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June 24th, 2017 | 9:10AM | By Megan Cooper
Tonight's Concert Picks: Palm at PhilaMOCA, OhBree at Johnny Brenda's, Family Volleyball at Ortlieb's, and more
Palm | Photo courtesy of the artist
Indie four-piece Palm recently debuted their new "candy-coated dissonance" of an EP, titled Shadow Expert. With wonderfully erratic rhythms, these new tunes are a refreshing beauty to behold. And tonight they'll be bringing this perfect deconstruction of sound to PhilaMOCA. Find more info on the show here, and stream Shadow Expert below. Continue reading →
April 11th, 2017 | 10:03AM | By Chris DeFlitch
OhBree brings back their fun-loving large indie with new single "Tiny Tethers"
OhBree | courtesy of the artist | Photo by Emily Dubin
Eight piece (yes, eight) band OhBree released their first single from their new record Burn Bridges, Burn Pies through Substream Magazine."Tiny Tethers" follows fictional rivals Olsson and Edward, a pair of characters dreamt up on the band's debut We Miss You Edward, Come Home, and their violent cat-and-mouse relationship. The massive lineup adds piano, brass, and fun-ass hooks to a whimsical Never Shout Never style of indie, and while the song is a true "what the hell are you doing to me" type of ballad, it never takes itself too seriously, creating one of the most unconventional tracks of the month. And holy crap I love it. Listen below, and look for Burn Bridges, Burn Pies when it releases on May 19th. Continue reading →
March 14th, 2016 | 10:37AM | By Skye Leppo
3rd Planet Festival: Remembering Emily Selke
Emily Selke flashes a smile at Park Güell in Barcelona | photo courtesy of 3rd Planet Festival
*Author's disclaimer: The writer of this article is close friends with one of 3rd Planet Festival's organizers, but reporting from The Key remains objective, as always.
On the heels of the one year anniversary of 22-year-old Emily Selke's death, her loved ones are celebrating her joy in a way Emily would have seen fit: through music – a whole day of it. This month's 3rd Planet Festival at World Cafe Live brings to life the passion Emily so embodied and shared with everyone she met.
The Drexel Music Industry Program grad, whose focus was on festival curation, was aboard Germanwings Flight 9525 with her mother Yvonne Selke and 142 other passengers last March when the aircraft crashed in the French Alps.
"When they had her memorial service finally, it was religious oriented and the minister was saying a whole lot about Yvonne and how she attended church all the time, and was very active in it, but he didn't mention Emily much at all," said Ashley Kuhn, a close friend of Emily's who's been spearheading efforts for 3rd Planet. "It was healing for people who knew Yvonne, but it didn't feel fitting for her [Emily's] life." Continue reading →
March 10th, 2016 | 4:44PM | By Tyler Asay
That's Life: Stream OhBree's manic new EP, Feed Me Poison
OhBree | photo by Emily Dubin | courtesy of the artist
Consequence of Sound has premiered the new EP, Feed Me Poison, from OhBree, the inventive Philadelphia jazz-punk collective known for their outrageous arrangements and ridiculous lyrical concepts.
Feed Me Poison, with its Dahl-esque album art, is the band's most recent release since 2014's Death By Broomstick. Continue reading →
February 24th, 2016 | 1:23PM | By Julie Miller
OhBree share new single "Manfish," release new EP at Lavender Town in March
OhBree | photo by Emily Dubin
Local art-rock band OhBree continue to churn out the hits with this new single "Manfish." The track is from their forthcoming EP Feed Me Poison, out March 11th.
August 13th, 2015 | 10:30AM | By Julie Miller
PREMIERE: OhBree have fun in new video for "Salt"
OhBree | photo via Facebook
How many ways can you be weird in front of a white wall? Art rockers OhBree search for the answer in the new video for "Salt," taken from their 2014 LP Death by Broomstick.
January 12th, 2015 | 2:49PM | By James Breslin
This Place Is Real Fest Makes a statement for the suburban DIY music scene
The Sixties at Fennario | Photo by Rachel Del Sordo | racheldelsordophotography.com
This Place Is Real Fest brought three days worth of DIY bands to the intimate second floor space of Fennario Coffee Shop in West Chester over this past weekend, and displayed some of the great talent from our area's young musicians. Starting on Thursday, hometown pop punk heroes, Spraynard, played a surprise set alongside other local bands, while Friday saw sets from a great selection of mostly touring bands. Saturday rounded out the festival with performances by younger bands from the area, all of which impressed the crowd with their unique styles of rock. Continue reading →
September 24th, 2014 | 9:30AM | By Rahman Wortman
Tonight's Concert Picks: Shovels and Rope at Union Transfer, Slow Magic at Boot and Saddle, and OhBree at The Fire
Photo by Leslie McKellar
There's only one place you should be at tonight, and it's not at home. You should be at Union Transfer, enjoying sweet music from South Carolina's Shovels and Rope. The Americana folk duo consist of the happily married Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, who do a great job illustrating the soul of the south with their music. With songs like "Birmingham" and "The Devil Is All Around" on their new album Swimmin' Time, this duo gives their audience a peaceful feeling of wanting to experience the simple life. Check out their song "Birmingham" below and get tickets and information on the show at the XPN Concert Calendar. Continue reading →
August 27th, 2014 | 11:04AM | By John Vettese
Tonight's Concert Picks: S.T.S. at MilkBoy, OhBree at Kung Fu Necktie, Polyphonic Spree at Prince Music Theater
Sugar Tongue Slim | photo via stsisgold.bandcamp.com
We were already a fan of outside-the-box Philly rapper S.T.S. (AKA Sugar Tongue Slim), and then this summer he took his artistic scope to a prolific new level – and with it, our enthusiasm was amped even further. First, there was his weekly "In The Lab" series of remixes, collaborations and other audio ephemera he's been releasing on pretty much a weekly basis since June. His latest – "How Philly Use To Sound" – features cuts from DJ Jazzy Jeff, alongside verses from up and coming rappers Dayne Jordan and Son Little, celebrating the jazz and soul roots of the city: "this was a renaissance town / full of seekers who found / a soul song in they heart / a sort of hip to their hop / a certain je ne sais quoi / a touch of jazz in the park / a saxophone in the dark." Slim and his collaborators paint a vivid picture here, and especially so on We Can Talk Politics and World Affairs, the incredible EP he dropped this summer that's equally parts hard-hitting beats, high-energy rock and thought provoking rhymes unpacking a bevy of social issues from religion to racial profiling. Tonight Slim headlines MilkBoy on a stacked bill that also features Hezekiah, The Bul Bey and more. Tickets and information can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar. Below, listen to "How Philly Use To Sound." Continue reading →
June 3rd, 2014 | 4:14PM | By Nuha Fariha
Listen to OhBree's Cover of "I Am the Walrus"
OhBree | Photo by Jake Beadenkopf
OhBree, the arty Philadelphia band with a love of brass, have released possibly the most punk version of "I am the Walrus" to date. While the cover retains the same lyrics and beat, the background music has been imbued with a new sense of energy and urgency. In part, this is due to the raw delivery of the original lyrics. Listen to the cover below.
Previously, OhBree released an album of covers which include Miley Cyrus's "We Can't Stop" and Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek". While these covers slow down the original song, the cover of "I am The Walrus" is sped up. In April, the band released their latest album, Death by Broomstick. They also played at Milkboy with Thee Idea Men earlier this week, and headline Kung Fu Necktie on Friday night June 6th. Tickets and information can be found at the XPN Concert Calendar.
Ben Hughes dives into darker times on his March project
"It was the summer of 2009. With school, my childhood home, and my faith in religion quickly fading into the past, I felt myself plunging into the reality of 'real life,'" singer-songwriter Ben Hughes writes on his Bandcamp of his March album release. Earlier this year, the New Jersey-based musician (and member of of A…
Multiply and divide with The Spinto Band's new "Shake It Off" video
Delaware indie rock favorites The Spinto Band just released a video for "Shake It Off," the single from its 2013 album Cool Cocoon. The footage for the video isn't anything special, but it's how the footage was used that makes this such a cool video. The screen is divided into several different sections, which sometimes…
Premiere: Doylestown's Heat Thunder returns with "Solo World"
It's been a year since Doylestown locals Heat Thunder covened from the ranks of their various bands (Commonwealth Choir, Former Belle and Our Griffins) and released their debut EP/film, Melody, Love & Soul. They're celebrating with a brand new single called "Solo World." Their first EP was a set of hazy and wandering folk: beautiful,…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Have I dreamed that before?
I've mentioned some of my recurring dreams before (not the exact same dream but elements that appear over and over) – my teeth falling out, doing laundry (and usually having problems with it). Those I've had so many times that I have no problem identifying them as recurring elements.
Others, though, I am never quite sure about. When I remember having had the dream, I'm sure I have had similar dreams before. But is that because I have had such dreams, or is it part of my dream to remember having dreamed that? After all, if I can dream that I have just awakened from a dream (only to later wake up and realize I had only dreamed I woke up before), isn't it also possible that I dream the memory of having had a dream?
Other times I'm an adult but I didn't finish my college degree and I'm trying to find a way to go back and get those last few classes. I can remember fleeting images of the campus (which never look anything like the ones I actually attended) from these dreams, and these images differ a good deal, so I know these are from multiple dreams.
Sometimes, though, I remember something from a dream that I'm sure I have dreamed before, but I can't actually remember any particular details except the most recent one. This evening, while cooking supper, I was thinking how tomorrow morning I will go back to work in the office, and as I visualized the office that made me realize that a particular "memory" was actually just a dream.
Does that happen to you? You don't actually remember the dream until something in real life contradicts it, and then you realize that the one image that feels like a memory was just a dream. I remember one day in seventh grade when I woke up feeling sad and went through the whole morning feeling sad, but didn't actually think about why – I just knew there was a reason to feel sad. Then at lunchtime I caught sight of Mr. Robison, one of my favorite teachers. I realized with shock that I had thought he was dead because I had dreamed he died, and that was why I had been feeling so sad.
Usually it's something much more mundane. A couple of months ago, I walked into the break room at work and was surprised to see both microwave ovens on the wall. At that moment I realized that it had just been a dream that not only the microwave ovens but the shelves they sat on had been taken down – and that the walls were really blue, not white as they had been in my dream.
Last night's dream had been about going back to work after having been gone for a while. But instead of my current job, I worked at the office where I worked for twelve years in Pennsylvania (that's where I worked the longest, so my work-related dreams tend to occur there). And there was this stack of yellow papers that had something to do with shipments to customers, and I was supposed to log them every day, and I wondered who had been doing them while I was gone (and I have no idea why I had been gone – it certainly wasn't for Christmas vacation).
Along with that memory came the conviction that it was one of those recurring elements, that I had on more than one occasion come back to work only to discover that there was a stack of papers that someone would have had to do for me while I was gone. But I don't remember them being anything but yellow and being for shipments to customers. I vaguely remember someone else having had to take over the job since I had gotten so far behind on it so many times (something that has never happened with any job I have had).
So have I dreamed it before, or did I just dream it last night and in my dream remember it having happened before? Or did dream waking up from that dream and remember having had a similar dream before? I have no idea. But now that I've written it here, if I have the dream again I'll know it's a repeat.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 2nd, 2011 at 7:22 pm and is filed under dreams.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
6 Responses to Have I dreamed that before?
I know that I have repeat dreams, and I also identify with the feeling of not being sure what I have already dreamed and what not. I also find myself back in high school, but knowing that I have already finished college. I also have dreams where I meet an attractive man, and don't seem to remember that I have been married for 26 years!
I still have lots of dreams that take place in the house we grew up in, and our parents are usually there in the house, sometimes with Pauline and sometimes not (because I spent some time there as an adult with Pauline not present). But sometimes I say to our parents, you know, you aren't really still alive, you're just a dream; other times I see them and don't have any sense of them not being really there and alive, until I wake up.
The other day I was thinking about when we had gerbils, and one young gerbil that I thought was female turned out to be male. Then I watched a TV show about a pet shelter. A family with a female dog wanted to get another dog, but the shelter said, with this breed two females don't get along well, you need a male. That night I went to sleep and had a dream about a baby (which happens fairly often – Pauline, did you know that before my son was born, you gave birth to twins in one of my dreams). Anyway, this baby was supposed to be a girl, but I saw that it was really a boy, undoubtedly influenced by the thoughts I had had earlier that day. (I felt uncomfortable having to tell my friend, look, your baby girl is actually a boy.) But other dreams I can't remember thinking about that topic for a long time. Funny.
I dream fairly often about being at 54 Fisk Dr. Usually our parents are there. (Sometimes you are also.) And usually I am trying to use the bathroom, often to take a shower but finding it difficult because there are shirts hanging on the shower rod and all kinds of other stuff piled up all over the place.
No baby dreams lately. When I have had baby dreams, though, the baby usually starts talking and walking within a few days of being born.
Last night my husband woke up and said, "I found it." I asked him, "You found what?" "I found the ball." "You found what ball?" "The ball for the shutdown." "The ball for what shutdown?" "I don't remember." And he went back to sleep. It sounds funny, but apparently I have done the same thing, because he has insisted that I woke up and said something that makes no sense later. So now I wonder if this could account for some of those dreams that you think you have already had. You woke up and lay there thinking about the dream you had just had, not fully awake, then fell back to sleep and had a new dream about the same subject. In which case of course you would not have had the opportunity to write about the first dream. By the way, I also have had that experience of not being sure whether I dreamed something or it really happened. As a child this never happened because my dreams were too far from reality, but as an adult they are often close to the truth.
I hadn't actually remembered, consciously, that they kept shirts hanging on the shower rod. I only remembered all the ones hanging in the basement. I thought it was just something in my dreams, that was exaggerating the mess in that house to the point that it was impossible to take a shower. But I guess my subconscious remembered.
You were probably out taking a walk to get away from it all when I lost my temper and removed all the shirts from the shower rod. I said, it's not fair, I should be able to take a shower if I want to, not have to push shirts out of the way to take a tub bath. Of course I had a lot of objections to our parents' ways of doing things (Mother used to say, Margaret, you're not going to run things here, when I would try to straighten things up a little). But for some reason I directed my anger at the shower rod. You must have repressed the memory (probably not a bad idea).


The Corrections Certification Program is designed to advance the overall knowledge level of practitioners in the corrections field, promote the capabilities of corrections professionals to the public, and enhance society's image of corrections personnel, thereby aiding in the recruitment of new, talented staff members.
Becoming a Certified Corrections Professional (CCP) enables staff at all levels to become part of a nation-wide network of resources, ideas, opinions, skills, and people that can enhance the productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of one's agency. Certification allows for the advancement of the overall knowledge level of practitioners, accesses their awareness of the most current, innovative, and effective approaches in the corrections field, and promotes the capabilities of corrections professionals to the public by demonstrating their adherence to the ACA Code of Ethics.
What Types and Levels of Certification are Available?
Certified Corrections Supervisor (CCS): This category includes individuals at the "mid-management" level who work with both staff and offenders in a corrections setting. It includes those responsible for implementing agency policies and procedures and supervising/evaluating personnel.
Certified Corrections Manager (CCM): This category includes individuals who manage major units or programs within a corrections setting. They are management staff who may contribute to the development of policy and procedures, are responsible for their implementation, and have authority over supervisory personnel.
Certified Corrections Executive (CCE): This category includes individuals at the highest executive level who oversee the development of policy and procedures in agencies dealing with adult offenders.
Certified Corrections Supervisor/Juvenile (CCS/JUV): This category includes individuals at the "mid-management" level who work with both staff and offenders in a juvenile justice setting. It includes those responsible for implementing agency policies and procedures and supervising/evaluating personnel.
Certified Corrections Manager/Juvenile (CCM/JUV): This category includes individuals who manage major units or programs within a juvenile justice setting. They are management staff who may contribute to the development of policy and procedures, are responsible for their implementation, and have authority over supervisory personnel.
Certified Corrections Executive/Juvenile (CCE/JUV): This category includes individuals at the highest executive level who oversee the development of policy and procedures in agencies dealing with juvenile offenders.
Certified Corrections Manager/Security Threat Group (CCM/STG): This category includes individuals who manage major units or programs within a corrections setting and who focus on security threat groups and gangs. They are management staff who may contribute to the development of policy and procedures, are responsible for their implementation, and have authority over supervisory personnel.
Certified Corrections Officer/Provisional (CCO/P): This category includes graduating students who have studied for a career in a correctional setting and/or Department of Corrections Training Academy graduating cadets. Individuals in this category will work directly with offenders. For certification status to become permanent, those who pass the CCO/P exam must secure a full-time position in a corrections-related agency (within two-years from their exam date) and receive a satisfactory performance rating from their immediate supervisor after one-year on-the-job.


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The Parker Films: Slayground (1983)
Movie Reviews, Parker
I'm continuing my look at the films based on Donald E. Westlake (written under the pseudonym Richard Stark)'s Parker Character. I really enjoyed 1967's Point Blank (click here for my review) and 1968's The Split (click here for my review). I thought 1973's The Outfit was a step down, though I did still enjoy the film. (Click here for my review.) The next Parker film I watched was 1983's Slayground, based on the 14th Parker novel with the same name. Unfortunately, I thought this one was a major dud.
It's fun seeing a young, virile Peter Coyote (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Sphere, Erin Brockovich, The 4400) in the leading role as the Parker character. (As usual, the character has a different name: in this film, he's called Stone.) (That's a lot better name than Earl Macklin given to Robert Duvall in The Outfit!) Mr. Coyote's glorious nineteen-eighties hair is a sight to behold. Mr. Coyote does his best, and watching him at work in his prime was, for me, the most enjoyable aspect of this film. Unfortunately, he can't elevate the material out of B-movie-land. It also doesn't help that he's given a bizarrely un-dangerous wardrobe, with lots of puffy sweaters. This is a much gentler Parker character than we've seen in the three previous Parker films I watched. He seems to care a lot more about the woman in his life than any of the other Parkers did. (Though the film does a poor job of fleshing out her character.)
In most of the other Parker films, the story revolves around Parker getting betrayed or otherwise screwed over during a heist; and then Parker needs to get revenge. In this film, what goes wrong during the crime is that the twitchy get-away driver accidentally crashes into a civilian's car and kills a little girl. The person looking for revenge is her angry father, who eventually sends a hit-man after Parker (Stone). It's an ugly plot-twist that Stone is complicit in the death of a child. (It's not Stone's direct fault, but it happened during a crime he was committing.) This has the effect of taking any fun this crime film might have had right out of the film. The girl's death casts an ugly pall over the entire story, in my opinion. Now, a somber, elegiac story about a criminal whose life takes a terrible turn because of a tragedy like this might have been an interesting film. But that's not at all the type of film this is trying to be. And so I think that is the biggest miscalculation in a film that seems to be filled with miscalculations.
Because while there are some enjoyable moments in the film, it feels to me like a misfire through and through. The characters aren't interesting enough. The suspense isn't compelling enough. The action isn't exciting enough. The elements just don't come together in a way that works, in my opinion.
Philip Sayer plays the hitman, Costello, who is after Stone. The goal seems to have been to create an unusual, scary and memorable villain. But it doesn't work. The effete killer plays as more silly than scary to me. And while Costello seems to have near-super-human abilities for most of the film, due to silly plot contrivances he manages to fail to kill Stone again and again. (For example, early in the film, he ambushes Stone and shoots up his car, but then he doesn't bother to stop to check to make sure Stone is actually dead! Then, later, Costello ambushes Stone again when Stone stops at a gas-station — but he shoots up the gas station from far away, rather than coming in close to make sure he is able to kill Stone.)
The film is full of this sort of plot silliness. After he's hired in the early going of the movie, Costello tracks down the getaway driver nearly instantaneously (it's hard to believe)… and then he kills the driver by melting him somehow? It's way over-the top. Stone then gets wise that someone is after him, but curiously he doesn't warn his long-time partner, Joe! (They should have had the hit-man kill Joe BEFORE Stone knew about him.) The film is filled with these sorts of problems.
The film switches gears mid-movie when Stone heads to London to seek the aid of his former partner Terry Abbatt, played by Mel Smith (a terrific British comedian, who is probably best known to American audiences as the Albino in The Princess Bride). It somewhat deflates the tension of the killer stalking Stone that he's able to get all the way to London without much trouble. And it's weird to introduce a whole new set of characters, including Terry, his girlfriend Madge (Billie Whitelaw), and the gangsters who want to buy the amusement park Terry has been renovating and who are willing to hurt people to make that happen. Also, we suddenly learn of a danger to Stone that's far more creepy and dangerous that the villainous hitman: it seems the damage he's sustained to his back could cripple him within a year if untreated.
It's weird that the movie basically re-starts at the half-way point, but I think I liked the second half better than the first. (Though neither are that good.) I liked both Mel Smith and Billie Whitelaw's characters more than anyone found in the first half of the film. It feels to me like the filmmakers should have dramatically shortened the first half of the film and gotten Stone to London much sooner.
That also would have allowed them to spend more time in the showdown in the amusement park. That showdown is the whole reason this film has the title of Slayground, and I believe that in the original novel, the cat-and-mouse game within the deserted amusement park makes up the bulk of the story. (It does in Darwyn Cooke's terrific graphic novel adaptation of the novel!) It's a disappointment that the amusement park showdown is smushed into basically just the final ten-ish minutes of the film.
For a film that's pretty leisurely paced, it ends rather abruptly. We never learn what happens to Madge. We never learn if Stone is able to get the surgery he needs. We never know if he reunites with his wife and leaves the criminal life behind (was he said he would earlier in the film).
One final bright note: I loved seeing P.H. Moriarty, a wonderful British character actor who played Baron Harkonnen in the Sci-Fi Channel's two Dune mini-series from the aughts, pop up in a small role here.
Oh well. This one was a miss. Next up: Brian Helgelend's Payback, originally released in 1999! I'll be watching the Director's Cut, released in 2o06.
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Stefan Talmon
Stefan Talmon, Co-Director, Institute of International Law, and Professor of Law, University of Bonn Professor Stefan Talmon is Chair of Public Law, International Law, and European Law at the University of Bonn. Prior to his appointment to Bonn he was Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford (2003-2011). Professor Talmon is an English barrister with Chambers at 20 Essex Street, London, and advises states and international...See more
Stefan Talmon, Co-Director, Institute of International Law, and Professor of Law, University of Bonn Professor Stefan Talmon is Chair of Public Law, International Law, and European Law at the University of Bonn. Prior to his appointment to Bonn he was Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford and Fellow of St Anne's College, Oxford (2003-2011). Professor Talmon is an English barrister with Chambers at 20 Essex Street, London, and advises states and international companies on questions of international law. See less
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The new frontier in delivering Behavioural therapy?
Behavioural therapy can be useful for many people with tic disorders and although, not a cure, can be very effective in helping people to gain control over their tics. The most supported behavioural therapy is called Habit Reversal Therapy (HRT). More recently, HRT has been shown to be effective as part of a package alongside other elements of therapy, known as Comprehensive Behavioural Intervention for Tics (CBiT). Another model which has been researched and also found to be effective in facilitating people get more control over their tics is exposure and response prevention (ERP).
Both CBITS and ERP packages start with an educational aspect; learning about Tic Disorders and Tourette Syndrome (TS). This includes: understanding the causes (as much as they are known), appreciating that it is a brain-related condition as well as finding out about the usual course of tics and the other conditions that often co-occur in individuals with TS. This information can help cope with having a tic disorder. Understanding what a tic disorder is, is very important and remembering that having tics is only a very small part of a person.
Other aspects of the therapies involve identifying environmental events that make tics worse for an individual. A therapist will help a person with tics to understand what tends to happen before and after a 'bout' of tics and perhaps activities they do reduce the tics they have in these particular situations.
Both Habit Reversal Training and Exposure and Response Prevention help the person to get used to feeling the urge to tic without ticing. Neither approach will result in more tics once the person stops using the strategy or cause the person with tics to feel greater discomfort. Hopefully, as the individual with tics uses the strategies more and more the tic control occurs more automatically for them. Both treatments are described in manuals which can be followed by your therapist.
There is growing research finding ways to make behavioural therapies for tics more available to a broader range of people. Researchers have been trying out new approaches such as offering group-based treatment, delivering CBiTS and ERP using telemedicine (via the internet with programs such as Skype) and using online materials.
In this article we thought it would be helpful to focus on how telemedicine has helped offer treatment to people with tics.
Following a behavioural therapy program using telemedicine (e.g. Skype) has been shown to be effective in both research studies and in usual clinic practice. The process is the similar to individual face to face therapy. You 'meet' the therapist on camera, in your own home or local clinic and they offer treatment from their clinic. The procedures in the therapy should be the same and cover the same material, which can be sent electronically, which is also convenient. The program should be the same length as face to face treatment and results of effectiveness appear to be similar. Using telemedicine means that people do not have to miss work or school through travel to clinics.
Teenager's views: 'I have recently had therapy (Exposure and Response Prevention) through tele-medicine for my Tourettes and OCD. I was quite afraid when first being told I was going to have therapy over skype, as I thought it just wouldn't be the same, but due to the fact I live hundreds of miles away from GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital), it was one of my few options. Luckily I got to meet my therapist, Fiona, in person to start the treatment and we then carried on with it via Skype. I think this was crucial and would recommend anybody doing this to meet the person first. I have built up a brilliant relationship with my therapist and the fact that we are not literally sat opposite each other has never taken away anything from my treatment, it also means that I do not have to travel up to GOSH every week for therapy and that sometimes I can do it in my pyjamas! I would recommend it for anybody'.
Adult's views: Initially, I was a little bit reluctant about whether the Skype sessions would work ... but they exceeded my expectations!
Attending the weekly appointment was very easy as I didn't have to get stressed about being somewhere at a particular time and take any public transport ... which would have increased my tics.
It felt pretty relaxing having the sessions from the comfort of my home with a cup of herbal tea.
Liz Murray (my therapist) made me feel at ease very quickly. She is a lovely lady and we connected very well. I was even able to introduce her to my partner (which was possible because we were doing our sessions via Skype).
What I found most useful was to identify every single tic I have ... and then on a weekly basis we would find a competing response for it. It was also useful to identify whether there were some premonitory urges prior to a tic in order to cut the circuit before the tic actually happened. In this way, I am reprogramming my mind to stop ticking when I am in certain situations.
This was extremely helpful when brushing my teeth, having a shave, chopping food (or cooking in general), doing the dishes ... as these tasks had become quite dangerous and very frustrating.
I have noticed that my tics have become more manageable under certain situations.
There was an exercise that I felt didn't work for me. I had to keep a count of all my tics in a period of 30 minutes. I just couldn't do it. I thought I would video myself so I could watch myself tic and start counting ... but that was quite upsetting and I felt really down about it. Liz was very understanding about it and we decided to give that exercise a skip.
Our Skype sessions didn't come without glitches. On certain occasions, the internet connection was a little weak. But overall it went really well. If you think about it ... even going for a face to face session can have a glitch: public transport might be delayed and you arrive late to your appointment.
Would I recommend Skype Cbit sessions? Definitely YES!
There are advantages to delivering behavioural therapy using telemedicine and also challenges. It makes for a very flexible way of working which can suit many people and certainly reduces travel time and associated expense. It allows the therapist to use techniques which may not be available in the clinic and helps people to feel comfortable in their own home. It can also have drawbacks in that the internet can falter, camera's don't work sometimes and not being physically in the same space means that you cannot practice the strategies with the individual in local settings such as shops and public transport, which can be useful sometimes.
Currently, there are no known confidentiality reasons to not using the online video approach which is as secure as offering treatment via telephone. Another application which has the potential to be used is called "FaceTime", which is anApple product, for use exclusively between Apple devices, which many people have now and it passes patient security encryption conditions in the United States.
Treatment via telephone also has good evidence for conditions such as OCD, although is unlikely to work well for tic treatments as it is essential that the therapist is able to see the person, therefore having a camera for the patient and therapist to see one another is essential.
Skype can also be really useful for clinical supervision and consultancy, for example professionals discussing cases and guiding treatment. Skype supervision is an efficient and affordable way to ensure that professionals across the country can access a wealth of expertise, support and training. Dr Tara Murphy from Great Ormond Street Hospital and Tourettes Action offer bi-annual clinical supervision sessions for behavioural therapists. The purpose of these meetings is case discussion for clinicians using behavioural therapies to treat people with tic disorders. The sessions aim to support the clinician's practical experience in both diagnosing and treating patients with TS.
Tourettes Action are keen to help as many people as we can find behavioural therapy for tics and Tourettes Syndrome. We have been working hard building up the behavioural therapist list and keeping it up to date. Please email help@Tourettes-Action.org.uk to get a copy.
We have been training more therapists and providing ongoing supervision to support them so that they will be able to see and treat more people who want help with tics and TS. We are aware that not all areas of the UK are covered by our list, however, many of the therapists also offer telemedicine.
Our behavioural therapist list has now been updated and you can see which therapists offer telemedicine, so it shouldn't matter what part of the country you live in you could still have access to this kind of service.
We would like to thank the two people with Tourette syndrome who kindly wrote about their experiences with telemedicine for this article and to Dr Fiona McFarlane, Clinical Psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital and Dr Victoria Pile, Clinical Psychologist at TANDEM, Evelina Hospital, for their comments. Thanks also to Craig Thomas Smith for creating the illustration of telemedicine for this article.
A psychologist delivering online therapy for TS: Liz Murray, delivers behavioural therapies for Tourette syndrome to adults online. Liz is a British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered psychologist and a Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) Registered psychologist. She trained at the very first clinical training school for tics and Tourette Syndrome in London in 2011 and has continued training in every year since. Liz has a keen interest in helping to increase access to therapy via video and Telehealth systems.
The subject of telemedicine and TS has also been picked up by some of the media recently, see a recent article in The Telegraph.


To kill the lobster, put it in the freezer for 1 hour. Bring a pan of water, big enough to hold both lobsters and water to cover, to the boil and add 1tbsp sea salt flakes for each litre of water. Add the lobsters and boil for 6 minutes until the black shells turn bright red. Turn off the heat and, using tongs, remove the lobsters and plunge them into a sink full of very cold water. Reserve 750ml of the cooking liquid to make the bisque.
When cool enough to handle, place one lobster at a time on a chopping board. Twist off the head and the large claws. Remove and discard the feathery soft, claw-like bits (known as dead man's fingers) from the head. Put the head and claws in a dish in the fridge until ready to eat. Turn the tail upside down and snip through the small claws either side of the tail shell with kitchen scissors. Carefully remove the tail meat in one piece.
When you are ready to make the bisque, remove as much meat as you can from the head and discard the grey-greenish fatty substance (called tomalley, it is the liver and pancreas of the lobster and can store a cocktail of toxic chemicals). The roe is the longer darker strip that is fine to eat, so add this to the stock after shelling the lobsters.
Crack the larger part of the claws with the back of a heavy cook's knife or mallet and remove the meat. Break up the shells and head into small pieces and set aside for the bisque.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, fennel, thyme and saffron. Fry for around 7 minutes, then add the paprika, cayenne and 1tsp freshly ground black pepper. Add the reserved shells and fry for 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée, sherry, tomatoes, white wine and the stock. Partly cover the pan, bring to a simmer, then tip it all into the pan with the reserved lobster cooking water.
Cut the lobster meat into neat pieces, reserving 4 of the nicest shaped pieces to garnish.
Put the remainder into the pan containing the shells, vegetables and stock. Simmer for 45 minutes. Process the bisque in a blender to break up the pieces of shell and the vegetables. Pass everything through a fine sieve into a clean pan, leaving it to drain through for a few minutes.
Divide among warmed bowls. Heat the butter, add the reserved lobster meat pieces and toss until warmed through. Add one piece lobster tail to each serving. Mix the double cream with 3tbsp bisque to make it pale pink and spoon it around the lobster tail. Scatter with chives and serve with the toasted sourdough.


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A good notice is always to the point and leaves no scope for further enquiries.
Language of notice should always be formal.
Notice should always be enclosed in a box.
Below given is the format usually followed in writing notices.
Example: Your school is going to celebrate its annual day. Write a notice to the school notice board informing the students about it. Give all necessary details.
You all are cordially invited on this occasion.
(iv) Highlight date, time, venue, etc.
Students are requested _____________ IV____________ to come forward and donate the blood for noble cause.


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Guest Column: Congressional redistricting set…
Guest Column: Congressional redistricting set to begin
By Joe Hart | jhart@delcotimes.com and Lowman S Henry | The Delaware County Daily Times
PUBLISHED: August 1, 2021 at 6:32 p.m. | UPDATED: October 6, 2021 at 1:09 a.m.
As is typical when the Left can't win their go to tactic is to change the rules. This was done successfully last year in a number of states, including Pennsylvania, where election laws were changed in a manner that benefitted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, but which ultimately destroyed confidence in the election outcome.
An equally important battle is being fought over the ground rules that govern the process of redrawing congressional district lines. Republicans control both chambers of the Pennsylvania legislature, Democrats see themselves at a disadvantage so their allied front groups, like so-called Fair Districts PA, have been working hard to change the process.
It is a constitutional requirement that the number of congressional districts allocated to each state must be reapportioned following the decennial census. This is to take into account population shifts among states to ensure the most equal representation possible. That has occurred and Pennsylvania has again lost one congressional district as our population has grown at a much slower rate than that of other states.
So not only must the lines be redrawn to take into consideration population shifts, but one district must be eliminated dropping Penn's Woods to just 17 congressional seats. When the game of musical chairs stops someone is going to be left standing; the fight is now over who and where.
If you think the process through which laws are passed is fair then you must also view congressional redistricting as fair. That is because the redrawing of congressional district lines follows the exact same process: Input is gathered, a bill is drafted, the bill must win a majority of votes in both chambers of the legislature, and then it must be signed by the governor.
National Democrats attempted to wrest majority control of the Pennsylvania General Assembly from Republicans in last year's elections directing tens of millions of dollars in out-of-state money into legislative and senate races. It was a spectacular failure as they were unable to add a net of even one seat in either chamber.
Concurrently, the left had been agitating to change the redistricting process by advocating for a new law that would create a "citizens commission" to redraw the lines. The commission would be appointed by the governor, who happens to be a Democrat.
Aside from the laughable assumption any citizen who might sit on such a commission would be non-partisan and neutral, the entire proposal was a solution in search of a problem and specifically designed to minimize Republican control over the process and advantage Democrats.
Fortunately that has not happened and with the granular data needed to begin the line drawing process expected to be released by the census bureau next month the General Assembly is preparing to do its duty. How that will unfold was outlined last week by legislative leaders.
"The House Republican Caucus has said we are committed to a fair, open and legal process to draw new district lines to preserve our ideal of 'one person, one vote,'" said state House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Center/Mifflin) in announcing a series of public hearings that began this month in Harrisburg and which will extend through October in all areas of the commonwealth. Additionally, a website www.PaRedistricting.com has been launched so the public can submit comments electronically. The website also gives individuals the ability to submit their own proposed redistricting map.
For their part, state senators have also pledged to hold an open and transparent process. Ultimately, after public input has been gathered, a proposed map will be put to a vote in both chambers and sent to Governor Tom Wolf – a Democrat – for signature.
Lurking in the background, however, is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Following the 2020 census new districts were drawn and passed by the legislature in a bi-partisan vote. The new map initially survived legal challenges before the high court. But, after three highly political activist justices were elected in 2015 the court accepted a case challenging the map, ruled it unconstitutional and then, in an unconstitutional act of its own, imposed a new congressional district map by judicial fiat. The result was a net three seat gain by Democrats.
Bottom line: The congressional redistricting process will proceed under the time-honored, constitutional process used in past years with a Republican-controlled legislature committed to public input and transparency. In the end, it remains to be seen whether Gov. Tom Wolf and/or the state Supreme Court hijacks the process for partisan political gain.
Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly Lincoln Radio Journal and American Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.
Joe Hart | Editor
Lowman S Henry
Christine Flowers: Identity fascists are out to destroy the quality of culture
John C. Morgan: Early core values shape the rest of our lives
Chris Freind: Negative birthrates are West's greatest threat
Jerry Shenk: Democrats are better at creating than helping poor people


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I Knew More Torah Back Then →
Unrealistic Chris Rock, Tim Lahaye, and Jerry Jenkins
I was thinking recently about the 2003 Chris Rock movie, Head of State, in which Chris Rock plays an average guy who runs for President of the United States. In 2003, I didn't have a television, so I paid to see it in a movie theater. (What's weird is that I recall seeing this movie in Massachussetts, but I moved from there to New York City in 2002. So I had to have seen it in New York. My memory must be off, here.)
I considered this movie a waste of both my time and my money. It was unrealistic. For example, Rock's opponent continually said, "God bless America, and nobody else," something no candidate for public office would say. Granted, no show or movie is totally realistic, but I prefer for what I see to be somewhat believable, even when it's a comedy.
But I was thinking some about the Left Behind series this morning. In the book and the movie of Tribulation Force, a Jewish scholar, Tsion Ben-Judah, publically announces the results of his studies of the Messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Bible. His conclusion is that the Messiah is none other than Jesus Christ. (On a side note: I preferred how Nicolae Carpathia—the Antichrist—responded to Ben-Judah's announcement in the book as opposed to the movie. In the movie, Carpathia is outraged, for he expected Ben-Judah to announce that Carpathia was the Messiah. In the book, by contrast, Carpathia dismisses the news. "People have been saying Jesus was the Messiah for centuries," Carpathia says, which is not an exact quote. "I would have been more interested had Ben-Judah said that he—Ben-Judah—was the Messiah.")
In my opinion, Ben-Judah's announcement and its worldwide renown are as unrealistic as the candidate in Head of State saying "God bless America, and nobody else." Why? Because people have different interpretations of these so-called "prophecies" that Christians apply to Jesus. Many historical-critics have said that they related to their original historical contexts. Non-Christian Jews offer their own interpretations of these passages. Many would dispute that all of these "prophecies" even predict a Messiah, let alone a Messiah in the far-off future. I doubt that, in the real world, Ben Judah's announcement would be given a worldwide platform, or that it would have been uncontested. Plenty of people would have said, "Wait a minute—here is a better way to interpret these passages."
But Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins probably see the world as a place in which people share presuppositions of biblical interpretation. Granted, they recognize that there are different forms of Christianity—after all, in their books, evangelicals get raptured, whereas mainline Protestants do not; the pope gets raptured because he was moving the Catholic Church in a Protestant direction on the issue of justification. But my impression is that Lahaye and Jenkins think that anyone who actually believes in the Bible would interpret it as they (Lahaye and Jenkins) see it—not in all areas, but at least on the issue of whether the Hebrew Bible points to Jesus Christ. For them, the truth and the evidence are obvious to anyone who looks at them with an open-mind. The fact that people can interpret evidence in other, more compelling ways does not appear to dawn on them.
That's just my impression.
This entry was posted in Bible, Books, Movies, Religion. Bookmark the permalink.
Victor French and Ned Beatty on the Waltons
Was 1 Peter Written to Jews or Gentiles? Why the Answer Matters More Than You Might Think — Theology Pathfinder


Bring a touch of the outdoors and some bold, funky style into your home with these Woodland Animals wall stickers. Each pack contains friendly squirrels, cheerful rabbits, a curious deer, birds, flowers, trees, and much more!
Contains 89 applique pieces. For size indication the 4 sheets above each measure 25cm by 45cm. Instantly removable, repositionable and re-usable. Washable.


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'Pressure-welding' nanotubes creates ultrastrong material
Scientists at MIPT apply torsion to multiwall nanotubes to form bonds between them creating durable material
IMAGE: Stress induced deformation observed during the application of pressure and after the pressure has been released. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of the MIPT press office.
Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Technological Institute for Superhard and Novel Carbon Materials (TISNCM), Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), and the National University of Science and Technology MISiS have shown that an ultrastrong material can be produced by "fusing" multiwall carbon nanotubes together. The research findings have been published in Applied Physics Letters.
According to the scientists, a material of that kind is strong enough to endure very harsh conditions, making it useful for applications in the aerospace industry, among others.
The authors of the paper performed a series of experiments to study the effect of high pressure on multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). In addition, they simulated nanotube behavior in high pressure cells, finding that the shear stress strain in the outer walls of the MWCNTs causes them to connect to each other as a result of the structural rearrangements on their outer surfaces. The inner concentric nanotubes, however, retain their structure completely: they simply shrink under pressure and restore their shape once the pressure is released.
The main feature of this study is that it demonstrates the possibility of covalent intertube bonding giving rise to interconnected (polymerized) multiwall nanotubes; these nanotubes being cheaper to produce than their single-wall counterparts.
"These connections between the nanotubes only affect the structure of the outer walls, whereas the inner layers remain intact. This allows us to retain the remarkable durability of the original nanotubes," comments Prof. Mikhail Y. Popov of the Department of Molecular and Chemical Physics at MIPT, who heads the Laboratory of Functional Nanomaterials at TISNCM.
A shear diamond anvil cell (SDAC) was used for the pressure treatment of the nanotubes. The experiments were performed at pressures of up to 55 GPa, which is 500 times the water pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The cell consists of two diamonds, between which samples of a material can be compressed. The SDAC is different from other cell types in that it can apply a controlled shear deformation to the material by rotating one of the anvils. The sample in an SDAC is thus subjected to pressure that has both a hydrostatic and a shear component, i.e., the stress is applied both at a normal and parallel to its surface. Using computer simulations, the scientists found that these two types of stress affect the structure of the tubes in different ways. The hydrostatic pressure component alters the geometry of the nanotube walls in a complex manner, whereas the shear stress component induces the formation of sp³-hybridized amorphized regions on the outer walls, connecting them to the neighboring carbon tubes by means of covalent bonding. When the stress is removed, the shape of the inner layers of the connected multiwall tubes is restored.
Carbon nanotubes have a wide range of commercial applications by virtue of their unique mechanical, thermal and conduction properties. They are used in batteries and accumulators, tablet and smartphone touch screens, solar cells, antistatic coatings, and composite frames in electronics.
nicolas.posunko@phystech.edu
@phystech
https://mipt.ru/english/
The Ministry of Education, Science of the Russian Federation
A Schematic Representation of the Nanotube 'Fusing' Process (IMAGE)
https://mipt.ru/english/news/pressure_welding_nanotubes_creates_ultrastrong_material
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View all in Chemistry & Physics


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Q: Word for numeric value that is not necessarily the result of a measuring process I have the phrase "mechanical properties measurement" and am looking for a good replacement for measurement that would not imply a measuring process, as the "measurement" in question is simply a numerical value that can also be the result of a prediction model.

A: evaluate (noun form: evaluation)

Form an idea of the amount, number, or value of; assess:
Mathematics Find a numerical expression or equivalent for (an equation, formula, or function)
(Oxford)

If you evaluate something, you get a result; which is not necessarily measured.

A: I suggest quantify, as defined by Merriam Webster:

to find or calculate the quantity or amount of (something)
  to determine, express, or measure the quantity of

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Researchers from Vanderbilt University have developed an ultra-thin, graphene-based device that can be placed in fabrics of clothing to generate electricity from human motion.
The device was made through a film of black phosphorus. An electrolyte was put between two black phosphorus electrodes that are made of black phosphorus and graphene. When they were made to work with each other, they bend and flex for creating energy.
The team believes that this new device can prove to be very beneficial and has probable uses beyond power systems. "When incorporated into clothing, our device can translate human motion into an electrical signal with high sensitivity that could provide a historical record of our movements. Or clothes that track our motions in three dimensions could be integrated with virtual reality technology. There are many directions that this could go," they concluded.


Almost weekly a group of boys with a soccer ball trek toward a neighborhood field, rain or shine. Sometimes they'd stop to pick and eat the apples from the West Liberty Street apple orchard. They are dedicated to becoming better soccer players, and practice regularly.
They are from Nepal, moving to the U.S. between three and five years ago. Dilli S. is 15, Deepash and Ramesh are 16, and Glaco (in the tank top) is 17.
Nobody drives them in a motor vehicle. They walk. Sometimes a man chases them off the field, says it's private property. They don't want to cause trouble...they just want to practice the sport they love.
It's a lot more than five kids playing soccer.


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April 27, 2019 • 5:56 am Comments Off on Iain Bell's Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel at ENO
Iain Bell's Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel at ENO
Guest review: Tom Luce on the world premiere of Iain Bell's Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel at English National Opera (performances of 5 and 8 April 2019):
Last month saw the world premiere at London's English National Opera of Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel by British composer Iain Bell with a libretto by Emma Jenkins.
The late-19th-century serial killing of prostitutes in London's poverty-stricken Whitechapel district is a gruesome but legendary "cold crime" that still engages crime historians.
It even made it into opera when Alban Berg portrayed Jack the Ripper as the murderer of Lulu when she took to prostitution in London ("Das war ein Stück Arbeit").
The new opera by Bell and Jenkins concentrates not on the criminal, who does not appear in it, but on his victims. A doss house — British slang for a refuge for the homeless — is the main scene. It is peopled largely by women forced by poverty into sex work including the murderer's five victims. Maud, the doss house manager portrayed with force by the veteran Josephine Barstow, symbolises the intergenerational transmission of degradation. Sold as a sex object at age seven, she ends as an abortionist and a procuress of women and under-age girls to London's elite including the local police chief. Her daughter Mary Kelly, played with huge dramatic conviction and vocal strength by Natalya Romaniw, does sex work but has longings for a proper family life centred on the upbringing of her own little girl Magpie.
The roles of other victims were vividly taken by Janis Kelly, Marie McLaughlin, Susan Bullock, and Lesley Garrett. It is a feature of the opera that the female characters are all differentiated and individualistic while the males are mostly stereotypical symbols of class and gender oppression — the Police Chief, the pathologist who examines the bodies of the murdered victims, and the burly police sergeant who tries to keep order on the front line of this divided and fractious society. These parts were convincingly portrayed by Robert Hayward, Alan Opie, and Nicky Spence, respectively. An exception to the stereotyping is a radical investigative writer, played effectively by William Morgan, who researches the whole scene for evidence of the need for social and political reform.
Like Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, the new opera contains an inquest scene. In both works, the coroner has some difficulty in maintaining order in his court because the local people use the process as an opportunity to express their fear and anger at the goings-on in their communities.
On the musical side, it is possible to perceive another link with Britten's work. One of its most moving moments is the quartet "From the Gutter" for the four women characters, who lament the lack of respect for their roles. Without being in any sense derivative, the new opera can be seen as an extended opera-length elaboration of the empathy towards women expressed by Britten. The expressive score was well realised by the English National Opera orchestra under their music director Martyn Brabbins. The production by Daniel Kramer was vivid and powerful.
In its opening moments, The Women of Whitechapel shows Mary Kelly teaching her daughter Magpie to read, which clearly symbolises a determination to provide the young girl with hope of a better life. A key conflict in the opera is the mother's successful effort to prevent the girl's procuress grandmother delivering her as a child prostitute to the police chief. In its closing moments, we see the silent role of Magpie — played with touching charm alternatively by Ashirah Notice and Sophia Elton in the two performances I saw — scuttling across the stage away from the scenes of death and squalor with which the opera is largely concerned. So the ending offers an ambiguous note of hope that the cycle of transmitted degradation might be losing force.
This was the first of two premieres of operas by Iain Bell this year. It promises well for the second — Stonewall –which is to be introduced in June by New York City Opera.
Review by Tom Luce
Filed under: English National Opera, new opera
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Your Cannabis News Dealer – 🌿 Blunt News 🌿
Study: Police Less Likely To Search Vehicle During Traffic Stops In States Where Adult-Use Marijuana Is Legal – Unless Occupants Are Black Or Hispanics
Home Cannabis News
Authored by Mike Brennan
Data published recently in a journal contends police are less likely to conduct searches for marijuana during a routine traffic stop now in states where adult-use marijuana legalization has been approved.
Researchers from Stanford University and New York University reviewed traffic stops in Colorado and Washington state, two states that have legalized adult-use cannabis consumption. The researchers' findings were published in the journal Nature: Human Behavior.
"After the legalization of marijuana, the number of searches fell substantially" in both states as compared to rates in 12 control states), researchers said in the story.
What's more, "the proportion of stops that resulted in either a drug-related infraction or misdemeanor fell substantially in both states after marijuana was legalized."
The findings, however, showed African-Americans and Hispanics were far more likely to have their vehicles searched by law enforcement during traffic stops than white men and women.
"We found that white drivers faced consistently higher search thresholds than minority drivers, both before and after marijuana legalization," the researchers wrote. "The data thus suggest that, although overall search rates dropped in Washington and Colorado, black and Hispanic drivers still faced discrimination in search decisions."
These findings hold true across the United States. Data shows both minority groups were twice as often to have their vehicles searched as white motorists, regardless of whether the state legalized adult-use cannabis.
"We find that legalization reduced both search rates and misdemeanor rates for drug offenses for white, black, and Hispanic drivers – though a gap in search thresholds persists."
The findings published in the journal were similar to those reported in 2017 by The Marshall Project and the Center for Investigative Reporting. In that study, researchers said traffic-stop related searches declined for both whites and African-Americans, but African-Americans were two to three times more likely to be subjected to vehicle searches than either group.
NORML Political Director Justin Strekal said he was pleased to see the total number of traffic-stop searches decline in marijuana states, but "we must not overlook the reality that people of color continue to be policed in a racially disparate manner.
"While legalization is one tool that appears to lessen some of these disparities, it is not a panacea to solve the structural problems of systemic racism that persist in America."
Mike Brennan
Mike Brennan is Editor of Michigan Marijuana Report (mimarijuanareport) a cannabis, hemp and CBD news portal website for Michigan and the Great Lakes States. He has been a professional reporter and editor since 1981.
© Copyright 2019 Blunt News Inc.


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Those well versed in Latin American culture know Medellín, Colombia is often referred as, "La ciudad de la eterna primavera (the city of eternal spring)," a reflection of the vast Andean Valley's culture, art, flowers, music and people. Both musically and spiritually, the heart, soul and guitar of Juan Carlos Quintero's music reflects the colorful sounds and diverse rhythms of his cherished birthplace.
Latin music was a very natural gravitation for JCQ when he first picked up the guitar at age eight: "No matter what style I ever played in, I always came back to my heritage. Music from Colombia crosses so many boundaries and its ability to seduce while celebrating life has always moved me. Colombian rhythms are so majestic, they have a strong natural appeal to me. This music seems to show up every time I compose or perform, I can't help it! A few years before I picked up the guitar, I remember being mesmerized by a band that played in a high school next door to my elementary school in Brussels. They were a cover band playing Latin music and I was convinced, 'Those are the guys from the radio!' I was hooked from then on."
JCQ was particularly inspired by masters like Quincy Jones, Gato Barbieri, Cal Tjader, Miles, Tito Puente, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jeff Beck and Carlos Santana, but he felt that Chick Corea, Eddie Palmieri, Gato Barbieri and Gary Burton best brought out the excitement of bridging melodic improvisation with composition. JCQ took this lead both attending Berklee College of Music in the early 80's and when he launched his own solo career later in the decade. He studied composition at Boston's New England Conservatory with George Russell before moving to Los Angeles, where he plugged into the city's studio scene with the help of his mentor Tommy Tedesco (The Wrecking Crew). While developing his freelance guitar-work by day, JCQ composed a volume of original music and sought out old Boston schoolmates to help bring the music to life via gigs throughout Los Angeles. An opportunity to open for longtime hero, Gato Barbieri convinced him to keep writing and start making records...
Dreams come true...Achieving his goal of producing music blending contemporary jazz with music styles from Colombia, JCQ quickly became a staple of NAC, World, Jazz and Smooth Jazz radio with tracks from his first two albums, a self-titled effort in 1990 (featuring Tommy Tedesco) and Through The Winds in 1992 on Nova Records. Critically acclaimed records followed in 1997 with The Way Home on Escapade records segueing to releases on Moondo Records, a label he founded in early 2000 and distributed by Robert Fripp's label, DGM. A decade of music ensued with notable releases, Medellín, Los Musicos, Los Primos, Las Cumbias...Las Guitarras, Joy To The World, and Guitarras De Pasión compilation series featuring music by JCQ (Vol. 1 Charted #1 on iTunes/World Music for 7 months). Amongst many highlights in JC's recording career, a standout remains when featured on Jazz on the Latin Side Volume 1 (2000) and Volume 2(2001), all-star live recordings at B.B. King's Blues Club in Los Angeles (Ubiquity/Cubop Records) alongside Alex Acuna, Poncho Sanchez, Justo Almario, Otmaro Ruiz, Francisco Aguabella and Luis Conte, to name a few. Joining forces with top tier music collaborators and label partners has bolstered JCQ's profile as a world-class guitarist/recording artist able to produce, perform and record a world of music while nurturing a signature sound.
When his hands aren't on the guitar, JCQ's career in music expands to session work, teaching, producing, custom music, music licensing, publishing, and consulting. Career highlights includes teaching music business, composition and jazz studies at Colleges throughout Los Angeles (College of the Canyons, California State University), launching Moondo Records Inc. into a formidable world/jazz record label (distributed by Ryko, WEA, Eone Ent.), securing a publishing deal with BMG Rights Management to administer his Publishing, and establishing Café Moondo, a Production Music-label partnership with Warner Chappell to produce music of multiple genres for TV and Film licensing. A recent chrysalis was when JCQ transitioned to TV production as Music Supervisor and Executive in Charge of Music for Haim Saban's entertainment company, Saban Brands LLC, producing music and championing music rights for all of Saban's TV properties (The Power Rangers, Paul Frank Industries, Julius Jr., Digimon, Glitter Force, etc.). The unique role culminated in opportunities to produce acclaimed recording artists such as Sheryl Crow and Blush to perform pop songs featured on the Julius Jr. Show/Netflix and Glitter Force/Netflix respectively.
Successfully fulfilling diverse music paradigms throughout multiple decades has been the pillar for JCQ's expansive career. Recognized as a seasoned all-purpose music specialist, JCQ remains in the forefront while creating, producing and exploring new ventures...
Looking ahead..."One of the greatest things about creating music today is the ability to record without limitations while nurturing an artistic voice! Often through collaboration, the results can easily surpass one's vision and for me, that's the gift! To follow the creative steps with a distribution strategy one can control independently is equally remarkable. The collaborators, whether in business or creative, are essential as new ways to circulate works are developed internationally. I'm excited about the chapters ahead, let the music binging begin!"
- Jonathan Widman


Given the possibility that an enlarged 2022 World Cup could potentially require additional countries to host the tournament, we remind FIFA of the commitment it has made to enshrine human rights, transparency and sustainability criteria in its World Cup hosting and bidding process – something we welcomed in 2017, in addition to the adoption of FIFA's Human Rights Policy.
Such an approach is necessary to meet FIFA's commitments in its own Statutes and Human Rights Policy as well as its corporate responsibility to respect human rights as elaborated in the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights.
In applying the hosting and bidding criteria, FIFA must ensure that it identifies and assesses the specific human rights risks of each potential host country, including whether or not they can be prevented or mitigated, and obliges potential hosts to develop a corrective action plan under FIFA's leadership.
With respect to additional hosts in the Gulf region, specific human rights risks relevant to the hosting of the World Cup that FIFA must consider include exploitative labour systems that make migrant workers vulnerable to abuse; discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and religion; as well as restrictions on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, and threats to human rights defenders.
We believe that the application of FIFA's Human Rights Policy and its bidding and hosting criteria have the potential to play an important role in preventing and mitigating human rights abuses and violations in connection with one of the world's biggest sporting events. We urge you to publicly confirm that they will be implemented in full.


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The time of his life: The interesting journey of FGCU's Brandon Goodwin
Dana Caldwell
dana.caldwell@naplesnews.com; 239-253-7401
Brandon Goodwin's story is long and a bit twisted, but it's turning into quite a happy and inspirational one.
Florida Gulf Coast University's junior point is the heart and soul of the Eagles, and he's finally getting ready for his first-ever NCAA tournament run after spending two seasons at Central Florida and sitting out last year as a transfer.
This time last year, Goodwin, who practiced all season with the Eagles, was relegated to watching them on TV in his mom's Georgia home as they rocked Fairleigh Dickinson in a First Four play-in game and played within a point at the half against eventual national runner-up North Carolina before falling in a Raleigh first-round game.
"It's amazing," said the 21-year-old Goodwin, who will monitor this year's March Madness draw in Alico Arena with his teammates and fans on Sunday. "I went to war in practice every day. It was still a good feeling knowing that I helped them a little bit to get that far (last year).
"It's even better to actually get on the court and enjoy that moment. I'm excited to get back there with them and hopefully we can make it past that first round and keep it going."
As the coaches said he would be, the super-quick and athletic Goodwin is, indeed, FGCU's best player. He easily leads the 26-7 Eagles with 18.2 points per game, has almost two assists for every turnover, and is a hawkish, tough defender. He can swish 3-pointers (36.3 percent), flies the floor incessantly, has become a dazzling passer, and slashes to the basket with zero regard for his 6-foot-2, 180-pound sinewy frame.
College basketball: This FGCU men's team is a different deal
"I like to push myself and I like to push the person I'm going against," Goodwin said. "I like competing. It's one of the things I look most forward to. I'm kind of like an old-school basketball player. Toughness. Compete. No flopping.
"That's just how I am. I try to do everything for my teammates because I know they'll do everything for me. That's just trusting myself and my teammates, knowing if I can make that play, they're going to make that play, too. Just trying to win."
The ASUN Newcomer of the Year, all-conference first-teamer and ASUN tournament MVP, Goodwin is the first FGCU player to score 601 points (and counting) in a season. He'll be on Sports Illustrated's March Madness cover montage. He's the first ASUN performer to earn conference Player of the Week and Newcomer of the Week honors at the same time. Ditto for the six ASUN Newcomer of the Week awards.
"I really like him," said Michigan State Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo after Goodwin scored 18 points and had four assists on Nov. 20, when his team survived the Eagles, 78-77, at home. "He's a hell of a player."
Current Kennesaw State and former Boston College coach Al Skinner said Goodwin is "as good as any guard in the country in transition."
FGCU coach Joe Dooley raves about Goodwin, and their extra-close relationship -- common among coaches and their floor generals -- is obvious.
His teammates speak of him in near-reverence.
"I don't think there's another guard in the nation as tough to guard as he is," sophomore swingman Rayjon Tucker said. "He spreads the court because he can shoot. He has the whole defense collapse on him because he's a driver. He just brings a lot to the table. He brings leadership, communication, the whole nine yards."
Senior forward Demetris Morant has been the recipient of a slew of Goodwin assists, including most of his alley-oop dunks. But he most admires Goodwin's grit.
"We don't need a kind-hearted point guard on the court," Morant said. "He's tough, and I like that."
Goodwin would not be here without his mom, Swan, who raised her only child as a single parent.
A self-proclaimed "tomboy," Swan loved recreational basketball and played it on blacktops until she was six months pregnant.
"When I had Brandon, it was important for me to make sure that he played basketball because I loved it so much," Swan said. "So I always had a basketball in his hand, from Day 1."
Well, not exactly. After all, he didn't get a basketball goal -- a blow-up clownish toy with a red hoop lodged in it -- until he was all of 3. Goodwin, who learned how to walk at 10 months and was even tough as a toddler, Swan said, always pushed the rim to its highest level in the one-bedroom Columbia, South Carolina, apartment that also housed a drum set and a miniature 4-wheeler.
No one in Goodwin's family had played organized basketball, and he first began that in elementary school, playing for about five seasons for his mom in a church league.
"My mom surrounded me with people who loved basketball as much as I did," Goodwin said.
While his mom often worked odd schedules as a retailer for Verizon, Goodwin played ball -- often by himself -- and hung at his cousins' house. Many times Swan and Goodwin's only real communication came during late-night dinners.
Goodwin began playing AAU ball in Columbia as a middle-schooler. One night the Atlanta Knicks came to town and destroyed Goodwin's team. Swan was blown away.
"It was imperative that I move my son to Georgia for a competitive basketball team," said Swan, who always believed the sport would keep him out of trouble and take him places.
College basketball: ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi sees FGCU as a 14 seed in NCAA tourney
She was dead-set on Brandon playing for the Knicks, and she scouted out a high school that would meet her serious basketball requirements -- Norcross, a suburb of Atlanta where Jeremy Lamb of the Charlotte Hornets (he and Goodwin still keep up) and other big-timers got their starts.
Swan -- who said she pretty much took care of herself since the age of 15 -- got Brandon on those two teams and a transfer of her job to Atlanta.
"I wanted Brandon to have everything he ever wanted," Swan said. "I sacrificed my entire life for him."
Goodwin didn't care for his South Carolina life and was giddy about making a basketball-oriented move to Georgia.
"Basketball became everything to me," he said.
Well, not quite everything. As teenagers are apt to become, Goodwin was rebellious. The kid with the twinkling eyes was extremely popular, Swan said, but he was suspended for fighting and for disrupting classes.
"Brandon was terrible," Swan said. "School was too boring for him. He was always doing something or getting into something. Always the class clown. He was getting into trouble every single year, getting suspended from school."
Toward the end of his ninth-grade year, Goodwin was expelled from Norcross after averaging about 16 points on the junior varsity, but doing very little schoolwork. He was sent to an alternative school, something Swan thought might destroy him. Besides, he was not going to be allowed to play at Norcross High as a sophomore.
So Swan found Goodwin another landing spot -- Newbirgh Christian Academy, which no longer exists.
"That was the turning point of my life," said Goodwin, adding that's where he "got right with God."
Swan spent an hour driving Goodwin to school, then an hour bringing him back home after practices. She said she "cried every day," but it was well worth it.
Goodwin rejoined Norcross as a junior and averaged just over 15 points.
Between his junior and senior seasons, Goodwin grew from from 5-7, 120 pounds to 6-1, 180. All the while, he also continued learning serious basketball with his top-notch AAU teammates.
By his senior season, big schools started calling well before Goodwin led Norcross to a state title and earned Class 6A Player of the Year honors by averaging 15.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals.
"It was so exciting," Swan said. "I was at every game."
FGCU had made its famous Sweet 16 run during Goodwin's senior year of high school, and assistant Michael Fly had pursued him aggressively.
"I was tied up in the, 'Oh, it's too small,'" Goodwin said.
Swan left it up to Goodwin, who had a "great" visit to Ole Miss, but chose UCF because of its campus, size and, most important, the staff's family-first attitude.
Goodwin made nine starts as a freshman, then averaged 10.2 points and a team-high 4.2 assists for an underachieving team that went a combined 25-36 in those two UCF seasons. But there was trouble.
The June before his sophomore season, Goodwin needed to get to a workout and found his bicycle missing from its rack. He picked up another, and after the workout left it near the Math Sciences building. The unlocked bike was part of a UCF police sting and surveillance cameras busted him. He immediately apologized and directed UCF police to the bike that was valued at $300. He was charged with grand theft, a third-degree felony. It took almost a year before his arraignment and he spent a few hours in jail, paid a fine and did some community service.
College basketball: FGCU's Brandon Goodwin proof second chances can pay off
The worst part was his mom had just relocated to Orlando in order to watch her son play live.
Goodwin was not kicked off the team. He asked for and was granted a release.
"They had a bunch of issues and we had four really good point guards," said Goodwin, who, like his mom, has nothing but praise for the UCF staff and experience.
Swan, who had just arrived in Orlando when the bicycle stuff "blew up," turned around and moved back to Georgia, where she bought a home in October. She insisted that was her last son-oriented move.
Then-UCF coach Donnie Jones was fired after last season.
"The biggest testimony is that he learned a valuable lesson in that everything that happened affected me and everyone around him," Swan said.
To FGCU
As soon as Fly heard of Goodwin's transfer announcement, the only remaining assistant from the staff of Andy Enfield (who led that Sweet 16 run and parlayed it into the USC job) was on the phone with him.
There were other courters, among them DePaul, Louisiana Tech and Seton Hall.
"I feel comfortable with Coach Fly, so I was like, 'OK, maybe it's not a bad place,'" Goodwin said. "So I visited and I loved it. I talked to Coach Dooley and I talked to Fly for hours and they were guys I felt truly cared about me. Not just as a player, but as a person. I thought that's what I really needed. I wasn't fully developed off the court. I was still making boneheaded decisions."
The only thing Swan knew about FGCU was the Sweet 16 run. But she came to "really like" FGCU's coaches, who called daily before Goodwin made it to campus.
"I was just so thankful that they were willing to give Brandon a second chance," Swan said.
Dooley called Jones and spoke at length with Goodwin and Swan. He decided the bicycle incident was more of a misunderstanding than a crime, and had zero reservations about bringing Goodwin to FGCU.
"FGCU was a new beginning," Goodwin said. "I was able to come here and have a fresh start."
Swan -- who caught her first Alico Arena game last Sunday but has watched all the rest on ESPN3 -- gives the Eagles a huge assist for how much her son has matured.
"Brandon has grown a whole lot, and I'm very appreciative of all the coaches for it," Swan said.
Brett Comer, the maestro of the Dunk City run and the ASUN's all-time assists leader who worked out at FGCU and played in pickup games with the Eagles, including Goodwin, immediately saw what was coming.
"The day he came to campus I declared on social media that he was going to be the (ASUN) Player of the Year," Comer said. "He was going to be one of the best to come through there and he has been awesome. He's really doing his thing and hopefully they'll make another (NCAA) tournament run."
Goodwin adopted Comer's No. 0 as a show of respect and began working like crazy even though he'd have to sit out a year. FGCU coaches and players gave him big props for helping last season's NCAA tournament team develop. And he said at FGCU he's had fun in college for the first time in his life.
But it was brutal sitting out for the first time ever.
"It was hard, man," Goodwin said. "I practiced hard every single day with these guys. I put my 100 percent effort into it every day, and then I would have to sit there and watch the games. 'Oh, I know I can be out there doing something for those guys.' Sometimes I didn't even want to go to the games.
"But as the season went on, I decided not to think about it and be fully engaged with my teammates and not think about how dreadful it was. And that made the time go by faster."
Goodwin's game game also has grown under Dooley and his staff.
His shot -- he used to have a side hitch -- has gotten better. Ditto the fundamentals of his footwork and his ability to work free for catches. First-year assistant Aaron Miles, the Big 12's all-time assists man, has helped Goodwin's decision-making, ball-handling and passing a great deal.
"He's developed a lot since he got to campus," Comer said. "When he first got to campus, he didn't shoot it as well. I know when he first got there, he really, really worked on his shot to get it where it is now. He really gets to the rim. He's always aggressive.
"The best thing about Brandon is he's competitive like I was. That's why he's doing so well. He tries so hard and gives up his body every possession to try and win games."
That's one of several characteristics that enamors Goodwin's teammates to whom he has grown very close. It wasn't always like that. In fact, it never was. Swan encouraged him for years to became a leader and get to know his teammates better. That part of his development took off at FGCU.
"Oh, my God, I cannot get that boy to stay home," said Swan, laughing. "The other boys love him and he loves them, too. And I was like, 'Thank God, he does know how to build relationships.'"
Goodwin realizes who to thank most.
"My mom is my life," Goodwin said. "She sacrificed a lot. She guided what I am today.
"And I'm in the best situation of my life."


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An interesting development:
Focus on the Family announced Monday that it will cut 202 staff positions at its Colorado Springs headquarters, beginning at month's end.
Of these jobs, 149 are filled and 53 positions are vacant, officials said. About 20 percent of the positions are in management.
Most of the jobs end Nov. 28; however, some will be phased out December through February.
These losses and 46 layoffs announced by the ministry in October will bring its staff size to about 950, down from about 1,200 last year, said Focus chief operating officer Glenn Williams.
Does this indicate weakening of social conservatism? Is it a result of the decliining economy? Or -- and I think this the most likely explanation -- is it the result of an outdated business model?
Focus on the Family made a lot of its money by selling Christian-oriented books, CDs and DVDs through its monthly magazine, but those sales have declined, as the ministry admitted in announcing a first round of layoffs in September:
Over the past few years, Focus has seen a significant decline in its sales of books, CDs and DVDs, which the organization blames on competition from online retailers and large retailers like Wal-Mart. To help save money, Focus partnered with Christian Book Distributors of Peabody, Mass., to take over its product distribution early next year. Each shipment of materials costs Focus about $8, the organization's president and CEO, Jim Daly, said Tuesday. Through CBD, the cost will go down by more than 50 percent.
Whereas FOTF was a dominant player in a niche market, now they're facing competition in their niche. So somebody has to build a better mousetrap.
UPDATE: More information:
Donations are down, and Focus relies almost entirely on the charity of others.
That problem is reverberating throughout the nonprofit sector, said Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp. president Mike Kazmierski.
"It's probably going to get worse," he said. "When people have to cut back, the only place they have to go is their discretionary income."
Glenn Williams, Focus' chief operating officer, said that more than 95 percent of the organization's income comes from donations, with book sales accounting for the remainder. Donations to Focus set a record high in fiscal 2008, he said. But donations began to decline in October, which starts Focus' new fiscal year, and after polling major donors, Focus expects this holiday season - normally the most lucrative time of the year for nonprofits - to be even more painful to the bottom line.
"Looking at October trends and talking to donors who are not in a position where they can give, we thought we'd be facing a more severe decision in January or February if we waited," Williams said.
The cuts are taking place throughout the organization. The most visible change will be the elimination of the print editions of four of its eight magazines.
The content of the magazines - Plugged In, Breakaway, Brio and Brio & Beyond - will remain online.
Plugged In, for example, has seen its print subscriber base dip to 30,000 while its Web site attracts 1 million unique visitors a month, Williams said.
You know, I'm not all that that impressed by 1 million uniques. Ace of Spade had 3.4 million visitors in October. Maybe they should hire Ace to run their Web division -- family values and Valu-Rite vodka!
Uh, seriously, though, a lot of old brick-and-mortar operations (including newspapers) are run by older guys who really don't know how to evaluate online activity from a business perspective. The Republican Party isn't the only old-school organization that can't get a clue online.
UPDATE II: The gay left is having a schadenfreude fest over this, since FOTF helped push passage of Proposition 8 in California. They apparently think only christofascist godbags are going to be hurt by this recession depression apocalyptic gotterdammerung.
Labels: Focus on the Family


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State lawmaker wants to repeal renewable energy law
Posted 6:29 pm, March 14, 2013, by Mitch Carr
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- A North Carolina state representative has proposed a bill to repeal a 2007 law that requires Duke Energy to get some of its energy from alternative sources, such as solar power.
Rep. Mike Hager (R- Rutherford, Burke) proposed the bill because he believes it contributes to higher electricity bills for consumers.
Hager worked as an engineer for Duke Energy until ten years ago, but he said he does not feel there's a conflict of interest.
"We're trying to search out everything we can out there to try to drive down the price of electricity," Hager said.
The 2007 bill passed the state Senate 47-1 with two senators abstaining. It was then ratified by the state and signed by the governor. Since 2007, the legislature has changed multiple times.
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Power mostly restored Monday morning after Saturday storm knock out power across the Triad
Dozens of Guilford County teachers say they stand with Gov. Cooper's veto of teacher pay raise bill
Power restored after object hits Duke Energy lines, knocks out power for more than 4,000 people