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Double standard, anyone?
06/21/2018 David Tindell Uncategorized Leave a comment
The other night, my wife and I watched Thor: Ragnarok. I'd seen it in the theater when it was released last fall, but Sue had never seen any of the Thor movies. Normally, she's not a fan of superhero flicks, but I told her this was more of a science fiction film than the typical superhero film is (even though many superheroes are aliens or have abilities beyond the realm of our current science, or both). So she agreed to give it a try, and we both enjoyed it.
Amid all the spaceships and weird aliens and battles and other assorted acts of mayhem, there was one scene that I remember caught the attention of every woman in the theater when I saw it there, and it caught Sue's attention, too, from what she said later. That was the scene where Thor, played by the Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, wakes up from his epic battle with the Hulk and doesn't have his uniform top on.
He's buff, he's the God of Thunder, and he can't find his shirt.
Now, a guy can look at this scene and admire Hemsworth's build from the perspective of a guy. (A straight guy, anyway.) Hemsworth was 36 when he filmed the movie, and he stands 6-3 and weighed in at 220 at the peak of his training. As you can see from this video clip, his training regimen was pretty intense: Training for Ragnarok.
In this article, Hemsworth's trainer talks about the regimen he has used with the star to prep him to play the God of Thunder: The Thor Workout.
Other film stars, both male and female, have trained extensively for roles that are heavy on the action. Ben Affleck's prep to play Batman is legendary (although it wasn't enough to save his marriage), and Alicia Vikander went at it hard to play the lead in Tomb Raider, just to name two. This is a relatively new development in Hollywood. In days of yore, stars would rely on stunt doubles to carry the action for them on screen. That doesn't happen nearly as often these days. Tom Cruise, for instance, is famous for doing virtually all of his own stunts in the Mission: Impossible films, and sometimes he incurs costly injuries in the process.
Anyone who goes to the gym knows that it's a chore some days just to get there, much less to work out. Then, once you're inside, you have to decide how intense you're going to be. I've been fortunate in the past several years to be able to work with some great trainers. Last year, I worked out hard at my own gym, Olympic Fitness, and with Tony Bergman at his gym, 4everFit, to recover from knee replacement surgery and get ready to trek the Salkantay Trail in Peru. Six months to the day after the surgery, Sue and I climaxed 50 miles of hiking over five days with our ascent to Machu Picchu. (You can read about that epic trek on Sue's travel blog, Your Next Journey.) But I'm the first to admit that there are some days when I just don't want to be there, and once in awhile I'll decide that today, I won't go. But that doesn't happen very often. With a lot of inspiration from my wife, who stays fit and healthy and looks 20 years younger than her actual age of 61, I work out regularly, because I've seen the benefits of fitness. And, I don't want her thinking about Chris Hemsworth any more than necessary.
But this post really isn't about training to play a superhero. It's about that certain scene. It occurred to me that there was really no good reason to have the scene in the first place, except for this one: it shows Hemsworth topless.
If if had been a woman…
So, what's the big deal? Hemsworth isn't the first well-built Hollywood star to parade around on film naked from the waist up, and he won't be the last. You might call the scene gratuitous, which the dictionary defines as, "uncalled for, lacking good reason, unwarranted." Thor had been knocked unconscious in his fight with the Hulk, then presumably carried back to this room. At some point, somebody had removed his uniform top, because he didn't do it in the fight and it wasn't torn off. In fact, it was intact and lying nearby. After a minute or so of wandering around, Thor sees the top and puts it back on. So why not have him wake up fully clothed? What was the point of the topless scene?
To show off his buff body, of course. Superhero films are known for drawing mostly a male audience. Although hard statistics are not easy to come by, one article I read said that the audience for Marvel superhero movies tends to be about 60% male. So, having Hemsworth go topless is obviously an attempt to lure more women into the Cineplex. I'm not sure what it says about women if they would be persuaded to put down their money for a movie ticket just to see the hero without a shirt for maybe one minute out of 120 or so, but doubtless there would be more than a few for whom it would be a tiebreaker in their decision on whether or not to go. (For the record, Sue had no idea the topless scene would be in the film, and I didn't tell her ahead of time, not wanting to influence her decision one way or another. In fact, I had forgotten about it.)
And suppose there would be women who would say, "Yeah, I heard he's really built and walks around without a shirt, so okay, I'll go." Would any men say anything uncomplimentary about that? Not at all, because deep down inside, most men know that if there is a movie where a particularly attractive actress is shown topless, that's the tiebreaker for him. It used to be that men could freely admit that, but not anymore.
Back in 2012, the film Star Trek Into Darkness premiered, the second entry in the rebooted franchise that follows the adventures of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and their starship, USS Enterprise. The movie was well-done and got very good reviews, except for one scene. Early in the film, Kirk (played by Chris Pine) finds himself alone with a beautiful young woman, Carol Marcus, played by British actress Alice Eve. She's changing clothes, and tells Kirk to turn around. Of course he turns back to look at her, and the camera lingers on what he sees.
In their future, Carol Marcus and Jim Kirk would have a fling, but this time he just gets a glimpse of what's ahead.
The scene was certainly gratuitous, although not as much as it could've been. Eve's underwear is more modest–slightly–than a lot of bikinis we see on women today, and this is supposed to be taking place in the 23rd century, where presumably people will have even more liberal ideas about personal modesty than they do today. But the scene attracted a lot of attention, and not necessarily of the complimentary kind. Although Eve is certainly an attractive woman and keeps herself in great shape (obviously), many feminists howled about the necessity to show her at all in such a state of undress. She was not attempting to seduce Kirk, and there was no subsequent sex scene between them. It really played no part in the plot at all, and could easily have been shot with the camera from behind Eve, looking over her shoulder to see Pine's startled (and somewhat embarrassed) expression.
It's been more than six months since Thor: Ragnarok hit the theaters, and I've not read a whiff of any criticism of Hemsworth's topless scene. But suppose the film had shown one (or both) of its major female characters topless? Cate Blanchett played Hela, Thor's sister and the villainess of the movie, and while her costume was skin-tight and showed off a figure any 48-year-old woman would do a lot to have, nothing beyond a few patches of arm and side were bared, and only in her first scene, before her costume was upgraded. The other major female role was Tessa Thompson as the Valkyrie, who initially captures Thor when he's transported to another world after his encounter with Hela on Earth. Eventually, the Valkyrie becomes Thor's ally, helping him and his Avengers partner, Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), escape the clutches of the tyrant Grandmaster and his gladiator games. Thompson is also an attractive woman, but her costume, although form-fitting, was even less revealing than Blanchett's.
Blanchett was outstanding as Hela, but she didn't come close to showing as much as Thor did.
As the Valkyrie, Thompson swung a mean sword, but she did it fully clothed.
Hollywood started showing its actors and actresses in various stages of undress a long time ago, so this is nothing new. Back in the sixties, it was big news (and big box office) when well-known actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Faye Dunaway and Jayne Mansfield stripped for the camera. Men got into the act, too. Sexuality is a theme the movies have explored, and exploited, since the early silent films, and there's no sign of that abating any time soon.
But aren't the times supposed to be changing? The #MeToo movement, which I've written about before, is supposed to be a tectonic shift in the way Hollywood treats its actors and actresses, especially the latter. But whether it turns out to be such remains to be seen. Certainly, major movies these days aren't shy about showing nudity, and neither are many TV shows available on premium cable channels and Netflix. True, a superhero movie has yet to show any women naked or even just topless, as far as I know, although some of the actresses who have appeared in them, like Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow in the Avengers films), have appeared fully nude in other movies. Cate Blanchett, in fact, not only bared all but engaged in lesbian sex in the 2015 film Carol. Some actresses have been known to demand, and get, extra money to show their naughty bits, like Halle Berry, who pulled in an extra quarter-million or so for agreeing to be filmed topless in Swordfish, before she started playing the heroine Storm in the X-Men movies.
As a filmgoer, I don't care for it when a movie is gratuitous in any direction. There was way too much violence, for example, in the climactic battle scene in Man of Steel and from virtually start to finish in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And if Thor: Ragnarok had felt it necessary to show Blanchett's Hela in the shower, or Thompson's Valkyrie seducing Thor, it would've been completely unnecessary, detracting greatly from what turned out to be an entertaining movie. It had a little too much humor for my taste, but audiences generally seemed to like hearing Thor crack jokes.
MarvelmoviesnudityRagnaroksexThor
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: How to split a variable with a space in PowerShell his line works to split ","
$lastName, $firstName = $name -Split(",");

But I also want to split by SPACE.
I tried somenthing like this:
if ($name -match ",") {
    # $lastName, $firstName = $name -split(",");
    {
        else $lastName, $firstName = $name -split(" ");

This doesn't work.

A: As the -split operator uses regular expressions you can just list the separators inside square brackets:
"foo,bar baz" -split "[, ]"

A: Your code works just fine when written correctly:
if ($name -match ",") {
    # $lastName, $firstName = $name -split(",");
}
else {
    $lastName, $firstName = $name -split(" ");
}

A: As you might have both a space and a comma in between and in some languages (as with Dutch Names) it is common to have tussenvoegsels, prepositions or articles (e.g. Maarten van der Weijden), I would take @Janne's (+1) answer one step further by adding a +(one or more occurrences of the preceding element) to the regular expression and , 2 to the -Split operator, e.g.:
$LastName, $FirstName = "Weijden, Maarten van der" -Split '[, ]+', 2

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Home » Comics, Television, The Smallville Project	» The Smallville Project: Episode 1.08 – "Jitters"
The Smallville Project: Episode 1.08 – "Jitters"
August 9, 2013 Posted by Jess under Comics, Television, The Smallville Project
Jess: A beautiful sunny day. I guess winter is over now? Jonathan is under the Kents' truck working on it; he cuts his hand and Kent-swears ("Son of a gun!"). In the kitchen, Martha reminds Clark not to use the backed up toilet upstairs and that there's chili in the fridge for dinner that night, so I guess she and Jonathan are going out of town. Clark's wearing headphones that abruptly remind me that this was filmed twelve years ago. OH MAN I BET HE'S LISTENING TO A DISCMAN.
Rebecca: If the soundtrack is to be believed, he's listening to Smash Mouth on his Discman. #2001
Jess: Jonathan hollers for help and Clark dutifully Clarks his way outside and hoists up the back end of the trunk with one hand while eating cold pizza with the other, as Martha gives him last-minute instructions. Jonathan fixes the truck, crawls back out, and says "I'm definitely raising your allowance." Clark beams. Everything about this scene is so overwhelmingly cute I just want to stick my head in the sand like an ostrich in order to process it.
Rebecca: God this scene is adorable. Somehow it's the cold pizza that does it.
Jess: Anyway, Martha frets, and Clark assures her that "It's just two nights in Metropolis, I'll be fine." Jonathan puts on an amazingly dorky high-falutin' accent as he adds, "And soon, madam, so shall we." Clark scrabbles in his pocket for a pizza-sauce-stained envelope with "Mom and Dad" scrawled on it all teenage. "I almost forgot. Happy anniversary." AND BACK INTO THE SAND I GO.
Rebecca: The rate of successfully adorable Kent scenes compared to, like, every other scene on this show is astronomical. I DON'T NEED THESE OTHER CHARACTERS (Lex can stay).
Jess: The Kents drive off and Clark smiles and waves while taking tremendous, Thor-eating-shwarma-style bites of his pizza. Why can't this show just be Clark loving his parents while consuming enormous teenage boy amounts of food? WHYYYYY.
Rebecca: Let's make a supercut of these scenes and watch only that until we die.
Jess: Cut to Toronto Metropolis at night. A mother tucks her incredibly adorable baby into its crib and leaves the nursery. A shadow looms over the crib, with Smallville's trademark "eerie shit" music vamping under the baby's mobile tinkling "Brahms's Lullaby." It's a man, who picks the baby up, kisses its forehead, puts it back down, and whispers "Don't worry. Daddy's gonna get better." His hands start shaking violently, and he backs away from the crib as the mobile shakes along with him.
Clearly shaken (ha!), he staggers out. Mom walks in: "Hello? Is anyone there?" Crying baby, curtains billowing in the wind, thunder outside. These writers write thrillers with all the creativity of Snoopy sitting on top of his doghouse typing "It was a dark and stormy night" over and over again.
Rebecca: I don't know who they thought was coming to this show for watered-down horror and not the Clark/parents/food BrOT3.
Jess: Outside, the Kents' truck drives past and Dad crosses the street behind it and takes shelter under a bus stop-looking thing labeled "Luthorcorp Plaza." Breathing hard and still shaking, he fumbles a pill bottle out of his pocket, drops it, picks two pills off the ground, and tosses them into his mouth. Literally the second they hit his tongue – like, he doesn't even close his mouth – he stops shaking.
Rebecca: Also, the jitters effects are SO bad. Surely there was an easier way to do this than speeding up the film weirdly?
Jess: He lopes across the plaza to an office building, where a janitor is waxing the floor while rocking out to loud music. Dad knocks on the door: "Will!" Janitor Will turns around: "Earl? What are you doing here?"
"I need to see Lionel Luthor! I know he's here!" Earl tells him. "Sorry, man, you know I can't let you in," Will says. "They did something to me," Earl says. "At his plant in Smallville." Finally the plant pays off! Will, who is defo the Extremely Poor Man's Ethan Hawke, tells him that kind of crazy talk got him fired, and he should get some help, but Earl brokenly tells him that no one can help him, and it's getting worse. Will walks away, but Earl starts shaking again, and the glass door he's touching shatters and explodes. Alarmed, Will helps him up, and Earl begs him for help, but while he's clinging to him he has another spasm, and Will falls to the ground, apparently dead. Horrified, Earl runs off into the night.
SOMEBODY SAAAAAAAAAAVE MEEEEEEEEE! AND EARL!
I was gonna say that I'm glad we're getting a non-Smallville, non-murderous-teen plot, but post-credits we immediately pick up with Clark, Chloe, and Pete walking past a cowfield.
Rebecca: Well, it is the name of the show. Gotta live up to it now before Clark and Lois start working at the Planet (S8).
Jess: Clark invites them to a small-gathering-not-a-party-seriously-you-guys-I-mean-it while he's home alone. I see no possible way this could go wrong.
Smash cut to a huge party at the Kents'. Ahahaha, that was a quick payoff! Chloe mocks Clark while he agonizes about all these people messing up his parents' nice house, and it's great. There's a closeup of dancing girls, each with an inch of midriff showing. 2001, everyone!
Clark gives up trying to stop it and mopes on the loveseat. A boy flops down next to him. "Dude, think I'm gonna hurl." In an actually cool effect, Clark zips into superspeed and everything slams into slow motion. He races into the kitchen, dumps the trail mix into a larger bowl (slow-mo falling trail mix! I love it!), straightens a vase that's in the process of falling, brings the smaller bowl back over to the loveseat, and shoves it into Barf Boy's hands just in time. "Thanks," the kid croaks. Clark pats his back while making a face. No lie: this is the show's best use of superpowers yet, and Clark is more likable in this episode than he's been all season.
Rebecca: YES!! Now I remember why I loved this show. This also reminds me of Sky High, the best superhero movie of all time. Also also, Tom Welling has never looked older than he does sitting next to all these teen extras with a pained, concerned look on his face.
Jess: SKY HIGH 4EVA. That movie's costuming alone is magic.
Clark is attempting to tidy when Lana walks in. He tries to pretend that he intended this huge party, but she, charmingly, sees right through him: "If I had a hundred people trashing my house I'd be a little freaked out." Their usual subpar flirting ensues. I know I never recap these scenes properly, but it's because their conversations jump around in completely unnatural ways in order to shoehorn in "romantic" or "significant" lines – like, somehow they get to Clark telling Lana she's braver than she thinks? what? – and also both of their acting ability goes straight downhill the minute they're on camera together.
Anyway, he asks where Flash is, and Lana's like "I am capable of enjoying myself without him." Acting ability aside, Lana's been pretty great in this scene. Outside, someone starts setting off fireworks, and Clark and some others walk into the front yard to watch. Someone is wearing a bucket hat. 2001, EVERYONE!
Clark starts yelling at Pete for setting off the fireworks, but Pete says it wasn't his idea. "It was mine," Lex says, walking up behind them. LEX YOU ARE SO WEIRD. "Consider it a party present. Don't worry about the police, it's covered. I know this kind of party can make or break a reputation, I want to make sure yours is a hit." WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD.
Rebecca: Doesn't Lex have a job and, like, stuff to do? Does he just tell his assistant at the plant to google "how to be a cool teen" and then have her buy at that stuff for Clark?
Jess: That explains the massive case of pogs Clark received that one time!
Everyone beams at the fireworks. Awww.
"I hear you're taking a tour of my plant tomorrow," Lex continues. Chloe makes a face: "It's a class field trip." "What'd you do wrong?" Lex asks. HEE ADORABLE. Why isn't this show just Mack & Rosenbaum? Why isn't Mack & Rosenbaum an awesome buddy cop show starring them? I'm also still holding fast to my will-they-or-won't-they sitcom idea. Come on, NBC!
Rebecca: I WOULD WATCH EVERY EPISODE AND BUY IT ON DVD.
Jess: Lex's date, all dolled up with every TV identifier of "hot," slinks up to him. "Sorry I took so long. Someone overflowed the bathroom." Clark makes the saddest face in the world.
Inside the house, the phone rings, unheard. At a fancy restaurant in Metropolis, Martha hangs up and walks back over to the table. Jonathan stands up and pulls her chair out for her. AWWW. This episode is killing it, you guys. She frets about Clark not answering, and Jonathan assures her that Clark's fine. He asks her if she ever misses Metropolis, and she says, "Sometimes. But I didn't move to Smallville for action and glamor, I moved because a certain man told me we'd never be rich or travel the world, but he'd always love me. How could I pass up an offer like that?" They hold hands and kiss. BACK INTO THE OSTRICH HOLE WITH ME!
Rebecca: The Kents are adorable and perfect. Also, I want to know so much more about Martha's Mysterious Metropolis Past.
Jess: I'm calling it now: Secret Agent. (Confidential to DC: I would read eight thousand issues of Martha Clark: Secret Agent.)
Rebecca: Also, after the comic is a runaway success, the TV adaptation would be a great lead-in to Mack & Rosenbaum.
Jess: Back at Chez Kent, Flash rolls into the party all leather-jacketed and cranky and asks Lana why she didn't tell him she was coming to the party. She says she didn't realize she needed his permission and he asks if they can talk outside. She sighs and follows him while her gal pals look at each other in glee.
Out in the barn, he asks what the deal is and she tells him she told him when they got back together that she needed some breathing room. It took me forever to remember when they broke up. According to the timeline of the show it was like six months ago. This is the first time she's requested space in all that time?
Rebecca: (This episode was shot fourth.)
Jess: (Ah, that makes a lot more sense, as does the time of year.)
"So you sneak off to a party without me?" Flash demands. "I didn't sneak, I walked. Why are you mad at me? Is it because it's Clark's party? Starting to get the feeling that you don't trust me." Lana is great in this episode and Kreuk is much better opposite Flash.
Suddenly the barn starts shaking. Flash grabs a rake and Lana runs inside and gets Clark. Chloe follows. When they get back to the barn, Flash is on the second story, aiming the rake at something. "Kent! Get up here." Clark runs up beside him with a flashlight and we see something moving under a dropcloth. The boys advance on it slowly. Flash whips the cloth away – and it's Earl, of course, shaking and terrified.
And. Um. Can I just say that there is something REALLY FUCKING DISTURBING about a very blond white boy thrusting a rake at a terrified black man in a barn? That and "the looming black man here to steal your baby" imagery in the opening scene are, um. Show. For the love of God, think about the images you're putting on the TV, please? Because, well. They're super racist.
Rebecca: 🙁 🙁 🙁 Tony "Candyman" Todd deserves so much better. He's great.
Jess: Anyway, Clark knows Earl and tells Flash to back down. He gently asks Earl what he's doing there. "I came to see your dad," Earl says. "He's the only one I can trust." Clark asks what's wrong and reaches for Earl. Earl starts to shake and Clark jerks his hand back as his veins go green. Okay, so Lionel's experimenting with kryptonite, I guess?
Rebecca: Are you really all that surprised?
Jess: Not really, but what reason does he have to suspect it has special properties?
"Call an ambulance!" Clark shouts. Cut to Earl on a stretcher at the hospital. Chloe and Clark are in the waiting room. Man, Pete's devotion to not caring about Clark is amazing. "This guy should be in a detox center," Chloe says. "He's not on drugs, Chloe," Clark says with a wonderful degree of quiet hurt. Good job, Welling. "Then why was he shaking like a junkie?" Chloe asks. Clark explains that Earl worked on the farm for six seasons and "even tried to teach me how to play guitar." He's clearly very upset about Earl and seriously, good job, Welling! Also, he couldn't play guitar because he "kept snapping the guitar strings." WHY IS THIS EPISODE SO GOOD. WHY. I am bracing myself for something terrible to undermine it all, but right now, YES.
Rebecca: The way Welling says the guitar strings line with such natural, muted embarrassment adds so much shading to this story: Clark being subtly honest with Chloe for once about difficulties he's faced as a superkid; his frustration with not being able to do normal things; Clark and Earl's close relationship and Earl's patience with him. It really tells us more about being Young Superman than anything else on the show so far. GOOD JOB, WELLING! Ugh, savor this feeling.
Jess: SO GOOD. Chloe says Clark might not know all of Earl's secrets and Clark says that Earl's like family. He exposits that Earl took a job at Luthorcorp because it was full time and paid better and Chloe gives him a look like "Paid better…in drug money???"
Rebecca: Chloe is so inexplicably judgmental about Earl's hypothetical drug use. Chill out, girl.
Jess: In come, I'm guessing, a sheriff and a deputy, who ask the nurse at the reception desk for Earl. Clark asks if he's in trouble and the sheriff's all "You have no idea." A commotion down the hall sends both cops and both kids running to Earl's room, where he's shaking violently. I guess they used up the effects budget on that super-speed scene from the party, because this looks terrible, especially when a nurse walks calmly within range of Earl and kind of shrugs at the cops rather than looking scared. The cops try to calm Earl down but get flung back by his flailing arms. Clark tries as well and gets thrown through a glass window. Earl looks at him in horror and stops shaking.
Rebecca: No one in the hospital is even remotely concerned about the teenage boy who just got thrown violently through a plate glass window.
Jess: Eh, it's just the Kent kid, he looks like he's dying 30% of the time and he's always fine.
Morning. Clark trudges into his trashed house, makes a lot of theatrical dismayed faces/gestures, then super-speed cleans it up. ADORABLE. He sits down at the kitchen table, satisfied, then hears a slow clap behind him as the camera pans around to show Jonathan and Martha standing at the foot of the stairs. Big wince from Clark. THIS IS SO CUTE.
Rebecca: KENT SLOW CLAP, YOU ARE MY FAVORITE. KENT SLOW CLAP FOREVER.
Jess: "You guys are home early," he says, and Martha tells him they called six times last night and spoke to six different people, none of whom knew Clark. He tells them he was at the hospital and about Earl, who, aside from everything else, is wanted for murder. Again, show, black man wanted for murder and suspected of drug use = YOU ARE PUTTING SOME PROBLEMATIC IMAGES ON THE TV. I mean, I'm glad to see some additional diversity with the show (not that they don't get a certain amount of credit for Lana and Pete), but even though Earl didn't mean it, maybe don't have two episodes in a row where black men are portrayed as rapists and murderers? Seriously, fuck you.
Rebecca: Seriously. The worst. I can't wait for Pete to get involved in illegal street racing (not a joke). Also, please recall that both of Lana's parents are played by white actors in the pilot, everyone we see who's biologically related to her in the series is white, and Kreuk's actual half-Chinese heritage is entirely whitewashed. The WB, everybody!
Jess: SUCH BULLSHIT. I always assumed they cast a half-Asian actress because, you know, "Lang," but I guess not.
Anyway, Clark goes on to explain that he couldn't talk to Earl because every time he gets close, he gets sick. Like, meteor rock sick. The Kents look concerned.
Cut to Clark and Jonathan at the hospital, looking through a window into Earl's room. A doctor comes out, and she is both a she and black, so that's something. Jonathan asks what's wrong with Earl and she tells them she doesn't know. She shows them his X-rays and explains that there are tiny fragments of "a mineral" under his skin and his body is trying to push them out. Jonathan asks how this happened and the doctor says Earl claims there was an explosion at the Luthorcorp plant, but neither Jonathan nor the doctor heard anything about an explosion, and neither has OSHA or the EPA. Not entirely sure why Jonathan seems so dubious about Earl's story when he hates and distrusts the Luthors so much, but whatever.
Rebecca: Jonathan's just an asshole to whoever he's most recently set his eyes on, just like my dog most loves whoever's pet him most recently.
Jess: Jonathan asks to talk to Earl alone and the doctor agrees, because you should always let a murder suspect talk to the one person he wants to talk to in private. Clark wants to go, but Jonathan refuses, because he'll get sick and "I don't want you passing out around here. That could bring us a whole other set of problems." Not because, you know, he doesn't want Clark to get sick. Wow, that was a steep nosedive in character, Jonathan.
Rebecca: "Maybe." – Jonathan Kent, Man of Steel. #neverforget
Jess: Jonathan enters the room. There's a deputy there, so that makes sense – except then it looks like the deputy leaves, which…again, do not let these two talk alone. I mean, obvs Earl is not a deliberate killer, but they don't know that. Anyway, Earl is thrilled to see Jonathan, and apologized to Clark through some kind of two-way radio clipped to his bed. Clark assures Earl that he's fine and Earl flops back onto the bed, relieved.
Jonathan asks Earl what's up: "I can't believe that you would want to kill anybody." Earl explains what happened and that he just wanted to see Lionel Luthor and find out what was happening on Level 3, where the wacky fertilizer experiment lived: "There was something unstable in that fertilizer. There was a huge explosion. I was cleaning at the time. The stuff in it…got under my skin. The next thing I know, they shut it all down and I was transferred to Metropolis. Then two months ago…the jitters started." This speech would have been a million times better if he'd said "seizures" instead of "jitters."
Earl adds that no doctor could figure out what was wrong with him, and when he went back to the plant, he was told that Level 3 didn't exist. With tears in his eyes, he begs Jonathan to help him get into the plant. Jonathan tells him to rest and walks out. Clark asks if he thinks Earl's telling the truth and Jonathan says he's not sure. Clark suggests that he look around during his field trip that afternoon and Jonathan tells him that Earl's in too much trouble and not to do anything. Pan back into Earl's room, where he has his finger on the radio button, and has heard everything.
Rebecca: This is such a weird moment. Up until this scene, I found Earl wholly sympathetic, but this action seems so weirdly sinister, the way Todd plays it. From this point forward, the episode is not sure whether Earl's a bad guy or not.
Jess: Cut to Earl handcuffed to a wheelchair, in an elevator with a guard. He starts shaking. When the elevator opens, Earl is gone and the guard is unconscious. They seriously cannot keep people in wheelchairs on this show.
Luthorcorp plant! The school bus rolls in and we cut to Chloe's dad introducing himself as "Gabe Sullivan, plant manager and proud father. Hi, sweetheart!" Hee. "Hi Dad," Chloe says, sounding mortified, and hides behind Clark's enormous self. Hee again. "Welcome to Luthorcorp, where we give a crap," Gabe goes on, and hee a third time, what, this has never happened before!
Rebecca: Gabe Sullivan is among the best underused recurring characters on this show. Also, Chloe hiding behind Clark 4ever.
Jess: Gabe asks the kids to remove any cell phones or jewelry and place them in plastic bins, which they do, including Lana and her Necklace of Angsty Significance and Making Clark Puke. Clark raises his hand: "I heard the plant has a third level. Is that true?" What a weirdly-phrased and unsubtle question, Clarktopher. Gabe snarks that it's where they do the alien autopsies and there's some polite laughter. Clark squirms, possibly remembering that he is a candidate for an alien autopsy, and Chloe tells Clark not to encourage Gabe. Wait, why is Flash on this tour? He's a senior. What class is this for? This trip makes no sense.
Rebecca: It's for Plot Device 101!
Jess: Meanwhile, Earl skulks around Level 2. He opens a door to find a bricked up wall, freaks out, and starts gasping "Where is it? Where is it? Where's the elevator???" Uh, speaking of acting ability precipitously dropping for no reason…
Back on the tour, Gabe tells the kids not to touch something because it's 260 degrees, which will surely not be a plot-related peril later. (Spoiler from the future: it actually wasn't. Just leave Chekhov's gun there, guys, no one needs it.) Clark, lagging behind, spots a door marked "Authorized Personnel Only" and zips through it. Meanwhile, the tour continues into the plant's control room and Gabe makes more poop/fart jokes, much to Chloe's dismay and Pete's amusement. Pete has just noticed that Clark's not there when a door handle starts shaking. Gabe goes over to check it out – and the door opens and Earl steps through with a gun. He presses it to Gabe's temple: "Take me to Level 3." "Dad," Chloe whispers. Ooh, Clark's foster uncle versus Chloe's dad! Dueling loyalties! I love it!
Rebecca: Except that Earl is a kryptomutant, so he's a bad guy now? I guess? This episode is good but occasionally weird/racist.
Jess: Post-commercial, we cut to all the parents of the kids on the trip outside the Luthorcorp gates, including the Kents, demanding to be let inside. Law enforcement officials – looks like, um, SWAT team and forest rangers, but probably not – holds them back but open the gates to allow Lex to drive through. Lex gets out of his car, then tells the SWAT rangers to let the Kents in.
The Kents demand to know what's going on. Lex: "There's a lunatic inside demanding to be taken to someplace called Level 3. We've managed to evacuate the plant but he's taken the students hostage." I am intrigued to see if he actually knows about Level 3 or not. I'd buy either one.
Rebecca: That's the beauty of how this show writes Lex! One of the few things they do consistently well!
Jess: Lex tells them the hostage-taker is someone named Earl Jenkins and Jonathan, dismayed, tells Lex he knows him and exposits about Level 3 and Earl's condition. "Then we've got a serious problem, because there is no Level 3," Lex replies. They all look at the monitor showing the security camera in the control room, but… "Where's Clark?" Martha asks.
Oh, just superspeeding around the restricted area like it ain't no thing. He sees the same security footage, the authorities outside, and an empty room with filing cabinets. So…he's just going to leave his classmates in a room with an armed gunman and not do anything to stop the SWAT rangers from killing Earl? I mean, okay, yes, finding out the truth will resolve both situations and I believe that an adult Superman in full possession of his powers and good at plans would get the truth and stop the dangerous situations in time, but this Superman is a really young, really dumb one.
Back in the control room, Gabe continues to insist that he doesn't know anything about Level 3. Earl calls him a liar, but… "He's not lying!" Clark declares, striding in with some blueprints. Huh, I guess I underestimated you, Clarktopher.
Rebecca: Just this once.
Jess: "There is no Level 3." Clark gives the blueprints to Earl. Chloe is in tears, which is a nice touch.
Earl glares at the blueprints and wanders around the room, shoving them – and the gun – in various main characters' faces. The extras are all like "Jeez, thank God I don't have my SAG card yet." Flash looks like he's thinking about trying something, which…no, Flash. "Every night, I go down to Level 2. Follow the red pipes down that long hallway. Go to the door, I open it, and I take the elevator down to Level 3!" He thrusts the blueprints at Clark. "Just like everybody else." He yells at Clark to sit down with the rest of the kids, and Clark crouches down next to Lana and Flash.
Outside, Lex and the Kents watch a helicopter approach. "Who's that?" Martha asks. "My father," Lex says, looking like he wants to run inside and take his chances with Earl's gun.
Rebecca: I don't want to make this whole recap about me typing characters' names in all caps, but: LIONEL. LIONEL YOU ARE PERFECT. John Glover is magnificent on this show.
Jess: Lionel disembarks and runs up to Lex, running his hands through his luxuriant mane to remind his son that Lionel has hair, ha ha ha. "Lex! How did you allow this to happen?" Lex is surprisingly docile as he tries to defend himself against Lionel's berating, and Jonathan marches forward: "Can we focus on what's important? We've got innocent kids in there."
"This is Jonathan Kent," Lex says, but Lionel knows him, though "it's been a long time." They shake hands.
Rebecca: Aw yeah. We'll get to this payoff late in Season 2.
Jess: "Kent's son is inside and he knows the gunman personally," adds Lex, who was not planning on having his future in-laws meet his dad this way. "Well, what's your assessment of this lunatic?" Lionel asks. "He's sick, he's desperate, he blames your plant for his condition," Jonathan replies.
"I've assured everyone there is no Level 3. That is the truth, isn't it?" Lex says. Aw, Lex. "Of course it is," Lionel lies like a big lying liar, the first syllable of whom's name is "lie." There's some significant Luthor eye contact, and Jonathan asks what Lionel's plan is. Lionel says he's going to let the SWAT rangers do their job, and Martha is like FUCK THAT NOISE: "You need to get on the phone and talk to him!" Lionel's all "I do not negotiate with terrorists" but Martha just gets indignant-ier. "He's not a terrorist, he's sick and he needs help! If you won't talk to him, Jonathan will." Jonathan walks away all "You just got told by my awesome wife," hee. But Lex points out that Jonathan isn't the one Earl blames, "is he, Dad?"
So Lionel calls in to the control room, and Gabe, per Earl's order, puts him on speaker. "I finally got your attention," Earl says. "Earl, why don't you come out? We've got a lot to talk about," Lionel says. Earl asks what they were using on Level 3, and Lionel sidesteps the question by saying Earl is sick and they can get him help.
Earl looks unconvinced, but another seizure hits him before he can respond. He grabs the wheel to the nearest valve. Clark stands up to try to calm him and Earl accidentally rips the wheel off and hits Clark with it. Clark goes flying (NOT ACTUALLY, NO FLIGHTS NO TIGHTS) and several students, including Lana and Flash, rush to see if he's okay. The valve Earl broke is for the methane levels and he watches them rise with growing horror, then runs up to the camera and whispers "See what you made me do?" Except I don't think the camera has sound? Whatever.
"Way to go, Dad," Lex drawls outside. "I see you haven't lost your touch."
Rebecca: God, every intra-Luthor interaction is pure gold.
Jess: I guess the camera does have sound because Earl tells the people outside that the methane levels are rising. Flash whispers that they should try to take Earl down; both Clark and Lana think that's a bad idea. "I'm not putting my life in that man's hands," Flash says. "Two of us can take him. How about it, Clark?" Lana rolls her eyes, and why is she so great in this episode?
Rebecca: It's kinda sad that Lana is still with Flash when she clearly knows that he sucks. If this show treated Lana like a real person, maybe we could explore that.
Jess: Well, in her defense she does think he rescued her from Sweaty Greg, and he's pretty delightful in his few scenes in "X-Ray." But in general, yeah, pretty much. Maybe she's staying with him because her having a boyfriend is the only thing keeping Lex from locking her and Clark in a supply closet with a box of condoms and some Luther Vandross every chance he gets.
Rebecca: Ewwww.
Jess: Clark tells Flash he (Clark) can't fight Earl, and Flash decides to do it himself, despite Lana's pleas. He starts walking slowly towards Earl, who is still talking to the camera: "I trusted you. You told me you'd try to help me." Lionel and Lex see Flash going for Earl and look distressed. Earl spots Flash, who manages to knocks the gun out of his hand before getting backhanded to the floor. Earl grabs the gun and Clark pulls Flash away. Well, that ended better than I expected.
Angry, Earl shoots out the camera and the SWAT rangers go into "full alert." "What was that boy thinking?" Lionel demands. "He wasn't," Jonathan says. "He's a teenager who's been waiting for somebody out here to take the initiative. Look, you've got a hostage situation, a potential bomb in there, somebody's gotta do something." "You're right," Lex declares. "I'm going in." Lex!
Rebecca: LEX!
Jess: Lionel tells him not to be a hero, Billy, but Lex's is like hey, my plant, my responsibility. "I won't allow it," Lionel says, grabbing his arm. Lex looks down at his hand: "Don't ever do that again." He storms off into the plant, overruling a SWAT ranger and demanding another one's bulletproof vest, and Lionel watches with a proud/calculating smile on his face. The Kents fret.
Rebecca: Lionel is worryingly gleeful about the possibility of Lex dying in a hostage situation. Oh, Luthors.
Jess: Well, think of the awesome PR he could get from it!
Inside, the methane levels are still rising and the kids are worrying, when Lex walks in, be-vested but arms wide and hands open to show he's unarmed. "What kind of man sends his own kid to do his dirty work?" Earl asks. "I'm not doing anybody's dirty work, Earl. This is my plant," Lex says. He glances at Flash, who's awake but has his head in Lana's lap and is inexplicably bleeding from the arm and asks how he is. Lana says he needs a doctor.
"What are we gonna do about these kids, Earl?" Lex asks. "I never meant to hurt anybody," Earl says. "I tried talking to your father but he wouldn't listen to me." "I know the feeling," Lex says, and takes off the vest. "Earl, you say that everybody's been lying to you? I'm gonna tell you the truth. My father doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about anyone in this room. 'Cause if we all die, his PR firm will spin it, his insurance company will pay out, and you, Earl, will go down as the bad guy." Earl insists that he's just trying to get better, and Lex asks how the kids' deaths will accomplish that. Then he plays his trump card: "If you let everybody go, I'll take you to Level 3."
Clark starts in surprise. Earl cocks the gun at Lex: "You stop lying." "Let them go and I'll show you where it is. Earl, trust me. I'm a man of my word." Earl pauses, then tells the kids and scientists to get out. They flee as Lex loosens his tie, clearly more worried about all this than he's letting on. Clark goes over to him and whispers, "Do you really know where it is?" "Yeah," Lex says, "it's in his imagination. There is no Level 3, Clark, now get out of here."
Rebecca: Clark is great in this episode, but the most fully-realized character on this show is definitely Lex. He's terrific.
Jess: Clark makes some bizarre faces but backs away, especially when Earl also tells him to leave. Pete is waiting at the door for him: "Come on, man, let's go!" AW EVERYONE LOVES CLARK.
The methane creeps higher as SWAT rangers usher the hostages out. Chloe and her dad are holding hands, aw. Outside, the Kents are relieved to hear that the kids are leaving, but a SWAT ranger tells Lionel that they need to lower the fire doors and seal the building since the gas levels are so high – with Lex inside. Lionel gazes inscrutably at the camera and says "Do it." Do you think that when he read for the part the casting director just said "Inscrutable: go" and whoever was the inscrutableiest got the job?
Rebecca: I would love the see the tapes from that casting session.
Jess: Clark is the last to go out the fire doors, but he ducks and rolls back inside at the last minute, yelling "Don't worry about me!" He heads back into the plant, following the red pipes as per Earl's instructions.
Martha hugs Pete as he comes out and asks where Clark is. Where are Pete's parents, I wonder? Pete stammers that Clark went back inside and he couldn't stop him. I wish Sam Jones was a better actor because his distress is very sweet and could be sweeter with better delivery. Martha tells Lionel to open the doors, but Lionel says they physically can't be opened until the gas levels have been brought down. "My son is still in there," she tells him. Punch him, Martha! You know you want to! "So is mine," he replies.
Rebecca: In another instance of the writers seeing what character combinations work, this is seeds of an actual Martha/Lionel arc, presumably because these two are so wonderful together. I found out from her Twitter that Annette O'Toole considers John Glover to be her work husband. D'AWW.
Jess: THAT IS ADORABLE. Also, burn, John Schneider!
Clark finds the room where Earl's missing elevator should be and X-ray visions the back wall. And wouldn't you know it? There's an elevator there. Meanwhile, the methane is almost at the top of the gauge. Earl demands Lex take him to Level 3 and Lex tells him it's all in his head. Earl pistol-whips him. Sorry, Lex, I laughed.
Rebecca: Lex gets a lot of blows to the head on this show. If, in Season 8, they were just like, "He got so many concussions that he went evil," I would have bought it.
Jess: Incidentally, also a great explanation for Hal Jordan as Parallax.
Rebecca: Burn, Parallax!
Jess: Suddenly Clark's voice comes over some kind of radio that I'm pretty sure just appeared on this set when they needed it for this scene: "Earl, I found Level 3!" Earl is suspicious and Lex wants Clark to get out of the building, but Clark insists that Earl come look. "I want you to see the truth," Earl growls at Lex, and drags him out of the control room. Once they're out of the room, Clark zips back in and forces the broken part of the gauge that the wheel was attached to back down. The methane levels start to lower. Outside, a SWAT ranger tells Lionel and the Kents that the gas levels are lowering, much to their befuddlement.
Rebecca: Jonathan's "I bet that was Clark" look to Martha and her answering "Yeah, probably" shrug are so precious and AHH KENTS.
Jess: Earl drags Lex to the elevator room, where Clark's broken open a hole in the wall. The elevator lies beyond it, with an axe on the floor. On the one hand, I like that Clark left an explanation for how he broke through the wall. On the other, breaking through a brick wall with an axe is still pretty unbelievable for a 14-year-old boy, and also introducing another weapon into this situation is maybe not the best idea.
"How do you explain that?" Earl demands, pointing to the elevator. Lex can't. Earl drags him in and they see that the elevator only has two buttons, for Levels 1 and 2…but Earl presses a spot below 2, and it lights up as the doors close. Lex looks like his father is levelling up another "evil douchebag" notch in Lex's head.
They emerge onto Level 3, a giant warehouse-looking thing, and walk into a catwalk above it. "Where is it?" Earl demands as Lex marvels. "There used to be a…there was a field of corn, with sprays all over, and every night they'd spray this green mist on it. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH IT?" "I don't know," Lex says. "They lied to me too, Earl. I had no idea this was here."
Clark appears at the end of the catwalk. "Earl, let's go back upstairs and talk about this." "It's all gone, Clark," Earl says. "How am I gonna get better if I don't know what poisoned me?" "I didn't know about this place, Clark," Lex says quickly. "You gotta believe me." Clark assures him he does believe him, but Earl doesn't. "He's lying! He's just like his father!"
Rebecca: Why doesn't Clark tell Earl exactly what's poisoning him? It doesn't implicate him at all to tell Earl about other kryptonite-related incidents that Chloe wrote about, and it could maybe help Earl out.
Jess: Well, Clark's not very bright. Also, the only reason he knows for sure it's kryptonite is because he's affected by it, although "my friend thinks weird things happen in Smallville because of the green meteor rocks and you said the spray was green" is a workable excuse.
And then: another seizure, with Earl and Lex still out on a thin metal catwalk. The (separate) segments Earl and Lex are standing on tip precariously, and Lex somehow manages to somersault over the railing of his so that he's dangling by his hands. One of Earl's railings falls away so that he's also only holding on by his hands. Clark runs out help as Lex calls his name, but stops, wincing, even though he's been way closer to Earl than this. Lex slips and grabs Earl's legs.
Clark carefully inches his way down the section they're hanging from, which looks like it could go at any second. He grabs Earl's hand and holds on through the pain, even as his veins turn green. Slowly, he pulls Earl up and tells him get to the elevator as Lex grabs the catwalk. Earl starts to crawl towards safety as Clark pulls Lex up much more easily. They also crawl towards the elevator, Clark helping Lex onto the level part of the catwalk.
Rebecca: Clark straight-up shouldn't have been able to pull Earl up, right? This show has a very nonspecific view of kryptonite poisoning.
Jess: I don't think it's just this show. Hey, remember than time Brandon Routh threw a continent made of kryptonite into space?
Rebecca: Fair point.
Jess: Oh no! Earl's still leaning against the railing, and he's having another seizure! Clark and Lex tackle him onto solid ground just as the entire catwalk falls a couple stories to the ground.
Lex stares. "Clark, how did you pull us up?" "I dunno," Clark says after a pause. "Adrenalin, I guess." Lex wonders what it would be like to kiss Clark right on the mouth.
Rebecca: Bad lying and impossible feats of strength are Lex's two main fetishes.
Jess: Outside, Earl is strapped onto a stretcher and wheeled away. Clark runs into his parents' arms. As they group hug in the background, Lex stalks over to Lionel. "You lied to me." "No, I didn't," Lionel says. "I said Level 3 wasn't on any plans. It wasn't. It's plausible deniability." Lex asks what Lionel was doing down there, but Lionel won't tell. "You almost got me killed," Lex says. "No, you almost got yourself killed," Lionel replies. "It was your call, remember?"
A crowd of reporters appears and Lionel tells Lex to let him handle it. He starts spinning a story about Level 3 being "a redundant storage area at the base of the plant," and tells them that Earl is very sick. "That's why my father and I have pledged to find Mr. Jenkins the best medical care possible," Lex says quickly. "He was a Luthorcorp employee, and here at Luthorcorp, we always put family first. Isn't that right, Dad?" Hee, and also now I want Lex to hang out with Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars, who pulled a similar stunt on his evil dad, although with fewer superpowers and more bumfights.
Rebecca: I'd read a "Lex's wild past sleeping with movie stars' ne'er-do-well sons" crossover fanfic.
Jess: Lionel dismisses the reporters, saying that Lex has had a dreadful ordeal, and gives him a huge, fake hug. Lex tolerates it while staring wistfully at the Cuddlin' Kents. And…scene.
…Hey, so is Earl still going to go to jail for killing that guy?
Rebecca: Maybe he's just going to be hospitalized for Kryptonite Parkinson's and Lex is going to pay off the cops, like he did with the fireworks?
Rebecca: This episode is one of the high points of the first season for sure. It feels a little cursory in ticking so many Teen Superman Show boxes (superpowered chores! wild parties! superspeed! field trips! hostage situations!), but at the same time, it feels more confident than the other episodes in knowing what its audience might want. Also, if these were the versions of Clark, Lana, and Lex that we got all the time, this show would be roughly 400% better overall. The secret is cold pizza.
Jess: Cold pizza is the real hero! But yeah, this episode is astonishingly good compared to the other ones we've seen so far. It helps that there aren't any inexplicably sociopathic teenagers or slut-shaming and that the Clark and Lana scenes are kept to a bare minimum. The Kents are wonderful and supportive, Clark is altruistic while still being very young and vulnerable, and there's some wonderful incidental stuff with Chloe and Clark and Chloe and Gabe. And the Luthors, of course. But I really do think the writing and acting on Clark's end sells it (I know, I can't believe it either!): as with the next episode, he's really anxious about doing the right thing but too young to be sure of how, and also a bit of a goody-goody. It's GREAT.
Rating: Smallville to Metropolis in less than an hour.
Next week: If you can believe it, someone actually outsmarts Clark.
« Supergirl Saturday: Action Comics #253, "The Secret of the Super-Orphan!"
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text:
Vision 2020: Lafayette has the chance to lead a state lagging on climate change action
by Jeff LeBlanc
Photo by Christiaan Mader
UL's experimental solar farm located off Eraste Landry Road.
This letter is part of an ongoing series intended to provoke and inspire ideas about Lafayette's future. It's our belief that The Current should make space for discussion — not just about what is but what could be. Vision 2020 is that space. If you have a vision of what Lafayette could be, share it with us. Email your idea or your feedback to inbox@thecurrentla.com.
Vision 2020 • A drawing board of big ideas about Lafayette's future beyond 2020.
Lafayette and the state of Louisiana are lagging in areas on environmental protection, sustainability and renewable energy. Citizens even slightly involved in the conversation are very aware of this conviction. All too often, these subjects are lumped into the category of "green issues" and set aside as environmentalist ideals. These issues should not be regarded as mere concerns from a small group but as a global effort — one that Lafayette and Louisiana at large are simply choosing not to participate in.
The global movement
The Paris Agreement is the most prevalent evidence of a global movement to cleaner and sustainable industrial practices. President Trump famously withdrew the U.S. from the pact, a choice not technically in effect until 2020. However, one could argue under the current administration that the U.S. is practically out of the movement.
Putting aside the federal initiatives, American cities have swiftly responded to climate change since the withdrawal in 2017. In fact, more than 100 cities have since committed to 100% renewable energy targets between 2022 and 2050, and six cities have already achieved this feat. Georgetown, Texas, for example, is a town that lost millions from a dip in oil business and is now a leader in renewable energy. The Republican mayor of the city (population – 70,685 and home to Southwestern University) cites isolation from regulation and price fluctuations to be a driving factor for moving to wind and solar contracts. There are also several examples of cities adapting other forms of sustainable practices such as banning plastic bags. As of now, Abita Springs is the only Louisiana city committed to a renewable energy objective and plans to achieve it by 2030.
On the state level, Louisiana is one of the 13 states that have not implemented any kind of standard or target for renewable energy. Data tracker site WalletHub ranked Louisiana last in environmental quality, last in eco-friendly behaviors, last in water quality, last for energy consumption, and 49th in combating climate change and in LEED-certified buildings.
Meanwhile, in the current legislative session, our government leaders are still debating deregulation on environmental quality audits in favor of "self-reporting" (the bill failed), imposing the highest electric vehicle tax in the country, and continuing to grant large property tax exemptions (like, 99% large!) to petroleum and chemical companies in the state. Unfortunately, it seems Louisiana is choosing to oppose the global trends of setting renewable energy targets, combating climate change, protecting the environment, promoting electric vehicles, etc.
What exactly is the plan?
Considering the norms presented, why is it that Louisiana is so hesitant to join the movement? Why are these problems not treated with the same urgency as they are in other states? Do the people of Louisiana oppose cleaner air and water? Does the majority reject climate change? Or reject the validity of sustainable economic growth under renewable energy?
Consider that Louisiana also ranks near the bottom in education, economy and in public integrity.
Of course, these lists are a dime-a-dozen, and the metrics could be debated. I challenge you to find one article in recent years where Louisiana is not among the worst for education or economic standing.
The point is when observing the trends in more educated and wealthier states, we consistently see actions against climate change and environmental stewardship. So, ask yourself: Do Louisianans know something those states don't? Will Louisiana benefit from remaining stagnant (or regressive) on these issues? Do you think perhaps it is time for Louisiana to follow suit?
I, for one, do not think our government officials have a better plan underway than embracing renewable energy and environmental stewardship. I also reject that doing nothing or cutting back on regulation are legitimate options. I think it is time for Louisiana to jump on the bandwagon.
If you agree that Louisiana should act, the bright side is that even small contributions will have a meaningful impact. For instance, installing public electric vehicle charging stations would help showcase the growing market of electric vehicles and make it easier for citizens to own one.
Furthermore, there are several examples across the nation in cities just like Lafayette for us to mimic, learn from and improve upon. Lafayette could even become the second Louisiana city to set a renewable energy objective. If Abita Springs can do it, why can't we?
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Category: Business + Innovation, News + Notes
Tagged in: Bayou Electric Vehicles, Climate Change, Jeff LeBlanc, LUS, Paris Agreement, Renewable Energy
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Jeff LeBlanc holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from City College of New York and leads Bayou Electric Vehicles
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News + Notes
Special taxing districts for Downtown, Northside, Acadiana Mall and more move forward
The gist: Six new economic development districts passed introduction Tuesday by the City-Parish Council, in a rush of legislation on the council's waning agenda for the year. The districts would levy new sales and hotel taxes to make improvements advocates say would spark economic activity in areas that need it. A vote on final adoption is set in December.
Council is figuring out its new superpower on tax exemptions. That gives economic developers the jitters.
The gist: The City-Parish Council rejected two property tax exemptions Tuesday night, including one for Stuller Inc. That racks up four defeats since local agencies gained a say in a state tax incentive program that economic developers believe is an essential tool for business recruitment and retention.
COLUMN: Lafayette's economy is rising but not recovering what was lost
GDP, personal income, employment, retail and real estate sales are all increasing, but without oil and gas recovering our economy is trending towards mediocrity.
Merger ends a newspaper war, but the bloodletting may not be over
It would be naïve to expect the blood to stop splattering.
A defiant Marshal Pope faces new malfeasance charges
Despite an attorney general's opinion that he can't legally supplement his salary with city court fees, Marshal Brian Pope has continued to do just that, according to a new seven-count felony indictment.
Incivility in local politics
Despite the negative consequences to incivility in government, there are surprising and often ignored potential fringe benefits.
©2020 The Current. All rights reserved.
Weekly Wire


text:
A successful launch
By adminAuthor /
Last Update November 4, 2013 /
PZ1964
PZ360 shortlisted for property awards
More than 100 people attended a launch for PZ360,to celebrate the completion of 18 months of hard work and planning.
The hoisting of a special flag and the launch of a panoramic rooftop webcam were two of the highlights of the launch event.
The building – once dubbed the 4th ugliest building in Britain by The Daily Telegraph – has taken more than 18 months of hard work and planning to be transformed into the largest business hub in Penzance.
Bill Radmore, director of MBT Ltd which took over the premises in 2012, said: "We, together with our tenants and funders, have so far invested some £700,000 in upgrades to both the interior and exterior and aim to further invest more over the next three years towards transforming the whole of the building."
The six-floor building is now home to a range of businesses operating on a local and international level, employing some 170 people.
Speaking at the launch event, Bill added: "Through our commercial property investments, we hope to help drive successful and thriving town centres by providing high quality, flexible work space for larger employers, smaller companies and fledgling businesses in Cornwall."
The ground floor and entrance is the latest aspect of PZ360 to be renovated, to accommodate the relocation of Devon and Cornwall Housing Association Ltd from St Johns Hall.
The striking new bronze entrance of PZ360 by local Architect Architecture And, together with a new colour scheme and steel panels provide a welcome uplift to the street scene.
A new flag also flies from the building with the building logo incorporated into a traditional Cornish flag.


Division contest: Max wins !
The division F Fall contest 2011 was held in Bensheim on October 29th.
It was a very enjoyable contest for table topics and humorous speeches with participants in English and German from the regions of Karlsruhe, Mannheim and Frankfurt. The organization was perfect, and our division governor Kees Broos has done an excellent job to keep the contest on track all day.
The great news is that Max Dynin, a member of our club, has won the Table topic contest and hence will compete at the district level i.e. he will compete against the best table topic speakers from all Europe at the next district conference in Basel, on November 25th !
We will support Max in Basel, we wish him a lot of success and we congratulate him again for this great achievement!
The Division F contest will be held on Saturday 29 October 2011 in Bensheim-Auerbach.
The venue: Parkhotel Krone, Darmstädter Straße 168, 64625 Bensheim-Auerbach (plenty of parking behind the hotel).
The winners of the area F1, F2 and F3 contests will entertain us with their wit and skills to ultimately find winners in 6 events in 3 languages (English, German and French).
To cover all of the above, as well as rent meeting room and equipment, we kindly ask you to pay a registration fee of 28 EUR in cash on the day at the registration desk upon arrival.
See you on 29th October 2011 in Bensheim-Auerbach to support Max !
Area contest : congratulations to Max !
The fall area F1 Toastmasters speech contest for table topics and humorous speeches took place in Karlsruhe last week-end.
It was a great event, well organized by our host from the Toastmasters Karlsruhe, Leif Frenzel.
Max Dynin has won both English contests in Table topics as well as the humorous speech contest ! Congratulations to him for this fantastic achievement !
Max will go to the division F contest that will happen on October 29th in Bensheim.
The district 59 conference took place in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 20th-21st. It was a very enjoyable conference.
Lisbon is a wonderful city and, after Barcelona, I can say that Toastmasters has pushed me to visit cities I had heard of, but I would have probably never visited otherwise. The see was splendid and the temperature was close to 25°C.
The conference itself was remarkably organized. The stage was the amphitheater of a business school. The two contests were very interesting, but I think what struck everybody was the keynote, given by Darren LaCroix, former TM world champion of public speaking. He gave everybody a great advice. What you need to become a great public speaker is first and foremost "stage time! stage time! stage time!".
Also, the next District conference will take place in Basel, Switzerland on September 3rd and 4th 2011. This is so close to Stuttgart, so don't hesitate and register today to hear some great humorous speeches and evaluations and have a lot of fun !
The club contest in the two categories International speech and evaluation will take place on March 17th at our regular venue (the IBM Klub) at 07:30PM.
a better chance to win. The winner of these competitions has a chance to move forward all the way to the World Championship of Public Speaking at the Toastmasters International Convention in the summer.
The Evaluation Contest is just that, an evaluation of a speech. There is a speech given and then all of the contestants will evaluate that one speech.
All members in good standing are eligible to compete. The winner of these competitions has a chance to move forward to the District Conference in Lisbon in May.
Of course, we highly recommend competing if you are so inclined. It is a good opportunity for expanding your horizons and for personal growth. Please let us know if you would like to compete in either, or both, contests.
But if you decide not to compete, that is ok too. If that is your option, then we really need people to help at the Club Contest and the Area Contest, which will also be held in the Stuttgart area on April 9th at the Hotel Albert in Stetten (Filderstadt). The winners of the club contests from the English and German speaking clubs from Karlsruhe and Stuttgart will compete against each other for a place at the Division contest. As it is with the club meetings, there are a lot of roles to fill to make a contest successful.
Please let us know if you would be able to help !
Check the dedicated page to the contest to learn more about the coming Area contest.
Amy Hamilton, Kelly Brown, VP Education, and Hervé Marcy, president, represented the Stuttgart International Toastmasters Club at the District conference that took place in Barcelona last week end.
It was an excellent event, and for at least a good reason: Amy has reached the third place of the English-speaking table topics contest ! Congratulations for this amazing performance !
From an organizational perspective, we have abstained to vote for the budget of the district because the assembly could not reach a quorum and any decision would have hence not been valid.
The educational sessions were good to excellent and the quality of the speakers was impressive and extremely inspiring.
It is also a very nice opportunity to meet people from all over Europe.
The next district conference will take place in Lisbon, May 20th and 21st. You can already register and benefit from an early bird for both the conference and the hotel !
Take the chance to discover a new country, new people and great speakers !
Division F Fall contest: victory for Amy !
The Division F Fall contest for humorous and table topics was organized on Saturday, November 30th 2010 in Mainz. It was a very good contest on both English and German.
Amy Hamilton fantastically represented our club: she has won the English table topics contest and hence will compete in Barcelona for the District 59 contest, which means the best speakers of continental Europe ! Congratulations to her !
Here are the videos of her performances in the table topics contest and in the international speech contest: Thank you Amy, we wish you all the best for Barcelona !
It was an enjoyable day in Karlsruhe for those of us who attended the Area F1 Toastmaster Contest. Amy Hamilton and Katharina Weyland represented our club very well. In the Table Topics contest, Amy took first place, and Katharina took third. In the Humorous Speech contest, Amy took second, and Katharina took third. That means that Amy will move onto the Division F Contest in Mainz on October 30.
Others from our club attending the contest in Karlsruhe were Kelly Brown, serving as Chief Judge for the English contests, Monique Raster, serving as Contest Master for the English Humorous contest and judge for the German contests, and Joachim Schwartz, serving as judge for all of the contests – German and English. Thanks for their help and support.
We hope that you will consider attending the Division contest and supporting Amy as well as hearing some great speeches.
10:40	Briefings for humorous speech contest	Kelly Brown / N.N.
11:15	Humorous Speech Contest N.N.
13:00	Briefings für Wettbewerb humorvolle Rede Götz Müller / N.N.
If you haven't registered yet, you can do so at http://district59.eu/viewagenda.php?t=10405 or via email to julia.von.oertzen(at)googlemail.com.
– By bus 54 or 68 from Mainz Central Station to Hebbelstraße.


Have you ever heard of the "Illustrated Wood"? Spirito di Vino is on show at Goblets of Stars 2018, the summer event dedicated to wine tastings and regional products during the most starry nights of the year.
The "Illustrated Wood" awaits you in Grado (10 and 11 August, dam Nazario Sauro and Giardini Palatucci) and Aquileia (12 and 13 August, Piazza Capitolo): during the evenings you can see some of the most beautiful cartoons and illustrations of the 18th competition International Spirit of Wine and we are sure will give you some smiles thanks to the pungent irony of the works on display.


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The police in India's financial capital have not exactly covered themselves with glory with their recent moral policing raids. First the Mumbai Police booked several couples for alleged indecent behaviour after knocking on hotel rooms and carting them away to the police station. Following a public outcry over the way consenting adults were rounded up and "humiliated", the police decided to order an inquiry.
But the officer leading the inquiry found himself transferred out of Mumbai on a 'punishment posting' on Thursday. Then, barely 24 hours later, the state government cancelled his transfer. Does anyone in charge look like they know what they are doing?
The transfer of Additional Commissioner Fatesingh Patil to Nanded, 600 km from Mumbai, was reportedly reversed on Friday after a security review of Mumbai by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
There was media speculation that Patil's sudden transfer may have followed the moral policing raids on hotels in the city's Madh Island and Aksa area.
Police commissioner Rakesh Maria had assigned Patil the task of probing the incident. He was to submit his report by Friday evening, but he informed Maria that the inquiry would not be completed before August 22 as many of the victims were out of town due to the long weekend.
On August 6, the police had dragged out over 60 people from hotels and taken them to a police station, where they were allegedly insulted and detained for hours, with some even being made to call their parents, according to Mid-Day.
The report said although they were inside hotel rooms, thirteen couples were charged with "indecent behaviour in public" and fined Rs 1,200 before being let off nearly five hours later. One young woman alleged that she was slapped by a woman constable when she refused to pay the fine.
"I am literally contemplating ending my life because of the trauma and the stigma from the raid. I haven't been able to step out of the house and my parents have also not spoken a single word to me since this morning," a 19-year-old girl told Mid-Day.
"I am not a prostitute. I am an adult who was out with my fiancé, who I am supposed to marry next month, to find some privacy. I had entered my name in the hotel register with my identity proof and also handed over the relevant documents when asked by the cops," she told the newspaper.
Mira Kamdar, a journalist with The New York Times, tweeted: "How can conduct in a private room be a public offense? Morality policing goes off rails in India."
Hotel staff alleged that the policemen conducting the raids said they were following orders from their seniors, particularly DCP Vikram Deshpande.
The police claim they were acting on an "unverified" tip-off that "prostitution-like activities" were taking place at the hotels.
Maria asked for a detailed report after a preliminary one did not give adequate details.
Conform railtnamentuoui dnului director ar trebui infiintate clase de mate-info la toate liceele din oras pentru ca peste tot sunt profesori cu specializare informatica si toti elevii de la aceste clase intra la facultati.


text:
Q: How to get cursors from each entity in Google Cloud Datastore query? I'm working with Google Cloud Datastore in my NodeJS application. When I make a query I want to get the cursors for every entity in the response, however, queries only return the end cursor by default. For example when I make a query like:
const query = datastore
    .createQuery(['EntityType'])
    .limit(2)
    .start(start);
const response = await datastore.runQuery(query);

I get a response that looks something like this:
[
    [
        {
            name: "BLAH",
            age: 21
        },
        {
            name: "BLAH",
            age: 26
        }
    ],
    {
        moreResults: "BLAHBLAHBLAH",
        endCursor: "BLAH2"
    }
]

Is there a way to get the cursor for every entity in the response? For example I want my response to look something like this:
[
    [
        {
            name: "BLAH",
            age: 21,
            cursor: "BLAH1"
        },
        {
            name: "BLAH",
            age: 26,
            cursor: "BLAH2"
        }
    ],
    {
        moreResults: "BLAHBLAHBLAH",
        endCursor: "BLAH2"
    }
]

A: Looks like you'll want to access the batch directly from the response. You can trace the responses from IRunQueryResponse to response.batch.entityResults.cursor


text:
To all of our potential clients, in the state of New York:
We respectfully present to you our young [but old] and tremendously unique company. The company DIF NEW YORK CONSTRUCTION LLC can significantly help every developer and authority that performs projects in the construction industry. We deal in construction management and supervision on behalf of the client and we have extensive experience in a wide variety of projects for many different clients. The company began 16 years ago in Israel as DIF Engineering. Last year the owner Ilan Feder expanded operations to the United States, beginning with projects in the metro NY area
A. Why we are special?
1. We have accumulated rich experience not only in project management and supervision on site, but also in review of projects carried out by others which we were asked to audit by the government of Israel, comptrollers of cities, the police and other municipal agencies. In those projects we examined pre-construction bids, payments for contractors, and other cost-related documents for dozens of projects for the Israeli ministry of buildings and for the cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. We saved millions of dollars in costs for our clients before projects even began.
2. We have international experience in Europe, both in Israel and for Dutch companies with which we did complicated joint energy projects.
3. We have extensive experience in managing legal disputes between contractors and clients.
4. Our preside served as an agreed expert between sides in large-scale financial disputes between various parties. He is a certified arbitrator on behalf of the Israeli Bar Association. The Israeli parent company provided multiple reports about the proper conduct of projects for comptrollers of cities, the police and for big private companies, in which we improved processes, fixed problems and helped to prevent corruption.
5. We have experience with zoning changes.
6. Unlike other local companies who work only with one sector, private or public, we have experience with both sectors, so we are able to understand the perspectives of both sides in any project that we do.
7. We are truly new in the NY area, yet we are building on the mother company in Israel:DIF ENGINEERING AND CONSTRUCTION LTD ,which has existed since 1999 and earned a stellar a national reputation. Both companies are owned by Ilan Feder. Thus we fill a special niche and conduct highly professional work which will help your projects achieve all the key factors of time, budget and quality, with the extra benefit of saving money.
B. Experience in New York
MTACC- MTA Capital Construction East Side Access project
East Side Access is a public works project being undertaken by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City. It is designed to bring the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) into a new East Side station to be built below, and incorporated into, Grand Central Terminal. The new terminal and connecting tracks are expected to cost $10.178 billion and are scheduled to start service in December 2022. We recently finished a detailed audit report for the MTA in which we identified specific ways in which they will be able to improve the relationship and synergies between the many projects that make up this great project, to finish it in time and prevent operating and maintenance problems.
Best Market Bay Shore
We are managing a 400,000SF Project in Long Island for the client. The project contains the company's headquarters offices, their new warehouse, and a new store.
Pre-construction bids review
We are worked in cooperation with a large accounting firm to audit four residential and commercial projects in NYC for a total value of $1.5 billion, for a major NYC developer.
C. What is our motto, which is different from many others companies in the market?
1.We do not believe in the fast track method!
Our projects are performed in a careful and orderly manner and do not cut corners. The so-called "fast track method," in which one begins to carry out the project with poor and incomplete drawings and scope of work for bids, is really the "slow track" method because it will lead to wasted time and money down the line. Our systematic and orderly method easily wins the three main features of the project: time, schedule, and budget.
2. We don't like change orders which are paid to the contractors.
Thus, we will do the maximum we can to ensure that the project will be in good order and designed correctly from the beginning. In the case that change orders are needed, we do not charge any fees from the change orders value. We do all that because we want to make our full commitment to a well-designed project and do not accept unprofessional situations in which CM encourage change orders in order to charge more fees.
3. Release architect and consultants to engage in work-that is, the design.
We help the architect as well as the other engineers, by preventing direct dialogues in front of the contractor. We take on our shoulders most of the assignments facing the contractors, by giving the architects and engineers peace of mind to deal with the design. We also protect them from unnecessary pressure from the client. It helps the client as well, who thus deals with only one entity. All of that is done within a good atmosphere in which all of the team can speak freely with the other team members. We bring an atmosphere of quiet professionalism to the project, the work conducted logically and orderly, avoiding needless repetition of planning and design changes. By that we prevent disputes between the client and the consultants, due to demands for design changes which are often not welcomed by the client.
4 .We don't like to say, what we do NOT do, rather we focus on saying what we DO.
The qualifications that we accumulated during the past year are so various, we have the experience needed to supply all the necessary services and fill all the "holes" in the project to bring it to completion. In our case it is not a slogan, it is our Outlook on Life.
5. Working in harmony with the project team
The company DIF has dealt for many years in project management, infrastructure, commercial structures, residential projects, security projects, clinics and a wide range of customers in government agencies including large authorities, government companies, and private entrepreneurs. The guiding light in all projects is to combine in the work the best professionals, the right contractors, planners and architects, professional and decent. We do not believe in work in which the people involved engage in mutual accusations and quarrels. We believe in a team spirit, and creation of an atmosphere of cooperation and harmony among those involved. Thus we succeed in creating the quality projects which end with the full satisfaction of all those involved.
Hanina 12 Jaffa Tel Aviv-DIF`S first project 2002.
© 2016 DIFNY. All Rights Reserved. Accosites


text:
Goal structuring notation (GSN) is a graphical diagram notation used to show the elements of an argument and the relationships between those elements in a clearer format than plain text. Often used in safety engineering, GSN was developed at the University of York during the 1990s to present safety cases. The notation gained popularity as a method of presenting safety assurances but can be applied to any type of argument and was standardized in 2011.
GSN has been used to track safety assurances in industries such as clinical care aviation, automotive, rail, traffic management and nuclear power and has been used in other contexts such as security cases, patent claims, debate strategy, and legal arguments.

History
The goal structuring notation was first developed at the University of York during the ASAM-II (A Safety Argument Manager II) project in the early 1990s, to overcome perceived issues in expressing safety arguments using the Toulmin method. The notation was further developed and expanded by Tim Kelly, whose PhD thesis contributed systematic methods for constructing and maintaining GSN diagrams, and the concept of ′safety case patterns′ to promote re-use of argument fragments. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the GSN methodology was taught on the Safety Critical Systems Engineering course at York, and various extensions to the GSN methodology were proposed by Kelly and other members of the university's High Integrity Systems Engineering group.

By 2007, goal structuring notation was sufficiently popular that a group of industry and academic users came together to standardise the notation and its surrounding methodology, resulting in publication of the GSN Community Standard in 2011. From 2014, maintenance of the GSN standard moved under the auspices of the SCSC's Assurance Case Working Group.  As at 2022, the standard has reached Version 3.

Criticism
Charles Haddon-Cave in his review of the Nimrod accident commented that the top goal of a GSN argument can drive a conclusion that is already assumed, such as that a platform is deemed acceptably safe.  This could lead to the safety case becoming a "self-fulfilling prophesy", giving a "warm sense of over-confidence" rather than highlighting uncertainties, gaps in knowledge or areas where the mitigation argument was not straightforward. This had already been recognised by Habli and Kelly, who warned that a GSN diagram was just a depiction, not the safety case itself, and likened it to Magritte's painting The Treachery of Images. Haddon-Cave also criticised the practice of consultants to produce "outsize GSN charts" that could be yards long and became an end in themselves rather than an aid to structured thinking.

See also
 Design rationale

References

Safety
Diagrams
Notation

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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I grew up the middle daughter of two prominent, religious parents. My Dad was also a severely deceitful but "functioning" alcoholic who came home from work most nights reeking of liquor, stuttering and tripping into the house. He seemed to manage to sober up enough in time to perform his deacon duties on Sunday. I told myself that this would never be me. Even still, my parents demanded excellent grades, excellent manners and absolute moral behavior. The way we looked to the world and to our respective "church folks" was paramount.
The first time I used, I guess I was about 7 or 8yrs old. I was just stealing a sip of my mothers "soda" which she totally forbid because it was Seagram's VO. I remember it because I used to see it in the cabinet all the time. At first it used to burn my mouth, my brother and sister tried it once and didn't like it. I continued doing it whenever it was available. Some time later, I stole a cigarette from my mother and I would hide and try to smoke them, I couldn't really inhale so I just stopped doing it.
I am an addict. When asked what my drug of choice is, I tell people "I'm not picky". But alcohol, which is glamorized by the media, and with its legality and prevalence, has been my greatest temptation. I was clean and sober for six years and nine months, had started Chemical Recovery ministries in six churches and led that ministry for an entire geographic sector in the full time ministry. SO WHAT, BIG DEAL! Satan wasn't impressed or intimidated by my accomplishments. He bided his time and waited for me.
When I heard that CR was coming to Boston, I approached the leader and offered to help out, after all, most of my friends were addicts and I dabbled in drug's myself. He looked at me with a strange grin and informed me " this ministry is for you" and suggested I read "Some Sat In Darkness". I read it and decided to dig deeper but I didn't believe I was an addict until I wrote my journal. Then and even now I can't believe how obvious it was that I was a stone cold Junkie.
I used anything I could get my hands on, any way I could from 8 to 36 year's old and the level of perverse depravity I reached included theft and lying, unmentionable sexual perversity, insane act's of dangerous foolishness and violence ranging from threat's to attempted and accessory to murder and this to friend's and family as well as acquaintances and unknown people.


Goal: Complete this WOD around 20 – 25 minutes. Use a pistol progression that challenges balance in one leg. Keep the snatches Light enough to keep moving and so you can hold on to the bar for all 10 reps through most rounds. Stay consistent on the Burpees.


text:
FROM A PROVINCE OF FRANCE TO A STATE IN AMERICA
After the new world was discovered, Europeans came to explore the new region. Some came for wealth and others came to satisfy their desire for adventure.
In 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish explorer and comrade of Christopher Columbus, came to Florida and explored that area. On his second voyage to Florida, in 1521, he was killed by Indians.
Hernando de Soto was inspired with the same hopes and ambitions, and was not discouraged by Ponce de Leon's failure. De Soto collected a large band of Spanish and Portuguese men to come to the new world in 1538. In addition to his men he brought three hundred horses, a herd of swine, and some bloodhounds. On April 25, 1541, de Soto reached the banks of the great Mississippi, a few miles below Memphis. He explored to the northwest, but no one is certain whether he reached central Missouri.
He crossed the Mississippi and pursued his course north along its west bank into the region of our state now known as New Madrid. As far as historians can tell, he was the first European to set foot on Missouri soil.
At the same time de Soto was exploring, Francisco Coronado, another Spanish explorer, led an expedition, of three hundred Spanish adventurers, mostly mounted, thoroughly armed, and well-provisioned. It is well authenticated that Coronado entered Missouri in the southern part, but how far north he went, we do not know. Some have claimed that he reached the Missouri River in the central part of the state.
PROVINCE TO STATE TIMELINE
1682 Explorer Robert Cavalier and Sieur de La Salle took possession of the Louisiana Province for France, in which it gained control of the Louisiana Territory in the Treaty of Fontainebleau.
1762 Spanish government officials assumed direct control of the Louisiana Territory.
1800 Spain returned the Louisiana Territory to France.
1803 The Louisiana Purchase was signed.
1805 Territory of Louisiana was established; the seat of government was St. Louis.
1812 A portion of the Louisiana Territory was renamed as the Territory of Missouri
1816 Howard County was organized from the Territory of Missouri
1818 Cooper County was organized from part of Howard County
1821 (August 10) Missouri becomes the 24th State
1762 France cedes Province of Louisiana to Spain. (Courtesy of Missouri Bicentennial Timeline)
"France ceded the Province of Louisiana to Spain through the Treaty of Fontainebleau in return for assistance in the Seven Years War against England. News of the deal traveled very slowly in the 18th century and the French governor was unaware that his territory had been delivered to another country. The French continued their work in the region by setting up trading posts and trading fur unbeknownst they were living on land now owned by Spain."
Louisiana 1762-1800, showing boundaries of territory delivered by France to Spain under treaty of Nov. 3, 1762, State Historical Society of Missouri Map Collection.
1800 Spain returned the Louisiana Territory to France. (Courtesy of Missouri Bicentennial Timeline)
"Ownership of the Louisiana Territory became a burden to Spain as it faced a troubling economy. France, however, was rebuilding its empire in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico under its military leader Napoleon Bonaparte. France also wanted to keep the Louisiana Territory out of the hands of Great Britain, so it offered to trade territories in Tuscany, Northern Italy, for Louisiana in a secret treaty in 1800. Rumors of the secret agreement brought anger and concern among Westerners who feared that the French power would control the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans. Efforts were underway by the U.S. government to quickly find a way to purchase the territory and secure its important trade port and navigation waters that led to the Gulf of Mexico.
1803 Louisiana Purchase is Complete (Courtesy of Missouri Bicentennial Timeline)
"The Louisiana Purchase by the United States from France would nearly double the size of the U.S. and became one of the largest land transactions in history. Rich in gold, silver and fertile soil, as well as large tracts of forests, the land brought much wealth to the country. With American independence from Great Britain, France had concerns whether it could maintain and defend a colony on U.S. soil and Napoleon needed money to renew a war against Great Britain. President Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to negotiate the treaty for the Louisiana Purchase that was signed April 30, 1803. In exchange for almost 828,000 square miles, the United States would pay France $11,250,000 and assume $3,750,000 worth of American claims against France. Both France and Spain would be granted access to all ports of Louisiana. The U.S. agreed to incorporate Louisiana into the Union as soon as possible".
The United States purchased a total of 828,000 square miles of land from France for 15 Million dollars, which is approximately eighteen dollars per square mile. This purchase increased the size of the United States from the Mississippi River westward to include what are now the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska, plus large portions of what are now North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, east of the Continental Divide. Also included were the portions of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, the northeastern section of New Mexico, the northern part of Texas, New Orleans and portions of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River. It also included small portions of the present Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Click here for the The Story of the Louisiana Purchase
Click here for the Map of size of LOUISIANA PURCHASE and extensive background
Louisiana 1803-1819, showing boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in 1803, State Historical Society of Missouri Map Collection. 1803-1819
The land that is now known as Missouri, was a section of the area that was once part of the Louisiana Purchase. This 1804 map shows the District of Louisiana.
In 1805 the Territory of Louisiana was established; the seat of government was St. Louis. In 1812 a portion of the Territory of Louisiana became the Territory of Missouri.
(1805) President Jefferson appoints James Wilkinson to be the first governor of the newly-formed Louisiana Territory at the encouragement of his vice president, Aaron Burr. Once appointed, Wilkinson and Burr plot ways to set up a new country west of the Appalachian Mountains, separate from the United States. Before becoming territorial governor, Wilkinson had been hired a "Spanish Secret Agent 13" by the Spanish governor in New Orleans to promote immigration to Spanish lands in Missouri. Wilkinson was removed from office two years later in 1807 due to corruption, treason and multiple transgressions.
Missouri Life "Meet Missouri's First Governors"
1808 Osage nation First Land Treaty (Courtesy of Missouri Bicentennial Timeline)
In 1812, the Missouri Territory was created as a separate territory out of the District of Louisiana land. The entire state was called The Missouri Territory, until it was admitted into the Union, once it was sectioned off from the remaining Louisiana Purchase land. At this time, Howard County was still part of the 5 large counties that made up the Missouri Territory. The 5 Counties were St. Louis, St. Charles, New Madrid, St. Genevieve, and Cape Girardeau.
The Territorial Papers of the United States, Territory of Louisiana-Missouri, 1806 -1814
The Territorial Papers of the United States, Territory of Louisiana Missouri, 1815-1816.
Missouri Historical Maps
Missouri Historical Maps District of Louisiana, 1804 Missouri Territory, in 1812 Missouri Territory, in 1816 Missouri Territory in 1819 and State of Missouri 1n 1821
In 1816 the Missouri Territory was divided into 7 counties: Lawrence, Cape Girardeau, Washington, St. Louis, St. Charles, New Madrid, and Howard.