Japanese novelist Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday; although I am delighted he won such a prestigious award, his importance to me is of a more personal nature. You see, three of his novels played an integral role in the first year of my relationship with my husband, Sean. Readers are funny in this way. Despite the fact that I could study Ishiguro's novels using my English major skills and write about his skill and genius as a storyteller, I find myself reflecting on the emotional significance of three of his novels upon my life.
I heard rumors of Ishiguro and his novels from my favorite English professor, but it was the summer that I got to know Sean that I picked up a copy of The Remains of the Day from a used bookstore in Salem, Massachusetts. Sean and I were on a school study tour of New England at the time; talking about that book was one of the first substantial conversations that we had within the first few weeks of getting to know each other.
I then read The Remains of the Day that same summer while Sean and I both interned at a publishing house. It's a quiet, unassuming novel that vaguely reminded me of P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Bertie Wooster for no reason other than it focuses on a butler and that somewhat sarcastic English butler tone. Stevens, an English butler, is devastated that he never told Miss Kenton, the housekeeper, that he loved her; he couldn't allow himself to be vulnerable and open to the idea of romance beyond their professional relationship.
The ending of this story hit me hard. I knew that if I continued to like Sean as much as I did that summer, I would have to work up the courage to be brave as Stevens never had. This thought stuck with me throughout the next several months as Sean and I became closer and eventually started dating; Ishiguro's writing and character study of Stevens impacted how I focused my emotions in the beginning of our relationship.
I read Never Let Me Go months after reading The Remains of the Day. I knew it was Sean's favorite book, which was a significant factor in why I wanted to read it, along with the fact that The Remains of the Day destroyed me emotionally (in a good way). I read it over fall break in a day or two, snuggled in my dorm room alone, daring to read a novel instead of the history book I was supposed to write a review of.
The setting and context of the novel intrigued me. Perhaps what intrigued me even more was how Ishiguro subtly wove in clues about the dystopian society to give the reader context without making the book about the way the dystopian society worked or how it got that way. I hadn't read a novel that was so subtle about its context, and I appreciated (and still appreciate) Ishiguro's balance of storytelling with just enough information about the dystopian circumstances.
I loved the book, but it didn't impact me quite as much as The Remains of the Day. It was interesting to talk about this with Sean; he read Never Let Me Go his freshman year of college, and it hit him in a way that I'll never understand, just as he will never probably understand how The Remains of the Day affected me that summer. And that's a testament to Ishiguro—and books in general: These books can affect a person deeply in an untranslatable way. Books—and Ishiguro's in particular—have power.
It was our first Christmas as a couple. We had started dating right before Thanksgiving, but Sean knew me well enough to know exactly how to pick the perfect Christmas gift for me: He asked my English professor for recommendations, figuring that he would know my taste in literature. He didn't disappoint. Upon my professor's recommendation, Sean bought me a hardcover copy of The Buried Giant and bought himself one, too; we planned to read it together while I studied abroad in Europe that semester.
We both started reading it as I started my semester abroad. I read it on trains to Prague and planes to Vienna. I got through most of the book while abroad and waited for Sean to catch up. He caught up a few months later, but I never finished the book. I haven't finished it because I'm scared of the ending; I know it'll be brilliant, devastating, and emotional. I also know it'll be an end to the experience of sharing Ishiguro with Sean, unless we decided to read another of his books together.
So cheers to Ishiguro, and cheers to the emotional importance three of his novels have had on my life and my most significant relationship. I am grateful to have known these books and this author.
Do you have a favorite Ishiguro novel? Tell me in the comments below!


In 2014, the Conservatives took control of the council.
The challenge since has been to improve services even whilst grant reductions have meant we've had to reduce spending by a quarter.
Council tax only pays for a minority of what local authorities spend; the bulk comes from business rates and direct grants. However with the country still heavily in debt, the money coming from government has been sharply reduced.
Just since the Conservatives started running Portsmouth City Council three years ago, we've had to save £48m a year. The good news is that through prudent management, this city is one of the few that still has weekly bin collections, community wardens, school crossing patrols and all its libraries and museums.


text:
/**
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* ActionSheet
*
* show the actions of btns from  bottom
* format: actionSheet({
*   options: BUTTONS,
*   title: title,
* }
*/

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import styled from 'styled-components';
import pallete from 'styles/colors';

import Mask from 'components/Mask';

const TitleWrapper = styled.div`
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`;

const ContentWrapper = styled.div`
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`;

const Button = styled.div`
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  color: #7c8399;
  background-color: ${pallete.white};

  a {
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`;

function actionSheet(props, cb) {
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        <Button style={{ marginTop: '0.24rem' }}>取消</Button>
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export default actionSheet;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Combinations question confusing There are 8 men and 7 women from which a group of 4 with at least 2 men must be selected. Find how many possible groups there are.
There are 2 ways which both make sense to me but only one method is right.
Correct method:
(No. of groups with 2 men, 2 women) + (No. of groups with 3 men, 1 woman) + (No. of groups with 4 men)
$_8C_2 \times _7C_2 + _8C_3 \times _7C_1 + _8C_4=1050$
Incorrect method:
No. of ways of choosing 2 men from 8 = $_8C_2$
This leaves the remaining 2 spots unrestricted so 2 people can be chosen from the remaining 13 people.
$_8C_2 \times _{13}C_2 = 2184$
Any idea why this second method is incorrect?

A: The incorrect method counts some possible groups more than once. One possible group (using tradition male/female names to indicate sex) is {Juan, Mary, Patrick, Luke}. The second method will count it three times: once where Juan and Luke are the 2 men chosen first, once with Juan and Patrick, and once with Patrick and Luke.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Be enchanted with its luxurious tented ceilings, exquisite chandeliers and extravagantly adorned pure leather furniture handcrafted to its finest elegant touch, showcasing ancient Emirati traditions blended with modern luxury.
The restaurant's artisan chef is bound to make a grand impression on all its guests with delectable and mouth-watering dishes that will communicate through the art of food.
Desert Gate offers both indoor and outdoor dining complemented with non-alcoholic beverages, which add to a remarkable experience.


We have many deserving members who have given their time and energy, and expertise to ensure our industry has a robust future. You can make sure they are recognized by nominating them for one of our prestigious awards – it must start with you! These dedicated individuals cannot be recognized with an Award unless a member nominates them.
The seven awards presented annually are: the Daniel D. Hughes, Jr. Memorial Award; the William D. Ashman Achievement Award; the John A. Wagnon Technical Achievement Award; the Fellow of the Society Award; the Corporate Recognition Award; the International Award; and the Outstanding Educator Award. The Lifetime Achievement Award is also an individual award, but will be awarded only occasionally when a deserving individual is identified and nominated.
Nominations and supporting materials must be received by August 15, 2008. Award nominations can be submitted on-line, or by contacting Steve Greene, Membership Manager, at IMAPS headquarters 202-548-8711 or sgreene@imaps.org. The Practices and Procedures governing the awards can be found online at http://www.imaps.org/leadership/PP/Sections/Section16.pdf.
There are few things we each value more than the recognition of our peers. This is your chance to recognize a deserving member with the prestige of an award – and only you, the membership, can do that. You have the keys to a vital part of our professional network – and your actions in recognizing other members' accomplishments are key to making IMAPS much more valuable to us all!
This new Advanced Technology Workshop on RF and Microwave Packaging is being held September 16-18, 2008, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Diego, California. The early registration cut-off and the hotel deadline are just two weeks away - Friday, August 22. After that date, registration prices increase significantly and hotel room rates and availability will not be guaranteed. To view the technical program and to register, visit www.imaps.org/rf.
For more information, visit www.imaps.org/rf.
The Advanced Technology Workshop and Tabletop Exhibition on Thermal Management is being held October 14-16, 2008, at the Cabaña Hotel & Resort (A Crowne Plaza Resort) in Palo Alto, California.
For more information, visit www.imaps.org/thermal. This workshop will now feature a limited number of tabletop booths. Tabletop space has sold out!
Market Drivers: Thermal challenges and drivers combined with market trends, market segment size, cost drivers, and performance and reliability requirements.
Thermal Interface Materials and Testing: Developments in thermal materials for high-performance processors, memory, and wireless/telco components and systems. Standards for reliability and testing. Metallic, metal matrix and polymer matrix materials.
High Conductivity Materials: Metallic, ceramic and other composite materials with thermal conductivity equal to or higher than aluminum or copper, as well as thermal expansion closer to that of silicon and ceramic.
Device Packaging: Chip-level packaging, including System-On-Package, Multi-Chip Module and Multi-Package Module, thermal/interconnect concerns.
Liquid and Phase-Change Cooling: Advances in alternative solutions as well as reliability, serviceability, and availability.
Refrigeration Cooling: Presentations on advances in alternative solutions as well as reliability, serviceability, and availability.
System Cooling: Component- and system-level thermal management solutions for high-performance computing systems.
Data Center Cooling: Studies of cooling provisioning, airflow and temperature distribution, and migration paths from air to liquid cooling.
Military and Aerospace Apps: Thermal management of legacy, emerging, and future military and airborne components and platforms.
Telecommunications Systems: Component- and system-level thermal management solutions for high-performance telecommunications systems.
Consumer Electronics: Component- and system-level thermal management solutions for stationary and mobile systems, including displays, desktop and notebook computers, and handheld devices.
Speakers should submit one copy of a two-paragraph abstract describing their proposed 25-minute presentation no later than August 22, 2008. No formal technical paper is required. A reproduction-ready two- to six-page concise summary with text (figures and graphs included if necessary) will be required for the abstract booklet on Friday, September 12, 2008. A post-conference CD containing the full presentation material as supplied by authors will be mailed 15 business days after the event to all attendees.
Abstracts must be submitted online at http://www.imaps.org/abstracts.htm.
The Fifth Annual Device Packaging Conference (DPC 2009) will be held in Scottsdale/Fountain Hills, Arizona, on March 9-12, 2009. For more information, visit www.imaps.org/devicepackaging.
Those wishing to present in a topical workshop of the Device Packaging Conference must submit a 200-300 word abstract electronically no later than September 26, 2008, using the on-line submittal form at: www.imaps.org/abstracts.htm. No formal technical paper is required. A reproduction-ready two- to six-page concise summary with text (figures and graphs included if necessary) will be required for the abstract booklet on Friday, January 30, 2009. A post-conference CD containing the full presentation material as supplied by authors will be mailed 15 business days after the event to all attendees. Please contact Jackki Morris-Joyner by email at jmorris@imaps.org or by phone at 305-382-8433 if you have questions.
For those wishing to broaden their knowledge of device packaging, a selection of half-day courses will be offered on Monday, March 9th, preceding the technical conference. If you would like to participate as an instructor, please submit a description of your short course on-line or contact Jackki Morris-Joyner by email at jmorris@imaps.org no later than September 26, 2008.
The advance program and registration for IMAPS 2008, the 41st International Symposium on Microelectronics, is now available on-line. The 2008 symposium returns to the northeast from November 2-6 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence.
19 Professional Development Courses will be held on Sunday, November 2 and Monday, November 3. The technical sessions and exhibition open on Tuesday and run through Thursday at noon. IMAPS 2008 also features: keynotes from Dr. John Zolper, Vice President of Raytheon Company, and the Honorable Donald L. Carcieri, Governor of Rhode Island; an Interactive Poster Forum; two Translated Sessions; a Global Business Council Marketing Forum on Alternative Energy: Options, Supply Chains, and Industry Trends; an Alternative Energy Panel Discussion; an enhanced Student Program; and a State-of-the-Art Exhibition and Technology Showcase.
Learn more about IMAPS 2008 and register on-line at www.imaps2008.org.
Ticket price includes reserved seating for the game, pop and dinner at our pre-game tailgating party. IMAPS will provide food and beverages.
YOU MUST MAKE A SEPARATE RESERVATION FOR EACH PERSON ATTENDING!!!
IMAPS Viking Chapter is holding our second annual St. Paul Saints social outing. We will tailgate in the parking lot. IMAPS will provide food and beverages. We will keep you posted on Final Details for the event!!
The annual IMAPS Nordic 2008 conference will take place in Denmark, September 14-16. The 2008 conference will be held at the sea shore hotel Marienlyst, Helsingoer. The city Helsingoer with the famous Kronborg Castle has a direct train connection from the airport of Copenhagen.
A block of hotel rooms at the special IMAPS Nordic price was reserved until July 14. Room reservations are now on space available basis. For information of prices and hotel contact details, please read more at: http://www.imaps.org/chapters/europe/nordic/Past.asp.
We have the pleasure to invite you for XXXII International Microelectronics and Packaging IMAPS-CPMT Poland Conference, which will be held in Pultusk (60 km from Warsaw) in The Polonia House in Pultusk - The Castle (http://www.dompolonii.pultusk.pl) on 21-24 September 2008. For the first time, this Conference is organized by IMAPS Poland and Polish Chapter of IEEE CPMT with participation of Committee for Electronics and Telecommunication of Polish Academy of Science.
This year our meeting is organized by the Warsaw University of Technology and Institute of Electronic Materials Technology in cooperation with Committee for Electronics and Telecommunication of Polish Academy of Science.
All additional information concerning the Conference, you can find on our WEB pages, which are under preparation: http://imaps2008.imio.pw.edu.pl.
For more information, please contact imapsk@imapsk.or.kr or visit http://www.imapsk.or.kr.
The IMAPS INDIA Chapter is organizing an International Conference on "Emerging Microelectronics and Interconnection Technologies, EMIT-08"- from December 16 to 18, 2008, at Bangalore, India. A pre¬conference one day Tutorial / Workshop on latest technologies such as MEMS, MEOMS, VLSI Design, Hybrid Microelectronics is planned on December 15, 2008.
The Research & Development activities in Miniaturization, Design, Production Processes, Packaging and Applications of Monolithic, Thick and Thin Film Hybrid Microelectronics, Nano Electronics and Molecular Electronics, have made tremendous progress in the past decade. The VLSI Technology has given way to ULSI, and has already reached Nano¬metric scale (nm), 65 nm levels in production and less than 45 nm levels in R & D.
IMAPS India Chapter has been successfully organizing National and International Conferences in these areas and has received very good response earlier. EMIT 1996, 1998, and 2000 at Bangalore and all National Conferences held every year at various cities in India have seen very enthusiastic participation from leading Research & Academic Institutions and Industry.
To continue this tradition and to showcase all the new developments in the areas of Micro, Nano Electronics and allied fields, IMAPS India Chapter is organizing this International Conference, with the theme of Micro Systems: Design to Manufacturing, giving an opportunity to all researchers, academia and industry leaders to exchange latest information. Prior to the conference one day Tutorial / Workshop is scheduled by experts in the appropriate areas.
These events provide an excellent opportunity to the Scientists, Engineers, Technologists, Academicians and Industrialists to present papers and discuss in the areas of Microelectronics, Nano Electronics, Molecular Electronics & Electronic Packaging. The EMIT-08 will cover the presentations of the results of Research Findings, Developmental activities, Production Planning, Manpower Training, Establishment of Facilities, as well as, exchange of ideas on the state-of-art topics.
The venue of the Conference is at within idyllic surroundings providing an excellent ambience and ensuring good exchange of ideas and innovations as it is located at the highly rated Academic Institute in India.
Authors were invited to send original, unpublished papers for the EMIT-08 until July 31, 2008. If you are still interested in submitting an abstract of 300 to 500 words on any of the topics mentioned below, email (imapsind@vsnl.com) immediately. For more information, visit www.imapsindia.org.
Conference will also have Invited Talks from Experts in Specific Areas of Topical Interest. Some selected papers presented at other IMAPS Conferences in 2008 will also be invited to be presented at EMIT 2008 for the larger benefit of participants who could not attend them.
In the area of Design to Manufacturing the Microelectronics like: Advanced and latest Trends / Techniques in Design, Simulation, Fabrication and testing of Very Large Scale Integrated Circuits & Ultra Large Scale Integrated Circuits [for ASICs, Microprocessors, Large density memories, FPGAs etc].
Issues related to PGA, Flat packs, BGA, Flip chip, LCC, custom specific modules, 3D packaging etc., w.r.t. material processes, thermal & mechanical analyses manufacturing processes etc.
Hardware / software IP cores in sub¬micron geometry devices. MEMS as Sensors, Transducers, LEDs, RF applications, Piezoelectric Devices, Optoelectronic and SAW Devices. Application of micro, nano electronic materials and their fabrication facilities / industries in India and opportunities for Indian firms in the global markets etc. Issues covering generation of test vectors, development of test equipment hardware, R&QA and the like.
The French Chapter of IMAPS will hold its 4th European Advanced Technology Workshop on Micropackaging and Thermal Management on February 4-5, 2009, at Mercure Oceanide, Vieux Port, Sud La Rochelle.
The workshop will be dedicated to the thermal management and particularly to convenient cooling solutions for high integration level of equipments. Rising speed of the components leads to increase the power dissipation while miniaturisation and low cost technologies don't facilitate the mastering of the thermal impedances.
In such conditions, the thermal management, as a part of the packaging solutions, is and will continue to be one of the main technological keys for the future progress of the electronic components.
Deadline for submitting papers is November 5, 2008. Authors must submit a 200-300 word abstract describing their proposed 25 minutes presentation (20 minutes + 5 minutes for questions). For more information, visit www.imapsfrance.org or contact Florence Vireton at imaps.france@imapsfrance.org.
EMPC is Europe's premier conference planned every two years in a different European country by the local IMAPS chapter, bringing together specialists from industry and academia. The European Microelectronics and Packaging Conference & Exhibition, EMPC 2009, will be held in Rimini, Italy on June 15-18, 2009. EMPC 2009 addresses "everything in electronics between the chip and the system". The Technical Program Committee of EMPC 2009 invites you to send abstracts of original work describing recent developments in microelettronics technologies. The Call for Papers, exhibitors details and other information are available at www.empc2009.org.
The Second Quarter 2008 issue of the Journal of Microelectronics and Electronic Packaging is available on-line. Log-on to access the Journal.
The International Microelectronics and Packaging Society (IMAPS) is committed to the timely publication of the archival Journal of Microelectronics and Electronic Packaging. Today, the Journal draws papers from every corner of the world, and these papers are peer-reviewed by an editorial board composed of thirteen experts from six different countries. As part of that commitment, we are constantly working to strengthen this publication in terms of content and format.
As in the past, this publication is available to all IMAPS members via web access (http://www.imaps.org/jmep/index.htm), and for a nominal fee, members can elect to receive a hardcopy of these issues as well. In addition, previous issues and individual papers are also available online to members through the journal access link noted above, and to non-members through the iKnow Microelectronics™ database (http://www.imaps .org/imapsstore/default.aspx).


India has been one of the emerging markets to look out for in recent times. Having an economic size of US$2,090,706*, India continues to garner high expectations from the rest of the world.
Recent studies have shown India's GDP growth hitting 7.3% at the end of 2015 with expected 7.6% in 2016*. These figures put India's GDP growth rate ahead of Asia's economic giant, China.
Though there are much more environment and social reforms required of India, it is definitely a market to keep a close look out for emerging consumer trends.


text:
Now Reading: The Man in the Panama Hat
The Man in the Panama Hat
Gary A. Keith reclaims the legacy of Bob Eckhardt, the quixotic progressive.
Brant Bingamon Jan 11, 2008, 12:00 am CST
Bob Eckhardt, JFK and LBJ
Fellow eccentric Maury Maverick Jr. described Bob Eckhardt as "98 percent genius, 2 percent village idiot." Two percent is probably lowballing it, but none would dispute that Eckhardt was a remarkably perceptive guy, a populist politician with an amused mien, thick drawl, and naughty streak.
Eckhardt: There Once Was A Congressman from Texas is the first biography of the homegrown progressive since his death in 2001. Given the depth of research, it may be the last. The book counts as political science and Texas history. But its greatest accomplishment is reclaiming a crucial figure who is already fading from public memory. Gary A. Keith, a political scientist and assistant professor at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, has done posterity a favor.
"Bob Eckhardt was an intellectual giant who made an indelible mark on the work of the U.S. House Of Representatives during the 14 years he served in that great institution," former Vice President Al Gore writes in the book's foreword. "He was a Shakespeare-quoting, Renaissance man of high principles who had a lust for life that included a love affair with the Constitution and a consuming passion to craft legislation in the public interest."
For four decades-including stints in both the Texas House and U.S. House-Austin-born and bred Eckhardt was a leading figure among Texas progressives. He was also a character. His manner of expression was courtly and ornate. He collected obscure and lyrical turns of phrase, and worked them into his everyday speech. Chairing a subcommittee in the U.S. House, he declared, "Seniority is like a frigid, flirtatious shrew. When I was courting her, she made me miserable. Now that I have her, she gives me no satisfaction." During a debate in the Texas House over whether to delete information on parentage from birth certificates, he said, "I am not so much worried about the natural bastards of this state as the self-made ones."
Literate and droll as he was, he was also wild. Before ever meeting him, his third wife, Celia Morris, had observed the congressman eating at Scholz Garten in Austin, "cutting his bread with his pocketknife and plunging the bread into his gravy, swirling the bread around, then eating it with a look of immense satisfaction." Keith writes, "She was not amused." He describes Eckhardt's lifestyle when he was between wives: "The floor of his apartment was completely strewn with dirty clothes, books, and kitchen items. He would prop his typewriter on two empty whiskey cases close to the gas heater, typing away in a cold apartment." Apparently Eckhardt lived like this at the end of his days, when his supply of wives had been exhausted.
Then there is the matter of Eckhardt's style of dress, which was splendiferous. He was known, especially in later years, for wearing rumpled seersucker suits, gaudy bow ties, and large panama hats. Combining these with his long, thick, gray hair and blunt cigar, Bob Sherrill wrote that he had a "Spanish-moss quaintness and an elegant corniness that people tend to associate with Southern politicians."
As Keith says, the sort of guy you'd like to have a drink with.
Eckhardt was born in 1913 at 2300 Rio Grande in the heart of Austin's West Campus neighborhood. He descended from Prussian nobles who began homesteading the Hill Country in the mid-1800s. Like them, he was a romantic, a classicist, a progressive, an intellectual, and a believer in human rights and civil liberties. He also believed in having fun. As a boy, Eckhardt rode horses, drew on sidewalks with chalk rock, wrote poetry, and sculpted obscene body parts with Johnny Faulk and Jack Kellam from clay dredged from the banks of the Colorado River.
This carefree life stretched into high school and then into his studies at the University of Texas, where Eckhardt encountered a generation's worth of operators who would dominate Texas politics for 50 years. Amazingly, Creekmore Fath, Jake Pickle, John Connally, Allan Shivers, Bernard Rapoport, Tommy Sutherland, Fred Schmidt, Hector Garcia, Gus Garcia, Henry B. Gonzalez, D.B. Hardeman, and Stuart Long, were all his classmates at UT. Most became lifelong allies or adversaries. He couldn't help but get swept into politics, running and losing against Pickle for president of the student assembly.
During these years, Eckhardt added beautiful, strong-willed women to his interests. He met and wooed roommates Orissa Arend and Julya Thomson, falling in love with both. The former became his wife in 1942 and bore him two girls. The latter became his long-term lover. His refusal to give up the affair ended his marriage in 1961. Orissa, suffering from bipolar disorder, killed herself four years later. By then Eckhardt had broken off his relationship with Thomson and married Nadine Brammer, another beautiful, talented, and strong-willed woman, and the former wife of Billy Lee Brammer, author of The Gay Place and former Texas Observer editor. With her, he had another daughter and was a stepdad to Nadine's three kids from her marriage to Brammer.
Eckhardt came of age politically in the 1950s. The political junkie unfamiliar with this era of Texas history should read up-it's impossibly fascinating and perverted. The agreed-upon starting point is 1952, when Ralph Yarborough challenged Allan Shivers for governor. The story goes that Yarborough, the magnetic populist, bumped into Shivers in the Capitol and announced his plan to run for attorney general. Shivers, the establishment autocrat, informed him he need not file: A candidate had already been chosen. The incensed Yarborough filed in the governor's race instead.
That angry reaction began a six-year cycle of endless campaigning, not just for Yarborough, but for Eckhardt and the entire liberal wing of the Texas Democratic Party. Yarborough lost for governor in '52. Between '52 and '54 (governors served two-year terms then), he put enormous pressure on Shivers with nonstop crusading in every corner of the state. Eckhardt stumped right along with him.
Shivers responded with demagoguery. He declared his unalterable opposition to integration. He called a special session of the Legislature and pushed a series of bills that outlawed the Communist Party and mandated death for its members. He charged that Yarborough was controlled by unions and the NAACP, which in turn were controlled by communists. The smears culminated in the notorious "Port Arthur Story," a television spot created by Pickle that turned a labor strike in Port Arthur into a communist plot to destroy the town.
Businesses showed "Port Arthur Story" throughout the state and helped Shivers defeat Yarborough by a few thousand votes in the '54 primary. After the defeat, liberals decided they needed a statewide newspaper to deal with such situations. About 30 met at the Driskill Hotel in October. They decided to purchase The State Observer and install 24-year-old Ronnie Dugger as editor. Eckhardt drew up papers for the sale. Dugger, with Eckhardt's crucial backing, was granted complete editorial control. He renamed the paper The Texas Observer and turned to Eckhardt for artwork and cartoons.
Eckhardt had found expression for his creative side in various ways all his life. He'd executed murals and paintings during his years at UT and written poetry and journalism as well. Cartooning was his big thing, though. He'd drawn cartoons compulsively since childhood and published many anonymously in the '40's in The Texas Spectator, a precursor to the Observer. "He created logos for the various sections of the Observer, as well as a cartoon for its first issue: a man with a cane, top hat, long braid, and topcoat, saying, 'I do not agree with anything you say, and I will fight to the death your right to say it.'" Dugger was delighted. The two became close friends. Eckhardt drew nearly 100 cartoons for the Observer between 1954 and 1990.
In 1957, Yarborough and the liberal Democrats cashed in on six years of campaign frenzy. Yarborough was elected to the U.S. Senate. With liberal power cresting, Eckhardt jumped into a race for a state House seat from Houston. With his connections to labor and the contributions of longtime Yarborough operatives like Frankie Randolph, Eckhardt began a stretch of 22 consecutive years in public office. Eckhardt loved the work. Keith writes that he "would mull over the bills, listen to the debate, then go sit on the carpeted steps going up to the speaker's desk, scribble out an amendment, plop it on the desk, and wait his turn at the mike." With his friendly, accommodating style, even the segregationists liked him. And he understood not only how to write a bill to make it do what he intended, but how to move it through the sausage grinder.
His first success was the Open Beaches Act of 1959. As he prepared for his freshman term, the Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing beachfront landowners to drill for oil. Some owners thought the decision allowed them to fence their beaches. The ruling disturbed the Eckhardt family, which had for years frolicked on the Galveston beach.
The newly elected representative went into lawyer mode, researching common law. He sent editorials to newspapers. He did interviews. He talked to every member of the House and signed up more than half as co-sponsors of a bill to get the fences taken down. Keith writes, "They may not have known it, but those legislators were signing on not just to a bill to overturn Luttes [the ruling allowing fences], but also to a historical understanding and a legal philosophy that Eckhardt had coaxed from his studies." Eckhardt harmonized elements of Roman and Spanish law, old English law, and the practices of early Texas settlers to arrive at a notion of "the commons" as applied to Texas beaches.
Developers attacked. Even with public opinion overwhelmingly on his side, Eckhardt had to beat back amendment after amendment on narrow vote margins once the bill hit the floor. By reminding fellow legislators of the bill's support (and even dropping his usual decorum on occasion-he uncharacteristically threatened that he would "burn" a fellow congressman if he voted against the bill), he prevailed. In years since, the Open Beaches Act has served as a model for similar measures in California and Oregon. At the end of his legislative career, Eckhardt considered it his best bill.
Eckhardt served eight years in the Texas Capitol and then won a U.S. House seat. Over 14 years in Washington, he pursued the same interests he always had: fair taxing (he spent his life trying to tax the oil and gas industry), civil rights, consumer protection, and safeguarding the environment. His efforts helped clean up Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel, create the Big Thicket National Preserve, regulate toxic substances, improve automobile safety, and ensure the continuation of product safety regulation. Keith writes that "his fingerprints were all over the Alaska Lands Bill, Superfund, Clean Air Act, Securities Act, and Federal Trade Commission Warranty Act [and] he became the chief craftsman of the Toxic Substances Control Act."
As the years went by, Eckhardt focused more on policy and began getting mixed reviews on constituent service. He'd never been an enthusiastic or disciplined campaigner. He wrote that his supporters "demand that I demean myself. … They think, 'Yeah, he gets elected to that high and mighty office of representative, place 2, but look how silly he looks jumping up as high as he can with his shirttail hanging out, nailing a political placard out of reach; look at him with his pockets all bulging with stuff about himself, trudging through the supermarket parking area.' It's sort of like a fraternity initiation. When you've done enough demeaning exercises to hate yourself and everybody around you, they think you're fit for their company-and I suppose you are."
By 1980 only 28 percent of his constituents recognized his name. This, along with his unrelenting attacks on the oil and chemical industries, finally caught up with him. Big oil mobilized. The religious right, a new phenomenon, did so as well. Eckhardt's record of consecutive victories ended at 23. A new political age dawned.
He tried his hand at lobbying, but he'd had heart surgery in 1978 and hadn't been the same since. "His doctor told him to cut back his drinking to no more than one drink a day," writes Keith. "So, he would fill the tallest glass he had with his scotch or his wine and drink that one drink." Booze was blamed for a stroke in 1988 that temporarily stole the famed orator's power of speech. In retirement, Eckhardt liked to spend afternoons sipping whiskey in his backyard tree house. It's one of the places Keith visited him and saw that Eckhardt never gave up his whiskey.
Keith quotes Eckhardt extensively throughout the book. Reading those words creates a certain cognitive dissonance. It's taken for granted that politicians relentlessly focus on their work to the exclusion of a larger life. In Eckhardt's case, the politician never snuffed out the man. In his quotes, we encounter Eckhardt the artist, Eckhardt the lover, Eckhardt the craftsman, Eckhardt the philosopher. But the most disconcerting thing about his words is the vulnerability in them. After his 1958 campaign, he wrote that he'd blocked "that unguarded door of the imagination. I've blocked it in the campaign. I pass out these little cards and brochures and say 'good morning,' 'how are you today,' 'may I give you one of my folders,' 'thanks.' But the door leaks a little."
Brant Bingamon is a writer in Austin.
Molly Ivins on Carrying Texas
Texas Democrats, not having won since Jimmy Carter, are a little afraid to dream. by Molly Ivins
Molly Ivins Wrestles With the 'Infotainment' Industry
Professional wrestling (and isn't that a great oxymoron?) is our goal and role model. by Molly Ivins
Molly Ivins on Climate Change Deniers
"One theory of government is that it only reacts to a crisis; trouble comes when we cannot even agree on what a crisis is," Ivins wrote in a 1995 column about Congress' lukewarm response to the threat of global warming. by Molly Ivins

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Captured by the crew of Apollo 8 on December 24, 1968, Earthrise is one of the most iconic space photographs ever taken. The picture still evokes feelings of awe and wonder to those who see it 50 years later so imagine the flood of emotions the astronauts who viewed it first-hand experienced. In this short film, Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders reminisce about the day they witnessed the Earth emerge from behind the lunar horizon.
Natalie Portman channels her inner Gaga for her latest role. Directed by Brady Corbet, Portman plays a pop superstar named Celeste who can't seem to escape violence. The first half of the film centers around her younger years and rise to fame in 1999 while the second part jumps to 2017 where the singer is now a mother on the verge of a comeback. Also starring Jude Law, the film is slated for release December 7, 2018.
Ken Block's F-150 Hoonitruck
Ken Block knows cars. The star of the Gymkhana series has ran his wild creations from city streets to Pikes Peak, but one thing was missing — a truck. After two years in development, The Hoonitruck is ready to be unleashed on the streets.
October 19, 1987, was the day the 80s came apart. The roaring stock market crashed in the biggest single-day loss in Wall Street history, and entire fortunes were wiped out in the space of a few hours. But exactly how the crash started has been a mystery — until now. Starring Don Cheadle, Andrew Rannells, Regina Hall, and a Lamborghini limo, Black Monday is the story of how the roaring 80s came to a close.
In 1987, Senator Gary Hart announced his bid for the Democratic nomination for President, hoping to run the Republican nominee in the 1988 election. Hart looked to be the clear frontrunner for the nomination — and then allegations of an extra-marital affair began to surface. Not only did it completely derail Hart's political career, but also marked the beginning of American-style tabloid politics. Starring Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga, and J.K. Simmons, The Front Runner comes to theaters November 21, 2018


text:
White House: The 'American people love' Trump
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds the daily briefing at the White House, September 12, 2017.
At yesterday's White House press briefing, a reporter asked Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to clarify what, exactly, Donald Trump said at last week's meeting when he reportedly referred to "shithole countries." She conceded she wasn't in the room during the infamous discussion, though Sanders nevertheless bragged about the president not being "politically correct."
Sanders added, "I think that's one of the reasons the American people love him."
The American people do not, in fact, love him.
This is a record not to be coveted: Donald Trump is wrapping up a year in office with the lowest average approval rating of any elected president in his first year.That's according to polling by Gallup, which shows that Trump has averaged just a 39 percent approval rating since his inauguration. The previous low was held by Bill Clinton, whose first-year average stood 10 points higher than Trump's, at 49 percent.
The White House press secretary apparently isn't the only one who's confused about this. The president has also apparently convinced himself that he's wildly popular, boasting at a Jan. 6 press conference, "Hard to believe, my poll numbers have gone way up." In reality, it's "hard to believe" because it's not true: going from 37% to 39% is not "way up."
And yet, Trump seems determined to keep the charade going, even suggesting a few weeks ago that his support is effectively the same as Barack Obama's at this point in the Democrat's presidency -- despite the fact that this isn't even close to being true.
This week, however, the president took this line a bit further, boasting that his approval rating among African Americans has "doubled," which he sees as proof of ... something.
At least at first, I thought the claim might have been technically true, but misleading. If, for example, Trump's approval rating among African Americans had gone from 2% to 4%, it would be evidence of the original figure literally doubling, but it wouldn't be worth bragging about.
But as it turns out, the underlying claim, which the president apparently received from conservative media, isn't true: "Survey Monkey's results, provided to The New York Times, show that Mr. Trump's approval ratings among black Americans actually declined from 20 percent in February 2017, his first full month in office, to 15 percent in December. (This is consistent with polling from the Pew Research Center and Reuters.)"
The Washington Post had a related piece, explaining how conservative media manipulated the data in misleading ways.
At least at this point, Trump is not a popular president. The sooner Trump World and its allies recognize this reality, the sooner they can consider changes that might improve his woeful standing.


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According to "inside sources" reporting to Appletell, the Mac App Store may be opening as early as December 13th.
According to "inside sources" reporting to Appletell, the Mac App Store may be opening as early as December 13th. Appletell claims that Apple has told developers to have their Mac App Store software ready for launch by next Monday.
Though the stated opening of the Mac App Store was sometime in January, sources say that pressure to open the store before the holidays may be pushing the launch earlier. With a second beta of Mac OS X 10.6.6 being released to developers as well, the two may coincide.
"The Mac App Store is just like the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. So it's as easy to find and download Mac apps as it is to add your favorite magazine to iPad or a new game to iPod touch. You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music, and more. Or do a quick search for something specific. Read developer descriptions and user reviews. Flip through screenshots. When you find an app you like, click to buy it."
By streamlining the way Mac users buy and install their applications and games, Apple is creating an ecosystem that makes it easier for users to install Apps, thereby eliminating many of the issue we often find with installation of new software.
The Mac App Store should also provide an easier way for developers to stay in contact with their customers, provide support, get feedback, and create much-needed buzz. Just like your iOS device, you'll be able to keep all your Apps up-to-date, which should also eliminate many of the Mac OS X update issues with Apps that many developers and users face.
Only time will tell if the Mac App Store will release earlier than January, but I for one am excited either way. The easier it is to get great Apps on the Mac, the better the user (and developer) experience will be.
Will the Mac App Store make a big impact on the way Mac users get their applications? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!


The Bank of England topped up Governor Mervyn King's pension pot by £1.4m after deciding to award him an early payout in 2008.
The deal was settled shortly after Mr King negotiated a second five-year term at the Bank following a fraught reappointment process in the wake of the Northern Rock crisis. In his final 16 months as a member of the generous final-salary scheme, the Governor's pension pot grew by a third from £3.95m to £5.36m. By comparison, in the prior 12 months, it rose by £378,700.
The Bank could offer no explanation as to why the Court of the Bank decided to bring the Governor to full pension accrual before starting a second term, though it may have been for administrative purposes. Once he leaves the Bank, when his current term expires in 2013, he will be eligible to draw an annual pension equivalent to £198,200 today.
Questions about the Governor's pension have surfaced shortly after he warned that UK households face the most dramatic squeeze in living standards since the 1920s. In a speech last week, Mr King said disposable incomes will fall to 2005 levels as wages fail to keep pace with inflation and tax rises and benefit cuts bite.
The Bank revealed the Governor would receive a full annual retirement package of two-thirds final salary in the 2008 accounts, which said: "Mr King's pension is fully accrued at the end of his first term in June 2008".
However, having joined in March 1991, no explanation was provided as to why he qualified for full accrual three years early. The terms of the scheme for executive members of the Bank's Court state that directors have to work 20 years to earn the maximum annual payout.
On Monday, the Bank said that his pension had been augmented by the small package he had earned as an academic and the Court had decided to bring forward the scheme. Doing so meant he would receive his full payout whether or not he reached the nominal 20 years.
A spokesman said: "The Governor had accrued 17 years by 2008 and had also accrued over 20 years' contributions from his previous career as an academic. This was transferred into the Court scheme.
"The Court also brought forward remaining contributions to enable the pension to be fully accrued by the end of the Governor's first term rather than continuing contributions into his second term. As a result, the Governor has received no pension accrual in his second term."
Extrapolating from the accounts, the scheme appears to have been brought forward by about a year – though the Bank would not confirm the number.
In 2008 the Bank was also proposing to change pay structures for top staff. A report by consultancy Towers Perrin suggested rebalancing compensation so "in future a higher salary should be offered but lower pension benefits". It added: "Overall, these changes would be approximately cash neutral."
The remuneration committee wanted to adopt the changes but Mr King chose to keep his existing deal. He was paid a base salary of £302,885 last year, while the report recommended a starting salary of £375,000 to £400,000. The Bank offers senior directors one of the UK's most generous pension schemes. Executive members of the Bank's Court are entitled to an annual retirement package equivalent to two-thirds of their final salary after 20 years without making any contribution. The accounts state that the cost to the Bank is roughly equivalent to 70pc of salary.


The lines will be especially long for the High Holidays.
On a recent Friday morning, Seth Haberman pedaled from his Upper West Side home to Greenpoint to take advantage of New York's best unkept secret in noshing.
Outside of Acme Smoked Fish on Gem Street, he was arranging his $200 haul on his bike for the ride back to Manhattan: a pound and a half of sable, two pounds of David Burke pastrami smoked salmon, two pounds of lemon pepper smoked salmon, half a pound of Nova, a pound of hot smoked salmon, four pounds of cold smoked and hot smoked tuna, and two tubs of whitefish salad.
"It's like the answer to the question 'What do hipsters, Hasidim and Koreans have in common?' Fish Friday," says Haberman, 58, before taking off toward the Williamsburg Bridge with his bags balanced on the back of his bike.
Fish Friday became a tradition in the early 1980s at the fourth-generation family-run fish factory, located on Gem Street near Meserole Avenue since 1954.
People would come in to the wholesale operation "at every hour of the night and day and ask to buy a whitefish," according to Richard Schiff, vice president of Northeast sales for Acme.
In addition to the staples like cold smoked salmon, gravlax, sable, pastrami smoked salmon, kippered salmon, whitefish and packaged varieties of smoked fish, there are also Fish Friday specials which vary from week to week.
Customers come to the cash-only market for these offerings, as well as the substantial savings off the retail price of smoked fish.
A man who gave his name only as Moishe has been coming to Fish Friday every week for 25 years from his home in Brighton Beach. He was snacking on smoked salmon trimmings ($4 a pound), which will become a salmon salad when he gets home, as he was placing his order.
Lori Oppenheimer and her husband Peter, come from Great Neck, Long Island, for Fish Friday three or four times a year.
They left with two big plastic bags in hand.
Of course, Acme's operation goes beyond its wholesale outlet. The 60,000-foot factory, along with other Acme plants in North Carolina and Florida, process an astronomical 11 million pounds of smoked fish a year, available at supermarkets across the country.
It's a long way from when the company was first founded in 1906 by Harry Brownstein, who worked as a "jobber," delivering smoked fish purchased from local smokehouses by horse-drawn wagon to local appetizing shops.
Despite being more than 100 years old, Acme keeps developing unique flavors, in addition to its traditional smoked fish, like its BBQ smoked salmon and maple hot smoked salmon (both of which this year won SOFI awards, for "specialty outstanding food innovation," from the Specialty Food Association).
"Acme has grown with the tastes of the country and the tastes of the world by adding flavors to traditional smoked salmon that are sometimes unexpected, sometimes unique, sometimes chef-driven," Schiff says.
No matter the flavor, it all starts with the whole fish. Inside the factory, workers wearing hair and beard nets, gloves, high rubber boots and white coats take giant, 30-pound Norwegian salmon and prepare them to be turned into kippered salmon. With surgical precision, they filet, debone and cut it up before it is smoked.
The company makes lox (salt-cured salmon that isn't smoked), but it accounts for "less than 1 percent of the 11 million pounds a year we produce," Schiff says.
Smoked salmon, whether it comes from Norway, Scotland, Chile or Canada, is made by mildly curing salmon for a week, then cold smoking for around 18 hours before it's sliced.
The demand is greater than ever, Schiff says.
For the upcoming Jewish High Holidays, people will queue up an hour before the 8 a.m. opening of the factory store. Specials for the holy days will include several experimental tastes cooked up by Fish Friday maven Gary Brownstein, a production manager who is in charge of the slicing department.
For Sept. 7, before the start of Rosh Hashanah, Brownstein's special will be a "Summer Harvest Poke," which includes smoked salmon, New Jersey corn, tomatoes, avocados and mangoes ($22/pound).
Then on Sept. 14, a few days before the start of Yom Kippur, his special will be a Thai chili cold smoked salmon and a Thai chili hot smoked salmon ($22/pound).


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I went in with an inkling of the eclectic multimedia style of Jackdaw With Crowbar, but what the artists created on stage and with the audience was what can only be described as surreal. And theatrical, danceable, entertaining, original, massively prepared, funny, political, engaging, insightful, weird, random, scathing, observant, and awash with imagery. Godzilla carried a huge bomb into the audience and died, poetry was belted out as social and political commentary to an ever-changing electronica / guitar backing, all this to a backdrop of thousands of images of human endeavor and folly, and films flying through galaxies, the whole integrated mass of voice, words, acting, music, costumes and film was extraordinary.
And this was just the first act of three that evening. The later acts (Lucy Leave and Father Murphy) carried the eclectic banner to extremes. I left the bar with mind intact, but expanded.


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text:
"Détonations et folie", a collection of short stories by LISS (KIHINDOU)
Paris: L'Harmattan, 2007. (140p.).
ISBN: 978-2-296-04312-1.
Book review by Jean-Marie Volet — November 2014
Over the decades, the Republic of the Congo has been marred by many coups d'etat and civil wars. These turbulent events have led to unrestrained abuse of the local population. Détonations et folie by Liss Kihindou evokes such tragedy during the war of 1997-1998, the anguish of the victims and the long term sequelae on ordinary citizens subjected to both the violence of the militia and the exactions of the looters.
For all the attachment of the Congolese people to their homeland, way of life, celebrated music and flourishing literature, there is also lingering anguish among the population, as many victims of the war are still grieving over irremediable losses: the demise of parents and friends, the loss of dignity, of work and material possessions. The first lines of the volume's dedication expresses well these harrowing experiences.
To all those
Whose heads are still full of the unbearable noise of the detonations
Whose eyes straining to see anything
Through the fog of the present
Had to paint the future
With the only colours they had
The pallid yellow
Of feeble hope
And the burning red
Of the blood of their lost parents and friends (p.7).
Bereaved of loved ones, many people had also to face starting again from nothing upon returning to their looted homes: the story of the unfortunate family losing everything, down to their last dinner-plate and saucepan, just nine months after suffering a similar plight, is evocative of a predicament common to thousands. Umpteen had to seek refuge with parents in different suburbs or towns, others in the countryside, living off the generosity of local farmers; and those who fled overseas had little hope of a quick return home.
The mood prevailing in the country as the conflict ended was indeed sombre but, as the second part of the dedication posits, while it was difficult to guess what tomorrow held in store, everyone had to give the future a go. Fear and despair could not be brushed aside, but an indomitable yet painful belief in life, peace and freedom helped people to move on. Despondency and hope dominated the aftermath of the conflict and they were also the forces that drove people's deportment when the war erupted.
These competing impulses lie at the centre of this collection of stories which relates war experience from the perspectives of different people confronted by similar adversities: contradictory rumours, fighting nearing their home and the terrifying noise of heavy-artillery-fire that leaves little choice but to flee for one's life. And the roadblocks that are popping up everywhere, controlled by armed gangs, make the dreadful situation that befell innocent civilians even worse.
No-one seems to know exactly what sparked the war, but "the only thing clear to all is that the Lumoso is now the Lubakala's worst enemy, and vice versa" (p. 111). Hatred is ferocious and people's origin often decides if someone will live or be molested – or even killed – depending on the faction one encounters along the arduous road to exile. Nobody is safe, and the author provides invaluable insight into the mind and attitude of individuals confronted by the savagery of men who have been granted unlimited power over their country's folk, including the right to rape, maim, abduct and kill at will; men who see themselves as the "Masters of the world" (p.43). What should one do, or rather will do when neighbours begin to flee? when thugs seize one's daughter to gang rape her? when one's father dies after a severe beating or a summary execution? when everywhere death looks one in the eye?
The range of situations and characters proposed to the readers in answer to these questions, and more, have been well chosen. As a whole, the ten short stories testify to behaviours that run the gamut from bravery to craven abdication of morality. There are people fleeing at the first sign of conflict and others who, refusing to be pawns in the hands of rabble-rousers, try to stay home – often with deadly consequences; those who deal as best they can with the pounding of their neighbourhood by rockets, lack of water, electricity and food, not to mention the threats of competing militias. There are teachers of different ethnic origins banding together to protect their schools. There are mothers and fathers, begging on their knees for the release of their children and braving the deadly fury of roadblocks, rapists and molesters; girls clenching their teeth and submitting to their fate to save their parents; individuals putting their life on the line to help family and friends to get some food or accommodation.
Bravery is everywhere to see, but so too despicable crimes by sinister malefactors, ranging from the drugged militia-men to the unscrupulous looters; from the pastor calling his flock to support one side of the war from the pulpit to "the crooks who decided to disturb the people by the spectacle of war in order to arrogate, surreptitiously, their property" (p.78). The author does not dwell on these faceless people pulling the strings from afar, as her concern is for the ordinary person on the ground. She is interested in the victims, the strongest as well as the weakest, the good hearted and the wastrels, the ones destroyed by drugs and those just determined, strong-willed and resourceful.
Many men would fit this last category, but Détonations et folie suggests that, on balance, far more women do. People like Mayele-Esili, the self-made business-woman who runs her life as she pleases, who managed to cut her losses during the previous war and is not prepared to lose it all this time around. Her occasional lovers and influential friends in the army are nowhere to be seen; but despite her lack of male protection, she keeps a cool head and plans carefully her flight from turmoil, devising the best ways to outwit the unavoidable thugs erecting roadblocks. The same strength and determination drives the teenager who decides to treat her family to a proper meal while severe food shortages have left everyone famished. So too the single mother who decides to stay in her house because "whatever one does, one has to be consistent with oneself" (p.100); and her gut feeling tells her that the time to leave has not come.
The attitude of these female characters is interesting as it suggests that the proverbial "courage" of the African woman who grins and bears it in the face of adversity has been superseded by a new, self-confident persona; one who no longer doubts her own ability to take charge, acts resolutely in trying circumstances and changes the world around her. The young mother who takes charge of her infant children after her husband was shot dead in cold blood in front of her family is another case in point. When she advises her in-laws of her decision to leave them, declaring: "I lost my spouse but I do not propose to lose any of my children. The blood of my husband is quite enough" (p.132); she is asking permission from no-one and takes full responsibility for her action.
The majority of the short-stories of the volume are told by insiders whose first person reporting rings so true that readers will quickly forget that they have a book of fiction in their hand. But have they? Obviously, characters, names and situations came out from the author's creative power; but beyond the nuts and bolts of the narrative that successfully blends the ten short stories in a reader-friendly and coherent whole, the volume proposes, without question, a sensitive, compassionate and genuine testimony to the resilience and human endurance of the Congolese population during the 1997 civil war that ravaged the author's home-land.
A statement printed on the back-cover reads: "In many countries, people have been confronted by the critical vicissitudes and violence of civil war. Nothing will ever be the same for them. All will have to contend with the fear of the hatchet re-emerging. And when it is brandished, no one knows exactly what one will be forced to endure". Liss Kihindou's short stories put flesh on the bones of the dry news reporting on military engagements whose ultimate goal always remains evasive, local casualties ignored, innocent victims considered mere "collateral damage", and droves of hapless civilians sent away on a hellish road to nowhere. In bearing witness to the hardships endured by her compatriots almost two decades ago, the author also gives a voice to today's unfortunate people engulfed by civil war the world over: people unable to find a safe haven, either at home or beyond the borders of their native land, and longing for "a little piece of the Earth where they can find peace and unload their fears" (back cover).
A fine collection highly recommended.
Created: 4-November-2014.
https://aflit.arts.uwa.edu.au/revieweng_liss14.html


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Last week, I turned the television off for three days. I wasn't upset with the results of the election. I wasn't busy with work or wearied by reality program or the shocking gratuitous content of much prime time scripted programming. Rather, I just couldn't take one more ad hominem attack from the left or from the right in the latest evolution of cable television news: the angry politically partisan host.
Several months ago, Paula Zahn left cable news before the end of her contract. She stated that her ratings had fallen; audiences seemed to be looking for subjective, angry hosts, and she was committed to journalistic objectivity. What a quaint notion.
These days Hannity rudely interrupts guests, refusing to let anyone except those espousing his own point of view finish his or her line of thought. His questioning is agressive and abusive, slanted toward reaching a pre-determined conclusion. He is not interested in any kind of honest examination of the issues, and he does not espouse an open spirit geared toward discovery of a new idea or solution.
Lest the democrats get too smug, trust me when I tell you Keith Olbermann is just as bad. The superiority he radiates in his "Worst Person in the World" segment is staggering. So obnoxious has he become that he was actually spoofed by an avid democrat (Ben Affleck) on SNL. In the sketch, "Keith" was dishonest, hyperbolic, disrespectful, and arrogant - not too far from the real man.
I guess I blame Crossfire. This CNN news show from the 1980s used to give me indigestion. My family watched it during dinner until I finally resorted to turning off the television or changing the channel to MASH reruns. Featuring a round table of republicans and democrats shouting at each other, this show ushered in the argumentative, opinionated, and obnoxious cable news show - now on "art" form.
Olbermann and Hannity feed on hostility and insults. They are offensive, even repulsive. I am very sorry to see civility gone from cable news.
Where is Paula Zahn and those like her?


You might have heard about the famous Goan Prawns Curry right? Well, did you know that our famous Goan Prawns Curry has different versions? We make it by adding raw mangoes, bilimbi, hog-plums, lady fingers, etc. We also make it with or without onion. Today's recipe is another version of Goan Prawns Curry i.e. Goan Prawns Curry with Ladyfingers or bhendi.
Fish is found in abundance in Goa. Almost every day we Goans eat fish for lunch. Fish is not just delicious, but is also very good for health as it is rich in omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D3. The other day I one of my friend told me that he had yummy fish thali in Goa and that too just for Rs.150/-. Believe me friends, if you visit Goa, do eat the fish thali to enjoy the traditional Goan meal.
Serve the Goan Prawns Curry with steamed rice, mackerel uddamethi, prawns balchao, fried kingfish, dry prawns kishmoor, val papdichi bhaji, salad and sol kadi to make a nice and delicious Goan thali. Children love this Prawns curry. It is mildly spiced unlike the other fish curries which are flavored with Sichuan pepper.
This prawns curry is made with freshly grated coconut and fresh spices. The spices are added to the coconut while grinding. No garam masala is added to this curry. Also note, we don't add kokum, ginger and garlic to this Goan Prawns Curry. However, people of other communities add kokum and their style and method of preparation differs. The curry turns tastier if small prawns are added to this instead of tiger prawns.
De-shell the prawns. Remove the thick black thread that is there in the middle of the Prawns back. This is also known as back-bone.
Apply the turmeric powder, chili powder and salt. Leave this for minimum 30 Minutes. If you want to marinate for longer time, then keep the marinated prawns in refrigerator.
Grind, grated coconut, turmeric powder, tamarind, peppercorns, coriander and red chillies. After grinding the gravy is ready. We will cook prawns in this gravy.
In a kadai, add 1/4 cup water, marinated prawns and chopped lady fingers. Add 2 tablespoon ground gravy to this. Let it cook for 10 minutes.
Let it get cooked for another 10 minutes Switch of the gas.
Now in a tadka/seasoning pan, add oil preferably coconut oil. Once the oil gets heated add chopped onion and fry till it gets burnt. After onion gets bit burnt, give a tadka of burnt onion to the gravy and close the lid.
Add salt to taste. Remember that the prawns were marinated with salt. So add only 1/4 teaspoon salt first. Taste and add more if needed.
Note: The gravy should neither be too thick nor too thin.
Also check out Top 10 Goan fish curry recipes.


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Published June 18, 2018 at 08:01PM / Updated June 18, 2018 at 10:11PM
Oregon cancels state games
2015 Special Olympics World Games medals (AP photo/Damian Dovarganes) - Bulletin
2015 Special Olympics World Games medals (AP photo/Damian Dovarganes) 7550683
PORTLAND — Special Olympics Oregon announced Monday it is canceling next month's state competition because of financial problems.
The organization said in a news release that the decision was made after an internal financial review that occurred after the hiring of a new chief executive officer and chief financial officer. The organization said it will instead focus on local programs.
"We have searched for every possible scenario that paints a better picture, but this is where we are," said CEO Britt Carlson Oase, who took over on June 1.
Though the state games have been canceled, a delegation of 44 athletes will still travel to Seattle early next month to compete in the 2018 USA Games. Those games occur every four years.
The Portland Business Journal reported that Special Olympics Oregon lost $325,000 on $4.5 million in revenue in 2016, the most recent annual report made public.
In its release, Special Olympics Oregon said it has taken immediate steps to organize financial records and establish a financial plan. The organization said it plans to reduce expenses, cut staff and find ways to boost revenue.
The organization said its financial review showed an overstatement of money owed to Special Olympics Oregon, specifically what is collectible in the current fiscal year. Coupled with existing debt, there is limited cash to pay vendors for the infrastructure needed to produce the state games.
"While I was looking forward to meeting our athletes, volunteers and supporters at the Summer Games, I'll instead be making visits to the many communities and local programs to listen, learn and share our vision," Oase said. "This will be a collaborative effort."
Last November, Special Olympics Oregon announced the suspension of its annual snow sports Winter Games, which had been held at Mt. Bachelor ski area since the early 1990s.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Bite of Oregon, an annual food festival and Special Olympics Oregon fundraiser, has also gone on hiatus for 2018.
Special Olympics Oregon serves more than 14,000 participants with intellectual disabilities. About 1,500 had been expected to take part in the state competition.
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Headley has a one-time assignment bonus of $1M if traded, in addition to his $13MM 2018 salary, which is why the Yankees agreed to pay half of it, $500K.
Technically, doesn't that mean the Padres on the hook for $13.5MM, not $12.5M, Connor?
They're better than they were.
If the Angels want to make a serious championship run, then they are going to HAVE TO prepare for injuries. It is terribly unfortunate, but if there is one team that almost has as much bad luck as the Mets, with injuries to their talented pitchers, it's the Angels.
And what exactly are the Cubs getting back for a cheap, controllable pitcher who is 3 years from FA? The Cubs are legitimate WS contenders. They, too, need to be prepared for injuries and Montgomery is a huge part of that preparation.
Everyone has to prepare for their starters getting injured. Not only the Angels and the Mats. Look at Seattle and the Yankees. Seattle had all but one SP on the DL. NY had CC, Tanaka, Pineda and more. Everyone's worst case and most likely scenario is that 1 or 2 of your starters are going to make a visit to the DL. It an obvious and I'm sure they have a game plan just like anyone else in the Majors.
The Angels Staters were 6th in ERA last year. Not "crap". If they stay healthy and with the addition of 150 innings of Ohtani, they can be much much better.
Ohtani, and Richards are all close to top of the rotation starters and last year they combined for 28 innings for this team. Naturally Ohtani was not here, but they plan is for them to add close to 300 innings to that 28 innings. I'm not worried about the starters all that much.
Not sure LAA has enough quality prospects to acquire Machado.
What's with these teams and their infatuation with Chase Headley?
Guy has been average, at best, as a hitter for the last 5 years and was well in the negative in runs saved as a defender last year.
He was awesome after the Yankees moved him to first base. I think teams are banking on him finding his groove from last season.
This may be almost as great as their Pujols acquisition.
Ha! The Angels are building a dream team from 2012.
No Headley! No! Just No!
Maybe that Cubs guy was right when he said they've also gotten Cozart to play 3rd and were just waiting for this trade to be final. We shall see.
I would go upvote every single comment he's ever posted.
Has to be a Padres player. 4 players who can play the position, Solarte, Spangy, Asuaje, and Headley.
Have to imagine it's Headley though.
And Luis Urias on the way, too many 2B/3B options.
If this is their answer for third they better be getting some pitching.
I thought Dipoto left LA?
Headley has made millions his entire career off of one season. He must be a great teammate and an awesome man cause he isn't a very good player any more.
Except that he signed a 4-year deal coming off a .243 season.
Because apparently that 2nd half in 2012 didn't help his free agency stock at all.
I remember that 2012 season when people thought Headley was on the brink of becoming a star. The Padres dodged a bullet in not extending him.
Very true very true, just like the Mariners who made trades left and right.
Where's the pitching acquisitions. Pitching is the need for this team. One Ohtani doesn't solve all.
Kinsler is actually a good defender though.
Good pickup for the Angels, Headly has been roughly a 2 war player, compare to the .4 war player they gave in Escobar.
89 Wins in 2012. Best Recod in Baseball in 2014. 85 wins in 2015.
Their pitching can't stay healthy. The team hasn't been bad. Not great. But not bad.
Is Headley confirmed? Would think they would go after Frazier, buddy of Trout's. Could use another lhh in lineup but not the biggest deal.
It's only one year.. WHICH IS A PLUS PLUS PLUS. He gets on base and not giving Valbuena full time play is a good deal. It give the Angles flexibility late in games when Pujols comes out. It's a nice move.
That said… GET RELIEF PITCHES. The Angels are going a six man staff. There staff goes 7 or 8 deep. It's all about health. I wouldn't mind another starter, but I really want Relief Pitchers.
Mets make sense for Headley. If Padres can move even half Headley's salary Montgomery will be a good buy for them. Six years (five? ) if an average starter. That's worth a lot.
That's very optimistic. I guess if they have roster space it's worth the lottery ticket. Seems like they basically got a rule 5 player without going through the rule 5 draft.
Padres have payroll flexibility. They gave up essentially nothing to get Headley and Mitchell.
Now if they eat a significant portion of Headley's contract they can probably get some value in return for him. Looks like they're basically just trying to buy players at this point.
Would prefer Moustakas. Need a legitimate left handed power hitter. He just turned 29 has 3 to 4 years left in his prime. Would give the Angels more balance. Because I have the feeling that they will be in the market for a second basemen by June again.
Huh? Whats wrong with Kinsler?
He is going to be 36 next season. He just put up worse numbers than Pujols. And people think a 230 hitter is going to be the lead off hitter.
When anyone talks batting average I realize they don't know much about the game today.
Kinsler is a one year contract. Was a six WAR player three years in a row then had a two+ WAR last year. Ausmus managed him, so he must think there is much in the tank. HUGE improvement over last year. Very nice addition with the potential of being a great addition. It's one year.
Moustakas cant get on base, cant play defense and the Angels would have to give up a draft pick and lock him in long term for a lot of money. I much prefer this.
PS. Headly had the same WAR last year.
Moustakas is a bad idea, no matter how many times you post it.
If he is truly "in his prime", then that's unfortunate for him—his defensive skills are average at best. It's true his HR total for 2017 was almost 2x his best year, but there are a lot of players who can make that statement after last season. That suggests the ball was juiced, which means his true skill set may be a low 20s HR/low .400s SLG if the ball specs revert to pre-2017 standards. Mike Schmidt, he ain't.
He will cost some team $18M to $22M per season, for a guaranteed 5 or more seasons. That team should not be the Angels, ever.
Can someone check to make sure that Dipoto didn't somehow sneak back into the Angels front office?
It's about time me Moreno, get something going or trout will.
Although the padres and athletics have been been linked to several big names during the offseason and the White Sox are trying to develop their young talent. Lol.
You're wrong if you don't think the Angels have pitching.. Dead Wrong.. Everyone got hurt last year. They basically added Five Starting pitchers AND they were 6th in starting pitcher ERA last year. There is a lot of upside on that staff. A lot. And they were better than average with EVERYTHING going wrong.
You forgot Ramirez. . The Angels are going to have a six man rotation. The Staff is 8 deep. If they want to add a Starting Pitcher, I'm OK with that. But I can live with that.
I would much rather add 3 bullpen guys. .
Kinda wish you were mute.
Wonder if the angels would be willing to just take him and pay his salary? Judging by the last trade he must have negative trade value right?
That move was a direct result of the Stanton acquisition and the Yankees need to stay under the luxury tax threshold. They needed to unload salary to make some room for other pieces.
To other teams with payroll flexibility, the remaining 12.5M he's owed is basically market value for a roughly 2 war, league average player like he is. I'd say that makes his trade value more in the zero to slightly positive range rather than negative. If the Padres eat a chunk of the contract I think he can return something if value.
Well, it's not like J-Upton wasn't a good player, or Kimbrel. They just sucked w the Padres and didn't gel. Melvin Upton was even a decent player. Norris was a bust, but was an all star the previous year. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but it was the most excited Padre fans had been in a while. Now we rebuild, and it's going pretty well so far.
How about Preller trades the healthy Headley for the injured Ohtani to make up for the medical records snafu from last year?
The angels are going to be just fine.Epler is doing a great job so far this winter.I'm sure he's going for more pitching.don't forget Cowert he's really a 3rd basemen and he's has a lot of power he's still needs more at bats at a Major league level have you seen how far he can hit the ball??? Bunch of dummies on this post. Lol!!!
I think mlb needs to change the regular season end date to August 31st and start the playoffs on September 1st NCAA tournament style. Astros against the Marlins start it off in 9 1/2 months with a best of 5. Let's add some real drama. Otherwise I can guarantee you right now that the Angels will not make the playoffs in 2018. I am a fan, just being realistic.


Items where Author is "Arias Pérez, Víctor Antonio"
Carrillo Santos, William Amilcar and Arias Pérez, Víctor Antonio and Ramírez Cruz, Allan Adonai (2014) To what extent classroom teacher's methodology promotes effective classroom discussion for students on the Advanced English level XVII from CENIUES at the University of El Salvador. Bachelor thesis, Universidad de El Salvador.
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Better lung function may protect against coronary artery disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes
Kanas Chan
A study by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has revealed a causal link between better lung function and reduced risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
As one of the first and largest studies assessing the causal relationship between lung function and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and T2DM using Mendelian randomization, this study showed that each standard deviation (SD) increase in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) was associated with a CAD risk reduction of 28 percent (odds ratio [OR], 0.72; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.63 to 0.82) and 30 percent (OR, 0.70; 95 percent CI, 0.62 to 0.78), respectively. [Thorax 2021;doi:10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-215600]
The risk of overall stroke was also reduced, by 13 percent (OR, 0.87; 95 percent CI, 0.77 to 0.97) for each SD increase in FEV1 and by 10 percent (OR, 0.90; 95 percent CI, 0.82 to 1.00) for each SD increase in FVC, with similar risk reductions observed with some stroke subtypes.
Higher FEV1 was associated with lower risk of ischaemic stroke (OR per SD increase, 0.87; 95 percent CI, 0.77 to 0.99), small vessel stroke (OR per SD increase, 0.78; 95 percent CI, 0.61 to 1.00), and large artery stroke (OR per SD increase, 0.69; 95 percent CI, 0.54 to 0.89). Similar associations were seen between FVC and these stroke subtypes.
FEV1 and FVC were also inversely associated with T2DM (OR per SD increase in FEV1, 0.75; 95 percent CI, 0.62 to 0.90) (OR per SD increase in FVC, 0.67; 95 percent CI, 0.58 to 0.79).
"In previous observational studies, lung function was found to be inversely associated with CVD. However, these associations could be confounded by factors such as smoking, physical activity and height," the researchers noted.
Using Mendelian randomization, the researchers extracted genetic variants related to the lung function parameters of FEV1 and FVC from UK Biobank (n=421,986) and applied them to large genome-wide association studies (n≤1,030,836) to assess their relationship with CVD and T2DM.
Mendelian randomization is less likely to be affected by confounding factors than observational studies because it uses genetic variants related to exposures that are randomly allocated during conception.
"Our study highlights the role of lung function in maintaining good cardiovascular health, using a less biased design," said first author, Dr Ryan Shiu-Lun Au Yeung of the School of Public Health, HKU.
From a clinical perspective, results of the study support interventions that improve lung function, such as smoking cessation and increased physical activities, to prevent CAD, stroke and T2DM. It also demonstrates the importance of big data in helping researchers understand the causes of diseases.
However, this study used databases that were predominantly derived from European population. According to the researchers, a biobank specific for Asians is crucial to provide evidence for Asian populations.
"This is particularly important because some diseases, such as haemorrhagic stroke and nasopharyngeal cancer, are more common in Asian populations. As such, it would be better to study the causes of these diseases using Asian databases," Au Yeung added.
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Singer/composer/ace cellist Ayanna's EP "Truthfully" (AWJ001) is simply sumptuous and gorgeous. It somehow operates in the territory beyond jazz and soul, where beautiful music is just that… beautiful music.
"Powerful, poignant, music of great integrity. Highly recommended."
Powerful, poignant, music of great integrity. Highly recommended. The liner notes explain that "Truthfully" expresses her "experience as a 21st Century woman, drawing upon the stories of Sojourner Truth, personal relationships, female experiences and hope as inspiration". However, if you are a bloke reading this, don't let that put you off, honestly, there's a lot to take in here and it's well worth the listening.
The five track EP (four written by Ayanna herself) contains her skin-tinglingly idiosyncratic version of "Roxanne" (yes, that one!) reborn as a tango-nuanced, cello-driven, portion of perfection. I'm really feeling this version - it could have been written just for her.
"Slow, majestic and full of power"
Ain't I A Woman - is a paeon to the strength of women told from the point of view of a slave. Slow, majestic and full of power, this track is, for me at least, the spiritual lodestone of the EP. What's particularly magic is the arrangement - I've never heard a single pause used to such shocking yet perfect effect to support a lyric. Very impressive.
"elastic bass tones and timbres throbbing and oozing"
Give In To Sin - Simplicity itself on the one hand, but richness in abundance on the other - the rollicking percussive effects, the elastic bass tones and timbres throbbing and oozing, soulful trancelike lyrics endlessly repeated yet sung with the heart on a sleeve: "You composed the hymn that holds us in, but I'm still inclined to give in to sin".
Let Me Go - is a midnight soul-jazz piece - a cry to an ex-lover for understanding and release, as she grows and moves on. The piano (tasty guest spot by Robert Mitchell) is more at the forefront here stabbing and punctuating the lyrics over the plucked cello's restless bass-lines.
"a slice of nu-soul heaven"
Truthfully - the title track is another slice of nu-soul heaven. The nearest I can get to it in overall feel is John Legend, although of course it's pure Ayanna at heart as she delivers a vocals-and-piano pairing with a lightness of touch that just hits home.
"Catch her while you can"
And if all that doesn't sell it to you then check out my review of her recent concert at Birmingham Town Hall (http://www.worldmusic.co.uk/ayanna) to get the vibe of Ayanna's live show.


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Documentary planned for Dolores River
DS - News
Film crews will travel 200 miles of the river
By Jim Mimiaga Journal Staff Writer
Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2014 8:51 PM
Native fish on the Lower Dolores River use deep pools like this one to seek refuge during drought.
Jim Mimiaga/Cortez Journal
Canoers marvel at the sights on the Lower Dolores River. A documentary film is planned for the river.
Rig to Flip, a river documentary producer, is planning a film on the Dolores River.
In 2015, film crews will travel the Dolores from its headwaters at Lizard Head Pass to its confluence with the Colorado River 200 miles later.
"We choose rivers with a rich story to tell," said filmmaker Cody Perry in an interview. "The natural beauty, history and current issues of the Dolores River are fascinating."
The fact that a whitewater release from McPhee dam into the lower Dolores River has not happened since 2011, does not deter Perry.
"I'll walk the river if I have to," he said, adding that even in dry years sections of river are consistently reliable for boating. During spring snowmelt a 40-mile stretch above the town of Dolores flows well, as does the lower Dolores from the confluence of the San Miguel River to the Colorado River.
The dynamics between different users of the Dolores River can be controversial, and reporting on diverse interests is part of the story, Cody says. But Rig to Flip docs avoid solely focusing on a particular viewpoint.
"It will be an honest reflection of a natural resource and the way it fits into the lives of community members in different ways," Perry says.
Life before and after the dam interests the filmmakers, as does the economic benefits of irrigation farming and river recreation.
Perry, of Steamboat, has a background in outdoor education, ranching, and river running.
"I look forward to exploring the river, meeting the ag community, and further defining how use of the river has changed and influenced people over generations," he said.
Perry and his small film crew will be at the second annual river permit party on the evening of Jan. 16 at the Dolores Community Center. The event and pending documentary are being sponsored by the Dolores River Boating Advocates.
DRBA was awarded a $12,000 grant from Patagonia for the film. But an additional $5,000 to $10,000 will have to be raised to finish the documentary, said DRBA coordinator LeeAnn Hill.
"It is our first documentary so we are learning that it cost more than we thought," she said. "The Dolores is a complex system, and we want to present the different aspects in the film and highlight the joy of boating the canyons."
"Rig to Flip" refers to a boater's mantra to insure beer coolers and camping gear stay firmly attached to the boat during a wipe-out.
The new documentary company recently released a documentary on the Yampa River.
"Warm Springs" documents the natural disaster in 1965 that created a massive new rapid on the Yampa. A rockslide suddenly changed the river, catching river runners by surprise and causing a fatality. It can viewed at http://vimeo.com/109045576 and will be shown at the permit party.
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com
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