text:
és un cantant libanès i estatunidenc destacat com el vocalista del grup de rock alternatiu Mashrou' Leila.

Vida primerenca
Fill d'un pare libanès que havia viscut als Estats Units i d'una mare jordana que havia viscut entre el Marroc i la ciutat de Roma, Sinno disposa de la ciutadania estatunidenca i va ser criat en anglès. De fet, va graduar-se en una escola anglòfona «sense saber parlar àrab bé»; en va aprendre a mesura que componia cançons. No va aprendre llenguatge musical —és a dir, a llegir música— ni ha rebut mai cap mena de formació musical. Amb tot, cantava al cor escolar.

Mentre estudiava a la Universitat Americana de Beirut, va sortir de l'armari com a homosexual. També hi va començar a experimentar amb el grafit subversiu com a forma d'autoexpressió abans d'implicar-se en el grup musical Mashrou' Leila. A més, es va graduar en la Universitat de Dartmouth a l'estat de Nou Hampshire, en la qual més tard ha fet de docent.

Carrera
Va cofundar Mashrou' Leila el 2008 mentre estudiava Disseny Gràfic a la Universitat Americana de Beirut, en resposta a una convocatòria oberta de jam session, juntament amb Andre Chedid, Omaya Malaeb i Haig Papazian. Segons Sinno, els seus pares inicialment no van creure en la carrera musical que volia atènyer; temien pel seu futur financer i per la seva seguretat física atès que la banda tenia una reputació controvertida.

Aparició en mitjans de comunicació
Ha aparegut a la coberta de diverses revistes, com ara Têtu de França, My.Kali de Jordan i Attitude, amb seu al Regne Unit. També va fer-ho en l'edició de l'Orient Mitjà de la revista Rolling Stone com a part de Mashrou' Leila.

A banda, va figurar en una pintura de l'artista iranià Alireza Shojaian titulada Hamed Sinno et un de ses frères. En el quadre, Sinno és representat pessigant el mugró d'Anubis, l'antic déu egipci dels ritus funeraris. Anubis duu un collar usekh dels colors de l'arc de Sant Martí, que fa al·lusió a la bandera LGBT. L'autor referencia i s'inspira en l'obra anònima Gabrielle d'Estrées et une de ses soeurs, que representa l'amant del rei Enric IV de França. La col·laboració amb Sinno va ser una declaració d'intencions contra la persecució sistemàtica de les minories LGBT per part de l'Estat egipci. Shojaian va pintar la peça després del concert de Mashrou' Leila del 22 de setembre de 2017 al Caire, la capital d'Egipte, durant el qual es va onejar la bandera de l'orgull, cosa que va provocar la detenció de diversos assistents al concert.

Vida personal
Sinno és obertament gai i defensa els drets LGBT a l'Orient Mitjà i arreu del món.

Referències

Alumnes de la Universitat de Dartmouth
Alumnes de la Universitat Americana de Beirut
Cantants de rock estatunidencs
Naixements del 1988
Cantants libanesos
Activistes LGBT asiàtics
Activistes LGBT estatunidencs
Activistes libanesos
Musulmans

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Forensic entomology is the study of insects for medico-legal purposes. There are many ways insects can be used to help solve a crime, but the primary purpose of forensic entomology is estimating time since death.
Blow flies are the most common insects associated with a dead body. However many other species of flies, beetles and arthropods may also be found at a death scene. Because blow flies arrive earlier in the decomposition process, they provide the most accurate estimation of time since death. Some of the blow fly species found in Canada include Calliphora vicina, Calliphora vomitoria, and Cynomya cadaverina. The scientific names are used because the common names are not always consistent.
Beetles in both their immature and adult form can also be found on dead bodies. These usually occur at later stages of decomposition. As the corpse dries, it becomes less suitable for the blowflies, flesh flies and house flies that like a semi-liquid environment. Different fly families, the cheese flies and coffin flies, are abundant as the corpse dries. Eventually, the corpse becomes too dry for the mouth hooks of maggots to operate effectively. The hide beetles, ham beetles and carcass beetles, with their chewing mouthparts, devour the dry flesh, skin and ligaments. A few of these include Silphidae (Carrion beetles), Dermestidae (Dermestid beetles) and Staphlynidae (Rove beetles). Other insects that may be found include Piophilidae (Skipper flies), Sphaeroceridae (Dung flies), and Phoridae (Humpback flies). Finally, moth larvae and mites consume the hair, leaving only the bones to slowly disintegrate.
Calliphoridae (blow flies) and Sarcophagidae (flesh flies) may arrive within 24 h of death if the season is suitable or within minutes if blood or other body fluids are present. Other species, like Piophilidae (cheese skippers), are not interested in the fresh corpse, but are attracted to the body at a later stage of decomposition. Some insects do not seek the body directly, but arrive to feed on other insects at the scene. Many species are involved at each decomposition stage and groups of insects may overlap with each other. Knowing the regional insect fauna and times of colonization, a forensic entomologist can determine a period of time in which death took place. They may also be able to establish the season of death (e.g. summer) according to the presence of absence of certain insects that are only seasonally active.
Maggot age and development is used in the first few weeks after death and can be accurate to a few days or less. Maggots are immature flies and Calliphoridae (blow flies) are the most common insects used. Blow flies are attracted to a corpse very soon after death and lay their eggs in natural openings or in a wound, if present. Eggs are laid in batches and hatch after a period of time into first instar (or stage) larvae. The larva feeds on the corpse and moults into a second, and then third instar larva. The size and the number of spiracles (breathing holes) determine the stage. When in the third instar, the larva stops feeding and leaves the corpse to find a safe place to pupate. This is the prepupal stage. The larva's skin hardens into an outer shell, or pupal case, to protect it as it metamorphoses into an adult. Freshly formed pupae are pale in colour, but darken to a deep brown in a few hours. After a number of days, an adult fly emerges, leaving an empty pupal case behind as evidence.
Each developmental stage takes a known amount of time, depending on the temperature and availability of food. Temperature is especially important since insects are 'cold-blooded' - meaning their metabolic rate increases (and the duration of development decreases) as the temperature rises, and vice-versa.
Looking at the oldest stage of insect and the temperature of the region, a forensic entomologist can estimate the day or range of days in which the first insects laid eggs and provide an estimate of time of death. This method applies until the first adults emerge. After this, it is impossible to determine which generation is present and time since death must be estimated from insect succession.
EGGS are tiny, but usually laid in clumps. They are often found in a wound or natural opening, but may be in clothing etc. Eggs are collected with a damp paint brush or forceps. Half are preserved in alcohol and half are collected alive. Eggs are especially important when maggots or later insect stages are absent. The time of hatching is vital and the eggs must be monitored every few hours.
MAGGOTS are found on or near the remains and may be in large masses. The masses generate heat, which speeds up development. The site of the maggot mass, the temperature (and size) of each mass are important. Large maggots are usually older, but small maggots may belong to a different species so a range of sizes are collected. Since third instar larvae leave the body to pupate, the soil around the body is carefully sifted. The soil below the corpse is also checked to a depth of several centimetres. Half the sample is kept alive and half preserved immediately. Preservation allows the entomologist to see what stage the maggots were in when collected. Preserved specimens may also be used as evidence in court.
PUPAE and EMPTY PUPAL CASES are very important but easy to miss. Pupae like dry, secure areas away from the wet food source so clothing pockets, seams and cuffs are likely hiding places. If the remains are found indoors, they may be under clothing or rugs etc. Pupae are dark brown, oval, and range in size from 2-20 mm. Empty pupal cases look similar, but one end is open where the adult fly has emerged. Pupae are not preserved. They won't grow and the species and exact age cannot be determined until the adult emerges.
All beetle stages are important. They move fast and are often found under the body, or in and under clothing. They should be place in alcohol in preserve them.
Forensic entomology is used most commonly to determine time since death. However, insects can provide other important information about a crime or victim. For example, insects can provide details about a person's life before they died. Because development is predictable depending on specific factors, the use of drugs can change the lifecycle timing of an insect. One such drug is cocaine, which causes the maggots feeding on affected tissues to develop much faster than they normally would. Insect behavior can also offer clues about what happened around the time of death. Flies tend to lay their eggs first in moist places in the body like the eyes and mouth. If eggs or maggots are found on normally dry skin, like the forearms, before these other areas, it suggests that the skin was damaged in some way. This may be because the individual injured themselves in a fall or because they were trying to protect themselves from a weapon. In either case, an important piece of evidence has been discovered. Finally, the species of insect can point to events that occurred after death. For instance, some insects are found only in some areas. If a species that is normally found only in the countryside is found at a scene in the city, it suggests the body has been moved at some point after death. Again, this provides an essential piece of evidence that could help solve a crime.
1. The presence of insects on the body that are not found in the area suggests the body was moved, and may indicate the type of area where the murder took place.
3. If maggot activity occurs away from a natural opening, this may indicate a wound. For example, maggots on the palm of the hands suggest defence wounds.
2. Forensic entomology relies on insect abundance. In winter, there are fewer insects and entomology's use is limited.
5. Since chemicals can slow or accelerate growth, insect evidence may be affected by the presence of drugs in a corpse's system.
Bibliography (what sources of information - professional literature, interviews etc - were used).


This lab demonstrates how to use an Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS) database with applications. Any application that uses an SQL database such as MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle or PostgreSQL can use Amazon RDS as a scalable, reliable database.
You will reconfigure a Drupal Open Source Content Management System (CMS) to use Amazon RDS for MySQL as the backend database with a multi-Availability Zone (AZ) deployment model.
To successfully complete this lab, you should be familiar with basic Linux server administration and comfortable using the Linux command-line tools.
Amazon RDS gives you access to the capabilities of a familiar MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, or PostgreSQL database engine. This means that the code, applications, and tools you already use today with your existing databases can be used with Amazon RDS. Amazon RDS automatically patches the database software and backs up your database, storing the backups for a user-defined retention period and enabling point-in-time recovery. You benefit from the flexibility of being able to scale the compute resources or storage capacity associated with your Database Instance (DB Instance) via a single API call.
Amazon RDS DB Instances can be provisioned with either standard storage or Provisioned IOPS storage. Amazon RDS Provisioned IOPS is a storage option designed to deliver fast, predictable, and consistent I/O performance, and is optimized for I/O-intensive, transactional (OLTP) database workloads.
In addition, Amazon RDS makes it easy to use replication to enhance availability and reliability for production workloads. Using the Multi-AZ deployment option you can run mission critical workloads with high availability and built-in automated fail-over from your primary database to a synchronously replicated secondary database in case of a failure. Amazon RDS for MySQL also enables you to scale-out beyond the capacity of a single database deployment for read-heavy database workloads. As with all Amazon Web Services, there are no up-front investments required, and you pay only for the resources you use.
Pre-configured Parameters: Amazon RDS DB Instances are pre-configured with a sensible set of parameters and settings appropriate for the DB Instance class you have selected. You can simply launch a MySQL, Oracle or SQL Server DB Instance and connect your application within minutes without additional configuration. If you desire additional control, you can achieve it via DB Parameter Groups.
Monitoring and Metrics: Amazon RDS provides Amazon CloudWatch metrics for your DB Instance deployments at no additional charge. You can use the AWS Management Console to view key operational metrics for your DB Instance deployments, including compute/memory/storage capacity utilization, I/O activity, and DB Instance connections.
Automatic Software Patching: Amazon RDS will make sure that the relational database software powering your deployment stays up-to-date with the latest patches. You can exert optional control over when and if your DB Instance is patched via DB Engine Version Management.
Automated Backups: Turned on by default, the automated backup feature of Amazon RDS enables point-in-time recovery for your DB Instance. Amazon RDS will backup your database and transaction logs and store both for a user-specified retention period. This allows you to restore your DB Instance to any second during your retention period, up to the last five minutes. Your automatic backup retention period can be configured to up to thirty five days.
DB Snapshots: DB Snapshots are user-initiated backups of your DB Instance. These full database backups will be stored by Amazon RDS until you explicitly delete them. You can create a new DB Instance from a DB Snapshot whenever you desire.
Provisioned IOPS: Using the Amazon RDS APIs, or with a few clicks on the AWS Management Console, you can provision the IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) for your database instance and scale it easily. This functionality is available to you in two stages. Starting immediately, when you create new DB Instances using the AWS Management Console or the Amazon RDS APIs, you can provision from 1,000 IOPS to 10,000 IOPS with corresponding storage from 100GB to 1TB for MySQL and Oracle engines. You can start small and scale up in increments of 1,000 IOPS and 100GB of storage. If you are using SQL Server then the maximum IOPS you can provision is 7,000 IOPS.
Push-Button Scaling: Using the Amazon RDS APIs or with a few clicks on the AWS Management Console, you can scale the compute and memory resources powering your deployment up or down. Scale compute operations typically complete within a handful of minutes. For MySQL and Oracle database engines, as your storage requirements grow, you can also provision additional storage on-the-fly with zero downtime. If you are using RDS Provisioned IOPS with the MySQL and Oracle database engines, you can also scale the throughput of your DB Instance by specifying the IOPS rate from 1,000 IOPS to 10,000 IOPS and corresponding storage from 100GB and 1TB in 1,000 IOPS and 100GB increments.
Automatic Host Replacement: Amazon RDS will automatically replace the compute instance powering your deployment in the event of a hardware failure.
Replication: Amazon RDS provides two distinct but complementary replication features: Multi-AZ deployments and Read Replicas that can be used in conjunction to gain enhanced database availability, protect your latest database updates against unplanned outages, and scale beyond the capacity constraints of a single DB Instance for read-heavy database workloads. Multi-AZ deployments are available for the MySQL and Oracle database engines. Read Replicas are currently supported for the MySQL database engine.
Isolation and Security: Using Amazon VPC, you can isolate your DB Instances in your own virtual network, and connect to your existing IT infrastructure using industry-standard encrypted IPsec VPN. The VPC functionality is supported by all RDS DB Engines. To learn more about Amazon RDS in VPC, refer to the Amazon RDS User Guide. In addition, using Amazon RDS, you can configure firewall settings and control network access to your DB Instances.
This lab is included in the quest SysOps Administrator - Associate. If you complete this lab you'll receive credit for it when you enroll in this quest.


text:
Life, More Features
Trend down the Mughal lane
THE ASIAN AGE.
Published : Nov 22, 2019, 1:54 am IST
Updated : Nov 22, 2019, 1:54 am IST
From Humayun's Tomb to the beloved Jama Masjid, twitter was livened up with stills from the capital's most celebrated architecture.
#ThanksMughals recently took over the cyberspace: in a series of tweets, netizens brought out the wonders of the Mughal architecture around Delhi as a way to pay an homage to the remnants of the Mughal Empire.
If your Twitter feed saw a spree of Mughal architecture this week, don't be surprised: in a social media trend, netizens are coming forward to appreciate the contribution of the Mughals to art, architecture, food and culture under the hashtag #ThanksMughals
With the trailer release of Ajay Devgn-starrer Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, social media opened discourse on the history that the country owes to the Mughal rulers. In a conversation about Mughal architecture, the capital is never far behind –Delhi, after all, is dotted with the architectural remnants of the Mughal dynasty. Over the years, the Indian culture has assimilated art, décor, food and customs from several of the dynasties that ruled the subcontinent, not just the Mughals. In an effort to bring some of these to life, social media users took to twitter. From Humayun's Tomb to the beloved Jama Masjid, twitter was livened up with stills from the capital's most celebrated architecture. Many tweets also went ahead to add tidbits of historical facts to refresh your knowledge.
"While it's not the best way to go about celebrating history, we must start somewhere," says Adrija Saha, a resident of Delhi who is no stranger to social trends. "Social media is accessible to most parts of the country, hence it's a good platform to bring up issues and build narratives." In this case, a trend as simple as #ThanksMughals acts as an opening thread for conversations that pertain to culture, history and politics. Twitter user Fidato, whose tweet listed the amount of profit that the country hails from these architectural spots, believes that social media holds immense importance in such conversations. "For the rest of the world, Mughals are ancient history. But as a Indians of 21st Century, we must recognize their importance in what India is today." Social media often dons the garb of political statements - but according to Fidato, the primary objective of such a trend should be to spread awareness of the history that has shaped the present.
In some ways, this trend is a simple reminder of Delhi's most beloved spots - and in another ways, it's quick to evoke a backlash against the Mughal emperors, who came to the country as colonizers. However, as is the charm of social media trends, this one too, brought users of different opinions together. "Even though we might not be able to forgive certain brutalities that the Mughals committed, we should try and appreciate their contribution to art, culture and music," says Harsha Kothari, a Delhi-based law student of ALSD University. "It is for this purpose that the social media trend of #ThanksMughals is great," she sums up.
Tags: mughal architecture, tanhaji

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


SPRINGFIELD – Sen. John Sullivan (D-Rushville) and Rep. Norine Hammond (R- Macomb) announced that their legislation to update the school board election process (SB 82) has passed both the Illinois Senate and House and will now go to the Governor Rauner.
SB 82 allows an additional option for school districts to pass referendums to move to at-large voting for local school board elections. Many school districts in Illinois have a form of at-large voting which limits the number of school board members that can come from any one township. In rural districts which contain more than one township, this restriction can severely restrict the pool of potential members. Under the reform proposed by Sullivan and Hammond, a referendum could pass with a simple majority of those voting in each township (as it is under current law); or if 2/3 (66%) of all those voting in the district pass the referendum.
"At its heart this is about ensuring voters are properly represented. We're addressing a very specific issue affecting rural, downstate schools and I appreciate the rural educators who brought this to our attention," Sen. Sullivan said.
For more information on this or other state issues, please contact Sen Sullivan's Quincy office at 217-222-2295 or Rep. Hammond's Macomb office at 309-836-2707.


MALAYSIA: Malaysia's image as a moderate Muslim nation has suffered a blow with a spate of church firebombings that has widened ethnic divisions and posed a serious challenge for Prime Minister Najib Razak. Nine churches have been attacked since last Friday, pelted with Molotov cocktails or vandalised amid anger over a court ruling that overturned a Government ban on non-Muslims using "Allah" as a translation for "God".
* Over a court ruling on non-Muslims using " Allah" as a translation for "God"
The Government has insisted that the use of the word by Christians, who make up nine percent of the Muslim-majority nation's population, could cause confusion and encourage religious conversion, which is illegal for Muslims in Malaysia.
"It is a low point for Malaysia's image as a moderate Muslim country," said Azmi Sharom from the Universiti Malaya, of the latest in a string of religious disputes that have raised fears the country is being "Islamised".
They include the sentencing of a Muslim model to six strokes of the cane for drinking beer, and "body-snatching" cases where Islamic authorities have battled with relatives over the remains of people whose religion is disputed.
The tussles have caused unease among Malaysia's ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who fear their rights are being eroded as political parties battle for the support of the 62 percent of the population that is Malay.
The "Allah" row "is an ethnic and political thing more than a religious one," said Azmi, arguing that the ban on the use of the word is aimed at shoring up government support among Malays, who represent its base.
"The term 'Allah' has been used commonly elsewhere. The government is just pandering to some people who are calling for the ban, but most people actually feel quite indifferent about this issue," he said.
The ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), has been accused of stoking Malay nationalism in order to protect its support base after 2008 elections where it lost ground to the opposition.
Pollster Ibrahim Suffian said the church attacks are a "double-edged sword" for Najib, who came to power last year pledging to heal divisions among the ethnic groups.
"If the government doesn't appeal (against the court ruling), it will be seen as offending the conservative Muslims in the country, but at the same time he has pledged to reach out to all minorities," he said.
"It just goes to show the limited amount of room he has between balancing his political interest and a wider Malaysian interest," said Ibrahim, head of the independent polling firm Merdeka Centre.
Najib has visited the scene of the most serious of the attacks, a church that was partly gutted last Friday, as have several leaders of the opposition Islamic party, which is challenging UMNO for Malay support.
The fire-bombings come just as Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third-largest economy, is trying to woo foreign investors. They also threaten to harm its tourism industry, one of the key foreign exchange earners.


Rocky Mountain Seed Saving Event Was AWESOME!!!
Last night I attended an amazing Seed-Saving Workshop at the Penny Royal Collective in Kalispell. It was sponsored by the Good Seed Company out of Whitefish. It was so informative! I took pages of notes and bought a fantastic book on Seed-Saving!
And then he and his partner Belle Star proceeded to share lots of solutions and ideas!
There's a great book you can buy called Breed Your own Vegetable Varieties I want to order from amazon!
The garden was amazing!!! What an example of watering vegetables! It was so alive!!! You just felt good being there.
And so many cool labels and pretty flowers and herbs and vegetables all intertwined.
Margaret Roche gave an amazing presentation on how easy it is to save seeds and sent us all home with a packet of cherry tomato seeds!
And they had a raffle sponsored by Hooper's Nursery and everyone got a prize!!!
The best part was the crowd who were so interested and full of knowledge and passion themselves.


We got to work with some of our favorite models for the Herman Hiss & Company 2018 Fall & Winter Catalog.
Pick up the catalog and you'll see some familiar faces throughout the pages. Nick and Christine Schwall's sons are on the cover. Barb Bosco and her daughter, Christine Schwall, don exquisite diamonds in the For Her section while registered jewelers Tom Tabor and Nick Schwall appear in the Engagement Ring section.
While you've got the catalog open, you're sure to discover the perfect holiday gift for someone you love. Keep your eyes open and you may spot appearances by the most popular members of the Ohno team, Lego and Remus.
Don't miss the section on holiday decorations and home entertaining. The Herman Hiss collection features everything from adorable stuffed animals to elegant serving dishes to beautiful home decor. You might find the perfect piece for your next holiday party or family gathering.


text:
Idleb Displaced Seek Settlement in Turkish-Held Areas
Thursday March 19th, 2020 by IQTISSAD (independent)
Residents of Idleb are fleeing their homes and seeking to resettle in areas of northern Syria that are controlled by Turkey and their affiliated armed groups writes Iqtissad.
Dozens of men have been seen standing in a disciplined line in front of the civil registration department in the border city of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, to obtain ID cards.
Everyone came from the eastern region of Idleb province as the regime forces laid claim to their areas. They say they are part of a very large number who entered the Turkish-held Operation Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch areas.
"We came here as the regime advanced and the city was subjected to horrific bombing … I currently live in a camp located in the eastern neighbourhood … life here is better and safety prevails in the area," said Abu al-Ezz, who is from al-Atareb in the southern countryside of Aleppo, while holding the necessary documents to obtain an ID granted by the local council in Azaz.
More than a million people in Idleb fled towards the Turkish border during the recent Syrian regime assault backed by Russia and Iran.
Turkey currently hosts more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees.
Accommodation at 1200 dollars
The Syrian Response Coordination group recored 183,000 people who settled in the Olive Branch area, which includes the city of Afrin and its countryside, and 151,000 people who were distributed in the city of Azaz and the Euphrates Shield area, which includes al-Bab, Jarablus, al-Rai and other cities and towns of the region out of a total of one million IDPs, who fled the active fighting between November and the ceasefire on Mar. 5, 2020.
Expatriates assert that they are suffering from a massive increase in the rental prices for accommodation in these areas, while many of them said that they obtained free houses.
Thousands also live in camps under the supervision of humanitarian organizations, but this is temporary, until the future of Idleb can be ascertained, in light of the current Operation Spring Shield launched by the Turkish troops.
Abu Fadi, a displaced person who was staying in Binche, was able to obtain a free house in the city of al-Bab after contacting one of his friends in the area.
Abu Fadi told Iqtissad via WhatsApp that, "The people here are good and very welcoming. The city is big and everything is available here."
On the other side, Abu Abdo found a house after a great difficulty.
Abu Abdo, originally from Idleb, fled from his hometown Ariha, which is on an international road that the regime hopes to take control of with Russian support. He confirmed to Iqtissad that he preferred to search for a house in the city of Azaz, as it is closer to Idleb Governorate than the rest of the Euphrates Shield area.
After a long search, he managed to rent a good house for 150 dollars per month, on condition that he pre-paid for six months.
Abu Abdo comments with some satisfaction, "I love this city. Life here is normal, electricity is passed from Turkey, commercial traffic is excellent, but rents are very expensive."
Military follies
Some prefer staying in Afrin and its suburbs, as it is easier to find a cheap house.
There is a big difference in the administration of the region from the city of Azaz and the Euphrates Shield area, which is free from a military presence, unlike Afrin, which was divided on a military basis and includes an intense presence by the factions of the national army that do not end its follies in the region, according to the residents.
Marwan, a displaced person from Damascus, said that he found a house in Jindires in the countryside of Afrin without having to pay any money. But he complained about the factions interference in the homes issue, as, "any displaced person is subject to expulsion from the house in which he resides, if the factions intervene, " Marwan confirms.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Syria: Fraud in Vaccine Centers, Cards Sold in Damascus
THE SYRIAN OBSERVER, Wednesday January 19th, 2022
Russia Reviews South Syria Strategy
NORTH PRESS (Kurdish agency), Tuesday January 18th, 2022
Assad's Normalization and the Politics of Erasure in Syria
BROOKINGS, Friday January 14th, 2022
Syrian Cotton: From 1 Million Tons to Below 20,000 tons
SYRIA STEPS (Pro-government website), Thursday January 13th, 2022
Syrian Pharmaceutical Market: Monopoly, Smuggling, and Soaring Prices
ETIHAD MEDIA (Opposition website), Thursday January 13th, 2022


Property buyers in two mainland cities are bracing for taxes.
See how retail icon, Target, took aim at product, profit and power...making cheap- chic. "Target: Behind the Bullseye" reveals how Target became both tastemaker and discount retailer extraordinaire while continually reminding its customers to "Expect More, Pay Less." Premieres Tonight at 9PM.
CNBC's Kate Kelly has the details on the size of the AIG re-initial profit offering.
Some royalty has sailed into the city of New York, with Micky Arison, chairman & CEO of Carnival.
Stop Trading, Listen to Cramer!
Insight on overcoming the obstacles to small business lending, with Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman; :Sheila Bair, FDIC Chair; Sen. Mark Warner, (D-VA); and CNBC's Steve Liesman.
Golfsmith, the nation's largest golf retailer, reported its best fourth quarter in four years. CEO Marty Hanaka discusses the results with CNBC's Darren Rovell.
Should retirees stash savings in their 401(k)?
Bad news for renters. Because home builders and developers are not building enough multifamily buildings even to replace those lost to disasters and destruction, let alone account for expected growth in demand, apartment rents are expected to rise at a double-digit rate in coming years.
Why growing demand? A rise in renter-age households, and those who've been foreclosed out of ownership, plus the fact that even people who want to buy a home can't get a mortgage, as Steve Kerch notes in his story today on the rental market.
Read his story for more on what's ahead for renters, plus see our video for a look at what retirees should be doing with the money they have stashed in their 401(k), and read Kristen Gerencher's blog for the latest trouble brewing for the health-care safety net known as Medicaid.
Will higher rents entice more people to buy a home? Maybe there is a group of fence-sitters out there who will decide to buy if rents rise further and the cost equation works out in favor of buying in their neighborhood. But many people who rent are simply not in the position to buy — kids just out of college, for instance — so it's probably no big boon to the housing market.
Apartment dwellers face double-digit rent hikes in the coming years as a shortage of new multifamily units gives landlords the upper hand.
Read more: Double-digit rent hikes are on the way.
The housing market continues to face headwinds from weak employment and a supply glut.
Read more: Mortgage rates fall in latest week.
A record number of households received a foreclosure notice last year. Banks took possession of a record number of homes.
Listen to podcast: With foreclosures, bad 2010 to be followed by worse 2011.
Should retirees keep savings in their 401(k) plan?
Boomers start turning 65 this year and, as they retire, some leave money in their workplace 401(k) plan. Is that a smart move? Maybe, says Donn Hess, head of product development with J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services.
Watch video: Should retirees keep savings in their 401(k) plan?
Even with states scrambling for money to cover their budgets during the recession, two government-financed health programs run by the states continued to provide health coverage to millions of children in low-income families who otherwise couldn't afford health insurance, and some states even expanded their offerings, a new report found.
Read more: Health-care safety net could fray.
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Home Sweet Campus
Jenny West Rozelle '00
It can be a little surreal to be the offspring of college masters, head resident fellows (HRFs) or resident associates (RAs) — the faculty and staff members and their families who live full time in houses or apartments on campus and provide guidance and intellectual support to the students in their residential colleges. Picture a few hundred extended family members living, dining, studying, sleeping and, yes, sometimes partying in close quarters. But those years of living on campus can provide a lifetime of memories. Masters, HRFs and RAs form a special bond with the many students who live at their college through the years, and their kids get to share that in their own way as they find their place in the Rice world.
Franz working on a final paper at the Brown Masters House as friends, spread throughout the house, do the same.
Rice has always been a part of Franz Brotzen's life. His father, the late Professor of Materials Science Franz Brotzen, first began working at Rice in 1954. Both Professor Brotzen and his wife, Frances, were active associates at Jones College before being asked to fill in as masters for a year while then-master and Professor Neil "Sandy" Havens was on sabbatical. The year was 1974, and the younger Franz Brotzen was leaving for college at Johns Hopkins University. After one semester, he decided that attending school was not in the cards for him at that time. "I was ready to be wild and irresponsible. I was a ne'er-do-well," he said.
The Brotzen family
Franz returned to Houston and began working for a landscaping business. He lived in Jones House off and on during spring 1975. "My parents were very close to a number of the women at Jones [which was then female only]. In May, when school ended, the students had to move out of the college. So we had people crashing in the masters house. When I moved back into the house that month, my bedroom was taken. I ended up sleeping on a cot in my father's office." Soon after, their one-year mastership ended and the family went back to his parents' house.
Then, in summer 1977, they became masters at Brown College, also a women's college at that time. "We got notice that they were going to be masters again, this time full time at Brown instead of just the one year like at Jones. My dad said, 'Your mother and I have talked about it and I think we're going to move in. Are you up for this?' I was like, sure, why not?" Franz had begun attending Rice in January of that year as a second-semester freshman and had been commuting to his classes, so living on campus was a welcome change.
Frances Brotzen on the Brown College roof
Professor Brotzen's mastership announcement
Although he was assigned to Lovett College and developed many of his strongest friendships with students there, he never lived at that college, choosing instead to live at home, first at his parents' house and then at the Brown Masters House. "Brown House is a nice house with two refrigerators that were always stocked because they were always having parties — part of the masters' job description, I suppose."
Franz lived at Brown until his graduation in 1980. "It was a great experience because people were always coming in. I remember waking up one morning when school was out for the summer. My parents were out of town and I heard voices downstairs. They were having some kind of event to welcome the new freshmen. There were all these lovely young women dressed up; it was some kind of tea or something. You'd wake up to wonderful surprises like that."
If his parents hadn't been masters, Franz probably would have continued to live at home rather than on campus, he admitted. As an older student who went back to school at age 22, he was a self-described "loner" during the one semester he commuted to classes from off campus.
"I never had an O-Week, so I never met people in that context," he said. "As soon as we moved into Brown, I instantly knew 180 women. I also was getting to know other people across campus and worked for the Thresher. Living at Brown, to me at the time and in retrospect, was the best of all possible worlds."
Krista Comer and José Aranda's introduction as new Baker masters with sons Jesse and Benito
The first time his parents were chosen as masters, Benito Aranda-Comer was 10 years old. "The Baker College students brought my dad a big cookie cake, so I was pretty excited about that," he said. "Rice is one big playground to a kid. I liked to host a lot of friends here. We'd go to basketball games and football games. For me, it felt like limitless opportunities to enjoy the unique situation I was in."
José Aranda and Benito (back row) with Baker students during Beer Bike
But he was also nervous. "Being very young and understanding that my parents had this serious role in the college, I was happy to go to meals, eat and leave," said Benito. "I was really aware that these students were so much older than me. I wondered what they thought of me but didn't exactly have the communication skills to ask. But the Baker students showed me what it meant to be a nice young adult, especially to children."
Being the son of college masters also has helped focus Benito's own academic experience. "I want to be able to say that I tried my hardest. I remember looking at the Rice students and seeing them stressed out or upset or very happy — anywhere in the spectrum. The takeaway I got from that is that they tried. They showed up because they wanted to work and learn. They wanted to change and be a certain kind of person. It was admirable to me. I decided I wanted to be that person as well."
After five years at Baker, Benito's parents — José Aranda, the department chair of Spanish and Portuguese and associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese and of English, and Krista Comer, associate professor of English — were asked to stay on as masters for an additional year, as Baker was combined with the new Duncan College during fall 2009–spring 2010. In 2013, when they became masters at Brown College, Benito started his freshman year as a student at Baker and primarily resides there while classes are in session.
"I think some people at Brown are cognizant of the fact that I'm the Brown masters' son, but some people don't even know. I don't want to be treated differently," he said.
Whether at Baker or at Brown, Rice is home for Benito. There's a level of comfort and confidence that he has developed during his years on campus. "When I got into Rice, I realized that my formation as a young adult happened here," he said. "There have been a lot of things that have helped me grow as a person and made me the person I've become. A lot of it has to do with living at Baker and my parents being masters. What I've never taken for granted is that I feel like I can do anything at Rice. I can go to class, I can learn, I can meet people, I can foster my imagination and friendships with other students. It's a special spot. All the people make it what it is."
Simon and Colin (standing) with Laura and Steve Cox at the Sid Richardson Masters House
When Steve and Laura Cox were named as masters at Sid Richardson College, their sons were teenagers: Colin '11 was 15 years old and Simon, who currently is a graduate student in religious studies at Rice, was 13.
"I think the greatest advice that we got from previous masters was to find special time for our kids. Because it would be very easy for them to become resentful," said Laura. "By our second year, Colin was a student at Rice and lived at Wiess College. Thursday night was a free night for all four of us, so we made it pretty clear to the students at Sid that every Thursday night was our family dinner night. It was understood that we weren't going to let anyone in unless it was an emergency. You have to make that time."
Still, Laura and Steve, a professor of computational and applied mathematics, encouraged their sons to get to know the Sid residents. "It was organic, the friendships they made," said Steve. "During our first year, one student in particular became a natural fit as an 'older brother' for Colin and Simon. It was great for them to have this sort of mentor."
Colin and Simon also attended occasional events such as powderpuff games and played foosball with Steve on the seventh floor of Sid nearly every evening before dinner. Said Laura, "Colin and Simon thought it was the coolest upbringing. They loved it. We could walk to musical performances, lectures, art shows, students' presentations in architecture. There was constant intellectual stimulation."
Added Steve, "Living on campus definitely had an impact. They were inspired by what the students were accomplishing."
Ashlyn with Wiess students at a powderpuff game
Ashlyn Hutchinson Munson first moved onto the Rice campus with her parents and younger sister, Emma, when she was 13 years old. Although she already had spent time at Rice as the daughter of Chemistry Professor (and now Dean of Undergraduates) John Hutchinson, she was not entirely happy about the move "for teenage angst reasons that have long since been forgotten," said Ashlyn. John and his wife, Paula, had been associates at Lovett College when she was very young, and she remembers attending college nights there. "I was promised that if I sat through dinner, I could dance on a table later."
Living on campus brought a whole new range of experiences beyond dinner and dancing. She held a variety of jobs at Rice, including waiting tables at Cohen House and working as an administrative assistant in the dean of engineering's office. In her first two years at Wiess, she participated in intramural softball and basketball teams and was in the Wiess musical "Hello, Hamlet!"
"My best memory is when my mom threw a surprise birthday party for my dad's and my joint 40th and 15th birthdays," she said. "She had Baker 13 [the semimonthly run of a number of shaving cream-covered students] run through the party. My 15-year-old friends had a variety of reactions. One says that she has yet to recover 19 years on."
After living on a small, private university campus for so many years, Ashlyn chose a different route for her own education, attending the University of Colorado at Boulder for her undergraduate degree and the Colorado School of Mines for her Ph.D. in mathematics. "When it came time for me to apply to colleges, I was not nearly as stressed as my friends. College didn't seem like too big of a deal. I always remembered the advice I heard my parents giving others. For example, my parents used to tell other parents whose freshmen would call home with a problem that they should tell their kids, 'Wow, that is quite a problem. What are you going to do about it?' That was a good reminder that I could take care of myself."
Now an educator herself, Ashlyn is an assistant professor of mathematics at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. "I always wanted to be a professor, so I assume living on campus had at least some influence. Given that I work on a college campus that is similar in size to Rice, I have very specific views on how a university should be run and expectations of the students."
And her Rice connections continue today. A former
Wiess student is her "unofficially adopted brother" and the godfather of her son. She maintains friendships with a number of other students whom she sees on visits back to Houston. Facebook also has made keeping in touch with a variety of alumni easier. Ashlyn even had a unique visitor while she was living in Boulder: "A Rice student figured out where I worked and brought his parents along to meet me. I'd never even met him before, but he was pretty excited to say hello and 'Team Wiess!'"
Said Ashlyn, "I'm happy my parents moved us to Wiess. I have a collection of childhood stories that almost nobody else does. And there are 2,000-plus alums out there who love my parents almost as much as I do."
Tyler at Hanszen
Tyler Stoddard Smith remembers his years living at Hanszen College as a "wonderland." In the eyes of an 8-year-old, it must have seemed that way. Even finding out that they were going to live on campus was like a fairytale. "I liked that we were going to be 'masters.' It had an imperial ring to it," he said. "I considered myself a young but vital co-master, if only in name."
Tyler was already quite familiar with the Rice campus before moving in. His parents were associates at one of the colleges, and when he was a toddler, his father, Richard Smith, the George and Nancy Rupp Professor of Humanities and a professor of history, would sometimes teach his class with Tyler sitting on his shoulders.
After the young Smith became a campus resident, his fun began in earnest. "As masters, my parents always had a ton of ice cream in the refrigerator. They needed to be prepared for events such as TGs [as in TGIFs, which took place on Fridays] and O-Week dinners, so the fridge was stocked. Thanks to my little fat friends and I, Hanszen probably had the most deficient ice cream supply of any of the colleges. Being at the college was so much fun that most of my friends just lived with us part time."
The students at Hanszen were "amazing" with a young child in their midst, according to Tyler. "For them, I must have been a tremendous nuisance. I have memories of barging into student's rooms on occasion, like an 8-year-old Kramer. I was always carrying a plastic M-16 I got for Christmas. I wandered around the quad, rolled around in mud and hid behind trees to camouflage myself. Then I'd make a machine gun noise and pretend to exterminate groups of students hanging out in front of the commons, making out on the swing, etc. Everybody pretended to die on command, and in really creative ways. I'm not a violent person, but this all seemed very normal at the time, even encouraged."
Some of his experiences at Hanszen could even be considered surreal. How many people can claim Allen Ginsberg as a past houseguest? But in 1983, that's exactly who stayed in the masters house for a few days. Professor Smith had invited Ginsberg to give a poetry reading in the Hanszen College Commons. Ginsberg and Tyler spent time playing video games and bonded over a mutual love of the band The Clash. Before leaving town, Ginsberg attempted to teach yoga and meditation to Richard and Tyler. Ginsberg took the experience very seriously, but the Smith men began to dissolve in hysterical laughter before they could even assume the correct meditative posture, which didn't go over well with the Beat poet.
When the time came for Tyler to go to college, he chose to attend Rice and earned a B.A. in Spanish. "Spending almost 10 years of my life on the Rice campus has taught me that you never know what's going to come roaring out of the sky: water balloons, fruit, homemade rockets, beer, guinea pigs, etc. If Rice students can find a way to launch something, they'll launch it." Unique lesson learned.
Franz Brotzen '80
Benito Aranda-Comer '17
From the Parents' Point of View | Steve and Laura Cox
Ashlyn Hutchinson Munson
Tyler Stoddard Smith '98


text:
Soundings: The Lessons of Dixie
Author: Kerry Temple '74
Colonel John Singleton Mosby and some members of Mosby's Rangers, 43rd Virginia Cavalry Battalion. Library of Congress
When I was a boy growing up in Louisiana in the 1950s, I was steeped in the marinades of the Old South. My bookshelves were stuffed with accounts of the Civil War. Thick picture books lit my imagination with paintings of battle action and blood and valiant warriors on horses. I absorbed the legends of Jeb Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and "The Gray Ghost," Colonel John Singleton Mosby. I had a big, life-size Confederate flag. My great-great-grandfather, William Jesse Anderson, was killed at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas. I have a letter written by him a few days before he died. I was a Child of the Confederacy, with a certificate to prove it.
Gone with the Wind was considered the great American novel. On cold or rainy days I arranged dozens of wagons, cannons, horses and little soldiers — uniformed in grey and blue — in elaborate battle scenes of clashing miniature armies. Statues of Confederate heroes stood on the oak-draped lawn of the local courthouse. I echoed the mantra: "The South shall rise again." My parents taught me to stand up when I heard "Dixie" playing. And we did, in bingo halls and restaurants, whenever that rousing or melancholy anthem was played. Sometimes we sang along. "I wish I was in Dixie . . . look away, Dixieland."
We made family trips to the battle museum in Mansfield, Louisiana, and to the expansive battlefield on the steep bluffs of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where Rebel soldiers were locked under siege by Yankee forces for more than 40 days. Beleaguered but unbowed, they were forced to eat their own horses. Their eventual surrender marked the beginning of the end of the War Between the States.
William Tecumseh Sherman was a Yankee general and an evil man — the father of modern warfare, mastermind behind the initial "scorched earth" strategy. His troops burned, looted, pillaged and devastated the South on their way to the burning of Atlanta.
As a boy growing up in the South, I was told the War for Southern Independence was about states' rights. It was about not letting outsiders tell you what to do. Protecting a way of life. The Rebels were brave, defiant, gallant. They were ill-outfitted underdogs fighting the leviathan forces of the bloodless, industrialized, heavily equipped Union soldiers from the North. The Rebels, I was told, fought to the end because they were defending a cultured lifestyle. The Yankees were mercenaries from big cities and factories dispatched to subdue and ravage Southern homelands.
When I first asked if slavery had not been the real reason for the rebellion, the answer came back again: state's rights, to preserve the natural order of things, to protect personal freedoms, the right to choose — apart from meddling government control. Most slaves were happy and well cared for, I was told, when I asked a second time. And, anyway, the South was intending to end slavery, in due course, but it couldn't just happen overnight. It took time to change a society built on slave labor without causing a total collapse — which wouldn't be good for "them" or "us."
When I was a little boy, I half accepted these explanations. I didn't know better. My parents told me so and everything around me confirmed these cultural beliefs. Segregated schools and separate water fountains and "colored people" not allowed in white restaurants were all accepted customs. And, back then, most folks wanted to keep it that way. They didn't like change, and they felt threatened by those upsetting the system. Even many righteous religious people preached preservation of the status quo over the disruptive examination of conscience that bold marchers were calling for.
Power is a hard thing to let go of.
A slave pen in Alexandria, Virginia. Library of Congress
This is the lens through which I have watched statues of Confederate heroes coming down and Black Lives Matter protesters taking to the streets and others holding tight against social tides and vowing to maintain law and order while stoking the fires of division, hatred and fear.
There are many themes to explore here — all now part of a national conversation at a time of critical promise and peril. But my childhood leaves me with another lesson, too.
Like everyone else, I am the product of a time and place. I absorbed what my parents taught me, what my surroundings showed me. I was a believer. I knew what was true because pretty much all I read or heard or saw reinforced the prevalent thinking of that time and place — the loyalties and prejudices, the myopic perspective and steadfast resolve to stand in place. My parents, too, were shaped by the society, teachings and conventional wisdom of their world.
In time, of course, my horizons expanded. I ventured to the other side of the levees that kept two worlds apart. I read other books and traveled farther and talked to people unlike me and went 1,000 miles north to get a college education. I have lived another 50 years since leaving home, but the enculturation I received back then is very much a part of me still. My sensitivities and understanding, though, have been transformed since I was a boy in a pocket of the world clinging to haunted myths.
But I read another lesson in these memories beyond the complexities of America's racist past, and present. The irony and the tragedy is that today — when immediate global communication and migration are dissolving the geographic borders dividing us — we are returning to factions and tribes, clans and camps.
One of the great dangers facing us today is our fragmentation, our aligning with like-minded people and demonizing the other. Equally dangerous is the splintering of our news sources, the proliferation of pretend news and fake news, the silos in which we live today — as we follow only those news sources that merely reaffirm our own thinking. There is danger in watching those "news" networks that claim to inform while their real intent is to influence, indoctrinate and promote a political agenda that favors hostile fireworks over truth. Or to traffic in social media that inflames without any test of credibility.
When I look back at my childhood, I recognize the unsettling resonances between then and now. I also see the boy who embraced a misguided mythology because he was immersed in its tenets and hadn't yet ventured beyond what he knew and believed — because then it was all so black and white.
The lesson here is the importance of listening and watching and reading beyond our own confinements. It is both more and less than following the advice to walk a mile in another's shoes. It is simply to listen to other voices, to question the veracity of your own sources, to seek the other side of the story, to know there's usually more here than meets the eye. And to be open to opening your mind.
The world comes in many shades of grey. To think otherwise is akin to living in an insular and impoverished place.
Kerry Temple is editor of this magazine.


text:
Tommy Vee é um DJ italiano, que começou a fazer sucesso em 2007 com o single "Lovely", que tocou nas principais rádios de todo o Brasil.

Ligações externas

Música de dança
DJs da Itália


text:
Know what is happening in your heart
Why Robert Penn Warren irks me
Here is a poem by Robert Penn Warren called "Tell Me a Story":
Long ago, in Kentucky, I, a boy, stood
By a dirt road, in first dark, and heard
The great geese hoot northward.
I could not see them, there being no moon
And the stars sparse. I heard them.
I did not know what was happening in my heart.
It was the season before the elderberry blooms,
Therefore they were going north.
The sound was passing northward.
This poem, which was required reading somewhere along the line, always irked me and I never bothered to think about why. (By the way, I saw and heard Warren read in person in maybe 1979 or 1980, at the University of Virginia, although I don't think he read the irksome poem. He did read "Bearded Oaks" as an encore and received a prolonged standing ovation.)
Why am I irked? I listened to a discussion of the evolution of Warren's racism (see below) and then I knew a little more about why. It's the absolute way in which northward movement is naturalized. It happens, the young southerner doesn't see it, can't see it, won't see it, and the logic (it's a certain season and "therefore" they go north) is fixed. Sure, in the poem he's a young boy and so "I do not know what was happening in my heart" we ascribe to innocence and inexperience. And yet this is not the kind of northern migration that one will ever actually come to know by experience; it's a priori true. There's a dishonesty here in the slight implication that later one will know what is in one's heart.
Later Robert Penn Warren, who had been a racist, thought of himself as a reformed racist.
Starting in 1964, Warren conducted a series of taped interviews with major civil rights leaders and literary figures of the time, including Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar and Charles Evers, Ralph Bunche, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, and others. Think about it: Robert Penn Warren and Malcolm X.
These interviews formed the basis of Warren's 1965 book, Who Speaks for the Negro?, an exploration of the Civil Rights movement from the point of view of a "reformed racist." After four years of negotiation with Yale's Beinecke Library, conducted mostly by Dan Traister and Ancil George and instigated by the research of Kristina Baumli, Penn's Van Pelt library acquired copies of these tapes which, so far as the Yale people knew, had not been heard by anyone. In April 2005 Kristina organized with the Writers House a panel discussion about these recordings, co-sponsored by CPCW and Penn's library.
Here is the audio recording of the panel, which includes some excerpts from the old tapes themselves. Participants are Ancil George, Paul Hendrickson Kristina Baumli and Anthony Sczcesiul of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
I take poems seriously and about this one I feel a terrible implication. Why did I not bother to figure out why the little poem about the southern boy sensing northward migration disturbed me? I did not know, the boy in the poem did not know, and I did not bother even to know why I did not know. The poem is finally about reproducing ignorance, which is defined here as inexorable reason for not seeing major change occurring around you. As if: first dark, best dark.
Rachel Blau DuPlessis, a regular reader of this commentary, wrote an edifying response to the above and here (with her kind permission) is what she wrote:
Dear Al—since I wasn't irked but fascinated, I thought I'd write about Warren (whom I hardly have ever thought of...). Writing admiringly to you as usual. Chalk this one up to "not being able to participate in PoemTalk and missing it." First, the division into stanzas mirrors an attenuation and sense of loss. 3 lines together, then 2 + 1 (twice). The one liners sort of match emotionally. Second, and I need to say: I liked this poem, innocently. I liked the off-rhymes of stanza 1. I liked the alliteration of great/geese and stars/sparse [that one fabulous] and even dirt/dark and the vowel assonance between dirt/heard (tho my accent might be different from his) as well as hoot/moon/blooms. It is a remarkable skilled poem - also the way the syntax moves from short phrases separated by commas whenever he talks about "I" (that is, in the first 5 lines of the 9 line poem) UNTIL the key line "I did not know what was happening in my heart." At that line, the "I" is syntactically, not to say lyrically! integrated in a great sweeping, global line. From that point on "they" are the agent, and also "it." "Logically" the poem reads: SINCE he does not know what is happening in his heart, THEREFORE they are escaping and going away. That is "if" he had known, then they would have stayed?? No—they are "geese" and not beholden to him. So the illogic of this mixed up sense of agency is part of the strangeness of the poem. Geese always fly north in the spring. His agency has nothing to do with it. Their migration is completely about nature. By the way—since "migration" is then one of the secret words, do we know whether when RPW wrote this poem (and when was that), the northward movement was called The Great Migration? A historical question. Anyway, in the Great Migration, and here you are dead on, Blacks were leaving (and were very beset AS they left as well as before, of course—cf. Jacob Lawrence's series). The speaker's agency in a very indirect way is responsible, but he is just a "boy." If this is autobiographical, we can say RPW has no direct agency for (his and others') racism and social/economic cruelty at that moment. Responsibility is already always "ELSEWHERE." A space off the map of this poem "matches" the space off the map of this poem where the geese are going. "Kentucky" may be precise as a locale, but it is hardly up to matching those two other mysterious "elsewhere's." This is a poem about the loss of agency, a tremendously pained and nostalgic poem. It also somewhat confesses ….something. Something about desire, yearning—goodness only knows — certainly a desire for whatever is passing out of his life. Could he have been in love, connected to, cathected to someone who was leaving, and he remembers being troubled and aroused and upset by the loss, feelings which he had to suppress??? Since the birds will return, and one could have talked about that cycle of nature in the poem, part of the coiled contradiction in the poem is that he is mapping a human loss upon a natural cycle, claiming the loss to him of self-knowledge is just "natural." So "what is happening in my heart" (and his inability to know what WAS happening) appears permanent ("the sound was passing northward" not "the geese were passing northward [and next winter would return]"). WHAT IS UNSPOKEN in this poem gives it its evocative quality. And this is doubly distanced by that bizarre title. After talking about 'sound," the title shifts to "story" as the naming of something. Story is solid; sound is more like Nate Mackey argues-—an emotional pipeline to a sense of orphic orphanhood. The title makes me ask: What story? Is he framing the poem as a "story"—just another tale? The title seems to contain and dry out the exposed yearning of the poem. Who is speaking this title? to whom? The title sounds like a child asking for a story from an adult. What child? What adult? THUS the detail word of condensation: "elderberry"—which is broken into components "older person / small fruit" is striking to me. I can't go further with that, but it is acutely visible. The poem is a poem of mixed-up agency and mixed-up desire, and these two very buried things are mixed up with each other. How we are not certain...
Al to Rachel in response:
I'm really happy for and edified by your thoughts on that Warren poem. What you say about the title is important (and only clinches my sense of its oddness/mystery). The northern migration the story tells of is not vague as a natural fact; what's vague is how he feels about it and thus I keep thinking it's not "just" the geese.
Rachel in response:
You are so right that it's not "just" the geese. And therefore I really wonder about the date of the poem and how it does encode the Great Migration. I think yours is a wonderful "contrapuntal" reading in Said's sense--that which is off the map of the text is central to the text. Said says this about slavery and fortunes made with it in relation to an Austen novel--I think it's Persuasion. I liked your reading a lot; I just also like the poem, too.
Now Kristina Baumli (who has read as much Warren as anyone) adds:
The poem "Tell me a story" is a section of a larger piece, "Audubon," which is an eight-poem cycle — so it is out of context with the other poems in its group. Warren is fascinated by birds, but in his ornithology (he has a poem that makes that taxonomy clear) geese are not an admirable species — with connotations of silliness, etc. And these are unseen geese — mythic geese — heard but not seen. I think that it is making an ironic commentary on the values of the times--southern ideas are being replaced by northern ideas, or that's what people say, but they don't really do anything about it. The title undercuts the rest of the poem, "Tell Me a Story," puts this shift in values as a fable, fiction, not fact..
In Who Speaks? Warren doesn't "know what is happening in his heart" when confronted with a lynching and he didn't know what was going on with his aesthetic when he "retracts" "The Briar Patch" on aesthetic not political grounds. And he never retracts the insane racism of "Pondy Woods." ("In fact, while writing it [The Briar Patch], I had experienced some vague discomfort." [WSFTN?, p. 11])
Warren hides behind ambivalence, irony, and damn fine poetry.
Kristina Baumli


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Teens Tune Out of Pro Sports
by Aaron Paquette , Columnist, December 10, 2020
On top of COVID-19, the national reckoning over racial and social justice, and a rapidly evolving media landscape, pro sports leagues are wrestling with yet another existential crisis: teens and young adults giving up on the game. According to ESPN data cited in a recent Washington Post article, while 96% of teens 12-17 still identify as sports fans, just 34% report being "avid" fans, down from 42% a decade ago.
Fewer young adults bother sitting through hours of live game coverage, threatening the value of a rights package estimated at nearly $50 billion by 2024.
There are many reasons for this. Youth athletic participation rates have long been declining. In a tough economy, fewer families have the money to support their kids' athletic careers, or to buy pro sports tickets and merchandise. In the age of COVID, teams are now playing to empty houses.
Games are too long for short attention spans shaped by mobile phones and social media. Gen Z is increasingly concerned about how leagues treat players on and off the field, and their support of causes like Black Lives Matter. And young adults used to participatory media—playing video games, making videos, posting comments and connecting with others—find a typical spectator experience to be too passive.
The leagues realize their future rests with Gen Z. They know that if they don't connect with consumers in their teens, they've lost them forever. So they've adopted an extensive playbook to attract young fans and make leagues more relevant to digital natives.
What are they doing, and what can marketers learn from this full-court press?
*Serve short videos on digital platforms. Leagues realize that Gen Z viewers might not sit through a three-hour game, but they will seek out game content on social media. And many young viewers might not even have a cable subscription to see games on ESPN, Fox Sports or TNT.
So leagues are putting more clips on social media, with the NBA leading the way: it has 148 million social media followers, more than all other leagues combined, and earns 43% more views on social media vs. three years ago. Its official YouTube channel has 15.4 million subscribers, who have access to nearly 34,000 videos. It's almost certain that more young people saw LeBron James and his fellow Lakers win the championship on social media than on ABC.
*Give fans a way to join the game. Digital natives don't just want to see LeBron win the championship; they want to win alongside him. Now that gambling is legal in more states, pro leagues and individual owners are partnering with betting operators. All of the leagues are now on Twitch, and they're also collaborating with video game companies, esports tournaments and fantasy leagues, to allow fans to play the game digitally alongside their idols, and feel more of a stake in the outcome.
*Speak their language and address their concerns. Sports leagues—traditionally apolitical at best, and reactionary at worst—have now changed their tune. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made a video reaffirming that "Black Lives Matter," and admitting that "we were wrong" in not listening to players' concerns.
After the Milwaukee Bucks led a work stoppage during this year's playoffs, the NBA and players' union agreed to an unprecedented partnership to promote social justice, including messages on uniforms and the court; ads promoting civic engagement; and arena access for voting. All of these efforts told Gen Z "We hear you, we support you, and we're changing."
By adopting these best practices, brands looking to connect with teens and young adults can stay in the game with their fan base of tomorrow.
sports, teens
3 comments about "Teens Tune Out of Pro Sports".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
Dan Ciccone from STACKED Entertainment, December 11, 2020 at 2:31 p.m.
Advice bullet 4. Take a deeper dive into esports where we are already meeting these new challenges and have already captured those eyeballs :)
Ben B from Retired, December 11, 2020 at 7:06 p.m.
I like live sports I can't get enough of NFL, NBA, NCAA football/basketball, NHL etc. Sports will always be on TV no matter what since they're very popular and a big draw in the ratings.
Ed Papazian from Media Dynamics Inc, December 11, 2020 at 7:46 p.m.
Teens tend to zoom in on personalities, celebrities, etc, who are slightly older than them and are seen as role models. Teens are also quite fickle about this and are constantly switching their loyalty to those personalities, celebrities, etc. who are in vogue among their peers at a given moment. Accordingly, teens, who are often very light TV viewers and are not home much of the time have never been big pro sports TV viewers in terms of frequency---average minute ratings. That doesn't mean that they---especially the boys---aren't fans of the various teams and certain players. They just can't spend the time that older folks do watching countless games---many of which are totally inconsequential. They get their daily entertainment/news fix in other ways---like soclal media. Later, as they age and are home more often---assuming that pro sports doesn't totally implode or tarnish its appeal----those who are so inclined will watch more often.
Read more comments >
AARON PAQUETTE, exeuctive vice president, television group, Screen Engine/ASI
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VAAST launches E/1 luxury urban eBike
By Tom's Guide Staff published 30 November 21
The elegant eBike designed to replace your luxury SUV
The E/1 luxury eBike is straight out of a dream. Beautifully engineered with a fully-integrated monoframe and decoupled suspension system, the E/1 is designed to connect you to the world one pedalstroke at a time. Built for all-weather commuting, grocery store shopping, and interconnected city travel, the E/1 is a representation of Vaast's 'Born for adventure' values.
More than just an eBike with a laundry list of features, the E/1 features a number of unique design elements that speak to Vaast's vision and expertise.
Here's why you need to test ride the E/1 yesterday.
Ground-tracing Suspension Technology
(Image credit: Vaast)
When you think of traveling around the city, what comes to mind? Hopefully you're not stuck in traffic, watching your life slowly tick by. Or stuck awkwardly in a taxi or Uber waiting for the driver to stop talking. And the one day you decided to walk – the one day – it starts pouring rain. Now your shoes are soaked, and running doesn't help.
What if there was another way? What if you could get from Point A to Point B in style? Fast, comfortable, stylish and sleek, the Vaast E/1 is the new luxury eBike ready to meet the demands of the city.
Everyone hates potholes – whether you're in a car or on a bike, potholes suck. The designers at Vaast have put so many careful touches into the E/1, but the Naild R3ACT suspension system is one of the best. The 'ground-tracing technology' separates pedaling from suspension movement, which translates to smooth and comfortable riding, regardless of weighty cargo.
Up against other suspension systems, the Naild R3ACT system presents a 20% reduction in vibration versus other suspension systems. The rear suspension system is effectively a four-bar design which suspends the rider, rear cargo battery, and motor, all without changing the pedal-to-saddle height. That means that neither pedaling nor power from the motor will influence the suspension travel, so it won't move or bob as you ride, according to Vaast.
By isolating the rider and payload, the E/1 is said to smooth rougher surfaces regardless of the load being carried on the integrated (by the way) front and rear racks.
Bosch eBike System
Perhaps you've heard of Bosch – known for a number of things, Bosch makes best-in-class eBike Systems, including the E/1's. The frame is integrated with Bosch 4 Performance CX Drive which provides assistance to all forms of riding and enabling smooth, reliable power for speeds up to 25kph. The perfect speed for cruising around town.
On the E/1's handlebars is a Bosch KIOX Stem-Mounted controller display with an easy-to-see screen and Bluetooth Connectivity. No matter when you purchase your E/1, your motor and battery software will always be updated through the Bosch system as eBike technology develops.
Commuter-friendly Design
Remember what I said about running in the rain? The E/1 has you covered with fully-enclosed drivetrains and Gates belt options, as well as full mudguards to keep you dry.
The frame itself is made from hydroformed aluminum rather than magnesium alloy championed on the E/1 – What the heck does that mean? The E/1 uses a high-quality frame that is simultaneously comfortable and durable for all-weather commuting.
The design's unique approach means the Bosch PowerTube internal battery has been shifted from its usual down tube position and into the seat tube. It's more comfortable.
As well as housing the battery, the seat tube/seatpost offers tool-free height adjustment, perfect for commuter moms and dads who don't have room for tools in their briefcase. On that note, the E/1 comes in three sizes (you guessed it, S/M/L) but offers plenty of adjustment, so riders from 141cm to 193cm tall should find a size to suit.
Starting at $7,499, the E/1 base model is specced in a mix of Shimano SLX and XT components.
Next is the Envilio rear hub model at $8,499 which includes clever automatic variable transmission gearing, as found on Canyon's Precede:ON. This rear hub automatically moves across a 510 per cent gearing range, with no steps (unlike a traditional drivetrain), creating a smooth and smart system, especially for hilly terrain.
The fully loaded specification of the E/1 includes front and rear racks, mudguards, and supernova lights on the rear and front powered by the Bosch eBike system.
At the top of the E/1 range is the Rohloff rear hub geared model which offers 14 internal gears and a legendary reputation for reliability. The Rohloff bike is available for $9,999.
Follow Vaast Bikes on:
https://www.vaastbikes.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VAASTBikes/
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vaastbikes


Every year, eyebrows are raised over the Olivier Awards' eligibility criteria. What Theatreland's top prizes boast in prestige, they sometimes seem to lack in logic. It has only become worse since Society of London Theatre members were granted a say on the success – or otherwise – of the shows they've produced themselves.
Even disregarding that, eligibility criteria throw up a set of surprising omissions.
has to pay in to SOLT to win an Olivier and The Bridge's bosses simply don't see the value.
Otherwise, this time around, Jamie Lloyd's audacious Pinter at the Pinter season is glaringly absent. Arguably the biggest presence in the West End for the past six months, none of its individual productions racked up the requisite 30 performances to merit consideration and so, sadly, it has slipped through the cracks.
At some stage, a line has to be drawn and it will inevitably lead to some oddities. Any award has to adapt to the industry it celebrates and the Oliviers are overdue a shake-up. A couple of its categories look completely out of whack.
My colleague Andrzej Lukowski has already taken aim at the best new comedy award, with its four eligible entrants – only one of which, he argues, is an out-and-out comedy and, hilariously, was the one show to drop off the final shortlist.
The outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre has the opposite problem. With 78 contenders ranging from chalk to cheese, it might as well be retitled Arbitrary Acknowledgement of Another Theatre. It's worse since SOLT members held sway. None of them can have seen a significant sample of so many shows, many of which played short runs in small spaces.
The result, more and more, is a strangely erratic shortlist. When the award was established 15 years ago, it sought to recognise the exceptional: the sort of theatrical event that broke a mould or made a real mark.
The Tricycle's tribunal plays won, as did David Lan's refurbished Young Vic and Roadkill – a site-specific show about human trafficking. Nominees tended to be outstanding achievements in every sense of the word. It's becoming harder to say the same.
In 15 years, London's theatrical ecology has changed. Major affiliate members now stump up subs for consideration in the main prizes. All the Almeida's shows go into that mix, as do the Donmar Warehouse and the Young Vic, leaving a random, sometimes illogical, selection of main stages and studios: the Lyric Hammersmith, but not the Rose Theatre Kingston; both Park spaces, neither at Southwark Playhouse; The Bush, but not the Gate. The selection's beyond eclectic. It has stopped making sense.
The Oliviers haven't had a major shake-up in years and it's time SOLT re-assessed how it recognises the shows on its own edges.


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© Balazs Gardi/RBAR
Kopfstein and Muroya have plans for their futures
Pilots Share Their Plans For The Future
What the pilots are up to now
While the Red Bull Air Race will not continue beyond 2019, the World Championship pilots are not leaving the sky. As the season finale concluded in Chiba, Japan, they opened up about what's ahead.
As a first order of business, many are savouring a brief rest. Australia's Matt Hall, who clinched his first title in September, said, "I'm taking a bit of a break, to tell you the truth. I'm pretty tired." Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic, who won the 2018 World Championship, mirrored Hall's sentiment, commenting, "I would like to enjoy my family now, because the season has been busy." And Canada's Pete McLeod was looking forward to float plane flying in the northern wilds before preparing for 2020.
Many, like the USA's Michael Goulian and Kirby Chambliss, will continue with sponsor projects in addition to headlining airshows, and all 14 pilots are in demand for display flying, in part thanks to their exposure in the World Championship. With a more open schedule, Chile's Cristian Bolton sees opportunity. "My idea is to increase activities related to airshows, demos and public appearances in Latin America, and some special flights so the Chilean fans can share the passion for flying," he explained. "Most important, I'm working to develop a foundation to give new generations the chance to become a pilot and enjoy the amazing journey that is involved in an aviation career."
Yoshihide Muroya of Japan also plans on performing in airshows as well as inspiring young people in different ways. "It's educating them on how to achieve their goals. I learned a lot about that from racing," said the 2017 World Champion.
Spain's Juan Velarde is a captain for Iberia, and he demonstrates classic aircraft for the Infante de Orleans Foundation. "I will continue flying their vintage aeroplane collection, particularly the T-6, the Texan, and I will still compete in the Spanish Aerobatic Championship," he reveals.
Like many avid pilots, the Red Bull Air Race stars are ever-eager to pursue fresh challenges. "We look to the future in all things aviation. It's a lifestyle my family and I are very much invested in, and I am always open to new ideas and creating new ways to make aviation accessible to everybody," declared French ace Mika Brageot.
Fellow French pilots François Le Vot and Nicolas Ivanoff – both known for their skill in coaching aerobatics – plan to remain flexible as well. "I call it 'opening as many doors as possible.' I'm actively preparing for my future, and we'll see the results!" said Le Vot, who among other projects hopes to eventually set up an airsport school. Ivanoff contributed, "For sure I will stay in aviation. I know nothing else."
A number of the pilots will be expanding their thriving aviation businesses, with Hall even launching a new enterprise in partnership with his Red Bull Air Race technician, David Finch. Matthias Dolderer, who won the 2016 title for Germany, has many irons in the fire, from keynote speeches to airshows. Further, he discloses, "I will probably do consulting in addition to working with our airfield and flight school at Tannheim, one of the few family-operated public airfields in Germany."
As a key member of both the Blades Racing Team and the Blades Aerobatic Display Team, Ben Murphy has a lot in the pipeline. The Blades will tour the UAE this November, where, spearheaded by Murphy, they will offer flying experiences to corporate entities and individual flyers. Then, in 2020 Murphy and the team will travel to the USA for flight training on their new aerobatic aircraft, the GameBird GB1, before a busy summer season. Like several of the Red Bull Air Race pilots, Murphy also harbours ambitions to race again.
Petr Kopfstein of the Czech Republic, who will be doing airshows and likely flying commercially, summed up the feeling of all the pilots: "Wherever my steps lead me, for sure it will be in aviation. It's too early to know exactly where it's going to go, but I'll keep my wings on!"


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Current Events, History and Historians
New York Historians and the State's Freedom of Information Law–The Time to Act is Now
December 3, 2017 admin Leave a comment
This morning's Rochester Democrat and Chronicle included an editorial that should be of interest to all historians working in New York state and all historians anywhere interested in New York history. According to the D&C editorial board, the bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) to strengthen New York's FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) is a significant piece of legislation that is worthy of support. The bill has passed both the State Assembly and the Senate, has bipartisan support, and is awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo's signature.
My current research project is a history of the Onondaga Nation. To do that project thoroughly, I have had do submit a number of federal FOIA and state FOIL requests for information on events that took place on the Onondaga reservation in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The date when I was assured a response by the New York state officer in charge has come and gone, and my additional messages following up on the initial request have not received any response. I am convinced that New York State has records that will aid me in my research, but so far nothi ng has been forthcoming.
And this experience is apparently not unusual. Many of us at Geneseo read over the summer and fall the fantastic book by historian Heather Ann Thompson on the causes and consequences of the Attica prison uprising, Blood in the Water. My colleagues organized several panels involving participants in the events that took place in September of 1971 and thereafter, and Professor Thompson herself came to Geneseo to deliver a lecture on her research. In the book and in her presentation, she detailed the state of New York's systematic and deliberate efforts to disrupt her research and conceal records. Among other things, Blood in the Water is a strong indictment of a state that likes to keep its dirty laundry out of public view.
As the D&C editors point out, "government agencies across New York State like to thumb their noses at the state's Freedom of Information Law."
When the bureaucrats at state and local departments and agencies receive requests for public information as defined by the FOIL law, many take a "wait 'em out" approach. They miss deadlines, provide vague response, or say nothing at all–blatantly ignoring requirements of the law–apparently hoping that those seeking public records will get worn out or distracted and will ultimately go away. They get away with it, too. That's because New York's FOIL law doesn't have much teeth. Government agencies that laugh at its deadlines, or never even bother to respond to FOIL requests, have little to fear.
The bill recently approved by the Assembly and Senate would require state and local agencies to pay attorney's fees for those who seek from them public information when the courts find that there is no "reasonable basis" for denying or ignoring a request. (You can read the legislation here.) According to the D&C, "this would be a major change because government agencies now assume that members of the public, or even the media, will not want to incur the legal expenses of going to court when a FOIL request is ignored or improperly denied."
This is the first time in my career where I have had to submit federal FOIA and state FOIL requests for information in order to complete a research project. Because most of my work is in early American history, I have never had to worry about it in the past. My experience here is limited. But Professor Thompson presented a comprehensive case, and the D&C provided a number of instances where the state has denied its efforts to obtain public information under the provisions of the FOIL.
We cannot work without documents, and the bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Paulin is important work. If you are a New Yorker interested in open access to state records, a historian working and teaching in this state who has students who might need state records to complete a research project, or a historian living anywhere else who is interested in New York State history, please consider contacting Governor Cuomo's office and urging him sign this important piece of legislation. The link is right here. It will only take you a second.
CuomoFOILNew York State Legislature
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Q: Regex to match all subdomains of a matched domains I have a Regex to match a subdomains of a web page like below
 "^https://[^/?]+\\.(sub1|sub2\\.)domain\\.com"

What would be the regex to accept any sub domain of domain.com.
Edit:
My question was incomplete, my regex was to accept only
 https:[any number of sub domain s ].sub1domain.com

or
 https://[any number of sub domain s ].sub2domain.com

Sorry for posting incomplete question.

A: This one should suit your needs:
https?://([a-z0-9]+[.])*sub[12]domain[.]com

*

*Visualization by Debuggex

*Demo on RegExr

A: Something like:
(http|https)://(.*).domain.com

At this point second tag (i.e. \2 or $2 variable) is what you need. Notice, this regex doesn't validate URL.
Proof: https://www.debuggex.com/r/3KYGmAnlnBq3C_fT

A: I'm assuming that don't want the subdomains to differ simply by a number. Use this regex:
(^https:\/\/(?:[\w\-\_]+\.)+(?:subdomain1|subdomain2).com)

The single capture group is the full URL. Simply replace subdomain1 and subdomain2 with your actual subdomains.
I tested this on regex101.com

A: Assuming the sub domains contain only numbers and lowercase letters and you do not want to accept sub subdomains:
[0-9a-z]*\.domain\.com

update:
https://.*\.sub[1|2]domain\.com

matches
https://sub1.sub2.sub1domain.com
https://sub1.sub1domain.com

but not
https://sub1domain.com

A: You would use
"^https://[^/?]+\\.([^.]+)\\.domain\\.com"

which boils down to matching
"[^.]+"

for any subdomain. will match only the last part of the subdomain (www.xxx.domain.com will capture "xxx" in group 1)

A: Try http://([^.]+\\.)+sub[12]domain.com. A great place for testing out regexes with minimal setup pain is RegexPlanet.

A: Here is an Regex that match any number of subdomains also allowing IDN domains and check the limit of 63 or less characters. And it check that the - is not at first or last position.
https?://([a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]{1,61}[a-z0-9])?[.])*sub[12][.]domain[.]com/

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