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Part 2: "Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World" Links Polar Bear Attacks to Climate Change
Web ExclusiveNovember 17, 2014
Sabrina Shankman
reporter with the Pulitzer Prize-winning website, InsideClimate News. She published the ebook Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World in collaboration with Vice, which is doing a three-part documentary series that starts next Monday.
Rich Gross
Sierra Club guide since 1990 and one of the two guides on the Arctic trip documented by Sabrina Shankman in Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World.
Watch part two of our look at a new investigation that tells the story of seven American hikers who went on a wilderness adventure into polar bear country in Canada's Arctic tundra — and faced a harrowing attack. Scientists say climate change is greatly impacting polar bear habitat. We speak with Rich Gross, a Sierra Club guide on the trip, and Sabrina Shankman, a reporter with InsideClimate News and author of the new ebook, Meltdown: Terror at the top of the World.
Click here to watch Part 1 of this interview.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, we continue to look at climate change now as we turn to a new investigation by the Pulitzer Prize-winning website InsideClimate News. It's called "Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World." It tells the story of seven American hikers who went on a wilderness adventure into polar bear country in Canada's Arctic tundra and faced a harrowing attack. The trip was led by two Sierra Club guides, including Rich Gross, who will join us. But despite taking proper steps to protect themselves, a polar bear came to their camp in the middle of the night and pulled one of the hikers out of his tent.
AMY GOODMAN: The project that we're going to be talking about is a Vice News/InsideClimate News project. InsideClimate News is the Pulitzer Prize-winning climate website. We're joined right now by Sabrina Shankman. She has written an ebook about this attack and gone beyond to talk about how it relates to climate change. And Vice did the documentary. Rich Gross also with us from San Francisco. And in part two of our conversation, I was wondering if we could step back, Rich, and you just tell us the decision you made to go to this area of the Arctic. Why? Why you went there? Were you concerned about these kinds of attacks? How do you prepare for something like this?
RICH GROSS: Sure. So, my co-leader and I—Marta Chase, my co-leader, and I—lead trips mostly in remote places in the Arctic, and so we've led trips throughout northern Alaska, northern Canada, up by Ellesmere Island. And the purpose of the trips—they're Sierra Club-sponsored trips. The purpose of the trips are to take people out to the wilderness to show them what it's like and to create activists in order to help protect the climate. And so, that's why Sierra Club runs trips, and it's why we run trips, and to remote places, because they are, in many cases, the most at-risk places.
We went to the Torngats, in particular. It's the newest Canadian national park. It's an area we hadn't been before. And it is an area with polar bears. We had seen—we've had, throughout—you know, you can't travel in the Arctic without having bear encounters, mostly grizzlies, brown bears. And we had never seen polar bears, and we wanted to see that. We also wanted to see this really spectacular place with fjords going straight into—mountains going straight into the fjords. Just a really spectacular place. So we arranged a trip there.
And because it's polar bears, and you have to take precautions, we did a number of things. So we carried with us what's called bear bangers, which are a little explosive device. We carried a 12-gauge double magnesium flare gun to scare away bears. We also carried electric fences with us—bear spray also, and then electric fences, to both surround our camp and to surround the food area, which was about a thousand feet—300 yards away, about a thousand feet away. So we took all those precautions, which were all the precautions that were recommended to us in order to protect the group. You know, the idea of the bear crashing through the fence was something that we had not counted on and was not expected by anybody. So we took, you know, all the precautions we thought we could possibly need at that point.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of—well, you mentioned in the part one of the interview a bear crashing through the electrified fence. But that, in particular, didn't awaken anybody at the time, when he came through there?
RICH GROSS: No, the fence is just three small strands of wire, so it's—you know, the bear can't fit through the fence, but it will—as it touches the fence, it gets 7,000 volts of electricity, and it's supposed to shock the bear and have it go away. So, the bear is pretty silent going through that fence, and once it gets an initial shock, I assume that it kept coming and crashed through and grabbed Matt through the tent.
AMY GOODMAN: And you have since gone with Matt and other members of that journey to do other tours like this.
RICH GROSS: Yeah, so—well, a number of the people on that trip had been—had traveled with Marta and I before on Arctic trips that we had taken. It was Matt's first trip with us. But we led a trip in the Sierra this last summer, and Matt was along on the trip, as well, then.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Sabrina Shankman, in this project you've done with Vice, the Vice documentary and your ebook, this terrifying moment, you have expanded much broader. I mean, here you have this hiker, Matt, who is dragged by the bear, his head in his mouth. Amazingly, he survives, I think because of the fast work of Rich Gross with shooting that flare gun, clearly. But talk about the scientists you've spoken to and the conclusions that have been reached. Some might say, "Well, you shouldn't be in this area. This is where the polar bears live, not where you should be."
SABRINA SHANKMAN: Yeah, I mean, there are some people that say that. There are others who say that there are safe ways to travel in polar bear country, but that it's—maybe it's different than what it was 20 years ago. You know, I know people who are advocating for maybe travel by a boat and sleep on a boat. And that's actually what we did when I went back up there with the Vice News crew and with Matt Dyer in August. You know, we were in the same exact area, but we slept on the boat, where it's harder for a polar bear to get you. But, you know, what the scientists are saying is that this is kind of just part of the equation with climate change, that sea ice is disappearing at unprecedented rates. I mean, in 2012, we had the last all-time low in sea ice levels, and it was 49 percent lower than the historical average from the late '70s to 2000. And this is not—you know, people like to argue about whether or not the sea ice is disappearing. This is based on satellite records, right? So that it's kind of hard to fight with that. But it's almost an inevitability. And that's actually what someone from Parks Canada who investigated this attack afterwards said, that sleeping out where they were, with as many bears as they saw in that area, it's hard to imagine it not happening, that it was almost a foregone conclusion.
AMY GOODMAN: Polar bears attack when they're hungry or they're provoked?
SABRINA SHANKMAN: Polar bears could attack for a number of reasons, but hunger is definitely one of them. You know, you could also have a bear that stumbles upon something, and it freaks the bear out. You know, it's hard to say, because there's actually like an interesting dearth of certain kinds of research, because polar bears are huge, and they're in areas that have 24-hour darkness for parts of the year. So, there's not as much known. But yeah, hunger is certainly one of the reasons, and I think that's why you're seeing, you know, as—because polar bears will see a human and not think, "Oh, well, that's not the kind of food I eat, so I'll just go somewhere else." They see a human and think, "Well, like, I'm hungry." You know, they're opportunistic eaters. So, a human might look good to a hungry bear. And that, indeed, seems to be the case.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of what the local residents or native populations of the area tell you about the changes that have been occurring over recent years?
SABRINA SHANKMAN: Yeah, that was really interesting. So when I was up there with the Vice crew and with Matt, we spent a lot of time with a couple of Inuit, who actually grew up on Nachvak Fjord, going there every summer, the exact place where Matt Dyer was attacked and where Rich and Marta led this group. And when they were growing up, they didn't see polar bears at all. You know, by the time, you know, maybe we're talking by the '70s, they would see a bear every now and then, but now you have lots of bears in the area. It's a very dense population there, but a population that's also been found to have declines in body condition, in survival of cubs, which are exactly the kinds of things that you expect right before the population declines. I mean, this area sees 50 fewer days per year of sea ice than it used to back in the '70s. But it's not just about the ice and the bears. What you're also seeing is the mountaintops are now covered in green. They're beautiful. But they used to be covered in rock and brown. There's all this growth. Likewise, there's tons of mosquitoes. I mean, you kind of feel like you're under attack when you're there. But when these people were kids, they just didn't exist up there. It's this totally new phenomenon.
AMY GOODMAN: And the whole issue of sea ice and polar bears—polar bears would stand on the sea ice, seals would be there, they would eat the seals on the sea ice. But now you don't have the sea ice.
SABRINA SHANKMAN: That's exactly right. Polar bears, I mean, they're very cool. You know, they have evolved from grizzly bears in these very specific ways that allow them to thrive out on the sea ice. You know, they don't hibernate in the winter. They're thrilled that it's winter, because they like the cold. You know, they have this—they have black skin. They have translucent fur. They have huge skulls. They're massive animals that live in the water and on the ice. And they sit by the holes, breathing holes that seals use on the sea ice, very quietly, very patiently, and then as soon as a seal pops up to breathe, it grabs it by the skull, hauls it out on the ice, and it has a great meal. But if you take away that access point, that kind of spells trouble.
AMY GOODMAN: So, Rich Gross, as we wrap up, what do you take away from this attack? And how do you fight around the issue of climate change today?
RICH GROSS: Well, I think the takeaway is that, you know, it's clear that bears are acting differently and that the precautions we take, obviously, have to be different. But, you know, like I said, the purpose of Sierra Club's trips are to take people out there, show them the wilderness and create activists, create people that will protect that. And, you know, I think that my biggest takeaway is, as it always is in these places, that we are so small as a species, but we can have such an enormous impact on the environment, and so that it makes climate change that much more important as an issue and as an issue to be active about. So, you know, any time that you're up in the Arctic and you see the kind of impact humans can have, you come back, and it makes you more—it makes it more important to be an activist.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. Rich Gross, Sierra Club guide since 1990, and Sabrina Shankman with InsideClimate News, author of the new ebook, Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan González. Check out part one of this interview at democracynow.org. Thanks so much.
StoryDec 13, 2021"A Bigger Picture": Ugandan Activist Vanessa Nakate on Bringing New Voices to the Climate Fight
StoryDec 13, 2021
"A Bigger Picture": Ugandan Activist Vanessa Nakate on Bringing New Voices to the Climate Fight
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Unilever CEO Expects Shareholder Support For UK HQ Move
Published on Sep 9 2020 7:29 AM in A-Brands tagged: Trending Posts / UK / Unilever / Netherlands / Exit Tax
Unilever expects shareholders to support its plan to unify its headquarters in London and scrap its Dutch base and believes a potential law enacting an 'exit tax' in the Netherlands would breach European Union law, its chief executive said.
Speaking at a virtual conference hosted by Barclays, CEO Alan Jope said Unilever's board was "absolutely committed" to its proposal and is expecting "strong shareholder support."
Jope repeated Unilever's belief that the law proposed in the Netherlands by the opposition Green Left party, which would result in an €11 billion ($12.96 billion) tax bill to the Dutch government, was illegal, but noted that it was still in its infancy.
Unification Plans
The Anglo-Dutch consumer goods maker said earlier this month that if the law gets enacted, its unification plans would change.
"We're not going to speculate on all the many paths this could take, but if there's a high probability that exit would be associated with an €11 billion tax bill, obviously that wouldn't be in shareholders' interest," Jope said in a presentation broadcast on the internet.
"But personally, I think logic and common sense will prevail."
Unilever, maker of Dove soap and Hellmann's mayonnaise, is hosting meetings on 21 September in Rotterdam and 12 October in London for shareholders to vote.
'Global Economic Downturn'
When asked about the current macroeconomic environment, Jope said a global economic downturn was "absolutely inevitable but we don't know its depth or how it will play out by country."
He said gross margins could see pressure as its value brands become more popular.
Still, the company's North American business is currently seeing 'sustained strength', driven by hygiene products and food and market share gains online.
Moving forward, Jope said Unilever should continue to deliver annual cost savings, grow its revenues and increase its margins, though the margin growth may not be as fast as it was in prior years.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


James Joyce's interest in accessing the global through the core of the local makes him a particularly suggestive example for writers interested in a cosmopolitan vernacular, particularly for those writing, as Joyce did, from the margins of Europe. Postcolonial studies have extended Joyce criticism through new readings of the global multiplicity of his work and through study of the translations that brought Joyce to new readerships, but have only recently begun to examine writers outside of Europe and North America who both followed and challenged Joyce's example. This article discusses Joyce's global influence in the accounts of critics and novelists, including Mulk Raj Anand, Salman Rushdie, Derek Walcott and Orhan Pamuk. Attention to Joyce as a postcolonial writer should serve to call attention to other international writers, rather than to overwrite them; the effect should be centripetal and should expand and dislocate our ideas of influence rather than situate them in a stable centre. Joyce's global circulation, reception, imitation and adaptation comprises an odyssey of reading engaged both with the revisioning of the literary past and the future of literary studies.


Handmade Fairy Cards (Simple & Stunning Cards) (Simple & Stunning Cards).
Search Press Ltd, 2008. Paperback. paperback. minor wear. a very nice copy.	More about Handmade Fairy Cards (Simple & Stunning Cards) (Simple & Stunning Cards).
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America's Best Cross-Stitch (Better Homes and Gardens).
Merideth Press, 1991. Later printing. Hardcover. VERY GOOD. Large book by Better Homes and Gardens with colored pictures.	More about America's Best Cross-Stitch (Better Homes and Gardens).
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Better Homes and Gardens Treasury of Country Crafts and Foods.
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Christmas Cross Stitch (Better Homes and Gardens).
Meredith Books, 1987. Hardcover. Hardcover, very good cond.	More about Christmas Cross Stitch (Better Homes and Gardens).
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Cross Stitch Samplers (Better Homes and Gardens).
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Meredith Pr, March 1994. Hardcover. 160pp. 0.50 x 11.25 x 8.50.	More about Forever Friends.
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Country-Style Stenciling: With 8 Ready-To-Use, Pre-Cut Plastics Stencils.
Meredith Books, January 1991. Hardcover. 168pp.	More about Country-Style Stenciling: With 8 Ready-To-Use, Pre-Cut Plastics Stencils.
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Braham, Jeanne and Mary Schjeldahl.
Made by Hand: Art and Craft in the Heartland of New England.
Commonwealth Editions, 2004. Hardcover. hardcover in dustjacket. very good condition. light wear to jacket. a very nice copy.	More about Made by Hand: Art and Craft in the Heartland of New England.
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Brennan, Georgeanne and Kathryn Kleinman.
Les Immortelles: Everlasting Blooms - The Beauty of Dried Flowers.
Chronicle Books Llc, 1995. Hardcover. Hardcover, near fine cond., no dj.	More about Les Immortelles: Everlasting Blooms - The Beauty of Dried Flowers.
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Random House Value Publishing, 1995. Hardcover. Very good hardcover in very good dust jacket. Minor shelfwear.	More about Gift Wrapping.
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Praeger, 1968. Hardcover. Very Good in Very Good Dust Jacket-in mylar.	More about Embroidery Stitches.
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North Light Books, 2010. Paperback. paperback. minor wear. an excellent copy!	More about The Artistic Mother.
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The Complete Candlemaker: Techniques, Projects, and Inspirations.
Lark Books, October 1997. Hardcover. 128pp. 0.50 x 10.50 x 9.00.	More about The Complete Candlemaker: Techniques, Projects, and Inspirations.
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Nature Crafts With a Microwave.
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David & Charles Publishers, 2004. Paperback. paperback. minor wear. a very nice copy.	More about All New Decoupage.
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Main Street Publishing, September 1987. Hardcover. 64pp.	More about Learn Lacecraft.
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Doll of the Month Club.
The Angel Book: A Collection of Angel Designs.
Osage County Quilt Factory, 1991. paperback. Softcover, light shelf wear, a very good copy.	More about The Angel Book: A Collection of Angel Designs.
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Rubber Stamp Celebrations: Dazzling Projects From Personal Stamp Exchange.
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Bdd Promotional Book Co, June 1992. Hardcover. 224pp.	More about Family Circle Country Crafts.
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Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980. Hardcover. Hardcover, very good cond. in very good dj.	More about Counted cross-stitch patchwork design.
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Goldstein-Lynch, Ellen; Mullins, Sarah; Malone, Nicole.
The Great Rubber Stamp Book Designing * Making * Using.
Sterling, 1997. Paperback. paperback. minor wear. a nice copy.	More about The Great Rubber Stamp Book Designing * Making * Using.
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Compare your dogs to Gizmo Select one to begin:
Personalized genetic age table for Gizmo
How are Gizmo's ancestors represented in his DNA?
How does Embark know which breeds are in Gizmo?
We can use the length of segments Gizmo shares with our reference dogs to see how many generations it has been since they last shared an ancestor. Long segments of DNA that are identical to known purebred dogs tell Embark's scientists that Gizmo has, without a doubt, a relative from that breed. By testing over 200,000 genetic markers, we build up his genes one DNA segment at a time, to learn the ancestry with great certainty. Other dog DNA tests look at many fewer genetic markers and have to take a guess at breed ancestry based on that.
What does this mean for Gizmo's looks and behavior?
Look closely and you'll probably find Gizmo has some physical and/or behavioral resemblance with his ancestor's breeds. The exact similarity depends on which parts of DNA Gizmo shares with each breed. Some traits associated with each breed are listed in the Breed & Ancestry section of our website. Embark will tell you even more about Gizmo's traits soon!
What are "Dogs Like Gizmo?"
"Dogs Like Gizmo" are based on the percentage of breeds the two dogs have in common. For example, two dogs that are both 27% Golden Retriever and 73% Poodle will have a score of 100%. Sometimes dogs with high scores look alike, and sometimes they don't — either way the comparison is based on each dog's unique DNA, which is much more accurate than judging by looks.
... See all 12 pics
"100% Warthog"
Instagram tag
@gizmo.nugget
Edgartown, Massachusetts, USA
Cordele, GA, USA
Originally a bull-baiting dog, bulldogs today are gentle and loving while still carrying the stocky frame of their forbearers.
The American Bully may look intimidating with its muscular build, but these dogs are bred to be the ideal family or companion dog. This breed is notable for coming in several different size and type varieties, so there's a lot of diversity in their appearance. They're a newer breed, originating in the 80s and 90s in the United States.
French Bulldogs, affectionately known by their many fans as Frenchies, are an immensely popular and well-known breed of dog. As their name implies, they are native to France and are the result of a mix between English Bulldogs and local dogs in Paris. They are very popular around the world, earning their place as the 4th most popular dog in the United Kingdom and the 9th most popular dog in the United States.
Dogs Like Gizmo
Discover dogs who share a similar breed mix to Gizmo. A higher score means the two dogs have more of their breed mix in common. A score of 100% means they share the exact same breed mix!
99% alike
Zuul the Gat…
Kallie Shie…
Click or tap on a pic to learn more about each dog and see an in-depth comparison of their DNA, breeds, and more.
Building blocks of life
See which breed every part of Gizmo's DNA comes from!
Genes from your dog's breeds serve as the building blocks to creating your unique pooch
Dogs have 39 pairs of chromosomes, almost double humans who have 23. 38 of those pairs are the same for all dogs while the 39th is the sex chromosomes - two X's for females and one X and one Y for males. One copy of each chromosome came from your dog's mother and one from your dog's father. Each copy contains between 24 million and 123 million bases, or letters of DNA code, for 2.5 billion total letters inherited from each parent. This chromosome illustration shows a representation of each of your dog's 38 pairs of chromosomes (excluding the X and Y sex chromosomes).
Because the members of a breed have similar stretches of DNA, we can use our 200,000+ genetic markers to determine what part of each chromosome in your dog came from what breed. For each pair of chromosomes, your dog's mom and dad each gave your dog one copy of that chromosome, for a grand total of 78 chromosomes. So if your dog's mom was a poodle and dad was a schnauzer then the painting would show one complete poodle and one complete schnauzer chromosome for each pair. The more complex your dog's ancestry, the more complex the painting, as in each generation recombination (the splitting apart and "shuffling around" of genes between paired chromosomes) mixes up bits of chromosome from grandparents, great-grandparents, and beyond.
Each trait your dog exhibits, such as fur shedding, is based on the letter at one or more locations in your dog's genome. For example the location determining if your dog sheds their fur is located on chromosome 1. Some other traits, like size, are complexly inherited from many locations, including ones on chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 15, and more. Your dog looks the way it does not because of averaging or blending the breeds that form it, but because specific traits were inherited from specific breeds. That's one reason your mix may look, act, and have certain health issues much more like one breed than another!
DNA Breed Origins
Breed colors:
Bulldog mix
American Bully / French Bulldog mix
Family Tree From Embark PARENTS GRANDPARENTS GREAT GRANDPARENTS Mixed Mixed Bulldog mix American Bully / French Bulldog mix Bulldog mix American Bully / French Bulldog mix Bulldog Bulldog mix American Bully French Bulldog Bulldog Bulldog mix American Bully French Bulldog
Our algorithms predict this is the most likely family tree to explain Gizmo's breed mix, but this family tree may not be the only possible one.
Genetic Result: EmEm
Any light fur likely white or cream
More likely to have patterned fur
Genetic Result: kyky
Fawn Sable coat color pattern
Genetic Result: ayat
Can have black masking (dark facial fur)
Likely to have some white areas in coat
Genetic Result: Ssp
Likely short or mid-length coat
Likely light shedding
Likely short muzzle
Genetic Result: TA
Genetic Result: GA
Through Gizmo's mitochondrial DNA we can trace his mother's ancestry back to where dogs and people first became friends. This map helps you visualize the routes that his ancestors took to your home. Their story is described below the map.
Gizmo's Haplogroup
This female lineage was very likely one of the original lineages in the wolves that were first domesticated into dogs in Central Asia about 15,000 years ago. Since then, the lineage has been very successful and travelled the globe! Dogs from this group are found in ancient Bronze Age fossils in the Middle East and southern Europe. By the end of the Bronze Age, it became exceedingly common in Europe. These dogs later became many of the dogs that started some of today's most popular breeds, like German Shepherds, Pugs, Whippets, English Sheepdogs and Miniature Schnauzers. During the period of European colonization, the lineage became even more widespread as European dogs followed their owners to far-flung places like South America and Oceania. It's now found in many popular breeds as well as village dogs across the world!
Gizmo's Haplotype
Part of the large A1b haplogroup, we see this haplotype most frequently in American Bulldogs.
Gotti Simmons
Charlie Allie
Kita Bonita
A1b is the most common haplogroup found in German Shepherds.
Through Gizmo's Y-chromosome we can trace his father's ancestry back to where dogs and people first became friends. This map helps you visualize the routes that his ancestors took to your home. Their story is described below the map.
H7.1/6/7
The D paternal lineage is very common in well-known populations of dogs. Breeds belonging to the D lineage likely have direct male ancestors that can be traced all the way back to the origin of domestic dogs themselves! One popular breed that commonly sports a D lineage is the Boxer. Boxers were developed in the late 19th century from Mastiff dogs, so it is no surprise that D is well represented among Mastiffs, Bulldogs, as well as Terriers. Intriguingly, D is also found among Lhasa Apsos, an ancient Tibetan breed, and Afghan Hounds. While the presence of this lineage in Polynesia or the New World can be chalked up to interbreeding with European dogs brought during voyages of discovery or later settlement, D is also well represented among village dog populations in the Middle East and Africa. If the fact that we find dogs bearing a D lineage in the Middle East (not to mention the large amount of diversity among Middle Eastern D lineage males) is any indication of ancient residence in that region, then the presence among Oceanian village dogs is peculiar. Rather, it may be that D is part of a broader Eurasian group of ancient paternal lineages which disappeared from the eastern portion of its original range, persisting in the island of New Guinea as well as West Asia and Africa. With the rise of Mastiff breeds, the D lineage received a new life as it became common among many types of working dogs.
Part of the D haplogroup, this haplotype occurs most frequently in mixed breed dogs.
Chidi Buddy
The D paternal lineage is common in Boxers.


The Active Norfolk Village Games netball competition was held on Sunday 26th April 2015 at the University of East Anglia (UEA) Sportspark. It was a fantastic day of Netball with everyone taking part in a fun and friendly competition. The day started with the 12 teams playing in two pools of 6, which gave the teams lots of matches to play and our beginner umpires lots of match practice too. After a short lunch break, the final rounds of games took place to decide the placing and the overall winner of the competition. The Final was an exciting and also very nail-biting with both teams equal after full time and extra time.
Hethersett won on a golden goal after being level with Great Massingham even after two periods of extra time.
The big thank you to the Umpires, UEA Sportspark, Active Norfolk and of course the players for making it such a great day of netball.
Over the next couple of weeks, we have some great netballing events happening. Tuesday 23rd June sees the Norfolk School Games competition at the UEA Sportspark, 16 schools are battling out to take the title of large school winners and 14 teams for the small school winners. Good Luck to all the teams taking part. The event is being support by our fantastic umpires and students from Reepham High School.
We have the first Fit4work tournament on Monday 29th June at the UEA Sportspark with 10 local business teams supporting the event and hopefully many of them will join us at the Netball Now sessions start the following Tuesday 7th July at City Academy Norwich.


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NATO Enlargement? The Case of Montenegro
Should the Republic of Montenegro be invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization? That question has now been posed and the Alliance is expected to answer it sometime later this year.
The simple answer is "Why not?" Montenegro is certainly eligible under Article 10 of the 1949 NATO Treaty and it is a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe which, since 1996, has defined the group of countries eligible to ask to join NATO. The Alliance is also committed to its so-called "open door" policy, which it regularly reconfirms. And to the extent there are any formal criteria for joining NATO, Montenegro seems to fit the bill. It is a democratic country, it is making economic progress, and it has no territorial claims against neighbors. So, again, the simple answer is "Why not?"
But answers in international politics are rarely "simple", and this is certainly the case in terms of the highly-consequential decisions about who will be permitted to belong to NATO. Further, whether fair or not, Montenegro has been represented by some observers as a "test case" for NATO's open door policy following Russian President Vladimir Putin's seizure of Crimea and Russia's continuing military incursions – both direct and supported – into other parts of Ukraine. In face of this direct challenge to what was believed, again by many Western observers, to be a settled approach and set of standards regarding European security following the end of the Cold War, would NATO's refusal to take in Montenegro be seen as appeasement of Putin? By contrast, would taking Montenegro in be seen as making matters worse in terms of a long-term strategy to test whether Russia would be prepared to "play by the rules" in Europe, by saying "Russia be damned" in terms of the reach of the NATO Alliance?
Despite the significance of this binary choice, much more is involved than the Russia factor in calculations about bringing in a particular country to the NATO Alliance or, indeed, about continuing NATO expansion at all. Two more important questions are: 1) what is NATO all about? and 2) what needs to be done to try creating a basis for long-term security, stability, and peace in Europe, and how does NATO enlargement figure in?
Montenegro and its neighbors
These questions have been in play since the end of the Cold War and they continue to be debated. Regarding the first question, "What is NATO for?" there are two broad sets of options. On the one hand, it can be argued that NATO should be all-inclusive of countries in or related to Europe (e.g., including the United States and Canada), and thus should offer membership to any "European" country that shows it cleaves to the basic principles of Western societies, in particular democratic government and market (post-communist) economics. Informally, NATO has also judged aspirants in terms of their ability to meet some obligations of membership, including their approaches to security, the role of their military forces, progress in economic development, and prior settlement of historic territorial disputes with neighbors – as in the case of Hungary and Romania before either were offered NATO membership. This NATO would also offer to its new members, which have emerged from the wreckage of the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact and the wreckage of the former Yugoslavia, the psychosocial and symbolic benefits of being clearly a part of the "Western family" and thus more likely – it is argued – to attract economic investment and to gain other elements of being in the Western world. This NATO would be a more vibrant version of the OSCE and could, in time, approach a similar membership.
Montenegro clearly fulfills requirements, formal and informal, to be a member of this NATO.
On the other hand, it can be argued that NATO needs to retain the capacity both to defend all of its members against external aggression and to project military and other forms of power to other parts of the world, as indeed it did in going beyond its then-current membership by acting militarily in Bosnia (1995) and in regard to Kosovo (1999), and has since done elsewhere, most notably in Afghanistan, from 2003 onwards, involving all of the NATO allies. This NATO should be organized in a way in which it would be able to act effectively: this includes robust military forces and an effectively integrated military command structure (Allied Command Europe and Allied Command Transformation). It should be able to fulfil its basic commitments, beginning with those under article 5 of the NATO Treaty to defend all of its members against external armed attack (collective defense), and including crisis management and cooperative security (e.g., acting with other countries beyond the Alliance's boundaries). In this NATO, the willingness of all allies to come to the defense of any one of them which is attacked from abroad is preeminent. Indeed, there is only one real criterion for membership in NATO: whether all the other allies are prepared, in their own interests, to help defend any member that is so attacked.
Here, too, Montenegro should be a valid candidate for membership, regarding the critical criterion. Looking realistically at the regional security picture, it is not likely to be attacked from abroad, certainly not by Russia (unless there were an all-consuming war across Europe), and also most unlikely by another state in its region. (NATO has never addressed the question of what its members should do if one ally were attacked by another.) This little country is not likely to contribute very much to crisis management or cooperative security, but that is also true of some current members and, anyway, there are enough "big players" to do whatever is necessary.
Of course, there is a downside to membership for Montenegro: the added complexities at NATO of taking in new members because of bureaucratic overload. That is indeed a problem, as more countries become members and more ministers have to give speeches at semi-annual meetings and more ambassadors and their staffs have to be accommodated. But this is more a protocol than a political problem and certainly does not impact on security. NATO does have a rule that all decisions are taken by unanimity, but Montenegro is unlikely to veto a decision favored by the bigger allies. This has already proved to be largely true with other rounds of NATO enlargement into Central Europe; and in terms of who takes part in military operations – the problem of NATO's becoming a "coalition of the able and willing" rather than an alliance of "all in" – it won't really matter if Montenegro can't take part. In fact, every NATO military operation has always included less-than-the-whole, so even if Montenegro could make little or no contribution, that would hardly be noticed. (This analysis is in marked contrast to that relating to the enlargement of the European Union. There, each new country brought into full membership gains more in demonstrably tangible benefits, but it also increases the difficulties of managing the EU successfully, in some cases actually weakening the institution.)
So, again, "Why not bring Montenegro into NATO?" The reverse question also needs to be asked, however: "Why?" The internal problems of NATO's growing bigger and bigger may not be critical, but they cannot be entirely dismissed. Nor can the matter of whether taking in Montenegro will send a signal about NATO's approach to taking in yet more allies be ignored. Also, it has, through no fault of its own, indeed become a test case especially of the validity – and implications – of NATO's continuing "open door" policy.
This does appear to be a significant judgment factor for a number of European allies. France and Germany, notably, have indicated that they are not ready for Montenegro to be brought into NATO, and that attitude would likely apply also to any other aspirant. Some of that could have to do with concerns about the risks of "elephantiasis," or "too biggism" – indeed, it can be argued that NATO is already several countries "too large" in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and what little some of the members bring to the core alliance tasks. But more likely it is concern that taking in any new country right now would complicate efforts to deal with Mr. Putin's activities, the need to shore up alliance solidarity, and the hope for a way out of the current crisis that can offer at least some promise of returning to President George H.W. Bush's vision of a "Europe whole and free" and at peace. In this view, Montenegro's appeal to join NATO is at least ill-timed if not also unwelcome. (The United States might have a different view and will support Montenegro's accession to NATO. The decision has to be unanimous, however, and, at the moment, U.S. interest in Europe is not taken for granted by many of the allies and thus its influence on this matter is less than it would have been at any other time in the past. This issue needs to be addressed separately.)
There is also history. When NATO recreated itself after the end of the Cold War, it sought to balance a series of requirements, two of which stood out: to take Central Europe off the geopolitical chess board and not to drive Russia away, as happened (it was believed) with Germany after Versailles in 1919 and which helped pave the way to World War II. Thus in the 1990s, the Alliance, along with what is now the EU, engaged Central European states in Western activities, but which that for most of them stopped short of membership. Rather, they offered, in NATO's case, the highly-successful Partnership for Peace. Initial NATO membership was offered to three states, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, the first two of which not coincidentally were on Germany's border and thus helped, by "surrounding" Germany with NATO (and the EU), to reassure its Eastern neighbors about its future. (Some NATO allies now have second thoughts about Hungary's membership in the Alliance, given that its current government is less-than-democratic.)
At the same time, the Alliance sought to engage Russia as much as possible, in order to show that it was not being stigmatized, as Germany had been in the 1920s, and also to see whether there could be a broader, encompassing approach to European security (though without reducing NATO's role and capacities). This left Ukraine sort of in the middle. The answer there was to create for Ukraine a special relationship with NATO, but to postpone any final decisions on its final status in regard to NATO at least until it was seen whether efforts with Russia would succeed.
All these efforts were intelligently conceived and were on the way to implementation. Unfortunately, with changes in the Clinton foreign policy team in Washington in the mid-1990s, followed by the coming to power of the George W. Bush administration, the need for balance between Central Europe and Russia came to be ignored. Russia was seen to be weak and unable to prevent NATO from doing more-or-less anything it wanted to do in regard to membership, under U.S. pressure to continue enlarging; Moscow was viewed as not always cooperative (and some Russian leaders had a similar view of NATO); and NATO "enlargement" came to be seen as a "free good." Perhaps even more important, various countries in Central Europe argued that they could not get on with economic and political developments until they were absolutely sure of their security futures – by which they meant a NATO Article 5 commitment and, even more important, a security commitment by the United States.
The Baltic states also were seen as a special case, given what they had been through following the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact and a half century of Soviet "occupation," plus their close proximity to Russia (two bordering Russia and the third, Lithuania, on Russia-friendly Belarus), and with all having sizeable Russian minority populations. So they were offered membership in NATO and the EU. The Russians didn't like it, but they might have lived with it – even Mr. Putin – but NATO did not stop there. Bulgaria and Romania were brought in, along with Slovakia and Slovenia, then Albania and Croatia. While the last four of these countries could not be of much if any concern to Russia, the idea of NATO's continuing to grow was, at the very least, useful to Mr. Putin in his claims that Russia is being "confronted" by NATO, claims useful with Russian public opinion, still smarting over the loss of superpower status.
The break point came at the NATO Bucharest summit in 2008, when, in order to provide something to U.S. president George W. Bush who was pressing for a "membership action plan" for Ukraine and Georgia, considered to be a step toward full membership, the allies cobbled together what they thought was an anodyne pledge that the two countries "will become members of NATO," meaning that the issue was being put off indefinitely. They did not understand that that statement implied that the two countries would henceforth be covered by NATO's Article 5, in reality, since all of the allies were saying that Ukraine and Georgia would join the alliance. This is certainly the way that the statement was read in Tbilisi and Moscow. The short, sharp conflict in Georgia followed – yet not a single NATO allied came to Georgia's rescue, despite the Bucharest declaration and its clear implication of a security commitment. Rightly or wrongly, Russia saw the Bucharest statement and other Western activities, as an effort to draw Ukraine into the West's orbit. Whether Mr. Putin was truly concerned or just saw this as a propaganda opportunity at home, these developments set the stage for what has followed. They do not justify what Putin has done, but they do show that his misbehavior was not all one-sided in terms of realistic requirements for European political structure, organization, cooperation, and shared security.
To cut a long story short, Montenegro's bid for membership – and this would have been true with any other country's bid for membership – has become a test case: will the Alliance accede to Russian concerns about further NATO enlargement (although Montenegro can be of no intrinsic concern to Moscow)? Or will it show Russia that the "open door" remains a reality (though, from the beginning, it was a bit of a fiction: it surely does not apply to Central Asia) – perhaps in the process foreshadowing the taking in to NATO of other countries about which Russia would be more concerned?
There is a third way of looking at this situation: that the Alliance should instead put the question of further enlargement on hold until there have been further efforts to discover whether it will be possible, with Russia, to craft a form of security cooperation that can work for all countries in Europe and seek to revive President George H.W. Bush's vision of a Europe whole and free and at peace. Perhaps that will never be possible: more's the pity for everyone in and concerned with Europe, its future and its security. But while the proposition of possible Russia-West cooperation on European security is being tested, which might take some considerable time, the question then becomes, "Why enlarge NATO further at this point?" The answer is that there is no reason for doing so. This is particularly so because it is not clear that Montenegro, any more than at least four (and perhaps six) of the recent entrants, brings very much to NATO, other than making management, decision-making, and coalition-building more difficult than it already is.
Should Montenegro (and all other countries in Europe that aspire to it) be members of the Western world, with the economic, political, and social benefits – which, in fact, for most of them is the truest basis for "security? The answer is clearly "Yes." Does that have to mean NATO membership as opposed to less-than-full membership participation in NATO activities, including the Partnership for Peace and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council?" At least for now, the wisest answer, all round, is "No."
Robert Hunter is currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at SAIS and a member of the Board of Directors of The European Institute.
Organized Labor in U.S. and Germany—Will it Survive?
By Michael Mosettig
To the union leaders who occupy offices inside, the big white building just north of Lafayette Square in Washington is known as The House of Labor. Encased on marble, with a view of the White House, it exudes the power that once belonged to leaders of American labor unions to help pick and elect Democratic Party presidents and push their agendas through Congress.
UMD Jean Monnet Research Project
Infrastructure Planning and Financing: Lessons from Europe and the United States
The University of Maryland has received a Jean Monnet grant from the EU to conduct a series of policy exchanges between Europe and the US on filling infrastructure needs and the utility of public/private partnerships as the financing mechanism. If interested in participating in or receiving more information about these exchanges, please contact Rye McKenzie (rmckenzi@umd.edu).
New from the Bertelsmann Foundation
The Bertelsmann Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC with a transatlantic perspective on global challenges.
"The Power of German-American Exchange" by Emily Benson
"Brussels & Berlin | October 2020e" by Nathan Crist
"Trade War 2020" by Emily Hruban
Civil Security
European Stability
European Defense
Weapons Systems
EU-US Relations
Regional Concerns
Trilateral Relations
Finance & Economy
Development and Aid
Financial Architecture Restructuring
National Policies
Regulatory Reforms
Law & Social Policy
Export-Import Controls
Agricultural Policies
Non-Tariff Trade Barriers
TEC Issues
Transatlantic Marketplace
WTO and Other Negotiations
The University of Maryland School of Public Policy will offer an international graduate course in Paris where students will learn the tools of program evaluation and policy analysis.
Organized Labor in U.S. and Germany—Will it Survive? By Michael Mosettig
High Skills versus Family-Based Immigration Policy: Complex Considerations, By Nicholas Zill
World Radio Conference Outcomes, By Patricia Paoletta
How Automation Shapes the Labor Market AND Political Preferences, By Thomas Kurer and Bruno Palier
5G and the World Radio Conference, By Patricia Paoletta
Get updates from EI@UMD


The notice board is a free place for members to post on The Chamber website.
On the notice board you can post: Offers, Requests, Information and more.
What should the content include?
A paragraph detailing what you would like to promote (max 200 words).
Can include up to 2 images.
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Posts will show for a maximum of 3 months.
Each organisation can only have one post up at any given time.


Introducing a prenatal book for guys that doesn t assume he s a meathead Urbane and funny, with wise information and stylish illustration The Pregnancy Book for Men is realistic but not terrifying With an easy to digest, week by week format, this guide will be his go to for all forty weeks Knock Knock is an award winning purveyor of witty books and paper products basedIntroducing a prenatal book for guys that doesn t assume he s a meathead Urbane and funny, with wise information and stylish illustration The Pregnancy Book for Men is realistic but not terrifying With an easy to digest, week by week format, this guide will be his go to for all forty weeks Knock Knock is an award winning purveyor of witty books and paper products based in Venice, CA.
Short enough that you'll finish it quickly, informative enough that you'll learn something new. Recommended.
My partner got me this. We're having our first. I felt like it had some good information for the week to week progression of a developing fetus. It's lack luster when it came to labor and birth. The "man" stereotype wasn't too appreciated. I liked how it broke stuff down. An ok intro, funny in parts, but by no means complete. Fun images.


text:
Q: Persistant Shopping Cart Retains Group Pricing after Session Expire I am noticing that in some cases where sessions expire group prices and other customer data seems to remain even though user is not logged in.
I have persistant shopping cart enabled and set to clear on sign out however did not think this would affect customer groups etc / the types of pages that are served. I feel it's causing the X-Magento Vary cookie to be incorrect and therefore we are seeing unwarmed irrelevant pages with wrong pricing etc in some cases.
The closest I have come to replicating this behaviour is by signing in then deleting the PHPSESSID (which I'm assuming is the one that expires before everything else or just seems to be dropped for some reason or another). I am then left signed out but with incorrect group pricing, X-Magneto Vary cookie etc. I then played with deleting cookies until I found the one that seems to cause all this customer group etc to remain even when signed out which seemed to be persistent_shopping_cart.
Now i'm not sure if PHPSESSID is getting removed to early or persistent shopping cart is misbehaving. I would not of thought it would of caused the cross over of group prices etc and would only effect cart persistence, atleast when it's set to clear on sign out however feel the expiration circumvents this.
Wondering if anyone else has had trouble with similar behaviour and if there is something setup wrong here?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Chairman of the Press Council of India, former Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, rejected all six nominees of the Editors Guild of India, Hindi Samacharpatra Sammelan and All India Newspapers Conference for the constitution of the 13th Press Council.
During the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards held recently, senior editors felt that social media and unedited internet news will overshadow traditional newsrooms.
In his new role, Varun will be handling India News, NewsX, NewsX HD and digital assets and he will be instrumental for providing strategic direction, leading teams and strengthening revenues for the organisations.


Shares of chip maker Microsemi (MSCC) are up 28 cents, or 0.4%, at $64.52, following a report by The Wall Street Journal's Dana Cimilluca and Dana Mattioli saying it is in "advanced talks" to be bought by fellow chip maker MicrochipTechnology (MCHP), citing multiple unnamed sources.
But Mitch Steves of RBC Capital writes today that the rumored price of the deal, according to Cimilluca and Mattioli, something around the "mid-$60s" per share, is too low.
Cash: Keeping the math basic, if we assume Microsemi is acquired for ~$75/share this would result in a total enterprise value of ~$11B. We assume the combination would lead to ~40% operating margins (Microsemi within Microchip) a reasonable $150M in total synergies per year. In addition, we assume a 4.5% interest rate on debt. We emphasize the synergies expectations are conservative given that we think the Company can generate 65%/35% gross and operating margins on a stand-alone basis. Cash and Stock: One wrinkle in our opinion is the current debt load at Microchip. Assuming they want to fund part of the transaction with stock (to keep the interest rate lower), we think a $65 cash/$10 stock transaction could also make sense (explaining the discrepancy in WSJ/Bloomberg reports). Assuming the same $75 stock price and a $90 price for Microchip we get to ~10% accretion for CY19E despite the dilution. Finally, if we push the value into the Mid 80s, the math looks less attractive at low single accretion. This gives us a band of ~$70-85/sh for take-out potential.
Microchip shares are up 3.5%, or 4%, at $89.91.
Shares of chip maker Microsemi (MSCC) are up 28 cents, or 0.


Five Master of Landscape Architecture students entered an international student competition for the redesign of a portion of the Nairobi River running through the centre of Nairobi.
The students proposed creative solutions to the challenges facing cities and the design and planning of rivers that run through them.
Three of the students were placed in the top four, including wining first prize of $1000.
The competition was judged by five international landscape architects with the award ceremony being held at the International Federation of Landscape Architects Africa Symposium held in the first week of October in Nairobi.
The student's projects were praised for the high quality of the landscape architectural concepts, the level of innovation, the depth of ecological aspects and the feasibility of the overall projects.
Click thumbnails to view large..
Good article. it was good reading through this. i have learnt a lot from it. Thank you.


text:
KC Radio hits the same demographic as the late Gen X 99.7
Casey Greenfield,
Good news for those mourning the loss of Gen X 99.7: According to Facebook and Twitter, KC Radio returned to Internet radio this afternoon to broadcast music from the '80s and '90s.
KCRadio.com is an Internet radio station that is owned and operated by local radio personality Kelly Urich. It was founded in January 2009 and has had a lot of local public figures involved, including Bryan Busby and Andrew Cook (the brother of American Idol winner David Cook).
Here's what Urich told us about KC Radio:
Gen X 99.7 FM was incredibly popular with a small demographic of people. Unfortunately, not enough to survive in the world of advertising. I have this radio station in my basement and I thought it would be a welcome relief to — instead of blowing up a station and that's the end — give an option for people who listen at work, or people with smart phones who really want '80s and '90s.
Tags: radio


I did it! I finished Beloved. It wasn't easy, but I did enjoy my time reading it. It's an intricate book with a complicated story, but it's one worth reading.
So far, I'm also enjoying this book, but I'm probably not going to be able to read it quickly. I have to read the pages a little slower than usual to grasp the intricacies of Achebe's words.
This entry was posted in books and tagged Chinua Achebe, literary fiction, weekly reads. Bookmark the permalink.
Things Fall Apart is very powerful, but I agree that it's not a quick read! Have a wonderful week!
Now I'll feel better about being slow! I hope you have a wonderful week as well.
Beloved was good, and I'm hoping for the same from Things Fall Apart. Have a good week!


This is probably a good place to talk about some things that make life much easier when it comes to building your own computer. The Thermaltake case is a real dream to work with. Lots of removable parts such as the disk cage make room to install the motherboard and to run cables like the data and power for all those SATA disk drives. Another really nice touch is the attention to detail with things like no sharp edges. Most cheap cases have just the opposite and seem to reach out and cut any finger or knuckle coming anywhere near it.
Another welcome addition for this review was the Thermaltake Blacx disk dock. It has a patented design permitting hot-swapping of drives with support for 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives. Interfaces include USB and e-SATA for super fast data transfers. This baby works great with the MSI motherboard we're using to quickly move data around between different disk drives. It also makes it really easy to install various operating systems to multiple drives without the need for removing or installing them internally.
Speaking of operating systems, we have gathered a number of different candidates to test out on our new testbed. Our first target will be virtualization options including both open source options like KVM and Xen, and "free" solutions like ESXi from VMWare. After that we'll look at specific server distributions like Ubuntu Server Edition and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Both of these distributions have virtualization support as well.
It's probably a good idea to anticipate problems when building your own computer system. If you expect it and get through the process without any, then you're all the better for it. It's also a good idea to know where to look for answers when the problems do crop up. MSI has a great forum with answers to lots of problems that others have already encountered and solved. Google is always a great place to start, and don't forget the option to search through news groups.
Now that we have the basic system up and running, it's easy to see that it will be a screamer. The combination of the latest AMD processor and 8GB of memory will make it the perfect platform to test out all the current virtualization options. With the hardware up and running the rest should be easy.


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Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a condition that leads to inflammation in the spine, hip bones, and other joints of the body, leading to pain and damage to the joints. There is no cure for the disease and inadequate understanding of its root cause. With ongoing research, scientists aim to uncover the underlying cause of the disease so that more effective drugs can be developed to slow, prevent or cure it.
Inflammation can be caused by the immune system reacting to a perceived threat. In conditions like AS, the immune system can mistakenly attack and damage healthy tissues. The reason why the immune system starts targeting the joints in AS is unknown.
Recent research has identified potential pathways and specific genes that play a role in the immune system and could be associated with AS. For example, particular forms of a gene called ERAP1 could be involved in AS, as it may affect the HLA-B27 gene, which is known to be associated with the condition. Another study identified that defects in a particular type of immune cell (called regulatory T-cells) could contribute to the development of the disease, and could be a therapeutic target.
As scientists uncover more genes that could be involved in AS, drugs that specifically target them can be designed. This could result in AS-specific therapies that are more effective at treating the condition.
Currently, there are many new or repurposed drugs in clinical trials begin tested to determine if they are safe and have a clinical benefit in patients with AS. Many of these are new biologics, which block specific targets that are involved in the immune response. Examples of potential new treatments are described below.
Pfizer is testing its rheumatoid arthritis product, Xeljanz (tofacitinib citrate) as a potential AS treatment. Results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT01786668), published in the scientific journal Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, assessed Xeljanz in patients with AS. Findings suggested that the treatment was safe, and showed a clear reduction of symptoms in AS patients compared to a placebo.
Galapagos is developing filgotinib, a drug that inhibits the same target as Xeljanz. Filgotinib has shown positive results in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and a Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT03117270) called TORTUGA is actively recruiting participants with AS to assess the safety and effectiveness of the drug.
AbbVie is planning a Phase 2b/3 trial (NCT03178487) called SELECT Axis 1 to test the safety and effectiveness of upadacitinib compared to a placebo in patients with AS.
Other examples include bimekizumab by UCB Biopharma being tested in Phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02963506), BCD-085 by Biocad (also in Phase 2 clinical trial) (NCT02763111) and Arcoxia (etoricoxib) by Merck Sharp & Dohme (NCT01327638).


A contemporary closet must-have, this crop top promises to match perfectly with just about anything in your wardrobe. A sleeveless crop top with a high crew neckline. Made from a stretchy, ribbed material that hugs your curves.


Raleigh, NC––Tasked with providing audio for 11 concerts in a row at Dorton Arena featuring artists ranging from Vanilla Ice to comedy artist James Gregory, country stalwart Trace Adkins, Gospel luminary Tamela Mann and Christian Rock's Newsboys, RMB Audio already faced a daunting assignment at this year's NC State Fair.
The actual system consisted of a main hang with 12 MLA Compact enclosures per side, a side hang with 8 MLA Compacts per side, and 6 Martin Audio W8LMD (downfill) as lip fill. Ample low end was provided by 12 DSX subs ground-stacked in two rows of 6 standing on end with the two outer enclosures slightly angled out.
Asked about the MLA Compact's other attributes, Roger points out the enclosure's lighter weight and wider dispersion, but the main advantage is still its output control capability.
"It used to be when you had someone speaking into a microphone in the arena, the reflections would kill all speech intelligibility. With MLA, that's not a problem. When we first brought it into Dorton three years ago it was quite a shock. Now that we've switched to MLA's for outfill to kill the reflections coming off the glass, the clarity for spoken word has continued to improve dramatically.
"Everyone was pleased with the system, adds Dennis, "especially Newsboys FOH Engineer John O'Neal who was very impressed with what we could do with the rig because he's been in Dorton before with an older system. One of his last comments to me during this show was 'everything from 300Hz and above is completely clear. We could hear everything.' John and I walked the entire venue during the sound check as did several engineers who put their head right next to the glass and they said it sounded exactly the same as it did down at the mix position.