text:
Democracy & Human Rights, Peace & Security, South Africa's Foreign Policy
Omo Africa ni mi! Ke MoAfrika! I am an African!
In February 2015, South Africa experienced an upsurge of xenophobic attacks throughout the country.
In response to this horrendous act, SAIIA Chief Executive, Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, wrote this article and former senior researcher Tjiurimo Hengari wrote a related paper on the subject 'Xenophobia Trivialises South Africa's Ambitious Africa Policy'. Earlier this week the violent acts flared up again in Pretoria West. The institute again calls for an end to the violence and the stereotyping of certain groups as more crime-prone than others. South Africa must address the 'demon' of xenophobia and violence once and for all if it is to remain a leader for good on the continent.
Twenty-one years ago, South Africa returned to the international community. More importantly it returned to the continent to reclaim its African identity. A few years later Thabo Mbeki's African Renaissance provided the great vision for Africa to take its place among the community of nations as an equal partner.
In 2008 that vision was dealt a severe and devastating blow when South Africa experienced the first major wave of xenophobic violence.
Read our related paper 'Xenophobia Trivialises South Africa's Ambitious Africa Policy'
Who can forget the necklacing of the Mozambican immigrant and that powerful cartoon by Zapiro which portrayed the perpetrator remarking that 'I could tell he was a @#&* foreigner!… He didn't know the meaning of Ubuntu!'?
In 2011 the Department of International Relations and Cooperation brought out a White Paper under the title of Diplomacy of Ubuntu:
South Africa is a multifaceted, multicultural and multiracial country that embraces the concept of Ubuntu as a way of defining who we are and how we relate to others. The philosophy of Ubuntu means 'humanity' and is reflected in the idea that we affirm our humanity when we affirm the humanity of others. It has played a major role in the forging of a South African national consciousness and in the process of its democratic transformation and national-building.
The truth is we have not internalised the meaning of 'Ubuntu' beyond the words and reference to our peaceful democratic transformation. South Africa's reputation for reconciliation, enlightened leadership and commitment to Africa is increasingly becoming meaningless. The last few weeks of xenophobic violence have precipitated loud anger from immigrant communities as well as Africans living in the rest of the continent. Rebuilding trust and reputation will take a long time – provided we are able to tackle the challenge of managing diversity in South Africa.
Gone are the days when countries could boast of homogeneity in language, culture and ethnicity – if those days ever existed. 'The other' is us. We cannot hide from it and societies cannot build walls against it. The politics of exclusion and chauvinism cannot be a solution to the multitude of challenges states and societies face in the 21st century.
Read another SAIIA article on the recent xenophobic attacks, 'Lessons for South Africa: How Zambia prevented xenophobia.'
In his book on Identity and violence, Amartya Sen argues that 'the hope of harmony in the contemporary world lies to a great extent in a clearer understanding of the pluralities of human identity, and in the appreciation that they cut across each other and work against a sharp separation along one single hardened line of impenetrable division'.
Societies across the globe face the severe socio-economic stresses of youth unemployment, rampant inequality, disjuncture between political elites and citizens, and competition for scarce resources. South Africa is no exception. Where fear rules, the default response is often to demonise 'the other' and make them the scapegoats. Sustainable solutions are much longer term and require political commitment and constructive leadership. The hard power of policing addresses the symptoms alone. If there is a lesson to learn – albeit late – from 2008 and now 2015, it is that the quelling of violence is only the beginning of the #notoxenophobia project.
South Africa cannot be a beacon of peaceful transformation, democracy and Ubuntu without grappling with the twin challenges of socio-economic despair and the politics of exclusion and fear.
Our goal should be to explore all options that allow people to earn a living so that the social welfare system does not create permanent dependencies. Immigrants of whatever colour or hue can all make contributions; but we focus often on the negatives and allow gross generalisations about crime to determine the narrative. And our society needs to tackle the severe social trauma that finds expression in such violence – whether it is domestic violence against partners or children, or against foreigners. On the economics front South Africans need partnerships between government and business in tackling unemployment and inequality – not adversarial approaches that apportion blame rather than solutions. Our leaders and others in positions of influence should recognise that their statements are powerful weapons – and that they need to be used carefully and responsibly.
Ubuntu can be a powerful idea and movement to highlight our common humanity and the kind of world that South Africa advocated on its re-entry to the international community. But it will require more than just the rhetoric, branding or police units to create a lived reality for both South Africans and all those others who live in South Africa and make it the diverse, dynamic society that it is.
Ke MoAfrika! (Sesotho)
Ngingum'Afrika! (Zulu)
Omo Africa ni mi! (Yoruba)
E nee Aferikaa nanye! (Amharic)
I am an African! (English)
Read the statement issued by the SAIIA Youth Policy Committee, 'SAIIA Youth Policy Committee says no to xenophobia in South Africa!'
Click here for photos from SAIIA staff saying #notoxenophobia.
SAIIA quiz inspires learners to grow knowledge of global affairs
SAJIA Volume 28.2, a Special Issue on '(Counter-)terrorism in Africa: Reflections for a new decade' is now online
Paying tribute to a great man of the liberation generation
Values, Interests and Power: South African foreign policy in uncertain times


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Experts analyze Russia-Ukraine conflict
ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – President Joe Biden is due to speak Tuesday afternoon from the White House in his first public appearance since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to deploy to separatist regions of Eastern Ukraine.
"Intelligence right now, having done its job to avoid strategic surprise for the policymaker, is now doing its other major job. Helping the policymaker make better decisions that are more informed," says Nicholas Dujmovic, Ph.D.
Dujmovic, who tells us we're not going to see this sort of disclosure from U.S. intelligence again, is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Intelligence Studies and Politics Department at the Catholic University of America. Professor Dujmovic joined the CIA in 1990 as an analyst on the USSR and East Europe, and later was a speechwriter for the Director of Central Intelligence, editor of the President's Daily Brief, and a manager of analysts working on Southeast Asian issues.
"All this intelligence that's being released, which is unprecedented and has a strategic aim to rattle Putin to deter him from doing the things we say he's likely to do, this is a great example to the American people of the work of the men and women in the U.S. Intelligence community"
Dujmovic says it's not a question of if Putin will react, it's how, and when.
"We always have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he's going to act as Putin would, not as we would," says Dujmovic. "He may go for a partial solution that destroys Ukraine as the modern state it is by dividing it."
The largest economic impact would be on energy prices. Dujmovic is also predicting a downtown in the stock market.
Senator Tim Kaine also mentioned this during his February 16th remarks.
"Russia is a major supplier of oil and gas to much of Europe," said Kaine. "A lot of those supplies would be disrupted, not just to Ukraine but to other countries as well in the event of war."
Edward A. Lynch, Ph.D. is a Professor of Political Science at Hollins University and Chair of the Department of Global Politics and Society.
Lynch details how he does not believe the imposing of economic sanctions will work to stop Russia, and will continue to increase the world's price of oil. He says the U.S. is much more vulnerable to this and the rise of inflation in other areas.
"Under the previous administration that would not have mattered so much because the U.S. was drilling more oil and producing more oil. But a lot of those efforts like the Keystone pipeline have been stopped by the current administration," says Lynch.
The professor has been following the operation in Ukraine, saying as far as we know, it began soon after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which suggests a connection.
Although he says Putin will stop until he is met with a forceful response, Lynch doubts any American troops will go near Ukraine.
"The problem is with each step he moves forward that forceful response becomes more and more risky, more and more expensive, and is likely to have a greater and greater impact on the US economy including the economy here in the Roanoke Valley," says Lynch. "To escalate this is to risk a major conflict over a country that has a long history and the right to its sovereignty and all of that, but is not central to U.S. global interests. To not escalate this is to let Putin get away with it and be on the defensive and be reactive rather than proactive as the world waits for Putin to make his next move. Biden, unfortunately, has maneuvered himself into a position where he has no good options."
Read More: Experts analyze Russia-Ukraine conflict
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Expect 'inevitable' recession by 2024 > Charleston Business Journal
FTX Cash in Politics and Media Show Bankman-Fried's Deep Influence
One of Wall Street's biggest bulls last year says he's learned his lesson…
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A tribute to Mike Davis • International Socialism
Austin American-Statesman Commentary Roundup: Jan. 15, 2023
Politics and character – Opinion
Treasury secretary warns US could default on its debt as soon as June
A Better Year for Stock Markets? by Jim O'Neill

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Of all, it is important that you recognize the studies of satisfaction degrees over buying a bed mattress has given comparable outcomes to those who purchased them online as well as offline by checking out a shop. Of all, the benefit of in fact getting to attempt on the mattress that you get when you check out a shop is normally covered by thousands of customer examines one could find on the internet. If a thousand out of thousand people are stating that a bed mattress is comfortable, the opportunities are it is in fact comfy.
This "advantage" you believe an offline shop has when acquiring a mattress is really not that much of an advantage when you take into consideration a few points. For an instance, the sample bed mattress that you are trying on in the shop has been tried out by lots of people before. Consequently, you will not get that comfy feeling with your brand-new mattress until after a couple of weeks when it is utilized for some time. This is why you have a better opportunity at choosing a comfy product by experiencing verified customer reviews when you buy mattress online.
Currently that you know purchasing a mattress online will certainly not make you be sorry for at the end, allow's see the things you can do it make your decision as better as possible.
Mattress coupon code There are mattresses which are much better for back sleepers compared to side sleepers. Know exactly what you are going for, as well as then start searching for the bed mattress that would certainly match all your demands.
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An additional problem when you buy mattress online is the expense. Generally, getting goods online come with an additional price for the shipment. There are many bed mattress companies online which would certainly organize the shipment free of cost. Take some time to search for them. Or else, you would be losing your benefit of purchasing online. There are sales in the stores nearing seasonal times of the year. Try to obtain large items like cushions on sale where in some cases they provide up to 50% discounts. Watch on promo code offers too. If you have a little persistence to do some great excavating on online, you will possibly be able to buy the ideal mattress for the very best price possible.
Of all, it is essential that you understand the surveys of complete satisfaction levels over getting a cushion has offered similar results to those who acquired them online as well as offline by going to a store. Of all, the advantage of in fact obtaining to try on the cushion that you get when you visit a shop is generally covered by thousands of customer examines one could locate on the internet. If a thousand out of thousand people are stating that a cushion is comfortable, the possibilities are it is in fact comfy.
For an example, the sample bed mattress that you are attempting on in the shop has actually been attempted on by lots of people before. You will certainly not obtain that comfortable feeling with your brand name brand-new mattress up until after a few weeks when it is used for a while.
Currently that you recognize getting a mattress online will not make you regret at the end, let's see the things you can do it make your decision as better as feasible.
Mattress coupon code There are mattresses which are better for back sleepers than side sleepers. Know exactly what you are going for, and after that start surfing for the cushion that would certainly match all your requirements.
As mentioned above too, among the largest benefits of on the internet shopping is the access to thousands of user evaluations. If the individuals are verified, the opportunities are that they would certainly discuss a lot more the weaknesses of a product that its excellent points– this is all-natural for us human beings and it great for you as a brand-new buyer to extract the products that do not fit you. Check out at the very least 20 reviews by previous users prior to you make the final choice. The more reviews you can check out the better. There are rare possibilities that a product is a lot much better than what it has been defined by the individuals, but a lot of the time if the testimonials are qualified, it would offer you a great understanding right into the experience of using the cushion that you could not receive from anywhere else.
One more concern when you buy mattress online is the expense. Typically, getting products online had an added cost for the distribution. There are several cushion companies on-line which would arrange the shipment for totally free. Take a while to try to find them. Or else, you would certainly be shedding your advantage of buying online. There are sales in the shops nearing seasonal times of the year. Attempt to obtain huge items like mattresses for sale where occasionally they provide to 50% discount rates. Maintain an eye on promo code uses. If you have a little patience to do some excellent digging on online, you will possibly be able to buy the very best cushion for the very best price feasible.
Of all, it is crucial that you understand the surveys of complete satisfaction levels over acquiring a cushion has given comparable outcomes to those that got them on-line as well as offline by visiting a store. Of all, the benefit of in fact getting to try on the mattress that you obtain when you visit a shop is normally covered by thousands of individual examines one can find on the internet. If a thousand out of thousand individuals are claiming that a bed mattress is comfortable, the possibilities are it is in truth comfortable.
This "benefit" you believe an offline store has when getting a mattress is actually not that much of a benefit when you take into consideration a couple of points. For an instance, the sample cushion that you are trying out in the store has actually been tried on by lots of people prior to. You will not obtain that comfortable feeling with your brand name new bed mattress until after a few weeks when it is made use of for a while. This is why you have a better possibility at selecting a comfy product by going through confirmed customer reviews when you buy mattress online.
mattress coupon code There are cushions which are better for back sleepers compared to side sleepers. Know precisely what you are going for, as well as then start browsing for the cushion that would certainly match all your requirements.
As discussed above as well, one of the biggest benefits of on-line shopping is the access to thousands of user evaluations. There are rare chances that a product is a great deal far better than just what it has been described by the users, however most of the time if the reviews are reliable, it would offer you a great insight into the experience of utilizing the bed mattress that you can not get from anywhere else.
Another issue when you buy mattress online is the cost. Generally, getting goods on the internet included an additional expense for the distribution. There are several cushion business on the internet which would certainly organize the shipment free of charge. Take some time to seek them. Otherwise, you would be shedding your benefit of buying online. There are sales in the shops nearing seasonal times of the year. Try to obtain big products like mattresses for sale where sometimes they provide up to 50% discounts. Maintain an eye on promo code provides. If you have a little patience to do some good digging on online, you will probably be able to get the very best cushion for the finest cost feasible.


text:
Newly formed 'gash' opens in Big Horn Mountains, draws national attention
Posted Oct 30, 2015 at 2:26 PM No comments
The Big Horn Mountains really are all they are cracked up to be: large portions of the southern end of the range recently moved to create a crack or "gash" that's about 750 yards long and about 50 yards wide, according to SNS Outfitters & Guides.
A crevasse recently formed in the sourthern end of the Big Horn Mountains. Photo courtesy SNS Outfitters & Guides
The new formation is likely the result of a slow-moving landslide, said Seth Wittke, the Wyoming Geological Survey's manager of groundwater and geologic hazards and mapping. Landslides can move at catastrophic speeds, such as what is observed in Washington state, while others can be much slower.
The size of this type of opening can vary depending on the size of the hill and the stability of the land, he said.
"A number of things trigger them, moisture in the subsurface which causes weakness in soil or geology, and any process that would weaken the bedrock or unstabilize it somehow," Wittke said.
The challenge for the Geological Survey crew is the formation is on private property, so finding out exactly what happened would require access permission from the property's owner.
"All we have seen is pictures since it is on private land," said Wyoming Geological Survey's public information specialist Chamois Andersen. "It's hard to assess without someone on the ground looking at it."
Interest in the newly formed "gash" spurred several thousand likes and shares on SNS Outfitters & Guides' Facebook page since the formation appeared earlier this month. It was a trending topic on Facebook this week and many national media outlets have posted about it.
There were apparently some people who even took to social media to worry that the slide is a sign that the volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park is about to erupt. Those fears may or may not have been fueled by Facebook, which paired the trending news about the slide in the Big Horns with a photo of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Facebook paired the trending news about the large slide in the Big Horn Mountains with a photo of Yellowstone National Park, which lies well to the west.
Based on prior mapping and what's visible in the pictures, "the gash" is likely a slump, slide or detachment, Andersen said. But, without an on-the-ground investigation, it's difficult to determine.
"There is some speculation on the web and with our folks, too, that an early, wet, spring and summer had a lot to do with it," Andersen said. "It is not uncommon to have slides like that."
If a formation such as the one found in the southern end of the Big Horns is found, Wittke suggests not approaching it since it can be difficult to determine if the land is still moving or if the ground has stabilized.
Landslides and other geological changes can be reported at www.wsgs.wyo.gov so the Geological Survey crew can investigate the scene to determine the cause and find out if it's dangerous, Wittke said.
~By Matt Naber
Big Horn Mountains, by Matt Naber
▼ October 25 - November 1 (6)
Park County library, treasurer's office go all out...
Newly formed 'gash' opens in Big Horn Mountains, d...
After 33 years in law enforcement, Cody police chi...
Not wanting to be 'part of the problem,' county de...
Buffalo Bill Center of the West selling rifle repl...
Supposed CIA agent, who addressed local tea party ...


Midtown Beauty carries a variety of Color Lines with our main focus on Satin Hair Color. We also have Joico Vero Semi Colors, Pulp Riot, and More! We have professionals at hand that can help you with any color problems you may have. We can guide you in the right direction to "do it yourself" coloring at home. With our wide selection of colors to choose from we can get you looking just how you want with the perfect hair color.
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text:
Managing career
six languages – keeping him
close to the players
Down to earth and cosmopolitan
always in touch with the fans
with clear dialogue and a sympathetic ear
with tactical finesse
Ambitious and successful
focused on the goals of the club
ULI Forte - UEFA Pro Licensed Football Coach
Coaching career FC St. Gallen
1st July 2008 - 1st March 2011
On 1st July 2008, Uli Forte took the helm at FC St. Gallen 1879 following their relegation from the Super League – and led the long-standing club straight back to the top in his very first season. With 25 victories, three draws and only two defeats, his team put in a highly impressive performance during the 2008/09 season. These outstanding results led to his contract being extended prematurely in December 2009 to 30th June 2012. After the 0:1 home defeat on 27th February 2011 against Thun, Forte was let go as the FC St. Gallen 1879 manager. This was on 1st March 2011, after exactly 1000 days on duty.
FC Zurich
Zurich 2012-2013


Facing a multi-agency scrutiny, Diageo-owned United Spirits may have to restate its financial accounts, even as some investor groups have begun to question the UK-based parent's long silence on allegations against the erstwhile main promoters, Vijay Mallya-led UB Group.
In a major boardroom battle, United Spirits Ltd (USL) has demanded ouster of its chairman Mallya, whose UB Group had sold controlling stake in the company to Diageo but remains a promoter entity with little over 4 per cent stake.
Diageo, which holds 54.78 per cent stake, is yet to make public its stand on a resolution passed by USL's board that said it has "lost confidence" in Mallya and therefore it wants him to step down as Chairman and Director.
Mallya, on his part, has rejected the demand and said that Diageo has "contractual obligations" to support his continuance as Chairman and Director at USL.
While, Diageo has said it is looking into these "contractual obligations".
The company will have to go to the shareholders to seek Mallya's ouster if he continues to reject the board's demand.
While markets watchdog Sebi, accounting regulator ICAI, among others, are looking into the entire case, which also involves allegations of fund diversion from USL to some UB Group companies, including Kingfisher Airlines, between 2010-2013, sources said that USL may have to restate its accounts for the previous years while making provision for the financial transactions under the question.
Meanwhile, the minority investors, including FIIs, domestic funds and HNIs who collectively own more than 45 per cent stake in the company, can play a key role in the event of the matter going before the shareholders.
The prominent minority shareholders include Morgan Stanley, CLSA, Carmignac and Kotak Mahindra.
While FIIs own more than 24 per cent stake, domestic mutual funds have over 4 per cent and non-institutional domestic investors have nearly 5 per cent. The individuals also have more than 6 per cent stake.
Some investor advisory groups have already questioned the role of the past auditors and the silence on the part of Diageo about the entire gamut of alleged irregularities.
In their advisory notes to investors, they have raised questions about Diageo, promoters as also about the role of UB Group.
In the meantime, multiple regulators have started gathering details about the alleged irregularities that happened between 2010 and 2013.
Sources said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is closely looking into the USL issue and could order the company to restate its financial statements, while the Corporate Affairs Ministry could also step in as the alleged irregularities amount to violations of various provisions of the Companies Act.
Accounting watchdog ICAI had already written to Sebi seeking details to ascertain whether there have been violations committed by erstwhile auditors of USL.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has powers to initiate disciplinary action against auditors if they are found to have indulged in malpractices.
In September last year, USL board had ordered a probe into the loans given to UB Group companies as it posted a whopping net loss of Rs 4,488.77 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2014.
The UK-based liquor giant Diageo had first acquired 25 per cent in USL from Mallya-led UB Group in late 2012, while it bought further 26 per cent stake from non-promoters last year.
Diageo has spent close to USD 3 billion for the stake.USL has said that its board took the decision for ouster of Mallya following an "inquiry" report submitted by its MD and CEO, which revealed that between 2010 and 2013, funds involved in many transactions were diverted from the company and/or its subsidiaries to certain UB Group companies, including in particular, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.


text:
package se.softhouse.garden.oak;

import se.softhouse.garden.oak.model.ABasicRegisterPtr;
import se.softhouse.garden.oak.model.ARegisterPtr;
import se.softhouse.garden.oak.statement.Statement;
import se.softhouse.garden.oak.statement.AndStatement;
import se.softhouse.garden.oak.statement.CompareStatement;
import se.softhouse.garden.oak.statement.CompareStatement.OP;
import se.softhouse.garden.oak.statement.EqualsStatement;

/**
 * @author Mikael Svahn
 *
 */
public class DC {

	public static AndStatement AND(Statement... conditions) {
		return new AndStatement(conditions);
	}

	public static EqualsStatement EQUALS(String name, Object value) {
		return new EqualsStatement(createName(name), value);
	}

	public static CompareStatement LT(String name, Number value) {
		return new CompareStatement(createName(name), value, OP.LT);
	}

	public static CompareStatement LE(String name, Number value) {
		return new CompareStatement(createName(name), value, OP.LE);
	}

	public static CompareStatement EQ(String name, Number value) {
		return new CompareStatement(createName(name), value, OP.EQ);
	}

	public static CompareStatement GE(String name, Number value) {
		return new CompareStatement(createName(name), value, OP.GE);
	}

	public static CompareStatement GT(String name, Number value) {
		return new CompareStatement(createName(name), value, OP.GT);
	}

	private static ARegisterPtr createName(String name) {
		return new ABasicRegisterPtr(name);
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: What is the difference between a volume and a block regarding partitions in disk? What I understood about volume is:
Partitioning means dividing the physical drive into several logical drives / volumes that the OS treats as completely separate physical drives. Each volume on a partitioned disk has a drive letter ( C,D,E ).
I read that each volume has a block.So blocks are inside volumes? What exactly is a block? Please explain in a simple way.
So example of a volume is the C drive. Then what would be the example of a block? Thank you!

A: Google is your friend, my friend. These are very simple descriptions of these two aspects of data storage.
Volumes
from Wikipedia:

In computer data storage, a volume or logical drive is a single
  accessible storage area with a single file system, typically (though
  not necessarily) resident on a single partition of a hard disk.

Blocks
from Wikipedia:

In computing (specifically data transmission and data storage), a
  block, sometimes called a physical record, is a sequence of bytes or
  bits, usually containing some whole number of records, having a
  maximum length, a block size.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Localising Prosperity
by mainstreaming community economic development
The Virtuous Circle
E.H.Smith Builders Merchants
Independent businesses working together to support local jobs and investment
E.H. Smith Builders Merchants was 1922, E.H. Smith and is the third largest independent builders merchant in the UK. E.H. Smith is still a family business with the fourth generation now at the helm. The company employs up to 500 people and has 12 trading locations across the West Midlands and the South, as far as Kent. E.H. Smith stocks everything for the modern building, from bricks to solar panels and has successfully expanded its operation over the years to have a turnover of more than 120million.
The company prides itself on its strong employee and community ethos. Ever since they were first established in the 1920s, the company have given regular donations to charity, regarding corporate social responsibility as a way of working rather than a tokenistic PR gesture. They also have a strong commitment to their employees, many of which have been with the company for many years and they endeavour to run their company to be 'a good place to work'. E.H. Smith argue that whilst being successful is important, 'its not just about money'.
Working collectively to compete effectively
Whilst E.H. Smith are based in the West Midlands, they are also a national company and keen to bid for the supply of products to large scale construction contracts as part of their business. However, in recent years, they found that many of the main contract work was being won by large multinationals who could demonstrate compliance and manage the complexity of large contracts with organisations in the public sector. Upon winning the work, the multinationals would subcontract the majority of the work to small builders for the lowest price. No consideration was taken of where companies were based, their ethos or any other aspect of their business, it was simply about the lowest common denominator of price.
In order to try and compete with this in the fledgling sustainability market, E.H. Smith teamed up with 30 other independent builders' merchants and built a framework for deployment of the Government's Green New Deal Initiative. Together, they established a framework agreement which allowed them to collectively bid for contracts. Whilst, each one of the businesses signed up to the framework have responsibility to ensure that they are compliant in terms of qualifications and industry standards, part of the framework includes a sophisticated piece of software which would help the group manage the complexity of the compliance process including the back office administration and customer journey. This, E.H. Smith realised, was perhaps the most difficult aspect of large contract work for smaller businesses to manage.
Key features of this approach
E.H. Smith demonstrates how the private sector can help to deliver some of the key features of community economic development approach to help support future investment in place but also improve the competitiveness of small businesses.
Safeguarding private investment in the local community: By providing mechanisms by which independent companies can work together to win contract work, this project helps to safeguard the investment that entrepreneurs and existing companies make towards supporting local jobs and the community;
Local multipliers – a strong focus upon locally based businesses and local investment maximises the use of existing money within the local and regional economy. One of the advantages of the approach that E.H. Smith have developed is that they can provide really good information and data to the public sector about the number of local jobs and businesses that have been supported through the contract and ensure that depending on where the retrofit is taking place, that the most local contractor secures the work.
Support for people and social capital – A strong ethos of employee care and support is important because it not only helps to reduce staff turnover which is better for business, but it also helps staff wellbeing, morale and their ability to live a life that they have reason to value.
Greater commitment to place: Independent businesses are much more likely to have a strong commitment to the place in which they are based. E.H.Smith have long recognised the important role that business can play, not only in supporting a successful business, but in making a commitment to the community. That is why corporate social responsibility is simply a way of working for the company.
E.H. Smith Website
https://youtu.be/Ws-rO1S1jNQ
Contact Localise WM
© 2019 Localise West Midlands. All rights reserved.


Ecuador's President Rafael Correa gestures during an interview with Reuters in Portoviejo Sunday. Correa said on Sunday the fate of U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden is in the hands of the authorities in Russia, where he is holed up in hope of obtaining asylum in the South American nation.
QUITO, Ecuador -- Standing up for Edward Snowden has thrown local politics slightly off schedule in Ecuador, a country of 15 million people living in an area the size of the state of Colorado.
President Rafael Correa postponed a yearly vacation, scheduled for last Thursday, to deal with Snowden's application for asylum to Ecuador and the subsequent international attention this has brought.
In Ecuador, all political decisions go through the Alianza PAIS party, a relatively new movement born in 2006 that hasn't lost a national election since then. More than two thirds of legislators in the National Assembly, the mayor of Ecuador's capital Quito and of course President Correa and all his ministers are party members.
So to find out what the dominant political class is thinking about Ecuador's involvement in the asylum case, the best place to start was the PAIS party headquarters in Quito.
At 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, however, the large building was emptying out, with party members piling into cars. A snap rally had been called at the Spanish embassy, to protest the treatment of Bolivian President Evo Morales, an Ecuadorian ally.
According to Morales, on Tuesday, four European countries blocked his plane, on the way back home from Moscow, from crossing their airspace, because they suspected he was transporting the former NSA analyst. "Kidnapped by imperialism," Bolivia's vice president called it. The plane's emergency landing in Austria and forced 14-hour layover has outraged Latin Americans.
Why was the PAIS party protesting at Spain's embassy and not those of Italy, Portugal or France, the other countries that blocked Morales' plane?
The driver got lost, and we almost missed Galo Lara, the PAIS party secretary, being admitted into the embassy to file the official protest. At the rally, the lime green flags of the party members were outnumbered by TV cameras, ready to capture the bold reaffirmation of Latin American sovereignty Lara would make when he exited.
But does the party feel as strongly about Snowden's asylum case as they do about Ecuador's (or Bolivia's) sovereign right to make the decision?
María Augusta Calle, a PAIS legislator representing the province of Pichincha in the National Assembly, said "yes." At a panel discussion on Wednesday night, she expressed admiration for hacker Aaron Swartz, WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning and investigative journalist Michael Hastings, whom she sees as challengers of American excess in the same vein as Edward Snowden is.
She was asked after the event if the sympathy she expressed on behalf of PAIS carries over to Snowden, who is in Moscow and hasn't been granted asylum by any country but is free and alive, unlike the other men on that list (Swartz committed suicide, Hastings died in a car crash last month, and Manning is in prison and awaiting sentencing in his court martial.) Would legislators make an exceptional effort to demonstrate that sympathy, either by a resolution in the assembly or by putting pressure behind the scenes?
As for how Correa may choose to act, it's a mystery. He left for Europe on Thursday for that postponed vacation and is not expected to make any more public statements about the case.
"The president feels like he's caught between the tip of a sword and the wall," said Richard Guayanay, a member of the president's staff who was at the Spain embassy rally.
The sword, he explained, is Ecuador's stated commitment to human rights and the president's belief that Snowden's leaks revealed human rights violations carried out by American government agencies. Ecuador also believes Snowden's persecution is political and that as such he has a right to asylum. The wall is the consequences that giving Snowden asylum would mean.
A high-ranking party member who has participated in meetings with the president where Snowden was discussed said Ecuador would prefer if Snowden could end up in a place like Russia or China, because those countries have the means to match the United States' power if giving Snowden asylum leads to increased surveillance, communication interference or worse.
As if to highlight Ecuador's amateur status as a world player, the leaking of confidential emails exchanged by Ecuadorian ambassadors in Washington and other world capitals about the Snowden affair has caused further embarrassment for the government. A consul in London who signed a safe-conduct letter for Snowden that the president said he knew nothing about has been summoned to Ecuador to face punishment for his actions.
For six years, Ecuador has been aggressively promoting a campaign to get foreign investors involved in keeping the 800 million barrels of crude oil in Yasuní-ITT underground. Ecuador was hoping to raise pledges of up to $3 billion (about half of what the oil is worth at today's prices) from foreign governments and companies interested in saving the rainforest in exchange for a promise not to drill. But the pledge campaign hasn't been as successful as hoped, and Correa has said he will have to decide by this month whether drilling will go ahead. As National Geographic magazine reports, roads have already been built in the pristine jungle near the ITT oil exploration block.
After six years of intense public relations inside and outside of Ecuador about the unique importance of the Yasuní rainforest and the damage oil extraction would do, deciding to drill after all would be an unpopular move.
On the other hand, Snowden and that other asylum seeker currently in Ecuador's London embassy, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange, could bring something to Ecuador that the country desperately wants: technical expertise to help it create a knowledge economy.
"Any country that accepts his asylum won't take him for free. There will be a price," the PAIS member concluded. In Ecuador, the price Snowden could have to pay would be involvement in Yachay, a "city of knowledge" the government is building from scratch in an Andean village. The dream of Yachay is to combine a university, an urban area, technological development and agriculture to create a small Ecuadorian Silicon Valley.
To get the knowledge economy they crave, Ecuador can send its top students to foreign universities to study technology-related careers (and it does). But for a fraction of what foreign tuition costs for 100 students, Ecuador can import foreign experts to teach 100-student classes at Yachay. Assange and Snowden shouldn't expect a tropical retirement, if they ever make it down south.
Bethany Horne is a freelance journalist based in Ecuador. She is in charge of Web innovation at Guayaquil daily El Telégrafo and tweets at @bbhorne.


As the year comes to a close and I should be working on report cards, I can't help but start to plan for next year. I started thinking about my word wall and how it really doesn't stand out. Right now it is a white board and the words are printed on white card stock. White on white a little boring- right. I wanted something that stood out, but wouldn't be too distracting. As much as I'd love cute polka dot borders or colored backgrounds for my words- I decided against the business of it all and just changed the vowels to blue and added a black border to the words.
Hi Tiffani, love your blog, I just found it as I was looking for some preschool activities. Just wanted to give you a big thank you for putting out wonderful things for kids and I'm subscribing to your posts so I'll be sure not to miss any. I'm sure I'll be sharing some of your posts with my own Pinterest, Facebook and email subscribers which I'll be sure to credit you as the source. Looking forward to reading more tips. Keep up the great work!
Andrew- thanks for stopping by.
I am also upgrading my word wall. I'm using black paper as my background with brightly colored words that pop! Hope it looks as good as it sounds!
Check out my new kindergarten blog!
This is such a great post for sight words! Thank you so much for joining my first linky party! I am with Greg, time to update my word wall!


What's trending in real estate right now? Location, location, location. Most home buyers know the classic advice to look for a home in a desirable location, but in UTAH, that is especially true. The hottest locations to buy right now are those that are family friendly. UTAH is a family state, known for having residents who are very family oriented. As the economy recovers, many people are relocating and family-friendly states are at the top of the list.
If you've been planning to sell your SALT LAKE VALLEY home, you're in luck. It's a great time to sell as people start becoming more confident in the housing market. HIGHLAND and HERRIMAN are two major locations for families who are looking to buy. They're rated in the Top 5 most family friendly cities. With low crime rates and over 75% of homes having children, families are on the hunt for great homes they can afford.
Don't have a family? Don't fret. There will still be buyers interested in your home, even if you're single. In fact, SOUTH SALT LAKE, PROVO and MIDVALE are trending locations for singles and home values are up as the market becomes stronger, meaning you can get a great price for your house in areas that singles tend to favor.
It's important that you start preparing your home for a sale. A UTAH real estate agent who knows their stuff will be a great asset to you as you start thinking about listing your house. They know the market and the trends better than anyone and if you plan to sell in the near future, they'll help you get the most value out of your home.


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WINDINSIDEREMPOWERING THE WIND SECTOR
Nordex Group Repeats Annual Order Intake Of More Than 6 Gigawatts In Financial Year 2020
Sadhana Shenvekar - 15th January 2021 0
Driven by strong demand seen towards the end of the year, the Nordex Group secured orders for 491 wind turbine systems with...
Home News The 209-MW Murra Warra II Wind Farm in Australia to Commence Construction
The 209-MW Murra Warra II Wind Farm in Australia to Commence Construction
Financial close achieved with equity capital commitments provided by Partners Group (on behalf of its clients), and debt finance from a consortium of international banks.
Construction will commence on Murra Warra II comprising 38 turbines with a capacity of 209 MW.
Power Purchase Agreement with Snowy Hydro.
Macquarie's Green Investment Group rates the project AAA in a Green Impact Report, estimating the project will avoid emissions of 468 kilotonnes of CO2e each year.
The wind farm is expected to provide over 400 full-time equivalent jobs during the two-year construction period, and ongoing employement opportunities.
RES awarded construction and asset management contract.
The consortium comprising RES, the world's largest independent renewable energy company and Macquarie's Green Investment Group (GIG) announced today the completion of the development phase of the second stage of the Murra Warra Wind Farm near Horsham in Western Victoria, and the sale of its interests to global private markets investment manager Partners Group (acting on behalf of its clients).
Murra Warra II Wind Farm comprises 38 wind turbines with a capacity of 209 MW. The sale of Murra Warra II builds on the consortium's success in the development, financing and construction of the adjacent 61 turbine first stage of Murra Warra Wind Farm, which was also acquired by Partners Group (in 2018).
Murra Warra II will deliver economic benefits to the region, and will form an important part of the state, regional and local economic development. The wind farm is expected to provide over 400 full-time equivalent jobs during the two-year construction period, and ongoing employment opportunities during its operational lifetime. The direct economic stimulus provided by the first stage of Murra Warra Wind Farm during construction has been $4.4 million to the local and regional economy through spend on accommodation, retail items and services and this local stimulus is anticipated to be replicated by the Murra Warra II construction.
A locally managed community fund for both projects will inject an additional $4m of investment into local projects over the lifetime of the wind farms.
Green Investment Group (GIG) is part of Macquarie Capital, and today's Murra Warra II milestone demonstrates the depth and breadth of global expertise in green development within GIG, Macquarie Capital and RES in the context of the Australian market.
Debt financing was arranged from a banking consortium including ICBC, ING, Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC and Société Générale. The financing was raised in accordance with the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association's Green Loan Principles, and subject to an independent Second Party Opinion from Sustainalytics. It is understood to be the first time a project finance green loan has been used to fund the construction of a wind farm in Australia.
General Electric will provide the 5.5 MW turbines, with a combined output of 209 MW. The project will be constructed under contract with General Electric International and its subcontractor, Zenviron.
Pure-play renewables company RES will provide construction and operational asset management services under a long-term agreement. RES and GIG arranged a long-term Power Purchase Agreement for Murra Warra II with utility company, Snowy Hydro through its Renewable Energy Procurement Program.
Murra Warra II has been rated by GIG's Green Investment Ratings & Impact Advisory Team as AAA in its Green Impact Report with a Carbon Score1 indicating its effectiveness at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Murra Warra II will avoid emissions of an estimated 468 kilotonnes of CO2 each year, generating enough clean energy to power the equivalent of 150,000 Victorian homes.
"RES is proud to have developed another world class project that aligns with our vision of creating a future where everyone has access to affordable zero carbon energy. We are delighted to be able to continue our long-term involvement with the Murra Warra II wind farm and the local community through our construction management and asset management services. With over 6GW of operational projects under management globally, and a portfolio approaching 1 GW in Australia, we look forward to working with Partners Group to optimise the project's construction and operational performance."
Macquarie's Green Investment Group
Murra Warra Wind Farm
Partners Group
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BC born and raised owner & operator Eric Pehota will be your guide and jet boat pilot on this thrilling river adventure. Navigate his custom white water jet boat through braided channels, tight canyons, and exciting white water through the pristine waterways of the Coastal Mountains.
Eric has been operating jet boats for 25 years and along with his rafting and kayaking experience, he is one of the most qualified jet boat pilots in Canada. Trips depart 3 times daily. All ages welcome. Private tours available. May – September.


Reduce the amount of vandalism on their buses.
A solution was implemented in which 4 cameras per vehicle were installed. These were focussed on the passenger entry/exit door, the driver, the upper deck and the lower deck of the vehicle. The system provided a dual capability with regards to viewing video information; firstly the on-board digital video recorder (DVR) recorded all the data on its secure hard disk. Secondly, the DVR was fitted with a 3G streaming option which allowed the bus operating Company to remotely monitor live video feeds at any time. This remote 3G connectivity provides facilities to review recorded footage whilst the vehicle is in service, and to change settings on the system if required.
Bowens have been very pleased with the results of the system which paid for itself in a matter of just a few weeks.


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Seven Indian Military perons die in Maoist attack
Seven Indian Military perons die in Maoist attack Officials in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh confirmed that at least seven paramilitary policemen were killed in a landmine blast on Wednesday, allegedly triggered by Maoist rebels (BBC). The attack near Dantewada district targeted personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force. Chhattisgarh is often hit by Maoist violence. The Maoists claim they are fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people. Last July, bodies of four policemen abducted by Maoist rebels were recovered in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district. The Maoist insurgency in India began in West Bengal in the late 1960s and has spread to more than 200 districts in the country. Previously, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described India's Maoist insurgency as its "greatest internal security challenge".


The Walt Disney World Resort has announced its schedule of special fireworks presentations to celebrate the Fourth of July.
The excitement at the Magic Kingdom will start a day early on July 3rd. During both July 3rd & 4th there will be a special presentation of "Celebrate America Fireworks" at 9:00 pm. These patriotic themed fireworks will be followed by the "Spectromagic" parade at 10:30 pm. The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9:00 AM until 11:00 pm on both days. Expect crowds to be lighter on Friday July 3rd.
On the Fourth of July, Epcot will present their Illuminations fireworks show at 10:00 pm with a special Patriotic finale added to the normal display, making it even more spectacular than usual. Take note that the fireworks will occur 1 hour later than usual this night as the park has extended hours of 9:00 am – 10:00 pm.
On the Fourth of July Hollywood Studios will have 2 showings of Fantasmic at 9:00 pm and 10:45 pm. At 10:00 pm there will be a special fireworks presentation for park guests. Park hours on the 4th will be 9:00 am – 10:00 pm. Fireworks are only presented on special holidays at Hollywood Studios, so this is a real treat to see.
Expect crowd levels to be very high at this time, so if you are going to a park to see the fireworks, make sure you get there early enough in case they stop letting people in. Also remember that Epcot handles the large crowds better due to its large size and even crowded days aren't as oppressive as the Magic Kingdom.
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Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus: fixes for errors, bugs, crashes, black screen and other problems
Games /#Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
On the calendar October 27 2017, which means release of the sequel to the adventure of Blaskovitz, Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. The players liked the continuation of the Wolfenstein series, judging by the user reviews on Steam. However, on the PC version of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus there are still some problems: a black screen, the inability to set the full-screen mode, hangs, crashes, low FPS and other problems. In this article, we will discuss all of these problems, so that you can normally enjoy Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus without any inconvenience.
Solving various problems in Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus – black screen
If you have a black screen when you start Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus, then you can try a couple of steps. First, make sure that you disabled the display of the overlay in the game in the Steam settings of the game. Secondly, try installing new drivers for your video card: the black screen, basically, is a consequence of the outdated video drivers.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus – bug with full screen mode
If you observe any problems with full-screen mode, then you need to go to the graphical settings and turn off the option called Async Compute. Once you do this, problems with full-screen mode will be resolved.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus freezes
If you experience constant hanging or braking during the game, then you need to use the advice from the previous step – disabling the Async Compute option. Also, some users claim that the hang and the brake can get rid of the restart of Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus – crashes after changing a resolution
To fix the problem with departures after changing the resolution, which arise for users of video cards from Nvidia, you need to install the driver version 388.00 or 388.10. The network already has some reports that on these versions of the drivers Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus does not crash when changing permissions.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus – low FPS / low performance
If you observe a low FPS in the game, even though your PC can provide sufficient performance, try the following:
Update your graphics drivers.
Make sure that your system does not work in power saving mode.
Start the game on a discrete graphics card, rather than on an integrated one.
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus – a bug with the mission in New Orleans
If all your tasks are missing from your log, you must enter this mission and then log out of it to return the tasks to the log. This is a fairly well-known bug and it is likely to be fixed in future updates.
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Nick Hart talks 10 English Folk Songs (and loads more)
· 17 March 2022 ·38 min read
Ahead of the release of "Nick Hart Sings 10 English Folk Songs", fans of the traditional folk singer smother him with questions.
There's a lot of love for Nick Hart and his albums of English folk songs, the first of which appeared quietly in 2018, having been left half-forgotten in a garage somewhere for half a year. By his own admission (you'll see), he's not known for his planning abilities, and so his first two albums charmed a modest number of listeners but fell short of reaching the kind of audience they deserved. Those who heard the albums – Nick Hart Sings Eight English Folk Songs, and Nick Hart Sings Nine English Folk Songs were uniformly bowled over. Folk musicians – Hart's peers – talked in not-so-hushed-tones about the young man that seemed to be singing from centuries past, while simultaneously appearing to be the most exciting new arrival on the folk scene. "He's a maverick", one famous fan told me, and I can totally see her point.
I have a lifelong mission to prove that English folk music is odd.
Nick Hart
While his first two albums were absorbing but stripped-back affairs, his latest release – Nick Hart Sings 10 English Folk Songs, out on April 29th, but available for pre-order now – is a more adventurous affair. Don't expect a vast production with all the bells and whistles; do expect layers of rare and wondorous stringed instruments, plus (quite literally) bells and whistles. Lockdown afforded Hart the time to explore his collection of aged instruments in some considerable depth, and he's made something quite brilliant as a result. Look out for our album review, arriving in a couple of weeks' time (and make sure you've booked tickets for his forthcoming Spring tour).
Having interviewed Hart a good number of times before, I thought it might be interesting to ask some of his "celebrity folk fans" whether there were any questions they were burning to ask. Within an hour, I had more than enough for the whole interview, which says something about the man's reputation as a musician's musician. Read on and you'll find questions from Angeline Morrison, Sam Sweeney, Eliza Carthy, Jim Moray, John Spiers, and many more, none of whom the man himself was expecting.
Over the course of the interview, Hart touches on the process of recording his new album, the role of creativity in ballad singing, the difficulties inherent in making a tradfolk music video, methods for keeping an audience engaged, straying too far from the ether, the difference between songs and tunes, being kept awake at night by Roud numbers, egg clutching possibilities, singing 100-verse ballads, his hunt for "odd songs", treading on other singers' toes, junk shops, recurring dreams, and toothless source singers.
As you can probably tell, it's a loooong one. You may want to prepare for several sittings. Nick Hart will see you now.
This album differs from the previous two albums, mainly because it's far richer in its instrumentation. I believe you're playing almost everything yourself. Having been a master of the stripped-back tradfolk form in the past, you've suddenly doing everything. You've become The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. What prompted that change?
It's difficult to say, actually. I've certainly never been under the impression that my style of guitar playing was the only way to accompany things. And actually, it's fair to say that a lot of the songs on the album still only feature one instrument.
But not the instrument that people are expecting, right?
Yeah, with the viola da gamba and the strange, restrung mandolin, among various other things. But in terms of doing things bigger, I think a big part of it was the pandemic. I started recording this pretty much as soon as we went into lockdown, the very first time, feeling like I had the space and the lack of pressure to experiment more with things.
I think the process of recording the first two albums was that I wanted to replicate what I do live. I wanted there to be a sense of consistency throughout those albums. I like the fact that it's pretty much me and a guitar, sometimes with a bit of the viola, throughout those first two albums. I wanted to keep things focused and keep that as a constant. But the other thing to say is that, when I recorded both of those albums, those were songs that I'd already worked into my live repertoire. And also, I was paying for someone else's time. So because Tom Moore recorded those two albums, the preparation had already been done. The decisions had already been made, as far as I ever make decisions when I'm performing, because what I do seems to be fairly free-form. So the idea was capturing live takes – doing the songs in generally no more than three takes, and then picking the best one.
This time I recorded it all myself, and I had all this time to muck about with all the hundreds of bonkers instruments I've got in my studio.
Who else is on the album?
Tom Moore plays viola on two tracks – 'May Song' and 'Henry Martin', but only for a very brief moment. The main instrument you can hear on 'Henry Martin' is the viola de gamba, which is played by me. That was recorded live. So that's me singing and playing at the same time, with a little instrumental that Tom joins me on. Apart from that, it's all me, other than some singers who join me on 'May Song'.
We all went a bit mad in that first lockdown, didn't we? Thinking outside my comfort zone seemed appropriate.
So, largely it was practicality that led to this different sound?
Perhaps more of a sense of freedom and it being a very open-ended thing. It was amazing to have this all this time to work on it until it was done. I'd also just turned my back bedroom into a studio, so I had a dedicated space to work in, and I'd just bought loads of new kit to record stuff with just as lockdown happened, by pure coincidence. We all went a bit mad in that first lockdown, didn't we? So, thinking outside my comfort zone seemed appropriate.
Were you just waking up every day and sticking something down, or did you have a bit more of a plan?
I had songs that I'd been wanting to record for years, and songs that I had picked up since the last album, and a few I was deliberately going out and trying to find. I hadn't decided on all the songs before I started recording them. For lots of them it was, "OK, what should I sing next? Maybe a version of this… or this." It was a lovely process. I was getting up, starting work at 10am and working until 10pm for about three months.
There were occasions where I'd think, "I really want to have this sound on it", and I'd realise that I didn't have the right instrument, or that the right instrument didn't exist [laughs]. I wanted a kind of bowed banjo, a bit like something that sounds like a dilruba or esraj. Both are Indian instruments that are bowed, with sympathetic strings. I drove to Worcester to buy a tenor banjo off some bloke, and then spent a week messing around with it until I built a peg box. So it's got 13 synthetic strings running on it. That was what was so lovely about there being no time constraints. I was like, "OK, well, I'll just design and build this for a week and then record it on that one track", which you basically can't even hear now because we've got it so low in the mix [laughs].
Which track is it on, just in case anyone wants to try and listen out for it?
It's on 'Dives and Lazarus'. It's following the melody.
Nice to have been afforded the time, then.
Yeah. People talk about a sort of "flow state", don't they? That wonderful feeling of not being interrupted by anything, by other commitments, by other things that need to be done, or by other people's time constraints. It's a really liberating thing in terms of not being pulled out of that state of creativity.
My mom is obsessed with that word, "creativity", and my mum is obsessed with the idea that I'm a very creative person, which I should say I don't always feel like. Actually, a lot of my job is not particularly creative. Coming up with repertoire or approaches to performing traditional songs – this is not, in the truest sense, a creative process, I don't think. But actually, with this album, I was broadening my horizons a lot more and trying things out. It really did feel like a very intense creative process. To be able to just be completely absorbed by that for months at a time without any distraction… it was a game-changer. I've never been able to experience that before.
If arranging traditional folk songs is not a creative process, what kind of process is it?
When I started doing this solo stuff about seven years ago, the process for the first two albums was that, essentially, I'd developed a guitar style. I mean, Chris Wood did most of the work [laughs], but there is a thing that I managed to learn to do at some point, which is to do with heterophony again – slightly separating your brain into two so that your hands and your voice are working together on roughly the same thing, but with a sense of independence. It's very useful in that I can focus on the melody. I can put a song through that machine and it will come out sounding like a Nick Hart performance because it's more like an instinct. It's not very deliberate. It's more instinctive, I suppose. So, I don't tend to arrange things very heavily.
There is something inherently creative in that you are bringing it to life every time, but in terms of creativity, in terms of what we really mean when we talk about writing or composing, I wouldn't say that sort of creative process was part of my approach. Whereas, when I write music for the theatre, that is an inherently creative process.
You and I have chatted so many times about music, I thought I'd try something different with some of this interview. I've asked a gang of traditional folk musicians if they had any questions prior to the release of Nick Hart Sings 10 English Folk Songs, and a bunch of them have sent some in.
The first question comes from Angeline Morrison, who asks, "Will you share the story of your inspiration for that brilliant 'Dives and Lazarus' video [see above]? And also, are you playing spoons on the track?"
That's very nice. So, I wanted to make a music video for it, but I think the problem is that a lot of the time people feel that it's something they have to do, at which point they have several difficult choices to make. You can either do a live performance video, which I think is a very good and legitimate thing, you can do a video where you mime along to the track, which is certainly the convention in popular music, but I think seems a little bit eggy for the folk world, or you could do something entirely different – and I don't know if anyone's really done that. I've not seen that in the folk world, unless I've been missing lots of things.
I wanted to try and do something different and tread a fine line, so I thought, "If I don't go down the live performance route, what do I want to do? Do I want to do something with miming?" And then I thought, "Well, if we're going to do that, let's really lean into it". So I've cast myself in this video as a club singer.
It's like you're in an old working man's club.
Yeah, exactly. And I think I wanted to reflect some of the themes in the song: the feast, the concept of, I suppose, food waste [laughs]. Ironically, we had to throw away an awful lot of fucking food.
What I didn't want to do was make it programmatic. So I thought the idea of something that touched on those things, related to them tangentially, was a good starting point. But I wanted it to have a life of its own. I think good pop music videos often have their own narrative. They exist on their own terms rather than just being something that supports the song. I think that's a really great thing, and I think the music video is a brilliant art form when it's allowed to exist on its own terms.
I'm very lucky to know George Moore, Tom Moore's little brother, who is a brilliant cinematographer and director and has been doing lots of music videos for lots of people. So it was great chatting to him. We kind of thrashed out the original idea. The backing track idea was George's: rather than it being a live band, it's me with a tape machine, which I think was a much better idea and also an awful lot cheaper and easier to film.
What was amazing about it was that my friend, Richard Guard, who plays a sort of disgusting old man in the video, and is, funnily enough, one of the writers of the song 'The River Don't Run' from my first album, and my dear friend, Jo Bowis, were brilliant and got the brief immediately. So I think we pulled it off, basically.
And, yes, I am playing spoons on it.
Right, OK. Sam Sweeney has a question. He asks: "As someone who struggles to listen to folk songs and singers of folk songs, you are someone who I'd be overjoyed to listen to for hours. What is the key to delivering a folk song in a world saturated by singers who just don't draw me in, because you excel at it? I'd also be interested to know whether you draw a distinction between how you think about songs and tunes, because I've heard you playing tunes a few times before and I wonder whether those musicians who do both songs and tunes think of them in the same way, or whether they're two different disciplines or ways of thinking."
Wow. It's very flattering, but it's a very difficult question. It's almost like, "Why are you so much better than everyone else?" How are you meant to answer that without sounding like a c*nt? [Laughs] I mean, I think engagement is a really important thing… [Pauses and rubs eyes for about 10 minutes while thinking.] You know, if someone pays you a compliment, it's all the more special if it's for something you value and prize yourself. Do you know what I mean?
If someone said, "wow, your guitar playing is really good. I love how complicated your guitar playing is," that would be lovely, but less important to me because I've never sought to be complicated in my guitar playing. I don't think it's the thing I'm good at.
If I'm watching a performer and I see that they never close their eyes, then it's fair to say that I'm not going to believe them.
What I would say is this. I have a very lazy kind of shorthand, which is generally a useful metric as to whether I think someone is doing it – ballad singing as an art form – properly. If I'm watching a performer and I see that they never close their eyes, then it's fair to say that I'm not going to believe them.
That's very interesting.
Yeah. So I'm not saying that everyone has to keep their eyes closed the whole time, but for me, there are three parts involved in this process. There is the song, which exists up in the ether somewhere, there is the singer, and there is the audience. And I think, as the singer, you sit between those other two entities. If you are focusing too much on your relationship with the audience, you're going to be neglecting your relationship with…
…the ether?
The ether [laughs]. Exactly. They're going to stray too far away from the ether.
Again, I don't really arrange songs. There are things I will probably do every time, but generally speaking, even if I end up doing them the same way every time, it's not like I've chosen to do a particular thing at a particular point in the song in advance. So for me, it is absolutely about the process of bringing it into existence anew every time. I think it keeps it more alive. I think it keeps it sort of fizzy and up in the air somewhere rather than something which is kind of overrehearsed.
There are lots of different types of music that reward real precision and real practice, with really specific and precise arrangements. I think it's a brilliant thing. I just don't think that's appropriate for ballad singing. With ballad singing, because it's so much about narrative, I think focusing on that narrative and letting that inform your musical choices in the moment, that's the thing. It makes for a more engaging performance. It's not improvisation, but it is, to some extent, extemporisation. I think it's impossible to put your finger on what exactly that quality is – what makes that different to something which is kind of rehearsed and trotted out – but it fucking works. And you can see it there. An audience can tell that it's there. And I'm very happy that Sam seems to think so, too.
I want us to be inside the narrative of the song.
I've been thinking for some time that I need to open my eyes more because I sing nearly every song completely blind.
Keep them closed! it's fine [laughs]. Then again, what you and I do is make up for that by being very chatty and personable with the audience in between songs. All of it is about bringing the audience in. It's not about showing off. It's not about being impressive in any way. I don't wish to be impressive. What I want to do is bring the audience in. I want us to be inside the narrative of the song. There are lots of little things I do deliberately that people maybe don't realise are deliberate, which is about that – about bringing the audience into the world of the song. If you manage to achieve that, then you can afford to not fucking open your eyes for four minutes or eight minutes, or however long the song is.
Sam's other question was about tunes. Do you draw a distinction between how you think about songs and tunes?
Well, musically, not really, because I think I see the melodies of songs and tunes as being kind of a framework to be departed from, which I think is probably Sam's approach as well. There is a very small school of brilliant English tune players who take that approach – Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron, John Dipper, and I suppose Chris Wood is kind of the founder of that school. There's also Miranda Rutter and obviously Andy Cutting. The list does go on, but it doesn't go much further. I did the EAC Summer School 12 years ago and that was a big eye-opener in terms of playing tunes and the extent to which you can depart from them.
To go back to the question, it is different because if I'm singing I'm also generally playing the same melody, so I'm kind of playing the tune twice. So that's a bit of a splitting. But I think the other main difference is that when you're singing songs there is a kind of sympathetic emotional response. Even if it's a third-person song, you have to be invested in the emotional content of the narrative in a way that I don't get so much from tunes.
The next question is from Henry Parker, so I guess it's no surprise that it's guitar-related. "Metallica played a version of 'Whiskey in the Jar' [Roud 533] on the 1998 album, Garage Inc. Which other traditional folk songs do you think could stand to take a bit of Metallica?"
Created by author and archivist, Steve Roud, the Roud Number Index was devised to catalogue folk songs, looking at variants in title and lyrics, as well as location.
To be perfectly honest with you, I would be so unlikely to listen to it, they can do whatever they like [laughs]. Even if they were to personally take up my suggestion, I would not go to the effort to listen to it even once. So I don't know – let's just start at the beginning. Let's go for Roud 1. What's that? 'Raggle Taggle Gypsies', or something? They can do that.
So you think they should just work their way up through the Roud Index?
[Laughs] Yeah, they can work their way up until they're well into the two-thousands and I still won't have listened to a single fucking one of them!
Brilliant. While we're on the vague theme of different ways to approach traditional folk songs, you've said to me before you've been trying to work out the correct way of performing them.
I was wondering if you've worked it out yet? You mentioned earlier that you developed an almost machine-like way. I suppose, with this new album, you've broken that machine slightly.
Yeah. Again, there are similarities in the approach. I still have some basic instincts that I can't shake off and I wouldn't necessarily wish to. I think it's absolutely not my place to say whether I'm successful at it, but what is really nice is that people generally react to my music and to my gigs in the way that I would like them to. Do you know what I mean? The nice things that people say about my music after a gig are specific enough for me to feel like I've managed to achieve what I want in terms of the kind of performances that I do. That's gratifying. It's nice to feel like you're not barking up the wrong tree.
Am I trying to con people into believing that English folk songs are more exotic and nuanced than they really are? The morality of that keeps me up at night.
More to the point, does the question regarding the right way to play traditional songs still keep you awake at night?
[Laughs] Yes, of course. Actually, it's funny. I've been working on a version of 'Raggle Taggle Gypsies' recently…
Oh, you beat Metallica to it.
[Laughs] There's this interesting thing where there's a version recorded by Harry Cox, and a version recorded by Martin Carthy, and I think Martin's version doesn't have the third note in it.
And that's what's been keeping you awake?
It doesn't have a third in it. [Exasperated] It doesn't have a third in it! So, the Harry Cox version, the one I'm trying to learn, only has the third in it once. The fact that it misses out the third is so strange and so characteristic that I'm sort of thinking, "Well, if I do a version, is it OK to leave the third out completely?"
And what have you concluded? Is it OK?
[With sudden determination] I'm going to do it.
Is it allowed, Nick?
I'm going to do it. But, you know, I've done a lot of things in my life that I knew weren't allowed [laughs].
Essentially what worries me is that it might be disingenuous to present this version as more odd than it actually is by removing the third. Am I trying to con people into believing that English folk songs are more exotic and nuanced than they really are? And that sort of thing – the morality of that – keeps me up at night [laughs].
[Tongue firmly in cheek] I think it's fine to ignore it, but I think being the sort of person who asks those questions does give you greater integrity. [Becoming more serious] The fact that you worry about these things, even if you manage to overcome that worry and ignore it ultimately, I think the fact that one's asking the questions is an important thing. I know you do as well, Jon – deciding what is appropriate and what is not appropriate – because if you just think everything's fine, you can just do whatever the fuck you want, then what you end up with is something that is going to be not very considered a lot of the time.
I morally bankrupt myself several nights a week.
Time for another celebrity folk question. This is from Alex Merry of Boss Morris, who asks, "If you had to live in one folk song, which would it be?"
Oh, that's so good. My dear, wonderful friend, Alex. Oh, that's really good. [Seems genuinely stumped.]
Take your time. I'm not going anywhere.
I mean, none of these worlds look great, do they? I think the reason that 'The Yellow Handkerchief' has become something of a signature song of mine – I always close the set on it – is because, although it's specifically about bankrupting yourself financially by living the high life, for me, it feels more about morally bankrupting yourself.
Which you're quite good at, right?
I morally bankrupt myself several nights a week. I suppose it's a song about fallibility and making poor decisions. But that doesn't answer the question. Which folk song would I choose to live in for the rest of my life? I don't know. Maybe a rude one where they have it off and then it's all fine at the end. I would like to live inside 'The Cuckoo's Nest', because it'd be nice to live in a world where it was assumed that everyone still had all their pubes [laughs].
The cover to Nick's previous album, Nick Hart Sings Nine English Folk Songs
Lovely stuff. OK, the next question is from my fellow Tradfolk writer, Rachel Wilkinson. She asks: "What's the maximum number of eggs you can hold?"
Well, eggs come in various different sizes. I mean, if you're talking a chicken's egg, I managed 10, actually, on the previous album cover. But quail eggs are slightly smaller. I could probably get a few of those in. And who knows what great globules of frog spawn I could scoop up?
A good answer to a rather tough question. As you mentioned, it's obviously referring to the covers of the last album and the album before it, on which you grasped and clutched things. Is this third album the end of the Nick Hart Sings X English Folk Songs trilogy?
I don't know. In many ways, I don't think the new one should have been called that because it doesn't really match stylistically. It feels like a departure. The first two feel like a kind of diptych. This one feels like a very different thing and, actually, I sort of felt like it probably should have a different title, too, but I couldn't come up with one and so I just called it Nick Hart Sings 10 English Folk Songs.
You once told me that you were working on a version of a Robin Hood ballad with 100 verses that would take up a whole album, thus making Nick Hart Sings ONE English Folk Song. When can we expect that?
That's one of the ones on the back burner. My friend, Joseph Minden, is a wonderful poet. He's doing the majority of the work, bringing the language up from the 15th century – making it a little bit up-to-date whilst keeping the original flavour of it. It's something that we're still planning to get funding to do. We've got 100 verses and, yeah, it's something you want to get funding to do, because realistically, it's not going to make us a lot of money for the amount of time that's going to have to go into it.
A big part of it for me, as a ballad singer, is to push myself to remember 100 verses, and also see how you could keep it interesting over the course of what would be the best part of an hour. That would be a real fucking challenge. And it'd be a really interesting thing to do, more as a kind of experiment in seeing whether it could be done.
The Paul Sartin Interview
There are still loads of questions here. Let's see. Here's one from Jim Moray. "Do you have a secret teenage covers band past? And if so, what songs did you do?"
I do not have a secret teenage covers band past, but I did have a band as a teenager and I'm not going to say the name of it because, whilst it was really great and we had a lovely time, I don't necessarily want everyone to hear that music.
Is it out there? Can it be found if we know the name?
Not readily. I mean, everyone else did a great job. Personally, I hadn't done very much thinking yet.
What kind of music was it?
Mental. There were a lot of instrumentals. I was playing a lot of bagpipes and clarinet, guitars and saxophones. It was odd. It was very odd. Quite hard to define, really. There were some songs, although I really couldn't sing at that point in my life. Did we do any covers? We did a couple of traditional songs. We did a version of 'South Australia', but that's not a cover, is it? So the simple answer is no, Jim, I did not have a secret teenage covers band.
Going back to the new album for a moment, is there a certain kind of folk song that you gravitate towards? I ask because I think you do songs like 'Jack Hall' with a kind of beautiful, quiet gravitas. Are you chasing a certain something when you're looking for songs?
I suppose I have a lifelong mission to prove that English folk music is odd – that we also have an odd music tradition which is no more or less fascinating than that of any other country.
So, you assume that people think English folk songs are staid and boring?
I think people in this country either don't know that English folk song exists, or they think it's all, "hey nonny fol-der-rol".
What I gravitate towards is odd melodies – melodies that work in a very different way. I suppose the things that Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp thought were fascinating – songs with mutable notes, or songs that have a really strange shape to them. That's what I look for melodically. But also, of course, I want songs that have a strong narrative or have an emotional pull somehow. I mean, I have lots of different reasons for choosing different parts of my repertoire, but generally speaking, it's a sense of oddness. It's a sense of something strange and dark, and often something that you can't imagine anyone having written. Those songs that seem to have been shaped by the many singers that have sung them, that you hear it and think, "someone can't have composed that". That's what I look for.
Eliza Carthy asks, "Do you still have the cowboy hat you were wearing when I met you? I've always admired your sartorial choices."
Well, that's very kind of you. What's really strange is that I've been going through quite a lot of heartache recently and I've been listening to a lot of Patsy Cline as a result. I'm actually going to a session for American music in my local pub tonight where lots of my friends play and I sometimes go and sit in. We just run through a load of Patsy Cline songs. I was thinking, "I think I've got a tasselled cowboy shirt and a cowboy hat somewhere in the loft." And I think it's probably the very one that Eliza is referring to. I was thinking about that a matter of hours ago. So I think the answer is, "Yes, and I can confirm it when I go and look for it in a couple of weeks' time."
Maybe an Instagram picture to prove it?
I don't think we need to go that far.
The writer, Jude Rogers, asks, "What is your favourite line in a traditional folk song, and why?"
Oh god. And now I can't think of any! [Screws face up in extreme thought.] OK, it's from 'Jack Hall': "Oh, the best of friends must part." When I'm singing that song, that line is always something I'm looking towards. It's in the penultimate verse, but for me, even though in the final verse he actually gets hanged, that line is the emotional apex. It's a first-person ballad, which helps, but it's not a musical. I'm not pretending that I'm Jack Hall when I'm singing that song, but in terms of my empathic relationship to the character, that's the fucking line. There is such a beautiful sense of sadness and resignation. There's a reason that song is still sung and 99% of those songs aren't.
"Goodnight songs", I believe they're called.
Goodnight songs?
Yes – the songs in which criminals, often highwaymen, end up narrating their own execution. Martin Simpson talks about them in his set. He points out that it's a strange name for that group of songs, given that nobody actually gets to say "goodnight" at the end of them because they all get hanged.
[Laughs] That's true. But there is such an economy of language in that one. One learns so much about the character from the wording of that line. It's a bridge in the truest sense. I like a lot of folk songs because they're old and the language is odd, but any pop songwriter would be very fucking happy to have included that line because of what it conveys with such an economy of language.
Debbie Armour from Burd Ellen asks, "When you're choosing songs for a body of work, how much do you think about ubiquity? Is there such a thing as an old chestnut, or do you not worry about it?"
[Laughs] It's funny she has asked that because I've nicked a song off Burd Ellen's record!
'Lemany', right?
Yeah, absolutely. I was reminded of it by listening to their performance of it, and I hadn't heard it for years. I heard Peter Bellamy's version, which I think is where they got it from as well. I always liked Peter Bellamy's version, but Burd Ellen do it better. They do it very differently. I love Peter Bellamy, but I would sooner listen to Burd Ellen in terms of keeping my blood pressure in a consistent place [laughs].
But yeah, that's something that I certainly used to worry about more. I suppose the problem comes when you do the same version of the same song and do it worse. Do, you know what I mean? So I'm running that risk on this album with 'Lemany' and with 'Jack Hall', because my version of Jack Hall is the Walter Pardon version, which I think is the same one that Sam Carter sings. I'm aware that I'm treading on Sam's toes because that's something of a signature of his.
There are a lot of songs on this album which are fairly obvious versions, and they're versions other people have recorded. I think I care about it less than I used to. I think I used to be very into having unique versions. As long as you feel that you have something to contribute – something you can add or something new you can find in it – then it's fine. But I didn't used to think that and I still worry about it a bit.
I've been working on a version of Sam Larner's 'Henry Martin' for some time now, but because you've just recorded a version for this album, I'm dropping mine. How long do you feel is a safe amount of time before I can start working on that again?
[Laughs] I don't know. It's a funny one, isn't it? I feel very bad because this album should have been out a year and a half ago. So this is my fault and I don't wish to hold you up. I don't know. I mean, no one cares, do they? Just do it.
John Spiers says: "Hi, Nick! Because musicians in different bands are like ships that pass in the night, I've only really ever met you once for any serious length of time. And that was in a junk shop. (Not a charity shop, not an antique shop with stuff in little cabinets, but a proper junk shop). You seemed, like I always am when I find one, fascinated by the tools, the materials and the potential for repurposing old stuff like this. I wonder if you see a comparison between your approach to finding old songs and tunes from the tradition and making them alive again, and the way you look at things like you do in a junk shop? Can there be any difference between an approach to music and an approach to life in general?
That's a very interesting question. I've never thought about that. But I do love junk shops and anywhere one can buy secondhand goods. I suppose there is something about that.
I have two recurring dreams. One of them is an anxiety dream which is fairly boring and predictable and it's about not having revised for an exam or shit like that. But I also have another very particular dream – I'm not really sure what it represents or what it correlates to – which is that I turn up at a charity shop, junk shop, antique shop, jumble sale, et cetera, and find a glut of second-hand instruments. They're all the kind of instruments I'd snap up on their own, but I have to decide which one to leave behind [laughs]. That's why I decided last year to just give it and set up a business buying and selling rare old instruments.
A post shared by Nick Hart (@mrnickyhart)
There is something about going to a car boot sale or a junk shop where you don't know what you're going to find and you don't know whether you'll find anything you like. I think there is a very similar approach to rifling through a collection of source singer recordings, working your way through, not knowing whether you'll find anything that is of any use to you at all. There is something about that sensation. It's something that a lot of people cannot do. For some reason [laughs] they can't sit through hours and hours of octogenarian, toothless members of the English peasantry whose voices were beginning to fail them. But I think you have to have a huge amount of faith and patience with that, in much the same way that you do going around a junk shop or an antique store, being prepared for the fact that you might get nothing.
Ever since the MusTrad website put their collection up for download… I mean, I can afford it all, but I don't know if I can afford the time. I was supposed to be working yesterday and I ended up listening to nearly 80 recordings of Cecilia Costello, followed by an album of Phoebe Smith.
John also asked, "Can there be any difference between an approach to music and an approach to life in general?"
I can only speak for myself. I don't really like planning ahead in any of my life, including my musical performance [laughs]. A mate of mine who has been living in Bristol for the last couple of years said to me, "It would be great to have a drink before I move back to London. Are you free in two weeks' time?" The thought of putting that in my diary made me feel sick. Similarly, I don't really have a setlist and I don't make arrangements. So there is certainly a consistency there.
Seeing what the melody does to the instrument and what the instrument does to the melody is a really interesting thing.
There's only one question left and it is from Ellie Gowers. She says, "I'm intrigued by all the old instruments you collect and repair, and I'd love to know if these feed any inspiration into your music."
Yes. This album features a lot of weird and wonderful instruments that I have collected over the years. It's about discovering all the different things they can do.
Do the songs suggest the instrument or does the instrument suggest the song?
My studio is laid out in such a way that I have loads of different things to hand. When I made this album, I would pick a song because I liked the song, and then I would kind of mess about picking up different instruments and seeing what it sounded like on each of them, seeing how the melody starts, seeing how the instrument itself suggests a different kind of extemporisation. Playing the melody on one instrument might reveal things or force you to make choices that you wouldn't make on another instrument. They definitely have a part to play.
I don't want to say that it's letting the instrument play you, because that sounds terribly wanky. I'm not really a virtuoso on any one instrument – there's not one instrument I feel like I have complete command over – so I think I'm always kind of inspired by what the instruments do. Seeing what the melody does to the instrument and what the instrument does to the melody is a really interesting thing.
To hear what Nick's instruments do for his third album, pre-order Nick Hart Sings 10 English Folk Songs from nickhartmusic.com today. Nick is also on tour throughout spring. You can catch him at any of the dates below.
Nick Hart Sing 10 English Folk Songs – the tour
April 2nd: The Fleece Inn, Bretforton
April 22nd: Oxford Folk Weekend
April 23rd: Ashburton Arts, Dartmoor
April 24th: The Cornish Bank, Falmouth
May 7th: The Muse, Brecon
May 8th: The Prince Albert, Stroud
May 16th: Tom Thumb Theatre, Margate
May 19th: Cafe #9, Sheffield
May 20th: Temperance, Lemington Spa
May 21st: The Globe, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
May 22nd: The Old Bell, Derby
May 25th: Jam Jar, Bristol
May 28th: The Grit, Lowestoft
May 29th: Black Fen Folk Club, Cambridge
June 1st: Gullivers, Manchester
June 5th: Fire in the Mountain, Aberystwyth
June 11th: Whitchurch Folk Club, Hampshire
June 12th: Green Sythe Fair, Langport
June15th: The Folklore Rooms, Brighton
June 17th: Hermon Chapel Arts, Oswestry
June 18th: Bishop's Castle Town Hall, Shropshire
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While Jim Genia was down at UFC 169 on Saturday night sitting in a hot tub drinking pink ladies with Dana White, some of us were out in the trenches doing the real work.
The AKBF event in Yorktown Heights, NY featured a numbing 17 bouts of amateur MMA, Muay Thai, boxing, kickboxing and grappling.
Highlights included Anderson Silva, who showed no ill-effects of his broken leg in defeating Vinny Brightmaqn... wait, it was a different Anderson Silva?
I thought there was something suspicious when he looked much paler in person. He still impressed winning by quick first round guillotine choke (and he insists Anderson Silva is his real name).
American Top Team's Dean Hancock unleashed a devastating body slam followed by some quick ground and pound mop up to finish Tim Knapp in round one.
And local beast Gregy Styles was his usually cocky and spectacular self, instantly taking opponent Santiago Milanese down with a bodylock and then dropping right hands on him till Milanese liquefied into the canvas. Styles must turn pro before any more amateurs are damaged beyond repair!