Mexico has had a long and tumultuous history that has contributed to the making of it as such an iconic country. From ancient pre-hispanic people to the urban modernity of its contemporaries, the vast array of influences that have been adopted by its citizens has created a uniquely Mexican worldview and way of life. Now placed as an 'emerging power,' the country's enduring recognition of its traditions, alongside a simultaneous ability to embrace the future, makes for an intriguing society.
The Fashion and Textile Museum in South London has recently opened its new exhibition Made in Mexico. Curator and artist Hilary Simon, has sought to explore and reveal elements of the narrative of Mexico's history and culture through one of the most iconic garments worn by Mexican women – the rebozo.
The rebozo is a piece of clothing most likened to a scarf or shawl. With so many practical uses and symbolic connotations through the various ways it can be worn, it is no wonder that it continues to be a significant item for women to own. By uniting painting, photography, sculpture, video, installation art and of course examples of the garment itself; the exhibition immerses its audience in an exploration of the importance textiles have played in promoting Mexican culture worldwide from the 17th Century onwards.
There are numerous examples of the rebozo on display that have been produced at various different stages throughout history. Historic pieces from the Franz Mayer Museum, Mexico City, are reunited with an important loan from the British Museum (originally part of the Robert Everts collection).
Born in Belgium, Robert Evans (b.1878 – d.1942) was enlisted to the Belgium Foreign Force and travelled to Mexico where he was taken by the countries vitality and expertise in craftsmanship. This inspired an enthusiasm for collecting and he became one of the first individuals to recognise the particular importance of the Mexican rebozo. With intricate weaves and immaculate finishes in the garments he attained, we see examples of the highest quality of production; which demonstrate the demanding skill required to be able to produce them.
One of the most iconic figures in Mexico's history of contemporary art and fashion is undoubtedly Frida Kahlo. As we approach the 60th anniversary of her death, we are given a timely reminder of her incomparable contribution to the recognition of her country's traditions and their importance.
Having popularised the rebozo within the 20th Century; we are shown how Kahlo's enduring image as an icon of style was used as a political statement to convey her solidarity with the labourers of her country. Alongside photography from the likes of Nickolas Murray, Marta Turok the renowned Mexican anthropologist has also curated a section in traditional dress, which strives to evoke the image Kahlo sought to portray by means of her clothing.
These historical references are also interestingly paralleled to the adoption of the rebozo within contemporary society. Lila Downs is one of the most popular singer-songwriters in Mexico who too chooses to wear this traditional form of dress, in an attempt to highlight her commitment to her Mexican identity.
Whilst the work of Remigio Mestas highlights how cooperatives have been developed to ensure the skill and techniques needed to create these iconic pieces of clothing are safely passed on to future generations. Mestas has spent much time travelling the breadth of Mexico in order to guide weavers and inspire renewed enthusiasm in these traditional working methods to their younger peers.
The depth of interest and influence that one garment can evoke is astounding. Amongst the various different incarnations of its use and meaning, audiences are prompted to engage in the compelling story of the rebozo, inspiring urgency for its importance to remain recognised.
Made In Mexico, until 31 August, Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3XF. For more information visit www.ftmlondon.org.
1. Frida, San Angel (1941), Nickolas Muray. Courtesy of Fashion and Textile Museum.
One of the most important women artists to emerge in the last 30 years, Helen Chadwick stands at the intersection of conceptual-performative art and feminist thinking. Through her teaching posts she has influenced a generation of artists.
Undressed: A Brief History of Underwear tells the story of garment design, considering the practical, personal and sensory roles it plays in protecting and enhancing the body.
In November 2013 Iniva announced that the first recipient of its Commissions and Exhibitions Fund would be Turkish artist Burak Delier, whose work strives to provide a critique of capitalism through contemporary art.


My son spent his first night in my hospital room with me and his father. I was in an out, the drugs made it impossible to stay awake. But his dad was great. He changed his diapers and hardly slept. But that's all I got. In the early morning of Moose's first full day, he was taken away. They were concerned about his breathing and wanted to do a few tests. That turned into him needing to stay in the NICU. For five days.
He had "fast breathing". This was the term they kept using. Basically, his body was having a rough time expelling the amniotic fluid from his lungs since he wasn't pushed through the birth canal.
The first couple of days felt like a blur. I was recovering from surgery. Nurses were in and out, medicines were given, visitors came and went, and I made the trip from my room to the NICU to visit my son. But the days became too long. I was anxious to have concrete answers about when I got my kid. When he would be released into my care- the person who built him. I got increasingly guilty that I built him wrong. That was why he wasn't with me- I built him wrong. My body had failed me- and worse, had failed him. Didn't they realize that part of me was missing? The part that wouldn't be whole again until they gave him back to me.
By the third day, it was clear that I was going to be discharged without him. He was improving, but they had to ween him from the IV fluids they had him on and they needed to confirm that his breathing had leveled out. That is when I realized I was a mother. My soul broke. I needed my son. I needed answers. I would bring that hospital down to ruins if I wasn't given my son.
While I was pregnant I worried. I worried that I wouldn't be a good mother. That I would have a difficult time connecting. Any manner of things that any new mother worries about. But in the moment that I became territorial over the location of my kid, those worries vanished. I loved him with a fierceness that surprised me. And I broke in a way that I never expected when I went home without him. I cried inconsolably. I felt a guilt that I cannot describe. But when he was released, I felt a joy that overshadowed any doubt. I spent two nights at home without my baby, and that is more than I wish on any parent. My heart bleeds for families that have to visit their little people in the NICU for weeks or months. And I am more thankful for NICU nurses than I can sum up in this post. They are the salt of the earth. They cared for my little (big) man as if he was part of their family. They were the saving grace to my sanity. They gave me updates about his nights and how he was eating. They used tender hearts with me as well as my son.
When I didn't have clear answers. When I had to track down a doctor to give me straight information that wasn't going to change with each perspective- that is when I knew what kind of mother I would be. I was a warrior for my little guy. I would walk through fire for a tiny person that I had only held a handful of times and had only known for 5 days. My comfort didn't matter anymore. Just that he was happy and safe. It was in those five days that my tough facade began to crack.
I am emotionally guarded. I fear vulnerability. I fear imperfection. I fear rejection. So I hide it. Becoming a mother has softened me. Unexpectedly. And I saw that change happening in that first week, when I knew I would fight the world for my son.
To say that I am forever changed is an understatement. But I wouldn't want it any other way. Becoming Moose's mother has helped me fulfill who I am. He is the greatest gift that I thought I would never have. And my time with him, watching him grow, explore, laugh, and give hugs. Those are the greatest moments of joy that I will ever have. One hug from him will bring me to my knees, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Beautiful & Inspiring! Thank you!


text:
Högvadsån is the largest tributary of river Ätran, Sweden. It is well known for the fishing of salmon and is chalked in order to counteract acid rain. It is protected by Natura 2000.

Rivers of Halland County
Götaland

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
DIPSHIT DAZ DOES A DEAL
Dipshit Daz: paints nails while Avonmouth suffers
Meanwhile, rookie Labour MP for Bristol Northwest, Darren "Dipshit" Jones weaves his own idiot spell around the Sims Metal plant. News reaches us that Darren Dipshit has written in SUPPORT of Sims's request for a change of license to a waste transfer station so that "improvements" can be made.
Alas, it seems, Dipshit Daz, the eagle-eyed lawyer, approved the plan without reading the application properly! As the change of use allows Sims to EXPAND operations and, no doubt, increase the explosions and pollution already raining down on the boghoppers of Avonmouth.
What a surprise! This loudmouth Euro fanatic is more in favour of strong regulation of polluting industry in theory on election leaflets than in practice in Avonmouth.
This entry was posted in Bristol City Council, News and tagged Avonmouth, Bristol North West, Darren Jones, Labour, Licence, MP, Port of Bristol, Sims Metal, Waste Transfer Station on October 31, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
POLLUTERS' SECRET MEETING JOY
Disquiet in Avonmouth after it's revealed that their two idiot Labour councillors Donald "Lenin" Alexander and Jo "Stupid Hippy" Sergeant, have met in SECRET with corporate polluters Sims Metal, based at the Port of Bristol.
Both councillors are refusing to divulge any information about their meeting with a business that's notorious for systematically IGNORING regulators' instructions as well as being a site of regular and inexplicable explosions.
An FoI request reveals this mystery meeting had no agenda and no minutes were taken. Conveniently leaving no audit trail for future reference. This has created to a lot of SUSPICION in the village. Why did senior representatives of a serial polluter's REGULATORY BODY have a secret meeting with the polluter? What happened? Were used banknotes exchanged? How would we know?
Stupid Hippy
Perhaps we should keep a careful eye on Lenin and Hippy's holiday destinations next year? Will they be sunning themselves somewhere especially exotic while kids in Avonmouth get to stay home and be EXPOSED to carcinogens and the RISK of lung disease due to an ineptly regulated business?
Maybe this pair of hopeless councillors should take advice from their own council on matters
of CORRUPTION and how to avoid legitimate accusations of it? "All workers are required to avoid any activity that might lead to, or suggest, a breach of the Bribery Act 2010," they're advised. But perhaps this pair are too important to follow their own advice?
Dipshit
Although, at least, Lenin and Hippy aren't quite as bent as Avonmouth's former Tory councillor, Wayne "Dumb" Harvey, who managed, for a couple of years, to be a non-executive director of the Port of Bristol Company on behalf of Bristol City Council while also being an EMPLOYEE of the company!
No doubt, in the corridors of power at the Counts Louse the nonces running the place consider this a gold standard in independent company oversight? Although anyone in the real world would know Harvey had a BLATANT conflict of interest and it would be impossible for him to oversee, at board level, the running of a business that employed him at a junior level.
BristolCity Council's latest non-executive director overseeing the Port of Bristol is our friend Green Councillor Stephen Clarke. He currently seems too busy running a small but profitable property empire and evicting vulnerably housed young people to worry about CORPORATE POLLUTERS in Avonmouth.
Plus ca change.
This entry was posted in Bristol City Council, Marvin Rees, News and tagged Avonmouth, Donald Alexander, Jo Sergeant, Pollution, Port of Bristol, Sims Metal, Stephen Clarke, Wayne Harvey on October 30, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
WOLFIE'S GATEKEEPING SCAM EXPOSED
Bristol City Council's gatekeeping policy on trial
Earlier this month, The BRISTOLIAN revealed that Bristol City Council was reintroducing the ILLEGAL practice of "gate keeping", one that it had already been reprimanded for in July 2013 by the LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN. The hush-hush policy aims to exclude certain categories of recently-made homeless from the assistance which a council is under a legal obligation to provide – all, of course, to allegedly "save money".
We can reveal that BCC's Housing Department Manager GILLIAN "Irma Grese" DOUGLAS and her boss, NICK "Pooper" HOOPER are the six-digit salary (and former "Dirty Thirty") criminals responsible. In early September Pooper directed unterscharführer Irma to do his dirty work for him, which she promptly did. Telling the entire BCC Housing Department – by word of mouth ONLY so there was NO WRITTEN EVIDENCE – that from now on they were to EXCLUDE young Bristolians recently made homeless.
For example, if an applicant was a teenage single mother kicked out of her home, then she would have to go back to her parents and get a 28 DAY NOTICE TO QUIT and would not be helped until she had brought that "evidence" back IN WRITING.
The BRISTOLIAN can also reveal that word of this unauthorised scheme – drawn up by TWO OF HIS SUBORDINATES – landed on the desk of BCC's Housing Czar, PAUL "Wolfie" SMITH, thanks to two concerned housing activists. In addition, it was revealed that not only were teenagers being excluded but also adults.
Wolfie responded that he was "very concerned" and would "investigate". In addition he added that this would "at last" provide him with the evidence he needed to DRIVE OUT Pooper and SS unterscharführer Irma from BCC.
Well Wolfie, September is now finished and we're still waiting for ANY ACTION AT ALL. Rumours are circulating that the latest BCC "gate keeping" policy introduced by two sociopathic apparatchiks on their own initiative is not only continuing, but has also been EXPANDED.
Wolfie had better get cracking, as The BRISTOLIAN is amassing compelling evidence of this and MANY OTHER UNCONSCIONABLE FAILURES by the Director of Housing that it will reveal in due course and, of course, PASS ON TO THE OMBUDSMAN.
This entry was posted in News and tagged Bristol City Council, Director of Housing, Gatekeeping, Gillian Douglas, Homelessness, Housing, Labour, Local Government Ombudsman, Nick Hooper, Paul Smith, Youth homelessness on October 29, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
ROTTEN COMRADES
It's all been kicking off amongst the council's sleepy unions who appear to have been rudely awakened by problems that don't seem to be solvable by business-as-usual toadying.
Showing a surprising turn of speed for reps normally found dozing with their heads up management's arse, the council's comrades have suddenly realised they themselves are facing the chop and have started some frantic, if clumsy, lobbying.
One council union, Unison, has discovered that the recently completed public consultation proposes devastating cuts in areas where only it has members. Libraries and Community Links are supposed solidly Unison and have traditionally supplied the union with its (in-)"activists".
Unison have belatedly woken up to the fact that they chose the path of least resistance when the Labour Party and council bosses were planning their latest cuts. While their opposite number, Unite, spent a lot of time lobbying the Mayor when he was first elected. Unison reps were reported to have said they didn't see the point of lobbying anyone. Quelle Surprise, the latest cuts seem to have fallen disproportionately on them then.
This comes weeks after there was muted Unison laughter aimed at the GMB for fading so drastically in numbers that management were mumbling about de-recognition. Facing possible decimation in the coming restructures, Unison is no longer laughing. After all, with de-recognition comes going back to your regular job and actual work.
So, blowing dust off old copies of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist (which some real socialist left in a box, years ago), our rotten comrades have been frantically lobbying, campaigning, actually talking to members and – heaven forfend – threatening disputes! There is hope yet.
Rumours are that disputes are brewing in Reablement, Night Care and the Community Links. Meanwhile library workers have been warning darkly that their strike in 2016 supported by Marvin and Labour when they were seeking votes in the mayoral election was never resolved by Marvin once elected and as far as they know their original ballot is still live.
Mobs have been reported stalking the corridors of Temple Street looking for customer services managers. Even the city's team managers are looking for an Arthur Scargill-type character to lead them out the gates due to overwork and stress.
Meanwhile, Unite has been seen cheering it all on, shouting 'fight, fight, fight' from the sidelines. Cheerful in the knowledge that someone's going to get it and it's certainly not going to be them.
-Cheerful Dwarf
This entry was posted in News and tagged 100 Temple Street, Bristol City Council, Community Links, Customer Services, GMB, Libraries, Night Care, Reablement, Trade unions, Unison, Unite on October 26, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
WOT? NO HMO?
Here's documentary evidence of OPEN CRIMINALITY in Bristol City Council's Property Services Department.
The email published above is from the city council's Chris Woods, the Principal Portfolio Management Officer (Asset Strategy). It BRAZENLY invites Camelot, the dodgy property guardian firm, to take control of an empty local authority building for free and house vulnerable people in it despite it having no HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) licence.
Housing people on this scale in this size of building without an HMO licence is a criminal offence. It also demonstrates an utter and – potentially – deadly disregard for the safety of any tenants in the building as there is no evidence and no oversight that the building is fit and safe for human habitation. WAS WOODS HAPPY TO MURDER THE POOR?
In the light of Grenfell Tower shouldn't Mr Woods be prosecuted for deliberately endangering the public in order to save a few quid and help his promotion prospects?
This entry was posted in News and tagged Bristol City Council, Broomhill EPH, Camelot Europe Ltd, CAMELOT GUARDIAN MANAGEMENT LTD, CAMELOT PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LTD, Chris Woods, HMO, Principal Portfolio Management Officer (Asset Strategy), Property Services on October 25, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
SUPER STUPID SUPERHIGHWAY
Crash! Victoria Park cycle path latest …
The latest effort by Sustrans/Bristol City Council Sustainable Transport Team to build a POINTLESS road through Victoria Park for cyclists as part of a 'Filwood Quietway' has even been slammed by Bristol Cycling Campaign for having "no noticeable benefits" for cycling!
The original plan – that had to be hastily pulled by former Labour transport boss Mark "Dead Duck" Bradshaw after HUNDREDS of locals and park users objected – proposed a pointless five metre wide road through the park that provided priority for cyclists commuting through the park.
Now, following another poorly publicised local consultation, Bristol City Council has put a new plan before a Bristol City Council planning committee proposing a pointless three metre wide road through the park with pedestrian priority. This too, following a planning consultation in August when we were all away, is HUGHLY UNPOPULAR with locals and park users who know a shoddy compromise when they see one.
As do the Bristol Cycling Campaign, it seems. Last time around they created a torrid and aggressive public row with park users after they accused them of being part of a mysterious CAR LOBBY operating out of Windmill Hill.
This time around the cycling campaign seem to have finally noticed that this is a plan for a ROAD TO NOWHERE that concretes over one of the city's finest parks so that cyclists can arrive at a dead end half way down York Road on the New Cut. From where there's NO MEANS of crossing the river to get to the Quietway's stated final destination in the centre.
The reality slowly dawning on everyone is that this section of "quietway" is a sloppy VANITY PROJECT from underemployed and unskilled sustainable transport hobbyists at Bristol City Council who are desperate to spend government grant money by March next year regardless of whether it benefits the city.
Scrap this stupid path through our green space now and send the money back to the government.
This entry was posted in News and tagged Bristol City Council, Bristol Cycling Campaign, CAF2, Filwood Quietway, Mark Bradshaw, Sustainable Transport Team, Sustrans, Transport, Victoria Park, Windmill Hill on October 24, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
LABOUR RIMMER SERVICING GREEDY BOSSES
Rimmer – naff suit, stupid job title, increased expenses – ready to fuck the workers
Get a middle-ranking trade union bureaucrat in a naff suit, hand him a job title and an increased councillor allowance and he'll have his TONGUE inserted up the ARSE of a boss quicker than a strategic director can say "get your tongue on my sweet spot Kye"!
Step forward Kye "RIMMER" Dudd, Labour's new union firebrand chair of the council's Human Resources Committee, responsible for dishing out ridiculous PAY RISES to failing bosses. Last year this useless committee decided to chuck senior council bosses a 20 PER CENT pay rise to reward their "talent" just weeks after all the lucky recipients of this taxpayer generosity had conspired together to set an UNLAWFUL BUDGET for the city.
Now the senior management pisstakers are back in front of the committee again on Thursday, recommending ANOTHER pay rise for themselves of 20 per cent. This time "TO REFLECT MARKET RATES". All they now require is for Rimmer's daft committee to sign their nonsense demand off as quietly as possible.
Naturally, an almighty fuss has accompanied the news of this latest HUGE PAY RISE demand from bosses in the midst of CUTS to council tax benefits to the poor, the closure of libraries and the sacking of school crossing patrols. And Rimmer is right on it … Servicing the needs of his bosses on six-figure salaries by trying to SILENCE DISSENT and steer this ludicrous pay hike through the council.
His first move has been to attempt to BAN gobshite councillors, Tory Richard "Bunter" Eddy and Lib Dem Gary "Fuckbucket" Hopkins from the crucial committee meeting on Thursday – even though he has no power to do so – claiming they have BREACHED confidentiality by discussing the useless recruitment process for recently departed Chief Exec Anna "Big Wedge" Klonowski.
Clearly there's no interest from Rimmer in working cross-party to put an END to these ridiculous and ever-increasing salaries for bosses then. For some reason it's much more important for Rimmer to engineer a pathetic little party POLITICAL ROW in the finest tradition of thicko small town provincial politicians.
"As a trade unionist, I am horrified that unlike any other organisation in the world, these two force us to play out Human Resources issues in public, disrespecting the employment rights of employees and damaging the ability of the council to manage people effectively and the organisation cost-effectively," HUFFS the idiot, Rimmer.
Because, "as a trade unionist" Rimmer's main concern is obviously the employment rights of a Chief Executive earning £140k a year who received £70k for resigning? Mustn't go around disrepecting useless, bullying, money-grabbing BOSS SCUM must we Rimmer? Where's the respectful SILENCE and CAP-DOFFING from the lower orders as greedy bosses assisted by trade unionists and the Labour Party openly rip us off, eh?
Rimmer is also, it seems, a bit CONFUSED about the role of his committee that meets in public to discuss, er, council human resources issues in public. This simple democratic oversight – according to Rimmer – is now "damaging the ability of the council to manage people effectively and the organisation cost-effectively". Of course, if only Rimmer and the Reverend could line the pockets of bent bosses and elitists IN SECRET it would be so much more cost effective wouldn't it?
Meanwhile ordinary staff at the council, who Rimmer pretends to give a shit about for electoral purposes, will be told at the same meeting that they will have to wait until – at least – JANUARY to hear about their own wages.
A proposed salary restructure for the plebs, which, last year, his HR committee promised would be completed by April, has now been DELAYED by Rimmer until next year for reasons he won't explain. More of those "confidential" and "cost effective" reasons no doubt? Or perhaps Rimmer's just a CUNT who's only interested in lining the pockets of wealthy bosses from public funds?
Up the workers!
This entry was posted in Bristol City Council, Marvin Rees, News and tagged Cllr Gary Hopkins, Human Resources Committee, Kye Dudd, Pay Policy Report, Pay rise, Richard Eddy, Trade unions on October 17, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
ST-MARVIN'S-UP-THE-CREEK PARISH NEWSLETTER #9
Welcome back my glorious flock! I hope you are refreshed and ready to leave memories of that remarkably good value Slovenian holiday behind? Now is the time to worship and pray alongside me once more and make the religious and financial sacrifice that will get you nearer to Christ and your children into the parish's high performing, OFSTED rated 'Outstanding' school, St Snoot-the-Privileged.
I was extraordinarily busy over the summer, even foregoing my annual pilgrimage to my mentor, the Texan psychotic preacher and notorious anti-communist homophobe, the Pastor Righteous Loon's biblical summer yachting school. This year, taking place in an upmarket resort in Connecticut. Maybe I will get out to the US next year for the pastor's Southern Californian spring surf and pray retreat? As the pastor says, "he that journeys regularly on expenses to pay homage to Jesus Christ the Saviour has one foot on the stairway to heaven."
Although, alas, all that glitters isn't gold at St Marvin's at present. You may have already heard the terrible news that our fantastic Parish Administrator, Ms Klonowski from London, has tendered her resignation for "family reasons". Apparently, she needs to look after her sick and elderly parents who none of us even realised existed until last week! Can I also take this opportunity to put an end to any ridiculous rumours that Ms Klonowski's resignation has something to do with that silly class action, launched by some bitter former members of the Parish Committee, alleging serious harassment by Ms Klonowski? It does not.
After very careful consideration, myself and my public relations assistant, Mr Slocombe, have decided not to replace Ms Klonowski as such. Although, rest assured, that the improvement journey Ms Klonowski has embarked St Marvin's upon with her brilliant, if grammatically complex, 'Sensible Efficiencies Strategy' will continue with myself and Mr Slocombe assuming many of the duties of the Parish Administrator.
Finally, some good news: the Church Hall reimprovement works funded through our Church Media Fund are on target for completion once average capital development slippage deviation is given consideration. We are currently studying final costs but believe it falls within a redrafted budget envelope after some revenue income rephasing work is constituted within the renewed capital uplift pipeline.
I'm therefore excited that the first production in our fabulous new hall will be at Christmas when we'll be presenting the Regional Arts Council Funded Elite Theatre Group with the Hampstead Players' "Oh Christ!", described by the Guardian as "the finest atheist, transgender light operatic passion musical this year"! What a fantastic treat! Especially as thanks to tough negotiations with the Elite Theatre Group we will be able to offer tickets at just £40 each or at £150 for a family of four. Tickets will be available soon.
However, please note tickets will not be available for the gala performance on 23 December, which will be attended by myself, the Mayor, the Bishop and a very special guest – the mayor of Panevėžys – Lithuania's fifth largest city! Obviously some of our principal parishioners and financial supporters can expect to be there and others – such as Ms Townsend and her motley crew from the parish's other school, the Dave Spart Academy – cannot. Further details and invitations for this amazing event, sponsored by Global Tax and Finance Inc. World Mayors' Travel the World Project, will be made available soon.
This production will bring some light relief and entertainment to St Marvin's after our various trials over this year. On that positive note, I bid you farewell. My hopes and prayers, as always, are with the deserving.
This entry was posted in Yewmah and tagged Anna Klonowski, Kevin Slocombe, Marvin Rees, Parish News, St Marvin's-Up-The-Creek on October 15, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
CITY COUNCIL SENIOR BOSSES LINE UP ANOTHER PAY RISE
We're not making this up …
Having awarded themselves pay rises of up to 20 PER CENT in 2016 for arranging an unlawful budget, Bristol City Council bosses are lining up yet another pay rise for themselves. "Independent" reports in front of the Human Resources Committee next week want to award senior bosses pay rises of up to 13 PER CENT!
The council's latest Pay Policy Statement awaiting sign-off from gullible councillors next week says:
"For the period covered by this Statement, the salary for Group Director roles will range from £135,000 to £165,000 with a mid-point of £150,000. (Currently £136k)
The salary for Director (Level 2) roles will range from £100,000 to £120,000 with a mid-point of £110,000. (currently £98k)
The salary for Director (Level 1) roles will range from £85,000 to £105,000 with a mid-point of £95,000. (currently £98k)
Salaries at these levels will normally be between the minimum of the range and the mid-point. Payment above the mid-point is reserved for roles where there is clear evidence that the market rate is significantly higher than the mid-point."
Meanwhile the pay and grading review for ORDINARY STAFF (which might result in significant pay rises to the lowest paid staff at the council who are currently earning at near minimum wage levels) that was supposed to be completed in April is now delayed until, at least, JANUARY 2018.
What a total fucking joke. Bosses should be getting big pay cuts. They have failed to deliver time and again. They're simply not worth the money.
This entry was posted in Bristol City Council, Marvin Rees, News and tagged Human Resources Committee, Korn Ferry Hay Group, Management, Pay Policy Report, Pay rise on October 11, 2017 by thebristolblogger.
LEAKED DOCUMENT: That new council management structure in full
This entry was posted in Bristol City Council, Marvin Rees, News and tagged Chief Executive, Director, Human Resources, Jacquie McGeachie, Nikki Beardmore, Staff structure on October 3, 2017 by thebristolblogger.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Mirror, mica over loving text, ceramic keyhole surround.
No, I'm not setting up to be the next Oracle of Delphi, but there is one prophecy I can make for anyone. For me, for you, for anyone. And it is true. For all of us.
You know what it is, you really do. Although we try not to believe it.
May it be a long time coming, and fast when it arrives. But it will come.
And there's that mica again. Lovely stuff to use over text. I had to buy a retro toaster on TradeMe to get some. Stupidly expensive but I really wanted the mica.
And now I'm on a roll, using it with my assemblages. Protective over paper & text, but more organic-looking than glassy.


Bill Text - SB-1404 Pharmacists: exemption from overtime regulations.
An act to amend Section 1186 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.
SB 1404, as introduced, Stone. Pharmacists: exemption from overtime regulations.
Existing law generally requires an employee to be paid an overtime rate of compensation for work in excess of 8 hours per day. Existing wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission exempt persons employed in an administrative, executive, or professional capacity from that requirement, among other things. Existing law provides that a person employed in the practice of pharmacy is not exempt from coverage under any provision of the wage orders of the commission, unless he or she individually meets the criteria established for exemption as executive or administrative employees. Existing law also provides that no person employed in the practice of pharmacy may be subject to any exemption from coverage under the orders of the commission established for professional employees.
This bill would provide that a person employed in the practice of pharmacy, who is participating in a postgraduate training program, as specified, who is in a field relating to the practice of pharmacy or pharmacy research, or who is performing certain procedures or functions, is not subject to coverage under any provision of the orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission.
(a) A person employed in the practice of pharmacy is not exempt from coverage under any provision of the orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission unless he or she individually meets the criteria established for exemption as executive or administrative employees. No person employed in the practice of pharmacy may be subject to any exemption from coverage under the orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission established for professional employees.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), a pharmacist who is participating in a postgraduate training program, including a residency, fellowship, or advanced practice licensure training, or who is in a field relating to the practice of pharmacy or pharmacy research, or who is providing pharmacist clinical services and is not predominantly employed for prescription or institutional order dispensing or compounding, shall be considered exempt from coverage under any provision of the orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission.


text:
Risk factors for SUDEP
[Part 1: Facts; Tomson T]
Although sudden and unexpected death is 20 times more common among people with epilepsy than in the general population (Ficker et al., 1998; Holst et al., 2013), and SUDEP is a major cause of death in people with epilepsy (Sillanpää & Shinnar 2010), the SUDEP risk varies markedly between epilepsy patients (Tomson et al., 2008). The lowest risk is seen among people with newly diagnosed epilepsy where SUDEP is truly rare. Studies have estimated the risk to be in the order of 1 in 10,000 person years, i.e. one can expect on average one case of SUDEP if 1,000 persons were followed during 10 years after their seizure onset. Greatest risks are found among those with severe chronic epilepsy. As an example, the SUDEP risk has been estimated to 5-10 in 1,000 person years for patients with refractory epilepsy and who are candidates for epilepsy surgery (Tomson et al., 2008).
The risk appears to be lower among children than adults. In children with uncomplicated epilepsy the risk has been estimated to approximately 1 in 10,000 person years, whereas SUDEP can be 7 times more common in children with a more complicated epilepsy (defined as, with known structural brain lesion, intellectual disability, or abnormal neurological examination) (Berg et al., 2013).
Several studies have tried to find factors predisposing to SUDEP (risk factors) that could help explain these pronounced differences in SUDEP risk. Such information is important in order to identify people with particularly high risks, as well as to further our understanding of mechanisms behind SUDEP and for the development of preventive strategies.
Risk factors are usually identified in so called case-control studies that compare different characteristics of cases that have died in SUDEP with those of people with epilepsy who have not suffered SUDEP. A Task Force of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) combined data from four major such case-control studies from the UK, Sweden and US (Hesdorffer et al., 2011, 2012). Altogether 289 SUDEP cases and 958 living epilepsy controls were included in this combined analysis. The risk of SUDEP was found to be 1.4-fold higher in males compared to females, 1.7 fold higher in those with onset of their epilepsy at young age (before 16 years) compared to those with onset between 16 and 60 years, and two fold higher among those with a duration of epilepsy of more than 15 years. The most important risk factor was frequency of generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Compared to people without tonic-clonic seizures, 1-2 such seizures/year was associated with a 3-fold increase in risk, 3-50 seizures/year with an 8-9-fold increase. The risk was almost 15-fold higher for those with > 50 tonic-clonic seizures/year. Other studies have indicated that the SUDEP risk may be 20 times higher among people with epilepsy who continue to have seizures compared with those who are seizure-free.
It appears that night time poses a particular risk. In the largest case control study so far with 154 SUDEP cases (Langan et al., 2005), almost 60% of the SUDEPs seemed to occur during sleep. Having a history of night time seizures was associated with a four-fold increased SUDEP risk (Lamberts et al., 2012). The increased risk with such seizures could be at least partly explained by poorer supervision during nights. Lack of night time supervision was a risk factor in this study: compared with no supervision, having someone sleeping in the same room reduced the risk by more than 50%. Special precautions such as listening devices were associated with a further risk reduction (Langan et al., 2005). These risk factors have however so far been identified in one study only and need to be confirmed or refuted in additional independent studies.
Can treatment with antiepileptic drugs affect the SUDEP risk? It is reasonable to assume that a treatment that aims to control seizures also affects the SUDEP risk as uncontrolled seizures are the major risk factor. The analysis combining data from four case-control studies in fact confirmed that being on treatment with one antiepileptic drug reduced the risk by approximately 50% (Hesdorffer et al., 2012). Some studies have suggested that being on treatment with more than one antiepileptic drug at the same time could be a risk factor when compared to monotherapy (Nilsson et al., 1999). However, such polytherapy was not associated with an increased risk in the combined analysis when seizure frequency was taken into account (Hesdorffer et al., 2012). This indicates that polytherapy is just a marker of more severe epilepsy, and that the antiepileptic drugs in the polytherapy do not themselves increase the risk of SUDEP.
There have been a few individual reports suggesting that some specific antiepileptic drugs, such as carbamazepine or lamotrigine, are associated with greater SUDEP risk than other treatments (Langan et al., 2005; Aurlien et al., 2012). However, this was not confirmed in the combined analysis of the four case-control studies. Frequency of generalized tonic-clonic seizures was the most important risk factors, and when seizure control was taken into account there was no support for differences in SUDEP risk between specific antiepileptic drugs.
Effective drug treatment is therefore likely to reduce the risk of SUDEP. However, antiepileptic medication is fully effective only if taken regularly. Non-adherence to the prescribed treatment is therefore thought to be a risk factor for SUDEP. Studies have used data on irregular or delayed collection of antiepileptic drugs from pharmacies as a measure of non-adherence and reported a 2-3 fold increased mortality in association with periods of irregular intake of antiepileptic drugs (Faught et al., 2008; Ridsdale et al., 2012). However, these studies analyzed overall mortality and not SUDEP specifically. Other studies have analyzed variations in antiepileptic drug concentrations in serum or hair as measure of adherence and non-adherence (George et al., 1998; Opeskin et al., 1999, Williams et al., 2006). Some such studies have reported a more pronounced variability of drug concentration over time among SUDEP victims compared with other persons with epilepsy, suggesting that irregular intake of antiepileptic medication is a risk factor for SUDEP.
Torbjörn Tomson
Professor of Neurology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Tomson T. Risk factors for SUDEP. In: Hanna J, Panelli R, Jeffs T, Chapman D, editors. Continuing the global conversation [online]. SUDEP Action, SUDEP Aware & Epilepsy Australia; 2014 [retrieved day/month/year]. Available from: www.sudepglobalconversation.com.
Aurlien D, Larsen JP, Gjerstad L, Taubøll E. Increased risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy in females using lamotrigine: a nested, case-control study. Epilepsia 2012;53:258-66.
Berg AT, Nickels K, Wirrell E, Geerts AT, Callenbach PM, Arts WF, et al. Mortality risks in new-onset childhood epilepsy. Pediatrics 2013;132:124-31.
Faught E, Duh MS, Weiner JR, Guerin A, Cunnington MC. Nonadherence to antiepileptic drugs and increased mortality: findings from the RANSOM Study. Neurology 2008;71:1572-78.
Ficker DM, So EL, Shen WK, Annegers JF, O'Brien PC, Cascino GD, et al. Population-based study of the incidence of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy. Neurology 1998; 51:1270-74.
George JR, Davis GG. Comparison of anti-epileptic drug levels in different cases of sudden death. J Forensic Sci 1998; 43:598-603.
Hesdorffer DC, Tomson T, Benn E, Sander JW, Nilsson L, Langan Y, et al. Combined analysis of risk factors for SUDEP. Epilepsia 2011;52(6):1150-59.
Hesdorffer DC, Tomson T, Benn E, Sander JW, Nilsson L, Langan Y, et al. and for the ILAE Commission on Epidemiology; Subcommission on Mortality. Do antiepileptic drugs or generalized tonic-clonic seizure frequency increase SUDEP risk? A combined analysis. Epilepsia 2012;53:249-52.
Holst A, Winkel B, Risgaard B, Nielsen JB, Rasmussen PV, Haunso S, et al. Epilepsy and risk of sudden unexpected death in the young: a nationwide study. Epilepsia 2013;54:1613-20.
Lamberts RJ, Thijs RD, Laffan A, Langan Y, Sander JW. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: people with nocturnal seizures may be at highest risk. Epilepsia 2012;53(2):253-57.
Langan Y, Nashef L, Sander JW. Case-control study of SUDEP. Neurology 2005;64(7):1131-33.
Nilsson L, Farahmand BY, Persson PG, Thiblin I, Tomson T. Risk factors for sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: a case-control study. Lancet 1999;353:888-93.
Opeskin K, Burke MP, Cordner SM, Berkovic SF. Comparison of antiepileptic drug levels in sudden unexpected death in epilepsy with death from other causes. Epilepsia 1999;40:1795-98.
Ridsdale L, Charlton J, Ashworth M, Richardson M, Gulliford M. Epilepsy mortality and risk factors for death in epilepsy: a population-based study. Brit J Gen Pract 2011;61(586):e271-e8.
Sillanpaa M, Shinnar S. Long-term mortality in childhood-onset epilepsy. N Engl J Med 2010;363(26):2522-29.
Tomson T, Nashef L, Ryvlin P. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy: current knowledge and future directions. Lancet Neurol 2008;7(11):1021–31.
Williams J, Lawthom C, Dunstan F, Dawson TP, Kerr MP, Wilson JF, et al. Variability of antiepileptic medication taking behaviour in sudden unexplained death in epilepsy: hair analysis at autopsy. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2006;77:481-84.
TOC: Facts
Case No 3251/2003 was our daughter, Lieutenant Celene Harris BSc (Hons), RAN, aged 31, a beautiful, vivacious, loving and generous young woman...
As Chris approached his 20th birthday he was diagnosed with partial complex seizures....It felt like Chris did not have epilepsy....On September 12th, 2012, our world changed forever...
John developed epilepsy at the age of 11 years. He had many attacks, suffering injuries and burns. We live in rural Kenya where epilepsy is highly stigmatised...
continuing the global conversation
Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy
Past Conversations - Glossary - Bibliography - Contact Us - Donate
The editors have endeavoured to publish reliable data and information but cannot assume responsibility for the validity of the materials or the consequences of their use.
All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission of the editors.


text:
Our Town Plot Analysis
By Thornton Wilder
Initial Situation
We witness an ordinary day in the Webb and Gibbs households.
We become acquainted with Grover's Corners: its layout, its prominent people, and its daily routines. They play focuses on two families in particular, and the romance developing between two of the children. This is the initial situation because at the same time that the ordinary is established, potential drama is established in the growing attraction between Emily Webb and George Gibbs.
George is acting conceited and Emily tells him so.
Though Emily and George used to get along great, with Emily helping out George on his homework, George now acts a bit full of himself. Emily tells him so, and they make up.
On Emily and George's wedding day, both get cold feet.
Both George and Emily experience a moment of anxiety to the tune of "I don't wanna grow up."
George and Emily marry.
Their marriage is the culmination of childhood flirtations.
Emily dies and joins her various relatives and friends at their gravesite. Despite their warnings, she wants to return to her previous life.
What will Emily do now that she has died? Her fellow dead offer crystal-clear warnings against returning to the living world, but Emily remains obstinate. What will happen to Emily after she decides to return to the living?
Denouement
Emily realizes that her fellow dead were correct; remaining among the living is not a good idea.
Emily begs to be taken back to her gravesite after she realizes that being among the living is rather depressing.
Emily returns to her gravesite. The dead welcome her.
Emily admits to her compatriots that they were correct. Returning to the living was a bad idea. Meanwhile, George cries over her grave.
What's Up With the Title?
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Narrator Point of View
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Three Act Plot Analysis


text:
Congresswoman Julia Brownley
2020 Congressional Virtual Art Competition
Press Contact Information
Sponsored and Co-Sponsored Legislation
Jobs, Economy, and Small Business
Seniors' Issues
Military Personnel Resources
Senior Citizens' Resources
Students' Resources
Washington, D.C. Visitors
Navigation Open
Home > Resources > Students' Resources
The following information is for students. Please contact our office for assistance with any questions or problems you may have.
All Kids Resources | Kindergarten-5th Grade | 6th-12th Grade | College
Our younger constituents are the future of our district and providing them information that can enhance their education is important to their development. Below are some resources that will be useful to kids.
In addition, there are resources for parents.
All Kids Resources
America's Library
Park Smart
Kindergarten-5th Grade
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids
CIA Kids Page (Kindergarten-5th Grade)
EPA Drinking Water & Ground Water Kids' Stuff (Kindergarten-3rd Grade)
EPA Drinking Water and Ground Water Kids' Stuff (4th-8th Grade)
FEMA For Kids (Federal Emergency Management Agency)
Gearing Up for a Great Trip (Federal Trade Commission)
Kids In the House (U.S. House of Representatives)
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Kids Pages (Kindergarten-6th Grade)
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids: 9th-12th Grade
CIA Kids Page (6th-12th Grade)
EPA Drinking Water & Ground Water Kids' Stuff (4th-8th Grade)
EPA Drinking Water & Ground Water Kids' Stuff (9th-12th Grade)
National Center for Education Statistics Kids' Zone (Part of the U.S. Department of Education)
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Kids Pages (6-12 Grade)
You Are Here – where kids learn to be smarter consumers (5-8 Grade)
An internship in my office provides a great opportunity for students to learn first-hand how our government works. Interns gain valuable knowledge and experience by having hands-on opportunity to learn about the legislative process, as well as the operations of a Congressional office.
Young people who are genuinely interested in pursuing a career in the military service and who are looking to build a career foundation at one of our esteemed service academies are encouraged to open a file in the Congressional District office by sending a letter of interest.
Information is available to students to learn more about the process of locating and applying for financial aid.
Including birth certificates, consumer protection, disaster preparedness, and unclaimed property.
2262 Rayburn House Office Building
Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00am-6:00pm Eastern
Thousand Oaks, CA Office
223 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Suite 220
Hours: Monday-Thursday 9:00am-5:30pm Pacific
Friday 9:00am-5:00pm Pacific
Oxnard, CA Office
201 East Fourth Street, Suite 209B
Hours: Please call to make an appointment.
Sign up now for updates on how I am fighting for Ventura County's priorities in Congress.
CLICK HERE FOR CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES


text:
Robert Raker
My Illustrations & Photography
Robert Raker Blog
"Entropy, an elegiac crime novel whose climax reveals its bleakly beautiful pattern." Review by Rick Schindler, Culture Critic and Author of Fandemonium
I was extremely touched when I read Rick Schindler's review of my book, Entropy. To have my writing compared to Joseph Conrad is a dream come true. He is one of my favorite writers. I would like to express thanks to the editorial team at Wattle Publishing who worked to bring the book to publication and to their design team who captured the essence of the book and its foreboding tale on the front cover. I hope that many, more will buy my book, read (hopefully, enjoy) and review it. I can't wait to hear what you think. In the meantime, please find Rick's Schindler's review below:
"In thermodynamics, entropy is unusable energy; in literature and popular culture, it has become a metaphor for inexorable decay and disorder. It is the title of one of Thomas Pynchon's earliest stories and a motif in some of his most emblematic works, including The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. And it is also the title and motif of an elegiac crime novel by Robert Raker.
Entropy revolves around a series of grisly child murders in a woebegone region of Pennsylvania. Raker excels at painting its dismal landscape: a once-thriving farm reduced to mire by a blinding rainstorm; a neglected swimming pool in which a small body floats; a sweltering bus.
He is similarly adept at delineating the desolate hearts of the four narrators who tell his tale in turn, in fractured chronology redolent of Joseph Conrad: the diver contracted by police to retrieve the victims' bodies, a man more comfortable immersed in water than in the mainstream of life; a musician marred by more than the loss of an arm; an undercover agent corrupted by the criminal identities he must assume, and an artist's model numbed by tragedy and betrayal.
À la film noir, there are no heroes in Entropy to solve the case and save the day; just tormented souls grasping in vain for happiness and human connection. And they are connected, but only like flies caught in the same web. The complex pattern of that web becomes fully apparent only at this compelling novel's cathartic climax."
Review by Rick Schindler, Culture Critic and Author of Fandemonium
Join on Twitter: @RickSchindler | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fandemoniumbook?ref=hl
www.rickschindlerbooks.com
To buy my book, please follow: http://www.amazon.com/Entropy-Robert-Raker/dp/1908959193/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406299787&sr=8-1&keywords=9781908959195
Park at Westminster Book Club by Robert Raker author of ENTROPY
ENTROPY by Robert Raker Chapter: The Musician
ENTROPY by Robert Raker Chapter: The Diver
Entropy, update… by Robert Raker, author
Baltimore Book Festival September 27th, 2015
Tweets by @RobertRaker1
Copyright © 2018 Wattle Publishing. All Rights Reserved. Publisher's Website


Are You Teaching Equal Groups? - Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas!
I have a set of Equal Groups Task Cards at TpT that have 36 different task cards, the first 18 ask the students to draw the equal groups and the last 18 ask them to count the equal groups and include a final answer. I have included two different recording sheets, one has #1 to #18 and the other has #19 to #36. If you students are advanced enough to complete all 36 task cards in one day, you can copy the recording sheets front to back for one answer sheet.
This activity can give you a terrific assessment grade for the week or, completely different, you can use the cards to remediate with a couple of students in your small group using manipulates and white boards. The possibilities are endless!


text:
FEBRUARY 22, 2018 — By Matt Davidson
See more stories..
Matt Davidson
Writer and sassy ginger currently residing in central Pennsylvania. Matt spends most of his free time online shopping for clothing that he doesn't need, perfecting the art of eye-rolling, and indulging in all forms of pop culture.
Sometimes we all require a little push in order to show the world what we're really capable of.
And that's exactly what Kassy Webb did when she noticed Jayden Bartels dancing on her own in the corner of a crowded dance floor. But after a little pep talk, Webb persuaded Bartels to take to the center of the floor and show everyone what's she's capable of, and boy did she deliver.
Bartels' busy feet make me dizzy just watching her, but man does she have some killer moves.
I saw this girl hesitantly dancing on the baseline and told her go show these dudes wassup and join in and she KILLED THIS SHIT  pic.twitter.com/fDhpP66IrU
— Kassy (@kassyyywebb) February 18, 2018
But Bartels' talents don't include just dancing. She's also a Youtuber and an aspiring actress. Check out her Twitter page to keep up with all the happenings of this talented kiddo.
This Professor Had The Perfect Response To A Young Mom Who Skipped Class
This Is The Weird Way Your Birth Month Could Affect Your Health Down The Road
Load another article


What do you think of when someone mentions Bali to you? Beach, blue skies, water sports, night life? But Bali has got other things to offer. To satisfy our nature craving, we decided to do a hike up Mount Batur, one of three active volcanoes in Bali and catch the beautiful sun rise. Here's what you need to know about hiking up Mount Batur in Bali, Indonesia.
There are three ways to get to the base of Mt Batur. Either join a hiking tour group, hire a private driver or rent a car. We were contemplating with joining a hiking group or hiring a private driver to bring us. But we managed to find a very nice driver to drive us to Mt Batur at 1.30am and he arranged a local guide for us. You can find him at this FB link. We strongly recommend him for his excellent and sincere service.
Arriving at the base camp, you will be greeted with a platoon of local guides, waiting to approach you. If you hired a driver like us, he will helped to register and make the necessary payment for the guide. Otherwise, approach any guide and strike a bargain (Approx 20USD per person).
I would strongly suggest hiring a local guide and they will highlight to you the dos and don'ts during the hike, especially when it comes to the supernatural. Our guide told us to wait at a particular spot while she went to pray for safety when hiking up and down. If you're uncomfortable with it, just step aside and let your guide do what they need to do.
What time to be at Mt Batur?
3am.We traveled 1.5 hrs from Nusa Dua to the car park of Mt Batur. Starting at 3am, we took 2.5 hours to hike up Mt Batur, having occasional breaks in between to catch our breath. We reached the summit at 5.30am and there were throngs of people already at the summit getting ready to catch the first glimpse of sun rise.
So if you are planning to get a good spot to snap nice pictures of the sun rise, I would suggest you start your day earlier. And, depending on your speed, if you are an awesome hiker, the hike should take you about 1.5 hours. So do consider your health status and time yourselves so that you get to catch your breath and at the same time get a good spot to catch the lovely sun rise.
As we ascended up, there were strong winds and it was starting to get cold. So bring along your trusty windbreaker and gloves. The peak can get rather chilly and since you will be at the peak for a few hours before the sun rises, best to have warm clothing with you and wrap up. Strongly encouraged to wear long pants and good trekking/hiking shoes too. As you head higher, the path is filled with volcanic rocks which can get rather sharp. Extra protection is always better.
Oh yes, bring along a torch light or headlamp and make sure to pack in extra batteries. The route up is pitch dark and slippery with all the dew, so having light with you is an added advantage. Don't forget to bring along your hiking stick too. Having an additional support is always better, considering that the route is rocky and uneven. Pack light, have a bottle of water and money with you. Along the way up, there are peddlers selling energy bars and snacks. So if you are hungry on the way up, stop and have a break.
Don't forget to pack your camera too!!
I would separate the hike into 3 difficulty levels. The first part of the hike starts from the car park to a temple. This route is filled with plantations on both sides of the trail, so the path is generally flat and easy to walk. Most people would rush past you at this part. Don't get too anxious, slow and steady is key. The elevation is rather gradual at this point. As and when you need a break to catch your breath, let your guide know.
The second part starts from the temple to the observatory point. At the point of hiking, the temple was still under construction. Our guide told us it was one of the biggest temples in the Mt Batur area. There is a peddler selling drinks, snacks and energy bars at the side (see picture below). You might want to take a short break here and recharge for the second part of the hike which is steeper and more challenging. Note: items sold were slightly overpriced. It was dark and we were feeling exhausted, so we did not pay much attention to the surroundings of the trail, but was more concerned with getting our foot in the right place.
Second part of the hike, from the temple (right side of picture) to the summit. Same path up and down the summit.
At the observatory point, we quickly found a spot in a hut and rested. There is no toilet in this area so if nature calls, you would have to answer it in the wild. =) We ordered instant noodles and a breakfast set consisting of 2 eggs and 4 slices of bread. You can get your guide to help you order food.
The moment the sun rises, the atmosphere felt a sudden change and the clouds started to sink, revealing the beautiful landscape before us. At this point, everyone rushed out of the hut and tried to take a picture of the sun rise. We were one of those people too. Haha. Unfortunately, it was a foggyday so our photos did not turn out as nice.
For the more adventurous ones, you might want to hike up to the second observatory point, which is a steep and sandy trail. There would be lesser people there. As much as it is exciting to hike up to to higher point to view a nicer sun rise, listen to your body and do not over exert yourself.
After the sun rises, I would suggest you walk around the crater and marvel at the depth of the crater. Take a mandatory photo with the sign board too!
We were in awe of the scenery as we headed down the volcano, overlooking lake Batur. The route down is slippery, so watch your step. I got myself a deep cut when I slipped. So gloves would come in handy here. The descend down took us a longer time because everyone was taking their time to watch their step. No hurries here.
We took the same path down as the one we went up earlier in the day. From the temple onward, there is an easy road down to the car park. As you walk down, turn back once in a while and marvel at the majestic volcano you just conquered.
Hiking up Mt Batur is a worthwhile experience.Waking up at wee hours of the morning and challenging yourself to reach the peak before sun rise was a new experience for both of us. Watching the sun rise and feeling first light on your face is something words cannot describe. Looking back at the path we took in the dark, showed how far we had walked. Just like in life, sometimes we go through dark periods but once we have seen the light, we appreciate the journey.
Like the rest of Bali, Mt Batur is just as touristy, but think of it as helping the local community flourish. If you're looking for a different kind of adventure in Bali, then make this hike part of your itinerary.


Hello. Currently in the office we have some visitors from another place. These visitors are helping us out. They are not visitors from planet Geek with skills in coding, knowing new and amazing languages. Nor are these visitors from planet Design where the master Function rules over Form. No, these visitors are from planet earth. They are here to help us complete some usability testing.
Usability testing is the testing of a website to make sure it is easy to use. Our earth friends are given tasks to complete on a website and we watch them. As we carefully observe, record and document what the earthlings do we can clearly see what areas of the website needs work. Seein what people do first hand is much more powerul thn being told what people do.
tests how people interact with, and actually use a website.
shows how people are interacting with a website presenting mood changes and patterns of behaviour.
makes our designers intelligent; they are continually learning how to make really easy to use websites.
When do you do usability testing?
Usability testing can be done on an existing websites to help recognise the problem areas for redevelopment, we can also compare competitor websites. Usability testing can also be done on newly completed websites to make sure the site is as easy to use as possible. But usability testing is most cost efficiently done on websites currently in development.
How do we do usability testing?
The main tasks that the website is meant to perform are turned in scenarios.
The facilitator encourages the visitor to verbalise their inner thoughts as they complete the tasks.
Usability testing will make your website best suit the people it is intended for – not your CEO, marketing manager or I. T. department, but normal visitors from plant earth.
After coming 6th in the 2008 AIRA ( Australian Investor Relations Association ) awards the Santos website has been presented with second place for 2009, making it one of the best investor relations websites made by an Australasian company. We are proud of this achievement.


text:
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a federal corporation, is the nation's largest public power company. It operates fossil fuel, nuclear and hydropower plants. When the Cumberland facility needed to build new scrubbers and install a series of Induced Draft Fans (I.D. Fans) in its power plant, they contacted GeoSonics/Vibra-Tech for structural dynamic engineering services.
Foundation design is critical to the stability of the I.D. Fans due to the vibration levels that are produced during their operation. The I.D. Fans are supported on an inertia block foundation system. The design of a dynamically loaded structure, such as this, requires expert knowledge of the dynamic properties of the foundation and its interaction with the soil. GeoSonics/Vibra-Tech conducted an extensive evaluation to deliver critical information for the final foundation design. Measurements were made of the shear wave propagation velocity of the soil by utilizing the Multi-Channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) technique. Based on the soil shear wave velocity, the dynamic shear wave modulus of elasticity was calculated. The shear wave modulus of elasticity was a critical parameter used in the Finite Element Model (FEM) that was developed for the inertia block foundation system. The FEM model was used to theoretically calculate the natural frequency and damping of the inertia block foundation system.
In addition to the theoretical calculations of the natural frequency and damping, experimental measurements were also made. Experimental measurements were made on an existing foundation similar to the one proposed. The existing foundation was excited by the detonation of several nearby single-hole blasts. The blast induced vibrations were measured simultaneously on the ground and on the existing foundation. The recorded experimental data was used to calculate the natural frequency and damping of the existing foundation. These values were compared to the theoretical values from the FEM model. This comparison allows for verification of the parameters used in the theoretical FEM. Once the FEM is verified, changes to the foundation design can be evaluated through changes to the FEM.
Knowing the dynamic properties of a machinery foundation is essential for the lifetime and safety of the machine. If the operating frequency of the I.D. Fans coincide with the natural frequencies of the inertia block foundation system, resonance will be encountered. The resonance is a phenomenon in which the vibration amplitude can build up to dangerously high levels. In this project GeoSonics/Vibra-Tech successfully calculated the dynamic properties of the machinery foundation both theoretically and experimentally. These dynamic properties were a key part in determining the final foundation design needed to support the I.D. Fans.


text:
CuriositySeptember 5, 2021
OSCAR-QUBE successfully integrated into the ISS
The student team behind experiment OSCAR-QUBE are celebrating after hardware was integrated into the International Space Station's ICECubes facility by ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, on September 3, 2021.
According to ESA, the OSCAR-QUBE experiment uses diamond-based quantum technology to perform extremely rapid and precise magnetic field measurements, allowing the team to create a high-resolution map of these fields from Low Earth Orbit.
As part of @esa's Orbit Your Thesis! programme, @uhasselt student team OSCAR-QUBE designed, built and tested their space-bound diamond-based #quantum #magnetometer. Yesterday it was installed by @Thom_astro in @ICECubesService on the #ISS & the expt is working very well already! pic.twitter.com/CBRkKCR39w
— ESA Education (@ESA__Education) September 3, 2021
It is part of ESA Education Office's Orbit Your Thesis! programme, where student teams produce their own experiments to be installed onboard the International Space Station.
This "learning by doing" approach not only gives students fantastic experiences to form the foundations of their future careers in the space sector but also actively contributes to the advancement of science and technology.
The ICECubes facility will be OSCAR-QUBE's home for the next eight months, but the immediate next step is for the students to begin a series of test routines designed to ensure that the experiment is working properly after its turbulent ride into space.
Once full functionality has been confirmed the team will switch the equipment to collection mode, providing the students with valuable data to analyse, says ESA.
NASA Selects Four University Teams…
Two UW researchers named National…
One-way phone call at Mars
Opportunity for students to learn…


text:
NEWS - Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Holiday Game Sales Not Too Good
"Channel checks at over 90 domestic retail locations have revealed less than exciting video game software sales trends thus far this holiday season," U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Tony Gikas said in a note released on Monday. "Many retailers indicated that soft sales are the result of few "hot" new titles, slow hardware sales, high software price points, and increased competition for consumers' home entertainment dollars as newer technologies become more affordable," he said. The holiday season is when most game publishers make a significant portion of their revenue and profits, and a bad holiday can put a publisher into a lengthy slide, leading the financial community to watch closely any indicators of good or bad sales. J.P. Morgan Securities, in a survey of 20 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News) stores and 20 Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. (NasdaqNM:ELBO - News) stores, found that about half had too much inventory. Yet at the same time, analyst Dean Gianoukos noted, those surveyed still expected unit sales to rise this year over last. Game shares were mostly lower on Monday, with top publisher Electronic Arts Inc. (NasdaqNM:ERTS - News) and competitors Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NasdaqNM:TTWO - News), Activision Inc. (NasdaqNM:ATVI - News), THQ Inc. (Pacific:THQI - News) and Atari Inc. (NasdaqNM:ATAR - News) roughly 1 percent to 3 percent lower in afternoon trade. The stocks have been under pressure since early November, as mixed sales data, the lack of a major price cut on gaming hardware and concerns about the ability of the publishers to meet their forecasts have weighed on the shares. STOCKS HAD RALLIED November sales data from market research firm the NPD Group is expected to be released this week, and in a separate note, U.S. Bancorp's Gikas cautioned on those figures. Gikas said he expects the data to show 12.5 percent year-over-year software sales growth for November, below his original 18 percent forecast. "We believe industry sales of video game software during 2003 will fall well short of original analyst, publisher, and retailer estimates," he said. Late last week, after being battered for weeks by negative commentary on early holiday sales, industry shares rallied when the chief executives of EA, Activision and THQ all appeared at a UBS investment conference and said things were not as bad as they seemed. "What we heard from the presenting companies reinforced our view of how the holiday selling season is tracking; clearly not spectacular, but by no means a disaster either," UBS games analyst Mike Wallace said in a note. "The overall market seems to be close to the range of expectations so far, though we do think there are still some issues." While there is broad agreement that there is no blockbuster title this holiday like last year's "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City," multiple analysts noted characterized EA's "Need for Speed Underground" as the top title at retail this season. Other titles tipped as hot sellers included Activision's "True Crime" and "Tony Hawk Underground" and Take-Two's "GTA Double Pack," a combination of "Vice City" and 2001's "Grand Theft Auto 3."
Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/


These darker metal corrugated shelves would be great in an office, a bathroom, kids room, or really anywhere in a home. I like the darker shade. Against a light colored wall it will add a beautiful pop to any room.
These nest for easy storage.
Dimensions: Large: 19½" x 6¾" x 7½"
Small: 15½" x 6" x 6½"


"I commend my Senate colleagues for crafting a balanced budget that delivers nearly $1 billion in tax relief to the middle class and our state's job creators, ensures 99 percent of taxpayers pay less or no state income tax, increases teacher pay, generously funds our public schools and helps rebuild communities devastated by Hurricane Matthew – all while saving for a future rainy day," said Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham).
· Includes $10 million in additional compensation for community college employees.
The full budget proposal will be posted to the North Carolina General Assembly website at www.ncleg.net on Tuesday night.


What Really Happened in Area 51? - Annie Jacobsen UFO Crash Roswell N.M.
Up in the desert above Las Vegas hides a dusty air base ringed by towering mountains, buffered by an atomic testing preserve and guarded around the clock. It isn't much to look at—a knot of hangars, fuel tanks and prefab living quarters beside a dry lakebed and a long runway. The parched ground sprouts little but creosote, scorpion weed and the odd Joshua tree.
But for generations, this lonely outpost has itched some people like a bad case of poison ivy. Secrecy about what goes on there has fueled all manner of speculation: It's a port for visiting spacecraft, or a venue for alien autopsies, or a lab where captured UFOs are reverse-engineered to America's military advantage. An industry has sprung up around this guesswork—TV tell-alls, books and websites by the dozens. The public appetite for conspiracy theories involving Area 51—aka Groom Lake, Dreamland, Homey Airport, Paradise Ranch or Watertown—appears insatiable. Reasonable people, smart people, eat them up.
So when a book comes along that promises to really, truly explain the place, and said book is by a contributor to the Los Angeles Times Magazine and put out by a major publisher and wins praise from The New York Times, NPR and national TV shows (Fox & Friends called it "an incredible piece of journalism"), we can't help but take notice.
For much of its 523 pages, Annie Jacobsen's Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base is the story of the men who, starting in 1955, developed and tested secret Cold War reconnaissance aircraft at Groom Lake—the CIA's U-2 and A-12 Oxcart, the latter of which flew with modifications as the Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird. Jacobsen interviewed 74 people, including 32 who lived and worked on the base. Many of them belong to Roadrunners Internationale, the alumni association of Groom Lake pilots, engineers, mechanics and such. The Roadrunners gladly spoke to her: Their Cold War activities had recently been declassified; they were getting on in years; they wanted their achievements recorded.
"We were very, very happy with what she was doing," T.D. Barnes, a radar expert and the Roadrunners' president, told us. "She did a great job of researching. She did everything a good journalist would do." Retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonels Roger W. Andersen and Francis J. Murray were also impressed; Murray said Jacobsen "was constantly taking notes" and "really seemed to be making sure that what we told her was correct." But for all of Jacobsen's apparent diligence, the men were surprised, and not happily, by the finished product: After Barnes read Area 51, for instance, he denounced her in a blog post as "an author who refuses to repent her literary crimes and errors."
"She did a great job of researching. She did everything a good journalist would do."
The focus of the Roadrunners' criticism is a UFO conspiracy theory so fantastic that it makes the infamous and historically discredited tale about a 1947 crash of a flying saucer in Roswell, N.M., seem tame. The bottom line of the traditional Roswell story is that the purported extraterrestrial UFO wreckage was taken to Area 51 and subsequently became the object of a massive government coverup. Relying on the testimony of a single unnamed source, Jacobsen's book repeats the claim that some sort of UFO crashed at Roswell. But in her telling, the craft wasn't of alien origin. Instead, it was a saucer built by the Soviets using technology they'd obtained from German engineers at the end of World War II. And there's more. According to her unnamed source, the craft was manned by human teenagers who had been medically altered to look like aliens, with giant heads and eyes like wraparound Oakleys.
Who would do such a thing to children? Why, notorious Nazi death camp doctor Josef Mengele, Jacobsen writes, quoting her source quoting another source or sources, also unnamed. Seems that Mengele was working for Soviet boss Josef Stalin, who needed the mutants for a special project: scaring the daylights out of America with a fake alien visitation. Yes, it was all a hoax_ the most lavish prank in history.
Jacobsen reports that the wreckage was moved from Roswell to Wright Field (now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio), where it was kept until 1951, then moved to the Nevada desert. There, her unnamed source was part of a team studying the saucer. They discovered that it ran on "electromagnetic frequency, or EMF," Jacobsen quotes him as saying, and he claims America has had the technology since. She offers no details on how this "EMF" propulsion might work, and the term could mean almost anything. All forms of electromagnetic radiation—radio waves, visible light, X-rays and more—operate at particular frequencies. The notion that devices such as airplanes might be powered remotely by electromagnetic energy is at least a century old. But the concept has never worked on a large scale—the quantity of energy required would be unimaginably large.
One more thing: Two "child-size aviators" from the craft, alive but comatose, wound up in the desert too. They were stored in gel, the unnamed source told Jacobsen, and they moved their mouths as if trying to speak. Why would America hide the fact that Mengele had produced these sad creatures at Stalin's behest? "Because," the source tells Jacobsen, "we were doing the same thing... We performed medical experiments on handicapped children and prisoners," and we did it "at least through the 1980s."
Jacobsen offers no corroboration for this; instead, she presents irrelevant information that has been trotted out for many years by Roswell alien UFO conspiracy theorists. She writes that she pressed her source for details of the horrors he saw at Area 51, but he wouldn't budge. "He said he was hurting," Jacobsen writes. "That soon he would die. That, really, it was best that I did not learn any more because I didn't have a need-to-know."
Could this be true? Could any of this be true?
Let's start with the flying saucer, which Jacobsen ascribes to German aeronautical engineers Walter and Reimar Horten. It's a fact that before and during the war, the Horten brothers built a series of ever more sophisticated all-wing aircraft, culminating with the jet-powered Horten 229, a boomerang-shaped contrivance that bore a passing resemblance to Jack Northrop's YB-49 bomber prototype of the late '40s, as well as to the U.S. Air Force's much more recent B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
"There were no flying saucers in the Horten line, at all."
Jacobsen writes that the brothers might have been at work on something more ambitious at war's end, and that the invading Soviets might have seized their blueprints. Within a few pages, she refers matter-of-factly to "the Horten brothers and their advanced flying saucer." Jacobsen cites postwar German sources who described and even sketched what she calls "saucer-like" craft. One was shaped like a half-moon, another, according to "Professor George," was "very much like a round cake with a large sector cut out."
We searched for evidence, finding none, that the brothers created a true flying saucer. (The book includes a photograph of the Hortens' Parabola, an all-wing, parenthesis-shaped craft with rounded edges; the photo is suggestive but its relevance to the story not explained.) We consulted with David Myhra, an aviation expert whose books include four on the Hortens, and who spent several weeks with Reimar Horten at his ranch in Argentina in the 1980s. "The Horten brothers never, ever went to any kind of a circular aircraft design," Myhra said. "There were no flying saucers in the Horten line, at all."
Jacobsen spoke with Myhra several times while writing Area 51. When Myhra read the book's claim about the Horten disc, he told us, "I thought, this is a piece of science fiction."
Next up: the mutant pubescents inside the crashed saucer. Quoting her unnamed source, Jacobsen writes that Stalin tapped Mengele, the infamous "Angel of Death" at the Auschwitz concentration camp, to create the faux aliens "shortly before or immediately after the end of the war," and that in exchange the Soviet leader offered the Nazi safe haven and a place to work, but later reneged on the deal.
There's a lack of common sense in this yarn. The cliché that aliens are small, Twizzler-limbed beings with outsized noggins and buggy eyes came along years after Roswell, thanks notably to Steven Spielberg's 1977 film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Until then, they were almost exclusively portrayed as proportionally humanoid, robotic or (in the case of H.G. Wells's 1898 book, The War of the Worlds) tentacled. So why would Stalin place children with surgical makeovers in the saucer? He could have incited a panic, if that had been his aim, using a seasoned Soviet pilot who'd undergone a little nip and tuck.
Then there is historical fact. No evidence exists that Mengele had the medical skill to perform such transformations, much less the time to do them. He arrived at Auschwitz in May 1943 and served as chief doctor in the Birkenau subcamp, where he selected incoming prisoners for slave labor or the gas chamber. He also conducted horrific medical experiments, including some on dwarfs and twins. His activities during this time are extremely well-documented. He was not building aliens.
With the Red Army nearing Auschwitz in January 1945, Mengele fled to another camp, Gross-Rosen, then retreated farther west with a field hospital unit until his capture by American troops. After several weeks in custody, Mengele was released and devoted himself to keeping his head down, first as a farmhand in Bavaria and later near his hometown of Günzburg. He stayed there until he slipped off to South America, in 1949. To sum up: According to Mengele biographer Gerald L. Posner, the doctor was fully occupied—sorting potatoes and baling hay in rural Germany—during the nearly two years before the supposed Roswell crash.
Now, about the saucer's hardware. Jacobsen writes that Stalin wanted to scare the States because he was lagging in the Cold War arms race: Two years away from being able to field an A-bomb, he deployed the saucer as "a warning shot across Truman's bow," she quotes her unnamed source as saying—a nudge to the U.S. president that the Soviets had technological tricks of their own.
This raises several questions of logic. If the Soviets were struggling with nuclear fission, how likely is it that they'd mastered the EMF technology that supposedly drove the saucer? If they had mastered EMF, why would they crash or land the saucer on U.S. soil, thereby making a gift of the technology to their greatest rival? If both the U.S. and Russia have had EMF technology for 60-plus years, why are we still flying old-school, fuel-chugging planes? Why did we use Hueys in Vietnam? Why didn't we use EMF to power the space shuttle?
But onward: Jacobsen writes that her unnamed source was one of five engineers to eyeball the crashed saucer at a secret research facility in the desert in 1951, four years before the Groom Lake air base opened a short distance away. He saw Cyrillic lettering "in a ring running around the inside of the craft," she reports. There were controls in the cockpit, but the craft was apparently flown by remote control.
We called Peter W. Merlin, an aviation historian who's written much about Groom Lake, including X-Plane Crashes: Exploring Experimental, Rocket Plane, and Spycraft Incidents, Accidents and Crash Sites. (It's safe to say he knows his stuff about the downing of some very unusual flying machines.) Merlin shared with us an October 1952 aerial photo of the area shot by the U.S. Geological Survey. The photo, he noted, "shows nothing there" but an abandoned World War II airstrip. "All the well-documented historical narratives show that Area 51—not by that name, but as a facility—was built in 1955," Merlin said. As for who was piloting the alleged saucer: Wireless, remote-control technology was just a few years old in 1947; it wasn't yet available on American TVs. So does it make sense that the Soviets would have used it to guide an aircraft from thousands of miles away?
When we first spoke with Jacobsen, three days after the book's release, we asked whether she realized this story might strike some people as "pretty nutty" (our exact words). She answered that she did. "The whole thing sounds so preposterous, [but] the reason I chose to include it in my book is that I believe in the veracity of my source," she said. "I've worked with him now for two years."
Mr. X is a man with impeccable credentials and a storied career, she told us: He'd devoted his adult life to serving the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), much of it as an engineer for defense contractor EG&G. "I've examined his Atomic Energy Commission awards and certificates," she said. "I examined his war record, his military records, his medical records."
She wouldn't tell us his name, of course. She'd promised to stay mum about his identity and those of the four now-deceased engineers with whom he'd worked. Jacobsen said she realized that using an unnamed source had earned her some skepticism, but argued it was "part of journalism, historically."
Skepticism or no, Jacobsen's book was enjoying a lot of friendly press at the time. Within a few days of our conversation, the hosts of CNN's American Morning said they "couldn't put it down" and found it "riveting." MSNBC's MorningJoe heralded the book's runaway sales. The New York Times praised Jacobsen's "dogged devotion to her research" and called the Roswell passages "a hasty-sounding addendum to an otherwise straightforward investigative book about aviation and military history."
But the tide turned. On May 26, when Jacobsen appeared on ABC's Nightline, reporter Bill Weir challenged her Soviet saucer tale, asking, "How can you believe this?" He requested to meet her unnamed source, and did so. Weir reported that he was as esteemed as Jacobsen had described, but Weir opted to keep the man's name and image off the air because he'd seemed "confused."
Meanwhile, speculation about the identity of Jacobsen's source proliferated on the Web. Well, actually, on dozens of websites. The man in question figures prominently in Jacobsen's book, and, indeed, the details she put down about him jibe with her descriptions of Mr. X to us and to others. So we phoned his home. His wife answered. Upon hearing what we wanted, she referred us to a publicist at Little, Brown and Company, Area 51's publisher. She then said that her husband was in the hospital after suffering a fall, and that she'd take our number to him. "I doubt if he'll talk," she said. "Everybody says he's the man, but he'll say he's not."
"No, no, I believe that he's not," she said. "This whole thing has just got out of hand." He never called, and our subsequent attempts to contact him have been unsuccessful.
When we spoke to Jacobsen again in early June, we mentioned that Mr. X's name had been bandied about on the Internet. "I imagine there's a zillion websites that are speculating about who my source might be," she said, "but I have no idea. I don't read them, and I don't know about any of that."
We asked whether it had occurred to her, while talking with her source, that his story had some problems. "If I ever had a question like that of the source, I asked him," she replied.
We asked whether she'd come to harbor any misgivings about his account since. "I believe that what the source told me is true, to him," she replied. "In other words, everything that he told me, I believe in his veracity as an individual."
Her book's endnotes, she reminded us, did raise "the possibility that perhaps some of the information that he was told could have been misinformation." Her source didn't think so, however, and was "surprised and upset by the idea that no one believes this," she said.
In our second conversation, Jacobsen complained that her critics were fixated on "the last seven pages" before the epilogue, rather than the hundreds previous chronicling the impressive military aircraft development at Groom Lake. And indeed, the most sensational elements of the Roswell-Soviet-Mengele bombshell come in an ending that took the Roadrunners by surprise.
"The general reaction of most of the guys I know is: Wow. We didn't see this one coming," Roger Andersen said. "We really got back-doored on that last chapter." Roadrunners vice president Harry A. Martin offered a more forceful assessment. "We don't go along with that crap," he said. "I don't appreciate it, really." Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Tony Bevacqua, who flew the U-2, called the book's last chapter "flat-out unbelievable." Francis J. Murray branded it "BS."
Meanwhile, Jacobsen is unwavering. "Everybody has opinions about what journalists write, but I stand by everything I wrote in the book," she said. She added that she'd met with Mr. X since the book came out, and that he was "clear on everything I've written."
None of the foregoing should be taken to mean that the text preceding Area 51's big finish is free of kinks. For one thing, the Soviet flying-saucer story is not restricted to seven pages: The groundwork for it is laid throughout the preceding narrative, beginning on page 4. And the sections that do pass for straight history include material about nuclear tests that took place in the Nevada desert, but not at Area 51; the secret base had nothing to do with them.
What's more, the straight history, nuke and Area 51 stuff alike, is sprinkled with errors. A 1957 nuclear safety test is labeled the first of its kind (page 111), when four similar tests had occurred in 1955 and 1956, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The same test is described as research into "the dirty bomb menace" that "posed a growing threat to the internal security of the country" (page 100), when it was really aimed at collecting data on the extent of nuclear contamination that would result if the detonating charge failed to cause an atomic explosion—again, according to the DOE.
That's just a sampling of the 35 errors that Peter Merlin found in the book. Perhaps the biggest mistake appears on the dust jacket and again in the prologue, where Jacobsen says "the U.S. government has never admitted [Area 51] exists." In truth, various agencies have acknowledged the base's existence. Evidence can easily be found on the Web, where links abound to January 1996 news-conference footage, captured by KTNV-TV, the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas, of then defense secretary William Perry. "We do have a military operation going on at Groom Lake, highly classified and highly important to U.S. security," he says. Also, in the mid-1990s, federal lawsuits brought by former workers from the area alleging that they'd been exposed to hazardous waste on the job forced President Bill Clinton to acknowledge the "Air Force's operating location near Groom Lake." Ultimately, the base's presence has been an open secret from the start. Merlin has turned up government maps, none secret, bearing the "51" or "Area 51" designation. And in May 1955, the AEC's Las Vegas field office issued a press release announcing its construction.
A month after the book's publication, we traded email with John Parsley, the Little, Brown and Company editor who handled Area 51. He did not answer some of our questions: on whether he knew Mr. X's identity; on his (Parsley's) methodology in deciding whether an unnamed source is reliable; and on whether he took a role in corroborating the book's assertions or left that to Jacobsen. (As the company's executive director of publicity, Nicole Dewey, explained: "We do not, as a matter of policy, disclose legal vetting procedures and policies.") "Annie is a seasoned and well-respected journalist, and I'm fully confident in all of her reporting," Parsley said. "The book always promised to be a groundbreaking work on a fascinating place, and it is—just as it is a tribute to each man who worked on his particular part of the base."
"Tribute" isn't the word some Roadrunners use to describe the book, and, as it happens, we ran across something that made pieces of the saucer-teen yarn seem not so groundbreaking, either. The July 1956 edition of the magazine Astounding Science Fiction contains a short story by James Blish, a fairly popular writer in his day. "Tomb Tapper" is about a strange craft that crashes in a small town in upstate New York, and that might be extraterrestrial; the people who find it can't tell whether it's Soviet or from outer space.
They break into the hull to find the pilot, dying in the cockpit. The pilot's helmet falls off. Lying before them is a blond-haired girl, maybe 8 years old.
To be sure, any similarity to the account of Jacobsen's unnamed source is coincidental, because Blish's story is fiction. It's fantasy. And as Jacobsen states on Area 51's cover: "This book is a work of nonfiction. The stories I tell in this narrative are real."
Area 51 : Was the Roswell UFO Really a Soviet Hoax?


I am pleased I could speak to you today on behalf of my colleague Hon Chris Finlayson who overseas. I was delighted to be asked to host you at Parliament. I have long had an interest in the Shoah, or Holocaust. One of the most profound experiences of my life was visiting Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 2010. I wrote my honours dissertation at the Victoria University Law School on Holocaust denial laws and hate speech.
Just three weeks ago I was in Budapest. Our hotel was in the Jewish Quarter and my partner and I spent a very interesting half day visiting the magnificent Great Synagogue. It seats 3000 people and is the second largest in the world after New York City. I was intrigued to discover that the Jewish Museum which is an annex to the synagogue, is built on the site of Theodor Herzl's house of birth. Of course Dohany Street, where the synagogue stands, was the border of the Budapest ghetto.
The world was so traumatised by the horrors of what happened in Germany in the years 1939 to 1945 that no one ever believed it could possibly happen again. But look at the events of the past 12 months: all across Europe we see the rise of far-right parties who have anti-Semitism at their core. The phrase "never again" rings hollow. The lethal obsession with Jews changes its form every generation but the essential irrational hatred is still there. An understandable response would be despair. That is unacceptable. The beast needs to be confronted by all decent people year in and year out, decade in and decade out. History has shown anti- Semitism will never be defeated but it must always be challenged and contained.
We are here to recognise the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day which brings the international community together to remember the millions of victims of the Holocaust.
This memorial day was established by the UN General Assembly in 2005 and it is the tenth year of commemorations in New Zealand.
Many of us have just come from the Holocaust Memorial at the Jewish cemetery in Makara which is, quite rightly, the centre of the annual commemorations.
Today we pause to reflect on the magnitude and horrors of the Holocaust, a genocide which was central to Nazi Germany's attempt to dominate Europe and the world.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of two of the Nuremberg trials – an attempt to hold some of those responsibilities for the atrocities of the Holocaust accountable for their actions.
The Doctors Trial took place between 1946 and 1947. Twenty-three people were accused of crimes against humanity, including conducting medical experiments on prisoners of war and participating in mass murder.
Sixteen judges and lawyers were tried as part of the Judges or Justice Trial in 1947 for implementing laws which furthered the Nazi 'racial purity' plan.
Some of the accused were acquitted and those convicted received a range of sentences from varying terms of imprisonment to death.
As well as holding people to account, proceedings at Nuremberg led to a number of UN declarations and conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and were an important step towards a permanent international court.
As is often repeated, we must never forget the horrors of the past. That is why today's commemorations are so vital. But we must also look to the future and hope that in confronting these events we will not be doomed to repeat ourselves.
Racial and religious hatred still exist. Anti-Semitism is not restricted to the pages of history. We must be vigilant against such hatreds. We are lucky to live in a culturally diverse country and I think most people recognise we are richer for that diversity. Attacks on any one minority group, whether ethnic or religious, can lead to attacks on other groups as well as breed dangerous division.
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, now ten years old, does great work educating people about what happened during that time and how we must keep away from letting it happen again.
The Human Rights Commission works at a national level to raise awareness of what can go wrong and how to keep New Zealand a safe place.
Programmes teaching school children how to combat bullying and speak out against discrimination and hate speech are a vital way of setting the right standards from an early age.
I am based in the Hutt Valley and I see a lot of good work taking place in that community. The Hutt Multicultural Council and the Upper Hutt Multicultural Council work to spread knowledge of minority groups, and bring people together to understand each other's backgrounds and attitudes.