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International Workers Memorial Day and attack on press freedom in Afghanistan
by Kathryn Johnston • 1 May 2018 • 0 Comments
Motion 157 This DM notes that, more than sixteen years after the murder of the investigative journalist and Belfast Branch officer Martin O'Hagan, there have been no convictions for the crime, despite the identities of those who ordered and carried out the assassination being widely known. Noting the failure of the investigation by UK police services, especially the PSNI, DM instructs the NEC to seek to enlist the support of OSCE, the Council of Europe and the UN for an effect international investigation into the murder of Martin O'Hagan.
Irish Executive Council motion at last week's Biennial Delegate Meeting of the National Journalists in Southport.
Today is International Workers Memorial Day, when we pay tribute and remember those colleagues we have lost over the years.
Yesterday was the deadliest day ever for journalists in Afghanistan, when 10 journalists were killed in two separate incidents.
The first incident, in central Kabul, was when the second of two back-to-back suicide attacks targeted journalists yesterday. As journalists rushed to report on those targeted in the first attack, a second bomb was detonated by a man disguised as a journalist. At least 29 civilians were also killed and many others, including two journalists, were seriously injured. In a separate incident, two unknown gunmen riding on a motorcycle killed Ahmad Shah, a journalist with the BBC Afghan service who was returning to him home at the time, in Khost province, Eastern Afghanistan.
It was only a week since delegates at the National Union of Journalists had gathered together outside the conference hall to pay silent tribute to the 162 journalists who had lost their lives this since the last Delegate Meeting two years ago.
In Ireland, we have not escaped these deadly attacks. One in particular is at the forefront of my mind. Almost 17 years ago, on 21 September 2001, Martin O'Hagan was murdered in the street by killers from the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). His wife Marie kneeled to comfort him as he died. Marty wasn't the first journalist to be a victim of loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.
Martin O'Hagan's Funeral Pictures | Getty Images
At the time of his murder, he worked for the Sunday World, under the editorship of Jim Campbell, a campaigning journalist of the highest integrity – cut from the same cloth – as Martin O'Hagan. Campbell regularly carried courageous exposes of paramilitaries without fear or favour. He was himself was shot and seriously injured in a murder attempt in 1984 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after revealing details about one of its North Armagh assassins, Robin Jackson – The Jackal.
Martin O'Hagan was a friend and comrade and an important person in my life.
In 1985, he recruited me into the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), before commissioning my first by-lined piece for Fortnight magazine, the NI political, current affairs and arts magazine of which he was then Deputy Editor. The piece was an interrogation of the deeply complicated links between British and Italian neo-Nazis, loyalist paramilitaries and Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland.
I got anonymous letters telling me I was being watched after publication. That was par for the course in those days. There were many more deadly plots around. In 1988, my family had to move house after my late husband Liam Clarke, an investigative journalist for The Sunday Times, uncovered a plot by the Provisional IRA to murder him.
And on 26 June 1996, the highly respected investigative journalist Veronica Guerin was shot dead in Dublin by the Gilligan gang – after she had written extensively about his criminal activities.
Gangland murder: Veronica Guerin in June 1996, shortly before the John Gilligan gang killed
But Jim Campbell and Martin O'Hagan were different. They were both victims of a concerted – and multi-layered – deadly plot to conceal the truth. No-one has yet faced justice for the murder of Martin O'Hagan. At the same time, the very dogs in the streets know the names of his killers. The Jackal, who died in 1998, was never prosecuted for his assassination attempt on Jim Campbell.
There are many, many victims in the North of Ireland who are facing the same struggles for justice and disclosure. There is a deep, deep, deep establishment at work here.
I am proud to stand beside the 10 journalists murdered yesterday in Afghanistan.
I am proud to stand beside the 17 journalists (and many others) recently killed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Yasser Murtaja, who was shot even though he wore wearing a flak jacket with clear press markings. It is hard to imagine that his killing was accidental.
I am proud to stand beside investigative journalist Anna Politkovskya, who was found assassinated in the lift of her apartment block in central Moscow. The late oligarch Boris Beresovsky, who himself died in mysterious circumstances, said that Vladimir Putin had issued a threat to Politkovskya amd colleagues that "they will take (it) in the head, literally, not figuratively" if they "open the mouth". Anna Politkovskya was shot four times, once in the head, on Putin's 54th birthday, 8 October 2006.
I am proud to stand beside Daphne Galizia Caruana, who was murdered in a car bomb attack in Malta on 16 October 2017 and whose national and international reputation was built on her regular reporting of misconduct by Maltese politicians and politically exposed persons.
I am proud to stand beside Jim Campbell and Martin O'Hagan.
And I am proud to be a member of a union – the NUJ – which campaigns – and will continue to campaign – for the safety of journalists, for justice and for freedom of speech.
So many years after some of these murders, it is time to remember the words of Martin Luther King Jr, himself gunned down in a hotel room. 'It is always the right time to do the right thing.'
Tags:Afghanistan Anna Politkovskya attack on press freedom Daphne Galizia Caruana Ireland Jim Campbell journalists kabul Martin O'Hagan Veronica Guerin Yasser Murtaja
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Libyan civil war: the future of a country in turmoil →


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CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OUR NEW WEBSITE!
Now Accepting Traveler Pilot Program Applicants!
We are now accepting applicants for our Traveler Pilot Program! We are looking for 20-30 young women from the DC metro area. At the end of the three-month pilot, participants who have successfully completed their initial courses, earn an excursion to New York City.
Constructive Conversations Workshop
Gift Card Winner
DC Excursion
Meet Dr. Gail Arnall
with Public Conversations Project
Our fiscal sponsor and curriculum partner, the Public Conversations Project, held a workshop for the Living Vicky staff on constructive conversations on August 20th at our donated classroom space in the Strayer University Courthouse campus.
Winner of the Fresh Bikes Gift Card
Meet Shelley Devereaux
Living Vicky offered a free Fresh Bikes gift card for a drawing to encourage more female participation in the local Giro di Coppi road race last month, in Barnesville, MD.
Beauty, Brains and Feminine Willpower
An Excursion in DC
A staff trip to the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the National Portrait Gallery for their exhibition, "A Will of Their Own" sparks an interesting discussion of women pioneers and artists.
Meet Living Vicky Ambassador:
Dr. Gail Arnall
Dr. Gail Arnall has been an indispensable source of advice and connection to the community for Living Vicky since we opened up shop in January. She's currently the Executive Director of Offender Aid and Restoration (OAR), a role she's held since May 2005, having previously owned and operated her own educational technology consulting firm of 17 years in Ft. Washington, MD. During those 17 years, Dr. Arnall started and managed eight nationwide distance learning networks in partnership with various educational entities, serving rural high schools, American Indian tribally-controlled colleges and universities, Hispanic colleges and universities, juvenile correctional facilities in Texas, Florida and New York, and volunteers and parents involved in Reading Is Fundamental.� Prior to starting her own company, Dr. Arnall served as Director of Planning and Research for National Public Radio; senior planning associate for PBS and manager of the PBS Business Channel; and held multiple positions at the Federal Communications Commission. She holds a BA from Baylor University, and an MS and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Recruiting Journey Guides
Mentor Living Vicky's Young Ladies!
Are you interested in giving back by fostering the development of the next generation of women leaders? Deliver Living Vicky's transformative curriculum as a Journey Guide and help us reach our mission to empower young women with the keys to the world..
We are looking for volunteers to help in the following areas:
Communications // Development // Volunteer Coordinating // Social Media // Graphic Design
If any of these areas interest you, please contact Info@LivingVicky.org!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
<?php

    namespace UserApp\Tests;

    use \UserApp\Widget\User;
    use \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase;

    use \UserApp\Tests\Mock\MockTransport;
    use \UserApp\Tests\Mock\MockSession;

    require_once(__DIR__ . "/../bootstrap.php");

    class UserTest extends PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
    {
        private static $_singleton = array();

        private $_proxy;
        private $_session;
        private $_transport;

        public function setup(){
            if(!isset(self::$_singleton['transport'])){
                $transport = $this->_transport = self::$_singleton['transport'] = new MockTransport($this);
            }

            if(!isset(self::$_singleton['proxy'])){
                $proxy = $this->_proxy = self::$_singleton['proxy'] = User::getClient();

                \UserApp\ClientOptions::getGlobal()->transport = self::$_singleton['transport'];
                $proxy->setOption('throw_errors', true);

                User::setAppId('MY_APP_ID');
            }

            if(!isset(self::$_singleton['session'])){
                $session = $this->_session = self::$_singleton['session'] = new MockSession();
                User::setSession($session);
            }

            $this->_transport = self::$_singleton['transport'];
            $this->_proxy = self::$_singleton['proxy'];
            $this->_session = self::$_singleton['session'];
        }

        public function testCanSuccessfullyLogin(){
            $this->_transport->addRequestHandler(function($method, $url, $headers, $body){
                $data = json_decode($body);

                if($url == 'https://api.userapp.io/v1/user.login'){
                    if($data->login == 'root' && $data->password == 'pwnz!'){
                        return array('token' => 'bobo', 'user_id' => '666');
                    }else{
                        return array('error_code' => 'INVALID_CREDENTIALS', 'message' => 'Blah blah blah, could not login.');
                    }
                }

                return false;
            });

            $login_success = User::login('root', 'pwnz!');

            $this->assertTrue($login_success);
            $this->assertTrue($this->_session->has('ua_token'));
            $this->assertEquals($this->_session->get('ua_token'), 'bobo');
            $this->assertTrue($this->_session->has('ua_last_heartbeat_at'));
            $this->assertTrue($this->_session->get('ua_last_heartbeat_at') > 0);
            $this->assertTrue($this->_session->has('ua_user_id'));
            $this->assertEquals($this->_session->get('ua_user_id'), '666');
        }

        /**
         * @depends testCanSuccessfullyLogin
         */
        public function testThatSessionHeartbeatIsUpdatedWhenMakingApiCall(){
            $this->_transport->addRequestHandler(function($method, $url, $headers, $body){
                $data = json_decode($body);

                if($url == 'https://api.userapp.io/v1/user.get'){
                    return array(
                        array(
                            'user_id' => '666',
                            'login' => 'root',
                            'properties' => array(
                                'age' => array(
                                    'value' => 25,
                                    'override' => false
                                )
                            ),
                            'permissions' => array(
                                'admin' => array(
                                    'value' => true,
                                    'override' => true
                                )
                            ),
                            'features' => array(
                                'sms' => array(
                                    'value' => true,
                                    'override' => true
                                )
                            ),
                            'updated_at' => time(),
                            'created_at' => time()
                        )
                    );
                }

                return false;
            });

            $user = User::current();
            $this->assertTrue($user !== null);

            $previous_heartbeat_at = $this->_session->get("ua_last_heartbeat_at");
            sleep(1); // Delay call with 1 sec so that the heartbeat will differ

            $this->assertEquals($user->login, 'root');
            $this->assertNotEquals($this->_session->get("ua_last_heartbeat_at"), $previous_heartbeat_at);
        }

        /**
         * @depends testThatSessionHeartbeatIsUpdatedWhenMakingApiCall
         */
        public function testThatUserPropertyCanBeRetrieved(){
            $user = User::current();

            $this->assertEquals($user->login, 'root');
            $this->assertEquals($user->properties->age->value, 25);
        }

        /**
         * @depends testThatUserPropertyCanBeRetrieved
         */
        public function testThatUserPermissionCanBeVerified(){
            $user = User::current();

            $this->assertTrue($user->hasPermission('admin'));
            $this->assertFalse($user->hasPermission('guest'));
        }

        /**
         * @depends testThatSessionHeartbeatIsUpdatedWhenMakingApiCall
         */
        public function testThatUserFeatureCanBeVerified(){
            $user = User::current();

            $this->assertTrue($user->hasFeature('sms'));
            $this->assertFalse($user->hasFeature('gold'));
        }

        /**
         * @depends testThatUserFeatureCanBeVerified
         */
        public function testThatUserPropertiesCanBeSet(){
            $user = User::current();

            $this->_transport->addRequestHandler(function($method, $url, $headers, $body){
                $data = json_decode($body);

                $user_save_data_compare = array(
                    "properties" => array(
                        "age" => 26
                    ), "features" => array(
                        "sms" => array(
                            "override" => false
                    )),
                    "user_id" => "self"
                );

                if($url == 'https://api.userapp.io/v1/user.save'){
                    if($body == json_encode($user_save_data_compare)){
                        return array(
                            'user_id' => 'self',
                            'login' => 'root',
                            'properties' => array(
                                'age' => array(
                                    'value' => $data->properties->age,
                                    'override' => true
                                )
                            ),
                            'permissions' => array(
                                'admin' => array(
                                    'value' => true,
                                    'override' => true
                                )
                            ),
                            'features' => array(
                                'sms' => array(
                                    'value' => false,
                                    'override' => false
                                )
                            ),
                            'updated_at' => time(),
                            'created_at' => time()
                        );
                    }
                }

                return false;
            });

            $old_updated_at = $user->updated_at;

            sleep(1); // Delay call with 1 sec so that updated_at differs

            $user->properties->age = 26;
            $user->features->sms->override = false;
            $save_result = $user->save();

            $this->assertNull($save_result);
            $this->assertEquals($user->properties->age->value, 26);
            $this->assertEquals($user->features->sms->value, false);
            $this->assertEquals($user->features->sms->override, false);
            $this->assertNotEquals($user->updated_at, $old_updated_at);
        }

        /**
         * @depends testThatUserPropertiesCanBeSet
         */
        public function testThatALoggedInUserCanBeLoggedOut(){
            $user = User::current();

            $this->_transport->addRequestHandler(function($method, $url, $headers, $body){
                $data = json_decode($body);

                if($url == 'https://api.userapp.io/v1/user.logout'){
                    return array();
                }

                return false;
            });

            $logout_result = $user->logout();

            $this->assertNull($logout_result);

            $this->assertFalse($this->_session->has("ua_token"));
            $this->assertFalse($this->_session->has("ua_user_id"));
            $this->assertFalse($this->_session->has("ua_last_heartbeat_at"));
        }
    }

?>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A beautiful sculpture in cedar wood by Ursula von Rydingsvard, an amazing artist I found through watching the Art 21: Art in the 21st Century series by PBS. Finally got to see one in real life in Raleigh after admiring her work for quite some time.
In the last week I have had several adventures in work, in life and in my creative brainstorming. I had a few new ideas that I was taking the time to jot down on a piece of paper.
I knew I had some things that needed to be wrapped up before I began these new ideas, but I wanted to see if there was any work out there akin to what I was thinking. Often the quote is repeated, 'Great artists don't borrow, they steal.' I was not really trying to steal anyone else's idea, but merely to see if there was anyone else out there doing work that I was interested in or was in a similar vein.
For this process, Google is a very useful tool. I did some searching and some key word typing and found several artists whom I related to and their process and way of working was not something I had considered before. In a moment of new thought for myself, I was able, through the modern miracle known as search engine optimization, to find many artists who felt like "creative kin" to me. Not only that, but stopping by my local book store and looking in my favorite sections opens up a lot of new creative relatives as well.
So, thanks to the internet and books and publications, I have been introduced to some other artists I would otherwise not have come into contact with and I have some new insights into future creative pursuits. Thankful to have found some creative kin out there in the world, in addition to all of the creative kin I have right here in my own home town. Feeling encouraged and a part of a cool family. It's not so lonely being an artist after all.
A Rodin sculpture I saw on a recent visit to the NC Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC. This begs the question, "What are you passionate about? What is your art?"


A Capella only. Mandate or Myth?
The first time I heard a congregation sing a capella I loved it. Now, having been a member of a church of Christ for over eight years I still love the absolute beauty, the primitive feel, to good a capella singing. Wednesday nights at our church we meet in what was years ago the main auditorium and the acoustics compliment singing. It is wonderful to hear!
I will never forget when I was first given a "proof text" for a capella only singing in church. When the man read Colossians 3:16 my reply was "That's it?". I am amazed that this issue is still a hot issue in coC circles. Only the role of baptism is mentioned perhaps as much.
In only a few days after Peter's first gospel sermon there were in Jerusalem several thousand new Christians. And, we know that they met together and worshiped. Interestingly, it would be at least twenty to twenty five years before the Apostle Paul would write what is now purported to be "authorization" for a capella only singing in worship gatherings. I am not suggesting that these earliest believers did not sing a capella, what I am saying is that they had no scriptural mandate to do so. And, the few who likely had some part of the Old Testament, or heard it read, did not find any such "authorization" in it. In fact they would have learned the opposite from the OT. When Ephesians and Colossians were finally written the context of neither "proof text" even hints that Paul's intention was to prohibit the use of musical instruments in worship.
I was recently reminded that many coC people consider this issue to be a "salvation issue"! This could be used in the seminary class room as a case study on poor Bible scholorship and interupitation of Scripture.
A capella singing by Christians is a beautiful experience. It is a rich tradition and is worth continuing and passing to generations to come. However, it is foolish to tell anyone the Bible demands it. And I thnk even sinful to consider someone lost who does not agree.
It's amazing how "obvious" the Bible's teachings against instruments are to someone who grew up hearing them. It's easy for such people to see it as a salvation issue. In the same way, it's next to impossible for someone who comes from outside to begin to comprehend what all the fuss is about.
You hit the nail on the head Royce! Keep the good posts coming.
It is amazing to me that we make lines in the sand over the most obscure Bible passages. I am convinced that people who have done this have made up their minds first and looked at scripture second.
Being raise in the coC, I know that there are many who feel it is sinful to have instruments in the church. It took me several months of personal Bible study as a 19 year old attending a Baptist church with my Baptist boyfriend. The loving pastor at Fredonia Hill in Nacogdoches, gave me many passages to read and study and pray about to let the Spirit lead me. I concluded with his guidance and much prayer that God would not send me to Hell for having attended and sang praises to Him while being accompanied by a piano, organ, etc. He would only send me to Hell for rejecting the saving grace of His precious Son who died for my sins.
I still to this day love the acapella singing and the harmony of the voices lifted up to our glorious King!
There is certain irony that people look to the early church practice of a capella singing as proof of its prohibition when it seems certain that the church simply continued to pattern their worship on that of the Jewish synagogue, an unauthorized practice.
It is the biggest reason that I am where I am.
You make an excellent point Darin and one I had not thought of. The fact is there is little said about how the infant church worshipped in the Bible. I am not big on patterning after the church was say 100 or 300 years old anyway. We know that in a relatively short time there was drunkeness, gluttony, and rude selfeshness at the Lord's table at Corinth, divisions into factions who followed Paul, Peter, Apollos, or others, and some had already started to mix law with grace.
When we speak of Restoration of the early church, the question arises, which one? This is the precise problem with patternism. It is far better in my view to work for a "principaled" church than one following some imagined early template. One governed by unselfesh love, centered on Christ and the gospel of grace, modeling the highest morality and ethics, and loving sinners as God does. If those things are done the details of the week to week life of the local body will work themselves out in my view.
I get the impression that, when the question first came up in the Restoration Movement, instrumental music was rejected partly because (a) it was just different and (b) it seemed a little too "citified" for the rural sensibilities of a lot of our people. I don't doubt for a minute the sincerity of those people, nor do I doubt that they believed they had "Bible" for their stance. They had a lot of conviction.
Once the instrument question became a cause of division in churches, the next question was "Which side gets the members and the building?" The non-instrumentalists often got the bad end of that. From there, because it had been such a loss for those people, it would naturally continue to be a big deal.
I love a cappella singing. I hate the divisions of our past. I'm glad that I don't have anyone to blame for the divorce of my great-great-grandparents.
My wife and I sit and discuss this issue. It is so divisive when it shouldn't be. Wasn't the big point in Pauls writings to the church that you shouldn't behave this way and get your hearts centered on Jesus??? When that happens, singing songs and hymns (with musical instruments) and spiritual songs all come from the heart, not the mind. We so miss the cake for messing around in the frosting.
Of course you are right, it shouldn't be an issue. But, when folks allow tradition to rise to the same level of authority as scripture this is what you get. Some well known preachers and elders declare those who don't agree with them..lost! It is sad that largely because of this sort of nonsense much of the outside world considers coC folks to be nuts.


COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Eco tourism and eco friendly destinations have become catch phrases in the tourism industry recently so it was no surprise to see the world's most popular travel rating site TripAdvisor put out a list of the 10 most extraordinary Treetop Hotels. It was a pleasant surprise however to find Sri Lanka's very own Saraii Village www.saraiivillage.com on the list - a relative newcomer to the field of sustainable tourism and green travel.
Saraii Village started as an idea few thought plausible, some laughed at and others dismissed. But one person defended it and that was Charitha Abeyratne the founder and CEO of Saraii Village who was involved in building an organic Agro-Forestry business with her husband Prasanna, which inspired her to create a sustainable tourism business with an agro/eco platform.


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Home / Index Investor Corner / Swedroe: How Correlations Are Influenced
Swedroe: How Correlations Are Influenced
It's been said diversification is the only free lunch in investing, with the largest benefits of diversification coming from adding assets with low, or—even better—negative correlations.
However, when designing portfolios, investors also need to be aware that correlations are not constant—they are averages of the relationships of returns. Thus, it's important to understand not only that correlations can drift, but also under what circumstances the correlation of returns are likely to increase and decrease.
For example, while the correlation of high-yield bonds to stocks tends to be low, during bear markets caused by recessions, their correlation tends to rise toward 1 (at exactly the wrong time).
Thus, high-yield bonds are not as effective as safer Treasury bonds (and other high-quality bonds; the lower the credit quality, the more equity-like the risk) at diversifying equity risks.
Demonstrating their nonstable relationship, while U.S. stock and bond return correlations have been predominantly positive over the last 40 years, there have been persistent episodes of large, negative stock/bond correlations. U.S. stock/bond correlations were about 0.2 during the 1970s; increased to, on average, 0.4 during the 1980s and first half of the 1990s; and fell to, on average, -0.2 since 1998.
Correlations also varied substantially over subperiods: They were as high as 0.7 in the fall of 1994, and as low as -0.7 in the second quarter of 2003 and third quarter of 2012. The evidence on stock/bond correlations in other developed markets followed a similar pattern, suggesting that one or more common factor(s) are driving international stock/bond correlations.
The shifting correlations can often be explained by demand and supply shocks. For example, a negative supply shock (such as the 1970s oil embargo) can lead to positive correlations between stocks and bonds, as can a positive supply shock (such as from fracking). On the other hand, negative demand shocks can explain much of the negative correlations observed since 2000. Demand shocks push inflation and output in the same direction, resulting in lower stock/bond correlations.
Correlations, Monetary Policy & Inflation
Lieven Baele and Frederiek Van Holle contribute to the literature with their October 2017 study, "Stock-Bond Correlations, Macroeconomic Regimes and Monetary Policy," which examined the relationships between high, intermediate and low inflation, output regimes and monetary policy.
The authors note that, in terms of monetary policy, in an accommodating regime, output stabilization dominates policy, while in a restrictive regime, the central bank is mainly focused on controlling inflation. Their data set consisted of daily total equity index and 10-year benchmark bond returns for 10 developed markets (the United States, Canada, Japan, the U.K., Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Spain).
The dataset's starting dates varied because of the lack of daily data, with the longest series being for the United States and starting in June 1961. For several other countries, however, the sample starts at the end of the 1980s or early 1990s. The end date is December 2013.
Following is a summary of their findings:
There is a strong association between stock/bond correlations and monetary policy regimes.
Stock/bond correlations tend to be slightly negative in recessions and positive in expansions.
Negative stock/bond correlations are associated with periods of accommodating monetary policy, but only in times of low inflation.
Irrespective of the inflation and/or growth regime, stock/bond correlations are always positive when monetary policy is restrictive.
Pure inflation and growth regimes have little explanatory power for stock/bond correlations.
In the low-inflation regime, inflation averaged 1.9%. Inflation volatility was also low, at 0.5%. In the intermediate-inflation regime, inflation averaged 4.2%, and its volatility was 0.9%. In the high-inflation regime, inflation averaged 10.5%, and its volatility was 2.7%. The low-inflation and high-inflation regimes both had an expected duration of about 11 years, compared to about five years for the medium-inflation regime.
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Christoper Gergen. Photo courtesy Forward Cities.
Social entrepreneurs seek to solve broad social, cultural, and environmental problems by establishing enterprises that measure success by the change they foster. Christopher Gergen's career in education, media, arts, and public policy has combined to expand his interest in social entrepreneurship to include both innovation and equity.
Author of Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives, Gergen is an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellow at Duke University. In 2014 he founded Forward Cities as a collaboration between four mid-size cities to foster the next generation of local entrepreneurs. The group recently merged with the urban leadership advocacy nonprofit CEOs for Cities, and announced that Indianapolis will join its roster of Community Innovation Accelerators seeking to stimulate inclusive economic growth.
"Indy is joining the network of cities looking to go into deeper capacity building and be intentional about inclusion," Gergen confirmed in a couple of recent conversations.
"Our challenge is, as we think about the future economy and the future of work, that we are preparing all segments of the population to compete in that economy and benefit from its growth," he said.
"It's a new innovation economy," he added, "That's where the economy is going and where it's driving us." Forward Cities encourages its members to continually innovate and insure that new business startups and small business growth not only add products and services that fit into the current economic terrain but also represent a true cross-section of the population.
The next step is to strategize to achieve those outcomes. "Draw on regional assets and the overall area as well as national best practices to look for models," he said. Forward Cities' collaborative approach is particularly helpful in this regard, as it has assembled case studies of member cities Durham (NC), New Orleans, Detroit, and Cleveland.


text:
There You'll Be Faith Hill Download 'There You'll Be' on iTunes
Noah Buble Well Enough To Spend Christmas At Home
Michael Buble's son is to spend the festive period with his parents after undergoing first stage of cancer treatment.
We can only imagine how thrilled Michael Buble and Luisana Lopilato are to have their son home for Christmas.
Following a successful stint of chemotherapy in California, three-year-old Noah will be spending the holidays with his parents and little brother, Elias, at their LA home.
The artists, who normally spend Christmas in Buble's hometown of Toronto, Canada, are instead having family members fly into the US and will be spending the festive period in the vicinity of the hospital where Noah is receiving treatment.
Noah was diagnosed with liver cancer in November and has just undergone the first of four chemotherapy treatments to beat the disease.
Doctors have predicted the tot has a 90% chance of beating his devastating condition upon completion of the prescribed therapy.
We wish the family a peaceful and happy Christmas, and hope to near more good news regarding Noah's recovery in the new year.
Michael Buble's Son Noah Diagnosed With Cancer
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text:
The Faces A Nod Is As Good As A Wink…To A Blind Horse (1972)
From soundroundreview.wordpress.com
Being a high schooler in the suburbs of Philadelphia in the early – very early – 2000s wasn't easy. As a budding drummer, I drew influences from the classics instead of the contemporaries, so while bands like Blink 182 and Green Day might have had pretty good skin-smackers, I would dismiss the bands outright, saying, "Gimme Bonham or Moon any day!" This was a point of amusement to my friends, who would snicker outright at some of my music purchases; I can distinctly recall going to a Best Buy to pass some time with a friend, and the amount of ribbing I got for acquiring the Rolling Stones' Dirty Work and the Faces' A Nod Is As Good As A Wink … To A Blind Horse was relentless. "Oh, is this 'Miss Judy's Farm'?" he asked, completely straight-faced, as I drove us back home. Incredulous that he would know this, let alone before I did, I responded in the affirmative. "Oh, I love this song." He repeated this once more before I caught on: he was simply eyeing the back of the CD case.
My tastes have since matured, but – as much as I like them – the Black Crowes don't have the same joie de vivre as the Faces (and whoever the modern day Black Crowes is, well, I don't even want to know), and when I listen to any of the Black Crowes' albums, I can hear traces of certain bands – Faces, the Rolling Stones, some Little Feat – but I too often get frustrated and simply go for the originals.
Needless to say, I spend several minutes in my car before heading out for a destination in search of the perfect album to listen to, before throwing my hands up in frustration and saying, "I have no idea what I want to listen to!"
In the increasingly rare instances when I fall back on the Faces, I find myself gravitating toward this, their seminal break-out album. They'd released two albums before this – their self-titled debut and Long Player – but both were received somewhat tepidly, which brings me to an interesting point: there was a time when Rod Stewart wasn't as well-known (or well-regarded) as he is today. Hard to believe, but the Faces struggled to find an audience, especially in England, their home country, though America embraced them more warmly. So Wink was their first, most cohesive album, due in no small part to production wonderboy Glyn Johns. There's a fair amount of grit with just a pinch of ramshackle, striking the perfect balance that was so sorely lacking on their first two albums. It's evident in particular on opener 'Miss Judy's Farm', with a dirty guitar riff from Ronnie Wood before Stewart howls on about being a submissive sex slave to a dominatrix named Judy. (This ain't no 'Maggie's Farm'!) The band locks into a groove for a minute or two before Wood brings things to a halt, Kenney Jones' drums clatter in, and the quintet barely makes it into the double-time coda, with Ian McLagan's electric piano well to the fore.
Ronnie Lane turns up the charm and the humor with 'You're So Rude', a delightful song about sexytimes with his ladyfriend, who – in a rare display of role reversal – is the prime mover in the act, hoping to be done before her family gets home. 'Love Lives Here' is a surprisingly slow song that touches on nostalgia, with the physical destruction of a house serving as a metaphor for a crumbling relationship. Stewart dials back the gruff growl from the album opener, even allowing a tinge of sadness to infiltrate his good natured bonhomie, while Wood's and McLagan's guitar/keyboard interplay is delightful. It leads into 'Last Orders Please', penned solely by Lane, which takes the nostalgia and sadness from 'Love Lives Here' and amplifies it into the next part of the grieving process: the drunk stage. While propping up a bar, the protagonist runs into his ex; the two engage in a bit of emotional foreplay before she leaves him high and dry once again. Has he learned his lesson? (The song was derived from an earlier song titled 'I Came Looking For You', which, apart from the melody, has little in common with the finished version.)
Then we get to the song that everyone came for: 'Stay With Me', a raunchy, good-timin' rocker that everyone who knows anything about the Faces – or even Rod Stewart – is familiar with. Written about a reveler who had a bit too much to drink and takes a random woman upstairs for a few seconds of pleasure, the protagonist preemptively rejects any outpouring of emotion, making it strictly clear that this was a one night stand, and nothing more. There's some fine slide guitar work from Wood, and the instrumental coda, with each band member getting a few bars to solo in, before it all comes to a glorious, crashing close. 'Stay With Me' gave the Faces their one and only US single, and was instrumental in providing its sister album some much-needed sales.
Side Two isn't as outstanding as Side One, though Lane's 'Debris', obliquely written about his father, is perhaps his finest song ever written, and the others provide a gorgeous, restrained backing, letting Lane pour his heart out, though Stewart harmonizes beautifully with him on the choruses. The Faces weren't well-known for their ballads, but this rivals only 'Ooh La La' as the top of the heap. It's followed clumsily by a cover of Chuck Berry's 'Memphis, Tennessee', which benefits somewhat from Johns' production, but it's a fairly mundane version that would have been better released as a B-side instead of occupying precious album space. 'Too Bad' returns us to the well-worn exuberance of a Faces show, with Stewart lamenting their poor treatment by the upper crust at a party they crashed. Their inebriation – and Stewart's regional tongue – was their downfall, and the worst part about it was that he didn't even get to shake a leg. The album closes with 'That's All You Need', a slide guitar workout with lyrics about Stewart's musician brother, run down by the pressures of reality. Stewart offers him a "cup of coke" and shows him a good time out on the town – a simple solution indeed. Wood's deft guitar work is the star of the show, though the others get a chance to play in the extended instrumental outro, which even includes some steel drums from Harry Fowler.
I'm having a hard time trying to decide which Faces album is their best – is it Wink or the well-polished follow-up, Ooh La La? While both have their fair share of excellent tracks – and one duff track each ('Memphis, Tennessee' on Wink, 'Fly In The Ointment' on Ooh La La) – my decision is gravitating towards Wink, as it's a cohesive, fun, and well-oiled album. Ooh La La may have been more mature, with better songwriting all around, but the Faces sound like they're having a blast here, as if they were recording this album simply as an excuse to go out on the road and have a good time with anyone who's willing to partake.
April 12, 2013 Posted by Jerry | The Faces A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...	| The Faces | Leave a comment
From audiofidility.net
The Faces' A Nod is As Good As a Wink…to a Blind Horse represent The Faces at their finest moment in the history of their all too brief career. While they went on to produce another fine album with Ooh La La, none of the band's output captured the heart of the band as stupendously as A Nod…did. This album contains all the promise of an up and coming band with none of the internal conflicts that inevitably find their way through final albums.
The album starts with "Miss Judy's Farm", a raucous tune that prepares you for the inherent legitimacy of the blues-funk-rock band that never rose beyond the perfect "Stay With Me" in Billboard status and which plagues the band to this day. It behooves this writer to think of what may have become had The Faces had the proper stars aligned at the time of their existence. Their legion of fans swear that rock and roll suffered an organ loss, which was never transplanted or replaced when the Face's demise came about and will also attest to the body of work that The Faces left behind and its greatness.
A Nod…'s single, "Stay With Me" is the band's most recognizable song, one that epitomized the intent of the band as well as carved the path that they would follow. A Nod…, then, would be an excellent choice for remastering, as has been done by Blonstein's Audio Fidelity label. The 24k+ Gold Compact Disc reissue of Faces' A Nod is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse (titles!) show off the label's foray in new audiophile reproduction with its use of gold surfacing that eliminates surface irregularities found on standard aluminum CDs. Add to this, HDCD encoding and excellent mastering, the album takes on a new life not heard before. Fans of DCC will notice familiarities with the packaging.
The album's opening track, "Miss Judy's Farm", immediately reveals the clarity of the disc as you hear in- studio howling and commenting likely by Stewart. The howling is not such a big deal by itself but the fact that you can hear it so clearly lets you know what a ride you're in for. The stereo effects are superb and provide great depth normally attributable to SACDs. The keyboards are lush and rich, Lane's bass lows are deep and full-bodied, the drumming felt, and Stewart's vocals are glorious, forefront as intended. You can hear Wood's great guitar playing (a talent that we all know that his stint with the Stones stifle), and which is revealed (no other word can explain what is happening here) on this remastering.
"Stay With Me" leaps out of the speakers, "Memphis" is revelatory with the Faces' stunning rendition of Berry's classic, the perfect "Too Bad" with its SACD-like reproduction (it has to be heard to be fully enjoyed; every instrument is sound shaped), and "That's All You Need" with its strolling slide from Wood.
This same skill, care, and technology have been applied to The Doobie Brothers' Minute by Minute album which yielded the hits "What a Fool Believe" and "Minute by Minute." The band's second phase career push absorbed soul with vocals expertly handled by the addition of Michael McDonald several albums back of this one, who also provided much of the written tunes with the rest penned by original band mate, Patrick Simmons. This album revitalized The Doobie Brothers with good reason; the tunes showed a band capable of renewal. Although the shift in sound occurred with Takin' It To The Streets, it wasn't until Minute by Minute that they found the comfortable niche. They didn't abandon their roots entirely although it would be easy to think that happened with Minute by Minute.
The Simmons' penned song, "Don't Stop to Watch the Wheels", is a nice little soul number that merged their past rock sound to create a new Doobie hybrid, one that carried for a few years after the release of Minute by Minute. But it was the McDonald tunes that McDonald also sang on that made the grade for the band.
The Audio Fidelity 24k+ Gold remastering process makes this recording buzz. The uses of the various instruments by the band are allowed to expand. From Baxter's wonderful guitar work, especially let loose in the great sounding "How Do The Fools Survive" to the horns in the same song; from McDonald's rich voice and keyboard work to Tiran Porter's bass, Minute by Minute is beautifully reproduced. With the album's depth in musical style, the Audio fidelity reissue draws out the richness. The jazz/soul tunes such as "Here to Love You", and "Minute By Minute" are revitalized. The country flavour of the instrumental "Steamer Lane Breakdown" is literally a sound sculpture with the recording's various instruments (fiddle, guitars, banjo) being coaxed out of the grooves.
Both albums' artwork and originality have been preserved and a slipcase added to enhance the package thus preserving your investment dollars. Both albums are classics. Both reissues are classically striking.
Quite frankly, with this depth of remastering, who needs SACD? That's a serious statement but then these are serious reproductions. Let's hope that there are more in the pipe. If they all sound this good, stereo purists and fans will profit immensely. It is gold, after all.
March 4, 2013 Posted by Jerry | The Faces A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...	| The Faces | Leave a comment
From Rolling Stone
Well, now this doesn't make any sense at all. Rod Stewart has three solo albums out, all of them excellent. With the release of A Nod Is As Good As A Wink … the Faces, with Stewart singing lead, have three albums out, each of them duller than the one that preceded it, and with the first one having been none too great to begin with.
It is apparent that when Stewart takes charge of his music he elevates the musicianship of everyone around him; when he submerges himself in the artistic group democracy of this particular band he only succeeds in bringing himself down to the level of the group's lowest common denominator. Thus, at the same time he is riding the success of an intensely personal and beautifully crafted solo album, Every Picture Tells A Story, he participates in the making of another almost completely devoid of personality, character, depth, or vision.
The Faces do not, as some have recently alleged, play badly. They are more than competent, especially at creating a mid-Sixties Rolling Stones-styled groove, as their excellent version of "Memphis" proves.
But like most rockers who just barely miss their mark, they can't sustain ideas, so their music tends to be filled with bits and pieces — a bright 30 seconds there, an exciting riff here — and then back into a basic track that is usually melodically undistinguished, unimaginatively arranged, and sounds as much of a bore to listen to as it must have been to record.
"Miss Judy's Farm" starts off strong enough with some Ron Wood guitar and then the whole band riffing behind him. But as soon as the vocal commences, the song emerges as the dog that it is, and what started off sounding funky now just sounds like rock band hacking. "Stay With Me" is a better example of a riff song, but isn't all that exciting either — the ending is an obvious cop from Stewart's own arrangement (performed with the Faces) of "It's All Over Now," from Gasoline Alley.
"That's All You Need" contains something of the groove heard on "Cut Across Shorty" and "Every Picture Tells A Story," but there is absolutely no song present here. Ron Wood plays some great slide guitar, especially on "Memphis," but his bashing about on this cut is just plain awful.
Perhaps the Faces recognize that their days with Stewart are numbered. For on this album Ron Lane makes his debut as a regular lead singer with the band, taking his turn on, "You're So Rude," "Last Orders Please," and "Debris." And not badly either. He has plenty of charm, some real wit, and considerable style, if not a great lead voice, and he certainly bears watching in the future. In some perverse way, it occasionally seemed to me that his efforts were at least more natural and less forced than Stewart's on this particular album. His best number is "Last Orders Please."
I admit being a sucker for revived oldies, but the only thing that is going to keep me coming back to this album is the beautifully structured and excellently pérformed rendition of "Memphis." It is only here that the band creates a fully satisfying groove and sustains it for any length of time. Stewart does his bit and is gone and Wood carries it very nicely with plenty of help from the rhythm section and Ian McLagan on keyboards.
The gap in achievement between Stewart's albums and the Faces is too great for it to go on. Glyn Johns was added as this album's co-producer in an attempt to break the mold of the last two albums. As a result, the new record certainly sounds good enough, but that seems to be about all that he was able to add to it.
For the present, First Step remains the Faces' best album and I am left wondering how they intend to deal with that fact.
February 28, 2013 Posted by Jerry | The Faces A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...	| The Faces | Leave a comment
Led Zeppelin Buffalo 69 (1969/10/30 : Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York)
Led Zeppelin The King's Of The Stone Age (Nassau Coliseum, February 13th, 1975)


A homily delivered in Three Hierarchs Chapel at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary on Sunday, October 25, 2015. The Gospel reading for the day can be found here.
We are so familiar with most of the readings that we hear in Church on Sunday mornings, especially those that recount a memorable parable, that we rarely pay attention to what it might say to us—we think we already know.
So, we heard today the parable of the rich man and Lazarus; and as soon as we hear the first words "There was a rich man", we think we already know what the parable is going to be about: that the rich are going to have a hard time getting into heaven, while the poor, having had a hard time of it in this life, will get in much more easily.
And then we are tempted to identify ourselves with the poor; after all, even if we are not as poor as some, we certainly are not as rich as others! There are many others who are much richer than we are, and they are certainly going to have a hard time of it. Even if we are not as destitute as Lazarus, we still find ourselves in more hardship than we would prefer—we are not as rich as we would like to be.
But if we pay closer attention, we will see that it is not simply about objective riches/poverty, but about attachment.
It is striking that in the parable, the rich man is not named—he is simply known as one who is clothed in purple (a royal color), fine linen and who ate well. He is not named; as it says in the Psalms, about those who do not fear God: "I will not make mention of their names with my lips" (15.4). The rich man is not known by name, but is known rather by his possessions. And they are possessions which he has not used for the benefit of others, in a philanthropy, extending God's own philanthropy—love of mankind; rather they are used for his own adornment and luxurious living.
Known by his possessions, the rich man is in fact possessed by his possessions.
And this is the reason he will have a hard time when he passes on from this life: it is not simply that he has had great possessions, but that he is their possession—they own him. He has not used his wealth for the benefit of others, but been too attached to what he has.
On the other hand, the poor man is named—Lazarus. Yet it is not simply his poverty which grants him a place in the kingdom, but that he has endured the situation into which he was born without complaint. He did not spend his life moaning about it, but rather takes an attitude like Job.
For him to have complained about it, would be like the rich man's attachment to his possessions: as paradoxical as it might seem, the poor man would have become attached to his poverty—and this in turn would have kept his heart back in this world, and caused him great torment.
What the contrast between the rich man and Lazarus sets before us, as with Christ's others words about material wealth, mamon, and our heart being where our treasure is, what all this presents to us is the challenge to be detached from the things of the world and to place all our hope, trust and love in God.
To live in such detachment, of course, requires faith. After all, it is not the evidence of our eyes that will persuade us that we can in fact give more generously to the poor than we like to think; the evidence of our eyes will always be to the contrary—I will be visibly poorer if I do so. The evidence of our eyes is not enough, and so the parable concludes with Abraham saying that even if someone should return from the dead—providing visible evidence—it would not be enough to persuade; if they do not already believe Moses and the prophets, no visible proof will suffice.
Moses and the prophets, of course, direct us to Christ, as the eternal and unchanging Word of God. And as we heard in the epistle, it is by faith in him that we are made righteous, not by anything that we can do of ourselves. In fact, as Paul said, in our desire to be righteous in him, we will be found to be sinners—that is, we are found to be living without the law, outside of the law. It is no longer a comprehensive system of regulations that we have to fulfill to appease our deity (however much we might tend to view religion in that manner). Rather if the righteousness of God is revealed in his crucified Son, then what is demanded of us is that we be, as Paul said, crucified with him.
And we have learnt from today's parable a concrete way in which this is lived out is through our detachment from all worldly things; a detachment, not a despising; a detachment which enables us to see all things as the good gifts of God and frees us to use all things for the benefit of others—so that all things are indeed good gifts from God (not merely in word, but in reality), and so that we are not simply known by our possessions, or our achievements, but are known by a name.
And perhaps even more: as Paul concluded, if we are crucified with Christ in this way, then we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. We are called to be Christ's own presence in this world; let us pray that we have the strength and courage to respond to this upward call of God in Christ, leaving behind all earthly cares to offer a sacrifice of peace and love.
Fr. John Behr (SVOTS '97) is the Dean of St Vladimir's Seminary and Professor of Patristics, teaching courses in patristics, dogmatics and scriptural exegesis at the seminary, and also at Fordham University, where he is the Distinguished Lecturer in Patristics.
Great homily. I have moved into an area where there is no OCA church close by (130) miles so I enjoy these homilies.
Sometimes in our service to the Church itself we become like the rich man attached to the structure and beauty of church life, but miss Christ's call to be crucified in him. What a terrible irony.
Great homily touches on the true meaning of the parable. By being detached from possessions we are set freeto love God as well as one another. In this way we can give of ourselves more in love and service to God's people.