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Home > MT > Great Falls > Healthy Places > Spry in Big Sky: Great Falls Residents' Great Advantage
Spry in Big Sky: Great Falls Residents' Great Advantage
Great Falls helps residents stay healthy and active.
By Cary Estes on February 6, 2021
Courtesy of Visit Great Falls
Nothing is stealthy about the way health is approached in Great Falls.
In fact, spend just a matter of minutes in the region, and you'll find ample evidence of the community's commitment to wellness, from the outdoor recreation opportunities to state-of-the-art medical facilities.
"We have a very active community with fantastic hospitals and doctors," says Clark Carlson-Thompson, president of Get Fit Great Falls. "There's just a wide variety of ways people can stay healthy here."
Great Falls Residents Live Life to the Fullest
Get Fit Great Falls partners with area schools, government agencies, nonprofits and local businesses to create healthy and enjoyable events and activities, like organized hikes, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, and programs focused on nutritious eating. The coalition also partners with the Building Active Communities Initiative to promote fitness through simple actions like painting crosswalks to encourage walking downtown.
"It's just a real community effort designed to help improve the lives of the people here," Carlson- Thompson says.
Into the Great Outdoors
It's not unusual that the region's scenic beauty encourages residents to spend time outside. Folks in the area flock to River's Edge Trail, which stretches nearly 60 miles along the Missouri River, enabling hikers, joggers and cyclists to enjoy spectacular views while exercising.
For more than four decades, the arrival of spring in Great Falls has been celebrated with the Ice Breaker Road Race, open to runners and walkers.
Get Active in Great Falls Year Round
Short on skis or a paddleboard? You won't be for long – all kinds of outdoor equipment can be rented from Big Horn Outdoor Specialists. Meanwhile, cyclists can take advantage of a new rental program formed by Great Falls High School's Business Professionals of America club and SCHEELS sporting goods store.
Indoor activities will soon receive a boost with the planned construction of a $20 million aquatics and recreation center. Erica McNamee, community recreation center supervisor for the City of Great Falls, says the new facility will include a pool for lap swimming, a therapy pool, at least two basketball courts and fitness classrooms, among other things.
Care is Covered
Even though Great Falls takes a preventative approach to health, inevitably, issues will occasionally occur. But the region has this covered, too, thanks to Benefis Health System, Alluvion Health and the Great Falls Clinic.
As Great Falls' largest private-sector employer, Benefis has invested more than $400 million in new facilities and related technology since 2004. The system includes the Sletten Cancer Institute, Heart and Vascular Institute and Orthopedic Center of Montana, and an Emergency Department that is a Level II trauma center.
"In each specialty area, our patients get personalized care that considers not just their physical health, but their emotional well-being, as well," says Kaci Husted, Benefis vice president of communications and business development.
Great Falls Minds the Gender Pay Gap
On the horizon is a Women's and Children's Center that is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
"This new facility will change the way women and children in our community access health care," Husted says. "It will provide an exceptional, calming environment for the families of our community to gather, receive first-class health care and experience pivotal moments all under one roof."
If you'd like to learn more about the Great Falls area, check out the latest edition of Livability Great Falls, MT.


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Home >Miscellaneous>Mediaeval Roads:Evidence from Charters >Stirling & Clackmannanshire
Stirling & Clackmannanshire
The maps below are based on the 1" OS map, sheet 39, 1906; the 1/2" map, sheet 23, 1913; the 1" map, sheet 64, 1926; the 1/4" map, sheet 3, Forth & Tay, 1923. With thanks to Ordnance Survey.
The charters referred to below can be found in the Registrum Monasterii de Cambuskenneth, AD 1147-1535, The Grampian Club, Edinburgh 1872.
Stirling - Road to the Ships Stirling - The Lang Causey St Ninian's Bridge of Earn Ford
Fuleche - Abbot's Carriage Road Tillicoultry Stirling - Road to Cuiltedouenald Bridge of Dunkeld Pontoon bridge
- Edward I
Stirling (town) Arngask Towns (Edinburgh, Berwick, Perth) Ferry Boat of Hood
There was also a gift of land and access to a petary near Kirkintilloch (see Dumbartonshire)
Most of the roads below are mentioned in charters of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth which lies just across the river from Stirling. Founded by David I around 1140 it became one of the weathiest monasteries in Scotland.
Most of the references are to local roads and tracks. Thus the road to the ships led down to the Shore at Stirling which could be reached by boats of the day. A little further on would take one opposite the abbey. One at Arngask led between the church and village. Several streets in towns are mentioned including St Mary's Wynd in Stirling that led from the castle towards the abbey. There would also have been tracks to the abbey's granges and to mills, though these are not mentioned.
There were a couple of longer routes from Stirling. The Lang Causey led north from the forerunner of the existing old bridge for a mile across marshy ground and to the south a main road led to St Ninians. Both of these are likely to have given access to major routes; the Lang Causey in fact accessed a via regia that ran along the foot of the Ochils and is mentioned in the Tillicoultry charter. The abbot's "great carriage road" probably crossed the Forth at the Abbey Ford and either went directly to Throsk where the abbots had a residence or joined a pre-existing route between Stirling and Airth.
Bridges and ferries are mentioned: apart from Stirling, there was the Bridge of Earn giving access to Perth and one at Dunkeld and there were ferries just east and west of the abbey, at Hood and at the Abbey Ford.
The most unusual reference is to a pontoon bridge built by Edward I for his campaign of 1303 so that he could bypass Stirling in his progress north. It is said to have contained close to 300 pontoons which would easily have spanned the Forth, probably somewhere above Kincardine. After use, it was put into storage at Berwick but brought north again for the campaign against Stirling Castle before finally being broken up and used in various building works.
Stirling - road to the ships
Three charters, dating from 1195, 1207 and circa 1150 respectively, refer to a road leading down from Stirling to the ships, as follows:
Charter 25, page 43
the land which lies on the bank of the Forth between Pulmille and the road leading down from Stirling to the ships
...terram que adiacet ripe de Forth inter Pulmille et viam que discendit de Striueling ad naues…(Abstract, page 330)
the land near the bank of the Forth between Polmilna and the road leading down from Stirling to the ships..
….terram que est iuxta ripam de Forth inter Polmilna et viam que discendit de Striuelingth ad naues...(Abstract, page 332)
Charter 190, page 278
.... the land lying between the Forth and the road leading from Stirling to the ships as far as the stream which comes down from the King's mill on the Forth..
.... terram que jacet inter Forth et viam que descendit de Striueling ad naues vsque ad riuum qui descendit a molendino regis in Forth..(Abstract page 388)
Interpretation The road is shown on the above map and presumably continued as far as the point opposite the abbey. The mill referred to is probably the Burgh Mill which was served by a stream on which there was a dam just south of the mill (see 1st edition 6" map).
Fuleche - Abbot's Carriage Road
This charter, dating from around 1200, confirms an earlier grant of land adjacent to the abbey's carriage road leading past meadows near the Forth, viz.
Charter by Malcolm, the son of Malcolm the son of Roger, with advice and consent of his parents and friends, confirming the grant which Roger his grandfather and Malcolm his father made to the church of St.Mary of Cambuskenneth and the canons thereof, of the whole land adjacent to the west side of the Abbot's great carriage road leading to the meadows belonging to the burgesses, and so onwards to the Forth and to the river Fuleche, which falls into the Forth, and to a small sike which falls into the Fuleche from the east, and along by certain rocks back to the Abbot's great carriage road (Abstract, page 357)
... scilicet, totam terram penes occidentalem partem adjacent magne vie quadrigarum abbatis que tendit vsque ad prata burgensium, et ita vsque ad aquam de Forth, et sic contra aquam de Forth descendentem vsque in quendam riuum qui vocatur Fuleche descendentem in Forth, et sic contra cursum de Fuleche vsque in quendam paruum sicum ab oriente descendentem in Fuleche, et tunc penes orientem vsque ad quamdam petram, deinde vero penes australem plagam vsque ad alteram petram, et deinceps penes orientem vsque ad terciam petram, et ita in prenominatam magnam viam quadrigarum abbati (original text, page 136)
Possible course of the Abbot's "Great Carriage Road". Another possibility is that there may have been a track of sorts between Stirling and Airth, and that the Abbot's road took a shorter route to join this before continuing to Throsk. Airth, which existed at the time, is about 4 miles beyond Throsk.
An entry in James Ronald's Landmarks of Old Stirling, 1899 (page 115) locates the road at the Borrowmeadow, saying: "Borrow-manis-meadow, also called the Meadows of the Burgesses, occupied a loop of the Forth on the south side opposite to Cambuskenneth, and is first brought before our notice in the year 1200 (entry above). The Abbots of Cambuskenneth had their residence at Throsk, and reference is made in that year to the "Abbots great carriage road leading past the Meadows of the burgesses," evidently from Throsk to the Abbey Ford."
This accords very well with the charter if we take the Fuleche to be the same as the burn to the east of the Town Burn under the Ferry Boat of Hood entry below. In addition, Fuleche is in this area as noted in a paper on Old Place-Names In And Near Stirling (The Stirling Antiquary - see page 170, Fuleth) .
Stirling (town)
Several charters relating to property mention St Mary's Vennel (a vennel is a narrow lane) and the common king's highway leading to the castle, in Stirling, viz:
.....lying in the vennel of the blessed Mary (St Mary's Vennel) on the east side of the same (school) which was Laurencii Dridane's from the north side of a tenement of a certain Walter Galbraith and on the south side of the king's street...
.....jacente in vinella beate Marie ex parte orientali eiusdem quod fuit quondam Laurencii Dridane ex parte boreali tenementi quondam Walteri Galbraith et ex parte australi vici regii (dated 1481)
...in the vennel of St Mary the Virgin on the western side of the same and the land of Thome Horne on the south side and the common vennel leading to the castle of the said burgh on the north side....
.....in vinella sancte Marie Virginis ex parte occidentali eiusdem et terram Thome Horne ex parte australi et communem vinellam ducentem ad castrum dicti burgi ex parte boreali (dated 1481)
… in the vennel of Sancte Marie between the land of Thome Horne on the south side, and the common king's highway leading to the castle of the said burgh, on the north side
….in vinella Sancte Marie inter terram Thome Horne ex parte australi, et communem viam regiam ducentem ad castrum dicti burgi ex parte boreali (dated 1482)
This charter of 1412 mentions a Hillwynd in Stirling, leading to the bridge:
......lying in the burgh of Stirling and in the street called Hilweynd leading to, and opposite, the bridge of Forth from the western side of the same...
......jacens in burgo de Striueling et in vico qui dicitur Hilweynd, ducente et aduersus pontem de Forth ex parte occidentali eiusdem
Stirling - The Lang Causey
This ran from the bridge up to the spittal at Airthry (Causewayhead). James Ronald (Landmarks of Old Stirling, page 124) discusses a document dating from 1220 that records a dispute between the convent of North Berwick and Dunfermline Abbey over the tithes of Airthry and Cornton that mentions the road. The bridge would have been the forerunner of the present day old bridge, and is thought to have been about 180 yards upstream from this.
Relevant extracts from the document are:
- from the head of the Causeway at the point next to the hospital, as far as the peat moss of Airthrey;
- and the piece of land on the east side of the road which leads from the hospital to the town of Airthrey;
- hold in peace the tithes of the hospital lands lying betwixt the Causeway and Cornton.
The fact of this being a causeway is suggestive of it being the Roman road that passed through or close to Stirling but this is not certain. The ground it crossed was very marshy so it could have been a necessary complement to the bridge and contemporary with it.
In this charter, dating from c.1300, Colin Cambell, Lord of Tullicultry, granted the abbey and the church of Tillicoutry, 10 acres of land, along with two oxen to help with the tilling, viz.
Ten acres of arable land lying in the territory of Tillicoultry, namely, as the said land stretches from the said church by a path to the north, then proceeding west as far as the king's highway, and from the said church as a stream extends and flows on the east to the same king's highway towards the south…
... decem acras terre arabilis jacentes infra territorium de Tullicultre, videlicet, sicut dicta terra se extendit de dicta ecclesia per semitam in aquilone procedentem versus occidentem vsque ad viam regiam, et de dicta ecclesia sicut riuus se extendit et currit in parte orientali vsque ad eandem viam regiam versus merediem
The same land is mentioned in charter 223, page 316 (dated 1315) in almost exactly the same terms.
The church was sited near Tillicoultry House (NMRS record) and although it and the cemetery are not shown on the 1st edition 6" map, the stream is. It is now in a housing estate.
The via regia appears to be the old road that ran along the foot of the Ochils, parallel to and about half a kilometre north of the turnpike, now the A91. It is interesting to see that the towns along this route like Alva, Tillicoultry and Dollar originally had their centres where this road passed through. The 1st series of the 1" map (Sheet 39, Stirling) shows sections of the road along its length.
It is hoped to form a "Hillfoots Way" using existing sections of the old road (see Ochils Landscape Partnership). Background details of the road and a description of existing stretches with photos can be found on Jimpson's Links - The Old Statute Labour Road along the Hillfoots
Arringrosk (Arngask)
Charter 22, page 34; see also page 327-8
In this charter of 1527, granting some land to be used for the manse, gardens and buildings of the chaplain serving the church of Arngask, there is mention of a road, viz:
....also two acres of land adjoining the cemetery of the said church on the south side of the same, and on the south side of a certain path or road which goes from the said cemetery to the nearby vill of Arryngrosk, (to be used) for the manse, garden, and buildings of the said lord Willelmi (the priest) and his succesors at the chapel...
.....necnon et duas acras terre continuo adiacentes cemiterio dicte ecclesie ad partem australem eiusdem, et ex parte australi cuiusdam semite seu vie qua itur de dicto cemiterio ad villam de Arryngrosk adiacentes, pro manso, ortis et edificiis dicti domini Willelmi et suorum successorum capellanorum (see also Abstract, page 328)
Although the church and cemetery can be identified, the Military Survey map shows the manse to the south-east of the kirk, close to where Arngask House is now rather than to the north-east as shown on more recent maps. This suggests the path was along this line, though presumably very short.
In the middle ages, the main route from Kinross to the Bridge of Earn and Perth ran through what is now the village of Glenfarg.
St Ninians, Kirktown
Charter by David, Bishop of St. Andrews, granting to the church of St. Ninian of Kirketoun, in name of endowment, that land which lay near the church, on the north side, between the great road from Stirling to Kirketoun and the footpath leading from the said road to the Bishop's houses near the church 1242 (Abstract, page 359)
.... concessisse et hac carta nostra confirmasse Deo et ecclesie Sancti Niniani de Kirketoun, nomine dotis, terram illam que iacet prope dictam ecclesiam in parte aquilonari, inter magnam stratam que se extendit de Striueling vsque Kirketoun et semitam que procedit de ilia magna strata et se extendit usque domos episcopi sitas iuxta predictam ecclesiam... (original text, page 142)
From Adair's map (1685) and the Military Survey (c.1750), both of which show roads, this is very likely to be the old main road shown on the map (a new road runs to the east of this). James Ronald (Landmarks of Old Stirling, 1899, page 151-152) suggests the footpath was the one shown on the above map that led off this road and went to Braehead and Calton - it is now built over (see 25" map, Stirlingshire 017.07, 1897).
De escambio terre de Striuelin
On an exchange of land in Stirling
Register of Dunfermline: Charter 72, page 39. Barrow dated 1165x1174
This charter relates to King William compensating the abbey for encroaching on some of their land when making a park to the south-west of the castle. It mentions a magna strata leading south from Stirling to Cuiltedouenald. G W S Barrow suggests this might have been in St Ninian's parish. The following translation is from Stirling Castle, Eric Stair-Kerr, 1913 page 11/12
"William King of Scots to all good men of his whole realm greeting. Know that I have granted and given and by this charter have confirmed to God and the Church of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline and the monks there serving God and to the Chapel of my Castle of Stirling in exchange for their land which I formerly included in my park, when I first enclosed my park, the land which is between their land which they have outside the park and the boundary of the land of Kirkton, and on the other side the land which is between Cambusbarron - the land of Peter of Stirling - and the land of Roger, son of Odo, as the highway (magna strata) leads to Cuiltedouenald, as Richard Morville, the constable, Robert Avenel, the justiciar, Ralph the sheriff and Peter of Stirling have marked it out: to be held in perpetual alms. Witnessed by Richard de Morville, constable, Robert Avenel, justiciar, Alan, son of the Steward, Adam, son of Thomas, Roger de Voloniis, Ralph, Sheriff of Stirling, Peter of Stirling, Walter de Berkeley, Richard the clerk, At Stirling."
See also G W S Barrow, RRS II, The Acts of William I, 1971, pps 206/7, 494
This charter mentions a via regia in Stirling.
Towns (Edinburgh, Berwick, Perth)
Charter 96, page 127 Edinburgh
Mention of Cougait
Page xxiii, Berwick
land in St. Mary's Street in the town of Berwick
Charter 195, page 281 Perth
This concerned a croft of land lying near the place of the Carthusians of Perth on the north side and the common way on the western side.
.....jacentis prope locum Cartusiensium de Perth ex parte boreali et occidentali vie communis
The monastery is thought to have been in King Street near to Canal Street, and to have been established in 1426.
Bridge of Earn
This charter, dating from 1530 and relating to part of the lands of Kintulach, refers to the Bridge of Erne, viz.
...lying in the parish of Dunbarney, near the Bridge of Erne, in the shire of Perth
...infra parochial de Dunberny prope pontem de Erne infra vicecomitatum de Perth (for further information see Abstract, page 384)
Bridge of Dunkeld
This charter, dating from 1260, mentions the bridge of Dunkeld.
Ferry Boat of Hood
Page cxvii In a document of 1709 on the disposal of the lands of Cambuskenneth there is a mention of the ferry boat of Hood.
A footnote on page cxviii says, "In a recent question as to the salmon-fishings in the Forth, it is explained that the lands contained in that disposition are situated on the left bank of the Forth, and extend from a considerable distance, at least a mile above the shore or harbour of Stirling, as far down as the Ruddery Pow, about a mile below the shore of Stirling. The farm of Hood begins within the upper march mentioned at the point marked "Ferry," on the map referred to, and runs down near to the Ruddery Pow along the river side all the way."
The map shows Hood and the ferry. The only uncertainty is the identification of Ruddery Pow. From the ferry to the Town Burn is 1380 yards, and 2400 yards to the stream east of this. As a mile in 1707 would have been approximately 1976 yards rather than 1760 yards, the Ruddery Pow could have been either of these streams.
"On 1st June 1604, the Magistrates of Stirling directed that the ford at the back of the Abbey, and beside the Blackwilly, be red and cleaned of the stones therein, which stopped the passage of the same."
From page cxi of the Register. Original reference from Records of the Town of Stirling, vol.1597 to 1619.
This must be the ford to the east of the abbey as seen on the above map.
Pontoon Bridge - Edward I
In volume 2 (no.1375) of the Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland (edited by Joseph Bain, Edinburgh, 1884) details are given of preparations carried out in King's Lynn for the construction of a pontoon bridge to be used in Edward I's Scottish campaign of 1303-4. He had wanted a bridge in 1302 but it was delayed through lack of funds. A similar bridge had been constructed at Anglesey in 1283.
The purpose of the bridge was to outflank the obstacle of Stirling Castle which guarded the route to the north. There were English garrisons north of the Forth which were linked by the sea and by ferries to the south of Scotland but these would be insufficient to transport and supply an invading army.
In his paper, Wall-Breakers and River-Bridgers: Military Engineers in the Scottish Wars of Edward I, Journal of British Studies, v.10, 1971, A. Z. Freeman gives additional details of the construction which make clear what a huge undertaking it was. Some 300 pontoons were made, of three types, main, middle and fixed and were taken by sea from King's Lynn by 30 vessels. Spares were held at Berwick while the bulk were sent up to the Forth.
The Forth between Kincardine and Stirling. In the middle ages the river was wider and may have had a slightly different course in places.
It is not at all certain where the bridge was placed. The number of pontoons would easily allow a crossing of hundreds of yards which would make it feasible for it to be placed upriver from Kincardine where the river today is half a mile wide. It is unlikely to have been placed much higher than Alloa as this would take it too near to Stirling.
The bridge did not take long to erect and was crossed in early June 1303 with the king spending a day or two at Clackmannan, although Pierre de Langtoft (The Chronicle of Pierre de Langtoft, vol.2, p.349), a contemporary chronicler, says it was not needed though it is hard to see how infantry and baggage trains could cross the Forth unless water levels were extremely low at any fording point.
Once Edward had finished his campaign in the north he turned his attention to Stirling. Watson (p.234) refers to documents that show that the bridge was to be brought to Blackness and then to the king who was staying at Cambuskenneth across the river from Stirling.
The final mention of the bridges is in 1304-5 under item 1722 (CDS) where "all the timber, boards, apparatus and other machinery of the bridges made by the King for his crossing Forth, which remain in the Chamberlain's custody at Berwick-on-Tweed" were to be used for building works in several locations.
Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, edited by Joseph Bain, Edinburgh, 1884, Vol.2, (no.1375)
Haskell, Michael Alexander (1991) The Scottish campaign of Edward I, 1303-4, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6101/
Watson, Fiona Jane (1991) Edward I in Scotland: 1296-1305. PhD thesis. Glasgow University. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2222/
Wall-Breakers and River-Bridgers: Military Engineers in the Scottish Wars of Edward I, A. Z. Freeman, Journal of British Studies, v.10.1971

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Jalada 09: Nostalgia, Non-fiction
"City of Memories" by Mayor Prosper Ihechi
When my father died, I found it preposterous that we should leave him in a graveyard, that we should cover him with sand and just walk away. He, who used to shower and change twice a day, pat his chin with expensive eau de cologne, wear nothing that was not freshly ironed. Sparkling white shirts without a speck of dust, the fashionable suits he travelled in, shining shoes. It seemed to me outrageous that he would be left to fend for himself in the outskirts of Umdurman, without his radio, his Guardian overseas edition, his tiny notebook in which he wrote in careful beautiful script the telephone numbers of everyone he valued.
My father was buried in the family graveyard, right next to his brother, close to his cousins and other brothers. It was where he would have wanted to be. A place that was completely his, of him, close to where he was born and grew up. A place he had visited time and again. It had good vibes, generations of the same family, thick bloodlines and continuity. I liked its peaceful expansive atmosphere, its laden histories but still when the day came to leave my father there, where he now belonged, it felt like a violation. The freshly dug sand moist and dark above his grave rose puckered like a troubled wound.
A couple of years earlier, my father and I had gone together to the graveyard, so that I could pay my respects to all the uncles and aunts who had died while I was away. My father sat on the ledge of his brother's grave, in the same spot where he was later buried. He was matter of fact, not unduly sentimental. Although it was a sombre visit, there was still between us the happiness that I, my husband and children were visiting from abroad. In our honour, my father had put up new curtains in the house, made sure all the light bulbs were working, spread new sheets on the beds. Throughout my childhood only important guests got this treatment. To my delight, I had become one of them.
My father died in 2008. If he were to come back to life now, there would be lots to explain. He had missed out on Obama as president, What's App, China in Africa, Islamophobia (the word not the concept), Brexit (the word not the concept), #MeToo (not the concept of course); he had missed out on Dubai as a holiday destination, the secession of South Sudan, a Muslim mayor for London, the weak sterling, the hotter summers, Egyptians keeping pets, Netflix, online shopping, the Arab spring, the Asian Tiger, the Syrian civil war, the Indonesian tsunami and the overthrow of Omar el Bashir. He had missed out on the virus. Corona, I would say, yes, remember Mama's car, it's spreading, there's a lockdown. And no, even the West does not have a cure, believe it or not, even European are dying in the thousands though with stiff upper lips and there is public anger but no signs of grief. ''I don't believe you, Leila,'' he would say. ''You're talking nonsense.''
To reassure him, because I wouldn't want him to be frightened, I wouldn't want to spoil the mood, the special event of his coming back to life I would say, the Queen is still going strong, the tennis at Wimbledon, the power cuts, Ethiopian Airlines, the Guardian is still going strong. I had never forgotten his special weekly overseas edition, its pages tissues folded small in an envelope. His lovely trust in it; the pleasure he took in the rustle of its fragility. ''Look,'' I would say, ''how much I am like you now!'' Reaching out for my phone first thing in the morning, scrolling for the news. He used to balance his transistor radio on his stomach. It was the first sound I heard waking up, the reassuring pompous notes of the BBC World Service.
If my father were to come back to life, there would be a lot to say. How my children were doing, what they were up to, now that they were young adults. I would brag about how much like him I had become. Who could have seen that coming? I too feel shy in the company of my children's spouses, I too travel with ease (at least I did before the lockdown), am wary of escalators, love a good gossip. I too am baffled by aggression; I too can't be bothered with small details or going out of my way to eat special things. I too get moody on my own unless I am reading. My hair hasn't yet turned white and my neck and shoulders ache. I too am perplexed by zippers and changing batteries, for him it was the batteries of torches and remote controls, for me it is the batteries of card readers and fashion watches. But I imagine my father now back to life, would become restless and unsettled. Where are my brothers, he would ask? Where is my best friend, my crowd, the movers and shakers, the ones with the news, where are my people? He grew up in a teaming household, ten brothers and sisters, countless cousins, innumerable friends. The nuclear family remained a novelty to him. On my own, I was never enough to hold his attention, not obtrusive enough. I was small in his eyes and only big in his heart, valuable but a responsibility. Finding himself in the 2020s, he would want to return to a world in which he was young again. Not be a father to a middle-aged woman.
And true I was like him. I too would want to return to the past, my past, to be with him when he knew everything, and I knew little. Before I had the choice and ability to disobey him. Before I started to needle him, to talk back, like girls talk back, sly, sharp, judgemental. I wasted so much time, not arguing (that might have been useful, might have honed me some debating skill). Instead I squandered time on an excessive focus on his faults, the needle thin dig, the sarcastic reply, just that one beat away from impudence. Baiting him while he was sweet and distracted, generous and optimistic. In comparison to children nowadays, I did know my place, was not disobedient or problematic. But that is not a defence of my adolescent rudeness.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, ''Remember and mention the virtues of your deceased.'' This comforts me because I cannot help but constantly remember my father, dream of him, see him in myself and in others. I spend considerable time dwelling on him. I am conscious of the times he lived in, the kind of education he received and did not receive, the cultural norms he operated within and at times rebelled against. The times he spoke out and the situations in which he was silent. All the things he profoundly understood, all the projects he strove for. The ways in which he was progressive and the positions in which he was traditional. His aspirations and his loyalties.
There was my father, the youngest son born and bred in Umdurman losing his mother at the age of two. Sleeping in the open air, eating with his fingers, playing football in the alley. There was my father at Trinity College, Dublin- a child runs across the road to rub his arm and then looks down at his fingers in surprise. There was my father walking barefoot through our house Khartoum, my feet are exactly like his feet. My father stopping the car on the way back from work to buy a watermelon and bananas, being harangued by his oldest sister, at the edge of his seat because Manchester United were winning. There was my father a teenager in the 40s, a university student in the 50s, a father in the 60s. In all these black and white photos, he saw life in colour and things around him, through his eyes, were modern.
People often say, ''My father taught me this and my father taught me that…'' Parents teach all the time, every second, every minute but the child can only understand what echoes within her own soul. And different children pick up different aspects, translate and misinterpret, extrapolate, revise, reinterpret. Sometimes I phone my brother and ask, ''Why did Baba do this or why didn't he do that?'' My brother's answer would sound like a memory of an aspect of my father that I had forgotten, an angle I overlooked. I keep remembering, gathering details, making connections, understanding better. Playing the game, ''I am now the same age as he was when this, that and the other happened…'' It goes on and on because a whole life cannot be lassoed into a single explanation.
Featured images courtesy of author.
Leila Aboulela is a Sudanese author and the first winner of the Caine Prize. Her latest books include the novel Bird Summons and the short story collection Elsewhere, Home, winner of the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year. Leila's work has received critical recognition and a high profile for its distinctive exploration of migration and Islamic spirituality. Her previous novels are The Kindness of Enemies, The Translator, a New York Times 100 Notable Books of the year, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize. Leila's work has been translated into fifteen languages and she was long-listed three times for the Orange Prize. Leila was born in Cairo, grew up in Khartoum and now lives in Aberdeen. She is Honorary President of the SSSUK-the Society for the Study of the Sudans, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
"Forgetting Daddy" by Ufuoma Bakporhe


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USA Sets Summer Premiere Dates for 'Suits,' Graceland,' 'Playing House,' and More
At their annual Upfront presentation, USA Network announced their summer premiere lineup including returning shows Suits, Graceland, Playing House, Royal Pains and Chrisley Knows Best. The network also revealed series premiere dates for their new dramas Mr. Robot and Complications.
Hacker drama Mr. Robot, starring Christian Slater (The Adderall Diaries) and Rami Malek (The Pacific), will premiere on Wednesday, June 24 at 10/9c. The series recently won the SXSW Audience Awards and is an official selection of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Burn Notice creator Matt Nix returns to the network this summer as the creator and executive producer of Complications, an unpredictable thriller starring Jason O'Mara (Terra Nova) and Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl). The series premieres with a two-hour event, featuring new back-to-back one-hour episodes on Thursday, June 18 at 9/8c.
The cabler also announced that they are expanding their commitment to the live action entertainment company WWE, bringing SmackDown to its lineup in 2016, joining Monday Night Raw and reality series WWE Tough Enough.
USA provided series descriptions and schedule information:
(Photo by: Patrick Harbron/USA Network)
CHRISLEY KNOWS BEST 9/8c
Season three of CHRISLEY KNOWS BEST promises even more over–the-top Todd Chrisley moments, as he and his wife Julie continue to raise their two teenagers, Chase and Savannah, eight-year-old son Grayson and two-year-old granddaughter Chloe – all under one roof. The 18-episode third season will air in two parts with 12 episodes this summer.
ROYAL PAINS 10/9 c
Season seven of ROYAL PAINS brings us back to the sun-drenched Hamptons with Hank (Mark Feuerstein) setting his sights on obtaining what's been missing in his life, while Evan (Paulo Costanzo) juggles his promotion with his desire to start a family with Paige (Brooke D'Orsay) and Divya (Reshma Shetty) fights to keep her family together. The series also stars Ben Shenkman and Campbell Scott.
Jason O'Mara as Dr. John Ellison — (Photo by: Daniel McFadden/USA Network)
COMPLICATIONS 9/8c and 10/9c
From the creator of Burn Notice, comes the fast-paced and unpredictable thriller, COMPLICATIONS. The series stars Jason O'Mara as Dr. John Ellison, a suburban doctor who, while still dealing with the emotional effects of his daughter's death, intervenes in a drive-by shooting, saving a young boy's life. The series also stars Jessica Szohr, Beth Riesgraf (Leverage), and Lauren Stamile (Burn Notice).
WWE TOUGH ENOUGH 8/7c
WWE TOUGH ENOUGH is an action-packed competition reality show from the ratings juggernaut WWE. Featuring a new format, with live elements, the series gives unknown athletes a chance at being crowned the next WWE Superstar or Diva. Fans can expect harder challenges, fiercer competition and rivalries that are more dramatic than ever.
Pictured: (l-r) Rami Malek and Christian Slater — (Photo by: David Giesbrecht/USA Network)
SUITS 9/8c
In the fifth season premiere, Pearson Specter Litt has scored a hard-fought victory, but the fight has left the firm shaken. Although she avoided jail time, Donna (Sarah Rafferty) has left Harvey (Gabriel Macht), after more than a decade of working together. She is now working for his long-time rival Louis (Rick Hoffman). And while Jessica (Gina Torres) readjusts to being single, Mike (Patrick J. Adams) and Rachel (Meghan Markle) are giddy after his marriage proposal.
MR. ROBOT 10/9c
This techno thriller follows Elliot (Rami Malek), a young programmer who works as a cyber-security engineer by day and a vigilante hacker by night. When the mysterious leader (Christian Slater) of an underground hacker group recruits him to destroy the firm he is paid to protect, he must make the decision of a lifetime. MR. ROBOT also stars Portia Doubleday (Her), Carly Chaikin (Suburgatory) and Martin Wallström (Simple Simon).
Pictured: Daniel Sunjata as Paul Briggs — (Photo by: Jeff Daly/USA Network)
GRACELAND 10/9c
Season three resumes after an attack on Mike (Aaron Tveit). Paul Briggs (Daniel Sunjata) gets coerced into a high-risk operation, while his pregnant counterpart Charlie (Vanessa Ferlito) is on a mission to find the person who nearly killed her. Joe 'Johnny' Tuturro (Manny Montana), Dale Jakes (Brandon Jay McLaren) and Paige (Serinda Swan) each seek normalcy as federal agents with the FBI, DEA and ICE living in an undercover world of their own.
(Photo by: Jaimie Trueblood/USA Network)
PLAYING HOUSE 10/9c
The critically acclaimed comedy returns for a season two with an innovative windowing structure that, each week, will allow viewers to preview next week's episode on their Video-On-Demand platforms. Childhood best friends Maggie Caruso (Lennon Parham) and Emma Crawford (Jessica St. Clair) are in store for their biggest adventure yet — raising a baby. This season, Maggie and Emma navigate their way through life as co-parents to Maggie's daughter Charlotte. The colorful residents of Pinebrook, CT also return, including Emma's first love Mark (Keegan Michael Key).
Posted in: Uncategorized | Tagged: chrisley knows best, Complications, Graceland, Mr. Robot, playing house, premiere, Premiere date, royal pains, Suits, usa network
'The Originals' Photo Gallery: "Exquisite Corpse"
Watch the New Trailer for 'Orange is the New Black' Season 3


Today we have two questions from people who live near various forms of wildlife and want to know how to keep said wildlife away from where they live.
I'm not sure if I follow along with this thinking. If you are going to live someplace where there are javelinas or skunks or whatever, I figure you should learn to live with them.
It brings to mind the question I sometimes get from people who don't want woodpeckers to drill holes in their saguaros.
However, since it is my duty in life to assist you in any way I can, I'll see what I can do.
I live near the mountain preserve, which is great, except that several javelinas hang around in the neighborhood and have repeatedly come by my house at night and uprooted and munched on some of my favorite small cactuses. Is there anything I can do to discourage them?
You could try motion-activated lights. I don't know how well that might work, but you could try.
Or you could sprinkle the area with coyote urine, which I think you can get at those big sporting-goods stores.
Or you could try this idea that I found at gardenweb.com. Take a bunch of dog poop and stir it into a bucket of water. Let it sit a few hours to let it thin out a bit and then pour it around the bases of your cactuses.
We are seeing skunks around our property in the evenings. Any ideas on how to keep them away?
Leave some rags soaked in ammonia in dishes around the area where you're seeing skunks. Or try motion-activated sprinklers. Let me know what works.


A massive $1 billion redevelopment proposal was been presented by Amtrak for Chicago Union Station. On May 25, 2017, Mayor Emanuel and Amtrak CEO Wick Moorman unveiled a plan which includes five new high-rises, public plazas, a rooftop garden, and a food court. The plan is expected to take six years to complete and will be completed in three phases.
The project was designed by Chicago-based Goettsch Partners and the Chicago-based Riverside Investment and Development was selected to lead the project with joint venture from Convexity Properties. Riverside Investment recently finished the 150 N. Riverside Plaza office tower. Convexity Properties recently completed the Robey Hotel in Wicker Park's historic Northwest Tower.
Of paramount concern to Preservation Chicago, the plan includes a pair of glassy, residential towers atop the historic landmark Daniel Burnham/Graham, Anderson, Probst and White-designed, Union Station Headhouse. Preservation Chicago is concerned that the proposed contemporary towers will an inappropriate addition to a highly significant historic landmark building. Additionally, we're concerned about the new construction negatively impacting the existing historic fabric and integrity of the Headhouse and Great Hall.
Union Station is Chicago's finest and last connection to an era and an industry that played a major role in Chicago's growth and history. The Beaux-Arts Union Station, with its magnificent Great Hall and massive Corinthian-order travertine columns were widely celebrated when it was opened in 1925. The dramatic space is an ideal set for movies and the grand staircase was featured prominently in The Untouchables.
Union Station's interior spaces and commuter experience have never recovered from the demolition of the soaring Union Station Concourse in 1969 to make way for an office building. Therefore, any changes to this important landmark must be handled with the utmost sensitivity.
Significant and very positive restoration work has been underway at Union Station over the past couple years and has returned several important interior spaces and features back into public use, such as the Women's Lounge, now known as the Burlington Room, and the Men's Lounge and Barber Shop, now a series of passenger lounges. Preservation Chicago has played an active role as a consulting partner in this process with Amtrak and the City of Chicago and applauds their accomplishments.
The Union Station Power House located at 301 W. Taylor Street, also by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White and was shuttered in 2011, and was a Preservation Chicago 7 2017 Most Endangered Building. It remains threatened with a $13 million demolition for replacement with a surface parking lot.


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Nonprofit discusses plans to protect beaches
by alyx.sariol March 4, 2010 July 20, 2015 035
CARLSBAD — The nonprofit group Friends of Cardiff and Carlsbad State Beaches, or FCCSB, is closer than ever to taking its star project from conception to construction to completion.
Plans for Pelican Point, a multi-purpose area dreamed up for the South Carlsbad State Park's north end, are ready to go. Materials have been ordered and eager volunteers have signed up to help, but the group must now wait for a weekend of perfect weather before they start.
Construction is expected to begin this weekend if the weather cooperates, board member Denis Kessler said at the group's monthly board meeting Feb. 25. It has already been delayed by two weeks due to the recent winter storms.
"We're replacing the surf concession and making it a multi-use area," said Brian Ketterer, the north district superintendent for California State Parks. His team has worked closely with the FCCSB to make the proposed project a reality.
One of the FCCSB board's newest members, landscape architect William Morrison, has been an integral part in getting the plans completed. His final design for Pelican Point includes a platform and native landscape that could serve as a backdrop for outdoor education, weddings and other special events.
The FCCSB is expecting to use the revenue generated by Pelican Point in fulfilling the group's mission to "assist and support California State Parks in protecting and preserving San Elijo and Carlsbad beaches," Kevin Dyerly, newly instated board president, said.
Funding for the Pelican Point project has come from a variety of sources. Materials and labor have been generously donated, while money recovered from drug dealers in Carlsbad has also been put into the project, Ketterer said. The FCCSB has personally contributed using fundraisers like Christmas in July and by cashing in recyclables from the campgrounds, board member Bill Mahoney said.
Aside from the large-scale Pelican Point project, the FCCSB will also support this year's Beach Fest, helping the next generation of Carlsbad residents "really become stewards of our coastlines," Ketterer said. They are sponsoring the third annual grassroots beach cleanup that is expected to draw its largest crowd yet, Mahoney said.
Annual FCCSB members and other community residents are encouraged to get involved and donate their time where possible to the preservation efforts. As the FCCSB continues to grow, they will highlight opportunities where people can donate their time and energy to help the area.
"That's where people can put their heart into it," said Carlsbad resident Dennis Conlon, who encouraged the group to reach out to nearby neighborhoods for help.
For more information on how to get involved with the FCCSB, e-mail FriendsofCardiffCarlsbad@yahoo.com.
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Who Is The Best Landscaper on Long Island?
Anyone can push a lawnmower across their yard, but some think of their grass as a blank canvas that demands nothing less than the creativity of a professional in the landscaping arts.
That's where Harder Services, K&D Tree Masters and Atlas Asphalt all come in. The three locally based companies each rank at the top in their respective fields of prettying up the exteriors of homes on Long Island — lawns, trees and driveways included.
"The most important thing that we can offer to our customers is the promise that they will be treated with respect, courtesy and honesty and all work will be handled in a professional manner," says Jack Harder, owner of Harder Services, a nearly century-old, fourth-generation family business based in Hempstead.
With such deep roots in the community, it's no wonder Harder won Best Landscaping on Long Island in the 2018 Bethpage Best of Long Island competition. K&D Tree Masters earned the title of Best Tree Service on Long Island in that annual contest. And the public voted Atlas Asphalt the Best Mason on Long Island this year.
All three won high praise from their clientele — no small feat in a suburban community where homeowners are known for having uncompromisingly high standards.
Harder's work has been on display at the new Yankee Stadium, Lincoln Center, Roosevelt Field Mall and dozens of other high-profile locations.
At Atlas, this leader in the paving industry has had a reputation for quality, integrity, safety, and customer satisfaction for the past 30 years. The proof is in the paving: They've resurfaced millions of square feet of blacktop across Long Island. Their expert craftsmen also do masonry and sealcoating for commercial and residential clients.
And K&D won high marks for their responsiveness after Sandy downed countless trees across LI.


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Sukarno
Page 1 of 3 - About 28 Essays
The Powerful Transfers Of Power In Indonesia
that will continue as long as the country shows sustained improvement in its areas of issue. Historical Context: Indonesia's history of governmental transitions is checkered with different rulers, powers, and influences. This history has sculpted and defined Indonesia's social and political order in profound ways. While Indonesia's history as its own state begins after WWII, it is important to remember that the country had been colonized in the 16th century and prior to the Japanese invasion during the Second World War, there was little challenge to Dutch rule in the area. In August 1945 Indonesia gained its independence after being liberated from Japanese occupation. President Sukarno was installed as the first ever president of Indonesia. Indonesia would not see true freedom, however, as Sukarno turned out to be a dictator who experienced mixed success. He succeeded in uniting a fragmented country and installing at least some form of rule of law. At the same time, he failed miserably by starting unpopular and underfunded wars that were destined for failure. With the help of the United States, Soeharto replaced him as the ruler of Indonesia in 1968. Soeharto also succeeded in some respects, but was ultimately overthrown in 1999 after an economic collapse. Following these dictators has been a relatively short line of Presidents, some democratically elected, some installed. While there are still problems with the democratic system, the murkiness and inconsistencies in…
Advantages Of Mountain Climbers
Sukarno, once said "Give me 1000 old men, and I will undoubtedly pull out Semeru [a mountain in Indonesia] from the roots. Give me 10 young male mountain climbers, I will undoubtedly shake the world." In other words, having more manpower does not always do the job right. Infact, having less mountain climbers that are intelligent, persistent, and hard working would do the job better and bigger. Mountain climbers would force through all the challenges ahead of them, and would be persistent on…
Culminating Activity Analysis
Grade 12 Culminating Activity Checkpoint #2 Sissi Zheng Source 1: News, BBC. "Looking into the Massacres of Indonesia's past." BBC News. BBC, 02 June 2016. Web. 04 Dec. 2016 Summary This article investigates one of the darkest chapters of Indonesian history in 1965, the anti-communist purge, based on the reports' interviews with the locals. As many as 1 million civilians were slaughtered, and the killers were never prosecuted. Instead, they ascended to the highest positions in government and…
Sukarno And Comparison: Ho Chi Minh And Indonesia
Minh was educated in France where he quickly found a blueprint for what he imagined Vietnam to be in communism and Leninist ideals (Emergence of SE Asia 340-341). Differently Sukarno was educated in Indonesia and formed his socialist blueprint of Indonesia through his own desire to learn about the countries of the West (Lecture Nov.20). However even though both leaders had different blue prints for their countries they came to power in very similar ways. Ho Chi Minh hadn't been in Vietnam for…
Discrimination In China
The PKI was able to infiltrate many government agencies and had Indonesia rely heavily on Communist powers, for instance China and the Soviet Union. Also Sukarno was anti-imperialist, having been under the control of the Dutch since the 1800s and was placed under control by the Japanese during World War Two. The reliance was a way to try and distance Indonesia from previous colonial powers such as the Dutch and an interfering west. Another failure in Sukarno was that due to what looked like…
Suharto Case Study
and brutally killed, the army gained the justification to condemn the action of the PKI. Sukarno and his men, who were supported by PKI and also defended the communists' position in the Parliament, were stripped of their political position and their involvement in the killing of the six generals was question in the course of a trial. Many of them were sentenced to death. The communist party leaders and an estimated 150,000–200,000 persons associated…
Dutch Empire
civilise the natives, they could not be controlled and they always go back to their barbaric ways. It is known that the Dutch went to great extents to attempt to civilise the animalistic natives when "[the Dutch] spent most of their earnings trying to control an uncontrollable Indonesia" (Engrade). All of that money was spent for nothing, no matter how much money the Dutch spent on their mission to civilise a hopeless population. They have been brought back to their barbaric ways by the silver…
1965 Indonesian Cold War Analysis
The massacre did not manifest itself as a sudden, extreme episode of violence, but instead was the culmination of years of political power-play and dissent. Some scholarship go further to suggest an inherent culture of violence that leads to mass killings like the one in Indonesia. In addition to the internal issues within the Indonesian government that had persisted in the years leading up to 1965, Indonesia also faced intense external political pressures from various powers in the Cold War.…
The Indonesian Genocide 1965-1966
council, seizing power from Sukarno. General Suharto was elected as President, filling in for Sukarno. Suharto led the genocide that killed about 1 million people, and left 100,000 people imprisoned without trial. The Indonesian military had targeted the Indonesian communist party (PKI),which had over five hundred thousand members in 1965, and which were supporters of president Kusno Sukarno in the 1959 election. Some religious groups and political enemies targeted the PKI. Government officials…
Hardworking families
History of Indonesia
Indonesian presidential election
Sulfur mustard
Sumatran Orangutan
Sumerian creation myth
Summa Theologica
Summary judgment
Summary of Decameron tales
Summation
Summative assessment
Summer Olympic Games


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October 31, 2018 - National Football Post
Pack GM: Performance 1st, but all factors weighed in deals
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — In dealing Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Ty Montgomery, the Green Bay Packers traded away two players who spoke in varying degrees in recent weeks about their respective futures with the team.
What happens on the field always comes first, general manager Brian Gutekunst said Wednesday, though other factors aren't ignored either.
"So I think you take everything into consideration when you make these kinds of decisions," Gutekunst said before practice. "But performance comes first. That's always kind of the major factor in these decisions.
"But everything's taken into account," he added. "It's never usually just one thing."
Clinton-Dix, a starting safety, went to the Washington Redskins in exchange for a 2019 fourth-round pick. Playing under the fifth-year option of his rookie contract, Clinton-Dix is eligible for free agency this offseason.
Montgomery, a fourth-year running back, was traded to the Baltimore Ravens for a seventh-round pick in 2020. He moves on two days after fumbling a kickoff return with about two minutes left in a 29-27 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday after being told by coaches to take a touchback if the kick went into the end zone. The turnover cost the Packers a chance to drive for a potential winning score.
Montgomery seemed uncertain about his future on Monday. He lost snaps in the Rams game after Aaron Jones was elevated to starter.
"I don't fully understand what my role is right now, what I'm supposed to be doing, how I'm supposed to help this team," Montgomery said Monday.
Montgomery said that he made a "split-second decision" in taking the ball out on the kick return because he did not want to take a chance of putting the game in the hands of officials. He also spoke Monday about criticism from an anonymous player that came up in an NFL.com story , adding that he wanted that player to talk to him.
Now what had been a three-man backfield is down to Jones and Jamaal Williams. Jones is averaging 6.2 yards a carry.
"It's not a personal slight or trying to create an angle here of negativity," coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday. "This is part of the business but, more importantly, when opportunities arise, we're more focused on the culture and the people in that culture taking advantage of this opportunity."
McCarthy thanked Montgomery and Clinton-Dix for their contributions and wished them the best. He said that they represented the Packers "very well" during their tenures.
Clinton-Dix led the Packers with three interceptions, giving him 14 over 71 regular-season games in Green Bay, including 65 starts. Still, the safety position was mired by inconsistent play.
Clinton-Dix also talked about his future in an interview on Oct. 10 with the Wisconsin State-Journal .
"Right now, I'm playing each and every game like it's my last. I don't think I'm going to be here next year," Clinton-Dix said then.
Gutekunst said that while he was aware of what players were saying, that "it's not as concerning, to me it's more about their play and their performance and things like that. Any time there's comments that come out of our locker room, I pay attention to it."
The moves didn't signify the Packers were already looking ahead to next year, he added. At 3-3-1, the Packers are still firmly in the muddled NFC North race with a tough game at New England on Sunday night.
"I don't necessarily think there's a message it sends to the locker room," Gutekunst said. "I think the decisions that we make are always in the best interest of our team, not only in the short term but the long term, as well.
"But I think our locker room knows where we're headed," he added. "I think we're humming at the right time and I think there (are) a lot of positive things going forward."
Receiver Davante Adams said the deals shouldn't be taken personally in the locker room.
"It's just a part of the game," Adams said. "It's going to be a lot of different factors that lead into people coming and going for many years to come. I wouldn't take it as a warning for anybody or anything like that."
NOTES: RB Tra Carson was added to the active roster from the practice squad, while RB Lavon Coleman was added to the practice squad. Carson was signed to the practice squad on Oct. 9 after being waived/injured by the Bengals in Week 2. The second-year player was signed by the Bengals as undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M in 2016.
https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
National Football Post


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Playoff scenarios based on the latest AP Polls (Week 8, 2018) October 18, 2018
Posted by intellectualgridiron in Sports.
Tags: Alabama, Atlanta, Auburn, Austin, B1G, Big Ten, Buckeyes, Bulldogs, Chicago, Clemson, Crimson Tide, Dallas, Florida, Fort Worth, Georgia, Houston, Hurricanes, Iowa State, Lee Corso, Longhorns, Los Angeles, Lou Holtz, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, New York, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Sam Ehlinger, San Antonio, SEC, Tennessee, Texas, USC, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia
Week 7 in college football for the 2018 provided considerable thrills – and headaches – for fans, what with upsets abounding, especially near the top of the rankings. Unranked Tennessee taking down then-No. 17 Auburn, and unranked Virginia beating then-No. 16 Miami (Fla.) are small potatoes compared to upsets elsewhere that week.
Indeed, no fewer than four AP top ten teams went down in defeat in Week 7 of 2018. For starters, No. 17 Oregon outlasted then-No. 7 Washington, 30-27, in overtime. Unranked Michigan State toppled No. 8 Penn State on the road, 21-17. Iowa State leveraged their special night-time atmosphere to help them beat then-undefeated (and then-No. 6) West Virginia 30-14. Even more significant was No. 13 LSU pommeling then-No. 2 Georgia 36-16.
As a result of these four key upsets, Washington fell from the No. 7 ranking to No. 15. Penn State fell from No. 8 to No. 18. West Virginia fell from No. 6 to No. 13, while Georgia fell from No. 2 to No. 8.
Last year, the Bulldogs made it to the national championship game. Now, the prospect to return is in jeopardy. At least it's October and not November, meaning there is still time to recover.
Regardless, the current AP Top Ten now suggests some very intriguing playoff possibilities. These are important for the health of college football. An all-southern/all-SEC college football championship game my thrill the faithful in the southeastern region of the country, but it turns off the rest of the country. That's bad for business. If your sport starts to be perceived as regional in its nature, that hurts your national image, and prevents you from engaging the markets you need to be interested in order to ensure its long-term strength and viability. Alabama vs. Clemson and Alabama vs. Georgia thus saw a TV ratings decline, whereas Texas vs. USC (2005-'06) and Ohio State vs. Oregon (2014-'15) where perfect matchups to bring in robust, national audiences. Ohio State vs. Florida (2006-'07), Ohio State vs. LSU (2007-'08) and especially Ohio State vs. Miami (2002-'03) were decent-to-great matchups as well for this purpose. Alabama vs. Notre Dame (2012-'13) was good on paper, but the outcome of the game proved that it was a mismatch, with the Irish clearly being overrated at the time.
Start with a basic premise that it's good for business when traditional powers do well. If Georgia does well, that engages the Atlanta market, which is pretty big, in case you forgot. If Notre Dame does well, it engages the Chicago and New York City markets. If USC does well, it engages the Los Angeles market. If Ohio State and Michigan do well (either or both), that engages much of the Midwestern markets, as well as the Big Ten alums who have left the Midwest for the East Coast, the South, or the West Coast. If Texas does well, it engages the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston Markets. You get the picture.
Now, back to the Week 8 Top Ten rankings from the AP poll. At No. 1 remains Alabama. Ok, fine. With Georgia knocked out of the No. 2 spot (but still in the top ten), that allows for Ohio State to take over that position. This is good for the sport. Clemson has moved a spot to No. 3, while Notre Dame has quietly moved up to the No. 4 ranking.
Just by looking at these current top four spots, if these remain unchanged and translate directly into playoff rankings, one would have a great playoff scenario to engage a critical mass of the viewing public. Alabama and Clemson would be there to keep the South's fever pitch at maximum levels, while Ohio State and Notre Dame enjoy national audiences so as to include enough of the rest of the country as well. The Fighting Irish's ranking this time is no wishful thinking. Thoughtful analysts concur that this 2018 ND team is much stronger and more athletic than its overrated 2012 counterpart. Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd has gone so far as to observe that this is the best ND team since the Lou Holtz era. As ESPN's Lee Corso would exclaim, "Yo!"
While there is no west coast team in sight in these current rankings, that is not a deal-breaker, either. There are enough Big Ten grads on the west coast to keep those markets engaged should Ohio State make it to the playoffs. The Buckeyes, in this scenario, would represent the West Coast as well as the Midwest.
Naturally, much football remains to be played, and the remainder of the top ten shall make all efforts to crack their way into the playoffs as well. Of those currently poised for such possibilities, some of them, too, offer intriguing engagement opportunities. LSU sits at No. 5 after their ripping upset victory over the Bulldogs, and are destined for a major showdown with the Crimson Tide come Nov. 3, in Baton Rouge, no less. Michigan sits at No. 6 after their big win over Wisconsin last night. If they maintain their momentum, their Nov. 24 annual grudge match with the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor could be epic.
Meanwhile, Texas has survived another test and now sits at No. 7. If QB Sam Ehlinger stays healthy, who knows how much further the Longhorns could continue to climb? This is key to note because Texas in the playoffs engages a different market than the Southeast. The beauty of Texas in the championship game is that they can theoretically engage two markets simultaneously, as a B1G team can do vis-à-vis both the Midwest and other regions. In Texas' case, not only can a Longhorn playoff appearance pique the interest of the DFW and Houston metro areas (San Antonio and Austin don't hurt either, as that is another combined 4 million-plus people in that mini-megalopolis), but the Southeast could vicariously join in, too.
An Oklahoma (currently No. 9) playoff appearance, while a different region than the Southeast, has a limited upside. Yes, it engages the central plains, but there is not much major population there). Best case scenario is that it will interest the OU grad transplants living in the major Texas markets. The Longhorns, thankfully, have done their part, though, in making the more market-significant team better-poised for a playoff run at this point.
This is not a swipe at the SEC, or the fans therein, for a personally love southern football and identify with the South. As someone who is concerned about the national and long-term health of college football, however, perspective must be maintained. Fans in SEC country will watch the playoffs no matter who is playing. Fans elsewhere, though, will only watch if they feel they have a stake in things; that they are being represented. We have enjoyed such perfect or near-perfect matchups in the past, such as the aforementioned Texas-USC games and the Ohio State-Oregon games, for example.
Meanwhile, more big games remain, and the way things have gone thus far, more upsets are likely to occur. Teams currently in the bottom half of the top ten could claw theyr way up with help from such theoretical upsets. After all, we're halfway to regular season's end, and the stakes and urgency only intensify from here. Let's enjoy the ride, and cheer on the key wins that would help make for the best playoff matches with optimal, national appeal while we're at it!
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An Open Letter to Coach Patric Morrison of Madison, Indiana, (and all other parties concerned)
CFB Recruiting Class Random Observations for 2019
On Changes in SEC Competition
Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife" at 60
These three Christmas records are 60, and they still sound great!


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The Amazon sales rank (ASR) provides an indication of the popularity of a product sold on any Amazon locale. It is a relative indicator of popularity that is updated hourly. Effectively, it is a "best sellers list" for the millions of products stocked by Amazon.[134] While the ASR has no direct effect on the sales of a product, it is used by Amazon to determine which products to include in its bestsellers lists.[134] Products that appear in these lists enjoy additional exposure on the Amazon website and this may lead to an increase in sales. In particular, products that experience large jumps (up or down) in their sales ranks may be included within Amazon's lists of "movers and shakers"; such a listing provides additional exposure that might lead to an increase in sales.[135] For competitive reasons, Amazon does not release actual sales figures to the public. However, Amazon has now begun to release point of sale data via the Nielsen BookScan service to verified authors.[136] While the ASR has been the source of much speculation by publishers, manufacturers, and marketers, Amazon itself does not release the details of its sales rank calculation algorithm. Some companies have analyzed Amazon sales data to generate sales estimates based on the ASR,[137] though Amazon states:
Turn on 1-Click. Click the "Turn 1-Click on" button on the right side of the page. This will toggle the 1-Click settings for your account. You can now click the "1-Click Order" button on most items (including all digital items including all Amazon Kindle books and Kindle apps, etc, as well as Amazon Video (formerly called both Amazon Instant Video and Amazon Video-on-Demand)) to have them instantly ordered and shipped. You will have 30 minutes to cancel erroneous orders.
Depending on which options you choose, using an online marketplace like Amazon can make the fulfillment process easier for new and small businesses. Not only can Amazon interact with customers on your behalf, saving you time while protecting your personal and private information, but it can also handle the entire shipping process, including returns. As a result, owners can concentrate on building their businesses.
Amazon's rules state that you must be at least 13 years of age to sign up for an account. However, you must be 18 to make a purchase (since you'll need to input this data into your account before a purchase), unless you can obtain enough money in gift card funds to pay for the purchase or receive a gift card-debit card that has a major card company attached that you can input to pay for the entire purchase price.
Quick-Step flooring has earned the prestigious FloorScore certification for indoor air quality by passing the most stringent tests in the world. All Quick-Step products are officially FloorScore certified, giving families living on our flooring peace of mind that they are bringing a product into their home that meets strict indoor air quality standards.
As you come across items you want, click "Add to Cart" to save them. If you're undecided, add it anyway and you can always take it out of the cart later. When you're done, click the "Cart" button at the top of any Amazon page and select "Proceed to Checkout." Your first purchase includes creating an account. When Amazon prompts you to log in, enter your email address, choose "I Am a New Customer" and fill in your personal info. You'll also need to enter a credit card to complete your purchase. If you haven't shopped online before, the prospect of giving out your card number might seem intimidating, but online stores use encryption to prevent hackers from stealing your information. To stay safe on Amazon, just as with any other site, never give out your password, keep up-to-date anti-virus software on your computer and watch your bill for unexpected charges. Some credit card companies also provide one-time use numbers for shopping online -- check your card company's website to see if it offers this feature.
The main con is obviously the cold, crowds, and chaos. But just because Black Friday traditionally means in-store shopping, doesn't mean that many retailers won't offer sales online. Last year, online sales hit 19.62 billion over the five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. So if you don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to battle crowds and wait in long lines, check with your favorite stores to see if you can do it all from the comfort of your home.
Amazon hasn't been content stopping with smart speakers and just standard old appliances under its AmazonBasics brand. In its quest to put Alexa everywhere, the company now sells a dizzying number of smart home devices that go well beyond its core speaker and set-top box beginnings. First there was the Echo Dot, to help bring Alexa to analog speaker systems and get the voice assistant into more rooms of the home. Then there was the Echo Look, for AI-assisted outfit recommendations, and the Echo Show, which contained a display and camera for video chatting and was designed to be a hands-free screen for the kitchen.
The company has also invested in a number of growing firms, both in the United States and Internationally.[67][68] In 2014, Amazon purchased top level domain .buy in auction for over $4 million.[69][70] The company has invested in brands that offer a wide range of services and products, including Engine Yard, a Ruby-on-Rails platform as a service company,[71] and Living Social, a local deal site.[72]
Amazon has attracted widespread criticism for poor working conditions by both current employees, who refer to themselves as Amazonians,[178] and former employees,[179][180] as well as the media and politicians. In 2011, it was publicized that at the Breinigsville, Pennsylvania warehouse, workers had to carry out work in 100 °F (38 °C) heat, resulting in employees becoming extremely uncomfortable and suffering from dehydration and collapse. Loading-bay doors were not opened to allow in fresh air, due to the company's concerns over theft.[181] Amazon's initial response was to pay for an ambulance to sit outside on call to cart away overheated employees.[181] The company eventually installed air conditioning at the warehouse.[182]
Bezos selected the name Amazon by looking through the dictionary; he settled on "Amazon" because it was a place that was "exotic and different", just as he had envisioned for his Internet enterprise. The Amazon River, he noted, was the biggest river in the world, and he planned to make his store the biggest bookstore in the world.[25] Additionally, a name that began with "A" was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of an alphabetized list.[25] Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand and told a reporter, "There's nothing about our model that can't be copied over time. But you know, McDonald's got copied. And it's still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name. Brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world."[26]
Use apps to check prices in real-time. "The app ShopSavvy is really useful when you're out shopping in stores because you can scan the barcode on items and see if there is a better deal elsewhere," says Palmer of Nerdwallet. Woroch is also a fan of ShopSavvy, as well as Flipp, which provides circulars all in one place so you can quickly compare to plan your shopping trip strategically.
Though more people shopped in-store and online on Black Friday 2017, Cyber Monday continues to beat Black Friday's online sales. Last year, 81 million consumers shopped on Cyber Monday, bringing in $6.59 billion for retailers. 2017 marked a year-over-year increase of nearly 17 percent and set an all-time record of the most ever spent on the digital holiday.
Amazon, seeing the obvious opportunity here, reportedly outbid none other than Google to become Twitch's parent company three years later, with the AWS infrastructure a big part of why Twitch CEO Emmett Shear decided to take the deal. Now, four years later, Twitch has outlasted both YouTube and Facebook's attempts to snatch away its market share and, given the popularity of titles like Epic Games' Fortnite, has become an even more integral fixture of modern online life and youth culture. Amazon has more recently integrated Twitch into its Prime subscription, giving subscribers free games and complementary channel subscriptions.
Yet the more monumental retail push occurred last summer, when Amazon purchased grocery chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion and proved, yet again, that Bezos is willing and able to buy his way into a new market when it's unfavorable to start from scratch. Amazon now uses Whole Foods' grocery pick-up and delivery perks and in-store discounts as a way to reward its Prime subscribers. It's also using its massive resources to lower Whole Foods prices, making it more competitive with Kroger, Target, and Walmart. In response, Walmart has begun investing heavily in e-commerce and grocery delivery to protect its turf from Amazon, setting the stage for an unprecedented retail war.
Aside from creating the logo, A.J Khubani actually played a huge role in the advent of the infomercial as we know it today, which started with his Amber Vision sunglasses in 1987. More recently, his company sold the PedEgg, another As Seen On TV product which has sold 50 million units (in addition to other successful products like the As Seen On TV mop and the As Seen On TV hose). Anyone looking for the same level of success with their own product can pitch their idea to both Telebrands and As Seen On TV, Inc. although they only accept a few submissions each year.


THE Philippine Association of Real Estate Boards Inc. (PAREB), in coordination with PAREB-Cebu, will hold its 51st annual national convention and election of officers on Oct. 6, 7 and 8 at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Lahug, Cebu City.
The convention, with the theme "PAREB: Committed to professional excellence," will have Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, chairman of the Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlements, as the keynote speaker.
The senator will speak about the developments on the housing industry.
Eduardo Ong, chairman of the Philippine Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service, will discuss professionalization through integration of real estate service industry.
International speakers will present the practice of real estate in the Asean market.
They are Jeff Foo, immediate past president of the Institute of Estate Agents, Singapore; K Soma Sundram, immediate past president of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents; and Prof. Enrique Soriano, president of AA Real Estate (Advisory Asia) and faculty member of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business.
Other topics are the computerization of the records of the Land Registration Authority and the Register of Deeds and corporate formation and issues involving real estate.
The latest Multiple Listing Service will also be launched during the convention.


"Advanced Functional Fabrics of America workshop challenges pioneering MIT and FIT students to conceive new ideas.
A T-shirt that can change color to complement your mood (and help you pare down your wardrobe). An apron that transforms into a dress and has interchangeable pockets with high-tech functionality. These are the forward-looking concepts presented by a group of three students from MIT and three students from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), making practical use of the latest active textile technologies.
For the first FIT/MIT Summer Workshop, held over two weeks in June, the six students spent one week at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and one week at FIT in New York City to explore and develop clothing concepts using advanced functional materials that incorporate 3-D printing or advanced knitting technologies. The workshop was held collaboratively with Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), a Cambridge-based national nonprofit enabling a manufacturing-based transformation of traditional fibers, yarns, and textiles into highly sophisticated integrated and networked devices and systems.
Veronica Apsan, of Park Ridge, New Jersey, a 2018 FIT graduate who majored in fashion design, and Erika Anderson of Carlsbad, California, a rising MIT senior who is studying mechanical engineering with a minor in design, conceived a T-shirt that can change color.
The four other students in the workshop combined their ideas into a single wearable concept. David Merchan, of Bow, New Hampshire, a rising MIT senior double majoring in materials science and engineering and physics; Melanie Wong of Queens, New York, a rising senior at FIT majoring in fashion design; Calvin Zhong '18, of Manhattan, a recent MIT graduate who double majored in architecture and comparative media studies; and Jesse Doherty, an FIT rising senior majoring in fashion design, created a double-layer knit laboratory apron with reflective zippers that transforms into a dress or bag and has interchangeable pockets with customizable technological functions. For example, one pocket could have an energy socket that wirelessly charges a phone, while another could act as a hand sanitizer by working into the fiber antimicrobial chemicals or ultraviolet LEDs. The apron/dress itself could also be infused with conductive fibers that cool or warm the wearer.
Using 3-D printing, the students knit an open, fully twistable weave mesh for their apron/dress. Once the soluble supports were removed in a chemical bath, the mesh moved in every direction because of the flexible fiber. "The same structure in different materials would behave differently," noted Doherty.
In addition to conceiving their projects, the students had a packed schedule of workshops, talks, and site visits. While at MIT, they learned about bringing their ideas to market through an intensive entrepreneurship boot camp. They also attended an AFFOA member networking event at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, where Apsan said she and Anderson received positive feedback about their ideas. "The fact that someone in the industry who is working on textiles is thinking the same thing was so awesome to hear," she said. During their week at FIT, the students visited WGSN, a leading fashion trend, forecast, and analysis service, and met with Gabi Asfour, founder and creative director at threeASFOUR, a clothing design brand, about incorporating 3-D-printed parts into garments. MIT and FIT faculty mentors assisted the students throughout the two weeks.


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UK City of Culture
Renowned street photographer Niall McDiarmid to capture vibrant spirit of Far Gosford Street
Foleshill Road will also be subject of UK City of Culture project, Tale of Two Streets
Leigh Mencarini Content Direct Editor
The cultural spirit of two of Coventry's most diverse streets will be captured in a two-year photographic project commissioned for the UK City of Culture bid.
Tale of Two Streets will see renowned street photographer Niall McDiarmid explore Far Gosford Street, while ten emerging photographers – graduates from Coventry University – will cover the people and places of Foleshill Road.
Far Gosford Street and Foleshill Road are two of the city's most historically diverse areas, home to many communities including Asian, Afro Caribbean, White British and Eastern European residents.
Niall McDiarmid said: "I'm really excited to be starting a major project documenting the Far Gosford Street area of Coventry over the year ahead.
Far Gosford Street, Coventry
"Having visited all the major cities in Britain over the past seven years, I am convinced that Coventry is one of the most visually diverse cities in the country.
"If you see me on the street with my camera over the coming months, come over and say hello."
A specialist in portrait photography, McDiarmid will also be mentoring the new photographers working on Foleshill Road.
Stunning shot of Coventry Half Marathon wins photography competition
He has spent nearly a decade travelling across Britain to document its people and landscapes. His books include Crossing Paths, A Portrait of Britain – which features images taken in Coventry – and Via Vauxhall.
Dr Ben Kyneswood is from Photo Archive Miners, which will be curating the project. He said: "Tale of Two Streets will encourage photographers to immerse themselves in one of the UK's most diverse and integrated cities.
Tale of Two Streets photographers
"They will be collaborating with residents to understand local connections and tensions, and tell narratives of what diversity in the UK looks like today."
The project comes as the city aims to boost access to the arts across all ethnic backgrounds and cultures.
Coventry City of Culture Trust, which is behind the 2021 bid , has announced plans to generate a 20 per cent increase in black, Asian, and minority ethnic audiences for the arts, and ensure that all local cultural organisations are programming events for diverse communities.
Will Coventry be UK City of Culture in 2021? We're now on the shortlist!
Laura McMillan, manager of the trust, said: "Widening access to the arts for all of Coventry's residents has the potential to transform the city.
"It will boost the wellbeing and community spirit of local people and increase the number of cultural organisations and partnerships based here.
"Using culture to improve perceptions of Coventry would also help to strengthen its local economy by attracting more people and businesses here – creating new jobs and encouraging greater spending from our visitors while they're here."
Foleshill Road, Coventry
Coventry is widely recognised as a city of sanctuary, which has become a home to immigrants and refugees for decades.
It is the most diverse city shortlisted for the UK City of Culture 2021 title , where 140 languages are spoken and 27 per cent of the population are born outside of the UK.
Laura McMillan added: "By showcasing the vibrant mix of people that live and work here, we want to celebrate what makes this city so unique and interesting – and encourage everyone, from all backgrounds, to join in with us."
Coventry City Centre


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Inside the Worlds Of Melaye, Dickson and Co., By Azu Ishiekwene
Premium Times November 21, 2019 Inside the Worlds Of Melaye, Dickson and Co., By Azu Ishiekwene2019-11-21T10:20:33+00:00 Columns, Opinion No Comment
The odysseys of Melaye and Dickson are sad reminders of how far we still need to go. Yet, the distance is worth going to strengthen and preserve our institutions. Those who think they have won – or would win – by bending the system, would find a rich harvest of what they have sown down the road.
Defeat is an orphan. Nothing illustrates its orphanage as vividly as the fate of two politicians involved in last week's elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States: Senator Dino Melaye and Governor Seriake Henry Dickson.
As he went down, Melaye, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Kogi West senatorial election rerun, deployed his video-making talent to its utmost. Even before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the process inconclusive, the senator had manufactured two videos, each with the distinctive ring of a drowning man, to plead his case.
In one of the videos adapted from a Channels TV interview, Melaye described the poll as an helicopter election. "For the first time," he said, "rigging has been advanced to the level that now the use of helicopter in perpetuating this electoral atrocity manifested yesterday."
He suggested that the helipad and control tower might be in Lugard House, under the control of Governor Yahaya Bello. He had barely finished making this first video when, out of the necessity to find another scapegoat, he produced a sequel entitled, "I have been rigged out."
The world never saw a more desolate, broken and contrite Melaye as the one portrayed in this I-have-been-rigged-out video. Almost in tears, Melaye moved from blaming Bello to excoriating INEC for his looming defeat.
Never in the history of elections in Nigeria, he said, had there been anything like what happened – when the umpire not only appeared to be taking sides, but actually helped the incumbent to stir up deadly violence and steal votes, while security forces provided cover or conveniently looked the other way.
A devasted Melaye swore that the blood of the dead and the gods of the disenfranchised would rise up and avenge his defeat, as if he was an innocent bystander in the political battlefield.
While Melaye was mourning his likely defeat, the outgoing governor of Bayelsa, Dickson, had not even cast his vote when he declared that Saturday – the same day he was supposed to crown his ambition as Bayelsa's ultimate political godfather – was a sad day, accusing his opponents of being "too hungry" for victory to play by the rules.
In a follow up statement, Dickson declared definitively that the election in Bayelsa was a "military coup", orchestrated by the rulingparty, ostensibly with the acquiescence of INEC.
A common thread among the losing candidates, which also appears to find increasing sympathy among segments of civil society groups, is that INEC has the lion's share of the blame for the shabby outcome of last weekend's poll.
It's easy for politicians to find scapegoats when elections do not favour them. If, however, they take just one quick look at the man in the mirror, they might just find that the desperation for power for its own sake, the quest for a zero-sum game, and the utter contempt and disregard for due process; that is to say, the sum total of what politicians stand for, is the single biggest threat to free and fair elections.
Rather than chasing shadows, we should put the blame for shoddy electoral outcomes and violence where it is – at the doorstep of politicians, with the security agencies, and increasingly, the courts, in that order.
Whatever credit Professor Attahiru Jega may get for the conduct of the 2015 election, the determination of voters to remove the PDP, and President Goodluck Jonathan's gracious concession even before the final results were officially announced, were perhaps the single biggest success factors. Unfortunately, politicians have been regressing since then.
Melaye's hubris may not exactly be at the far end of the scale of political violence, but Dickson's odyssey, like that of politicians on the other side that he is trying to disparage, is hardly inspiring. He may have forgotten, but a few still remember, how he emerged as the PDP's candidate eight years ago.
Timipre Silva, who was in his first term as Bayelsa governor at the time, had fallen out with President Goodluck Jonathan in a dispute in which the national security adviser, late Patrick Aziza, was determined to show Silva who the boss was.
To ensure that Silva did not present himself at the PDP primaries in Yenagoa, he was barricaded in his Abuja home in a military-style operation. He was kept under house arrest of sorts, effectively ruling out his participation in the primaries and therefore blocking his return for a second term.
Dickson, then in his second term as a member of the House of Representatives, was flown to Yenagoa. His name was wangled to INEC in the middle of the night and everything else from then on, including the courts, were pressed into Dickson's service.
It's hardly the kind of antecedent that should lend itself to any complaint about due process or one that should embolden the victim this time to lament a hostile takeover, much less a military coup.
But here we are, the beneficiary of 2011's assault on due process but now a victim, is not just complaining about a hostile takeover, he says the state was overthrown in a military coup. And his complaint is coming after he hijacked the party primaries and fielded, singlehandedly, both the candidate and his running mate, against the run of play.
In the end, the governorship candidate lost, and to compound Dickson's misery, his plan to cut a deal with his stooges for a bye election that might have taken him to the Senate, has also ended.
The party primaries that produced Dickson in 2011 was just as shambolic and militaristic as the one by which he manufactured the two PDP candidates in last week's election. Yet, Dickson – or Countryman as he fondly calls himself – does not see the log in his own eye.
And politicians, meaning politicians of all stripes, are the two biggest instigators. The APC may have won the governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi, but the party cannot be proud of its record in the run up to these elections.
Since politicians have learnt to fly without perching, INEC must learn to shoot without missing. It must continue to perform its role as umpire without fear, favour or ill-will and spare no cost to prosecute more electoral offenders.
The poor performance of Bello, which made Governor Nasir El-Rufai carry him on his back and kneel down to beg Kogi voters, meant that Bello already knew he was walking a tightrope before the election and had to rely on desperate measures, including going on all fours and suborning the security agencies, where possible, to survive. It was hardly an atmosphere conducive to a free and fair election, however well-intentioned the umpire may be.
In Bayelsa, the sham party primaries in APC that forced one of the aspirants to go to court; the desperation that forced two APC governors to abandon their states and camp in Yenagoa three days before the election; and the increasing cases of eleventh-hour court rulings, imperiled planning and compounded the climate of fear and tension.
Whereas off-season elections are supposed to help INEC deploy more resources and manage elections in the affected states more effectively, it appears to be having the opposite effect. In the zero-sum, do-or-die struggle for power, politicians now deploy overwhelming violence to subvert the process and use social media to spread fake results, only to look for scapegoats elsewhere. The CSOs must call them out.
It is easy to forget where we're coming from. Only four years ago, 80 election results were nullified by the courts after the general elections in that year alone, compared with three court-ordered elections out of 178, three years later.
Also, when INEC proposed, among other amendments to the Electoral Act in 2016, that politicians who rig their way to power should be made to refund every kobo collected when they are found out, politicians promptly removed the amendment in the final draft sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
They want to get to power by hook and/or crook, knowing that no matter how they get there, in the end, they will still retain their loot.
If the Kogi and Bayelsa elections were held on separate days, what happened last weekend might have been child's play. It appears that the more the electoral umpire tries to keep politicians on the straight and narrow path, the more ungovernable they have become, believing that if the outcomes do not favour them they would either call for their cancellation or seek to win in court.
The law is clear about the grounds on which elections may be suspended or cancelled. Stage-managing violence or crying wolf in order to force INEC's hand is a slippery slope.
Azu Ishiekwene is the managing director/editor-in-chief of The Interview.
Governor Seriake Henry Dickson, Governor Yahaya Bello, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), President Goodluck Jonathan, Professor Attahiru Jega, Senator Dino Melaye, Timipre Silva
« Buhari Musn't Be Allowed To Get Away With Ignoring Nigerian Courts, By Kolawole Olaniyan
Emir Sanusi's Inappropriate Truth, By Majeed Dahiru »
Nigeria and My Dreams For 2020, By Umar Yakubu January 2, 2020
2020: APC'll Survive Oshiomhole-Obaseki War, But It's Beginning of the End, By Azu Ishiekwene January 2, 2020
Making Budgeting More Impactful, By Oluwadele Bolutife January 2, 2020
When A Billionaire Goes To Jail, By Bunmi Makinwa January 2, 2020
Who Says Nigerian Graduates Are Unemployable?, By Olabisi Deji-Folutile January 2, 2020
Dear Attorney-General Malami, You Need To Apologise To Sowore and Dasuki, By Femi Falana December 31, 2019
"Na My Brother Dey There", By Reuben Abati December 31, 2019
Perhaps a Maintenance Budget Is What We Need, By 'Tope Fasua December 30, 2019
The Missing Link: Voter Education and Righting Political Recruitment, By Muiz Banire December 30, 2019
IPOB, Sowore, and the Audacity of a Primitive Dictator, By SKC Ogbonnia December 30, 2019
2020: APC'll Survive Oshiomhole-Obaseki War, But It's Beginning of the End, By Azu Ishiekwene
When A Billionaire Goes To Jail, By Bunmi Makinwa
Nigeria and My Dreams For 2020, By Umar Yakubu
Who Says Nigerian Graduates Are Unemployable?, By Olabisi Deji-Folutile
"Na My Brother Dey There", By Reuben Abati
Why France Kidnapped West Africa's Eco Currency, By Jibrin Ibrahim
Dear Attorney-General Malami, You Need To Apologise To Sowore and Dasuki, By Femi Falana