her anger. It is a coward who believes in America the Brave, but arms himself to the teeth. I am braver than him. I am stronger than him. I am louder than him.
3 Comments to "New Year's Letter from Connecticut"
At last. | Heather Whaley says:
[…] hiding in classroom closets for lockdowns, they suffer all the repercussions. As I said back in December, my children are the entire reason I'm involved in this. I just could not see something so […]
scott cameron says:
Hi Heather- I am Dolly Curran's husband Scott and I love this post (and blog). Thanks for writing it. Check out 27families.wordpress.com for similar views- I just started it (and am still trying to figure out the difference between a blog that I write and a website that is more of a bulletin board for other stuff) to keep a fledgling group called 27families going. We formed in Albuquerque the week after Newtown to hold a vigil and try and channel our anger, frustration, fear, sadness into action.
William Blood says:
We definitely need to get assault rifles off the market but we also need to stop the endless law suits. If the family from Newtown that is suing the State Board of Education were to think about what they are doing, they would stop the proceedings. Find counseling for all that need it and then take the 100 million and invest it into security for the schools, not proceeds to fatten the scumbag lawyers pockets!
Dumb-asses
The Wrong Questions
Kids! Make Sure that Stranger Handing You Candy Has a Gun, Otherwise He Might Be a Psycho.
What the fuck is going on?


Chopped BBQ Ranch Salad Kit allows salad lovers to enjoy one of their favorite restaurant salads at home. The distinctive tastes of green and red cabbage, romaine, kale, sweet carrots and green onions are combined with crispy fried onions, cheddar tortilla chips and DOLE®'s BBQ Ranch dressing to create a chopped salad experience typically reserved for America's best-known restaurants.
Green Cabbage, Red Cabbage, Romaine, Kale, Carrots, Green Onions, Cheddar Tortilla Strips, Crispy Fried Onions, DOLE's BBQ Ranch Dressing.


I've written before how I'm not too fond of Web-mail versus desktop clients, but last weekend didn't give me a choice in the matter.
About an hour after my flight took off, my MacBook Air coughed up an error message from the Mail program that its index had gotten scrambled (not the exact phrasing; I inexplicably forgot to take a screengrab) and needed to be rebuilt. Fine, I said, and clicked the appropriate button.
Less than an hour later, my aging laptop complained that it was out of space. After a couple of fruitless attempts to weed out larger files, I gave up on mail for the rest of the way to LAX, then resigned myself to using the Webmail interface to the Google Apps account I use for work.
In the two years since Apple's Mail app last couldn't connect me to my work account, Gmail hasn't changed much but Apple's Mail app has. It's become a clumsy, clanky, sluggish part of my workflow that usually has me grumbling in complaint before I'm halfway through the first cup of coffee.
Sadly enough, I still missed Mail. Gmail's regular view only shows 15 messages on my MacBook's screen, and its in-browser offline mode–a non-negotiable item given the horrible state of the ONA conference WiFi–only showed eight at a time.
My usual method of policing my inbox, block-selecting non-essential messages and moving them to folders like "PR" or "Administrivia," broke down when Gmail Offline showed that few messages and required me to select each one individually before any moves to sub-folders.
Gmail's automatic classification of messages under tabs like "Promotions" and "Social" didn't help aside from correctly shunting most of the PR correspondence to the former tab.
At no point over that weekend did I get WiFi fast enough to let me even think about re-syncing over a dozen gigabytes of mail back down to my laptop–at one point, Mail couldn't even crawl through its first setup screen. So I limped along in Web-mail, steadily fell behind, and have since caught up slowly in my iMac's copy of Mail.
The next few weeks will involve a lot of airplanes, starting tomorrow when I fly to Berlin for my fourth annual trip to the IFA electronics show there. I'm back on the 6th, then depart two days later for the CTIA wireless-industry gathering in Las Vegas. That will be a brief stay, as I move on to Portland on the 10th for the XOXO conference. A week and a half later, I'm off to L.A. for the Online News Association conference.
At least this travel schedule isn't as insane as last September's (when, for example, less than 24 hours separated the IFA and CTIA trips). But still: Conference organizers, maybe you could find other months to host your events?
I wrote this essay, sadly enough, while on vacation. But I did leave time that day for a nap! Of course, half the comments were along the lines of "just turn off your phone." Thanks, dude, that's a really practical bit of advice.
Speaking of comments, something weird happened with them on this post tonight–the previous 16 comments, including some replies of my own, vanished, and now there's just one. (It's from a guy who says his phone is his only Internet device, and he therefore burns through 40 gigabytes of data. I am pained thinking of spending that much time online on any phone.) I'm not sure what happened. Never mind–I was reading a syndicated copy of the story on the site of the St. Louis TV station KSDK but completely ignored the different header atop the story. Duh.
CHICAGO–I'm here for the Online News Association's annual conference, and it's been pretty great so far. Not necessarily for all the panels and discussions (although they've been good too, especially Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile's explaining how news sites and advertisers need to focus on time spent instead of page views, then Texas Tribune editor Amanda Krauss discussing how changing the "Like" button in their commenting system to a "Respect" button helped elevate the discussion), but for the people.
The right and honorable profession of journalism has many virtues, but occupational permanence or even long-term stability isn't among them. Jobs change, news organizations grow or shrink, and your fellow cubicle farmers may not be there next year. The cubicle farm itself may vanish.
You can still talk to the people you used to work with on Facebook, Twitter and mailing lists, but sometimes you want to see them in person. Tech events help–I don't miss going to Apple product launches because of the chance to inspect a new iPhone under tightly-controlled conditions, but because they let me catch up with tech-journalism pals–but ONA is fantastic for reconnecting with old Post colleagues.
We run into each other, we ask what we're up to now, we share our recollections of horrible CMSes, we trade tips about travel and technology, we talk about our families… and I love realizing that we've found happiness in our post-newspaper lives.
I've also run into some current Posties here, who seem much more content than many of us were when we left: The Jeff Bezos money has ended a long and seemingly unending cycle of staff cuts and started paying for hiring and travel on a scale unimaginable back then. That's good to see too.


BEIJING Justin Upton Jersey , Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- "Miss Granny," a co-production between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), ruled China's box office in the week ending Jan. 18 after grossing 122 million yuan (about 19.6 million U.S. dollars).
"Seven's Son Zack Cozart Jersey ," a fantasy starring American actor Jeff Bridges and actress Julianne Moore, earned 103 million yuan since its debut on Jan. 16, China Film News reported Wednesday.
"Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," the third movie in the Ben Stiller franchise, came in third Albert Pujols Jersey , pulling in about 71 million yuan during the week. Its total box office stood at 266.5 million yuan since the opening day of Jan. 4.
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I've just been doing some nighttime play in the PLCMC Sandbox. Added my blog and a recent favorite book ( A lovely first novel by Darnell Arnoult. You can check out her the author and her work here .
OK, it's time to get out of the sandbox and into the pj's (pajamas, not wikis, that is).


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Gas prices up 4 cents cent to $2.21 a gallon
Joe Raedle, Getty Images

File photo

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average price of gasoline in the U.S. is up four cents over the past three weeks to $2.21 a gallon for regular grade.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that higher crude oil costs caused refiners and retailers to bump up their prices.
The average price is 23 cents lower than a year ago.
The Lundberg Survey found the average price of midgrade unleaded is $2.49 a gallon, and the average price of premium is $2.71 a gallon.
The highest average price for regular gas in the contiguous U.S. is $2.71 a gallon in San Francisco. The lowest is $1.91 in Jackson, Mississippi.
The U.S. average diesel price is $2.39 per gallon, up about four cents from three weeks ago.


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Aamir Khan: Actor Activist Achiever
Paper Type: Art Paper (Matt) | Size: 267 mm x 216 mm
All colour; 244 photographs, 272 pages, Hardback
Biography, Cinema
Aamir—Actor, Activist, Achiever. An acclaimed actor who became the thinking man's superstar. An ardent activist who highlighted complex social issues and spread awareness. An accomplished achiever who reinvented the entire concept of a movie star. Aamir Khan— actor, producer, director—has so many colours in his life that it is almost impossible to compile them in a single book. The author and photographer, Pradeep Chandra, attempts the insurmountable task of tracing the trajectory of Aamir's career that has seen him evolve and become one of the greatest contributors to the art of cinema in India and a hugely influential public figure. This book is the author's tribute to the superstar and the man behind it.
Pradeep Chandra
Pradeep Chandra is known for his versatility. An eminent photographer, he has written coffee-table books on MF Husain, Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. He is also an artist who has participated in several art camps and group shows in India and abroad. As a photojournalist, Chandra has been associated with The Illustrated Weekly of India, The Times of India, The Indian Express, The Week and The Sunday Observer, among others.


While I have always been pro life, my role as an activist began in January 2013. As a volunteer pastor at Rock Valley Christian Church in Murrieta, California, God inspired me to give a sermon on abortion. The preparation for and delivery of that sermon changed my life forever. The Lord showed me that I was asleep, and not fulfilling my Biblical responsibility to defend life. And He was waking me up to do something. Yet I still didn't know what God was calling me to do.
Two days later, I was praying and meditating and God revealed a very specific ministry which involved going mobile in an RV equipped with an ultrasound machine to show women life inside the womb! I didn't even know if this concept existed. I then Googled "mobile ultrasound abortion" and appearing on page one of the search results was ICU Mobile (based in Akron, Ohio). I quickly perused their website and after a few minutes realized that this ministry was nearly identical to what God revealed earlier. After additional discussions and prayer, The Scharpen Foundation purchased a mobile RV unit from ICU Mobile in the summer of 2013 and drove it from Ohio to California.
For a variety of reasons, we experienced several delays, yet God's timing was perfect. After months of prayer, preparation and waiting, we obtained our official clinic license from the California Department of Public Health in July 2014 and launched our mobile clinic in August 2014.
My wife Carolyn and I give God the Father and Jesus Christ all the glory for inspiring this ministry and providing the initial resources to deploy the unit! We look forward to seeing how God will grow the ministry as we seek His direction and wisdom.
Here are a few messages I delivered on the topic of abortion and our role as Christians today.


LOS ANGELES — UCLA basketball players Cody Riley, LiAngelo Ball and Jalen Hill publicly apologized Wednesday after they were accused of shoplifting in China and were suspended indefinitely by the Bruins.
"They will have to earn their way back," UCLA coach Steve Alford said.
From left to right: UCLA freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill.
They were allowed to leave China after the situation was "resolved to the satisfaction of the Chinese authorities," said Larry Scott, commissioner of the Pacific-12 athletic conference, of which UCLA is a member.
The three were arrested last week while their team was in the city of Hangzhou ahead of the squad's season opener in Shanghai. They were questioned on suspicion of stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store near their hotel.
Scott did not say how the case was resolved. A conviction of grand larceny in China could result in years of prison. But Trump said Tuesday that he had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help.
UCLA's trip coincided with Trump's two-day state visit to the Chinese capital, Beijing, as part of his 13-day trip to Asia. Trump told reporters that Xi had been helpful in working to resolve the case.
"We are grateful for the role that our Chinese hosts played, and for the courtesy and professionalism of the local authorities," Scott said. "We also want to acknowledge UCLA's significant efforts on behalf of their student-athletes.
Trump's request was first reported by the Washington Post.
Days before the game in Shanghai, the Bruins were in Hangzhou to visit the headquarters of Alibaba, the e-commerce giant that sponsored Saturday's contest.
Before the players' release, LiAngelo Ball's father, LaVar, had said in a statement on social media that the Chinese judicial process could take months.
LaVar Ball and his youngest son, LaMelo, were in Hong Kong on Tuesday evening to promote a pop-up shop for the family's athletic apparel line, Big Baller Brand.
LaVar, LaMelo and Tina Ball — the family's matriarch — all went to China to watch LiAngelo play his first game as a Bruin and promote the opening of a Big Baller Brand pop-up shop in Shanghai.


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Lenovo's
Computers Tech
This model of Star Trek's USS Enterprise is also a badass PC
Lenovo's spaceship-shaped PC has a projector in the hull
Josh Ye
Published on 28 Sep, 2018 11:00am Coordinated Universal Time
While the notion of what a computer should look like has been constantly challenged in this day and age, it seems like Lenovo wants to explore the final frontier with a PC that looks like a USS Enterprise from Star Trek.
Meet the Lenovo Titanium Enterprise NCC-1701-A!
Many will debate its utility and value for money but I think few will disagree on that this is a badass-looking PC. (Picture: Weibo)
Looks pretty cool, right? And also consider its specs -- the computer runs on a ninth-generation Intel Core CPU and a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 graphics card with 8GB of RAM. It also packs in 32GB DDR4 RAM and both a 1TB SSD and 2TB HDD.
Amazingly, the bottom hull of the spaceship is actually a projector. So you won't have to hook the computer up to a monitor -- I mean, it'd be lame if it had to go with a clunky monitor. With this, you can host game or host movie nights like a boss.
But it shouldn't come as a surprise that this amount of horsepower and design (exclusively authorized by Paramount CBS) doesn't come cheap. While Lenovo didn't say how much it'd cost, Chinese media said the price is set between US$2,200 to US$4,400. (Which is a pretty big range.)
Meanwhile, we have to point out that this computer is not an exact replica of the iconic Star Trek ship. Its nacelles are much bigger and thicker to pack more components into the machine.
The compromise with the nacelles is not ideal... but I'm willing to cut them some slack on that one. (Picture: Weibo)
This actually isn't the first time Lenovo has shown off the Titanium Enterprise. They first unveiled it back in 2016, saying that it would include a GTX 1080, but it didn't give out more details of the machine at the time.
Many gadget fans immediately took a liking to the PC -- mostly for its look. A netizen wrote, "Although I don't see any damn use for this, I give Lenovo full marks on creativity."
But there are also many in China who struggle to understand the appeal since most people in the country haven't seen Star Trek.
Knowing Lenovo is a Chinese company, a netizen joked, "Lenovo you should just go back to America."
This is the one Lenovo showed in 2016. Looks pretty similar to the one featured this year. (Picture: Weibo)


text:
Q: Python Selenium binding with Tor browser 7.x I need your help to make automation with Tor Browser + Python Selenium on Windows.
I am using selenium 3.4.3 with Tor Browser 7.0.1, and the code initializing the TOR web driver is as following
    binary = FirefoxBinary(TOR_BINARY_PATH)
    prof = FirefoxProfile(TOR_PROFILE_PATH)

    prof.set_preference('network.proxy.type', 1)
    prof.set_preference('network.proxy.socks_host', '127.0.0.1')
    prof.set_preference('network.proxy.socks_port', 9150)
    prof.update_preferences()

    self.browser = webdriver.Firefox(firefox_profile=prof, firefox_binary=binary)

However, i am stuck with the error 'Tor failed to start' each time i run the script.

A: You need to start your Tor Browser, or establish a Tor connection before running the script. You can do that by either run Tor in terminal, or simply start Tor browser

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This is an ambient cinematic track perfect or video games, movies, stealth action titles and more. Contact me further see what type of music I can offer you for your multimedia project.
Kate tipped 10 coins on "Ghosts of Chernobyl"


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The 25th Annual Fall Classic Golf Tournament supporting the Laurel Rafuse Memorial Trust was held on Sunday September 16,2018 at the Renfrew Golf Club.
Teams enjoyed a beautiful but very warm day of golf. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this celebration whether golfing, sponsoring a hole, being a corporate sponsor or part of the committee.
The Laurel Rafuse Memorial Trust provides financial support for summer activities for children and youth with developmental disabilities.


Use the Uptime UI to monitor the status of network endpoints via HTTP/S, TCP, and ICMP. You will be able to explore status over time, drill into specific monitors, and view a high-level snapshot of your environment at a selected point in time.
To get started with Uptime monitoring, you'll need to define some monitors and run Heartbeat. These monitors will provide the data we will be visualizing in the Uptime UI. See Configure Heartbeat for instructions on configuring monitors to begin storing Uptime information in your cluster.
For Uptime to work, it is important you use the same major versions of Heartbeat and Kibana. For example, version 6.7 of Kibana will expect an index of heartbeat-6*, while Kibana 7.0 requires an index of heartbeat-7* (containing documents from Heartbeat 7.0).


Liverpool are in talks with Roma over the proposed sale of defender Mamadou Sakho, according to Italian publication Calciomercato.
The Serie A giants are ready to splash the cash after selling Alessio Romagnoli to AC Milan for £20million.
Frenchman Sakho has played a bit-part role in the centre of defence for the Reds after coming underfire for some of his performances.
He was left out of their opening day win over Stoke and sources believe that he could be on his way out of Anfield.
Man United offering striker move of a lifetime?


text:
Haaretz | Israel News
WATCH: Jon Stewart Rips Obama for Attending Saudi King's Funeral, Not Paris March
'Why again was the President so eager to go mourn this fella?' comedian asks, given the kingdom's rights record.
Get email notification for articles from Haaretz Follow
Screenshot from January 28, 2015 episode of Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Not one to mince words, Jon Stewart slammed U.S. President Barack Obama for attending the late Saudi King Abdullah's funeral last week, and not joining the Paris anti-terror solidarity march on January 11.
In Wednesday's episode of "The Daily Show," Stewart mocked Obama for cutting his visit to India short to attend the funeral of the conservative kingdom's monarch, whose human rights record the comedian finds anything but humorous.
The White House acknowledged that it erred in not sending Obama to the Paris march, which drew over a million people and over 40 heads of state.
Watch the clip below, courtesy of Comedy Central (skip to the 3-minute mark):
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,Daily Show Video Archive


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The creative strategy for the prospective Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art (LMoCA) is explained by Kaspars Vanags, one of the authors of the museum's concept, Project Manager of the ABLV Charitable Foundation, in a conversation with Romans Surnačovs, the Board Chairman of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation.
What were you doing before you joined the team that devised the concept for the prospective museum?
Having just returned from my studies in Berlin, I got together with some like-minded friends to establish Open — the inter-disciplinary collaborative platform, in order to hook up visual arts talents, electronic music experimenters, poets, activists in the newly born field of internet art, as well as other creative forces within the framework of joint art projects. Joining us in this creative endeavour were a number of young artists, now well-known on the Latvian cultural scene, such as Miķelis Fišers, Gints Gabrāns, Katrīna Neiburga, as well as the set designer of Alvis Hermanis' legendary theatre productions Monika Pormale and others.
I still find it hard to comprehend how we managed to successfully organise major events such as a week-long series of happenings spread across all five floors of the former Dzintars cosmetics production plant in Central Riga or a multimedia-based electronic music and arts festival in a deserted warehouse just around the corner from the President's official residence in the Old Town.
From that period, I carry with me the conviction that idealism, ostensibly audacious innovations and private initiative have a huge role to play in the development of contemporary art. And here we return to the vision of the construction of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, which is the fruit of the private initiative of the ABLV Charitable Foundation and the Boris and Ināra Teterev Foundation.
Looking at your work as a curator, no doubt there are arts projects, which you'd like to highlight as being especially significant or close to your heart.
As far as Latvia is concerned, still unsurpassed, in my opinion, is Tea Mushroom, an art project created by Katrīna Neiburga in the early 2000s. It involved the use of improvised methods to identify people who still drink this ancient home beverage instead of Coca Cola. The resulting video materials were used to produce non-commercial TV Shop video clips and a film, while instead of the traditional gallery; we installed the exhibition inside an empty shop, where members of the public could receive a test tube containing the tea mushroom yeast free of charge. I recall that most mornings, the shop had not even opened when a sizable queue of impatient customers had already formed outside its doors.
After an interlude of over a decade, I once again had the chance to collaborate with Katrīna Neiburga in 2015, when she and Andris Eglītis were chosen as the artists for the Latvian Pavilion at the 53rd International Art Exhibition in Venice and I was invited to be the curator responsible for the creation of their exposition.
This major art installation was created thanks to the ABLV Charitable Foundation's decision to become the general supporter of the Latvian Pavilion. As a result of this joint collaboration, I am now involved in another, even bigger, project supported by the foundation — I am participating in the development of the creative strategy for the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art.
In contemporary art, idealism, audacious innovations and private initiative are hugely important.
The work prepared for the Venice Biennale, Armpit, was included in the 2016 programme of the legendary Californian festival Coachella and the collaborative duo of artists responsible for it has also been invited to take part in a contemporary visual arts biennale in India. Does this prove that Latvia has the potential to be a player in the international art world? And how should this be reflected in the prospective museum's creative strategy?
First of all, despite the fact that it occasionally places excessive demands on its viewers, contemporary art has honed an internationally convertible communication language. The national pavilions at the Venice Biennale are a clear example that contemporary art can focus on subject matter specific to a particular locale, while at the same time investing in universal means of communication, which are far more effective than Esperanto. Under these conditions, it is hardly likely that art museums can afford a narrowly regional programme, because the language of art itself has become international.
Secondly, local viewers have also changed rapidly in recent decades. Before long, their grasp of international culture will rival their knowledge of domestic cultural-historical references. This is why the local audience at the museum will want to analyse the aspects of affinity conferred by a local perspective, at the same time retaining its global vision.
This situation poses a considerable challenge in which one has to find solutions as to how one can understand the concept of the local audience and how regional and international interaction should be interpreted under 21st century conditions. Hence our decision to adopt the Baltic Sea region as our positioning in the museum strategy. The contrasting nature of this geographic area is fascinating. For some countries, post-war history is more of a unifying factor than more ancient cultural-historical ties or current affairs. This stems from the interaction of radically differing historical experiences, standards of living, traditions of social affinity and understanding of democracy. Although questionable, even internationally tried and tested stereotypes of the mentality characteristic of the schools of art in this region offer a motley palette of impressions, ranging from the understated ascetic design of the Nordic countries to the Balts' love of storytelling and the tight-lipped conceptualism of the Poles, through to the tightrope walking existential absurdity of Russian non-conformists.
In your opinion, what was the biggest challenge during the initial phase of planning the museum's activity?
The biggest responsibility facing the team entrusted with the task of drafting its strategy was deciding what would set the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art apart, as a newcomer to the international museum community, from other institutions. The main point of difference chosen was a specific operating profile, centred on the mutual relations between fine arts and visual culture.
The dominance of visual culture defines our age. A large proportion of information reaches us on a visually-dictated interface, thus shaping our mutual relations, habits, learning methods and ways of thinking. Consider how often we succumb to the tendency to substitute a phone call with the combination of the click of a camera and a text message! Nowadays, a lack of knowledge of the grammar of visual culture is comparable to a new form of illiteracy. It is surprising how many people still consider sight to be a physiological ability to be taken for granted, instead of a construct of beliefs formed culturally and socially.
To a certain extent, the operating profile chosen for the museum is also based on a paradox. On the one hand, the visual is increasingly taking a backseat as far as the phenomena of contemporary art are concerned. For example, there is not that much to see in conceptual art or in creative social condenser projects based on an idea alone, and for the most part, the visual exhibit is documentation instead of a work of art. On the other hand, the disputes concerning the theory of visual culture that were once engaged in under the auspices of art have now died down, assuming a place within our everyday existence without adequate further reflection. For example, the studies conducted by the Russian futurists into the texture of the written word are a forerunner of contemporary graphic design and the logotype production kitchen. The innovative approaches to the technique of editing introduced by Rigan Sergejs Eizenšteins and his kindred spirits are still worth their weight in gold, when it comes to producing ideologically-hued television reports. And the selfies invented by Andy Warhol now pollute social network platforms, providing a clear reminder of the predictions made by the genius of Pop Art that, in the future, everyone will have the chance to be famous, if only for 15 minutes.
The future belongs to youth. But will the museum be interesting for the younger generation?
The founding of new cultural institutions and the construction of a suitable building prompt one to consider what will have changed in our society in a decade's time. What are the somersaults in contemporary art that we should predict in advance so that the museum infrastructure is not already out of date shortly after its opening? When the first conceptual designs were approved for the National Library of Latvia's new building, how many of those involved could have predicted the revolution that the internet would spring upon Gutenberg's galaxy?
Therefore, it is vital that the youngest generation of artists, museologists and viewers are actively involved in the project for the prospective museum. In the decade that it has been in operation, the ABLV Charitable Foundation has demonstrated a particular commitment to supporting the Art Academy of Latvia, as well as maintaining a balance between eminent professionals and tyros in its awarding of arts grants. In turn, in providing support under our cultural education programme to educational projects for schoolchildren organised within the framework of art exhibitions, we are getting an idea of the habits and interests of the audience of the future.
You know what I found worrying after a conversation with a secondary school pupil? His question about the principles according to which this or that photograph was included in the museum collection in 2015, given that we already know that even then about 40 million photographs a day were being uploaded to the Instagram platform.
The international team of architects are inspecting the NHC territory in which Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art will be built
Back in 2005, ABLV Bank allocated funding in the amount of EUR 1.5 million to support the formation of the museum's collection. On a serious note, how will the collection actually be assembled?
In assembling a collection of contemporary art nowadays, you find yourself confronted with three basic problems: over-production, speculation and megalomania. These days, art market trends change rapidly and some collectors exploit this to reintroduce works they've bought to the market before their value has stopped rising. In turn, ordinarily museums are not in the habit of selling the works in their collections; therefore any purchase price must include the expenses related to keeping the work long-term. Since art installations are becoming even bigger in terms of their size, museums are forced to reckon with the reality that a single contemporary art object can occupy a gallery in which it was previously possible to present the entire history of a style of painting. Also worrying is the technology used in contemporary art, which rapidly ages, not only making it difficult to preserve works, but also to exhibit them properly in future.
When it comes to assembling the collection, one possible solution to the problem is to pay greater attention to the presentation and documentation of the context in which trends occur, as opposed to focusing on individual modern day masterpieces. One decision that has been integrated into the LMoCA strategy is to work with subjects related to the interaction of visual culture and contemporary art during the period from the 1960s through to the present day.
This opens up tremendous opportunities to identify the changes that have affected our relations with the image. What's happening to our long unseen family photo albums and travel slides? Where does art end and creative industries begin? At which moment in time did video games become more popular than feature films? And will figural painting be contemporary in a decade's time?
In order to be able to answer these and other similar questions, one has to understand that a contemporary art museum cannot exclusively be a home for masterpieces. Alongside them, the museum's operating focus must also extend to what may ostensibly seem to be profanities. Our everyday life takes place in a saturated media environment and amidst an abundance of visual cultural signs. Accordingly, museums are expected to provide audiences with help in getting their day-to-day bearings. They must seek to explain parallels and the mutual gearing between seemingly unconnected systems of visual images, i.e., graphic design and the mass media, fashion and consumption, art and communications technologies, and between the self and one's self-image.
The relations between museums and audience have also changed. The flow of information within museums is no longer in one direction only; the range of social condenser mechanisms give museums new functions. They serve as social platforms where people swap experiences under the auspices of the kids' museum and education initiatives for the family, lifelong learning programmes for adults, lectures organised in partnership with universities, as well as volunteer programmes for students and senior citizens. This was all taken into account in our contemplation of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art, which, in our opinion, is destined to become a hub of creative activity, self-discovery and playful thinking.
What do you think of the decision to locate the museum in a part of the city under development?
The Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art building is due to be built in the territory of New Hanza City, giving this location, with its peculiar place in the city's history, a future development perspective, while the building itself will serve as a long-term stimulus for the whole city. The Hanzas Street neighbourhood is special, because it marks the boundary line beyond which the most impressive Tsarist-era Art Nouveau quarters of civic Riga end and where the industrial complexes built in the historicism style begin. The industrial district and the nearby port provided the financial guarantee for the magnificence of the residential houses and public buildings that rose up in the years before the revolution. Further evidence of the story of the mutual interaction between these two parts of the city is provided in the form of the goods station that was once upon a time built in the middle. It is a reminder of old-style economic logistics, which are being increasingly superseded in contemporary Europe by the flow of data generated by the financial sector, service industry, as well as creative industries. This is an ideal location for the contemporary art museum, providing a ready answer to the question of what contribution has the new Riga made to the international circulation of the products of intangible industry.
Nowadays, contemporary art museums are not just repositories for masterpieces, but also a platform for collaboration and swapping experience.
At present, a number of architects invited to take part in the conceptual design competition for the building are studying the museum concept drawn up by the commission of experts. How were the candidates chosen?
Organising the museum's architectural conceptual design competition was entrusted to the team of Malcolm Reading Consultants, whose services in organising competitions and selecting architects have been used by the British Government and NATO, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum, Oxford University and the City of Mumbai. A string of successful projects testify to their competence including the recently concluded architectural competition for the Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki, while the British Pavilion building at the Expo 2015 World Fair was acclaimed as being the most outstanding in terms of its architecture.
The first visual outlines of the vision for the construction of the Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art are now under development. In a closed competition, architectural conceptual designs are being drafted by seven internationally renowned architecture firms represented by: David Adjaye (Adjaye Associates, United Kingdom), Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk (Neutelings Riedijk Architects, Netherlands), Henning Larsen's architectural practice (Henning Larsen Architects, Denmark), Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton (Sauerbruch Hutton, Germany), Adam Caruso and Peter St John (Caruso St John Architects, United Kingdom), Kulapat Yantrasast (wHY, USA), and Ilmari Lahdelma and Rainer Mahlamäki (Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects, Finland).
The decisive factor in the process of selecting these architects was the direct focus on specific aspects of the problems of building contemporary museums and the desire to involve Riga in the global debate about the developmental trends of buildings of this type. When one studies the profiles of the invited architects in depth, one can see that we have invited the kind of professionals to give thought to our building, whose experience testifies to the fact that cultural edifices of a similar type occupy an important, even central, place in their practice. The museum projects that they have executed in recent times have not only received international acclaim, but have also become exemplars for both architects and museum-keepers, because they illustrate the manner in which institutional cultural premises can become a crossroads for creative activity, historical memories and social mobility. One could say that, parallel to the opportunity to acquire an outstanding museum building for the Latvian capital, any of the seven heavyweight competitors on the list meet another important criterion. Their creative activity to date testifies to collaboration of an inter-disciplinary nature within international cultural networks. Even in its design phase, this enables the prospective Latvian Museum of Contemporary Art to position itself as a player on the big stage.


text:
Deaconesses: An Orthodox Institution Untheologically Blocked
by Petros Vassiliadis
At the initiative of the Center of Ecumenical, Missiological and Environmental Studies "Metropolitan Panteleimon Papageorgiou" (CEMES), an International Scientific Symposium on "Deaconesses. Past-Present-Future" was organized in Thessaloniki (1/31-2/2, 2020) at the International Hellenic University (IHU), to which its Inter-Orthodox English-speaking Post-graduate Program "Orthodox Ecumenical Theology" belongs.
In addition to ΙΗU, 4 other institutions were registered as co-organizers: The Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University, St. Philaret's Christian Orthodox Institute of Moscow, the Orthodox Academy of Crete, and Saint Phoebe Center of Deaconess.
The symposium focused on the Rejuvenation of the Order of Deaconesses with a multi-layer (biblical, liturgical, Patristic, archeological, canonical, theological, and historical) analysis, but also with a critical theological assessment of the recent developments in the Orthodox and other churches.
Extremely encouraging were the Messages sent by the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Patriarch of Alexandria, and the Archbishop of Athens.
Expressing his "special joy" and wholeheartedly extending his congratulations "both to those who are responsible for organizing this important symposium, as well as to all its participants," His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew underlined that "the church has never ceased to encourage women to participate in various areas of her multidimensional work and to seek new opportunities and ways of their effective contribution to the life of the Church," believing "that the effort to rekindle the order of deaconesses must continue, given that even since the time of the Apostles, the deaconesses have greatly contributed to the up building of the faithful, highly honored by them. And this, despite the fact that at times the institution of the ordained deaconesses diminished, though it never formally abolished by the church." Deaconesses had a "sacramental diaconal priesthood."
Patriarch of Alexandria Theodoros wrote: "It is an honor and a special blessing the organization of this Symposium on 'Deaconesses. Past-Present-Future'…It is also a great honor to the Apostolic Throne of Saint Mark, because this Symposium is aiming in assisting, by biblical, liturgical, Patristic, archaeological, canonical, theological and historical arguments, the Synodical decision of the Patriarchate of Alexandria (2017) for the revival of the most ancient institution of the Deaconesses," a decision that met with a "variety of reactions from those who pretend to have zeal, but without knowledge and awareness."
Finally, the Archbishop of Athens Hieronymos, congratulating the organizers and wishing "our Lord Jesus Christ to abundantly bless the work of the Symposium, in order that we witness to the gospel on an ever-increasing outreach to the world," underlined that "the subject of female presence and of Deaconesses in the ecclesiastical life, in the ministry of love, in Worship, even in Priesthood, certainly touches the Truth…and requires a multilevel approach with knowledge and pastoral and spiritual sensitivity. This Symposium can contribute to a fuller knowledge of the subject and can propose ways and solutions to the Orthodox Church."
Chosen as logo of the symposium was the mosaic at the junction of St. Sophia Cathedral of Kiev, depicting the Theotokos in a praying (orans) position, neither in the usual Christ-bearing one nor in that of the ancient Deisis (Pamakaristos, New Skete, etc), and most importantly dressed in clerical liturgical vestments (with mittens/επιμάνικα) having in her belt the lention of diaconia. Quite significant for the symposium was the time of the mosaic, probably after the 12th century, i.e. from the period when the institution of deaconesses had virtually fallen into disuse, even in the Eastern Christian world!
The papers presented in the symposium came from almost all the Orthodox traditions: Greek, African, Arabic, Russian, Bulgarian, Georgian and Ukrainian, as well as from women theologians of the Orthodox diaspora (UK, USA). However, they also covered other Christian traditions: Catholic, Greek Catholic, Anglican, and Evangelical.
The necessity of an immediate restoration of the order of deaconesses, the history of the decision to hold the symposium at this particular moment, as well as its expectations, were presented at the opening session. The first and primary reason for convening the symposium was to encourage the traditional access of women to the sacramental "diaconal" priesthood. Unlike the general issue and demand for women ordination into episcopacy and the "hierurgic" priesthood, the symposium aimed at highlighting the diaconal character of the Christian faith, and not the redistribution of power within the Church. As Prof. Dn. John Chryssavgis underlined, we should perceive and practice "the diaconal ministry not as a stepping-stone to the priesthood or episcopate, but as a symbol of the vocation of every Christian (male and female) to serve. It is (he is convinced) today more than ever before, harder to be a deacon in the Orthodox Church than it is to be a priest or a bishop. Unfortunately, centuries of hardened clericalism, ecclesiastical illiteracy, and blatant disregard for the diaconate have rendered it almost impossible for people in our church—clergy and laity—to appreciate how the diaconate should inform every aspect of pastoral leadership and church ministry.…If we do not understand the diaconia, we cannot understand the other ranks of priesthood…even the role of the laity in the Church…The authentic image of the Church that we should be seeking—in our minds as in our ministry—is that of a dinner table, not that of a corporate ladder. The Church is not a pyramid, where all attention and authority are turned toward the summit. Instead, we should imagine the Church as a sacrament, where the primary and essential focus is the celebration of the Eucharist."
Along with the diaconal dimension of the authentic witness of the Church of Christ, equally important is the moral responsibility of the body of Christ for women, their role and ministry both in society and in all the manifestations of ecclesiastical life: royal, priestly, prophetic (in other words, governance, liturgy, mission).
The symposium addressed the various reactions, not only the Patriarchate of Alexandria's synodical decision, but to all previous attempts (by St. Nektarios, the School of Deaconesses in Greece, etc.), all of which are wrongly accused of alien (non-Orthodox, modernist, ecumenical, etc.) motivations. It also addressed the developments at a scientific level, especially in biblical, but also in Patristic, scholarship, taking also into consideration the high-level dialogue that is being quite recently pursued within the Catholic Church. The symposium was based on the authentic Tradition and not the later traditions of the second millennium. And beyond this necessary distinction (which officially the Orthodox Church has adopted, namely the preeminence of the Apostolic Tradition, just adding that she is its authentic bearer and custodian), modern theological scholarship has advanced an equally important distinction that concerned the symposium: that of the authentic but latent tradition, and that which was historically formed.
Except for extreme cases, Orthodox women are never entrusted, as in the Early Church, with leading roles in the Church's ministry, the only exception being—especially in the East—the order of deaconesses. The gender ambivalence of ritual is revealed by the dichotomy between theology and practice. While the Orthodox liturgy includes female saint veneration and reputes the Theotokos as "more honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim"—that is above the world of the celestial beings—down on earth women are excluded from joining the superior clergy to the rank of deaconesses.
The Old Testament, of course, exemplifies patriarchal bias in many ways, notably in the metaphor of woman coming out of man (Gen 1:22). It is inescapable, however, that this was corrected in the New Testament, by the explicit Pauline statement that "when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman" (Gal 4:4). God becoming incarnate "from a woman" is a reversal of woman "coming out of man."
A more analytical report with the full messages from the ecclesiastical authorities, as well as the participants and the titles of their papers, can be accessed at academia.edu/41940677/
Petros Vassiliadis is Director of the Masters Program in Orthodox Ecumenical Theology (MOET) at the International Hellenic University.
Public Orthodoxy seeks to promote conversation by providing a forum for diverse perspectives on contemporary issues related to Orthodox Christianity. The positions expressed in this essay are solely the author's and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Orthodox Christian Studies Center.
Posted in Women in the Church and tagged Deaconesses, Diaconate, Petros Vassiliadis on February 13, 2020 by Public Orthodoxy.
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Easy Collection contains Easy Search and Easy Download.
Searches for the specified keywords on most popular search engines such as Yahoo, Google, Altavista and others. When page is found, program will check if there are these keywords there. Searches for the keywords on the local drive.
Downloads HTML pages with images, sounds, videos etc. Changes all links in the downloaded HTML files, so you can look through them even off-line. Supports auto login into pages protected by password.When the program finishes its work - find main.htm and open it in your browser.
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text:
Healthcare Industry News: otitis media
News Release - May 14, 2008
New Data Support Routine Childhood Vaccination With PREVENAR in Europe
PREVENAR Shown to Reduce Invasive Pneumococcal Disease in Young Children
MAIDENHEAD, England, May 14 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Data presented at the 26th annual meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) in Graz, Austria, provide additional evidence of the public health impact of the routine use of Prevenar* (Pneumococcal Saccharide Conjugated Vaccine, Adsorbed), which helps protect against the seven pneumococcal serotypes causing the majority of disease worldwide.(1)
Specifically, since the introduction of Prevenar, also referred to as PCV7, into Germany's pediatric immunization schedule in 2006, there has been a 50 percent reduction in vaccine-type invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children younger than 2 years old compared with a pre-vaccine baseline.(2) In addition, a slight reduction in vaccine-type IPD among children aged 2-5 years old, an unvaccinated group, also was documented, suggesting a potential "indirect" effect among older children who were not immunized.(2)
"These data are compelling and demonstrate the rapid reduction of IPD in German children following the inclusion of Prevenar in Germany's national childhood immunization schedule," says Dr. Mark van der Linden, Head of the National Reference Center for Streptococci at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, RWTH-Aachen, Germany. "Importantly, the results are consistent with the disease reduction documented in France and the United Kingdom, where young children are routinely immunized with Prevenar, highlighting the impact of the vaccine in countries where it is used across Europe." (3),(4)
"Since pneumococcal disease is the number one vaccine-preventable cause of death in children younger than five years of age, we are incredibly proud of the growing body of evidence supporting universal childhood vaccination with Prevenar and are committed in our mission to help save children's lives," says Bernard Fritzell, Vice President, International Scientific & Clinical Affairs, Wyeth.(5)
In view of the demonstrated vaccine efficacy and high disease burden in young children, WHO recommends the priority inclusion of PCV7 in national immunization programs worldwide.(6) Further, in January 2008, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) to WHO issued a preliminary recommendation that pneumococcal disease prevention be ranked as a very high priority on a global basis.(7) Prevenar, the only licensed pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, is available in 88 countries worldwide and is part of the routine national childhood immunization schedule in more than 20 of these countries, 12 of which are in Europe.(8)
Pneumococcal disease affects both children and adults and is a leading cause of illness and death worldwide.(9) Pneumococcal disease is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae and describes a group of illnesses, including invasive infections, such as bacteremia/sepsis and meningitis, as well as pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infections, including otitis media and sinusitis.
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a division of Wyeth, has leading products in the areas of women's health care, infectious disease, gastrointestinal health, central nervous system, inflammation, transplantation, hemophilia, oncology, vaccines and nutritional products.
Wyeth is one of the world's largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products, nutritionals and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company's major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
(1). Hausdorff WP, Bryant J, Paradiso PR. Which pneumococcal serogroups cause the most invasive disease: implications for conjugate vaccine formulation and use, part I. CID 2000; 30:100-21.
(2). van der Linden M, Reinert R. Effects of the national immunization program for PCV7 on IPD in children in Germany. Poster presented at the 26th annual meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID).
(3). Lepoutre A, Varon E, Georges S, et al. Impact des recommandations de vaccination antipneumococcique par le vaccin conjugé heptavalent sur l'incidence des infections invasives à pneumocoque chez les enfants de moins de deux ans. Institut de Veille Sanitaire. 2006.
(4). Health Protection Agency (HPA): Centre for Infections. Cumulative weekly number of reports of invasive pneumococcal disease due to any of the seven serotypes present in PCV-7: children <2 years in England and Wales by epidemiological year: July - June (2003 to date). Cumulative Weekly Report IPD. February 2008.
(5). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccine preventable deaths and the global immunization vision and strategy, 2006-2015. MMWR. 2006;55(18)511-515.
(6). World Health Organization. Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for childhood immunization, March 2007- WHO position paper. Wkly Epidemiol Record 2007;12: 93-104.
(7). World Health Organization. Meeting of the Immunization Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, November 2007 - conclusions and recommendations. Wkly Epidemiol Record 2008; (83):1-16.
(8). Data on file, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(9). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention of pneumococcal disease: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR. 1997;46(RR-8):1-24. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR4608.pdf. Accessed September 5, 2006.
* Trademark.
Source: Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Search: Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Search: Prevenar
Search: PCV7
Search: Pneumococcal disease


These slides were used by Tim Wright at the Deep Impact Crowdfunding Conference 2014. The session explored what makes crowdfunding the funding of choice despite it being hard work and with relatively low success rates.
Using statistics and anecdote Tim set out the additional benefits that crowdfunding delivers over and above finance and linked it to the emerging Crowdasset framework model which describes the value of assets in the crowd and external to the organisation, and how to understand the diversity of value on offer there.


Wrote this on the way home from my 20 year high school reunion. I believe we are all culminations of people we loved and loved us. I think the sentiment is beautiful and bittersweet, and I'll never forget this session. Cathryn poured her heart out, and it still gets me everytime.
DID DREAMS YOU USED TO SHARE WITH ME COME TRUE?


text:
Mount St. Helens Stories Needed
To commemorate next year's 40th anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruption, Washington State Parks is looking for people who were affected by this major event in Washington state's history.
Over the next few months, staff from the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center will spearhead an effort to collect stories from current and past residents, as well as from individuals near and far who were affected by the volcano's eruption on May 18, 1980.
"We want to record these poignant memories before they are lost or forgotten," said Alysa Adams, Visitor Center interpretive specialist. "You can pick up a historic newspaper or read a book about the eruption, but first-hand encounters from community members paint the real picture of that day. These voices need to be heard to preserve this part of history.
People have several options for sharing their Mount St. Helens stories:
•	Drop by the sharing corner at the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center and fill out contact information and / or complete a journal entry.
•	Provide a brief description via email at Silver.Lake@parks.wa.gov
•	Call (360) 274-0962 to schedule an interview.
The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture in Spokane is conducting a parallel effort to capture stories from Eastern Washington residents who were affected by the ash from the 1980 eruption. Some of these memories will be displayed at the museum next year. State Parks and MAC may share stories collected between the facilities.
Throughout this winter, State Parks staff will be converting these written and oral histories into a temporary exhibit at the center. They plan to make the exhibit accessible to the public from mid-May through October 2020, with this experience included in the visitor center's regular admission. The temporary display also will showcase historical publications and artifacts from the 1980 eruption.