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LG&E and KU share helpful tips during Severe Weather Preparedness Month
Know your risks, plan ahead
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company encourage customers to recognize the risks of severe weather and plan to stay safe. LG&E and KU join the National Weather Service and other organizations across the country in recognizing March as Severe Weather Preparedness Month.
"Severe weather can strike any time here in Kentucky, but when the calendar changes from winter to spring, we know there is always an increased risk of storms," said Steve Woodworth, director of Distribution System Operations and Planning for LG&E and KU. "That's why we take steps to prepare at all times of the year, and we encourage all our customers to do the same."
LG&E and KU offer the following tips:
Make a plan: Visit www.ready.gov to know your risk, take action and learn more. You'll find details on how to build an emergency supply kit, which should include items such as prescription medicines, a weather radio, important phone numbers, a first aid kit, flashlights and extra batteries.
Be informed: During outage situations, system and restoration updates are provided through the LG&E and KU online outage map and automated phone system. In times of widespread power outages, general restoration information and safety tips are provided on LG&E and KU's website, Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram page. There's also an informative video series about common outage questions on the utilities' YouTube page.
Stay safe: Always assume any downed wire is an energized power line. Stay away and report it immediately. LG&E customers should call 502-589-1444 and KU customers should call 800-981-0600. Visit lge-ku.com/storm for important safety information concerning portable generators, food storage and electric service.
Built to withstand
LG&E and KU's system is built to withstand extreme conditions. When severe weather moves across Kentucky, the utilities are prepared to respond quickly and safely to severe weather impacts and reliably meet customers' energy demands. Before severe weather strikes, LG&E and KU prepare by monitoring weather conditions, placing field crews and business partners on alert and readying operating equipment and material.
When responding to major power outages across the utilities' service territory, priority is given to critical-care organizations, such as hospitals, fire and police stations and nursing homes. LG&E and KU crews also focus on restoring service to schools, airports and other utility infrastructure, such as water and sewer pumping stations.
In making repairs, the goal is to fix problems that will restore power to large groups of customers simultaneously, so hundreds or even thousands of customers come back online at one time. LG&E and KU must first repair any critical infrastructure that might be damaged, like transmission lines and substations that carry electricity into neighborhoods and commercial areas before power can be restored to those locations. Crews then move to restore neighborhoods and continue to address issues that affect power to individual streets and homes.
Mutual Assistance
LG&E and KU participate in mutual assistance partnerships with a collection of utilities who provide access to invaluable resources and hundreds of crews from multiple states. These partners offer mutual assistance support, and LG&E and KU crews respond likewise to restore customers' power following severe weather events.
Before sending crews, LG&E and KU always ensure there are ample resources on hand for everything from routine maintenance to emergency situations. The company takes many factors into consideration, including the weather heading toward its service territories, when allocating resources.


WASHINGTON — Today, the Institute for Medicaid Innovation (IMI) released a report that highlights ways in which health plans serving the Medicaid population can address childhood obesity, one of the most common and significant health conditions in the U.S. The toolkit, which also assesses current prevention and treatment initiatives and offers practical advice to health plans seeking to improve their assessment and treatment of childhood obesity, arises from a collaboration between IMI, Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA) and the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP). The initiative, known as Childhood Obesity Prevention and Treatment (CHOPT) for Medicaid, is an effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
While the long-term health and financial consequences of childhood obesity are well-known, the base of evidence to inform effective interventions for children is underdeveloped. The Medicaid managed care industry and other stakeholders sought to fill the gaps in knowledge through the CHOPT for Medicaid partnership by identifying Medicaid managed care organizations' best practices that address childhood obesity. The project included the development of an implementation toolkit for health plans and convened stakeholders at a capstone event to encourage uptake and dissemination of the toolkit.
The report was disseminated at a meeting of the CHOPT program participants—including subject matter experts, health plans, and families who benefited from the plan interventions—in Washington.
ACAP represents 57 nonprofit Safety Net Health Plans in 26 states, which collectively serve more than seventeen million people enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and other health programs. For more information, visit www.communityplans.net.
Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA) is the leading national trade association solely focused on representing the universe of Medicaid health plans. MHPA works on behalf of 123 commercial and non-profit plans that serve over 20 million lives in 33 states and D.C. MHPA provides advocacy and research that support policy solutions to enhance the delivery of quality care to disadvantaged Americans. For more information, visit www.medicaidplans.org.


How much does Sidekicker cost?
A quick breakdown of our costs and what our rates include.
Sidekicker is one of the most cost effective ways to get on-demand staff quickly.
We aim to ensure our rates are as transparent as possible.
The total cost of hiring a Sidekick a includes the payment to the Sidekick, plus oncosts (such as super, tax, insurance) and a 15% service fee.
The cost to hire staff is based on the respective awards or industry averages. These are defined for every category and we ensure that all legal minimum wages are met for all our staff.
You are able to increase the rate for any job, however the system will not let rates be posted below legal minimums.
All legal payment requirements are included in our total costs. These include superannuation payments, payroll tax, and insurance. We also ensure Sidekicks are covered under our workers compensation policies.
Our service fee of 15% one of the lowest in the on-demand staffing industry.
Sidekicker is a self service platform and this is what allows us to be so easy and cost effective to hire short term staff. Simply login and click make request, it really is easier than sending an email and takes less than 30 seconds.


MTN Nigeria says it has withdrawn the suit it filed against the Nigerian Communications Commission [NCC] over the N780 billion imposed on the telecom operator by the regulator.
It will be recalled that on February 24, 2016, MTN had announced its withdrawal of the court case and made an initial payment of N50 billion without prejudice. This payment was made on the basis that it would be applied towards a settlement when one is arrived at.
The formal withdrawal today at the Federal High Court, with all parties in attendance, signals further progress in the negotiations between MTN Nigeria and the Nigerian authorities.


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Q: Ugly colors when secondary display connected I have lenovo x220t laptop and when I boot ubuntu 20.04 LTS or 22.04 LTS, I get these ugly and flickering colors on my laptop screen whenever I have a secondary monitory connected to DisplayPort. The problem goes away when I disconnect the secondary monitor.
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Management consultants are well-appointed with specialized skills and expertise knowledge as they aim at improving the prosperity and growth of the present day business. Mode of operation and creating strategies are considered to the indispensable factor which management consultants will deal with. These consultants not only guide the business by analyzing any difficult, however they also implement suitable solution to solve the specific problem as per the situation. Professional management consultants At Melbourne are playing significant roles in different phases of business.
The services offered by the management consultant are staffing, controlling financial matters, business strategy marking, managing human resources, and e-business and supply-chain management. Management consultants usually concentrate on the kind of issue which the customer has to manage. Therefore the management consultant maintains a focus on the critical situations and hence come up with an impressive solution to tackle the issue easily. They also undergo enough research work to deal with your business problem. Most of the management consultants analyze the nature of issues, conduct workshops as well as make that their client will be offered with suitable guidance as well as recommended for proper solutions.
Management consulting is highly beneficial for any companies achieve success in their business field. Whether you are operating a business or else starting a new business from scratch, it is necessary to look for the services of management consultant which will assist you to get improved performance in your business. Management consultants will assist you by solving existing business problems owing to your relationships with other organizations. Most of the consulting firms are extremely specialized in offering top class services which can further boost up your business goals and thereby improving the efficiency of your company. The experts in management consultant firms provide you suitable suggestions to enhance the performance of your business by applying suitable strategies.
What Is The Reason To Pick Up Management Consultancy?
Business comprise of plenty of rewards and challenges in the same time. Yet, most of the young and new entrepreneurs are arriving up with technology driven and innovative business solution every time. Among plenty of business, only a few businesses can able to attain the pinnacle of achievement, whereas others are striving hard to uphold within the market. However, management consulting assists those striving businesses by maintaining both external and internal aspects in tandem manner. Consulting agencies will usually make use of this own method for identifying business problem areas and hence provide some innovative techniques to correct them as soon as possible. They also offer wonderful suggestions and short-term procedures to direct the business leaders towards achieving their business objective in an effective manner.


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Enel Madrid Innovation Hub: open innovation concerning the Internet of Things
Achieving innovation through collaboration. This forms the foundations of the Open Innovation model we are continuing to roll out, now with the opening of the Enel Madrid Innovation Hub. We opened this space at The Cube on 16 November 2017 and it will help build a global ecosystem we can use to forge closer ties with entrepreneurs and startups.
"Our pledge to innovation has been bolstered by the creation of this hub: an open space and collaborative centre for developing projects, serving as a meeting point for open innovation", explained Endesa CEO, José D. Bogas Gálvez, in his welcome speech to participants at the opening ceremony, during which he explained the Open Innovation philosophy.
The potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) and role of startups in this field form the backbone of this space, said José Bogas: "The hub will focus primarily on two areas: the entrepreneurial spirit of startups and the IoT. The society in which we live is changing. Our aim is to shape the future, to generate ideas in partnership with external players such as universities, technology centres, startups and entrepreneurs, and completely off our own back, tackle the challenges that lie ahead".
"Our aim is to generate ideas in partnership with external players such as universities, technology centres, startups and entrepreneurs, and tackle the challenges that lie ahead."
– José D. Bogas Gálvez, Endesa CEO
The goal of the Enel Innovation Hub is to provide spaces for collaboration to find innovative projects related with energy and help them achieve, above all, a more efficient energy future. This involves sharing know-how, competencies and personnel to help develop solutions through these projects.
As Ernesto Ciorra, Enel's Head of Innovability, explained at the opening, this concept has reached the capital in the form of a space designed to nurture the creation of ideas: "The opening of a new innovation hub such as this one in Madrid today represents a golden opportunity for the whole of the Enel Group. It opens the door to limitless possibilities to continue innovating, identify where innovation is heading, and be able to take the right path".
The Enel Innovation Hub in Madrid is the sixth space to be opened after the concept was rolled out in cities such as Tel Aviv (Israel), Moscow (Russia), Milan (Italy) and San Francisco (US).
During the official opening, IoT experts from 10 startups were shown round facilities at The Cube in Madrid where the Enel Madrid Innovation Hub is located. They were able to attend a series of presentations on the Internet of Things, the ecosystem of European startups, and Spain's potential in this area.
Four speakers covered these themes and outlined their projects. We were introduced to Unlimiteck, dedicated to designing and launching technology companies, by this company's CEO, Alberto Rodríguez; Wallbox's electric vehicle charging points by Senior Consultant, Manuel Marín; and the smart metres of momit, showcased by Romain Cical, the company's Sales Director.
"Spain has the ingredients needed to lead the way in innovation and South Summit has proven this". The fourth speaker was Sofía Benjumea, Head of Google Campus Madrid and Co-founder of South Summit, who spent time filling us in on this type of initiative that fosters innovation and encourages debate to develop technologies that improve our future.
"The startup ecosystem does not only comprise the founders but each and every one of us."
– Sofía Benjumea, Head of Google Campus Madrid and Co-founder of South Summit
Innovative projects with quality ideas. This is Enel Innovation Hub's goal, which will focus in Madrid on the Internet of Things to build an energy future we all feel a part of. A crucial part of the evolutionary process we will continue to nurture is to back entrepreneurs and startups to create an innovative community.
Endesa's Smart City Malaga receives the first European Living Lab certificate for a power company
Digital lab: the space where you can get to grips with technology


This Sunday we'll be looking at James 1:19-27 and it has some important things to say about anger, control, and submission to God. I hope you'll be able to join us!
Join us this Saturday morning to help us do some Spring cleaning on the church building and grounds.
We'll meet out by the picnic shelter starting at 8:00 am and then attack the various jobs that will help get things into tip-top shape. Come when you can and stay as long as you're able. As the saying goes, "many hands make for light work."
If you're unable to join us on Saturday, you can always "adopt a job" and do it on another day or time that works for you. See Paul White for more info.
Plan to stick around after worship this Sunday, May 22nd, for a BBQ Potluck! Hamburgers, hotdogs, and drinks will be provided. Your part will be to bring a side dish, salad, or dessert.


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The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
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Extragalactic Distance Scale
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The night may make a dome over our heads, but it's still basically two dimensional. To put it another way: we can't tell how far stars are away from us just by looking at them. The apparent brightness of a star isn't enough by itself to measure its distance. When trying to find how far distant galaxies are, the problem is even bigger.
To solve the difficulty, astronomers have developed a number of methods for measuring extragalactic distances. Those include finding objects or events with known brightness, looking for the distinctive light from certain types of atoms, and even mapping the locations of millions of galaxies to measure waves in space that existed before any star was born.
Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian scientists refine extragalactic measurements in various ways:
Mapping the structure of the universe by measuring the distances to galaxies. CfA astronomers pioneered this method, from the first redshift survey initiated in 1977 through recent projects like the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS) Redshift Survey, completed in 2011.
Astronomers Unveil Most Complete 3-D Map of Local Universe
Surveying galaxies using the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) to establish the "standard ruler" for extragalactic distances. This ongoing project has mapped tens of thousands of galaxies, and has provided the best measurements astronomers have of the acceleration of the expansion of the universe.
A One-Percent Measure of Galaxies Half the Universe Away
An optical and X-ray image of Kepler's supernova, a type Ia supernova described by Johannes Kepler in 1604. Type Ia supernovas are the explosions of white dwarfs, which astronomers use to measure extragalactic distances and the expansion rate of the universe.
X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/D.Patnaude, Optical: DSS
How I Wonder Where You Are
It's easier to measure distances to nearby stars than far-off galaxies. That's an obvious statement, but it contains something helpful: if we can reliably find how far nearby objects are, we can use those distances to calibrate measurements to things a little farther away, and so on. This method of successive measurement is called "bootstrapping".
For relatively close stars, astronomers measure distances using parallax, using the orbit of Earth around the Sun. Over the course of six months, Earth moves about 300 million kilometers, or 186 million miles. That difference in vantage point makes nearby stars appear to be in different places in the sky, which can be used to calculate those stars' distances geometrically.
Using Predictable Phenomena to Standardize Measurements
The parallax effect is small for far-off objects, so it's no good for measuring extragalactic distances. However, astronomers have identified certain objects which emit light in predictable ways. If we know how bright something is intrinsically, we can calculate its distance.
The expansion of the universe also provides some help, by stretching the wavelength of light to a larger degree depending on how far the object is away. That changes the color of that light in a predictable way, known as redshift, since red light has longer wavelength than blue light. Astronomers look for the spectrum of certain atoms shifted to different colors, which lets them measure the distance from the redshift.
Using these known quantities, astronomers have a set of reliable objects to use for measuring extragalactic distances. These include:
A particular type of pulsating star, known as Cepheid variables. In 1908, Harvard astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt discovered that the rate of pulsation of a Cepheid variable was connected to its intrinsic brightness. Measuring that rate along with its apparent brightness reveals how far it is from Earth. Later astronomers used Leavitt's discovery to measure the distances to many Cepheid variables, proving that certain nebulas were actually other galaxies. Cepheids are useful for measuring distances to relatively close-by galaxies, but become less reliable at larger distances simply because it's hard to pick out individual stars the farther we look from the Milky Way.
Certain stars and black holes turn molecules into masers, which are the microwave version of lasers. These are very bright objects that emit light in a predictable way, which astronomers can use to measure distances to nearby galaxies for stellar masers. For some supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, astronomers can harness the power of multiple radio telescopes together to measure the orbit of the water molecules driving the maser. That allows a geometrical measurement of the distance to the galaxy, much like the parallax method.
Measuring the distance of galaxies by seeing how much their spectrum of light has redshifted due to the expansion of the universe. This measurement is most useful for galaxies within a certain distance of the Milky Way, but becomes less reliable for farther-off galaxies due to the acceleration of the expansion of the universe.
Type Ia supernovas, which are believed to be the explosions of white dwarfs. Most stars in the universe, including our Sun, will become white dwarfs at the ends of their lives. These stellar remnants have a maximum mass, and explode if something causes them to exceed that limit: either material transferred from a companion star, or a merger with another white dwarf. The resulting explosion is so bright that they can be seen from billions of light-years away. The similarities between all white dwarfs mean they explode in very similar ways, which is why they are known as "standard candles."
Baryon acoustic oscillations, which are the remnants of sound waves in the very early universe. These waves produced patterns in the galaxies that formed later, which astronomers can map by surveying thousands of galaxies. The size of these waves was fixed in the early universe, and has stretched as the cosmos expanded, providing a "standard ruler" for extragalactic measurements on the largest scale.
Why do galaxies differ so much in size, shape, composition and activity?
Why do we need an extremely large telescope like the Giant Magellan Telescope?
Extragalactic Astronomy
The Milky Way Galaxy
Stellar Astronomy
Radio and Geoastronomy
See All Staff
Remembering Astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt
Science Update
A Dark Matter Deficient Galaxy
Quasars as Cosmic Standard Candles
Measuring the Age of the Universe
Polaris, the North Star
Celebrate Henrietta Swan Leavitt's 150th Birthday on July 4th
Gravitational Waves Measure the Universe
Next Generation Astronomical Survey to Map the Entire Sky
Measuring the Distance to the Far Side of the Galaxy
New Insights on Dark Energy
AbacusSummit
Theoretical Astrophysics, Institute for Theory and Computation
AbacusSummit is the world's largest suite of high-performance cosmological N-body simulations, developed to meet and exceed the analysis requirements of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. These simulations allow one to predict the large-scale structure that results from a wide range of cosmological models, enabling detailed investigations of theories of cosmological structure formation and comparison to the coming decade of observational surveys.
Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)
Optical and Infrared Astronomy
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) consortium is conducting a five-year survey to map the large-scale structure of the Universe over one-third of the sky and 11 billion years of cosmic history, aiming to study the physics of dark energy.
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
Optical and Infrared Astronomy, Chandra X-ray Center
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey continues its twenty-year legacy of wide-field optical/infrared imaging and spectroscopy, which has led astronomy into the era of large archives and data science. Harvard and Smithsonian are both full institutional members of the latest epoch of the survey, SDSS-V, which started observations in 2020.
CASTLES Survey
Large galaxies and galaxy clusters sometimes act like lenses. Their gravity distorts the structure of spacetime, magnifying light from more distant objects. This effect, known as strong gravitational lensing, allows astronomers to study galaxies that would ordinarily be too far to see, map the distribution of mass in the galaxies doing the lensing, and measure the expansion rate of the universe. The CASTLeS (CfA-Arizona Space Telescope Lens Survey) is a program jointly managed by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and the University of Arizona, which used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study multiple aspects of strong gravitational lensing as caused by galaxies. Today, CASTLeS team members maintain a catalog of these lenses, updated with new observational data.
CfA Redshift Catalog
The universe is expanding, carrying galaxies with it like flotsam on a fast-flowing river. This expansion also stretches the wavelength of light, which astronomers call cosmological redshift, since it pushes visible light colors toward the red end of the spectrum. That means astronomers can determine the distance to far-away galaxies by measuring the redshift of light they produce. The CfA Redshift Catalog (ZCAT), created by researchers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, is a clearinghouse for historical redshift data from a number of observatories, including the 1.5-Meter Tillinghast Telescope and the MMT Observatory, both CfA-operated telescopes located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) in Arizona. This data provides a map of galaxies in three dimensions, allowing astronomers to piece together how galaxies group on the largest scales in the universe. ZCAT is an essential resource for data on redshift surveys up to 2008, carrying on the legacy of the original CfA Redshift Surveys conducted in the 1970s and '80s.
2MASS Redshift Survey
Galaxies are distributed in long filaments, huge "walls", and large clusters, which astronomers call the large-scale structure of the cosmos. This structure is a tracer of dark matter, and is a way to understand how the universe has evolved. The 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) is an ambitious map of the galaxies relatively close to the Milky Way. Led by astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, 2MRS used data collected from the Two Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), which is an an atlas of the entire sky in infrared light. The completed 2MRS project resulted in a three-dimensional view of the distributions of nearby galaxies, providing a way to understand the structure of the modern universe and distribution of dark matter.
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'We need bollards to stop rat-run drivers using our alleyway' - residents demand action over 'danger' shortcut
Motorists are using the alley to avoid traffic on Hartshill Road
Residents are calling for bollards to be installed at the entrance of an alleyway – to stop drivers using it as a rat-run.
Families in Hartshill say the alley which connects Riseley Road and Ashwell Road is used as a shortcut by motorists trying to avoid traffic on Hartshill Road.
Now they want a bollard reinstated amid fears a pedestrian could be hit.
Peter Larkin, a 70-year-old retiree, of Riseley Road, said: "This has been going on for quite a few years. There was a spell where people were rat running all the time.
"As a resident you are worried for people's safety. There needs to be a concrete post put in to stop them driving up. It would make it a lot safer for everyone."
A look up the alleyway from Ashwell Road in Hartshill
An un-named Riseley Road resident said: "This has been going on for years and it's got worse over the last 12 to 18 months. The drivers shoot down the alleyway as a way of avoiding Hartshill Road.
"It's particularly dangerous when children are coming from school. I'm also worried about the safety of people walking with their dogs.
Church car park could be answer to congestion outside school... but it will cost £10,000 to get it ready
"There was a bollard put in nine years ago but the binmen knocked it down and put it at the side. It was put back in but it's come out again. It's not for cars, it's for residents to use. It's a wonder somebody hasn't been knocked over and I'm worried it will take something like that to happen for something to be done."
Councillor Shaun Pender, who represents Hartshill and Basford on Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said he would look into the issue.
Residents say that a bollard was installed 'years' ago but was taken out and moved
He added: "I got a phone call from a resident saying she was very concerned about the speed at which some cars were going through it and using it as a rat-run.
'I've been fined TWICE for parking in my own street' - resident's anger as poppies arrive in city
"She was worried about the safety of her children and others within the community. There was a bollard installed a while ago but I'm not sure what has happened to it .
"I think it's very dangerous because it doesn't take a few seconds for a child to run out in front of a car where they wouldn't expect one to appear."


The country is about to face another decisive Parliamentary election shaping our political future. The Friday Forum wishes to place some crucial concerns before the voters.
There is much confusion among the public about what is at stake with the Parliamentary election. Is it the danger of a return of terror and war, or is it the return of attacks on democracy, deterioration of the rule of law, authoritarianism and governance that is not accountable to the people? Indeed, the election campaigns have already begun with accusations and counter accusations. The polarising rhetoric in recent weeks is worrying, as it points to the possibility of an election campaign with incitement once again of racial and religious hatred and violence. The damage done during such virulent election campaigns may trouble the country for years, as we all know from our tragic political history.
Despite the end of a brutal armed conflict over six years ago, it was only with the recent Presidential election that serious attempts were made to restore democratic institutions and values leading to a democratic ethos. We are once again being called to make crucial decisions between moving towards substantial democratisation or falling back into the abyss of narrow nationalism and authoritarianism, this time through the establishment of a new Government. The controversies and bargaining that took place recently over necessary amendments to the Constitution demonstrate once again that many politicians are motivated by self-interest rather than the public interest. Therefore, it is when voters are informed, vigilant and far thinking that a people stand the best chance of electing a government most inclined to uphold the sovereignty of the people and serve them through justice, equal rights, freedom and integration.
The Parliamentary election campaigns are already centring on personalities and comparisons in performance, and drowning the real social, economic and political challenges that face us as a people. We call upon all political parties to declare their stance on at least the following crises that have remained unaddressed for decades.
How will the vast inequalities and increasing economic deprivation and poverty of large sections of our population be resolved? How is it intended to honour our massive foreign debt without cuts for instance in social welfare, education and health that benefit the poor? How will the preservation of the environment and ecology be prioritized in development and how will garbage disposal for example of plastic and toxic material be managed? How is it proposed to keep abreast with the positive benefits of progress without spreading greed in some sectors and further dehumanising and adding to the misery of the poor and the deprived?
What measures will be taken to construct a stable and comprehensive foreign policy that will restore relations of dignity with our immediate neighbours and the world, and at the same time protect our sovereignty and ensure our international commitments especially with the UN of which we are by choice a member state?
It is by repeatedly returning to such sensitive and daunting issues, which are often conveniently forgotten, but so fundamental to our body politic, that we can set the country on a meaningful path towards integrity, dignity and progress. As we face one of the most divisive and yet crucial Parliamentary election, all citizens must have the courage to hold those entrusted with political authority accountable. For this a strong alternative narrative, challenging the political culture of expediency that we have allowed our politicians to build, becomes indispensable. Furthermore, this is our moment as citizens to defeat the actors and forces which are against pluralism and democracy. We must recognise that our collective future demands respect for the rights of all citizens of whatever community to live in peace and with dignity in our country. This task cannot be limited to election times alone. It is a continuing struggle for democracy and the sovereignty of the people.
The Friday Forum is an informal and self-financed group dedicated to democracy, good governance, human rights and the rule of law. It has for over five years sought to alert the public on issues concerning the rights of the citizen. We work on a non-partisan basis and have been critical of both the Government and Opposition.


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Bribes are as old as the Olympics
Molly Wood Aug 5, 2016
https://www.marketplace.org/2016/08/05/bribes-are-old-olympics-are/
An artist rendering of ancient Olympia. Wikipedia/Creative Commons
There are allegations that Brazilian lawmakers were bribed to assign lucrative construction contracts to build venues for the 2016 Olympics in Rio — one of the may claims of financial impropriety during this year's games.
But, according to Nigel Crowther, professor of Classical Studies at the University of Western Ontario, bribes have been part of the games since ancient Greece. He wrote about it for The New Republic and joined the show to discuss the history of bribery and corruption in the Olympics. Below is an excerpt:
Even in a founding myth of the ancient Olympics, bribery played a central role. According to the poet Pindar, the king of Pisa bribed Hermes' son Myrtilus to tamper with his opponent's chariot wheels.
During the ancient Olympics, athletes, their fathers and trainers made oaths not to "sin against the games." But some didn't take this oath as seriously as others. For example, the travel writer Pausanias wrote about how, in 388 B.C., the boxer Eupolus bribed his three opponents at Olympia. The officials punished all four contestants. Sixty-six years later, a pentathlete named Callippus offered his competitors money to throw the contest in his favor. And, according to the philosopher Philostratus, trainers often lent money to athletes at high rates of interest for the sole purpose of bribery.
Read more from "Since Ancient Greece, the Olympics and Bribery Have Gone Hand In Hand" at The New Republic.
India uses tech to reduce bribes among police and government officials
Let's do the numbers on the Paralympic Games
This year's Olympic ads are going to look very different
Let's do the numbers: The money spent on the Rio Olympics
The U.S. is rolling back transparency rules in the bribe-prone oil industry
Good luck watching the Winter Games in 4K


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Is it true that 'age brings wisdom?'
Zen Master and his tea
Americans, often wizened with Age, but Japanese are Wise from the Start*
ONE stereotype of wisdom is a wizened Zen-master smiling benevolently at the antics of his pupils, while referring to them as little grasshoppers or some such affectation, safe in the knowledge that one day they, too, will have been set on the path that leads to wizened masterhood. But is it true that age brings wisdom? A study two years ago in North America, by Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, in Canada, suggested that it is. In as much as it is possible to quantify wisdom, Dr Grossmann found that elderly Americans had more of it than youngsters. He has, however, now extended his investigation to Asia—the land of the wizened Zen-master—and, in particular, to Japan. There, he found, in contrast to the West, that the grasshoppers are their masters' equals almost from the beginning.*
*Source: The Economist
Dr Grossmann's study, just published in Psychological Science, recruited 186 Japanese from various walks of life and compared them with 225 Americans. Participants were asked to read a series of pretend newspaper articles. Half described conflict between groups, such as a debate between residents of an impoverished Pacific island over whether to allow foreign oil companies to operate there following the discovery of petroleum. (Those in favour viewed it as an opportunity to get rich; those against feared the disruption of ancient ways and potential ecological damage.) The other half took the form of advice columns that dealt with conflicts between individuals: siblings, friends and spouses. After reading each article, participants were asked "What do you think will happen after that?" and "Why do you think it will happen this way?" Their responses were recorded and transcribed.
Dr Grossmann and his colleagues removed age-related information from the transcripts, and also any clues to participants' nationalities, and then passed the edited versions to a group of assessors. These assessors were trained to rate transcribed responses consistently, and had been tested to show that their ratings were statistically comparable with one another.
>> Continue reading at The Economist
The old moral, social, and political "order" of humankind is now dead. A new and true and right Way of order of humankind is, now, and forever hereafter, necessary. This Free Declaration is the Seed-Utterance of that new and necessary Way of true and right (and truly globally, totally, and universally cooperative) order.
— Adi Da, World Friend
On this day, July 23, 2006, Adi Da declared a decisive moment in human history for the sake of global cooperation, tolerance, and peace. From His essay "723: The Free Declaration of The Universal Moral, Social, and Political Laws of True and Necessary Civilization" (pp 251 in Not-Two Is Peace):
My Two Cents on Aurora
Dr. Arun Gandhi
My heart goes out today to the people of Aurora who have suffered this immense and mindless tragedy. To those who have lost their loved ones and to those who escaped with injuries this incident will never make any sense.
The question WHY? will always haunt them. Already the nation is screaming for more protection, more security. And, yes, the Government has already set the security apparatus in motion and we will gladly surrender more of our freedom so that we can feel safe or, at least, enjoy the illusion of safety.
As much as this is the time for sympathy and healing for those who suffered this tragedy it is also a time for national soul-searching. It is easy to isolate this incident as an evil act of a madman and tighten security and move on with life. We have done this over and over again but the scourge of violence refuses to disappear. Why will it, when we find so much joy in violence that we will suffer any inconvenience to see one set of madmen brutalize and destroy another set of madmen?
CAT eNEWS – SBIU New Years 2012
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1. Returning to Our Roots
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The Story of Change!
Can shopping save the world?
The Story of Change urges viewers to put down their credit cards and start exercising their citizen muscles to build a more sustainable, just and fulfilling world.
Happy 13th Birthday Catalyst House!
Arun Gandhi and Brazil's Filhos de Gandhy
When Appaji and I met with the President, Professor Agnaldo Silva, of the Filhos de Gandhy (Sons of Gandhi), Appaji asked him, "Why do you call yourselves the Sons of Gandhi and not the People of Gandhi?" The Professor replied, "We do have a movement called the Daughters of Gandhi that walk alongside the Sons of Gandhi during Carnival." Appaji replied that Bapu did not discriminate between genders, he held them equal and empowered women. It would be more in line with Bapu's philosophy to be all inclusive i.e., the People of Gandhi! The Professor turned to his colleague and said, "We have some work to do!"
As the conversation continued the Professor asked if Appaji would consider coming back next Opening of Carnival to join the Sons of Gandhi, it would be a big moment for them. This was the first time that a Gandhi had visited Salvador Bahia, Brazil. Appaji responded that if they would consider changing their name to the People of Gandhi, he would consider returning for the Salvador Bahia Carnival.
Also, in the course of the dialogue Arun explained to the professor that he is not a "peace builder" per'se, as some in Brazil had described – he emphasized that he is a "Peace Farmer", planting his seeds around the world.
The photos with the Professor are at the end of the photo album.
Mahatma Gandhi's grandson visited Salvador Bahia and Sao Paolo Brazil
Rochester New York July 7, 2012 — Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Dr. Arun Gandhi, visited Brazil the last week of June 2012. He spent his seven-day tour visiting Salvador Bahia and Sao Paulo as well as talking with leaders from the Salvador Ministry of Education, Culture and International Relations, the Center for Support of Children with Cerebral Palsy (NACPC) a project recognized by UNESCO and UNICEF, Teodoro Sampaio (Bairro Santa Cruz), Sons of Gandhi (Filhos de Gandhy), Residents de Sao Miguel Paulista, Institute of Democracy and Sustainability, and Fundacao Tide Setubal.
While in Brazil, Dr. Gandhi also enjoyed separate visits with Salvador Municipal Secretary of Education, Juan Carlos Bacelar and the leadership of Institute of Democracy and Sustainability and Fundacao Tide Setubal to discuss the current situation in Brazil and begin a dialogue on how Mahatma Gandhi's philosophies of nonviolence and education can be implemented in the ongoing development work there. Dr. Gandhi gave a 20 minute interview with the Redo Record de Televisiao News Network and held several press conferences.
Arun's Interview on Brazilian Record News TV
Arun Gandhi was invited by Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDS) to Sao Paulo to address the residents of Sao Miguel Paulista. During his time in Sao Paulo, he was invited to give a 20 minute interview on Record News, one of two Brazilian 24 hour news channels modeled after CNN.
Lynnea Bylund is a Director of Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute, founder of Catalyst House and has nearly three decades of experience in administration, marketing and business development. She was a nationally recognized spokeswoman for the emerging alternative video and information delivery industries. She has a degree in holistic health-nutrition from the legendary and controversial health educator and activist Dr. Kurt Donsbach, she is the founder of two not-for-profit small business-based wireless trade associations and has lobbied on Capitol Hill and at the FCC where she has spoken out strongly against the cable TV monopoly, illegal spectrum warehousing and ill-conceived congressional schemes to auction our nation's precious airwaves to the highest bidder.
Three video interviews of Arun Gandhi in Brazil
What a whirlwind trip this was! Whew!
Arun Gandhi Keynote at the Teatro Castro Alves theater in Bahia, Brazil
Arun Gandhi on the Cycle of Poverty in India
Arun Gandhi Interview in Sao Paulo, Brazil June 2012
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Welcome to our Hub
Home » Clinical » Incorporating Lab Values in Cardiovascular Risk Assessment
Incorporating Lab Values in Cardiovascular Risk Assessment
Today's lab leaders are actively seeking opportunities to elevate the value of their labs. They are employing new strategies and creating new initiatives. They are expanding their focus and strategic approaches. They are beginning to redefine what the lab can offer on a higher level than ever before.
While many of these opportunities need to be uncovered strategically, others are waiting in plain sight. In fact, some apply to entire categories at large. By helping create efficiencies in these spaces, savvy lab leaders are in an extraordinary position to make a massive, positive impact on their organizations' bottom lines.
For an example of such an opportunity, look to the disease that is the leading cause of mortality worldwide—CVD.1 Not only does CVD cause one death every 40 seconds in the U.S.,2 but its prevalence is expected to grow by nearly 10% over the next two decades. By 2030, a staggering 40.5% of Americans are projected to have some form of CVD.3
Article highlights:
Due to the rising prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), the burden of lab testing is increasing unabated
Laboratorians have an opportunity to help clinicians further stratify patients by risk level using biomarker testing
This would help to reverse overutilization, adding value on an immense scale
A big way to take leadership to heart
How does the prevalence of CVD affect the lab? As the scope of CVD rises dramatically, so do the incidence and cost of lab testing. This, however, does not necessarily translate to higher quality care. It usually translates to an excess of data and spending on a grand scale. It contributes to CVD being the most expensive disease to treat in the nation, at 17% of overall medical costs.3
Laboratory tests, such as those for CVD, are being ordered across specialties without need for a variety of reasons.
According to a 2014 national survey of 600 physicians:4
Nearly 75% say the average physician prescribes an unnecessary test or procedure at least once a week
Fifty-two percent cite "concern about malpractice issues" as a major reason for excessive testing, while 36% cite "just to be safe" and 30% cite "wanting more information for reassurance"
Nearly 75% say unnecessary tests and procedures represent a serious problem in the healthcare system
leading change starts with leading knowledge
Patient risk stratification has incredible potential to cut out wasteful testing. By placing focus on key risk factors, it can help highlight what data would be most valuable to obtain. Physicians, however, are limited in their ability to do this. Deeper knowledge is needed to more effectively assess risk.
Through their particular knowledge of tests for CVD biomarkers, laboratorians can uniquely elevate risk stratification and inform evidence-based policies. This illuminates a significant, untapped opportunity to create efficiencies in cardiovascular care.
These examples point to the power of biomarker tests:
In decompensated heart failure risk assessment:
NT-proBNP levels can help predict future complications
In cardiovascular risk assessment:
Markers of myocardial strain, myocardial cell damage, inflammation and vascular damage, atherosclerosis, and renal function can provide a multifaceted stratification approach5
With exclusive knowledge of biomarker tests, laboratorians have the ability to pinpoint cardiac disease risk and illuminate precisely when further CVD testing is needed.
Laboratorian-informed risk assessment
Test utilization
Therapeutic decision-making
Unnecessary testing
Excessive spending
Ineffective use of laboratory
resources and personnel
With the rising incidence of CVD, consider how aiding in key testing decisions would help you add value to your organization.
building a foundation of leadership
Beyond improving bottom-line value, sharing your knowledge to improve practices puts you in a prime position to develop pivotal partnerships with cardiologists.
In the same 2014 national survey of 600 physicians from above, 2 out of 3 feel a great responsibility to ensure their patients avoid unnecessary tests and procedures. Furthermore, 85% say that having specific, evidence-based recommendations to use with patients would be effective.4
These statistics don't lie—they point to an incredible need for your knowledge and collaboration. Now is the time to rise to the challenge and make yourself invaluable across hospital disciplines. This sets the stage for further developmental initiatives organization-wide, in your ongoing effort to lead your lab forward.
World Health Organization. (2014). The top 10 causes of death (Fact sheet No 310). 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310/en/.
American Heart Association Statistics Committee & Stroke Statistics Subcommittee, (2015). Heart disease and stroke statistics – At-a-glance. American Heart Association. Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/idc/groups/ahamah-public/@wcm/@sop/@smd/documents/downloadable/ucm_470704.pdf.
Heidenreich, P.A., Trogdon, J.G., Khavjou, O.A., Butler, J., Dracup, K., Ezekowitz, M.D., Finkelstein, E.A., Hong, Y., Johnston, S.C., Khera, A., Lloyd-Jones, D.M., Nelson, S.A., Nichol, G., Orenstein, D., Wilson, P.W.F., Woo, J. (2011). Collision course: America's baby boomers and cardiovascular disease. My American Heart, p. 2. Retrieved from http://www.my.americanheart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@adv/documents/downloadable/ucm_322081.pdf.
PerryUndem Research/Communication (2014). Unnecessary tests and procedures in the health care system, What physicians say about the problem, the causes, and the solutions. The ABIM Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.choosingwisely.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/042814_Final-Choosing-Wisely-Survey-Report.pdf.
Daniels, L.B, Maisel A.S. Multiple marker approach to risk stratification in Stable CAD. EurHeartJournal. 336,10.1093.
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Every year, 700,000 people suffer from heart attacks, 15% of whom will die before they receive treatment. High-sensitivity troponin, however, might be a game changer.
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Looking for a new and unique way for the lab to demonstrate value? Join Dr. Hayden as he discusses how to realize that value through the adoption of novel biomarkers such as PCT.
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Data consistency is an absolute must for population health—there are things you can do now to proactively keep patients in your data stream
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Did you know that the source code for the AWS SDK for Android is distributed both in the .zip file as well as on GitHub? The code is offered under the Apache License, version 2.0 and is available for reuse in your own projects. We welcome submissions for bug fixes and enhancements that will help the entire community of AWS developers.
To that end, we've tried to make it easy for you to build the AWS SDK for Android from source so you can test out any of your own modifications. We provide one method below, but please feel free to comment below if you would like to tell us how you use the SDK source in your own project.
Distributed with the SDK source is a pom.xml file. This is Project Object Model, a description of the SDK used by the Apache Maven tool. You must have already configured Apache Maven on your system before using this file. If you use Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later, you will not have to take any additional steps as Maven is already included. However, if you use the Windows or Linux operating systems, you should refer to the Running Maven page for details on setting up Maven on your system. Any recent version of Maven 2 or 3 should work with the supplied pom.xml.
Maven will then download all necessary dependencies and compile a .jar that is compatible with the .jar distributed in the SDK download. The aws-android-sdk-X.X.X.jar (where X.X.X is the current version of the SDK) will be located in the target directory. The rest of the contents of the target directory are the intermediate files from the build and can be ignored or deleted.


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Devil Doll (1964)
"They're not applauding you — they're applauding me! Yes, me, Hugo — the dummy!"
A journalist (William Sylvester) hoping to learn the secret of a mysterious ventriloquist (Bryant Haliday) whose dummy is strangely mobile enlists the help of his beautiful, wealthy girlfriend (Yvonne Romain), unknowingly putting her life at risk.
Puppets and Ventriloquism
Fans of the "Ventriloquist's Dummy" sequence in the classic British horror anthology Dead of Night (1945) may be curious to check out this unofficial homage, in which the title dummy is also named Hugo — though the tables of diabolical control in this case have been shifted from puppet to master. The pacing is overall too slow, and several moments (i.e., Romain being hypnotized into dancing onstage) are downright silly — but director Lindsay Shonteff and DP Gerald Gibbs do an adequate job evoking tension and menace within their low budget, and one remains curious until the end about Hugo's secret (which involves a twist finale). The actors are decent for what essentially amounts to an exploitation flick — especially Haliday, whose creepy performance is reminiscent of Christopher Lee (surely intentional); meanwhile, fans of The Last of Sheila (1973) may enjoy seeing "Sheila" herself (sexy Romain) in a more substantial role.
Note: Other Peary-listed titles in the ventriloquism sub-genre include the terribly boring Erich von Stroheim vehicle The Great Gabbo (1929), and the disappointing Danny Kaye Cold War spoof Knock on Wood (1954).
Reasonably effective low-budget direction and cinematography
A surprisingly strong sense of menace
No, though it's worth a look as a cult curiosity. Listed as a Sleeper and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary's book.
Lonely Hearts (1982)
"You're nearly fifty, you know – you've got to do something with your life!"
When his mother dies, a 49-year-old bachelor (Norman Kaye) begins dating a pretty, inexperienced young woman (Wendy Hughes) with overly controlling parents. Though Kaye and Hughes get along famously, Hughes' sexual repression eventually puts a kink in their relationship.
Sexual Repression
Australian director Paul Cox became known to U.S. audiences with the release of this amiable, sensitive romance about two awkward souls falling in love. Kaye and Hughes — fixtures of Australian cinema — are both impeccable in the lead roles; gorgeous Hughes somehow manages to instantly convince us that her "mousy" character is repressed and awkward, while balding Kaye radiates a unique kind of confidence and likable quirkiness (his grin says so much!). The screenplay is gently paced, never in a hurry, instead showing us the natural unfolding of this new couple's love and respect for one another. They go out to eat and drink; listen to records; take leisurely strolls and kiss; have dinner with Kaye's controlling sister (Julia Blake) and her husband (Jonathan Hardy); and join a local theater production of Strindberg's The Father, run by a hilariously overwrought martinet (Jon Finlayson). Lurking in the background is Kaye's desire to begin a sexual relationship with Hughes, and Hughes' fear of this inevitable progression. While one wishes at times for a bit more explanation of certain character traits — Kaye's struggle with kleptomania comes out of nowhere, for instance — it's difficult to quibble with the overall sincerity of this sweet Australian flick.
Favorite (reaction to a) line: "A Swedish pastor." (!!)
Note: Cox's other Peary-listed film is Man of Flowers (1983), also starring Kaye.
Norman Kaye as Peter
Wendy Hughes as Patricia
Jon Finlayson as George
Jonathan Hardy as Bruce
A sensitively filmed tale of emergent romance
Yes, for the stellar lead performances, and as a fine, refreshingly unassuming romance. Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary's book. Winner of the Australian Academy Award for Best Picture.
Magician, The (1958)
"You represent what I detest most of all: the unexplainable."
In 1840s Sweden, a mute magician (Max von Sydow) and his troupe arrive in a small town, where the police commissioner (Toivo Powlo), a doctor (Gunnar Bjornstrand), and a civil servant (Erland Josephson) all attempt to determine whether von Sydow's powers are real or illusionary.
Ingmar Bergman Films
Max von Sydow Films
Scandinavian Films
According to IMDb, Ingmar Bergman directed no less than 67 films (including some made-for-TV titles and some shorts) over the course of his lengthy career; of these, Peary lists 18 in his GFTFF. The Magician (also known as Ansiktet, or The Face) is chronologically the fifth "entry" in his book, following The Naked Night / Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Wild Strawberries (1957), and The Seventh Seal (1957); of these, it bears most resemblance to The Naked Night in its focus on travelling performers, who represent a disruptive presence to staid Scandinavian morality. In both films, Bergman compassionately yet ruthlessly reveals the hidden vulnerabilities of those whose calling is to provide respite and/or entertainment to the masses — and in The Magician, Bergman simultaneously exposes "magic" (a proxy for cinema?) as a necessary deception, a tool we use to allow ourselves the enjoyment and satisfaction we crave. In one particularly humorous and bawdy vignette, for instance, a cook lets herself be sweet-talked by a salesman in the troupe, revealing shortly thereafter that she's aware his "love potion" is a sham but doesn't mind, since her real goal is to bed him. (Ah, these refreshingly frank Scandinavian films! How 1950s American audiences must have eaten them up!)
This being a Bergman film, however, other vignettes are much less light-hearted. The central storyline — regarding von Sydow's mute magician and his wife (Ingrid Thulin), dressed to look like his young male accomplice as part of their collective disguise — involves scandal, shame, and infidelity; and a subplot involving a suicidal traveler (Bengt Ekerot – "Death" in The Seventh Seal, though you may not recognize him) is decidedly grim. It's to Bergman's credit that he manages to mix sensibilities so fluidly throughout his episodic narrative, shifting easily from comedy to tragedy as various characters' stories come together to tell a broader thematic tale. Bergman seems to be arguing that we all want to be "seduced" (visually, romantically, metaphorically) in one way or another, yet we simultaneously crave rational control over ourselves and our environment; the question is, can these conflicting goals co-exist? Unfortunately, The Magician's narrative gets a bit muddled towards the end, making it less satisfying as a whole than it could be; however, it remains worthy viewing at least once by all film fanatics.
Gunnar Fischer's cinematography
Bergman's slyly satirical screenplay
Yes, as yet another provocative early Bergman film. Listed as a film with Historical Importance and a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary's book.
Ordet / Word, The (1955)
"And the rest of us, all the rest of us, we go straight down to hell to eternal torments, don't we?"
The youngest son (Cay Kristiansen) of a cynical Danish farmer (Henrik Malberg) wishes to marry the daughter (Sylvia Eckhausen) of a religiously fundamentalist tailor (Ejner Federspiel), though both fathers disapprove; meanwhile, Malberg's son Johannes (Preben Lerdorf Rye) believes he's Jesus Christ, while the gentle wife (Birgite Federspiel) of his son Mikkel prepares to give birth to her third child.
Carl Theodor Dreyer Films
Religious Faith
Peary posits that the theme of Carl Theodore Dreyer's adaptation of a "play by [Danish hero] Kaj Munk" — about "a proud, elderly Christian farmer whose faith has all but disappeared because of the lack of miracles in modern times" — "is that people, even priests, shouldn't let faith in God diminish", and that "those who are regarded as insane are actually closest to God". To that end, one's appreciation for this critically lauded parable will depend upon one's willingness to accept it as something other than a traditional cinematic tale; Dreyer's intention is not to entertain, but to provoke. However, as Peary notes, while the "beginning of the film is charming due to the simplicity of the sets and the characters" (he jokingly writes that "it wouldn't be jarring if June Lockhart, Tommy Rettig, and Lassie dropped in for a visit"), it "becomes drawn out and silly"; he argues that while "it might work as a story told in church", "as a film it is far-fetched".
I'll admit I'm essentially in agreement with Peary's take on this one. Unlike most other reviewers (whose praise is unreserved), I find it overly slow and a tad pretentious, not to mention terribly depressing — in sum, everything Scandinavian films from this era are stereotyped as being (but see Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night [1955] for a refreshing counter-example). With that said, there's no denying either the power of Dreyer's imagery, or the integrity of his intentions; film fanatics will want to check this one out at least once, and make up their own minds about its ultimate place in the world's cinematic canon.
Note: I was fascinated to learn (from a citation on Wikipedia) that this film was not only a critical success but a financial success as well; my, how audience tastes have changed…
Committed performances by the entire cast
Dreyer's typically stunning visual sensibility
Yes, simply as one of Ordet's most celebrated works — though your enjoyment will be highly variable.
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
"Men never know what's best for them; we have to put them on the right track."
When a middle-aged lawyer (Gunnar Bjornstrand) married to a virginal teen (Ulla Jacobssen) pays a visit to his long-time mistress (Eva Dahlbeck), he encounters her most recent lover (Jarl Kulle), who jealously proposes a duel; meanwhile, Bjornstrand's grown son (Bjorn Bjelvenstam) harbors a secret crush on Jacobssen, while Kulle's neglected wife (Margit Carlquist) is determined to win her husband back.
Peary writes that he views this "sophisticated bedroom farce" — "one of Ingmar Bergman's most popular films" — "as a tribute… to those women who are clever and brave enough to shape their own worlds despite husbands and lovers who make up the rules." He notes that while the "film has been compared to Lubitsch's comedies of manners and Renoir's Rules of the Game," he is "more reminded of the works of Max Ophuls, whose men are ruled by pride and whose women are so guided by their hearts that they become obsessed with winning men who they realize aren't worthy of them". Indeed, the male characters in SOASN are so clearly "no prizes" that one can easily see why Scandinavian countries eventually became world leaders in feminist equality (!); the women here are, without exception, the ones with firm heads on their shoulders. Peary points out that while the "film is wise and cynical", you'll "also think it hilarious if you… pay attention to the indignities Bjornstrand suffers", such as "fall[ing] headlong into a puddle"; being forced (by Dahlbeck) to "wear a ridiculous nightshirt, cap, and gown"; being unable to "get Dahlbeck to admit that her son, who has his first name, is his child"; etc. The film's "excellent acting, [fine] photography (by Gunnar Fischer), [and] set design (by P.A. Lundgren)" all contribute towards the enjoyment of this early Bergman masterpiece.
Bergman's clever, deceptively lighthearted screenplay
Yes, as a classic of Scandinavian cinema.
Odd Couple, The (1968)
"You don't understand — I'm nothing without my wife and kids!"
When compulsive neat freak Felix Ungar (Jack Lemmon) is thrown out of his house by his wife, he goes to live with his good friend Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau), who is quickly driven batty by Felix's incessant housekeeping.
Jack Lemmon Films
Walter Matthau Films
The characters of (neatnik) Felix Ungar and (slob) Oscar Madison have become so culturally iconic that it's easy to forget just how clever their original big-screen incarnation was. Neil Simon's screenplay (based upon his own play) plunges us immediately into surprisingly challenging territory, as we witness Felix wandering despondently through the streets of New York, hoping to die; his depression is palpable, and we feel for his situation. From there, we're shown the true concern expressed by his circle of friends (nicely acted by John Fiedler, Herb Edelman, David Sheiner, and Larry Haines); while their attempts to prevent Felix from committing suicide are played for laughs, they're consistently bolstered by a refreshing undercurrent of genuine love and concern. The increasingly tense situation that emerges once Felix and Oscar attempt to live with one another is likewise both hilarious and poignant: we can relate to Oscar's sense that he's slowly going crazy, yet we simultaneously feel compassion for what is clearly Felix's (undiagnosed) obsessive-compulsive disorder (or some variation thereof) — and we certainly understand why his wife could no longer live with him!
Lemmon and Matthau are perfectly cast as the title "couple"; their comedic timing and rapport is impeccable. Interestingly, Matthau originally thought he would be better suited as Felix — either given that he was a neatnik in real life (according to a quote in TCM's article) or because he felt he was too much like Oscar and the role wasn't enough of a stretch (according to a piece of IMDb trivia); do any readers know the true reason? At any rate, while both performances are excellent, I find Lemmon particularly impressive, given how fearlessly and emphatically he embraces his character's "feminine" tendencies without devolving into stereotypes of any kind (naturally, one can't help thinking of his memorably gender-fluid performance in Some Like it Hot). Also of note are Monica Evans and Carole Shelley (who reprised their characters in the long-running T.V. series) in hilarious supporting roles as the sexy British sisters Walter's hoping to have a good time with, but who are instead distracted by Felix's sob story.
Jack Lemmon as Felix Unger
Walter Matthau as Oscar Madison
Monica Evans and Carole Shelley as Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon
A clever tale of friendship put to the ultimate test
Neal Hefti's memorable score
Yes, as a finely written and acted comedy. This one is a "good show" you'll look forward to revisiting!
Underworld (1927)
"Nobody helps me! I help other people."
An inebriated man (Clive Brook) is picked up by a notorious gangster (George Bancroft), who takes pity on him and gives him a place to stay — but when Brook and Bancroft's girlfriend "Feathers" (Evelyn Brent) fall for each other, and Bancroft's chief rival (Fred Kohler) continues to make aggressive passes at Feathers as well, tensions quickly get heated.
Clive Brook Films
Peary lists three of Josef von Sternberg's final silent films in his GFTFF: The Last Command (1927), The Docks of New York (1928), and this title, often cited as the thematic forerunner of several classic 1930s gangster flicks. Ben Hecht wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay, basing it upon real-life scenarios and people in Chicago's gangland — but ultimately the film's focus is less on the broader world of gangsters (Bancroft doesn't seem to belong to a larger organization, for instance) than on the emotional conflicts faced by the key players. Indeed, the narrative is primarily concerned with exploring how Brook and Brent will deal with their love/lust for one another, given their sense of moral obligation to big-galoot Bancroft:
… and how Bancroft will handle their perceived disloyalty when his rivalry with Kohler turns fatal and he's sent to jail.
Unfortunately, none of the characters are fleshed out enough for this rather simplistic scenario to become engaging on anything other than a surface level; we'd love to know more about stoic Brook, for instance, and how he ended up on the streets, or how and why "Feathers" feels such undying loyalty for Bancroft. With that said, von Sternberg's directorial talents are in clear view — especially during the creatively filmed mid-way party sequence. While this one can't quite be elevated to must-see status, it's far more accomplished than most other films of its era, making it worth a one-time look.
The creatively filmed party sequence
No, though it remains of interest for its clear influence on future classics of the genre.
My Brilliant Career (1979)
"Why does it always have to come down to marriage?"
In 1890s Australia, a strong-willed young woman (Judy Davis) is determined to transcend her family's hard-scrabble life and pursue a career in the arts — but when she becomes close friends with a handsome, wealthy acquaintance (Sam Neill), romantic tensions begin to complicate her goals.
Career-versus-Marriage<
Peary writes that "Judy Davis is perfectly cast" in director Gillian Armstrong's "popular adaptation of [an] autobiographical novel" by (Stella) Miles Franklin, about "an aspiring writer and avowed bachelorette" in early 20th century Australia who "sees how repressed married women in all classes of society [are], and realizes that in order to write, she must remain single" — which means "turning down a kind, handsome, understanding, playful man (Sam Neill), although they love each other". Peary argues that "while praised for its feminism, [the] picture has rightly been criticized for ignoring the fact that [the central character, Sybylla Melvyn] was a lesbian". Regardless, "what is positive is that Davis truly enjoys the company of women (and they benefit from her friendship)"; however, while these women "don't realize their potential because they married", they nonetheless "expect free-spirited Davis" — who "knows better" — to "follow their lead".
Just as we can't help questioning Jill Clayburgh's ultimate romantic decisions in the final scenes of An Unmarried Woman (1978) (released the previous year), it remains somewhat challenging to watch Davis respectfully rebuffing Neill's initial marriage proposal. (He's so wealthy! So handsome! So playful! So PERFECT for her!) Indeed, the romantic purist in us desperately wants these two kindred spirits to be united. Yet it's to Armstrong's and screenwriter Eleanor Whitcombe's credit that they maintain their film's focus on its feminist "agenda": evoking a particular historical era (the period sets are stellar) when to be married was truly much more of a "life sentence" for women than we can conceive of today. From our modern perspective, we wish youthful Davis would be truly radical and reconsider the terms of marriage altogether, thus having her cake and eating it, too. But her decisions are made within a very specific milieu: having seen so many females around her suffering — most notably her once-beautiful mother [Julia Blake], now burdened with too much work, a good-for-nothing husband, and far too many kids; and her quietly heart-broken aunt (Wendy Hughes), whose husband abandoned her — we ultimately admire her strength of will.
Judy Davis as Sybylla Melvyn (nominated by Peary as one of the Best Actresses of the Year in his Alternate Oscars)
Remarkably authentic period sets
Yes, for Davis's stand-out performance, and as a fine feature debut by a talented female director.
Foolish Wives (1922)
"It is a dangerous place for strangers — so many hungry sharks lying in wait to get hold of one's money."
A con-artist (Erich von Stroheim) posing as a count in Monte Carlo attempts to seduce the wealthy, neglected wife (Miss DuPont) of an American envoy (Rudolph Christians) while continuing a duplicitous affair with his jealous housemaid (Dale Fuller), and trying to bed the "half-witted" daughter (Malvina Polo) of a counterfeiter (Cesare Gravina).
Erich von Stroheim Films
The production history of this extravagantly produced long-con flick by writer/director Erich von Stroheim — whose original budget of $250K skyrocketed to over $1 million, and whose initial cut ran for no less than 6 hours — is legendary, though it was merely the first in a series of several creatively thwarted films (followed by Greed, The Wedding March, and Queen Kelly) that led to von Stroheim's downfall as a director. As viewed in its recently restored version (running approximately 2 1/2 hours long), it's obvious that narrative strands are missing and/or truncated; however, most of it coheres quite well, thanks to a relatively straightforward storyline featuring an unambiguously evil central character, played with perverse glee by von Stroheim himself (known by audiences at the time as "The Man You Love to Hate"). Indeed, von Stroheim's Count Karamzin remains one of cinema's most dastardly protagonists — a psychopathic conman and sexual predator who lies and cheats with astonishing agility.
In the film's most disturbing sequence, he's interrupted just as he's about to rape the unconscious DuPont; for an agonizingly long stretch, we watch him sitting in a chair nearby DuPont, visibly irritated as the cabin's recently-arrived caretakers prevent him from carrying out his plan. Later in the film, a von Stroheim-favorite — the expressively distinctive Dale Fuller, playing his love-struck, deceived mistress — becomes a key player in the story, helping to move the film towards its relatively satisfying (though terribly truncated) ending. Despite its sorry-looking physical state — much of the recent restoration remains patchy-looking at best, unfortunately — Foolish Wives should be seen by all film fanatics as prime evidence of von Stroheim at his most unrepentantly reprehensible (as a character) and extravagant (as a director).
Fine direction by von Stroheim
Dale Fuller as Maruschka
Yes, as one of von Stroheim's earliest successes — and as a prime example of the iconoclastic director at his vilest (character-wise, that is). Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary's book.
Man You Loved to Hate, The (1979)
"Never before had a studio so ruthlessly exercised its power over a major director."
Austrian emigre Erich von Stroheim becomes one of silent-era Hollywood's most talented directors, but perfectionism and extravagance bring a halt to his promising career.
Rise and Fall
Years before cable network channels such as AMC and TCM began airing biographies of famous directors and movie stars, Patrick Montgomery helmed this revealing documentary about the troubled life of Austrian emigre Erich von Stroheim, whose notorious extravagance, perfectionism, and rigidity quickly led to the demise of his directorial career. It's both surprising and impressive to learn that von Stroheim — born simply Erich Oswald Stroheim, the son of a Jewish hatmaker — was an entirely self-made man, someone who gambled on his own talents and won (for at least a brief while). The fact that nearly all of his full-length films were butchered by studio heads and/or producers speaks to his inability to conform to the studio system, or to tailor his vision in light of pragmatic concerns; we learn, for instance, that he insisted on utilizing real caviar in an opening breakfast scene from Foolish Wives (1922), claiming that he (the character eating the caviar) would know the difference (!).
Unfortunately, while the film does an admirable job demonstrating why and how von Stroheim's career took such a rapid nosedive, certain elements of his personal life remain frustratingly opaque. For instance, we're told that he had a lover during many of his later years, yet he remained married until his death, and this wife — who's interviewed for the film — doesn't seem particularly upset; in addition, we can't help wishing interview clips with von Stroheim himself were included (are there any? there must be). Regardless, this engaging documentary remains must-see viewing for all film fanatics, and it's a puzzling omission from Peary's GFTFF. Fortunately, it's easily available for viewing these days on a Kino DVD release of Foolish Wives, as a full-length second feature.
Note: The film's title refers to the nickname von Stroheim earned during his early years as a character actor, playing a villain — a trend he continued even as he gave himself starring roles in his own films (viz. his vile Count Karamzin in Foolish Wives, to name the most obvious example).
A revealing look at one of Hollywood's most notorious directors
Yes, as an informative overview of von Stroheim's troubled but patchily brilliant career.
Onion AV Club Review


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The pianist from Syria: Aeham Ahmad on the power of music
We speak to the Syrian musician about the image that changed and saved his life
The famous image of Aeham Ahmad playing a piano amid the destruction of war in 2014 was taken by Niraz Saied. The photographer was arrested by the Syrian Army and died in jail last year. Courtesy Niraz Saied
Daniel Bates
An image of Aeham Ahmad taken in 2014 turned him into an unlikely celebrity. Sitting in a wooden chair with his back straight, he stoically plays a piano while surrounded by wreckage in Yarmouk, his home and a place destroyed by the conflict in Syria. The image seemed to offer a glimmer of hope and resistance amid the war, which has killed more than 500,000 people.
Ahmad became known as the "Pianist from Syria" and videos of him playing have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook and YouTube. In the clips, he also talks about the lack of water and begs for aid to be sent to the area.
As a result of having played elegiac music in his videos online, mournful and bitterly satirical songs that were directed at the Syrian government, Ahmad, 31, now lives as a refugee in Wiesbaden, Germany, alongside his wife and two children aged four and seven.
'I wanted to end the war with this music'
Ahmad tells The National that he is still overwhelmed by the response to his story. In 2015, he was given the International Beethoven Prize for Human Rights and performed his Songs of Yarmouk at a chamber concert in Bonn. Ahmad says his story probably struck a chord with people across the world because "when you kill all life, the music will still live".
"The image is so powerful because everybody knows what the piano is," he says. "They know it symbolises music. I wanted to end the war with this music. That was my hope."
In his autobiography The Pianist From Syria: A Memoir, which he wrote with journalist Ariel Hauptmeier and translator Sandra Hetzl, Ahmad describes Yarmouk before the war as a thriving community made up of "patchwork-like settlements".
A post shared by Aeham Ahmad (@aeham_ahmad_)
His father, who was blind from a young age, fled Palestine during the Naqba of 1948, and his love of music led him to run a shop full of guitars, violins, pianos and about 200 ouds. His appreciation of music was passed on to his son, with Ahmad studying music pedagogy at Al Baath University in Homs. He also enjoyed riding his bike around Yarmouk, once home to 160,000 people. But in 2012 everything changed, and 18 days after the birth of Ahmad's first child, Syrian Army tanks rolled through Yarmouk.
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A few months later, the shelling started, with bombs hitting Ahmad's old middle school and the clinic where his child was born. The city was then completely sealed off, with no water, food or electricity, and was besieged by the Syrian Army as they hunted for rebel forces.
Ahmad was almost stopped from playing piano when a grenade exploded next to the falafel stand he was working at, leaving two fingers on his right hand hanging off. A carpenter, who was filling in as a surgeon at the makeshift hospital, sewed Ahmad's hand back together and he was able to play again.
Why he decided to play the piano
Ahmad explains in his autobiography that he came up with the idea of playing the piano amid the wreckage of war as a way to protest against the actions of President Bashar Al Assad's regime. Appalled at the carnage around him, he says he wanted to "counter violence with art". He was joined by some friends, who helped him wheel a piano into the street.
Once in position, Ahmad began to play. A friend filmed the performances and uploaded the video to Facebook and YouTube, after which CNN and the BBC ran profiles on the Pianist from Syria. The image that made him a celebrity was taken by photographer Niraz Saied, who was later captured by the Syrian Army. Saied died in jail last year, a loss that weighs heavily on Ahmad's mind.
"The whole idea was to put people's attention back on Yarmouk, so they did not forget about it," Ahmad says. "People began to translate the songs and they understood what I meant. I would say to people that if you don't know what you can do to help, please share this video. People began to realise we did not have food or water and gave support to the UN children's fund, and help started to arrive."
But the killing continued, and a young girl named Zainab was shot dead while singing in the street with Ahmad. The musician still feels guilty about her death, and as though he has broken a promise he made to the children of Yarmouk. "When I see my children and how they have grown up, I think I left all the children in Yarmouk – I broke my promise that I would stay with them and we would sing together forever," he says.
In April 2015, ISIS took control of Yarmouk and burnt Ahmad's piano because the group declared it illegal to have musical instruments under their interpretation of Sharia law. Ahmad and his family tried to flee, but they were arrested by the Syrian Army. Ahmad sent his family to Damascus and continued the journey out of Syria alone, travelling to Turkey before paying a smuggler to take him to Greece by boat.
A BBC journalist who was following his journey lent Ahmad a camera to film his travels across the water, and the remarkable footage shows him hugging an Iraqi man aboard the dinghy as they make their way to Greece.
When I see my children and how they have grown up, I think I left all the children in Yarmouk – I broke my promise that I would stay with them and we would sing together forever.
By September that year, Ahmad had reached Vienna, where he was granted refugee status. He began a new life in the Austrian capital, playing a number of concerts a year, before moving to Germany. He does not know when he will return to Syria – his family home and their music shop were destroyed in the fighting – and he hopes the conflict will end soon.
"My story is not unique and I recently met a man from Aleppo whose whole family died on the boat to Europe," Ahmad says. "Can you imagine how he feels?" Ahmad is bitter towards those whom he feels are responsible for the Syrian conflict.
"The lives of a lot of people have been destroyed in the interest of politics and money and selling weapons," he says. "The attitude is that we don't care, we sell you the weapons, or Russia sells the weapons – they don't care about the people. If you're selling weapons, you should accept the refugees that come as a result."
Palestinian TerritoriesRussiaBashar AssadZainab
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IAGS2017
Nearly seven decades after the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the hopes embedded in that document remain largely unfulfilled. The theme of the 2017 IAGS conference revisits the two core components of the Convention: justice for acts of genocide and prevention of future genocides.
While the conference theme will concentrate on these twin notions of justice and prevention, the 2017 IAGS conference is open to any whose work connects with the study of genocide. We aim to bring together scholars, activists, artists and survivors to examine genocidal violence from a wide range of disciplines and approaches. Participants are encouraged to examine the interdisciplinary aspects of violence from around the world, and to question the methods and outcomes of truth-telling and justice-seeking mechanisms. We encourage presenters to examine the processes and politics, strengths and failures of attempts to deal with past mass atrocities, and to identify best practices for achieving justice. Scholars and practitioners working in the field of genocide and mass atrocity prevention are also encouraged to examine the causes and drivers which exacerbate or constrain violence, and to discuss strategies for both long- and short-term prevention and reaction to mass atrocity crimes.
Abstract submissions are now closed.
Submissions exploring any topic related to the study of genocide are welcome, and submissions on the following themes are particularly encouraged:
Application of international and domestic law for justice, accountability and prevention
Theories and methods of prevention of genocide and mass atrocities
Indigenous experiences of and responses to genocide, in particular Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
Cases of genocidal violence in the Asia Pacific region
Sexual and gender-based violence
Genocide and disability
Justice and prevention in the context of refugees of genocide
Representations of genocide in culture, art and museum studies
Genocide education
Genocide and human rights
Intersections between genocide studies and peace studies
We welcome proposals for single paper presentations and for thematic panels comprising no more than three presenters. Each speaker should aim to speak for no more than 20mins, with question time additional (time limits will be strictly enforced). Each submission (individual and panel) must include: an abstract of no more than 250 words, 4 keywords, the speaker's full name including title, position, contact details and institutional affiliation, as well as a short biography of no more than 150 words (no CVs, please). Panel submissions should also include a short description of the panel theme in addition to the abstracts and each speaker's details.
In addition to panels and papers, the organisers encourage other modes of presentation. To obtain formal guidelines for submitting a proposal for book launches, film screenings, cultural media, and artistic works/readings, please email the organisers directly (IAGS2017@uq.edu.au). Decisions will be made based on available space, time, and funding, among other things. Proposals for workshops will also be considered. Applications must include a list of participants including a 150 word biography for each participant; and an abstract of no more than 250 words regarding the topic and the intended outcome of the workshop. These workshops will be outside the official conference, will not be funded, and can be held separately on 9 July; room availability is limited.
All submissions should be emailed in a single Word Document to IAGS2017@uq.edu.au by 16 January 2017 (last submission 23.59 UTC -12). Submissions will be assessed on a rolling basis, and applicants will be notified of the outcome by 15 March 2017 at the latest. Submissions will not be accepted after the deadline. Multiple submissions are permitted, but due to the high number of submissions received, the Committee cannot guarantee acceptance of more than one submission.
We strongly encourage submissions from scholars and activists in the Asia Pacific region, as well as from post-graduate students and early career researchers. A limited number of scholarships will be awarded to postgraduates, unwaged or under-employed early career researchers, and participants from developing nations on a competitive basis: please visit the conference website for details.
The conference organisers anticipate that a special edition of Genocide Studies and Prevention will arise from the 2017 conference. Presenters will be invited to submit a written version of their papers to the journal; a call for papers will be issued later by the journal. Submission of a manuscript does not guarantee inclusion in the special issue: a limited number of articles will be selected through a rigorous peer-review process. Manuscripts must be formatted in accordance with journal guidelines.
Please note that, in order to attend and/or present at the conference, you must be a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). This is additional and separate to the registration fee for the conference.
For more information on the 2017 conference, please contact the co-convenors, Dr Melanie O'Brien and Dr Annie Pohlman, via email IAGS2017@uq.edu.au.
Presentation information
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Border Crisis: Arizona Border Patrol Agent Kills an Illegal Immigrant on US Border
On Saturday, a border patrol agent shot and killed an illegal immigrant from Mexico. The incident happened in a remote part of Arizona, around 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, per a Customs and Border Protection report.
Two agents had been called out to a mountainous area on Saturday evening due to reports of possible undocumented immigrants.
After they dismounted from their horses because of the rugged terrain, the agents encountered three migrants, taking them into custody. However, a fourth migrant tried to flee, running downhill into a nearby canyon.
"One of the Border Patrol agents followed this individual and while taking him into custody discharged his firearm fatally wounding the migrant, tentatively identified as a citizen of Mexico," CBP revealed on Wednesday.
According to the Pima County Medical Examiner, the autopsy on the body found that the migrant died due to multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities tentatively identified him as a Mexican citizen.
On Sunday morning, the state's Department of Public Safety sent air support to retrieve the illegal migrant's remains from the rugged terrain.
Agents have also detained two other migrants following the incident. They have all been transported to the Douglas Border Patrol Station.
At the moment, the CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the incident. They will present their findings to the National Use of Force Review Board.
Meanwhile, the Cochise County Sheriff's office is collaborating with the Mexican Consulate to find out the identity of the migrant and notify his family.
Agents have reported 643,630 migrant encounters at the southern border in the first four months of FY 2022. This is a 126% increase ober the same time period in FY 2021.
Canada Arrests Truckers, Reopens Vital US-Canada Border Bridge
Biden's Empty Promises continue with Illegal Immigrants Not Receiving $450,000
Immigrant Teen Jailed Locally for ICE Has Been Freed


Our events are managed by a dedicated group of volunteers!
Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart!
Sport 4 Life Cochrane would like to invite your club or organization to participate in the first ever All Sport One Day in Cochrane taking place June 15th, 2019. If you are interested, you would need to provide a couple of coaches and commit to leading 4 X 45 minute sessions between 10 am - 2pm. It is a great opportunity to increase awareness of your sport and do some recruitment!
We have gym and field space booked, spots will be allocated on a first come-first served basis.
This FREE workshop looked at how stigma contributes to misinformation related to mental wellness.
Such misinformation contributes to a lack of understanding and judgement placed on the individual suffering which often leads to the devastation within the mental health crisis.
Participants explored the importance of social responders and how they impact the mental well-being in individuals as well as inform awareness of self. Guest speakers from MindfulAthletics.